This is why.

One day when I was in my mid-30s we received a call that announced that my sister had developed stage 4 breast cancer. Within a couple weeks my Mom and I flew to Florida to be with her and to get a firsthand view of what was going on. At that time I was into about 15 years of teaching and one of the ongoing "conversations" among the staff was the reality of the number of our students who went with their families on a 10-day or 2 week winter vacation to Florida each year. What to hold them responsible for? Should they have to make up tests? Would the absences effect their grades? On and on.

I remember that when we got off the plane in Jacksonville that February, one of my very first thoughts was, "This is why they come each year. It's heaven here!" Coming from the "winteriest month" of the winter months, February, into bright sun, warm breezes and happy, laughing people in shorts and t-shirts, was shocking, to state the obvious. But I did finally understand and never forgot it.

I had a similar, albeit shorter and not as intense a shock, this weekend as I had the opportunity to fly to Florida for a family wedding and, in the process, to experience a very similar feeling when I debarked from the plane. It's not snowy here yet, and certainly not even near freezing, let alone below it, but it's cold enough, and rainy and beginning that lake effect darkness that we have in winter. The difference was still there--still rather surprising, if not shocking.  My conclusion: if you live north of the Mason-Dixon line and you get an invitation to travel south of it during the winter months: GO! Enjoy and come home and share pictures and stories. Let your friends experience it virtually, at least. It's very, very nice. May you have the experience soon.

 Some of the southern scenes!

The Power of 3

 Our guest list is appearing more and more like its old self every week. The weekends bring the most guests, of course, but there are always day-trippers and weeklong visitors. This week we had four women who were all related to one of our sisters or are close friends. It was a kind of family reunion. They were delightful and fully entered into the daily life here, even participating in the cut-throat card games most nights (just kidding!)

But one evening praise took the cake for the week. Coming into chapel for Evening Prayer I noticed three guys sitting together in a back row. They looked like they could be Methodist ministers (we've had them many times) or something akin to that. Sure enough when the opening hymn began it was one they obviously knew well and they entered into the singing in full voice. That's when I was reminded of the power of just a few men who are good singers, as you often see in choirs. There were over 40 of us and only 3 of them, but they balanced us just fine!

When it came to the chant tones and the Magnificate we didn't hear them at an equal volume, but I'm guessing that if they are here two or three days, they'll catch on pretty quickly to the melodies and we'll have that mixed choir experience again. It was really great. 

Fall Weekend

 

Saturday: after a big, bad rainstorm.

Our usually placid lake looked like an ocean!

Saturday night: I'm only about 50 pages into

this "thriller" but so far it's pretty good.

Lots of Washington, DC scenarios, but

I heard that Armand Gamache makes

an appearance later on!

Sunday night: Coming home at about 7:30 p.m.

Gorgeous post-sunset sky. 

New paths

On the drive home this week we experienced a late afternoon soft, summer shower. The time of the shower, 4:00 pm, combined with a bright sun that wasn't affected by the rain, produced this gorgeous sight in the eastern sky. Very large and very bright. 

I pulled over immediately, grabbed my phone and did the best I could. 

 

Meanwhile, on the home front, we were greeted this week with the final steps of the new paved path  in the inner courtyard. Go to the August 1st blog entry to see photos of the beginning of this endeavor. By next spring, when the new grass comes up, as well as the new plants and flowers, it will be its familiar lovely self again!

Another book review

I just finished Louise Penny's latest Armand Gamache mystery novel. She wrote it during the COVID lockdown and chose the setting in a post-COVID year. I think I would call it a medical ethics theme. A professor of statistics has developed a philosophy, based on the COVID pandemic experience, of a kind of survival of the fittest by advocating legislation allowing/assisting medically or developmentally fragile people to die. She brings her national campaign to Three Pines to give a speech at a local university and the story, including new and old murders, erupts from there.

What is really captivating about it, beside the usual cast of delightful and quirky characters of Three Pines, is the contemporary issue that Penny proposed as a topic for universal consideration---a fascinating offshoot of the experiences and conversations we all have had with the pandemic. Can you say "underlying conditions"?  Or how about "assisted suicide" from some 3-4 decades ago? 

BTW: The latest Daniel Silva book also incorporated the COVID reality into its storyline. 

Harvest time is upon us.

All of a sudden, it seems, we have leapt into autumn and harvest time. There are end of the summer/beginning of autumn events everywhere: county fairs, small town fairs, wine festivals, grape festivals, a jazz and blues music event at Frontier Park, a huge full moon this past week and the last pickings of pears, apples, corn and countless other produce from area gardens.

I noticed that we have 3-4 lovely looking squash and a large and perfectly shaped pumpkin in the area beside our compost containers out back. Just like last year!

Personally, I'm beginning to cut back lots of our bushes, climatis and the withering leaves of the larger bushes and grasses  in our flower gardens so that next spring I'll be happy I did it now.

As far as the little trees go, I am amazed at their growth, in this their second summer. I've decided to leave them uncovered for the winter, but I will connect a support stick to each so that they don't get broken or damaged if pushed over by the winds or an unusually ferocious snowstorm. And then, next spring/summer, into the yard they will go. 

Here they are today:

                                         This is a tulip tree, on the left, and a bald cypress on the right.                                                They have each grown tremendously this summer and look healthy and strong.

This is a river birch, according to the Arbor Day literature that came with it.

I don't think that this is a tree I planted.

I'm not sure how it got here or what it is...the best I can guess is some sort of locust.

It's very hardy looking, so it can go out with the others!

And this last one, I believe, is a Washington hawthorn.

It's small but is looking good.

Many of our sisters go around proclaiming that fall is their favorite season of the year, so they are very, very "happy campers" right now! The oppressive heat of summer is gone and the colds of winter aren't here yet. Yeh!

One in a thousand

 

I read once that there are a lot of great books out there, but there are very few really outstanding books--maybe one in every thousand. I guess I would kinda' agree. I read many good books, but do any of these really stand out from all the others: a greatest one among all great ones?

This might be one. Its author has won a Pulitzer, numerous other recognitions including a 2014 National Humanities Medal by then President Obama, and has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award.

The book flap reads, "Whereabouts celebrates ordinary life and community...the city the narrator calls home acts as her companion and interlocutor: traversing the streets around her house and in parks, piazzas, museums, stores and coffee bars..."

Chapters are short, 2-3 pages, and include titles such as, In the bookstore, By the sea, Upon waking, In August, and On the street.

Her observations, the phrasing, the images give new meaning to the search and finding of the extraordinary in the ordinary

This is a novel, but it is unlike any I've read. I've read journals, diaries, poems, etc....all of them great. Whereabouts tops them all.