Walking to school

For most of my schooling, say grades 5-12, my sister and I walked to school. It wasn't on a major roadway, but rather on a residential, seldom used by the public street that was perfect as a footpath for school children. I remember those times as peaceful, outdoor daily breaks before and after school and, in the earlier years, even at lunch time.

So when I saw an article in our local paper I was curious, as its subtitle was: Mural project adds 12 murals to Erie school walking routes. It went on to detail a mural project, Purposeful Placemaking, by the Erie Art and Culture group in areas where children and families typically walk to and from neighborhood schools. 

Twelve of the planned 50 cityscapes are already finished, the rest to come by the end of 2023. They are absolutely fantastic!  Take a look at them here.  Or, google Purposeful Placemaking and that will take you to the Erie Arts and Culture website, where they are also displayed.

Media stars

Over the last 4-5 days we here in Erie, PA have been "media stars," kinda. When the Weather Channel focused on the first big lake effect snowstorm that passed over the Great Lakes, there we were in the middle of the maps, between Cleveland and Buffalo. The Sisters fielded texts, emails and phone calls from their friends and families who also saw the weather news and contacted them to see how bad it was for us.

Truth be told, it wasn't very bad at all. From Thursday through Sunday we, here in Harborcreek, six miles east of downtown Erie and 12 miles from the New York State line, had 17-18" of snow. See what I mean? The stories of 50-60-70" in Buffalo were unbelievable to us, too. Our amount, especially since it was over a weekend (no school), allowed everyone to stay put if they could and ride it out till Monday, when temps are expected to begin a week of 40s.

One of the really enjoyable parts of this sudden dive into winter was watching our birds. They all came in abundance to our feeders--all day, every day. My favorite "visitors" were this cardinal couple. They were always hanging around my window feeder and seemed a little less jumpy than last year--or so I imagined. Maybe I did a better job of staying still when they appeared! 

Mid-November

Mid-November holds some yearly "markers" so to speak. One you see above: the cacti in the library are blooming, their first of the season. This light pink one is probably 35 years old; there's a beautiful white one that is a little younger and a yellow one which is quite a bit younger, as it started from a single leaf from Sr. Benedict's plant, the first yellow cactus I had ever seen. 

Secondly is snow. This weekend we awoke to our first covering of snow on the grass. It was wet, very wet, but enough to turn the yard white. I think it will qualify as more than "a trace" and therefore we will have a winner in our first snow contest: When will the first snow come? Next week I'll put out the second contest: How many inches will we get this season? A gift card awaits the winner of each.

In the course of four days last week, I visited with two close friends who are both on a terminal cancer journey. Both of the visits were very, very nice, dinner with one and lunch with the other. I found out that the actual visiting was not difficult per se, but the days after...whoa! The ideas, the memories, the thoughts, the mystery of it all, are insidious...they creep around, unawares, yet just under the surface. They  come out at night, at prayer, in a crowd, by yourself...any time and anywhere. I find myself tearing up listening to a song in the car or reading a poignant paragraph in a book, The reality doesn't seem to smack you in the face every minute, it's more like a constantly lingering knowledge, an ever-present companion---quiet in many ways, but never, never too far away. Please remember these two lovely people in your prayers, as we all do for each other at these times.

May the force be with you.

 

Where were you in 1980? I was teaching high school and, therefore, attuned to all the culture of the day, especially that which interested teenagers. One of the phenomena of the time was the Star Wars series.

Arguably the most popular of the series was The Empire Strikes Back which included the introduction of what would become one of the most popular characters, Yoda, the Jedi teacher. Additionally, this is when Luke finds out that the dreaded Jedi master who turned to the dark side and wore the iconic black mask, Darth Vader, was his father.

This weekend the Erie Philharmonic orchestra took the place of the London Symphony and played the entire score along with the showing of the movie. To say that it was out of this world, wonderful, magnificent doesn't really cover being there. I was so proud to be from "little Erie" and to know of such a musical masterpiece coming from our very, very fine orchestra.

On the spiritual side, "May the force be with you" became a greeting that had obvious overtones for all of us who are believers in things beyond the tangible, earthbound world. 

Enchanted

Years ago I fell under the spell of our chapel windows like so many others have. And under that spell I  have taken a number of photos of them that I love:

This is the first one that I ever took and it has been sold as a card in Chapter 57, used for a jubilee program, and bought as a print by many people. My friend Vena saw it one Saturday morning in early December and called me from my dining room vacuuming charge to catch it. I will always be grateful to her.

Since then I have tried to captured them: on the ceramic floor,

On the handbells and their Pyrex music stands.

And my own favorite, in the candle stands for Easter.

More recently I caught a picture of the small chapel's windows, which are a totally different design than the large ones in the main chapel. They include the saying "Let nothing be preferred to the work of God" and have three large inlaid crosses.

But I never thought there were still ones out there to be found, until this weekend.

My friend was walking through the inner courtyard garden, that we use as a short cut from the front door to the dining room. It was well after dark and because we had quite a number of guests this weekend, there must have been someone in the small chapel who had the lights on. Here is what she saw and I ran out to capture it: the small chapel's three windows, from the outside, at night. WOW!

Above normal

After 4-5 days of cold, rainy weather in mid-month, the winds, and anything else that was needed, shifted and we have been blessed with what is turning out to be a full week of above normal temps. These have brought warmth and sun back to us for what I fear may be the last hurrah.....but even if it is, it is a welcome hurrah.

To that end, everyone headed for the outdoors both Saturday and Sunday, even if it meant only a walk around the grounds. I went as far as Lake Chautauqua where I saw one of my favorite old used-to-be- lighthouses. Here it is--rather short as lighthouses go and leaning a little now, but placed right along the lakeshore and looking pretty good overall. 

Back home indoors, I'm well into my latest craft project--the title banner for our newest professed member. You can read about her on our community website if you haven't already--here. 

This is what it looks like in the early stages, as the title itself emerges. It will be followed by an outer border and then the inner border. Finally a good ironing, a hanging stick and string, and voila, ready for the receiver. I'm aiming for Christmas, but it's coming along so well right now, maybe Thanksgiving ...maybe.

October days in the northeast

Today we had the dreamed-of-experience for the fall: a drive along the lake shore at the high point of the turning of the leaves. And, WOW, were they beautiful. We headed up to Buffalo and then another 60 miles east to Rochester, NY, home of Kodak and Eastman School of Music, to name a couple of their proud products. My friend Anne's niece was coaching her NYU women's soccer team versus the University of Rochester women. I've never had much interest in soccer though I know it is the #1 worldwide sport, but I am warming to it with this connection. It still seems odd to me to run around, though with much skill I will admit, for 90 minutes and end up with a 0-0 tie or 1-0 win/loss. I guess the scoring isn't the issue, it's the skill, defense, etc. Anyway, I still don't totally get the allure, but it's getting more fun to watch when I know some of the major players involved.

However, on the other hand, our neighboring Buffalo Bills are having a return to their golden oldie days of Jim Kelly and OJ Simpson and all their wins. Finally they have a great quarterback and today they beat the Chiefs, who are a top team! Can you say Super Bowl?! 

A shout out to a Pennsylvania team also having a fabulous football year, so far...the Eagles of Philadelphia. They are currently undefeated and in first place in their division as they are benefitting from an Alabama-trained quarterback along with other fine players. 

A final sharing: despite the reference above to the beautiful fall scenes around us here, I posted our annual When Will Be the First Day of Snow? contest. Last year we had nearly 40 entries from community members.....what we won't do for a $5 gift card to Walmart!!😏