SusanPeabody.com

It’s time to move forward. Last week one morning I woke up thinking about Alexei Nevalny, locked in a Russian prison in Siberia because he dared to speak out against the corruption and injustice of the Russian government. He ran for President of Russia. The last guy that did that died of poisoning. Nevalny survived poisoning, but barely lives in a Siberia prison.

I should be thanking God we can speak out in America. I wish we would speak, not in ugliness, carping and criticising, but pointing out the problems and helping to come up with solutions. This morning I woke up reciting a poem about peace. I’ve forgotten the words already, they are lost in the dream, but the feeling is still with me. Lately I’ve been waking feeling the rocks of the streets of Northern Gaza under my feet. I heard yesterday that the streets are so bad with shooting and bombing that the people who are supposed to be evacuating are cowering in their houses. It’s too dangerous and awful to go outside so the people are not evacuating. Gaza is a story of sadness all in itself isn’t it? Let’s see. If I hide a terrorist under my house or under our hospital in the basement, should I expect to be bombed? Well, maybe. Our world is filled with crying children and dying babies. And so I change my view and I look… up. And I look for Advent.

In November, the Catholic Christian prays for the dead. For people who have lost loved ones, November is a special time. We put the names of our loved ones on the altar, and we offer Mass and prayer for the “holy souls.” We pray for the mercy and the loving kindness of Jesus to save the souls of our loved ones as he promises “in the words written in red.” We pray for peace in bereaved hearts. My sister died last month, and my Mother died in November a few years ago, so I pray they are at peace with my sister who died when I was two, and with my grandmothers. Peace. I pray with my friends in church. We pray and we put our hands on our hearts and we believe Jesus is taking care of our loved ones. Jesus is in our hearts. Well! Today I ask if it is OK to skip forward to Advent. I’m tired of death and dying. I’m so done with war and exploding rocks and gunfire. I bow my head and I pray for peace, but quite honestly, I can’t see the solution. In the past, and now again, we put the whole sad situation into the laps of the UN. Well that isn’t working is it? It hasn’t worked in the past and it isn’t working now. Countries are fighting like my sister and I fought 70 years ago about who gets the little rocking chair for our dolls. My mother took a photo of us both holding onto that rocking chair, and the look on our faces is pure “MINE… you get away!!!” If looks could kill, Donna and I would be in Gaza, fighting over belief and land. So I ask, “Lord God, could we fast forward to the end of November; to the feast day of Christ the King; to the celebration of Advent when we look forward with candles to light the way of the Lord? Come Lord Jesus. We need you because we just can’t solve these problems ourselves. Come Lord Jesus.” … “OK. I’ll wait.”

I woke up this morning thinking about Alexei Navalny who is imprisoned in Siberia because he ran against the Russian government on a freedom ticket. While Navalny is imprisoned, and in danger of death, the people of Russia are silent. Do the Russian people believe anyone who runs against the Putin government is a criminal? Do they know what a dark fearful world they live in? Do they know how evil it is to hate the one who speaks what they don’t know, and to hate what they are told is evil? Do they know that their silence kills the good? Are we Americans bound to go the same way: hating what we don’t like or understand? Is our dark, carping, critical rhetoric as damaging as the rhetoric that keeps Navalny in prison?

What if I hate what a person does, or what he says and seems to support? I must fall on my face before God and ask “where are you in this? Is any of this Holy Spirit inspired?” I must be sure that what I hate, God would hate also. Maybe it’s best to pray for God’s will and pray that I’m not taking a human side in this battle we are in.

While repotting plants for the March Garden Club sale, I fall back on my heels and I think of what I have to do this week: find a substitute lector because we are going on a trip for Thanksgiving and on another trip to a cousin’s wedding, confirm a dinner date, make an appointment with a doctor, refill a prescription. This is a normal list of things to do. If you are like me, and you make lists, they might resemble mine. So: what’s on your list?

I’ll bet what’s not on your list is: forage for food and milk for the baby, find water for the family, wash and bandage filthy, infected wounds, find missing and possibly tortured family, find a way out of the hell of your country in a vicious war, avoid falling bombs and swinging machetes. These are tough times. Our government-issued danger list is colored bright orange moving toward red. Terrorism is a word close to people’s tongues. We worry what will happen in our neighborhoods and on our college campuses. I crouch now; my face is bent to the ground under the weight of the dead and mutilated in Israel, Palestine, and Africa … Dead children and men, mutilated mothers, missing family… and I wail once again: “Lord! God! Creator-Father, … Enough!” God answers, and yes, God answers, even though we hardly hear him; “I am here. Look up. See? Wait.” I look up. I shake my head. “Are you sure, God? What about the people stumbling around in bloody rubble? Mothers. Babies. What about the mutilations? This isn’t barbaric times, Lord. This is 2023!” “It isn’t your time,” He answers, “It is my Father’s time. It is the Creator’s time.” I thank God I have been taught about faith. I thank God our priest prays so faithfully for us, every day. Otherwise what would this Creator-Father look like but some mean one-eyed monster. Many believe that he doesn’t see or care. Many don’t believe in our Father-God. They wave bundles of sage to clear the air and chant mystic mumbled words in strange languages. Jesus reminds me, “Pray for the unbelievers. Bring them home. Go out and get them; you do the work. Pray. Wait. Don’t you know that the souls of the just are in the hands of God? Don’t you know that I will raise you up on the last day?” “Yes.” I say. “Yes.”

In 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote a proposal for solving a big problem of poverty and starvation of poor people in Ireland. His friends were aghast that he would suggest roasting young babies and small children to provide food for the starving and money for the parents who bear the delicious meat. Yes. He wrote that! I studied this essay as an example of satire. Today, I am thinking of a modest proposal for Gaza and I’m wondering why since the original partition took place, no one has come up with a solution. I hope we would recognize the need for a solution, but not eating small children.

In 1947, the United Nations drew lines to create a state for Israel and a state for the Palestinians who lived on the land that we call Israel. Today 2 million people are crammed onto an area the size of Washington DC… crammed into what one writer has called, “an open air prison.” When I pilgrimaged to the Holy Land in 1990 and 1991 I could not travel freely, and our Arab guide could not travel from Bethlehem into Jerusalem. I thought it was odd, but I was “an innocent” as many of us are. In the Gaza, 2 million people are on a piece of land totally separated from the West Bank which used to be called Trans Jordan. They are angry that they can’t get out of tall walls and gates. They can’t get to medical care in Jerusalem. They have nothing in the tiny enclave called “The Gaza Strip.”

So why don’t they move? Because no one wants them. Egypt and Jordan have denied passage. So we must rub our foreheads and woof a giant “Wow!” Their own Arab people won’t take them in. There must be a place over there in the West Bank bordering Jordan, Egypt or Lebanon for these people to settle. It will take a lot of money to rebuild a city for 2 million. Let these people live!!!!

My friend who helps me write and edit my work, Mike, asks “With so much violence and hatred, why do American citizens move to live in Israel ‘on purpose'”?   I answer with my own family story. My father wore out a record with songs by Irish lyric Tenor John McCormack who crooned a tune, “Sure, a little bit of heaven fell from out the sky one day, And it nestled in the ocean in a spot so far away And when the angels found it, sure it looked so sweet and fair They said suppose we leave it, for it looks so peaceful there…” My father, a first generation American, cherished the dream of “returning to Ireland.” He planted that idea in me and I did go and I loved it… “this is my homeland, I whispered in Shannon airport.” For my father, Ireland was heaven. To go there was the dream of his life. For the Jews who have survived for centuries reading the Old Testament stories of God’s promising them the land, Israel is “their country.”  They died for Israel with the word “Israel” on their lips. … Palestinians always lived there… farmers, many in tents, wandering to find grass for their herds.  For Jews, Israel is “the Biblical Holy Land.” The Old Testament tells the story of how God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants. While the Jews were in exile in Babylon and then later dispersed by the Romans who colonized the land (the dispersion called the Jewish diaspora) Jewish prayer was, “Next year in Jerusalem.” Jews wait in Jerusalem for their savior. “According to the Midrash, the earthly Jerusalem is the place where God will arrive even before reaching the heavenly Jerusalem. As the Midrash imagines God saying, ‘I will not come into the city of Jerusalem that is above until I first come into the city of Jerusalem that is below.’” (Dasee Berkowitz 2013) “By the rivers of Babylon, there we wept as we remembered Zion.” (Psalm 137)   The dream to return to Israel survived the Babylonian exile, the Russian Pograms, and the German Killing camps. For centuries, with Jews dispersed over Russia, Europe, and the regions of old mesopotamia, the Ottoman Turks controlled a great part of the middle East until the end of WWI when the Turks (some of modern day Turkey, Egypt, and much of what is southern Russia), who supported Germany, lost to mostly British fighters.  Some “countries” (Palestine has never been considered a country) gained independence in 1922 after WWI. Governing of the remnants (Palestine) passed to the League of Nations, and the League turned the governing of the Jews and Arabs remaining in Palestine over to Britain because Britain previously had control of or defeated the Turks in Egypt, Persia, India, Afganistan, Trans Jordan, the Sinai and more. There was no provision for the future of Palestine. Arabs were shepherds, they roamed the land, and many never set up “governments,” rather they were ruled for centuries by Sultans and kings who didn’t develop governments like the west did. With the British “Mandate,” attempts to set up a government with an Arab majority were soundly rejected and finally on May 14, 1948, as Britian pulled out, David Ben Gurian led the declaration of Israel’s independence. Jews declared Israel their homeland and the fighting began.

The Jews from concentration camps and from various hiding places in Europe traveled “home” towards Zion / Israel…Meanwhile the Temple mount has gone back and forth between Jews and Arabs: The Temple originally built by Solomon in 957BC and rebuilt under patronage of King Cyrus in 515BC was destroyed in 70 AD.  The Rock was taken by Arabs (Mohammed went to heaven from the rock in 691AD) and retaken by Jews in 1967. When I went to Jerusalem we were allowed to tour the holy site which was guarded by Jewish soldiers. Jews will not go any further than the western wall of the temple which is sacred to Jews. Meanwhile…. Jesus celebrated Jewish feasts in the Jewish Temple, and he was crucified, buried, and Resurrected in Jerusalem (actually outside the wall as crucifixions took place outside the Jerusalem walls). Queen Helena of Greece, Mother of Constantine, found the sites of the crucifixion and burial and built churches over them.  Those churches are shared by the Christian church as beloved sites in the life and death of Jesus. We also travel on pilgrimage to Nazareth and other sites written about in the Gospels.

So now, my dear Mike, why live in Jerusalem? Why Live in Israel? Each faith will answer according to their belief:  for me, I cherish the weeks I spent in the Holy Land… Because Jesus lived there. His blood was shed there.  Walking the streets of Jerusalem is the same for me as walking down the aisle of a church. Jesus walks here. This fervor is over 5000 years deep for Jews who will tell you Abraham walked up Mount Moriah with his son Issac. It is 2000 years deep for Christians.  Fight for Jerusalem? Yes. And Pray for Jerusalem. House of Peace. Peace in your heart Mike. 

Our church, Saint James, had a day of prayer yesterday for 24 hours. I went at 4pm to 5pm, and I went again at 7am until 9am this morning. I sat down and looked at God and I started to tell him everything that is wrong in this world that I worry and weep about… Then I zeroed in on who is fighting… mess of Kings, Shieks, Ayatollahs, old military men turned government leaders. Old men and women who hate each other. .. I was shouting at God because a mess of old mean, woman-hating men are fighting. Emphasis on mean and old. Then I realized. He knows. He knows. “They” have been killing for thousands of years in their meanness. I went back in my Bible to Cain and Abel, Babel, the Caanites and the Jebusites, David and Goliath, the Assyrians who dispersed Israel, and the ones who killed Jesus… they hated, and they killed him. Why would they be in power? I slid to a halt, and practically scrubbed the pages of John’s Prologue for my answer. Oh. He knows. He knows. Well then… and I proceeded to beg for my family. My sister who died away from the church.  My sister’s children who have rejected me. And I realized… He knows. He knows. Then, “me”. “Wait,” he said. But Lord, Bring me peace. Peace so I can love. Bring me peace so I can just Love.   So I put down my pen and I waited. Like he said. I just wait on the Lord.   

You God are Creator, Lover, Inspirer, Breath of Life (Ruah). If I could just touch the tassel on his cloak, the hem of his garment… if I could just touch his feet. I reach out my heart to him.

“The Jews” were an angry bunch. (John 1:19). As religious leaders, the Pharisees and Saducees did not do their jobs of taking care of the people. They hated and they encouraged hatred (of Samaritans for example) and of heritics. To the leaders, Jesus was a heritic, and he was to be hated. They killed Jesus and his followers to wipe them out, and still a small remnant of the children of God persisted. The situation didn’t and hasn’t changed.

So, I looked up at God and I said, “So how must I act? Wait, huh?” He said “Yes.” Wait on the Lord. Be the remnant; the small remnant of the children of God. Persist. Love, and make straight the way of the Lord.

I returned to church in the morning. I looked at the Lord. You, Lord know, and you love. I believe that. Now who are the people who today live in that narrow strip of land where the Philistines of Goliath lived? Starving, shivering, thirsty, sick, frightened. Their babies crying or dead too. … Do they know what the governments are doing? Could I escape if I were with them, or would I just shiver in fear next to them in what’s left of my home or in a blood-spattered street. Waiting… for the next barrage of missiles. I look to God, our Creator, and he answers me. “Wait.” Do the little bit that I can do. Ruth picked up bits of wheat left after the harvesters finished. A little bit for Naomi. A small insignificant action. Pick up the scraps and make a king. (For Ruth is the Grandmother of David). Pick up the scraps. Give the scraps to God, and make them work. No pushing! But… “It’s not your business,” says the Lord. “Just teach what is.” God is. In the beginning was the Word. Darkness was there and he did not eradicate it. Wait. I thank you Lord that you brought me to the church. To the Cross. To wait. There is nothing that I can do except to love. If the thing is within my venue then I may speak, but speak and let it go. God takes in the children that we destroy, but this is not my pain to bear. I am to love and to have hope. And to wait. God bless us.

Mount Rushmore! WOW!. As we walked up a lot of stairs in Mount Rushmore National Park, I looked up to see, George Washington! Then his 3 companions appear next to him. Carved out of granite, the 4 presidents govern over the Black Hills. The carving of Washington is amazing and very clear. The others are more rugged. I don’t think Washington wanted to govern… He was a general like Eisenhower. “Let me move people to win,” he might have said… And so today, let us all look up to George Washington and let us be inspired to win, and to prosper. We aren’t going to shut down… but we aren’t winning either. Let us love with wisdom! Let us love one another.

After we saw Mount Rushmore we drove to Crazy Horse. It isn’t finished as only one man carved for many years, and now the foundation he set up at the behest of the Native people, will not let the Federal Government help. Crazy Horse is all carved by the people of America. It’s taking a while… but it’s American people working on it. If only we spent so much fervor on our cities. Clean up the streets. Rebuild the burned buildings. Fill the churches. Take care of the babies and young women who think they can’t take care of babies. God touch us with wisdom to help others.

We have finished the bucket list items! Next on the schedule was to visit two friends whom we have known (all her life Rebecca Skipp) and Kyla Gehm (a dear friend whom we exchanged houses with in Clear Lake Iowa and Big Pine Key.) Kyla helped Chuck get over his confusion about his head injury by describing her own head injury and listening to him describe his fears and confusion. In their weakness, they helped each other. This year, Kyla is alone having lost her husband a few years ago. She cares for her daughter and her mother, and I hoped to see her and bask in her beautiful courage! BUT… we are going home.I started coughing a little on this trip. I remember I coughed some in Tucson in air conditioned rooms… Lately, in the wind of the monuments where the temperature was down in the low 40s, I coughed a lot. It finally hit with a vengence this last Friday… I coughed all day until Chuck looked at me with a little tilt to his head and said, “do I have to take you to the emergency room?” “NO!” I said, “I’ll be OK.” Well I do sound a little like I did when I went into the hospital with pneumonia in Kingman, Arizona. That night, as I lay uncomfortably coughing, I said, “I want to go home. OH NO!!!!” Many people said I wouldn’t last 4 months! I’m tired out, but we have seen so much. So I turned to Chuck, and I said, “You won’t like this, but I want to go home.” “OK!” said Chuck. Just that. It’s frightening to get sick. We don’t want it, but, as much as we try to be healthy, our bodies have some irregularities, some weaknesses, that are going to get us. So we are going home. I can see the Finget Lakes of New York another time… We will drive gently and look out at America. We will be inspired by the Great Missouri River and the Great Mississippi River as we cross over from West to East. I’ll be back home early! I’ll be able to help the Garden Club and the church ladies as soon as the coughing stops! All is well. Let us now turn and work on our government. Let us be kind to one another. Be sure you are registered to vote. Get out there and say what you want. Let your politicians know if you want Ukraine supported. Pray. Ask God to help us. Love this our country and love our neighbor. God bless us.

Every time Chuck and I do new amazing things, he says, “check that off your bucket list!” And I repeat to him… “I don’t have a bucket list.”

What do I yearn for? *To be an influencer. *To encourage and teach reading and thinking. *To laugh out loud.

Chuck’s wish: That I would get dressed so I could go for a walk to Craft Local … a bar (across the street from our hotel) with music and craft beers. This wish was said from under the covers we both plowed under after a late lunch and 5 hours on Montana roads. Chuck’s needs are simple. He never had a bucket list. He did what was in front of him, and he did things to make me happy.

Four years ago Chuck tried to show me the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park after a Panama Canal Cruise, but I got pneumonia, landed in the hospital in Kingman Arizona, and scared the willies out of the doctors by presenting with an ascending aortic aneyrysm. “Go home!” the emergency room doctor said! “Get to a BIG hospital where you can be treated by a thoracic surgeon.” “What’s that?” I asked, coughing, hard. Here we are four years later, fulfilling Chuck’s list of getting me to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but adding so much more!!!! We have added seeing Las Cruces, New Mexico (a wonderful small town near the border, artsy, mural strewn walls, festivals, a small Spanish village with a beautiful church.) The Tucson desert and the Biosphere where astronauts trained for a space station stay of 2 years. Tombstone (home of Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell)! Bisbee, a tiny copper mining town with great red pits of abandoned copper mines. Bisbee is home to the old “Copper Queen Hotel” which features in “Desert Heat” by J.A. Jance. I picked up the book in a quaint artsy book store in Bisbee…. It is a series about a murdered sheriff’s wife (the sheriff is murdered, the wife will solve it)… anyhow… we were there, and the story meanders between Bisbee and Tombstone. Never thought that I’d go there! “Been there, done that!” and it was wonderful. But I never thought about the four lovely towns before planning this trip. What am I? boring???? not a dreamer?

On this trip we remembered my Assumption student whom we haven’t seen in over 45 years… So I facebooked her and she answered with an address in a tiny town near Missoula, Montana. The little meander to Cathy’s house led us up to the Glacier National Park!!!! We did not do the edges of the 10,000 foot high mountains as edges scare me!!!! We drove around the park and it was wonderful. We are now headed for Mount Rushmore and the Bad Lands!!! more later.

I guess what I want is to know what you want to do? Have you thought about it? Done it? I am sad that I haven’t been an influencer. I was not able to give my nieces and nephews the kind of education and dreams I had… We were all too spread out, and I didn’t get along too well with my Sister, their mother, who is gone now. She passed away while we were on this trip. Without being too pushy, I help where I can with love. That’s all we can do, isn’t it. Pray and Love. God bless us; God help us to see his grandeur!

Everyone knows that water is scarce in America and everywhere now. Countries are failing due to desert incursion and Florida is experiencing salt water incursion. With more people moving in, who knows when Florida will get giant holes from soil erosion from underneath and salt water incursion? I realize this is rather grim to start with while I sit on the banks of a mighty river that has been dammed 5 times to provide electric power for a great deal of Montana. The Great River, the Missouri, flows out of the mountains of Glacier National Park. From the west she flows, dammed 5 times here in Great Falls alone, she flows into the Mississippi. The town we are currently visiting, Great Falls, marks in her history the words of the Missouri’s greetings to Lewis and Clark… Lewis said, “the river is too big, we have to find a way around it!” It is big and the land around it is glorious and huge. Today we drove out to the 5th dam and the land stretched out all around us – wheat fields for miles! As we drove, I wrote: “Wheat fields. How big! Plowed fields, stubble fields. Light brown for as far as I can see, and blue sky! Wind blowing cool in 83 degree mild heat. Open the windows and let the wind in!” “I wonder what this land was like 150 years ago before people dammed this river. It looks to me like another case of glacier water gouging out giant crevasses that now are filled with the Missouri river and those brilliant wheat fields. Were the roads horse tracks?”

I have to share my glee at driving through the beauties of America. For my friends who have never left home, or who weren’t blessed to be able to drive through Glacier National Park for example, I would like to describe America. On Sunday we left Stevensville, near Missoula Montana where I visited my student from Assumption Academy. We hugged goodbye and promised to keep reading and to keep singing! Then we entered Glacier National Park where … well, I can’t keep from singing! “O! my goodness! The rugged landscape is raggedy/aggedy. (There isn’t a word for it!!!! ) Awesome, beautiful, rugged, high mountains. All this used to belong to the Native Americans. They lived on the land, thanking their God… Then, the tiny United States bought the land from Louisiana. Yes, the Louisiana Purchase. And the Americans moved in. Now, the Continental Divide is just is a line between America and … America. We took it. Every Native American monument I see hurts my heart. O what we did. There isn’t any reparation and I’m not suggesting it. All I suggest is that we look at at our great land, and we try to keep her beautiful. She belongs to no one except to her God, our God who created. Be loving to our land, and Thank God.

I never knew cold until I traveled to Europe after Chuck and I travelled to Europe with friends from Barry University in Miami. I might have known cold before I was 2, but after that it was sandy beaches and palm trees in Miami! I remember sitting in my underpants in the sand, my little toes curled up and the water of the beach curling up and getting me wet! Hot, hurricanes, green grass. But wait! This trip has taken us through the sandy deserts of I-10 Texas to the deepest reaches of the Grand Canyon in her rosy splendor. The Grand Canyon is a massive, big crevasse that was carved (a long time ago… 14 million years ago?) by receeding water. The area is now water starved. Visitors are begged not to use too much water and not to touch the water in the toilets! Recycle is the name of the game. Our Grand Canyon 5 day visit rewarded us with many amazing rosy and golden views, art work painted on the rims, music played in the Shrine of the Arts… It was wonderful! Then we drove north to Kenab and the amazing Peek a boo canyon! Narrow pink sandstone is still carved by waters that rush through the canyon after a heavy rain. Tree trunks stick in the canyon walls, bourne into the canyon and stuck in the roof. “They’ll be gone after the next rain,” confidently said our guide. I’m looking up at a dark tree trunk stuck in the rust colored colored ceiling. “Wow!” I repeat, taking a clue from my Grand Canyon vocabulary. Mountains, 5500 feet deep canyons, pink rocks, rosy and golden rocks abound in the Grand Canyon area. Head north!

As we travel north, I imagine the woman out on the prairie. She gets out of that covered wagon and stretches out in the deep grass surrounded by nothing but grass, wind, and sun. Maybe a herd of Bison wanders by, their grand furry coats rustling with the wind. The woman is alone with her thoughts. Will Cather imagined the woman’s words and wrote them down in her novels. At the Grand Canyon, the flautist at the concert read from a Willa Cather novel… Imagine what the woman speaks!

As we drive north to Yellowstone, a green river accompanies us and fishermen in small open boats cast their lines into the muddy, cold rainy afternoon. Houses dot the hillsides and cows hang out on the sides of the hills. Old Faithful hisses and roars and gets us wet! The tetons touch the clouds. We sleep in a tiny cabin in the woods near giant Yellowstone Lake. We wrinkle our noses at the stink of sulfer at the mud volcanos and geysers, and we drive on, accompanied by Bison walking along the road with us! Leaving Yellow stone, we enter Montana, land of snow-topped mountains, and we drive along tiny country roads to visit my Assumption student Cathy Sholtens in a sweet farm area in western Montana. We start at the beginning when I taught the Assumption girls in 1974, and we come forward to the beautiful home Cathy and wife Becky have built. Two very happy black dogs stretch at our feet and welcome ear scratches. The girls help us plan the drive north to Glacier National Park. The journey continues.

In Kenab, north of the Beautiful Grand Canyon, we decided to see a Canyon called Peek-a-boo in Kenab. It is amazing… Multi colored rocks starting with pink and orange and multi layering into white… Like the Grand Canyon it was carved by water. The earth in this area was covered by water that went away with great force. Oh how I wished I had paid attention in science and geology to see this happen!!! Our guide showed us fish and snail fossils in the limestone! He showed us water marks and Earth Quake lines!!! I brought out 3 colored rocks. We decided to get ahead of a storm that is possibly coming with snow… We are headed for the great Park Yellowstone which is a giant bubbling future volcano. We are going to go see the Badlands!

I pray for our country as I watch the questioning of Merrick Garland…. My mind is on our natural wonders… but my heart is troubled by politically charged rhetoric. Our country is embroiled in jumping, rambling threats, and yelling… incensed by political anger. I pray that we settle down. Ask a question and wait for an answer. Get answers and believe what people say. God bless us.

Today we will move into the Grand Canyon. We will stay for 4 days while artists paint the beauty of the reds, oranges, browns, yellows and every color in between. This country of ours has amazing beauties, and the Grand Canyon IS AMAZING!!! but there is little water to sustain… We have driven through a lot of barren land… Any water there is, is buried underground. To me, the Colorado River, from a helicopter, looked small and sandy…. The helicopter guide/pilot said, “when the rains come, it will swell up and become blue and green again…” As we drove across Texas and New Mexico, I complained in my heart about the dry wasteland. I had hoped I would see cattle… but no!!! Just dirt. So if anyone says, “we have plenty,” we need to realize that, what we have left, must be husbanded. Remember the dust bowls… It could happen again.

I don’t see much news, but I am talking to Europeans who tell me that, if they look east, the war Russia is waging isn’t going to end soon. War to them, and it shouldn’t be, is like a fact of life. Pray, the big bear Russia stops thinking they can just “take.” We don’t talk about the internal war in the United States, but on my mind is a government shut down… I’ve heard about that and an impeachment on snippets and bits of news I hear. Please… Let’s build bridges and improve the highways! The interstate entering Texas from the east (I -10) is absolutely horrible… I do not think that is what Eisenhower meant when he established the interstate road system. Let’s stop fighting and get to work… together. My dears, after weeping over September 11, let us build America with love!!! God bless us!

We are runnin’ down the road, standing on corners… There’s a flat bed ford with a girl!!!! Well no girl at this time, but there was when Jackson Brown and Glen Frey wrote “Take it Easy” in 1971 and released it in 1972. Yes! We are in Winslow Arizona, a small part of route 66 is under our feet, and we’ve taken pictures of every mural in town! A beautiful 9-11 Memorial waits for a ceremony tomorrow. We are staying in town for that.

Chuck and I visited the 9-11 memorial yesterday in Winslow, Arizona. We stood in the shade under a lone tree and talked to a parks ranger and a corrections officer. As we talked of “where we were at 9:01 am on September 11”, corrections inmates had volunteered to replace some flags of the countries of the people killed in 9-11. Previously it was all American flags, but there were people of many origins killed in the atrocities of 9-11. Flags fill in squares representing the two towers, the Pentagon, the field at Somerset County, Pa where flight 93 crashed… Chuck and I have visited the field of flight 93. There was a pregnant lady killed, so her unborn baby is a 9-11 angel also. Pray that hating and killing stop. Pray that the killing “stops with me”. When I see someone of whom I don’t approve due to his progressive evil attitudes, or his conservative evil attitudes, or his religious belief, let me remember he is my brother. He is made by God; child of God. If he’s gone astray, well there was a time I went astray also. Did that make me evil? I pray not.

Last night we watched the University of Miami play football. YES! Football has begun! A UM player, Kam Kinchens, was hit and lay still on the ground. The entire stadium stood. I read this morning that he is OK. A hair’s breadth harder hit or twist might have had horrible results. After the trauma… he will be OK! Despite football rivalries; despite bad things that might have been done to us by certain schools, despite our grievances, I pray we love. Just enjoy the game! Try to teach good. God bless us! Have a good weekend dear friends.

This Sunday morning Chuck and I were up at 5am to get ready to drive friends Rick and Penny down to Tucson airport. When we got back to the hotel, I met with a convention person who was holding two presents that I won yesterday, and then Chuck and I sat down in the lobby to have coffee. Chuck said, “What time am I taking you to Mass?” I said, “not going…” I examined the computer for a Mass after 9am but couldn’t find a nearby church or a 9am Mass. Why, that was not acceptable! so Chuck said, “Tim, can you help us?” The guy who parks cars and is a wonderful source of what’s what and where, was passing by. He slid into a chair next to us and asked, “What can I do for you?” “We need a Catholic Mass,” Chuck said, do you know of any nearby? “Of course!” Tim volunteered, I’m Irish Catholic from birth!” He whipped out his cell and found St Elizabeth Ann Seton, “Not too far from here. Mass at 9am.” I was astounded. They were not on my search. Chuck bundled me into the truck and I walked in to another beautiful church. “Angels?” you ask? Referring to the title…

Every day, we are surrounded by angels. They are whisking around, trying to help us. If we don’t believe in them, or don’t want to do the right thing, the angels can’t help us. Is Tim an angel? No, but he’s letting his angels guide him to help me.

Speaking of helping others… the first reading today is from the Book of Jeremiah (chapter 20). God chose Jeremiah to preach when he was very young. “Oh no, not me,” he said to God, “I’m too young. Nope, can’t.” Sound familiar? The Lord wouldn’t take no, and delivered a “You-Me small-Great” type speech, and the Lord sent Jeremiah off to preach. But his own people couldn’t stand his words, and they ended up throwing him in a well, and, according to some commentators, his own people killed him. The message of the Book of Jeremiah is that we must do what God asks. Speak out! Speak of the love of God. How will the little ones know if we don’t speak? We must spark the love of God in people with words of love. Now, I have a friend who once told me, “All you talk about is, ‘love love love!'” I was shocked at his words because, what else is there in Jesus’ teaching? He didn’t turn on his killers who gave him horrible injury. “Father, forgive them.” “Love one another.” I usually try to let Jesus do the talking. A few days ago, the Gospel talked about Jesus really letting the Pharisees have it…”You hypocrities! Taking all the good, and not teaching the little ones.” Our priest today ended with some amazing words, “Let your lips, stained with the love of Christ (the Eucharist you receive here) speak God’s words.” “Lord of all gentleness… give us Peace in our hearts.” Angels with us!

Yesterday in the lobby of our hotel in Tucson, a woman dressed in a beautiful Native American Jacket played a big wooden wind instrument. Plaintive music filled the lobby. I was drawn to her Native American Spirit!  She was beautiful! Later, a man took over the piano and played Navy songs!  “Anchors away, my boys!!!”  We have a great heritage. Let us thank God for our lives here in America. Let us not say our country is evil and dying as some people do, let us not hate… rather let us take care of each other no matter what political beliefs are. Rather, let us use the power within us to save and bolster our country, with Love. 

I was brought up in Miami… I lived my young married years in the Keys… Big Pine Key … We spent a lot of time in Key West surrounded with Jimmy Buffett music. My friends and I sang Keys music and loved Jimmy. Today he is “another one gone…” Let us rock to the music and believe in the magic and beauty of God’s beautiful creation… He was only 76 at his death. When I hear of a death like this… I say, “He was young!” When I say this, people look at me… gray and scar-faced and they think, “What does she know about young?” Maybe it is the young at heart years we lived. While my boyfriend was in the Navy, on a submarine, “deterring war”, I was engaged in reading literature and loving California dreamin’, flowers, protests of the Viet Nam war, oh dear! We lived through assassinations that scarred our hearts… and we had to survive.  Now I beg and pray that people love and try to be happy.  Today I tell sailors how proud I am of them, how much I love their patriotism, and how much I love our country.  God bless us. Lift up your hearts and say… God job America. Thank God.

From my patio here in Tucson I see cactus, sand, and orange flowers. I was worried the other day coming across lower Texas and New Mexico that all I would see is brown dirt… and I’m getting used to it. Today we will visit the Sonoran desert. Two days ago we saw the “bone fields” where unused airplanes are preserved in the desert dryness, but I saw rust on those beautiful old planes. Yesterday we went to a presentation of a new memorial that is still in the building/planning stage… The USS Phoenix will be preserved in downtown Phoenix as a memorial to Cold War submariners. The Phoenix was commissioned in 1981 and taken out of service in 1998. She has been cut into parts… and her parts are already rusting. The memorial presenter said: the goal of the memorial is to teach the youth of America about the Cold War when we tried to deter and prevent nuclear war. He said: “we did our job!” submarines patrolled the deep and stayed in hiding. The goal of the submarine secrecy was to keep “the Soviets” from knowing where we were so they wouldn’t “start anything.” A lot happened towards keeping the peace during the Cold War: NATO was founded, the Berlin Air life, the Cuban missile crisis, The Warsaw pact. Our Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps grew. We held off war “with the Soviets.” But can we continue? The submarine parts are rusting from the inside out… Even the dry desert can’t preserve “things” from rusting….

Can we hold off war in a time when nature is rusting our memorials from the inside out? I am one person smiling and talking, praying for peace while war rages in many hearts. Real hate rages as “the right” calls the “left” “evil,” and the right… remains silent to some extent. I put the words in quotes because, to me, the words do not represent reality. Rather the words are labels. I think we are all human beings, children of God. Trying our best in very small ways to preserve peace. May the Peace of the Risen Christ be with us today. God bless us.

This is a test of creating a post with a picture.

At the beginning of a new paragraph, Type / and then select Image. Then click on Upload. Find the photo on the computer. Either double click on its filename, or single click then click on Open. Wait until the spinning wheel stops while the file is being uploaded from the computer to the blog server. When the spinning wheel stops and the picture shows up clear in the post, you’re done. To add more text below the picture, click on the + below the right corner of the picture and select Paragraph. To add another picture, click on + and choose Image. Click on Publish to make the post live. Have fun. Once you’re done learning how to do this, on the right side of the vertical menu, next to Visibility, click on Public. Click the circle next to Private. A pop-up will ask if you want to Privately publish the post, click on OK. Now you and I can still see it (because we’re Administrators) but the public won’t see it. Have fun.

I guess this sounds silly, but I do love to play with little kids in church… Today, in a beautiful small basilica in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a family of pregnant mom, dad, young girl (about 8 years old?) and 3 boys (maybe 8 to 2 years old) moved in next to me at church. For some people this might have been a reason to move, but for me it was an “oh my gosh how cute” moment, and “oh my goodness, she’s pregnant again?” I moved my large new straw hat with flowers that Chuck bought for me at the market to give room to mom, and one little boy instantly took an interest in the flowers on the hat. I showed him the flowers stitched into the straw and then proceeded to pay attention to the readings. As the homily was winding down, I handed my journal and pen over to the little guy and showed him I meant it is OK for him to draw on it. He proceeded to draw a big careful circle, another circle… a few things that looked like feet…. not sure. I figure him at about 4 and he had amazing control of that pen. I took the journal back and wrote “Beautiful” and his mom wrote, “a tractor by Max.” A tractor? OK so the boys are farmer’s children? Good big round tractor. Children just need to be played with. Meanwhile… this reminds me of the need to care for little ones… On 3 separate days, I have rescued 2 small beatles and a small spider from the pool I was swimming in. The beatles and the spider were sitting stunned in the water in front of me, and, wondering if I might get bitten, I scooped them up and walked over to the edge of the pool. Dump them on the pool deck and say, “shoo, you are OK!” The spider was the funniest. He lay still and then he began shaking out his legs, one, two, three, etc. Finally, all dry, he made his first jiggly step, and he was off. Just a little hand up from a bigger friend is all the little ones need. I’m off to the pool now. It’s a sunny day in Las Cruces. God bless us.

I was just writing to a friend that I can’t believe we will be out on the road for 4 months!!!! Today we left Fort Stockton, Tx and drove west through flat, brown, dusty, barren land… no cows, no planted fields… and landed 4 hours later in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The land in Texas is flat, and then suddenly El Paso raises her head with expressway interchanges! We saw amazing tight expressways like this in San Antonio also… Actually Interstate 10 is the old trail between San Antonio and El Paso with Forts along the way (like Fort Stockton and Fort Davis) to provide protection for travelers and settlers. So we drove… OUT of Texas and into New Mexico. The hotel is somewhat old but the rooms are large and there is a pool! We drove around Las Cruces looking for a lunch place on a map we got from the front desk. Everything on the menu had green chiles! “Ah”, I thought, “Patience… there must be something without chiles.” There was: mac and cheese with grilled sirloin. OK can do. The air conditioning quit on the way back to the hotel! There is a Chevy dealership next door to the hotel so we unpacked into our room and off Chuck went to the dealership. Today is Friday… maybe it will be finished tomorrow (Saturday). One learns patience on vacation! Tomorrow will take a lot of patience!

How many of us have the chance to just “hang out, relax, and enjoy each other’s company.” Chuck and I drove into Stockton and I did an evaluation of where we are and when we are due in Tucson… “We have time!” I mused… We need to find a place to “wait”. The hotel we found has a nice pool, good breakfast, clean rooms… the “town” is quaint with a Catholic church with daily Mass, 2 barbeque restaurants, … and 3 saloons! Oh boy! Last night, we found an old time saloon with barrels holding up a lovely bar. We drank a Texas-made wine and enjoyed it. Chuck enjoyed a big fat Texas cigar! We decided to enjoy one more day before getting back on I10 and heading for Las Cruces.

At daily Mass the priest looked around before starting, he leaned over the altar and pointed at me! “Hello,” he said. “You are visiting, yes? Welcome! Tell us about yourself.” I stood up and introduced myself, “Sue Peabody, Lake Placid Florida, grateful you are having daily Mass! Moving on to Tucson!” They clapped!!! It’s the second time I’ve been welcomed at church with applause. Church goers welcome new friends! Jesus is waiting for us. He is even holding dinner for us! And… We get a daily totally non-political message. Yesterday, the Gospel reading was about the farmer who paid his workers, whether they started at 9am or at 5pm… the same wage. Some of the early workers complained, “but we worked a long time and those guys only worked one hour!” The priest left the podium and walked to the pews, “God’s justice is different from ours! Are we envious and jealous? Accept the new faith Jesus offers… Give up old ways. Throw away old idols. Those who have been Baptized early in life struggle to “stay clean”, but late bloomers don’t have to struggle! Sometimes they get baptized and then they die, “hired at the last minute.” God gives the gift of heaven to his children all the same! even those hired at the last minute.” Stop grumbling and “Thank God.”

Finally, my friends! Entering a church is a lot like entering a room and “choosing your spot.” I sat to the left, but I was in an air conditioning draft so I moved to the right side … In the seat back with the prayerbooks was a small slip of paper. I picked it up and it read: “Let my gardens speak for me when I am gone. Let them speak in colored whispers of all the beauty I have seen, and felt, and lived. Let them speak of my seasons of growth (watered by Emmaus retreats) and seasons of abundance. Let the fragrant blooms speak of my life and its greatest lesson: that the beauty we make never dies.” God bless us!

Sunday morning on the road can be a challenge because… it’s the Lord’s day and Church is an obligation. I woke up early thinking about 9am Mass down in Pascagoula at St Peter the Apostle church, but I’m also aware of the need to drive ‘all day’, and who is driving. When I arrived at breakfast at 7:30, Chuck almost fell off his chair. Then he said, “Since we are getting such an early start, why don’t you go to 9am Mass and we will leave from there?” Isn’t the intervention of the Holy Spirit wonderful? When I entered that wonderful little church, I stood in the back and said, “Thank you Jesus!” For what? for getting me up at 7:00am? For being here? For an early 9am Mass? For this sweet church? For Chuck willing to “wait” while I go to Mass?

When has the Holy Spirit made things happen for you? You would like something to happen, but it’s a real “ask” of your partner to change a schedule, a destination, an anything… These “asks” can be hard for us, and we don’t think we can do it, but the Holy Spirit just intercedes. The little church in Pascugula was beautiful. I’ll bet 20 people greeted me. Visitors were asked to stand up and introduce themselves, and then the church family clapped and said welcome! People came to me after Mass and asked me to join this or that group! Very touching! “Thank you, but I’m westward bound!” Ask the Holy Spirit to help you on your journey!!! and say, “thank you God!”

Today we traveled 333 miles west in under 5 hours. Right after Tallahassee I started looking for “a place to stop” and I settled on Pascagoula. Ever get a taste for seafood? Well, this is the place! When we checked into the hotel we asked where we should go for seafood… “Bozos” was the answer! We ate enough shrimp, oysters, crabs, clams, and oysters to feed a large family! Now there is shrimp in our little refrigerator and I’m offering to make a shrimp sandwich for Chuck’s lunch. So goes day 2!!! I swam in a HOT pool under the equally HOT sun! I plan to find a Catholic church with an early Mass to go to before we take off west tomorrow. This is a lot easier than the wagon trains had it! God bless our fore families who made this trip on foot, horseback and wagon. Thank God they did it! Sleep well dear reader!

Day One of the Great American Peabody Adventure and what a fun time we have had so far! 302 miles in a little over 4 1/2 hours and we landed in Madison, Florida on Interstate 10. Standing at the check-in counter, I craned my neck to spot it! Yes! The pool! 95 degrees on the thermometer and a big blue pool. Hurry, hurry to the beautiful room! Change into my bathing suit and out the door to the pool. No hesitating here… Ah! a giant outdoor bathtub. It was actually cooler than 95 degrees I guess. I walked down the steps into the water, scanned the blueness, and I headed for the deep end and the shade. As I wallowed against the wall in about a foot of shade, with my back to the sun and a water jet caressing my lower back in 5 feet of cool water, it came to me what I did when I entered the pool. I scanned for depth and shade. I thought about what some of us do when we enter a new room: Do you seek the back wall and put your back to it, where you can see the door? Do you seek an air conditioning vent, or steer clear of all vents? Do you seek a quiet spot or a noisy spot? I thought about some of us always in the same place at church… Do you seek the right or left? Front or back? Do you stand and see where the A/C is blowing? For me, at St. James, it is to the right facing the altar about the 3rd row back. Since I got to Saint James, I have moved from the left side to the right. I think I can hear better over there…. What does it mean?

After my little pool exercising, we went into town and ate the Friday night special fish buffet at O’Neals. Ah! Catholics have a sway… how many fish fries are on Friday? There was a table with about 10 very happy ladies right behind us! (Chuck said, “it’s the Garden club”). I mean those ladies were laughing and telling stories and both waiters talked with them about “grandma!” Madison is a small town where everybody knows your grandma so you better behave!!!! Oh my goodness… After a plate full of grits, corn, sweet potato, ribs and chicken (oops I skipped the fish)… I headed for the cobblers. I missed the banana pudding. As we left, I nearly dragged Chuck back, as I shouted, “they have banana pudding!” Chuck rushed me out, pulling his ball cap lower on his face (big city boy style)…. We are now ready to finish our first day in our room with wine and a movie. It’s early yet… God bless us and you. Celebrate your happy day!!!

I have been honored to know some really good people in my life and Janet is one lady I’m thinking is having a good time with God right now! Janet’s family home was in the house next door to our house in Miami at Westwood Lake long before I moved in. She married and moved not far from her family home, but she returned often to swim with her children in the lake behind our houses. Janet was pregnant with one of her children at the same time her mother and her sister were pregnant. The 3 pregnant ladies played in the lake where Janet’s brother and I later played and had long talks as adults. It’s a kooky story, but my friend Mike is one of those “late pregnancies” that surprised everybody! When Chuck and I moved into the house next door, Janet had already lost her husband, Whitey, and she had moved away. Whenever I saw Janet we had such wonderful, funny, happy conversations about “the past.” Life was good, and we had nothing to complain about. I never heard a negative word from Janet. God blessed her with a sunny, beautiful personality. Janet passed away recently at age 84 after a battle with Alzheimers that saddened all of us. To watch the light slowly go out on a happy life is a slow, lingering grief. God blessed Janet with a quiet death this week.

Janet’s short life makes me wonder: What is a life well lived? It is a life spent thinking things before us are good things. Flowers are meant to be treasured and sniffed, not trampled. Clouds are meant to be clapped over, because clapping keeps the rain away. Puppies are to be cuddled, and children are to be read to. Mean-spirited people are to be shivered at and given to God. People are to seen as God’s children. All of the people, even the ones we disagree with so strongly, are God’s creations. Thank you Janet for teaching me to clap!

This is the beginning of a four month Odyssey around the United States! Celebrating the interstate road system, we will begin at almost the beginning of Interstate 10 in Lake City, Fla and travel across the bottom of the US to Tucson. This first part of our trip will be a relaxing drive across country. I hope to find good hotels every 270 to 300 miles, relax in a warm pool, eat a good meal, and sleep in a clean bed every night. Repeat. I think our whole first leg will be in desert country, ending in Arizona which I always think of as “Arid Zone.” Chuck and I are not looking forward to the heat, but our goal is a submarine convention in a large (cool) hotel in Tucson. I have warned our friends that they will not see us for 4 months! That’s a long time to be gone from home, but this trip can’t end until we witness a cousin’s wedding in Springfield, Massachusetts on December 9, 2023. We can’t get homesick and go home before December 9 because we have the wedding! So stick with me… I’ll describe the United States as I have gleefully described what we have seen before on our trips. So… sign in occasionally for this wild, “Where’s Susie?” trip.

I am sitting at the dining room table that is covered, not with plates for a lovely tea, but with paper that will help me to put the last year together for Chuck to begin to “do our taxes.” In the past, the job was much more complicated. We had 4 rental houses and jobs, now, we are “retired” with only one rental house and mortages paid to us. All I have to do is go through the expenses and list everything we spent to see how Chuck and Uncle Sam are going to communicate. This time of reckoning also involves reckoning the checkbook… With Chuck as the master financial guru in this family, my checkbooks must balance. So I sit down about this time and spend a few hours…. finding the “offs”. So I want to know… how come 6 + 7 doesn’t equal 9? pooey!

I have been coming into a new way to argue lately. It involves asking someone… “just who are those democrats you want to eliminate? Is it 50% of the population? Isn’t that the same thinking Hitler and Stalin used to eliminate Jews, Cossacks, Muslims?” A friend actually argued, “well, it isn’t 50%; there are independents.” Wow. I’m just saying… And another person said, “those people who moved to Florida for lower taxes, but speak out against DiSantis…. they should leave!!!” So… I ask, “who are they…’those people’?” All of them? Whoever they are. Isaiah wrote in chapter 58: “the Lord will answer if you call for help, and he will say: ‘Here I am! If you remove from your midst opression, false accusation and malicious speech… then light shall rise for you in the darkness.'” I’m all for the light folks! I choose light. So I’m a little voice occasionally asking… “do you really want to eliminate anyone like in the past?” God bless us!

Good morning dear gentle readers! Today I remember Waaaaay back to the Team of the 1980s. The University of Miami. Bernie Kosar, redshirt freshman, took over the team when Jim Kelly separated his shoulder. Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson made us National Champions. Miami went on to win 5 National Football Championships and put many young men into the National football leagues. Chuck and I went to New York to watch Miami play the first game of the season in Giants stadium. I saw Schnellenberger and Jim Kelly standing near a team bus, and I ran up and hugged Jim Kelly!!! Those were the days my friends! We werecrazed fans! My girl friend Bonnie and I still text all the way through UM football games, and now, last night, I texted through another football game with young men jousting for a National Championship, but it was Paula I texted with, our young man is Patrick Mahomes, and the men were young, but I am not. Oh dear. Oh well, memory is fun. Enjoy!

My dear readers! It has been almost a year since I wrote! Have you heard of a broken heart? I think I lost “it” when on January 6 the United States Capitol was stormed and some of my “friends” said that it was unfair that people were being arrested for the attack and the breaking and violence January 6 represented. It was heart breaking, and to this day I have to leave meetings when people say they “can’t wait for a regime change so the innocent attackers can get out of jail.” Then on 24 February, Russia attacked Ukraine and it was more than my heart could bear. Today finally I can write. …

It’s almost Valentines Day, and I’m moved to pray for Babies. My friend, Sandy Rosch (Treasurer of the Garden Club), has a very sick grand baby. He had a hurting ear… it developed into a BIG ear infection that has gone to the brain. He has had a surgery to open up the ear canal, drain the infection, and remove blood clots  His 5 doctors are working to determine what the infection is and treat it appropriately. Little Leo James Rosch is 2 years old.  Sandy reports that her daughter in law hasn’t eaten since the baby became seriously ill. I was with Sandy as she made and received phone calls and spoke with her son out in Arizona. This was a pain right in front of me that led me straight to prayer. I thought, my friends have been there. You have had sick babies. Like my mother, some of you have lost babies. You know what it is to cling to the cloak of Jesus as you lay on the floor weeping. “If only I could touch the hem of his garment.”  Lord, I pray, bless babies who are in trauma and in exile. Bless babies in the rubble of this world, Ukraine, Syria, Turkey. God bless the babies. 

In the Gospel of St. Mark (7:31), Jesus healed a deaf and speechless man: What did Jesus say when he looked up to heaven and he groaned? Was it a prayer to his father?  Was it… “Father, heal this little one. I love him. Let him be healed so he can hear your word, and then speak it?”  I pray, Let us all be healed. Let us hear the word which that God spoke in Genesis 3, “I do not expect you to know what I consider good or evil…  You don’t need to know…  Just Love. Listen (let your ears be opened and listen). We can not know what is evil. We cannot judge.”  Listen to God tell us “Love.” Ask God to clear out our infection, our deafness, our confusion… Lord let us be OPEN! “Ephphatha!”

The original Good Friday was awful. A man was beaten horribly, spat upon; a circle of thorns thrust into his scalp. Forced after the beating and torture to carry a cross up a hill to Golgatha, outside the city walls where criminals wer hanged, nailed or tied up, to stay there for days. To be the example to others not to “do the same thing.” But what evil crime did he commit? He loved us.

My dear gentle listeners. Many have questioned my desire to attend daily Mass, and quite honestly! I enjoy the time with Jesus! Well today was no exception! I was blessed to hear our visiting priest Monsignor Mark’s homily. At a certain point I wanted to "rewind to hear it again!!!!" But all we have are my measly notes, taken as he spoke. He spoke about John 8:21 and Numbers 21 wherein the serpant was raised on a stake to save sinning Hebrews, and Jesus said he too would be lifted up to save sinners. The church links these two readings just before Easter to point out the intimate connection between the Old Testament and the fulfillment by Jesus. Monsignor spoke of a man who opposed war in Nazi Germany and died for his resistance. Dietrich Bonhoeffer died by hanging in a German prison camp. He answered the Jewish questioning, "Where is God?" by pointing to a young man being hanged by Germans… "he is here." Where we find Jesus is not pleasant to look at. But Catholics look at the Crucifix. Jesus affixed to the Cross in often bloody fashion. Where we see suffering and innocence killed by sinners who kill innocence, there we find God. Then Monsignor Mark quoted a prayer Pope Frances recently prayed, composed by Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples:

Lord Jesus, born under the bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, dead in the arms of a mother in Kharkiv, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, in the 20-year-olds sent to the frontline, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, who continues to see hands armed with weapons under the shadow of the cross, forgive us, Lord.

Forgive us if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hand, we continue to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons.

Forgive us if these hands that you had created to protect have been turned into instruments of death.

Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother. If we continue like Cain to take the stones from our field to kill Abel.

Forgive us if we go out of our way to justify cruelty, if, in our pain, we legitimize the cruelty of our actions. Forgive us the war, Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, we implore you to stop the hand of Cain, enlighten our conscience, let not our will be done, do not abandon us to our own doing. Stop us, Lord, stop us, and when you have stopped the hand of Cain, take care of him also. He is our brother.

O Lord, stop the violence. Stop us, Lord. Amen.

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During these weeks before Easter we are encouraged to think about our beliefs and feelings about what we choose and what we do. We read in the Book of Jeremiah that Jeremiah was thrown into a deep dry well to die because he wouldn’t worship false gods…. in Daniel a dictator threw Hebrews into a furnace when they refused evil ways; a lady named Susanna would rather die than give in to lusty old men. …Daniel and Jeremiah summarize: "It is better for me to fall into a pit without guilt than to serve false gods."

During Lent, we are asked to think about our false Gods: hedonism, disbelief of Scripture, immorality, love of money, to the exclusion of helping others. Is it better to give up false gods than to sin before God? It is better to become Fire! May you realize the Holy Spirit is working very hard to get you to listen to Him! He is the Spirit of God and he wants your trust. Sunday is Palm Sunday! We still have time! God bless us!

It begins with rudeness, criticism, labeling, and disrespect, and it grows into meanness because it is unchecked. It is the kind of behavior where we speak exactly whatever we are thinking without checking our conscience at the door. It is behavior that clearly shows our disrespect and it hurts. What can we do to stop behavior that hurts for it does hurt? We can speak up. We can say, "that hurts." We can ask the speaker to check his or her words. Last evening, a friend made several disparaging remarks and quoted me some "facts" about the compentency of the President of the United States, whom he calls, "your president." What? not our President? I said, "that is not polite!" To me, as I said it, my answer sounds weak… What is polite? It is having the "good manners" to show respect… That seems to be gone from our culture that has turned to distinct labeling, saying, "you are a "XXX" and I am not, therefore, because I think "XXX" is crap, I can be rude." We hurt those who disagree with us, and the most I can come up with is "that is not polite"?

I cringe at the words because I’m not made up to criticize , in public, anyway. Oh I’ve had some awful thoughts, but it’s between me and my conscience, and I apologize a lot to God because the Bible tells me that God loves his creation and I’m sitting here saying, "OH God how can you love "X" person?"

So I pray and tell my friends, we have a vote every 4 years. I remind my friends "We the people" wrote the original words. And that includes me. I take on the responsibility for the sins we have committed and for the glories we have accomplished because I am an American. We the people wrote the words and fought for the freedoms we have that are backed by old fashioned values. Over the years, "We the people" have done some awful things, like slavery and assassinations; neglect of the poor, abortion, and I take that on as mine too because I am an American. Yes we did that, now let’s clean up our act. Pull together, Quote Peace. Quote Love. How many people believe in God and that God loves them? "He lifts infants to his cheeks and bends down to feed them" (Hosea 11.4). He has our name written on his hands (Isaiah 49:16)… He is so close… I hope a lot and I hope that people like me realize what is it like for God to love our hearts and our lips when ugliness pours out of our hearts and lips? Is it acceptable to insult and injure? Does God like to be near my lips and heart when insult and injury reside there? I apologize to my Lord for the words and thoughts that pour out of our minds, lips, and hearts. While the Lord’s lips are on my cheeks am I offering him clean lips and clean heart? God bless us.

Listen my dears! If you want to feel, I mean really FEEL, for 2 hours and then… feel really good… watch a new film called "Rescued by Ruby." It’s on Netflix. Made for 2022. I don’t have Netflix, but I watched it at my niece’s with her sweet husband Fred and her 2 rescue dogs, Finn and Zeke. What a heart-filled film!

I spent about 10 days with my sister Sarah, niece Jennie and her husband Fred, and 2 dogs, Finn and Zeke. What fun we had. I started painting on canvas again, and I felt "on vacation" and free. It’s the "I don’t have to make my bed if I don’t want to" kind of feeling we get when we stay in a hotel! Sarah and I sat outside every afternoon and shared memories of our lives… When the 2020 election was at its height I asked my sister her political leanings. In 2019, I am sure many of us were questioning who we would vote for. Sarah asked me who I would rather listen to and see if a big tragic event took place. Would I want to see bluster and ranting? or would I be comforted by a fatherly figure assuring me there are plans in place to protect us; that we have a fine military force trained and in place to protect us. I felt as I watched President Biden speak to the troops, that an astute fatherly figure is taking care of me.

President Biden spoke to the American troops in Poland on Friday March 25. The troops, "82nd Airborne" are serving the US in the NATO force. President Biden told the gathered men and women that they are (paraphrase): "The finest fighting force in the history of the world. This generation will make a difference between Democracy and our democratic values and Autocracy and their totalitarian ways. We are at a crossroads! We have a sacred obligation to equipping those we send to war and taking care of their families." … The world is looking to the United Staes for Peace. I say "the world" and maybe it is "the Western World" who looks to the US for peace. We didn’t do too well in Afganistan… or VietNam… or Iraq. We can’t change everyone, but we can make a difference for those for whom English is their second language and many of them have relatives in the United States. In the church we are dedicating Russia and the Ukraine to our Blessed Mother, Mary. We ask Mary to pray for the fighting forces and for peace. Ukraine is claiming they have knocked Russians back, but Russia is claiming they have bombed fuel and ammunition caches. Each side is fighting: Ukraine fighting for their lives, and Russia fighting for a border on the water. Russia is landlocked except for the frozen reaches of the North sea… Let us hope Ukraine can hold on to their border on the Black Sea. Lord, Let the Russian soldiers lay down their weapons and "see" "this is an unjust conflict." God bless us.

Happy Sunday morning dear gentle readers!!!  Today we make a lot of prayer about our European friends: My prayer is not for death… but it is for knocking a bad guy off his horse… I think as soon as the world kicks Putin’s butt out of Ukraine,  Ukraine will need all kinds of experts in rebuilding! It is an opportunity for out of work Americans to volunteer to rebuild.  So I’m waiting for the news that Putin’s butt got kicked!!!  I hope God thinks that is a good prayer! St Michael knock him off his high horse and into a pit of mud.  OOOOO Putin, all muddy and stuck.

Today CBS Sunday morning celebrated comedy (Sandra Bullock) and music. Oh what fun both can be. The music made my soul soar. I wish I could sit at the piano and make trills and pounding crescendos!!! If you play a musical instrument, go and play! or make cookies! Enjoy a beautiful musical day and pray for Ukraine and our sick friends who need comfort and courage. Amen.  Have a sunny Sunday!!!!

Hello dear listeners. I can’t find a Biblical or Poetic quote for "Words lie heavy on my heart," but I didn’t make up the phrase either. My mind is full of desire to speak out to Putin… but what can I say? What can we say? "Stop it you big bully. Or…." "Or what?" he snears as he turns on me with dead eyes… Yesterday we pondered "What can we do?" I have wondered that for a few years as I wish I could make a difference and stop the "talk and name calling" that our country has descended into. I am called various names that I find offensive as I don’t call myself anything except, "Child of God." But others want to label. Others say, "You are Woke, Karen," (Whatever that means!)… or "You are liberal." Again, whatever that means. Today I am awake, thank God after a long night of talking to myself and making up stories in my head. I try not to do that, using phrases a sleep therapist once said, "This isn’t happening NOW!… Go to sleep!" But the story telling in my mind all just continues. We are supposed to get up and read or write when this happens, and my sister Sarah said, "Didn’t you pray?" Unfortunately I did not… I did however make up some plans I would like to send to our President for how to stop the war in Ukraine… Again, Sarah tells me, "I don’t make plans for others." Oh dear, what’s a fellow to do?

Yesterday and today in Mass, the readings were very clear: A rich man whom the Lord punished for his selfishness wants a drop of water from a man he ignored. "Just a drop." "No," says Abraham. "God sent the prophets to give you water, and you rejected it. You did not help anyone when you were alive; you rejected the laws of the prophets." We sputter, "But, we miss seeing the poor and the suffering; we are too busy ‘getting and spending.’ We have agendas, things to do, rules of politics." Whatever… (see Jeremiah 17 and Luke 16). "But they are not the rules and things of God." says Jesus. A lot of people don’t believe in the future because we can’t see (beyond our noses.) Today we read the story of Joseph thrown into a dry well and then sold down into slavery into Egypt by his brothers. "That’s a terrible story," my sister says. "Yes it is an awful story," I ruminate. It’s exactly what man has done since Cain and Abel. Wow we are a loathsome bunch. How does a human being dare to enslave and mutilate other human beings? And believe me, we mutilate with knives and our tongues both equally. Every day we listen to the Good News (Gospel) say, "love one another; pray for your enemies."… about Joseph, "You (Joseph’s brothers) meant your actions for evil, but God turned it into Good. You reject the cornerstone, but God turns it into good." Look out and up! The blue sky, maybe no flower buds yet! but the promise of flower buds, and Thank God!

My step father Jack Harlan used to ask this question when we girls, daughters of Jack’s beloved second wife Grace, would ask…. "Jack, what do you think…?" He was so concerned about not hurting our feelings and not stepping on any toes. We are three sisters of great difference, all carrying our differences and our hurts and joys on our shirt sleeves. We would go to Jack for guidance, and he would look to Mom as if to say, "I don’t want to get into any trouble here!" It’s almost laughable, how cute that was….

In a much more serious way, our world is watching an awful, serious destruction of the cities of an independent country who declared their freedom in 1991 from the communist Supreme Soviet. "You go brothers." Ukraine has been invaded (2014) and lands taken by Russia. Now again, bombings create great holes where cities and hospitals used to be. We watch pregnant women holding their bellies with tears running down mud covered faces, and we hear about a mother and child dead after doctors try to save them in a torn up hospital. What are we to do? Rush in there and start a battle we can’t back down from or possibly finish except at great expense between giants with nuclear weapons? There are actually world laws against us fighting in Ukraine. What are we to do? The hornet’s nest has been hit by the little boys and the hornets are circling and their buzzing is like yelling. Other countries seem to have caught the negative energy as India and Pakistan, China and Taiwan bicker and make noises with nuclear weapons… Next we will hear of more ugliness and destruction in Africa. Our own country is divided and infighting about … well you know. Never has a Presidential election been debated for over a year and 1/2 after election day; never has the past president created such animosity against the current leader; never has a country been so split… well yes it has and that ended (or it didn’t end) in a bloody civil war. My dears. What’s a fella to do?

What is all this except frail ephemeral life in a world that is only meant to be ours for a few years before we go to the permanance and beauty of heaven. Do some research on heaven in Scripture. Pull the book off the shelf and do a litte reading in the New Testament. Read the words of Jesus. Pray we change our hearts. God bless us.

It’s January already? Where have we (I) been? I think I love best the weeks before Christmas when we sing and dance with yearning for the beauty of a birth that means new life and salvation in what is right now… a time of angst. Angst: It’s hard to ignore the red color on maps where Covid lives and reigns screwing up lives and filling hospital beds… It’s hard to ignore the Russians standing on the Ukraine border. The Russians have been known to sneak in and start the fight before… Pray for peace in Ukraine…. and…scary Chinese and Koreans leaning out over the Pacific making a giant dark shadow. I read that we actually went on alert in California when a missile went up last week. I live in a very small town where an occasional siren makes us all look up. Do you say a prayer when an ambulance goes by? It was something my mother used to say… "That is someone who needs a prayer." Do we remember to pray for others in need? An airplane going over is usually a signal that someone is approacing or leaving the tiny airport over by the golf course! Noises in the neighborhood might mean 2 squirrles or two blue cranes are dancing on the roof! We watched the other day an amazing feat of nature when a great blue crane ate a large fish he caught off our dock. That’s life here in the orange groves!!! If we can keep our attention on the water and the grass then we can tap our fear down over what is happening in the big world!!! I find my peace in church, in talking happily with neighbors, and in keeping my home gardens nice. I have joined the garden club here in Lake Placid and we beautify a small garden at the intersection of Main and Interlake! Keep on keeping on. Let us read good books, poetry and positive. Let us remember our Creator wants us to be happy. Let us pray for those in need (friend Lois from our lake is in rehab after a broken hip.) God bless the aching hips and knees of our friends. God bless us and bring us peace in our hearts.

During the Civil War, guns were heard in our city streets. Brothers and fathers died in our towns. Disease abounded (Washington made his men get vaccinated!). People died fighting in a Civil War that made no sense. Does War make sense? Christmas came… Henry Wadsworth Longfellow heard the bells and wrote a poem… As he wrote … he bowed his head in pain…

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

The words of the poem are a statement of faith that we cannot live without. On Monday night I gave a talk at church on the 4 last things. The first of the 4 is death. We are all facing death that is followed by meetings with Christ and the review of the "choices" we made in life. What follows our meeting with Christ is Heaven or the cleansing of Purgatory then Heaven. Or Hell if we totally rejected God. … The last thing is Final Judgment. We have been taught that Christ is merciful. He wants us to have faith and join him in the "Afterlife." When I despair that life stinks because people fight and say awful things. Because people hate. Because people kill. Because 15 year old boys pick up their father’s automatic weapons and go to school… When I despair…. If I dwell on this and call it reality, then I can descend into darkness. Matthew Arnold gazed at the Dover channel and wrote.. in "Dover Beach" that "The Sea is calm tonight," but the end is awful as he describes a beast slouching to Bethlehem to be born. WWI was on the horizon and Englanders knew that.

Let us spend some time in church. A lot of time in church… Even just sitting quietly and not saying anything can help us get closer to our Creator God. He wouldn’t have done all this beautiful work (flowers, clouds, small birds, puppies, babies) if he didn’t mean for us to enjoy them. If he didn’t mean for us to protect his creation. Let us lift our heads. Let us ring bells and light lights. My house is decorated and the yard sports lights and we cleaned up the weeds! Come to a house that embraces Joy! Come to my "Circle of Joy!" Let mine be a house that embraces Hope. God bless us and keep us safe in a world that seems to be crumbling. Let us listem to the still small voice of God and let us shout "Peace on Earth, Good will toward Men!!!" God bless us.

It’s been a while since I wrote. That doesn’t mean you and I haven’t been debating… Sometimes i think I have my back to the wall and I can only say… "this is what I believe and I can’t handle the arguments!" One was the political argument at election time, one is vaccination, one is the existence of God, one (big) is abortion, one is starving children, and one is the behavior of priests and people in charge… In all cases, I recognize these are hot points with 2 sides… Each of us has solid opinions and we believe what we believe and cannot be pursuaded otherwise. But we must continue the conversation… What happened to us that we are not able to be persuaded to change our minds in situations where compromise won’t work? When did "What would Jesus do?" leave our mentality?

Should billionaires contribute 2% of their wealth to help starving children? Should abusers be jailed? Is abortion the killing a human being? These are huge questions and we need to think long and hard about them as we near the end of our lives. God bless us!!!

At the beginning of the Covid lock downs we joked about sitting around in our pajamas… I am in the crowd that didn’t go back out as soon as Florida said, "It’s OK!!! Go out!" I remained isolated with Chuck for almost a year. I didn’t go to church for a year! The first time I went to church with mask on, in April 2021, I was freaked out with being around people! I have been going daily ever since, with a short stint of yoga taking the place of Mass. Sometimes we have to choose… and I chose Mass over yoga due to my need to talk with Jesus there in church and to pray the Mass. I miss yoga as it is great stretching. OH! so great stretching and breathing. Now, with 30 pounds too many on me, and both knees swollen and in great pain… I’m starting a diet that includes "no drinking." I became a ""it’s 5 o’clock; time for wine" wino. I was drinking too much after 5 o’clock and eating ice cream sometimes twice a day, and eating too much on my plate. Anxiety does these things to me… My choice: daily Mass, walking every day (as soon as I get my knees back – I have a doctors appointment on Wednesday.) Let’s see: No wine, diet, No sweets, No bread or pasta or white potatoes (you know the ritual.) Get the weight off the knees. Keep praying. Let’s see what good that does!

It’s a choice to stop drinking, to remain positive. It’s a choice not to say anything awful. Not to complain. It’s my choice. And I have to add in No worrying. My friend and I are reading the Bible! I read with my friend Kathy for two years in a row, we read the Bible twice! But now I’m reading from a different perspective. My friend asks hard questions like "Why is God vicious?" I wince when he asks questions like that and I patiently say, "God is not vicious, weather and nature can be vicious". In the very old days, 4000 years ago, People had to explain natural phenomena like floods, fires, earthquakes, famines, rampant diseases… add some you think of. Every civilization has flood stories and they were oral until writing was invented. "Back then," 4000 years ago, the stories were oral. When it thundered when I was a little girl, we used to look up and say, "The gods are bowling." Zeus threw lightening strikes. Mother Earth holds up the rain when she is angry. They weren’t such peaceful gods!!! So I gently remind my friend that in the Bible, written by man and inspired by God, God or priests of God are trying to tame a people who are accustomed to sacrificing virgins and babies to get a rainfall and good crops. "Here let’s give Mother Nature a choice virgin…" Today is not nearly as uncivilized is it? Oh yes it is! Men and women are mean. They shout evil stuff. I get sad when I hear the ugly things about the President or Vice President. I try not to get engaged except to say, "I have one vote… otherwise there’s not much I can do about the border, the Covid, etc…" Like that. Try to be at peace in our hearts. Try to keep ugly words in until I find some weeds… and then spit the ugliness out onto weeds. Maybe our venom would kill weeds…. Hmmmmm. God bless us. Angels with us. Peace in our hearts.

My friend wrote a separate email to me to thank me for offering to help her with sending out group emails. "Of course, I’ll help," I thought and I wrote back to her, "It’s what we do." I’ve said this to people in the past, and within the last year, I’ve gotten some push back. I’ve also said, "We don’t do that," when the argument came to lying, breaking into the Capitol building and spitting on things, or being mean in government like we are being mean in the past year… I might say, "Americans are better than that; Americans don’t do that." What I am expressing is what I think are ingrained values, norms, even ‘institutions’. When I was a small child I think I was taught "this is what we do, this is polite, this is the rule." And we obeyed. When I became a teenager, and I began to sneak around…. it was accompanied with my own guilt and (I was misbehaving due to personal anger against parents). My girlfriends who knew about my sneaking called it "Irish guilt or Catholic guilt." And we laughingly said, "Susie, you need to go to confession….. "

Sometimes when I’m alone, I leave CNN on … one time I watched Sully Sullivan land a plane on the Hudson. Another time, I watched a plane fly into the World Trade Center… So if alone, CNN plays in the background. So guess what an announcer said today…. "The previous administration was precedent shattering;" "the end of shame," ignoring subpoenas indicates "basic norms are being shattered." It went on, but this was enough. Shattering precedent and norms, ignoring institutions and law? And, so what? Ignore the legalities. Run out the clock.

At the very end of a football game the quarterback can "end the game" by taking a knee 4 times and running something like 2 minutes off the clock. It happened in the last Buccaneers football game. The Bucs scraped out a 2 point lead, but there was plenty of time for the opposition to score if that "knee rule or knee precident" wasn’t in place. So the great quarterback Brady, very capapable of playing, took 4 knees. "He ran out the clock and ended the game". Is this the way we play life now? If we delay long enough… We will run out the clock and the other guy won’t get a chance to play? Time to get back to paperwork my friends, and let the world play in the background. God bless us. Angels with us.

With Autumn comes cooler mornings! The temperature doesn’t get to 90 until noon. So now I rush off to morning Mass and pray for all my friends. Jack Harlan used to add a SALPF (say a little prayer for) addendum to his monthly letter and I think it is wonderful to dedicate prayer to someone. Recently cousin Carol’s daughter Jenee was sick with Covid, but I hear Jenee will be cleared for work next week so she has not sunk into bad illness. Thank God!!!! A neighbor told me of two young people (in their 50s) who caught Covid and died recently so we are still fighting the demon pandemic. SALPF those who are fighting vaccination. Let them decide to take on this protective cloak of vaccine. That’s the way I believe. Give me a cloke that protects me, and I’m putting it on. OH! And I am walking again with neighbors who wait for me. I invite them to Mass…. I am not doing Yoga as that is offered at the same time as Mass.

Amidst polarization of our society, lost friends with whom we cannot agree, dissention, anger, we are sure the world is ending. But it probably isn’t. Jesus invites us to settle into his lap like a child on its mother’s lap… Relax and settle our souls in peace. In church I can either gaze up at the Cross, at a stained glass picture of the Last Supper, or at a beautiful statue of Mary. This last Sunday I looked at Jesus serving bread to his disciples. I looked at the face of Jesus, calm, and beautiful. His blessed hands offer bread and wine which he turns into his body and blood for us. He prays in John 15 through 17 so beautifully for us, "Father… I have loved them." In his last moments on earth, he knows he is going to be beaten, derided, betrayed, hung up with nails in his feet and hands to die naked before a jeering crowd. He knows what horrors await him. He knows his own people will allow the horrors out of their own weakness, yet he turns his beautiful face to his Father and he prays for us, his betrayers who turn our faces away. My friend weeps for the awful things our generation does to children, women, migrants. He weeps for the hungry, the enslaved, the homeless. My friend despairs and asks, "Where is God?" My answer of, "He is with us" doesn’t satisfy the weeping heart. Jesus wants us to put our head down on his chest and have full faith. Who knows what luxuries await the bedraggled migrant orphans when they enter Paradise? We certainly can’t fathom the Glory! This place is earth. It’s pretty in a lot of places and pretty awful in a lot of other places, but it’s only earth. God blessed the earth, but we damaged it…. If we would just try to do good. Be kind. Each one of us. A priest told a story: A man fed a robber one night and his friend said, "What are you feeding that creep for?" "If I am kind to him and keep him fed, eventually he will respond. I must have hope he will respond." Get their attention. Feed them. Love them. Pray they will respond. If not to you, then to someone. I might not see the leper I feed healed, but I have hope he will be healed in heaven. I can’t change the world. I can only change myself. Climbing up, lifting my little arms, I ask, "Lift me up, Lord! Teach me to Love!" Thank God.

Elijah ran away from the curses Queen Jezebel poured out. He asked God to take him up, but he couldn’t hear God (too much noise). Elijah just automatically assumed he would starve himself to death. "Run!!! Get away from the evil and die. Maybe then I’ll be OK." Physically and emotionally exhausted from the unstopping, ugly actions of the Queen and her consorts, Elijah ran!. But an angel gave him bread and water and told him "Get up and Go!!!" Oh darn. Gotta get up and go. Angel says so. When he got to Horeb… He finally found… peace. (A still small voice).

God doesn’t fail. He pours out Peace and Grace. There are many references to this in the Old and New Testaments. Think about a giant pitcher full of grace being poured out over the earth. God started pouring Grace out at the beginning when the Holy Spirit Graced the waters. And God doesn’t stop pouring. But what if we are not open? What if we are closed and shuttered against goodness being poured out on us. We are bitter, angry, defensive, protecting ourselves from "being hurt." We look out of our shuttered selves and we see… anger, shouting, muggings, killings, abortions,… We shake our heads and close the shutter. If I sit in church and look around, some of the people have said ugly things about what they believe vs what I believe. They have shaken me to the core with their mean spirited comments about the Pope and the President about whom I was taught to be respectful. Respect seems to have gone by the wayside, but not for me.  I have answered people with my "peaceful" thoughts and I get rejected. I get called names and I get labeled. I say "Don’t label me anything except ‘Child of God.’" But still it hurts. I get depressed and I hide. But that is when I block off the Grace pouring out. God needs me out and open. He needs me to "Raise up my heart… Open your hearts," Jesus says. In the Gospel, Jesus says to the Pharisees, "Moses had to make laws because of your hard heartedness, but here is the REAL law. Love One Another."  My friend, Yes, the world is crazy right now, but there is peace. I find it at the Altar in a Catholic church. You have to find it too. Let us continue our friendship and talking to each other. Let us open our hearts to each other. Let us accept the Grace being poured out. God bless us. OH Wait!!! He does! He has been pouring out that overflowing pitcher of "living water" since Creation!!! Thank You Jesus!

Associated with light, ardor, and purity, the Seraphim (the firey ones) are honored in the church today. Let us celebrate and thank God for Michael, the great soldier of God, Gabriel, the messenger, and Raphael, sent by God to guide us. Raphael takes our hand and guides. He is right "here." All we have to do is say "Yes." Think about what ardor is: Have you felt "extreme vigorous passion" lately? Or has our life settled into quiet acceptance of "what is happening"? Those who are "out there" screaming and yelling about how awful things are with hoardes attacking the borders, not getting vaccinated so the rest of us suffer and have expenses with them when they get sick finally, those who claim we are headed right for socialism…. They have ardor, they yell loudly, but their noise is not filled with purity and light… it’s filled with darkness, anger, and hate. I look into the shouting, sneering faces in the news articles, and I shudder at what I see. Then I turn to look at the Cross. I don’t see any of that anger in His face. I see love. Ardor for the Right and Beautiful, is Pure, is passion filled with love and the heat of our desire to get closer to God who makes things right. We might not see the righting. In the book of Daniel (chapter 10), Daniel is praying for help… He is mourning and fasting because the world situation is very grim. Then "One (a man) dressed in linen with a belt of fine gold… His body like chrysolite (or topaz, fine yellow), his face shone like lightening" comes. The angel’s message: "Daniel, beloved" "For 21 days ‘the Prince of Persia’ stood in my way… Michael is busy fighting him now." Is the "One" Jesus? Is he Gabriel? We don’t know. But the message is… when things are really bad, and it seems our church itself is in grave danger, we must ask God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, for help. He will send help! We might not see the final end of battle, the "win", but our faith tells us it is coming. It’s time to continue our prayer. Pray for my niece Jennie who has a sick husband and 2 children. Jennie is sick with Covid. Heal her lord and let her get back to work. What a load we carry Lord. God bless us. Let us know Lord, Angels are with us.

When I am confronted with a situation where I want to speak out, I often do… speak out and thereby I have lost at least 3 friends with whom I no longer speak comfortably. I have indicated their ideas and speeches are crap. oops… I said that didn’t I? A lady at church gave me two publications and said, "read this!!! it’s powerful!" I read 1 1/2 pages and threw it down in disgust. Anti government forcing churches closed, Anti vax, anti kindness…. Snide remarks about lies and fraud. And lots of Bible quotes. I wanted to wash my hands after handling it. I have to give it back. What do I say, for we must not stand still. This lady kneels in the front row at daily Mass. She wears an American flag scarf every day. What a hypocrite!!!!! Wow! Tell us how you feel Susie!

I advise people who I feel are speaking mean spirited words to go speak to either a doctor or a priest and ask them what the expert thinks. Priests and doctors are supposed to speak with wisdom. And so I trust them. I too probably should ask a priest what he thinks I should say because she asked already if I read the papers and would I give them back. …. What would you do here? We must speak out at our own risk. God bless us.

Or… we’re all gonna get it. Yes that is the dredded Covid I’m talking about. We entertained 4 friends out on the dock. All vaccinated, and the talk turned to Covid. And the fact that it’s going to become a never gonna go away virus … So what we have to do is remain vigilent. In church this morning the lector’s head was full. I could hear his clogged sinus’ as he read, the lady who leads us in song said her voice was going, and as I sat there, isolated in my seat rows from everyone, I heard coughing. Good grief. I believe the 3 I heard are unvaccinated. One lady is back from a 2 week isolation with covid. She’s still sick. Walks slow, looks tired. My mother, who hugged everyone, would be very sad. Mother hugged! No more hugging Mom. No touching. ACK!!!

Yesterday I tried (again) to get a friend to accept vaccination. She said she won’t get it because it has baby parts in it. No! Well lets see; back in the 70s there was a "line of code" that was made from fetal tissue. The line is so small that it isn’t used, and certainly no more exists. The Pope asks people to get vaccinated. It’s not a sin for us to get a vaccine to save ourselves (whether or not it was developed in the 70s with fetal tissue.) The Pope would like us to save ourselves. I talked to a priest yesterday about this and he said his answer to "them… the naysayers" is "Shut up!" I was reminded of Biden who got so frustrated he said to Trump, "Just shut up!" So with that dispensation, I will get the booster when my time comes. Just like we line up for the flu shot and get our Publix $10 gift card, I’ll be lined up for the booster.

Jesus asked us (in Mark chapter 9) to accept and take care of the little one. Little is innocent, needy, and hungry for love and learning. When we take care of the little ones, we are little too. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta told the world to take care of the little ones. So, we first have to identify the little ones. I think we have 14,000 of them sleeping on our border…. sneaking in when they can. And we are afraid of them that they will take over. My parents both talked about how their parents left home for a better life in America. Of all 4 of my grandparents, 2 spoke No English, and they came for a better life. My Italian grandfather swept floors at the steel mill. My Italian grandmother had 9 babies and took care of people in the neighborhood, probably inspiring my Mother to go to nursing school. What the immigrants willingly do is the cheap work. Have times changed? Mother Teresa addressed the US President and his leadership: “If we remember that God loves us, and that we can love others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the world. From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak — the unborn child — must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!” The topic of this paragraph is babies, but what about the people of the world who are starving? We can’t take them all in. Although we do have a lot of land, but we need to help out of our wealth. What can we do other than complain loudly about "the rabble at the border"? How can we help the weakest of the weak ? St Mother Teresa is dead, and have we changed at her words? What can we do? God bless us.

On September 10, in Mass we read Jesus say, "Do not criticize because it would be the blind leading the blind…" because I would be complaining about a person with a splinter in his eye and I have a wooden beam in my eye. Get the beam removed from my eye first, then lead the other man to prayer. (Luke 6:39)… I try not to criticize, and when politics rears his ugly head, I try not to become engaged and I repeat, "We have a vote." I try not to become engaged because I will only get angry, which is a sin in itself. It is not peace. Just that. I can’t go to the border and make things different. i can’t make people get the Vaccine. I can only secure and soften my heart. I can only pray for compassion. I can only pour out my tears as the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. I can only pray for the injured. And I can vote. This morning we had a Communion service with Consecrated hosts from the Tabernacle. Our leader read a beautiful homily from "The Word Among us." I took notes: Based on 1 Timothy, based on disputes, We don’t have to give in to disputing. Rather we can follow Jesus’ example when he was accosted. Reveal the Father’s heart, Full of Love. Let Jesus’ holiness sweep aside negative rivalry. Eyes fixed on Christ, let us be encouraging. Bring Jesus’ Light into every situation. Bring the Light of Jesus and his Presence into all my life. Stop the negativity. pray. We are children of God. Do I believe God is "in charge?" God bless us.

“When you pray, you only have to ask for two things: You should ask for the light to see the will of God, and you have to ask for the courage to be able to do the will of God.” Father Al, a priest born in Washington DC, dedicated his vocation to establishing homes where poor children receive care. He worked hard to establish homes in South Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and Honduras. Father Al died of ALS in 1992, but his homes, and the convents he established, live on. Father Al saw "the light" as that which illuminates our lives so we don’t stumble around tripping over our own weakness. I’ve often gotten into trouble with people by quoting, "We don’t need new laws. We need to ‘do the right thing.’" And people who oppose what "I say" is "the right thing" tell me… "what is right for me is relative."

Right is relative? I don’t think so. Is love relative? Is it OK to kill? Well, some people think so or our prisons wouldn’t be full. I watch the commercials about saving abused puppies, and I am so sad about caged, hurting animals who look out of those so sad eyes at us. They are beaten, starved and caged. Our cousin has rescued 2 cute little dogs who are really damaged from being abused. She changed her life to "save them." … I watch the commercials and I always say, "What about the babies we kill with abortion?" Here I am with my face out in the wind because many people believe abortion is a woman’s right. If only the "mother" could see those innocent little eyes… She wouldn’t consider abortion. She would do the right thing. But we aren’t supporting that are we? Go back to Father Al and what he did. He built homes for the poor children. We have to take care of the children. It’s the right thing.

I am not in support of the new abortion law in Texas. I don’t want to force people to love or to do the right thing… That’s not right. Can you imagine being afraid that your neighbor will turn you in for a reward because you "broke the law?" Let us pray for God’s light and love to shine in all hearts. It is shining in our nearly empty churches… Go and find the light of God and "Do the right thing." God bless us.

In the old days we tried to be part of the solution… But it goes back far into recorded history that there are always "nay sayers" who are only complaining and criticizing. The Pope came out on Sunday and asked people not to criticize… Rather stand and ask for light. Ask for reduction of darkness. Ask for a purging of fear, judgment, anger, and anxiety. Ask for a clean heart. (read Psalm 51: "A pure heart create in me O Lord.") We all have darkness. We all fear being hurt, but if I am encouraged and built up, I forget that I am afraid! In Psalm 27, the poet says, "I gaze on the loveliness of the Lord." When we look out we see smoke, floods, broken houses, messes in the street, and did I mention angry people? We ask, "what is wrong with this world?" and then we start to point, name, and criticize. Wait!!! We who walk the earth are all in the same boat! The waves crash around us and we are all seasick! We are all "on troubled waters." St Paul wrote to his churches, "You are children of the light. You can face anything that comes along if you grab the Lord’s hand." Now look out and think, "We are not at war any more. No more IEDs." Let this go. Stand up like a small child. Lift your arms to the sky and take it in! Grace is being poured out all over you!!! Listen: What others do is not my concern… My relationship with my Creator is my only concern. Keep singing and reaching for the sky and ask God to take care of the others! God bless us!

When I was debating who I was going to vote for… Not liking either choice… my sister advised me of my choices. Now let me tell you, my sister is a wise Crone! She’s "been there; done that." A divorced, single mother of 3 children, often criticized for her ways of bringing up her children. Often criticized for the life she led as an artist who loves the beautiful deserts of New Mexico. She sent me to Abiquiu, the home of artist Georgia O’Keeffe and I realized why Sarah loves the countryside! I know how much Sarah wanted to live out her life in New Mexico, but she chose to be near her family in Jacksonville. Anyhow my wise Crone of a sister talked to me about the Presidency. "Who do you want to see speaking to you from "the Oval office" when bad things happen? Whose calm voice and gentle demeanor will soothe you?" Sarah asked. Well this certainly has been the week for that voice. I saw our President lower his head when the reporter Doocy hammered him. I too have lowered my head and backed off from hammering voices in the past year. But that head lowering wasn’t power presidency, and I wish he hadn’t done that. He wanted to say, "Shut up!" like he did say to Trump at a debate, but he was criticized for that too, and actually he is a gentle man. So he probably prayed, "Shut up!" …. Now I shake my head with, what? sorrow? I’m not sure what I feel. I strongly pray for our safety here in the United States and I support the drone strikes that we have retaliated with when we were hit at Kabul airport. As if to say, "this is what we are going to do… we will strike back, so stop it!" Today the bodies of 13 military men and women were brought back to Dover Air Force base and recieved with high honor while New Orleans braces for a big hit from a hurricane packing winds up to 150mph. The images are so sad and frightening.

In church this past week we have been reading from St Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. He wrote, (I’m paraphrasing) "We are family. We pray together for our protectors. We pray for those we don’t know and don’t love. … We pray for those who are far from God…. Let us no longer offend God." … "Love one another… aspire to live a tranquil life; to mind your own affairs." Let us eliminate negativity. It’s like snail slime. The negativity is voiced and then it stays behind even after the snail creeps off. Rather say the name of Jesus as in "O my Jesus… forgive us…" For those who think you don’t have to repent or say, "I didn’t sin." What do you think our lack of prayer is? Think about asking God our Creator to help us to Love. God bless us.

Look at the silly donkey without a tail! Quick! look! Then suddenly you can’t see. Someone has tied a scarf around your head, covering your eyes. You are now blinded. You are tossed around in circles. It’s dizzying as you pass from hand to hand. There is laughing and lots of noise. Then strong hands on your shoulders stop the spinning and something is placed in your hands, "Here, pin the tail on the donkey. In the right place." You bluster, "But I can’t see the donkey! How do I know where his tail goes?" People are laughing and hooting and hollering. The noise is deafening! You move forward and they laugh. You turn right and they laugh louder…. Left? They laugh and jeer: "You are no where near him! You can’t do it!!!" This is frightening. A thought fills your mind: "I can’t do the right thing because I am relying on my own strength and I’m blind! I can’t find the donkey, let alone put his tail in the right place!"

There are other games like this. Remember the pinata! Again, you are blindfolded and tossed around. Then a big heavy stick is placed in your hands. "Hit the pinata! Get us our candy!" You would love to get the candy, but "where is the darn thing?" … Sound familiar? Blind, we can’t see where we are going. We reach out to stick that pin or to hit that bundle of candy, but we miss the mark. Our senses are all screwed up because we miss the vital sense of sight. We’ve been tossed and turned and blindfolded. Dizzy, we can’t see the target. Depending on our own strength we are useless.

Scripture is filled with people who make promises to God and then forget… They turn back to their ways of worship of their old gods. Are we like this? What are our gods today? Greed! What is enough Money? Power. What is enough power? If my pursuit is wealth and power will I want to "do what I believe in and let no one stand in my way?" Will I resort to cancellation of those who restrict me? In a sense, God restricts us. He says, "You will love and honor the Lord your God first, and then you will love and honor your neighbor." Putting God and my neighbor first puts me third. But what about my desire and dreams for power and wealth? Rather than a Baldacci or a Catherine Coulter book, pick up Scripture and read Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Samuel. Count how many times the words are repeated: "But Israel turned away from God and back to their own gods." Finally, Israel gets tired of being beaten up by their neighbors and asks Samuel to find them a good strong king! He will defend us!!!! And God, always loving and caring for his people, says, "don’t argue with them Samuel. Give them what they want, but warn them first: … Warn them solemnly and inform them of the rights of the king who will rule them…. He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots… soldiers… he will set them to his plowing, his harvesting… He will use your daughters… He will take the best of your fields…. You will complain against the king whom you have chosen, but on that day the Lord will not answer you." (1 Samuel 8: 8-18) It’s there. Read it. But, our eyes are blinded; we can’t see it and we are relying on our own strength.

In church, we are asked to pray for America… I think it’s not the right prayer. In humility, the tax collector prayed, "O Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." (Luke 18:13) God bless us. Angels with us.

Hi dear readers! It’s horrifying to turn on the television, but we have to to check on our fellows… Cousins in Connecticut are directly in the way of Henri. They are used to snow and heavy rain, but now throw in the high winds and rain of a hurricane. Bummer. Pray Henri goes East, out to sea, fast… Trouble is, it’s not turning away from the NE US.

Meanwhile in Afganistan, the Burkah’s are aired out and I just read an amazing article you might read to better understand why we must pray. Afganistan hasn’t been "free" for a long time… 1980 to 2000 war which the Taliban promised to end…. Their law is harsh for women who must stay inside the house except when escorted by a male. The article is about Shukriya Barakzai who woke up sick and dizzy but couldn’t go to the doctor because her husband was at work. She shaved her daughter’s head to look like a male escort, and she walked into Kabul "escorted by the child" to see a doctor… on the way to a pharmacy she was accosted by Taliban moral police and beaten with a rubber hose for breaking moral law. Taliban is out to shame and punish those who break the moral law. You can find the article on "The Taliban’s return is catastrophic for women" in The Atlantic.com. I will never suggest we need to go back into war to save these people. I ask God to help them. It’s something we tried… Help people who can’t help themselves. But we haven’t been successful. I remember watching helicopters trying to get frantic people out of Vietnam…. That war didn’t work did it? God bless us. We can financially support the veterans who are trying to help get people out…. The Twenty Year War co-author Dan Blakley spoke today about trying to help the evacuees. I asked yesterday… What are we going to do? Be charitable. Pray. Be charitable. Angels with us.

Yesterday I was moved by passion to write about something that has been ticking in my mind since my friend asked me a question that I couldn’t answer. He quoted Scripture which I believe is God-inspired. He showed me passages and he used the words, "it is sin." I was shocked as I think I and many people have become lax in calling actions "sin." If indifference is a sin, especially when in regard to God, then my Mother would send me to confession as she did one time up in Cleveland. I am (always have been) stubborn, and don’t take kindly to being called a sinner. It is good sometimes to realize what we are, and what we will tolerate. I’ll get off this topic now and move onto Sharia.

It’s on our television and news feedss 24×7 if we tune in to it: Afganistan is "lost." After 20 years of American fighting to establish a protectorate, the Taliban is back in spades and in control. And so the word Sharia Law is often being repeated by women. Apparently Islamic civil law is interpreted from the Kuran (Quran) the Islamic sacred book, believed to be the word of God as dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel and written down in Arabic. Muhammed was illiterate. He recited what the angel said and others memorized it. It was all written down after Muhammed’s death around 700 AD. Kuran is regarded as Islamic civil Law. Koran dictates Islamic Criminal law. Women bear the brunt of that law as they are forced to cover their faces and stay inside… A raped woman is a criminal and she can be killed. She can be beaten if she is caught going to the grocery store without a male relative. What is that all about? Are women genetically sinners or does the sight of a woman cause men to sin? Oh poor weak men. Oh poor down trodden women. It would be as if we were governed by the first 5 books of the Old Testament… "An Eye for an Eye…. If your right hand sins, cut it off, etc." Scary to us isn’t it? However do people govern by religious law? Today in Mass we read that the Pharisees tested Jesus, asking him "What is the greatest Law?" Guess what it is? "Love God." "What’s the second greatest law?" "Love your neighbor." (Matthew 22: 34-40). Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this were all we needed rather than all we have? God bless us.

"We made an agreement?" … The Old Testament is packed full of incidents of the Broken Covenant. Israel would bow down and pray, and then turn against God’s Law… again and again. …. Our prayers are full of "I believe in You my God, Creator…" but then what happens? Do people know they can’t keep a covenant? What makes us so vulnerable to "the way the wind blows." A Catholic priest, or a devout Catholic, or some others, will tell you unequivocably, "It is the devil." He’s right here always whispering what he calls "the Truth."

"So", my stepfather Jack would say, "What are we gonna do?" And I ask, "How do we keep the Covenant?" I guess the first thing is to know exactly what the Covenant is. "I am the Lord your God…. I will care for you, defend you against the enemy. Stay here with me." Jesus said, "I will take you home with me." So, how do I get there? Readings in Mass this week are from Judges. After following God and the Arc out of the desert, the people said, "We want to be like other people and have a King." "Oh boy," God said, "No you don’t… Kings will tax you, take your young men into the military, take your best land…" And so, we hurtled into the future of 2021 and … We have rejected most of what Scripture says for our own kings of wealth and power. We certainly have forgotten what our "Forefathers pledged." This is God’s country. What’s the latest thing we have done? Hanging LBGQT Gay Pride flag under the American flag at American Embassies? Yes that was even approved by our State Department and the President. Where does sin and breaking the Covenant end? Recently a very good friend asked me what I thought about transgender and gay, and I said, "I don’t know…. I am indifferent." Yesterday, I faced a very frantic friend at church who told me about flying the Gay Pride flag at the embassies (It was a few embassies and it was only in June, Gay Pride month. After patting my hand, she said, "We have to get to work!" … "Wow!" I have been wondering ever since, "What’s the work? and Where does it end?" I am conceerned with the kids who are changing sex because they don’t "feel" what they were born as. This goes in the face of God and our teaching: "We are made in the Image of God our Creator." But what if I don’t like what I am? I take a knife and drugs to myself. When and how do we stand up and seek the Truth again? In Matthew 22, a King invites people to the Wedding Feast for his son, but they reject him and go elsewhere. He has the ones who reject him killed, and he holds the Feast anyway, but he feeds the poor and street people. What is that Feast, and am I invited? Will I go? Yes, I am invited! Will I go or will I go my own way? God bless us.

I made such a stink to my friend who is unvaccinated and got Covid, really bad Covid, followed by pneumonia. I made such a stink that she begged someone else to stop talking vaccination, but she copied me too. What’s the problem I want to ask? Do you WANT to get sicker than we might if we are vaccinated? But I promised not to lay it on so thick…. But most people I know and go to Mass with and hang with are vaccinated (2 shots). I can carry the virus, but the unvaccinated can carry the virus too and it will get them worse than it will get me. I pray to God He move their hearts to protect themselves and us too.

So about the Burkas. I am sick at heart and sick in my belly about the 20 years of freedom the women of Afganistan just lost. It’s really so sad that their government couldn’t hold up. On May 14, 1948 Britain announced the end of the "British Mandate" over Palestine, and at midnight, Israel declared independence and the shooting started. Israel fought two very hard wars, waging war with the help of the US for sure, but in 1948 and in 1967, Israel beat back the Palestineans. So what does this have to do with Afganistan? Israel fought for freedom from hard Moslem rule and won. Afganistanian laid down the minute the Americans moved out. Afganistan women won freedoms they can’t have under strict Moslem rule. What if I couldn’t go to school after age 10? I worked hard at small jobs in the UM offices and cafeteria, and I studied many midnights and got two degrees beyond the bachelors just because I could and because I loved literature. The business degree I didn’t really care about, but AT&T paid for it. I could and so I did. Have you seen the Afgan women doing yoga? the women Olympic athletes …. They struggled to do athletics and cover their bodies. How free we are, and how free they were under the "American protection." It’s gone now and I fear for the women. Taliban need men children. Who do you think will be the mothers? Fear for the women. Pray for the women. God bless us.

To begin, Chuck and I have remained unscathed throughout the pandemic and the financial crises that have plagued the past year and 1/2. Amazing it is so long that this country has been at war. First it was politics. Lost friends dot the landscape as people can no longer talk without getting cut and bruised. Rather walk away? Might be a wise choice rather than suffer continual hurt. I and my friend Karla both have wonderful walking friends we can talk all about stuff and get positive reinforcement for our thoughts. Amidst the turmoil of political discord we have "Pandemic". Should be written in capital letters as, "it’s not going away…" and might be the final scathing of our nation and the world. People downright fight over vaccination and fraudulent "facts". Remember Pilot asked, "What is truth?" just before he allowed Jesus to be crucified. Will that happen here?

I remain steadfast on what is the truth. God made me (fashioned me in my mother’s womb) and I am a good person because God doesn’t make junk! I have been adamant with friends on vaccination, on the fact that we can vote every 2 years, and on the fact that everything "they say" is not lies. If I lived the way some people do, so bitter in their souls, I would curl up in the stink and crumble. I have threaded the pandemic needle and lost a little bit of comfort, but I am holding on with prayer and talking to good friends. The CDC says we are at war, and I believe it. The vaccination is allowing breakthroughs. That just means we have to remain vigilent. Keep praying my friends. Keep your equanimity! Wow what a great word!!!! I shall live by this today! Equanimity ( Latin: æquanimitas, having an even mind; aequus even; animus mind/soul) is a state of psychological stability and composure which is undisturbed by experience of or exposure to emotions, pain, or other phenomena that may cause others to lose the balance of their mind. Keep balanced. Learn to do a yoga tree! God bless us!

In the past few days in Mass we have been reading from Genesis 41-44 and Matthew 10… The similar messages from the experiences of Joseph and Jesus are: big mistreatment, but the message: Forgive the ignorant who hurt you and others. Let not your hurt be an obstacle to following God’s will. "But." we ask from our pain: "what is God’s will? Is it for me to be hurt?" We have been criticized. We have been working hard to do good against a tide of angry mobs who say it’s all a fraud. What we are doing is all a lie. Rejection hurts… But God says, "Pursue the Good, the True, and the Beautiful." God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, has given us intellect, will, memory, and imagination, sight, smell, and the other senses, all gifts to help us sense and see the Beauty God makes. Why do you think we love gardens so much? As children of God, our mission is "to take care of the garden"… So many images of farmers and wine makers in Scripture richly show us the efforts to plant seed, to grow grain, to make bread. To grow grapes to make wine. To make the staffs of life. "Go!" Jesus says. Tell the others." In my weakness, I ask, "what is my grain? What am I supposed to make? Where does God send me? What does God want me to say? How do I respond to God’s command to go out and teach? How do I respond to the Good News?" God’s commands are clear, "Take action boldly! Speak out, and if your word is thrown back at you with snears, shake the dust of that town from your sandles and move on…" I imagine that means we are not to take any of the snears on us as burdens. We are to shake the rejection off.

Over the past year, I have often been shocked and hurt by the accusations of fraud and lies by and in the institutions that I depend on. In Matthew 10, I am told that I am to shake that dust off while I am not to criticize or let the contrary thinking weigh me down. I am expected to pray a lot. I am expected to look for pure love and gravitate to that. I am to recognize my temptation to hang back yet to try to change people’s minds… I try to break the bonds to the past and move forward. There is something in me that tries to change things! Sometimes it seems that my efforts are useless, and I am small; my efforts are like grains of sand on a beach. The beach is the size of … infinity. But my grain is important to my God who made me to do that little bit. How kind he was to make me and give me my moment in His Sun! God bless us!

My sister, (bless her!), looked at a photo of me with a finished puzzle, and she wrote: "You look good! Your hair is very natural." And I wrote back, "I never intended to get fat and go gray." Yes indeed, gray is natural at my age, and I "let it go during pandemic," first because my hair stylist who cut and colored my hair took the time off to protect her child from infection, and now, it’s been a year and 1/2, and I’m gray and fat. Ice cream twice a day and wine at night, coupled with TV movies and all fat broke loose!!! But I started yoga class and WOW! even though the scale doesn’t show loss, my shorts are falling off! Also there is no ice cream, chips, or cookies in the house. Yoga or walking every day! My yoga instructor left exactly at 930 one day for an appointment and I worry about her as she fought cancer and now will have an eardrum fixed from an accident. So… "how was appointment yesterday?" I asked, boldly. "Oh! It was a haircut and color!" she said. "WOW! Beautiful!" And I set off for her hairdresser who is right next door to Sammy’s Pizza! Most people I see in town revolve within 5 miles from home, and near Sammy’s. So, I feel like with 2 Covid shots completed, back at church, doing yoga, and a hair appointment looming, I’ll be "back." It’s like dress up when we were little! Go for it! Wear those dress up shoes, get color, and, for me, get hair style!!!! God bless us all. God bless the lost people in Surfside.

When I was little, my mother, then a registered nurse in shiny clean white uniform with starched hat and clean white shoes, took me to a McCrorys five and dime on Flagler Street. As we entered the store and the smell of frying liver and onions assulted my delicate nose, mother said, "You can go to college or you can work here." My nose recoiled and took me off to college. From a very young age, I was a reader, a student, a teacher. My dolls were the beneficiaries of my learning. I always succeeded. I always read and studied and I even took my self daily on the bus to high school and college. Mother left for 2 years to get her Masters degree at NYU and I continued to find my way to high school and then college at Miami-Dade. Do you remember going to the "junior college" because there wasn’t money for college? When Mother returned from NYU, she got a teaching job at the University of Miami and I began my career as a working student. I worked in the Admissions office (they taught me how to file and organize things), and I worked in the student union cafeteria, learning prompt attendance at work, and continuing diligence. I actually applied for financial aid to graduate school, and I think I was the only one, or else Mother went over there and talked to them, but I won an Assistantship in the English department. So I was learning at Barry and teaching Freshmen at the ripe age of 21. Work, work, work.

So whats all this about? Work becomes a Credo. We do it despite the belly ache we get driving in rush hour traffic, the tension in our neck as deadlines approach, the nightmares over failing, the carpel tunnel and the stooped back from spending way too much time on the computer. I got lucky and was never out of work. I even quit several jobs, but came out the other side… smelling like a rose. It wasn’t easy. I have gray hair to prove I’m old enough to retire. And THAT is the point. The point is NOW WHAT?

Exactly. Now What? I never stopped to think about it. I just got into it and pushed. Moving from job to job as layoffs hit, or even as I quit and found "other work." Now I have an easy chair and soft shoes with good soles for my aging feet. I have to be careful pulling on shorts and my yoga pants so I don’t fall down. I sit when I put on shoes and socks so I don’t fall down. I can’t lift anything over 20 pounds so says the heart doctor. And I look at the next 10 years and think, "This is it". What should I do with my time? What value do I bring? I have been thinking this a lot as my friend Charlie, a very accomplished business man wonders the same thing. My advice to him is the admonition to review finances; "Do you have enough to stop the "work"? and then…. And then my mind goes blank. I feel like a slacker with my "at home routine." At least I go to yoga and I do laundry so Chuck and I can stay clean and the house doesn’t smell like… well I hope it smalls good. What value do I bring keeps me awake at night. Then yesterday leaving the library, I looked back and watched myself getting to the library. At yoga class I always compliment our teacher. She is beautiful. Well kept, beautiful hair, and a great yogi. I thank her for helping me to "get back from my pandemic slump". I "God bless" her. At the Publix, I joke with the cashier and the bagger. We laugh and I compliment them and thank them for working for me, and a lady customer says, "Can I go home with you; you are nice!" I "God bless them," and head on to the hair salon to make an appointment. I tell Brianna that she comes highly recommended and she is going to have a tough time getting me into shape, but I trust her! I tell her what a beautiful job she does on my yoga instructor and how happy I am to have found her! She looks at me like, "OK, here’s another one who has been cutting her own hair since March 2020. It’s good I guess these untended women are finally coming out again… but, what a mess." She is thinking something like that, and I laugh and bless her! Finally I thank the ladies at the library who have served me mightily at the library since I arrived here, and through the pandemic. We laugh as I take 2 puzzles and 2 books out! "I’m retired," I say, as I realize, "what a slacker I am." And there it is… I have no business, I have no goals, (Well except to lose this gut that hangs over my hysterectomy scar and I can physically feel the fat hanging over my waistline…). I try to make no judgments of others. I try to love. What does God want. I’m a slacker!!!! But then I realize: I’m supposed to be like the lily of the field, I’m little "brown eyed Susan" who made my Mother smile. I laugh out loud in yoga class when we do the happy baby pose! I am the happy baby. I love this earth and gardens. I love sunshine and rain. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Being kind to my brothers and sisters, kind to everyone I meet. Blessing as I go. Just loving one another. And standing there on the sidewalk in front of the library, I touch my heart and I say, "Thank you Jesus." God bless you.

"You know how to do this," the nurse said to me during a "wellness visit" that Medicare pays for. Chuck and I said, "why not?" when our doctor insisted we sit with a nurse and talk about wellness. I know what I have.. the aneurysm, and I get checked. I do all the normal annual and other scheduled visits I need to do… So what else?

"How many times a day do you eat vegetables?" She looked up expectantly at my silence. I glanced over at Chuck who was looking at me too, seeing if I would lie? "Not very often," I mumbled. "Grains?" she continued. "Grains?" I answered. "Do beans count?" I was getting desperate to please this lady, and I was batting zero. "Water, first thing in the morning," she said, "when you get up. A glass of water?" "Coffee," I whispered, as I slid down in my chair. "OK" she said cheerily, "Exercise!" She is grasping now. I looked over at Chuck’s growing tummy. Pillsbury dough boy has nothing on us. Chuck, God bless him, said,"I get the mail every day!" The nurse looked at me, and she grinned, "short driveway?" OK this is not good. She’s got us down. I guessed the short walk to the mailbox didn’t impress her. So then she started talking about our will and our executor as if that’s the next step. "Well," she said, kindly, "you know what you are supposed to be doing"…. "Yeah yeah yeah, eat vegetables every day. Eat whole grains. Drink a bottle of water before coffee."

Sedentary is not good. Ice cream is not good. Popcorn is not whole grains. Knee pain is "a first sign of…." and it goes down hill from there. So I got yoga pants in a larger size and started off to yoga 4 days a week. I’m still rehabbing my knee since I tried to ride my bike, uphill, off our street. So I ride now to the beginning of the hill and walk up. I’m slow but sure. I come home from yoga and pull weeds. Now this does sometimes lead to me falling into bed for a nap at noon, but I figure it’s a start. Broccoli, asparagus, and carrots have been added and I actually drink a whole glass of water before my 830am yoga class!

So much for the physical body; my yoga instructor, Beth, working on our bodies, is also working on our Spirit. She’s digging around for the tiny muscles that scream and shout when I try to do poses from my knees. I can’t lay on my belly and lift both arms. Yet. … In "the child’s pose" my butt is up in the air while others sink placidly flat onto their calves. Beth makes us breathe. "How’s your breath?" she asks. "How’s your neck?" "Inhale and turn to the right. Exhale and turn to the left." "Don’t strain; it’s only yoga." Huffing and puffing, groaning a lot, and often sitting on the floor in confusion… I am trying to do some soul cleaning! You see, Beth sees this as us getting to know our body and our spirit. Can’t do something? Modify the exercise. No pushing or pulling, just gentle moving. Clear the head. Monkey brain, "out!" Constantly listening and adjusting, I listen to a straining muscle and ease up. I must give my body the same respect as I give my nutrition and hereby comes the Soul Cleaning. Beth wants us to listen to our Spirit! Move away from the clutter and noise and listen to the still small voice that says, "gently, silently, lovingly. It’s life." Beth asks us to be aware of the genial love of our Father. We open our hands to receive Grace, and we lift our hearts up. Oh how far we can go! Gratitude. The release of anger. Peace. Find your Beth and listen to her. She might be an angel in disguise! God bless you.

The Church is in Ordinary time, which is like summer, when nothing happens. We have celebrated the Annunciation and the Visitation and … We have celebrated Christmas, Lent and Easter, the Resurrection and the Coming of the Holy Spirit. Now we settle into a "teaching time." A time to listen and to think about what God wants. And I will take this time to "get back into shape" with yoga, and to "oh my goodness" try to make a difference with my own personal hoarding. Yes, I said hoarding. My hoarding is the piles of pages I’ve torn out of magazines and newspapers, saying, "Must read this book, must read this poem, must paint this picture." Yesterday I wrote down the DVD I found at my library, and today I will pick the DVD up at the library and throw away the piece of paper that says, "See this." There is a wonderful book I clipped to read that I will order on Amazon. This is a "do it or throw it away" time. This energy is fueled by a nightmare I have occasionally. I’m leaving school on the last day, never to teach again, or I’m leaving work, never to go there again, and I have boxes and boxes of papers to take home. You see, I stash my clippings everywhere I go…. So then, the nightmare continues, there I go, burdened with paper, no ride home, so I must trek to the bus stop with all that stuff. Needless to say, my cell phone is at the bottom of it all, I fish out coins for the bus, but get lost. I wander around in a downtown area, gradually leaving boxes behind. Chuck said he had a dream, he and Dave were looking for a lost trooper. I said, "I saw you way far away but you didn’t see me." I usually wake up, exhausted, on the corner of who knows where and who knows where… I showered, jumped into my Yoga clothes, grabbed coffee, washed last night’s dishes and settled in to get busy. Ditch this paper!!! What’s your hoarding? Love you! God bless us.

Heat isn’t going to go away, so i can’t use that as an excuse! So, I must go out into the garden and work a little even if for 1/2 hour a day. I have a butterfly garden that has nicely reseeded itself, but it needs the old dead stuff pulled out. I have beautiful fruit trees that need the weeds under them pulled. Mother nature needs tending or she tends to "go to the jungle"!!! Just like a tired house or living room, or basebaords need new paint, so mother nature needs stroking! People need help too.

Just as I must work despite the heat, I must speak out the truth! "But what is the truth?" Pilate asked. We have thought about this before and we are to continually research it! When do we know something is a scam or a fraud? Should we pray over major decisions or any decision if it feels funny? God said he wouldn’t let us fail, so trust the gut! Hitler said, "Truth is relative," but we know different. The truth is, people are children of God. All of them. To be taken care of by those of us who did better in life. Christ doesn’t want us to stoop to the culture we live in…. believing that some are less worthy than others. Soon we will be taking in Afganis who helped the US troops for up to 20 years while we fought over in the near east. How will we treat these "different" people? They helped us. Now, because God said he has prepared a place for me, I must prepare a place for my brother. Let’s make a plan to be kind and giving. We are "on our honor" to be kind because "the others" are children of God too. Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?" three times, and three times after Peter answers "Yes," Jesus says, "Feed my sheep." God bless us. God help us to "do the right thing." Angels encamp around us.

If only we could know whether our "crazy ideas" are any good! and that is what I’m wondering as a friend told me if I’m too political, no one will listen. In the weeks of Easter we have been reading from the Gospel of John and, reading as if I am there listening, I have been inspired by how many times Jesus told me (us) he loves us. When he says, ""Remain in me. Follow me. Do what I teach. What is the law?" I answer him, "love you God with my whole heart and mind, and love my neighbor." "Who is your neighbor?" he asks. "It is the Samaritan lying in the road; the one I have been taught, or I just feel, is my enemy, but I must help him; so say you Lord," I answer. "Is your neighbor a small child who might be a handful of trouble?" he asks. "Yes Lord," I answer. "You know the law," he gently whispers, "Act on the law. That is all you need." I stand in awe before my God. The Word is in my hand (Bible), and in my heart, where Jesus and the Holy Spirit reside.

Starting soon, the news will be full of the arguments in the Supreme Court which are to begin in October. People of all races, sex, and ages will be arguing about the law which Jesus God spoke. It involves kiling a child. The tiny one might only just have a heartbeat, but its a human heartbeat. The argument is, "can I kill him or her?" The tiny one is not an "it" because that is a human heartbeat. What has come into my mind on this day of Pentecost when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), is that this shouldn’t be in the country’s law courts. Isn’t it the law of God whether we kill or not? Isn’t it dependent on what is in my heart? Oh pray my dear friends that we realize the answer to this vital issue. God bless us as we drop making and obeying human law and we begin to "follow him". Angels with us.

My dears. I couldn’t think of anything to say after typing the title yesterday so I closed the computer. I mumble around and and bemoan the fact that I’m not inspired, I’m lazy, I want ice cream and wine… I want Covid to be over, but if we don’t get vaccinated as a nation, Covid isn’t going to go away like measles, mumps, chicken pocks, pneumonia, leprosy went away with vaccines. The director of CDC asks us to get vaccinated. Dr Fauci asks us to get vaccinated and wear masks. Can we, tough, stubborn, Americans save ourselves? Chuck and I are both vaccinated and we wear masks inside buildings. We have been isolated.

For me, another way to save myself is to take hold of my tummy roll that wasn’t there 2 years ago. I stepped on the scale at the Doctor’s office and I was horrified. I "never" weighed that much!!! Oh boy; Save myself. Jesus is taking care of my soul, but it is up to me to take care of my tummy. So I went on the web, and looked at pools in the backyard which Chuck doesn’t want to do. Expensive to build and then you have to maintain it. OH. Maintain is not in our vocabulary!!! So after going through many web sites, I said, "We have Yoga in Lake Placid." Indeed! I then went to my local Bealls Outlet store and bought new yoga clothes (in a larger size than I used 10 years ago). This morning I suited up in my new yoga pants and top. I also took cover up clothes if there was no yoga and I went to church instead. The yoga place is at Main street and Dal Hall, right at the market near town center, on the way to Publix and … it takes 10 minutes to get there!!! There were 10 ladies and a really great instructor. Ahhhhh! Yoga breathing! OH! my right knee was very unhappy when I went into "child’s pose!" which involves kneeling down which I haven’t been able to do lately. Breathe! Relax! Ease off! OH! The right knee continued to complain until I got off it and moved to my back and lifted my legs to stretch. Then the hamstring gets into the game!!! Whew! Both hams refused my stretching efforts, and started to cramp! Breathe!!! Relax!!! Breathe!!! Isn’t that what life is like? We don’t necessarily want to do what is good for us. Or someone tells us to do something, and we don’t want to do it. So we struggle without help. For me, yoga is great help. I was thinner in yoga class on Big Pine Key 10 years ago and I sang and danced as my tummy got smaller. This time it will be a little tougher as I have developed bad habits of wine and ice cream. If you come to visit, bring yoga clothes. Everyone can do a little! I’ll be the one singing and dancing!!! Love you my gentle reader! God bless us.

Pray for the people in India. Less that 2 percent of Indians are vaccinated. That is astounding but their government hasn’t responded and they are a poor country. We are shipping airplanes full of oxygen to India. Pray for them.

Yesterday and Today the readings at church are so beautifully supportive. If anyone wonders how to act, or what to believe, all we have to do is read the words of Jesus or his brilliant disciples John and Paul. Jesus said, "Remain in me" 8 times in the story of the Vine, "I am the vine, you are the branches…" (John 15). Like fertilizer and water, the word of Jesus is given life in us, and we give fruit to good works if we hang on. Saul breathed hate, but Jesus took him on as a late born disciple. Imagine Jesus says to us, "I’ve been waiting for you Saul." Put your name in place of Saul’s.

Today I discussed politics with my nurse at the opthamologist’s office. She is a gentle woman who was preparing me for a second excision of a lesion on my eyelid. Somehow we got talking about "If you don’t like it, you have a vote in 4 years." She said, "I like that!" I often speak out on complainers who bust the government in the face. I’m begging for people to take in the words of Jesus…. Remain in the gentle arms and on the chest of our God. He forgives. He brings peace. Lean back and rest. God bless us.

While visiting my friend Karla, I read an article about Mother Rivers who lives at over 101 years of age on Hilton Head Island! She is a respected elder who credits her longevity to her life principles: "It’s important," Mother shared, "It’s important to make sure you give your body a rest. God can’t work on your body if you don’t allow yourself to rest. Remember to give one day to the Lord. Always think about other people and share what you have. Remember to treat people like you want to be treated. And always do the right thing the best way that you know how." In 2019, Mother Rivers celebrated her 100th birthday while ruminating, "I feel good… I must have done some good somewhere down the line. I just put all of my trust in the Lord."

Looks like we won’t get too much from the infrastructure bill. The President offered a rousing speech on using government money to raise up families, repair bridges and rehab water systems among other declining systems in America, but the "opposition" in a sense offered the advice that nothing is really wrong and we aren’t going to spend money on it. So pray we don’t crumble. We have heard that the rich get richer and the rest of us are OK. I wonder what the people living in slums think about that. Go to the part of town none of us go safely into at night. Look at their poor stores, neighborhoods, and homes. Thank God for mothers and families who forced us to pursue education and good jobs. Try to live as Mother Rivers advised: "Always think about other people and share what you have. Remember to treat people like you want to be treated. And always do the right thing the best way that you know how." God bless us. Angels with us.

In Karla’s garden: Shades of green and yellow in a large ginger bush interrupted by a touch of red geranium coming up in the ginger’s midst. A blue green frog sitting with his back against a pine tree trunk. He’s thinking deep thoughts! A large white egrit across the lagoon pecks at the pine straw. A bright red cardinal with red beak joins a small brown bird at the bird feeder, woops, 2 small brown birds at the bird feeder. They all peck at the seed and then, swoop! they move on. South Carolina blue sky with a margin of pine tree tops overhead and I am reminded of the osprey love making we witnessed at the top of one of those pine trees! St Francis stands quietly praying in the corner in a patch of sunlight. Life feels good here in Karla’s garden. We have spoken of the past hurts and not so long ago nightmares we encountered while we drink wine at this little garden table. We have spoken of hurts that could have taken us down, but strong, praying, resilient, we emerged to celebrate life with Vivaldi playing on the little cylinder called Alexa. "We got this," is our chant. If you don’t have a space like this, try to set out a table with a few comfy chairs, a bird feeder (they will come!), and wind chimes. At the market in Lake Placid you can get wind chimes made of forks! Listen! Hear it? A still small whisper, "My peace I leave with you! My peace I give you." God bless us. Angels with us.

I am visiting my friend I went to Barry college with. We were both English majors and she wanted to be a journalist but became an English teacher. I went on to take Masters in English and became an English teacher. Poetry never leaves my mind and I think that is why I lean toward the gentle and the beautiful. Keats wrote, "Beauty is Truth, and Truth is Beauty." I always stop and smell flowers, gaze at clouds, and I mourne the loss of life and gentleness. Here on retreat, Karla plays classical music, Vivaldi just finished… I woke up with a poem in my mind. Something about Lara, Jupiter "overshadowing her" and written by Keats. This was stimulated by, while on our 4pm walk, we witnessed 2 osprey "doing it" amidst a great clashing of wings and wild cries in a tall pine while we watched from below. We finally left them to their love making, and we walked on. But in my dreams, the poem came. Now to find it!

I woke up at 820am to find Karla having already walked for an hour, at her computer. So I poured a cup of coffee and settled in at my computer to find the poem. She remembered it… but neither of us could identify it. I scoured Keats and found Ode on a Grecian Urn and remembered Truth is Beauty… but couldn’t find "Lara and Jupiter." I kept googling (what a marvelous search engine google is!) and it came up! "Leda and the Swan" by WB Yeats. My brain was close with Lara, Jupiter, and Keats! Leda was a young girl who was violently raped by Zeus who left her after impregnating her, dropping her from his "indifferent beak." Her child, Helen (of Troy), sparked the Trojan War and "Agamemnon dead." We then traveled in memory to another Yeats poem of similar dramatic quality called "The Second Coming." It is also about the violent stimulous of war as "what rough beast slouches towards Bethlehem to be born." I offer these two poems to you to read. They are easily found courtesy of google. Both poems predict our loss of innocence and gentility… Our loss of Christ in many hearts.

As Karla and I talk and come upon one seemingly hopeless situation after another, all we can do, we say, is pray. My sister Sarah said the same, "Susie, what can I do except keep my own balance and try to walk straight." I agree. God bless us as we pray for our own balance.

Oboe concerto by Brahams, Pachelbel’s concerto, and many others soothe and stimulate in the same way. I listen to Music Choice all day (country music; and I sing along) but today I am visiting friend Karla who now lives in Hilton Head. I can’t sing along to piano and oboe and maybe that is more soothing. It’s possible that a country song that I sing along to keeps my practical brain awake…. There’s lots of "stories" in country music, and I wonder if the story part of our brain is different from the "just beautiful" part of our brain? I’m not sure, but I think I will research that. I intuitively think that music without words often causes us to relax. Today is Shakespeare’s birthday. Somehow this led me to quote a line from a poem that I love "I wandered through fields of golden daffodils." When we remembered the poem was by William Wordsworth (Karla remembered it was Wordsworth) I went and looked it up. Turns out it is really, "I wandered lonely as a cloud." In reading the poem we discovered "Fields of Golden Daffodils" is a lovely image for me.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

I have always loved daffodils. My mother called them Jonquils. What soothes us can often be as simple as that!

What is soothing to us? We need to know this in a world growing more chaotic every day. Karla repeated something that my sister Sarah and niece Erin said to me. When the President came on TV on the night the Chauvin jury was sequestered he was soothing… He is sincere, humble, and grandfatherly. We can tell "the President" our fears and troubles, and I get the feeling he will not put me off. I have been praying a lot for "our world." Having faith that we are in God’s hands, but "it" still gets under our skin and irritates. "It" might be, people in our world getting killed by violence and by Covid. I received 2 emails today to pray for our church family members dying of Covid. "It" might be Financials, it’s tax season, and the Cable bill needs to be paid! It’s medical worries: "should I fix my teeth, my toes, or my…. " you name it. It costs money. So… Lets give the worries a nod and then head out if possible (I don’t know if my sister visiting Idaho can get out yet!), but get out and find the clouds, flowers, breezes. Get to the water if you can! These are the beauties of our earth. Absolute beauties: things that never change because man’s hand cannot stop life from growing. Love, honor, justice, faith, never changing, always present. Ah! Present! In Luke 24:35, two disciples who saw the Resurrected Jesus on the way to Emmaus told how he "made himself known". At that point that they believed the Lord Jesus is Present; they chose to believe he is with them, they relaxed and became fruitful. "Look! Touch! See!" says the Lord as he directs discussion to himself present in the world. As my sister Sarah said, " Great photos of sunrise, make my brushes want to dance!" You go girls and boys! Let’s get those brushes and pens dancing. Angels with us!!!!

I asked my friend what should I do to "be heard? to make a difference?" He said "To make a difference we must speak up. The problem is when we speak up we may be ‘canceled.’" I have "lost" several friends in the past year because I refuse to listen to the hot and critical rhetoric used in this past year, so my friends I have lost think I cancel them. No, it’s the ugly unsubstantiated criticism, Words and Attitude I’m canceling. I also will not tolerate the use of invective by anyone, especially someone of some stature making a speech. So just this last weekend at a "retreat" a political someone we all know called another political someone we all know "a dumb son of a bitch." Yep, I just sullied my blog. It gets worse: He still criticizes the ex-Vice President for not fighting the certification of electoral college results. (Remember when War raged inside the Capitol building January 6, 2021 and he talked about a rigged election rather than sending in the National Guard to save our Capitol from outrage and death?) About his remarks…. His supporters say, "If they were reported accurately," the remarks might hurt Republicans. So we might all be misreporting and lying about him saying, "Fauci is ‘full of crap.’" Is he full of crap who is concerned about all of us lining up to end the pandemic and get shots? 6 people out of over 6 million got sick with blood clots that "might" have been caused by the vaccine. Fauci says "wear a mask; get vaccinated." I have been maligned at least twice by asking people to social distance… They reply, "It’s not ordered here in Florida" (Thank you Governor…) … I didn’t say it, "You need a law to protect yourself and others?" After you finish washing this blog out with soap, please read on!

Remember when we used to ask: "What would Jesus do?" Jesus realized how weak we are so he kept coming back after the Resurrection and showing his hurt hands and side. "Here, put your hand in the hole in my side," he said to Thomas. "Here, eat some bread with me." He finally said he had to go to the Father, and St John wrote: "that which we have seen and touched… Word of Life made manifest… we proclaim to you." Yet, we don’t grasp the moment of Grace we are offered. Do I whisper "Lord, I trust in you" or do I mouth ugliness and bad news. The Nation is crumbling and maybe we deserve it. We who don’t seek the good news need to step back and say, "What can I do?" My friend wants me to criticize Biden for "allowing" the surge at the border and I say, "It’s been surging for years." Nope, it’s Biden’s fault" Life in filthy mud is awful and life in the United States looks a lot better. Chuck and I have taken "tours" through many foreign islands and i have been sad at the dirt and mud. Our streets are paved, and we have sidewalks and toilets. Many don’t. Many do not have running water. Yet they have their babies and mix powdered milk with water from a dirty looking bucket they carried from a spigot. Is there anything we can do for our brothers rather than just build walls? We can put up obstacles to keep people out, and we can shutter up to keep the dirt and hunger out, or we can give from our bounty. We sit in silence. Oh wait, no we don’t. We yell at our leaders and we block any efforts to rebuild our own broken country. Are we waiting for more riots? Are we waiting for a big overcrowded crumbling bridge to collapse? Grace abounds in this Easter Season, yet we act like dirty children hugging our toys and not letting the poor children play. Consider the never changing Absolutes of Love, Honor, Justice, Faith, Truth. In John 18:37, Why do you think Jesus didn’t answer Pilate’s question, "What is truth?" Because Jesus knew we wouldn’t listen, but Grace will help us listen. Listen to Luke 24: 13 ff: "Did not your heart burn within you when you heard the Word spoken?" What was that Word? "Blessed are the Merciful… Blessed are the Peacemakers… Be salt and Light." Read Matthew 5 and Listen… What we can do is there. It’s in a gentle whisper. Can you hear it? God bless us. God be with us.

Monday of Holy Week is a gentle look at the final days of Jesus when he entered Jerusalem, knowing he would be killed there that week, and still he entered, preached, and healed. Isaiah describes the coming of God’s son in Isaiah 42: "Here is my Servant upon whom I put my spirit." He will not cry out; he will not break bruised reeds. He will teach love. He will make the blind see. He will heal the sick, and he will bring out prisoners from confinement to the light.

When Isaiah wrote these words, the Jewish people were in confinement in Babylon. Exile. Lost. But God promised a gentle servant, not a fighter. Not a king. Not a rich man. Gently, quietly he will unmask us. He eats with sinners. He raises the dead to glory. He is beloved of the Father. He does point to the Law. He teaches the Absolutes of Love, Faith, Truth. He is pure heart. We are invited this week to get close to his gentle heart and listen. He sings and prays for us. God bless us! Angels with us.

Many Christians celebrated Lent from Ash Wednesday (5 weeks ago) to today… Palm Sunday! Actually Lent won’t end until Wednesday so we have 3 more days to "repent." During Lent Christians think about the role Jesus had and has in our lives. We are like the Jewish people wandering in the desert. Hungry and thirsty. Cursing our "lot" in the hot sands. We are asking God to make things better or get away and give us "the good old days." We are looking back and condeming the present. We are verbalizing out our frustrations and our hatreds. I wonder how the people in the Ark felt with all that stink and noise. "Lord, let me out; I can do better out side of this place you put me in. I can do better on my own." Yesterday I raised my voice at a friend who was saying stuff I call conspiracy. Instead of accepting our current world, she and her friend were complaining and wishing we had old leadership or just not this leadership. Get over it!!! Make today better! This is a time of taking responsibility. A time to love and listen to the Lord. What does he want? He wanted Mary to totally give herself up, maybe to face stoning for carrying a child when she wasn’t yet living with her bethrothed husband. She was an adulteress in the eyes of her people. But she "got on with it." An unwed pregnant woman was stoned back then. Nobody wanted to hear her story. Nobody wanted to accept that maybe she could do good things for us…. It’s a far comparison I make but the reason I raised my voice at my friend was "get over it." It (politics, the election) happened, now just live this life and do what good you can. Then get out and vote. Go to God and ask what we should do… Climb into the arms of an unwed mother who carries a child. Stay in this Ark, near Mary’s heart. Ask Mary to lift us up, even to the Cross where we will see her standing on Friday. Ask Mary to lift us up to the true harbor, God’s arms. Ask God: "Be merciful O Lord, for we have sinned." (Ps 51) Be quiet. Quit complaining. Quit gossipping with "Conservatives or liberals". Just be quiet and listen to the heartbeat of God. Take the steps this week to be quiet in front of the Cross this coming Friday.

Thank God I’m not sick! I had 2nd Covid vaccine on Friday morning. I took Aleve after shot and that night before bed. I feel fine. Maybe a little tired, but it’s hard to separate that from being out of shape! I’m beginning to paint that closet that Chuck and I cleared out and he built 2 shelves that need painting. That wore me out! Ick it’s hot here already! Chuck and I visited the Market yesterday and listened to music and watched butterflies. All seems to be well! God bless us! Angels with us!

Good morning dear readers! Two topics this morning, but both wrapped up under the name of working with love…. We have a great big hallway closet that could be a baby bedroom or a third bathroom. Instead it is filled to the brim with stuff that I literally stuffed into it when we moved to Lake Placid… Everyone has a closet, room or at least a drawer full of stuff that you would like to dump into the trash…. It’s been there so long that you aren’t sure who or what might also be living in there under it all… OH! But we have to go through it because there are photos that we used to have on our walls (when we had more wall space), and things we bought as gifts, 5 or more years ago. That stuff is meticulously being taken out of the closet as we speak by my dear Chuck, and he is stacking it in the dining room. In the old days, this activity would have had a short shelf life as we entertained on that table, a lot. But now, I can walk by the pile and avert my eyes. Pretend it isn’t there…. Ah! Pretending it isn’t there is as easy as pretending what is happening at our southern border isn’t affecting me.

In the old days when the Jewish people were sitting in Babylon, they only had memory. They used to tell stories of God who has compassion and loves us. One of the stories is the Book of Daniel. This is a great story. As children I am sure we read about Daniel helping the lion who later on didn’t eat Daniel. We read about Daniel’s 3 friends with those wildly different names Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego; names we loved to repeat! They were put into a burning furnace because they wouldn’t bow to false gods. They persisted in their faith in the One God of Israel. Please read Daniel! In the story of Susanna (chapter 13) who was falsely accused of committing adultery by 2 lusty old bad guys, Daniel saved Susanna with cogent argument. He was willing to stand up before Jews who were willing to condemn Susanna because "elders" accused her. Daniel stood up because he was filled by the Holy Spirit with courage and strength. Much later on in time, Jesus will stand up also and have enough compassion for a condemned woman to face the crowd who already have stones in their hands. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." (John 8:1). The people wanted to condemn Jesus for breaking the Law. An adulteress must be stoned. But compassion rules. The men guiltily shrink back and slink home. The message in this is when we love, when we have compassion, we are stronger. Someone commented about the crisis at the border that Congresspeople come to the border and see the crowds and feel sorry, but then go back to Washington and continue to fight and call names. Divided by politics, we fight bitterly and the condemned languish on concrete floors at the border. What are we afraid of? Attack the problem with love!!! Work together in Love as God wants us to do. Do we not believe in God? If we don’t then we are finished. Is it love when we criticize and call names? Is it love when we hate each other in the name of politics? Is it love when we refuse to work on the problem that drove the people lying on the concrete ground at our border from their homes in the south? Let us work together in love. Dredge that love up from the bottoms of our hearts to solve problems. Let us read the "stories" in Daniel and let us grasp the incredible faith the men in the oven had in a very strong God. Grasp God’s offered hand and get up. Get to work in Love. God bless us! Angels with us.

YEP! Except for the snow storms raging in the NW, it’s spring. So, quite to my dismay, spring cleaning has begun. It all started with me squeeling, at a relaxing Chuck, "Can’t you SEE the dirt on your bathroom rugs?" (He owns the guest room bath and I do my best to own the master bath!) Well no, he couldn’t see it…. He’s been complaining about the looks of the storage closet off the living room/bath area that, if you open the door, you better step back. So, I made a list… Either clean the guest bath, floor and toilet, or start emptying the storage closet. So, what does he do? He goes into the dresser drawers in the guest room where I’ve stuffed all the jeans and sweatshirts that don’t fit. I’ll go ahead and blame my bigger belly on a year of Covid depression. I have friends who lost weight, so what’s my excuse besides wine and ice cream?

So there he was in the drawers in the guest room and I was scrubbing the toilet and floor of a really small bathroom (about 4×8 in size). That’s all done and I look at that closet. He is removing blankets that I have thrown into big black garbage bags and stuffed into the closet. He is taking the blankets to a secure place. Do you remember the year when everybody got or gave 3 of those snuggy blankets that you can put your arms through? I’m saying got or gave 3 because I have 3 of them. I have beautiful hand made quilts displayed in the living room (my sister made them) and 1 on our sleeping bed. We have afgans, and about a million "throws." Pillows, millions. sheets, towels. Here we are paying the price of downsizing to a smaller house. What I "should have done" is throw everything away in Miami and buy 2 of everything in Lake Placid. New. Never mind how many bottles of mouth wash, alcohol, body and bath wash, baby powder and hydrogen peroxide are stacked on the dining room table from that giant closet… (I have a story about hydrogen peroxide) let me digress to the day Chuck and Mike were working on our roof in the back of the lake house and I was digging in a garden in the front yard. Mike came running to find me yelling, "You get towels and I’ll get the hydrogen peroxide!!!." I hurried out back and there was Chuck bleeding mightily from an ear wound. Mike and he lost control of a very long board (a 10×12) and it dropped, taking a part of Chuck’s ear with it. Chuck was bending over so the blood would go in the grass and not on his shirt. Some of you know, "a job isn’t done until Chuck bleeds." (50 years of this people…. Chuck and I had our 50th wedding anniversary during the Covid year.) We got fun!

So anyhow that accounts for the 5 (yes, count them) bottles of hydrogen peroxide I have. Where was I? I finished about 2 shelves before I threw myself in a chair and grabbed the computer to write to my spring cleaning friends. In Lake Placid, spring comes with wind. We get the "tail ends" of the storms that sweep through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and up and out on the upper east coast. Well darlings… time to get back to work. Wait until he gets to all the art work and photos stacked in that closet. I didn’t do myself a favor when I stacked it all in the closet. Keep safe. Get your shots (I get second shot at end of March then Chuck goes.) God bless you. Angels with you.

Hi my dears. Today the church celebrates Saint Joseph, the earthly father and protector of Jesus. He married Mary even though she was pregnant even though Jewish law said to put her out into the streets and even to Stone her for adultery. No! He accepted fatherhood of the child of God. Thank God.

Speaking of children of God, I want to speak to the dead Asians in Georgia. I just heard a congressman said it isn’t a hate crime, that Words used against Asians do not matter. What Trump said about Kung flu and Aisian virus and other Trump rhetoric was not affecting us, and I say it has. He opened up our mouths with his hateful rhetoric and allowed us to speak as he does. Thank God the news agencies are not reshowing him speaking to "prove" what he said. He criticized and taunted and "teased". Maybe I am sensitive because my father was a "teaser." I was quick to tell my husband and some friends early on that teasing hurts. I am hurt when teased because I believe what comes out of our mouths is our truth. Please this day pledge to "police" your tongue. God bless us. Angels with us.

There are many types of spouting. It means to expel or gush. I often refer to God’s Grace as pouring out, but there is also the negative spouting out of our mouths that hurts. So there’s good spouting and not so good spouting! I get crazy sometimes when I get into arguments with friends, and I spout my "Stop criticizing, and wait for 3 1/2 years and then VOTE!" Spouting… It’s pouring out our anger and our desires!!!! You have heard a small child screaming "I want," so: Let’s all spout, to God. In prayer. I recently took a lump just below my eyebrow to my opthalomologist and he said it needed to come off. We must take our lumps and bumps to doctors. If we want them off we have a right to get them off! So he numbed it with two shots and started "snipping" I could hear the snipping…. snip snip… clip clip… I was supposed to hold on to two balls, but instead I held onto the sides of my thighs. and I prayed. … I spouted to God and Mary…. "Hail Mary… Help me and help my friends." I prayed for friends and family. Just over and over. Even mentioning their names is good. 45 minutes worth of praying kept me sane! I did not think about what is happening now. I think that’s the best way. So let’s take this to the streets: My friend and I go back and forth … she is extreme right and I hope that I am mid moderate. I just ask for black and white to both be discussed and maybe a gray area be found. The news agencies cover the news, but if we look closely we will see Steve Bannon and Trump right behind the scenes in some cases and we need then to be careful if we are spouting because we are with our president for 3 1/2 years and it doesn’t do any good to shout negatives. Enough! Get along! Find solutions. God bless us. Angels with us!!!!!

Trust is Belief in the reliability, truth, strength or ability of someone, in what they say…. So can I trust? The President has given 2 speeches today and yesterday about government helping Americans recover from Covid problems…. He carries the number of Americans who have died, (527,726) from Covid, in his pocket. He says he carries the American people close to his heart. He does not name call. He doesn’t call it China virus, he doesn’t criticize those who don’t support him. He seems to care. So. Do I trust him? That is what each of us has to ask. I’ve heard some say the 527,726 number of dead is skewed for greed and miscount reasons. Maybe it is skewed. Maybe it’s only 500,000. That is 1/2 million and rising until we get vaccinated enough that the virus doesn’t have anywhere to land and grow… Biden wants us to get vaccinated and wear masks. Many call that ridiculous and they don’t want their freedoms stamped on. I wish there were a way to get over this but wishing won’t do it will it?

In his 2 speeches today and yesterday, the President did not call for prayer. Not prayer that we will heal, not prayer that we will live. He said, "the way we will get our lives back is to beat the virus…" and i said to the TV image, "No, it’s to pray." To thank God for the miracle of the vaccine. To thank God the numbers are going down.

Let us all contribute to the joy of each other. God wants to heal us. He said so in Scripture. He whispers it in our hearts. "Come to me… I will fill you with gifts of finest wheat and with honey from the rock." (Psalm 81) Stop and let the honied love of God pour out on you. God loves us without measure. He just pours it out. God bless us.

My friends and I have had some good debates. We seem to be able to talk better now that the election and inauguration are over, but we are still not on the same page. Maybe some of us are not even in the same book… i am still professing "Get safe (Vaccination); stay safe (mask)". I don’t tell anyone to get vaccinated, I just say that I got online and sent an email and waited for the emailed appointment. I did not go torture myself by attempting to access a computer registration system, or worse yet, stand in line for a shot. I prayed a lot for help because I seemed to be doing nothing!!! "I’m waiting… I’m on a list," I told my friends. And indeed, now I’m on another list, for the 2nd vaccine. Today I got into a debate about staying safe and how we act moving forward. I agree with my friend who says it’s OK to go to church. I tell her that I am glad the church is open and opening more. I’m very glad about that. As soon as I am fully vaccinated and my dear Chuck is fully vaccinated, I will return. Wearing a mask. To people who sneer and ask, "Is Fauci any good?" "Yes," I reply. I’m following Fauci and the CDC and im not calling any of them stupid. Fauci survived helping us to survive AIDS, Ebola and SARs. He has spent his life trying to protect us and we (many of us) have just done what we darned well pleased. Even casting aspersions on Fauci. He is the media picture that stands in front of a big team… 1500 Americans are dying per day from Covid, and many doctors are asking that we get vaccinated and wear masks. Many doctors have contributed to what we should we do.

We are a free country and therefore many Governors and Mayors have stepped into the mix too. Texas, South Dakota, and Florida (among others) refuse to (enforce) mask wearing. My answer: "I pray that our leaders can do good things." The world has changed so fast that we are being asked to embrace issues we never would have when we were younger. People tell me they are conservative and I’m liberal. I say…. "Don’t label me!" So the "fight goes on!!!!" We refuse to agree on much and I pray to God we don’t remain split to the detriment of our civilization here in the United States. (UH… emphasis on United…)

Take care dear gentle reader. Pray for others and ask others to pray for you. I pray to Jesus and our Holy Mother of God, Mary for blessings and their prayer. In Luke 22: 31-32, Jesus prays a gentle prayer for us…. Jesus says he prays for us… Thank you Jesus!!!!

Good morning! The readings today are filled with the word "Today." Especially critical are Moses and Jesus exhorting that "Today" is the time… Today, listen to God who gives decrees… (When we were little did we think God was the Great Rule Giver"?) Honor, Give thanks, Give praise… Do good things. Well… Moses writes: "Hearken to the Lord … and you will be a people sacred to the Lord." (Deut 26:16). Jesus says, "Love those" … who seem unworthy to me… Love as God does. Be holy. Oh dear. I am guilty of seeing for example the convention taking place in Orlando Florida, CPAC. I listened to a few speakers and I immediately felt abhorence at the jokes about things that happened like Texas freezing with water ruining homes, the election fraud, and other things. What we should be focusing on is healing the nation, vaccinations and feeding the hungry. Focus! …. and so I fume. Oh dear. What does Jesus say? "Be salt and light. Pray for those who persecute and hurt. Have great love. Do good. Be like the sun and shine out." If I focus on those I resent for their words and behavior then I am not focusing on what Jesus said (see Matthew 5). I will be filled instead with anger. A priest once said this to me, "Pray for those you don’t like. Pray for those you have "feelings" against. Then you will be filled with prayer." Then I will be filled with blessings! Take the action of love. Shine out and warm souls… Keep praying and ignore the naughty thoughts within. Ignore the reaction and the anger. Keep Praying. The essence of holiness is loving God. Think about God and his blessings pouring out on us.

Today I will enter the ranks of the vaccinated. I’m a little concerned about a 4pm appointment. Will the vaccine be spoiled if it’s left out until 4pm? Will there be great crowds.? Will the shot giver be exhausted? See how my brain goes to the negative? Oh dear. Surround me with angels dear Lord. Let us go smiling into the breach. Of course they can’t see me smiling as I will have a mask on. Oh well, I’ll wear a smart red Caribbean shirt. God bless us!!! Angels with us. Pray for Peace.

"Only" is an interesting word. It means "Single, solitary, nothing more." When we speak or think, if we say "only," "Only" is highly separative, highly dividing. Yesterday as I flipped through the channels I landed on a blurp from a town hall wherein the President remarked that "certain people" don’t know how to access the Covid systems to sign up for a shot. He named the certain people by ethnicity and color. This is separative. I haven’t been able to access the Covid system yet. A friend said, "You have to get on at 7am on Friday, if you don’t, they will be full and you have to wait." I should be singled out because I am old, having trouble, because I am not pushy! But, I can isolate for a little while; let’s help those who are hungry… they are white and black, they are Italian, Irish, African, Mexican. They are hungry because they have lost jobs in restaurants, bars, and places that serve large groups of people that are still closed or doing "only take out." Food banks are trying to find the hungry especially the children. Parents aren’t to blame. They are standing in line.

Yesterday the priest read about Jonah who went through the streets of Ninevah exhorting the people to pray to God for intercession and today we read from the Book of Esther. Tonight, Purim begins for our older brothers, the Jews. Esther was a beautiful Jewish slave and harem woman who was selected by the King for her beauty to be his queen, but she could not approach him and speak to him, or she would be killed. Esther heard of a plot to kill the Jewish people and she prayed to God to help her. Small me, Big You God, help my people. Psalm 138 reads, " Lord on the day I called for help, you answered me." Jesus said, "ask and it will be given to you." (Matthew 7:7-12). Well, what should we do with all this knowledge about Jonah and Esther?

While we are looking for the Light; trying to be light, why not consider the readings I mentioned above. Look at the way Esther humbled herself and asked her companions to pray with her. Look at the Psalmist praising God. Pray for what we need and expect, maybe we won’t realize, but, pray to accept that we get what we need. I realized today that the vaccine is a great miracle. One year after the pandemic "started", We are dispensing vaccine to everyone in the US. It will take a while as there are 320 million of us, and we need 2 doses each. I have often asked you to do the math. Thats 720 million and that is only the US. Then yesterday the WHO announced that we have agreed to help get the vaccine to Africa where in many places it has not been dispensed at all. Many people have argued against supporting the WHO and giving money outside the US when we need help inside the US so desperately, but if the world is not vaccinated, we won’t get hold on this virus. It will just continue to spread. If you don’t think that way, please pray for guidance. Me too. I am praying constantly for guidance.

Consider that God answers our prayer out of mercy! God does not look at our merits; he loves us, and through the merits of Jesus, God pours out Grace. I can’t understand what makes a vaccine, and I haven’t stood up in the marketplace and made speeches! I feel that I am just a small person and all I can do is pray: ("Thank you God for the vaccine; thank you for flowers and butterflies. And while I’m at it God, I need help making change. I need to stop judging; stop arguing. I pray for my change.") Satan doesn’t like that when we ask for help from God. Satan likes us to be in trouble! He gets tired of our prayer! Job asked God, "What is man that you should care for him?" God is here, and He cares for us. He desires conversation with us. Tell God what makes you sad. Tell God what makes you happy. Go sit on the door opening to the Ark; Noah will let you sit there. Watch Noah work. He’s praying he can save some people. Pray for friends and family. Tell God what you need for friends and family. We won’t change them, but we can ask God to do the work! God bless us. Angels with us.

It’s starting! 3 prominent Florida Republians participated in a "runoff" election for President. Oh dear. As I freely advised 6 months ago, "You have a vote." Go for it. We all better get busy and start talking, but… Let us think for a moment about a small child named Manuel Fodera. Born June 21, 2001, the small boy developed a neuroblastoma that finally killed him on July 20, 2010. Throughout a horrible medical ordeal, the boy became quite docile as he prayed and spoke with his "friend" Jesus who, he said, resided in his heart. The boy was sure that Christ lived in his heart and that he himself had a mission to be a warrior of Light. He told his mother many things that a young child couldn’t possibly know that Jesus told him. In Isaiah 58, the prophet tells us, you will know it is a day acceptabe to the Lord when "your light breaks forward like the dawn." Think of the small boy dying, but so joyful because he saw what is truly important, and it isn’t politics, it isn’t political gain or greed. It is light and helping people. Oh how I pray I can ignore all the fighting that is about to begin for it destroys my peace. Let us continue to help others, the poor, the single families, the children. Let us think only of how we can help. Let us think of how we can be light. God bless us. Angels with us.

In my last writing I asked what does the ark Noah built have to do with Lent? One righteous man built a wooden boat and he invited us to join him. Climb aboard. It must have been pretty crowded and stinky! Aside from the noise and the stink, what else was in the Ark? A righteous man. He did what God asked. He loved. He worked obediently to serve others despite neighbors taunting him. Surely he was taunted for building the big boat in his yard! How many times he looked up, asking for guidance and strength. We don’t know. He just kept building. Called to love. Leaning on God. Hearing God’s voice. And that is the hard part.

How many of us know we have heard God’s voice? Right now my neighbor is making a lot of noise in his side yard and honestly all I hear is a saw and men talking… Out front, in my neighbor’s yard people are mowing and chopping… It’s noisy! Ah! where is God’s voice? I can’t hear it for all the distractions. I’ve heard that his voice is in my heart. In Deuteronomy (30:15) Moses prayed we would listen to God’s voice… "Heed his voice and hold fast to him", but I can’t "hold fast" to him unless I am up against him. Leaning on his chest. I would lean, and he would catch me. Embraced, I could relax.

But I have walls and thorns I have built over the years. Bad things have happened. Many people have "left the church" because of stupid things "the church" has done. Many people have been hurt by priests and pastors. My church has recently, continuously, cleaned house and the latest is the leaving of office by a so called "Conservative Cardinal." Oh yes. We all share the labels, Conservative, liberal…. We develop thorns that keep us from getting too close to what we reject. Lent is 40 days of journeying in the desert with no outside influence; just soul and God. God is trying to move us. Try to imagine a dance teacher or a yoga instructor adjusting our limbs. We are straining to pose and here comes someone who says, "Like this." and they adjust our limbs. As you are adjusted by God, what do you feel? God bless us. Angels with us.

After the inauguration I felt hopeful and positive despite the Capitol invasion a short 2 weeks prior. Then the President ordered the rescinding of the Mexico City Policy (allowing taxpayer dollars to go into countries who might use it for abortion). Then we watched the trial of a President who was accused of ordering insurrection… "Who Won?" I wrote in my journal in big letters. Nobody is the answer. Nobody won and nobody was held accountable. There were, and still are, dark times. Troubled waters. Once more the slings and arrows were launched. Lawyers are able to say things that sound very believable… On both sides. So slings and arrows from all sides. I watched, because as I told Chuck, "This is history." Knowing the result despite the way I feel can make the tummy hurt. More hurt. Being unvaccinated; I’m still isolated so talking these things through with people face to face is difficult. I’m on the county list for a vaccination, and I’m following the "rules." Friends are getting vaccinated in other counties than their own so that is a good thing for them.

All through my silence I was writing in my journal though and I strongly recommend a journal! My friend says, "No one wants to read that …. " … "what?" I ask, "No one wants to read stuff from your heart? stuff from your very intelligent brain? stuff from your pain?" Ah, pain! there it is. I accuse another friend of ignoring the fact that she is lying to herself and to me because she can’t bear the things she does to get her into trouble, so she says, "My debt and pain are my fate. There will be a miracle." Oh there I go again, thinking I have the answer. What I do know is that we are not left in the pain. In the darkness. In the tomb. Jesus brought us up to be creative and to procreate. Build beautiful things. Write beautiful words. Make beautiful music. Serve God with good deeds done by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. We were made for eternal life; our Grace was restored in Baptism, and we are healed with Sacraments which are the healing touch of God. We are healed by Jesus, who, saying, "I will it," reached out and touched a leper (Mark 1:40) healing the man who asked for healing. "If you wish it Lord!" I weakly whisper. "Of course I do!" answers our God. So, I asked myself in the past few weeks, "How do I get out of these troubled waters that are hurting me and drowning me?" Well the reading on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is good for all of us! In Mark 8:14-21, Jesus made a second miracle of loaves and fish… "Don’t you understand?" he asks? "Uh No," I answer. At one point, God got so exasperated that people just didn’t get it, that he told Noah to build an ark. There is a wonderful church in Nowa Huta, Poland. The government built a Socialist city with no churches, but the people, inspired by Karol Wojtyla, (Pope John Paul II), built the church by hand like Noah did. It resembles the Ark. Why do we need that symbol? Because God found one righteous man and told him, if he works he can save civilization… One righteous man, on an Ark in the shape of a Cross saved us too and that is what Lent is all about. Stay in the Ark was the message to Noah, until I bring you safely outside again. So what does this have to do with Lent? God bless us!

If I could change one mind it would mean that I helped someone to realize that Peace stands a chance when we stop fighting. It would mean we listen to respected people. It would mean we stop calling names, calling "fraud," hurting reputations, rather we start helping others who need help. I watch Sunday Morning on CBS every Sunday morning. Generally I DVR it so I can FF through commercials and FF through things I’m not interested in. So today I watched the first unfettered interview of Anthony Fauci. I didn’t really have reason to "know" him before this last year. I saw video clips of him being tortured by AIDS protesters. Now he has been tortured in public by people who think he’s lying and they don’t want to wear masks. I knew he was listening to the President and realizing the truth wasn’t being said. Today he spoke unfettered and I felt relief. Can I change one person who still believes the lies of the past 4 years?

For some reason the Fauci interview this morning made me think, what if I could change one mind? It made me remember a time when I taught 11th grade in a very awful year that I realized early on I couldn’t teach these kids. They were out of control before I got there. I tried to go over exams with them before I gave the test. Anything to teach teach teach. Even going over tests with them before test day. So I did that. I asked questions from the test. Then I said, anyone have any questions? And a student came up to ask and I took him over to my desk for a little privacy. The students saw that I left the test out and they took advantage of that. I answered question after question while others read the questions and copied them (question 1 is B, question 2 is C etc). One student came up to me after class and told me what had happened. One student out of 30 told me the kids cheated. I changed the test. Just shifted the questions around, and indeed when I handed out the test one kid blurted out, "you changed it!" How stupid he was!!!! I was broken by that experience because I hoped for students who wanted to learn and grow. "If only I could change one." That’s what I am. A teacher, a dreamer. As we walked her dog yesterday, I asked my friend, "give peace a chance." I’m not sure she is willing to do that. This morning, I refuted some of her "facts" and protests with articles written into the news in google. I did not get an answer. Can we make changes? Can we find truth and peace? The 11th grade girl who told me the truth is one. I pray for the others. I pray for Peace in this world. We can do that! God bless us.

Do you cringe when people repeat themselves? I am guilty of repeating myself with the "oughta dos" and (heaven forbid) the "should dos." My neices, my husband, my friends all tell me…. "You are doing it again; telling us what to do." Well who made me so perfect? Poor Chuck! We are together in each other’s pockets so much, so, if I can get him out walking (yea!) then I try to get him to walk a "few extra steps…" He says, "Hey I’m out here, don’t push!" I tell him daily, "need to stretch; need to exercise and walk!!!!". I also chant "relax" when he gets irritated over small things. "Relax; it’s OK; it’s small," I chant. Until he says, "Stop telling me…. to exercise, to stretch, to relax!" Well who made me the expert anyway? I have a friend who laments that she didn’t "make" her husband see a doctor…" Needless to say, I commiserate, but I also realize we can’t "make people do stuff."

How many times are the same things repeated in Scripture? God repeats and repeats, "repent, be humble, pray, have faith, rejoice." It is so critical that we believe that we have a new deal with God who loves us. We get the new deal every time we turn our eyes inward to our hearts and say to God, "I’m sorry." What the Lord repeated is for those who have faith in him, "Be still, relax into my heart, lean against my chest, I am here." God would have us be at peace, trusting, not angry. Lean back, look up. God bless us. God bless America.

A beautiful, brave, young 22 year old stood poised and free and read a brilliant Ode that she penned and finished the night of January 6. I have copied parts of an interview and the poem itself. This young woman needs our notice and our prayers. She is one of the hopes of America! What I copied from the internet:

The Los Angeles native told NPR she finished writing the poem, titled "The Hill We Climb," on the night of Jan. 6, hours after rioters took part in a siege on Capitol Hill.

"I was like, ‘Well, this is something we need to talk about,’" Gorman told NPR’s Steve Inskeep ahead of the inauguration, adding it had been "really daunting to begin the poem" given how divided the country seemed after the 2020 election.

Gorman opened her poem Wednesday by saying, "We braved the belly of the beast."

"We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished," she said. "We, the successors of a country and a time, where a skinny black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one."

"And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect," she said. "We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man."

"And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first. We must first put our differences aside," Gorman said.

Gorman, who said she was not given specific instructions on what to write in her poem, follows in the footsteps of esteemed poets like Maya Angelou and Robert Frost in reading a poem at a presidential inauguration.

Gorman received praise for her poem from the likes of Lin Manuel Miranda, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, who tweeted, "Maya Angelou is cheering—and so am I."

Winfrey gifted Gorman the gold hoop earrings and birdcage ring she wore at the inauguration. "For Oprah, this gesture continues her tradition of supporting poets ahead of their meaningful address," Oprah magazine explained. "When Angelou was chosen to read a poem at Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration, Oprah sent her a blue Chanel coat and a pair of gloves to wear for the occasion."

The Hill We Climb : in full:
Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans and the world, when day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast.

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what just is, isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it, somehow we do it, somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time, where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine, but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us. We close the divide, because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all. Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true, that even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried. That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious, not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lighten the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made, that is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare, it’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It’s the past we stepped into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith, we trust. For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us.

This is the era of just redemption. We feared at its inception. We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, but within it we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So, while once we asked, “how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?”, now we assert, “how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?” We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation.

Because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy, and change, our children’s birth right.

So let us leave behind a country better than one we were left with, every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. We will rise through the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South.

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover, in every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful, will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.

The new dawn blooms as we free it for there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.

WOW! God bless Amanda Gorman! Thank God. Angels with us!

Inauguration Day! This day happens every four years! It is a tribute to the American Constitution and the Founding Fathers who must have sensed we need a ceremony every four years to remind us that "We the people of the United States" of America have spoken and have been heard and counted. We celebrate with great gravity and thanksgiving that we are a free people. There has been awful war and violence in our history, but we always gather, "like clockwork," on January 20, every four years. First we pray. George Washington started this when he was first inaugurated. He walked to church with his companions before the inauguration ceremonies.

As we watched the Memorial yesterday for the more than 400,000 deaths since February and as we watch today the repeated process of inauguration every 4 years, I hope all of us are praying and not cursing…. I pray: "God bless America. Where there is hatred, let us sow love. Where there is darkness, let us shine light. Where there is sadness, let us bring joy. I pray you heal our divisions Lord. Let us do good, Lord. Let us move forward to serve you Lord. Let us acknowledge the healing balm you pour out Lord. Enkindle in us your Spirit of service. Let us heal." God bless us. Angels with us.

Good morning! It’s a chilly winter morning… in the 20s "up north" as we Miamians used to call it! Now I’m a Lake Placid girl and it’s 50ish and I’m chilly! Keep warm and safe my dear readers!!! This weekend we watched a great football match. Chuck and I have been watching football since the late 60s. He was very interested in the scrambling techniques of Fran Tarkenton whose running skills to protect his own life led to 3 Super Bowls for the Purple People Eaters in the 1970s. At the same time we were watching the likes of Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, and the great years of the Miami Hurricanes and Dolphins. Football is often related as a gladiator sport. There is one leader who hopes his team performs to his calls! One leader who can become a legend bouyed up by his team. He can’t perform alone. This weekend we saw Drew Brees and Tom Brady compete. Some people don’t like Brady because he has done some questionable things to win, but he’s still playing and he and Brees share between them some awesome records. Put a ball in the air and, if the right man is at the other end, Score! The game this weekend was tough as I was cheering for both men who could be my sons…! My mother used to do that! "Oh that was a great play!" she would say excitedly! "Mom! that’s the wrong team! They are the enemy!" we would shout!!! "But it was a good play!" Mom taught us a lesson…. it’s the great play we should be cheering!!! Great men are playing here! There will be great plays! Enjoy it! There were great plays this weekend. I loved best when Brees walked off the field and Jameis Winston came to stand off to the side on the line. The trick play resulted in 7 points and made Drew Brees laugh. He needed a good laugh as I think he was hurting. He was playing injured; hit too many times in the ribs.

Today’s reading at Mass was from the Gospel of Mark 2:23: When they were hungry, David left the battlefield to find food for his companions, and he shared the the Bread of Offering in the Tent of Meeting with his companions. Our priest explained that our word companion comes from Cum Panis: "To share or break bread with." Jesus walked through a wheat field with his companions, and in their hunger, they broke off stalks of wheat to eat. Pharisees complained that they were breaking the Sabbath Law. Jesus advised them to think back to David feeding his men the most sacred bread. "The Sabbath was made for men," Jesus replied. Give them bread. It doesn’t matter what day it is; they are hungry. Jesus might have had these words in his heart: "Come share the Bread with me," but the Pharisees couldn’t hear that. When great people meet in conflict, they can’t see each other or the needs of their companions. The Pharisees couldn’t "see" Jesus. Only one man can win. He either eliminates his enemy, or he and his team execute better and win the way. Only one man wins. (So the gladiator Drew Brees walked off the field having lost the combat.) Only one man wins and the other leaves the field of combat.

UNLESS we agree to work together to pool our resources and talents! I’ll bet you know where I’m going with this rather convoluted story! Why can’t we pool our talents and resources? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the group that has been fighting Covid for almost a year could sit at the table and share the bread with the new team? "Here’s what we learned. Here’s what we did wrong. Here’s what we think could be changed, but we just couldn’t get to it." Don’t slink off! Stay and help. Make one great team for America. But breaking bread, Cum Panis, just can’t be for everybody. Our work often ends in competition and bitterness. One seeks to defeat the other. Watch two children shouting at each other and one slinks off. The other stands there and looks confused or arrogant! The questions are written on faces: "Why did he walk off? What made him so mad? Ha! I got him!" I’m not asking the President to stay. Often the old President meets with the new President and gives him a letter and shares secrets with the new President. That won’t happen this time. He’s too angry. I’m not asking Drew Brees to stay as I think he’s injured. He needs to heal and move on. Same with the current President. He needs to heal. But I am asking for those of us who aren’t out of control angry or injured to work together, to seek solutions for Covid vaccine distribution, for hunger in America and for jobs in America. God bless us. Angels with us.

My friend and I were walking with her beautiful dog Dixie who kept glancing back at us both to make sure we are still with her and to assure us she is with us. Is she listening to our voices? I think dogs do listen to us and are very aware of our moods. As we walked, I watched the dog ambling along in front of us, tail waving in the light breeze. She looks happy. Then my friend said, "I’m so sad about what has happened in our country. We are ripped apart." I agree with her, we have come to a crisis with the storming of the Capital and the disrespect for places and people of elected position. We talked about the violence and the angry faces we saw on television last Wednesday; so angrily separated. "There is one person who can pull all this together," she said. …

"Who?" I asked, looking for that one person; the solution to our division, our anger, the damage we are doing to our national beliefs. "Who can save us?"

"Jesus." She said. "Oh." You see, I couldn’t see it. Mark (9:24) describes a father of a child with a demon (convulsions) asking Jesus for healing. "if you can…. heal my child." "IF I can?" Jesus asked…. The man answered, "Lord I believe; help my unbelief." It’s so hard for us to believe our troubles can be fixed. We are out there trying to make things right. Our lack of faith is a lack of handing things over to God. Let Go, let God. Here I am praying every morning with the priest during Mass, praying every moment I hear or see news about a sick friend. Everytime someone says something awful. Praying. But I didn’t believe it. I can’t SEE it. Instead I think "(the angry ones) "They" can’t see it. "They" won’t listen. There is no help." Two loving Catholic women dealing with such a tumultuous issue. One of us has such strong faith! I must grab the hand Jesus stretches out and beg him: "increase my faith." I will watch, and pray, and uplift the Inauguration ceremony this week. I will pray the new administration gets the shots into arms this first 100 days. I pray Biden is not blocked from healing the nation with vaccine. God grant us peace to cure ourselves. If we are dragged down by Covid, how can we expect to move forward with economics, producing food and production of our own materials? Lord help us help ourselves. Angels with us.

I love listening to the weather channel. The city name for today is Minnetonka. They are going to have a storm of rain and light snow. We watch from central Florida where the sky has been cloudy and threatening, but, quiet and for me, chilly! It’s winter-time and mother nature is having a headache and dumping on the United States. Stay warm dear friends and family, bundle and observe social distancing.

I hope we don’t do the wrong thing with the vaccines. For those of you who know what it would mean to give out more first doses, and therefore stretch out the timing and delay the second dose, pleace speak to government leaders and Fauci. If we need to get the second dose within 3 to 4 weeks, then let’s don’t screw that up! I certainly want us to get the vaccine out, but for heaven’s sake, people, get it right!!!!

The opening prayer at morning Mass today was: "Attend to the pleas of your people with heavenly care that they may see what must be done and gain strength to do what they have seen." This is a prayer of faith because there are many people who are acting the wrong way as part of the population proclaims. How do we "see" what must be done? How do we know what is the right thing to do? Every one of us must be discerning right now. We are most in need of "seeing what must be done," and acting with strength, faith, and wisdom. In a sense these are the words the Trump people used at the big rally on Wednesday… Acting with strength meant to some "attacking with strength". Men and women are acting on different sides, against each other, brother against brother. Families are begging family members to "settle down; tone down the rhetoric." Worried family members are separated by ideas and feelings. We can’t speak to each other. It is as if we, the United States, is at war. So we pray, "Lord remember your covenant with us; protect us."

In the Scripture today, (Mark 1: 29), we read that Jesus moved from town to town teaching and explaining the Scripture to a hungry people. Think about the activities he spawned. He sent out his disciples to towns to teach. He told them, if they were rejected, to shake the dust off their feet and move on. Don’t bring the unfriendliness with you. Just move on and carry the news. When the United States expanded west, the press went along and wrote what was happening. First the "news" was carried by the pony express and then it began to be carried over wire so people on each coast could know what was happening. For the most part we were educated about our world that way, by the "Press." I’m a little slow on the uptake and I don’t remember when Trump began to say "fake news" about most of what was reported. His 75 million followers believed every word he said, and the rest of the country tried to listen to the Press as we always have. He said the Press lies; listen only to him." Now he is banned from his social medias among them twitter and U Tube. He can’t make his private news for his "pack" of 75 million. When did that begin? When did he start taking care of and speaking only to his "MAGA pack"? When will we be able to restore the Press who tries to speak to 300 million, to all of us? I often switch channels when it is a news day like last week, today, and the next week will be. I go from the ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox channels (7 Press networks) and I also want to see what Newsmax is saying. … I listen to each and try to find some reason,; try to be discerning. Try to find the truth, just as we have to be discerning with "what we see, and what we are supposed to do…" I suggest we let no single voice be our dictator; dictating to us what to believe and do. God be with us and take care of us. God help us vaccinate! Angels with us!

Will you explain why we can’t talk to each other? Will you explain what you are thinking when you say, "I am a Conservative, but you, Susie, you are…" She can’t even say the word! I say, "a Liberal?" My dear, I have fought this name calling for months, maybe years. The name calling corners us, puts walls between us, and gives us definitions that draw lines between us. A line from Saturday Night Live is "I am what I am, Blanche." or maybe it is "You are what you are, Blanche." Whatever you are, or what I am, we were friends. What gets our backs up and causes us to yell at one another?

What was Jesus? a Radical? Isaiah 42: 1 describes "my servant." He speaks quietly, without violence, "a smoldering wick he shall not quench until he establishes justice." I have watched video of those who "stormed" the Capital last Wednesday… mostly white, painted, wearing fur and camoflage, screaming, shoving, hitting, jeering, laughing. Taking power symbols to use in rituals against those "in power"? Hey, I’m not happy with the Congress who argued for years… and left the hungry and out of work un helped. I’m not happy with the rhetoric that spews from jeering mouths, but I’m not about to yell and scream myself. I am unwilling to steal and hit, to be unreasonable with anyone who doesn’t agree with me.

Instead, we are called to pray for peace, and pray for people who can’t hear the still small voice of angels. Who can’t hear the quiet voices who wish for healing for our country, and healing from Covid. As we entered January, people talked about resolutions. Did we set a mission? Have we asked, "For whom should we pray?" Pray for miracles, peace, relief from Covid. Pray for a plan for Covid vaccination. Pray we get to what must be done and that we get to it. What are we to do? It is not to be violent, rather it is to be gentle, not trampling on flowers, not putting out smoldering wicks. Rather, let us clothe and feed children.

I consulted with my heart surgeon yesterday. We talked seriously about my aneurysm and what might happen, and how it will feel if it happens. I’m doing everything right to live long and prosper, but I can’t make this monster inside me behave. But it’s not probably going to burst in the near future and we will monitor it with another echocardiogram in 7 months. The doctor said, "Yes, get the vaccine." So I too am entering the line that needs vaccine 1 and vaccine 2. We all are in that line together. According to medical sources, we need both shots, so pray we can get this threatening violent mess straightened out and concentrate on the vaccine. God bless us. Read Hebrew 2:5: Nothing is higher than the Lord; All are subject to him. See that! On this earth, He is peace. God bless us.

I hope and pray the violence stops. Our forefathers had to fight to get rid of "taxation without representation." But we have representation now. We all vote. What we have to do if things aren’t going our way is protest with our voices and vote to elect people we want. Now the President and probably the Republicans in Georgia say the election was rigged. So what now? What’s now is Action: Rioters need to find the folks who say they have evidence and get hold of them and investigate. We have 4 years to start investigating right now!! Get some computer experts to examine the voting systems. Make some changes that people responsible for the systems agree on. Clean up the voter rolls. Pull the death rolls and compare to voter registration rolls. Get on the teams that work in the voter polls. Get to work! We have 4 years to make changes.

In the next week, Congress will be arguing Impeachment. If the President is successfully impeached, and judged guilty by the Senate, then he will never be able to run for Federal office. We must decide whom we choose to lead us. Everyone of us must decide. Pray for our country. Pray we get enough vaccines to go free! Pray we get some Common Sense to enjoy freedom.

When things turn bad, or as some people say, when things turn south, we can only cling to faith, and that feels awfully loose sometimes. Our dear Apostle John wrote in his first letter… "Beloved let us love one another." He might have added, "no matter what happens." I couldn’t help but cringe as I looked at the angry faces speaking against the vote result of Arizona on January 6 to the joint assembly of Congress and the Senate. Angry faces speaking words to the joint houses of Congress that there is voter fraud. They have had 2 months to prove their accusations, and finally on the day of a Constitutionally directed "tally" they continue to argue against the American vote. Because I didn’t know they were about to be invaded, I thought the worst thing that could happen was the arguments meant to delay the tally. I said to the television, "You had two months to pull out the papers and stand in front of the nation and ‘show the proof,’ yet you only talk and delay." Then the shouting and shooting started. Angry voices shouting and faces grinning at the destruction they are causing as they smash into the Capital. I’m so sorry people died, but I thank God it ended quickly. I felt the President should have spoken quickly that he didn’t really mean it when he spoke to the 2pm rally. "I didn’t really mean march down to the Capital and …. riot? tear things up? smash windows and invade and try to stop a very solemn Constitutionally directed session. I really didn’t mean it." Someone might have seen him speaking from the Oval office, and the deaths might not have happened. He just sat there watching the fur and camoflaged covered men and women tearing at the Capital. I looked at the flags, Trump, Confederate and American flags all waved by the crowd. I love our flag. The others, not so much. Quickly it ended. I earnestly hope the responsible parties are arrested, have a federal trial, and be jailed if we can do it. The reason I say "if we can jail them," is so many people believe they were right and OK. Their own leaders, the President, the President’s attorney, and the President’s son told them it was OK. They have a lot of power behind them. Oh I hope the photos of those jearing, grinning faces inside the Capital count as proof. Enough! Let us transition and have 4 years of taking care of people. Let us… "Love One Another!"

My brother by marriage, my beloved Lee’s brother Bill Baker died yesterday of Covid. He died gasping for breath, intubated, 8 days after he entered the hospital not breathing well due to Covid-caused pneumonia. He died alone and my sister and brother in law can’t go to properly bury him and take care of his estate. Covid. That’s what we need to concentrate on. Get over the ugly invasion of our American dream at the Capital and in Washington DC. Just get over it, and focus and pray for the fight against Covid. It might be helpful to read Mark 6:34 where Jesus is moved with pity for the people looking up to him for answers… He was moved with pity. He fed them with God’s wisdom, with bread, and with fish. 5000 of them he fed. Let us be moved with pity to feed and clothe what in scripture is called the anawim. The small. Beware of planting discord. What will the seeds of evil produce? I have beautiful flowers out in my yard where I planted flower seeds. Plant beauty and watch it grow! God bless us. Let us get to work in prayer.

Are you my new neighbor? Are you my new friend? Are you my enemy? Are you the Lord? Who am I? All these questions are to be pondered this second day of the "New Year." The winter sky keeps many of us sequestered. Covid keeps the rest of us inside, and we have nothing "fun to do." So how about some soul searching? The first reading today is by St John. John writes that John the Baptist clearly told people, "I am not the Christ… I am the voice of one crying in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’" St. John calls the "other" the antichrist. We have to identify him in our lives. He is a man of lawlessness, he is a liar, he is not "of the church." (St Paul’s descriptions of him.) The antichrist shakes us and frightens us. We have been frightened this year. Several of my friends have been very ill and I have known those who have died. I have to make unpopular decisions like quaranteening and saying NO to friends who ask me to come out.

Maybe this is what New Years resolutions is all about: to answer these questions: Identify! Who are you? Who do you want to help, to be with? Who is your God? How do you honor him? I have a friend who told me she is angry at the church and she does not believe Jesus is God; just a prophet. I was shocked! I couldn’t argue with her. Just hand her a Holy Bible and say "read St Luke." It’s a little like trying to argue with angry people today. I need an expert talker at my side. I know it is the Holy Spirit, but for some reason, sometimes I’m shocked and can’t talk. I can only "Just pray!" Pray my dears for us to get through the next 19 days without really messing ourselves up. God bless America!

Good New Year dear friends. Today’s daily Mass is a celebration of the blessings God has given to us. The reading from Numbers is especially lovely and powerful: " The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord look upon you with his shining face … kindly, and give you peace." Find this blessing in your Scriptures (Numbers 6:22) and read it out loud for your family! Bless one another this beautiful day of the "New Year." Another beautiful blessing is Psalm 67: "May God shed his light upon us; may God bless us in his mercy." And finally Galatians 4:4-7: " You are adopted as son and heir. Cry out Abba, Father." He blesses us because we are his children!

In the old days of the big Peabody parties which ended about 10 years ago, no matter how hung over and sleep deprived I was, I went to Mass on January 1. New Years Day morning we celebrate Mary the Mother of God. On this day we celebrate Mary’s Yes and the fruitfulness that God gave her. Mary is not the creator of God; she is the Theotokus, the God-bearer. Mary is a human mother. She cared for a human child who walked on the earth for 33 years. She stood at the foot of the Cross and she said goodbye to him when he "went to the Father." Mary is the woman in Revelation 12 who stands up against the dragon who wants to destroy her child. Ask Mary to go to battle against the dragon. Ask, "who or what is my dragon?" For many it is anger. For me I think it is impatience. It is impatience with people who won’t "listen." People not doing what I think is right!!! I tend to push my way. I was so disappointed with school children who wouldn’t give a little of their minds to what I thought was so important. In a way, I’m giving what I love, and I’m paying my success forward. I’m sorry for the pain I have caused if I made you feel small. I’m just trying to give from my blessings. My impatience. That’s my dragon. What is your dragon? Place this load of yours in the manger. We still have some time. God bless us! Angels with us.

How do I achieve peace in the world? I can’t. I’m just a small being, but I can achieve peace in my heart. So I proceed. Sometimes we think all is lost, but it isn’t. If we believe in God, and believe in the Light, we will never be in darkness. My mother, who believed in God mightily, said, "the Blessed Mother will meet me, give me a big hug, and take me to Jesus." Don’t doubt that for a second.

This morning in the last daily Mass of the New Year, EWTN opened the Communion prayer with, " Lord, we pray, order our days in your peace." So how does God order our days? Have you ever noticed nature? You plant a seed and, 10 days later, 2 green sprouts emerge. In another 10 days, more green. Then we have to wait for buds. I check my flowers daily. "Yes! buds!" I danced around the bushes a week ago. Now we wait for the buds to make flowers and bloom. So God has ordered. It’s been that way for all time, unless someone upsets the sequence. If we dig them up and move them mid process we might kill them. God has ordered. Let him work. Many think of God like we might treat a Teddy Bear we sleep with. (Yes, Chuck and I have 3 Teddies on the bed!). We steal them from each other during the night. Often Teddy lands on the floor. This morning, Chuck said, "I had Teddy and then he was gone…" Tossed out in the middle of the night? No just buried deep in the covers where I shoved him in my sleep! I think sometimes we treat God like our sleeping toy. He’s grabbed and then he’s hidden often by us. He’s tossed out if we don’t agree with him. In the morning, we seek him, but often only to decorate our pillow. Grab God this New Year and hold on!!!!

Today, the end of an old year, let us pray for those who died this past year. We can deny Covid and say it’s not so bad. We can say, "The numbers are wrong," and we put ourselves at risk as some of my friends have done. I have a friend who had a big Christmas party and went to 3 others. "I’m not going to miss my family," she said. Another friend won’t wear masks no matter what. "I just don’t like a mask." Pray for those who have died and those who will die due to Covid. Don’t have a heart attack because there isn’t room in some ICUs. Let God order your life, but be obedient! Be thoughtful, kind. Make amends and do better. Take care of the earth, and praise God while you walk the earth! You are like that flower! God built you to be his instrument of shining peace. Thank God. Know God. Sing a new song! (read Psalm 96). God bless us. Angels with us. Happy New year!!!!!

Good Sunday morning! Today we celebrate the Holy Family! Imagine what it must have been like for Joseph with a wife and tiny baby born outside after traveling from Nazareth to get counted in the census. "Now," he must have been thinking, "I have to get this family home safely." But King Herod had other thoughts, and he sent his men to kill all the babies born in Bethlehem… He meant to kill future kings who might steal his reign. We also honor those Holy Innocents. What meanness can be done in the name of power and neglect of the innocent and poor. In a dream, Joseph heard, "take the baby to Egypt." So, he packed up the baby and Mama and head south into Egypt. This is all Scriptual, thank God for the evangelist Luke. But how many of us are on the road, homeless or close to it? How many today are so poor they will be homeless this week? Today is a time for us to dig deep and give, providing for the poor and homeless and finding work for the Fathers. Remember the WPA.

The Scriptural readings today (see for example Sirach 3:2-14) celebrate the Family and use words "reverence, honor, obedience, comfort, and kindness." There’s no easy way to get around it: being disobedient, dishonorable, mean, unkind, and ignoring others is NOT in God’s plan. Today is a good day to heal and forgive. To give comfort. I had to heal and forgive when I was handed the Bible in a small chapel in the Holy Land in 1991. As I read the words, "A reading from the Book of Daniel," I realized I could not continue until I let go of anger against my father. It is not easy to let go of anger. It’s much easier to hug anger to our chest. It took years to admit, "Im OK; I give up." It all started that day when God touched me.

Time to get up and move! Today, two days after Christmas, let us make a plan. As soon as you can, get to a small store like Walgreens or CVS. I bought 2 pairs of slippers for Chuck and me from Santa (Buy one get one 1/2 off) at Walgreens and now I’m going to go back and buy some more. Buy them out! Give them to a charity that donates to the poor. For us here in Lake Placid the giving places are Manna and Bridging Hope. There is also a food distributer called Foodfinder. Go! Give! Enjoy! God bless us.

We celebrate Christmas for 8 days!!!! So if I seem joyful it’s because O Come O Come Emanuel Happened!!!! He’s here. Joyfully we praise God for light and love. Then… Why do we celebrate the first day after Christmas, December 26 a death? St Stephen was stoned with the approval of a man named Saul. He was martyred for being a Christian. The story opens in Acts, "Stephen, filled with grace and power…. debated with wisdom. He looked up to heaven and saw Jesus." When he was stoned, he looked up and said, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." What great faith! Jesus died like that too. So Christmas is a gift time of gold and myrrh. Life and death. In Matthew 10, Jesus told us to "beware of men… they will scourge you and hand you over… you will be hated. Endure and be saved." Today the Catholic Mass really digs deep and asks us to keep our eyes, not on men and men’s empty promises, but on heaven. I wonder if this year has been a time when all the love shown by hospitals has been overshadowed by the hate we have seen in the accusations and criticisms we have heard on the streets and from our televisions and from the mouths of friends we have lost. Let the spirit of Joy and love not be killed. Look out and up. I am ashamed that I have not followed up on some ideas I had to help the poor. I’m using Covid separation as an excuse. I have a friend who actively teaches young teenagers. She loves those kids and by her love and support, she is teaching them to love along with the Catechism she reads to them. My friend Charlie teaches and gives to African churches as well as to his own in Atlanta. There is a lot of poverty and hunger. Let us not be ashamed at New Years that we didn’t help. God bless us abundantly! Merry Christmas.

Yesterday we sang "O Come O come Emanuel" and today it’s our turn to "Come!". Normally churches would be bursting and singing would be loud but today… Churches are asked to stay way below 40% with no singing. We are still deep in Covid and hospitals are full. It’s amazing how looking thoughtfully and closely at a Christmas tree full of ornaments or, as I’m currently doing, looking at Hallmark’s Happy and the Yule Log… can make one forget Covid. I wrote to my friend to remind her to see if she can get her bank information into the computer this time to get the Covid assistance check sooner than the government can get around to writing a check. Those of us who file and either pay or get refund via bank access get Covid checks first. She didn’t want to talk about $$$ on Christmas, and maybe there’s a little lack of faith that our Congress can get that bill out. She might be right. That is awful when you think of the people out of work who need help… And she’s as right as anyone else. I have faith that a stimulous will come and God help us… Pray for the poor. In fact this is a time for those of us who can afford it to dig deep and give to the poor and hungry so that all will be fed this Christmas week. Watching Happy and the Yule log with 5 puppies sliding around on a shiny waxed floor, tugging at Christmas packages and ribbons really takes one’s mind off troubles. I suggest it. I used the voice thingy on my Xfinity clicker and asked for Happy Yule Log and it’s like being a kid again!!!

This morning’s Christmas celebration on EWTN was wonderful. Thank God for the Gospel of Luke! Today we read about the shepherds out in the fields. "And there was a great light. And singing!!!" "Go see what has taken place in a cave in Bethlehem!" Shepherds tell one another, "Angels told us! Glorify and Praise God and Go see!" Remember what we thought about yesterday? Mary jumping up with haste. John Leaping in his mother’s womb." Today shepherds are running to see! It’s all so simple, but we can’t hear, feel, or see it without having it in our hearts. We have to be taught. And I say, how easy it is to read the Gospel of Luke. All filled with peace, angels, lambs, cows, and a baby. What’s not to like? Go today and share what you know! Surely you can get your hands on a Bible and find the greatest story attributed to a man named Luke. Read and sing! Believe. God bless you.

What makes us leap, not with fear, as if leaping away from the frog that jumped at me when I opened the back door the other day, "Yipes! I screamed as I leaped! What was that?" A little frog sleeping in our door frame. For heavens sake! The poor guy was more afraid than I was as I leaped away from him leaping at me! And not the leaping we do when crossing the street and someone going too fast and not paying attention, bears down on us, "Yipes! Save my life from being squooshed!" No, not that leaping either! But let it be the joyful, "OK!" kind of leaping. The "Yes!" kind of leaping! The "give it all we have" kind of leaping. It’s what Mary did when an angel told her she would bear a child by the Holy Spirit. I am sure there was some measure of "Riiiggght…. the Holy Spirit…. OK tell me more." But when the angel explained the child will be called the Son of the Most High, she must have recalled the words of Samuel and Isaiah… Hannah gave birth at an awfully old age and gave the child to God. Mary might have thought as she proclaimed, "God’s will," to the angel, "So I will too." She was accepting the greatness of God as she had heard from the Old Testament. When the angel told her that her old cousin was pregnant (there’s that … "oh no she’s too old" in our minds,) but instead, Mary leaped up! She arose and started out to help her cousin. She had no doubt, rather Mary cooperated with God’s will. Giving it all she had, marching off on foot up to Jerusalem. Unafraid. Joyful. God’s grace helps us to move and to overcome fear. Grace gives us incredible strength. God gave Mary incredible strength to bear and then to give up her child. From rest, Mary leaped into action. Elizabeth and Mary sang a song of Joy that you can read in the first chapter of Luke! Let us all sing with Mary: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord." From the womb, John leaped in his mother’s womb! Imagine he was singing: "It’s Jesus!!! Hi cousin! You will be the Lamb of God! I will die for you."

God wants our response to the angel’s greeting. He wants us to leap with joy. But many of us aren’t joyful are we? We are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Covid is over-filling our hospitals and our friends are dying. We are tired of being out of work caused by shutdowns and a worrisome economy. Tired of borrowing too much money. Political angers are wearing us down. We feel like we are pushing a big rock uphill. We try to talk, but we can’t. We disagree so badly. One Congressman said on TV, "People believe things, and they can’t be convinced otherwise. They can’t even talk about possible facts."

Our tempers are at hair trigger tension. A man walked out of a garage in Columbus, Ohio with a cell phone in his hand. Two Police officers, called for a noise complaint, arrived with no lights and sirens, their dash cam not on, their chest cameras not on, shot the man to death. This is hair trigger on the really dangerous side. What can we do right now? How can we leap up? Would that we all could turn and go, on our separate sides if need be, and find a sacred space, and kneel there. Kneel to the Christ who makes every space a sacred place. Kneel and look at the woman who quietly sacrificed herself by saying "Yes" to God. She humbly arose and went to serve her cousin. She went to the altar, and when he was 33 years old, she gave her child to God. Make a quiet place and sit there and relax. Pray for peace. One friend said that one thing on our list should be "world peace," and I answered that i want to achieve peace with my neighbor! (I’m thinking we could reach peace, but we must try to both give up our hard stances and accept God’s will rather than advocate tearing our nation apart). Pray for healing in our country to get through the next 4 years peacefully, in brotherhood. No guns. Empty hands on both sides. Healing peace. Let us sit quietly, on separate sides if need be, let us look quietly at the Christ. Let us pray for peace in our own hearts.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Some people have decorated. Some people were too late getting out and all the trees were gone. Oh there are still straggly trees out there, but this is an odd year that has made us prickly and sluggish. But at least, I’ll bet there are angels singing at a manger. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Remember the three wise men! The star is out tonight. All this is happening NOW! We are in a time of great grief from Covid illness and death. We are in a time of serious trouble as half the nation faces the other half with angry looks and, maybe, pitchforks. I’ve suggested separation both to save us from being infected and also to keep us from hurting each other. And still the wise men come. In myth and mystery, the wise men bear gifts befit a king (Gold and Frankincense) but also gifts used for burial (myrrh). That is why the days before Christmas are so full of hope: "The King is coming! Praise God! Emmanuel! He is the God Who Saves!" But his gift is myrrh. That spice is used to anoint the dead. God bless us. Pray and hope we can rise and stand and receive the king, and maybe we can stop being angry, but we can praise!!!! Myrrh is in our life, but so is Joy. Choose Joy! Choose Life! Choose Love. God bless us!

In 1969, Maya Angelou watched children playing Hop Scotch. Remember what was most important? Staying inside the line. If you stepped out of the box, you were out. Angelou saw life in that hopscotch game as she wrote:

Harlem Hopscotch
One foot down, then hop! It’s hot.
Good things for the ones that’s got.
Another jump, now to the left.
Everybody for hisself.

In the air, now both feet down.
Since you black, don’t stick around.
Food is gone, the rent is due.
Curse and cry and then jump two.

All the people out of work,
Hold for three, then twist and jerk.
Cross the line, they count you out.
That’s what hopping’s all about.

Both feet flat, the game is done.
They think I lost. I think I won.

The poem was written in 1969! It hit me that … It is the end of 2020 and nothing has changed. Women go to graduate school and get higher paying jobs, but do black women? Who cleans most of the houses and offices? Who is out of work and homeless with hungry children right now? Who is getting more Covid possibly because they are all crammed in tenements; no fresh air to breathe. If we would consider offering work to young black men, would that change things? Would working men begin to think they can win? We might have to take care of the women and the children. Are there any projects that need to be done in your community that you could find someone to finance? Do you have any more ideas? "Food is gone, the rent is due." What are we going to do? God bless us.

What if we all stopped shouting and made a list of 3 things we need done in the next 4 years? Here’s my list and I’ll bet you will find it close to yours as it is something we can control. Please email or text me with your items. We can do this.

1. Voter registration and voting: We hate the process; so change it: Access to the polls and manual counts with paper ballots. No machines. No algorithms (whatever they are anyway….). Keep all the ballots after counting them manually (so we will have proof).
2. Make a plan to get the entire US (350 million people 700 million shots); So we don’t end civilization.
3. Feeding starving children and mothers in the US. (Put the men to work – remember the WPA? Chuck’s Uncle JB was starving. He worked for WPA and got fed at the age of 14 to 16. Then he joined the military). If we figure a way to feed mothers and children we might just make headway against abortion.

If you have a better idea, please add to this list, but keep it at something we can do. If we make a plan… If we work the plan and pray, God will be with us. Mother Teresa did it. We don’t have to go very far to work this plan. Oh God bless us. Angels with us.

Sir Walter Scott, in a tale called "Marmion", contemplated the mess we can make when we don’t lay things straight out, but rather, we create convoluted messes that eventually lead to a "tangled web". We’ve done it with the Electoral College. In 1787, the men who wrote the Constitution put lots of checks and balances into the design for the new government so we wouldn’t get a dictatorship. The nation was big already (13 colonies stretching from Georgia to Massachusetts. I looked at an old map, and, while New Hampshire stood north of Massachusetts, Massachusetts claimed an area we know today as Maine. So the colonies stretched from the "Florida line" to Maine…). … It was quite a long trek on horseback to carry electors to New York where central government resided. …. Votes were carefully counted as the states (who all had their separate powers,) were "under" the federal protection of the President. And the electors were sent to the central government to name the president. He had a limited term and he was carefully selected by the electors. All was carefully controlled because the people did not want another king or absolute ruler, like they had in England. So today, for probably the first time, sequestered as I am, I watched the electoral voting! It was as we knew it would be as the tally has already been determined by counting on computers. (can you imagine hand counting 150 million votes? So anyhow. With yesterday’s very carefully orchestrated following of the Constitution, we still have the electors’ results to go to Congress on January 6 where Mike Pence has to name the new President. Wow! Now the count can’t change because the computers got the vote already. So many people (150 million people) are probably asking, and should ask, "Why all the hoopla? I voted. One. My husband voted. Two. etc etc… to 150 million." That seems so reasonable. We got the vote out. We counted it. The person with the most popular votes won. Period. (not always the way it was folks…) There are great cries of "cheat" and "fraud" on the Dominion machine software. So change it!!! We have 4 years now to make some changes. So my dear friends, let’s go for it. How do we change the Constitution? We will probably need 4 years and 150 Constitutional lawyers to do that! Oh to change the great old Constitution isn’t easy, but doesn’t it sound right? I don’t want what is called Gerrymandering to ruin things. Look it up! It’s interesting and it’s costly to "poor folks and individuals with no influence"…. like most of us). Give each of the 150 million citizen who can vote one vote. Oh let us all get along to make the US right and peaceful. Don’t say if you didn’t win a state, there was fraud. But I could say the same about states you won. Let us be at peace my friends. Angels with us. Pray!!! God bless us.

In a previous blog I did the math on the numbers of vaccines needed (times two as each person has to get 2). The number is astronomical, but lately people are beginning to talk about other vaccines being developed and coming, "soon." It still might be a year before we are released from restrictions, and the restrictions must be self imposed until then! I read about traveling to Hawaii and getting into a room where the key card, used once to let you in, then locks you in for quaranteen…. Youch! Prisoners in waiting for a 10 day quaranteen! Sounds illegal. But we are being asked not to travel for a serious reason. Chuck and I were quaranteened on a cruise ship for 3 days when we got the flu two years ago. As it turns out I sneaked out to the ship library and got books. Thank heaven they didn’t "lock us in". I got pneumonia after that from that experience and it really didn’t heal up for at least 3 months… So my dears, I am very obedient to quaranteen! Please be careful when near people! Wear a mask. Please don’t get on a plane or a train and travel to visit family. Our neighborhood just sustained 5 cases of Covid, 3 are recovering and two are dead. The 2 who died traveled to visit family and "got it." I’m not advocating being afraid and running away screaming; I’m advocating those measures that Dr Fauci and those others who love and care for us recommend: mask up, don’t travel, bear with this isolation until the curve flattens! OK enough preaching! It’s time for University of Miami’s last football game. Next game is cancelled due to Covid. Make the most of this!!! Do something creative! Clean up piles. Make a quilt. Paint a painting. Decorate lots more than usual!!! God bless us! Angels with us.

My friend tells me of the gifts her walking friends have given to her. Good things are happening! Friends are walking every day… Outside, separated, talking with folks who are sitting outside in the sunshine on their porches. I am so amazed at people my age who have bad feet, bad hips, and other ailments including back pain… they can hardly navigate the path from couch to kitchen and here I am walking outside up the middle of the street for an hour a day. Well, except for lazy days when I fall into an easy chair and …. just sit. Don’t do that I say gently to myself. Get moving! Keep moving. Friends are sick, stiff, falling over and dying, but the rest of us must keep going. Get moving and keep going. I wrote this morning to my friend, "Don’t buy gifts!!!! make things." She and I made stuffed Christmas ornaments back I think before her beautiful son was born! I hardly remember the details of that long ago creative session, but I still have the stuffed toys hanging on my tree: Reminders of a time when two friends sat and stitched and told stories. I reminded another friend and my sister of times we painted together, drinking wine or champagne over paintings spread out over a table in a spot where spatters of paint on the floor… well, they are just decorative! My sister made me sew quilts when I visited her!!! Or was it pulling out threads? No diff, the quilts are beautiful! I’m supposed to be writing my Christmas letter right now and addressing and writing in 100 cards!!! I promised to get cards out this coming weekend. Better get going! No time to be anxious. Whatever is going to happen in our nation will happen without me .. I don’t feel helpless as I used to. I pray for peace. I have positive thoughts and I promise myself I will stay positive to our arts skills. Do what we can. Sit in the sunshine if the winds and chill aren’t too high!!!! If it’s freezing and windy then open curtains and put on lights! Put out electric candles or light real candles and soak in God’s beauty in the sky! The rest of us (living in central or south Florida,) get outside!!!! God bless us with an idea so we can "make something fun to give for a gift!!!!" Donate to a hungry family please. God bless us with charity. Anglels with us. !

For those who are still fighting the validity of the election, I would like to say…. you can get out the vote and try again in 3 1/2 years. For now, read the Constitution, read the amendments, and keep your Representatives and your Senators noses to those words. 3 1/2 years and then another vote. 4 years and our vote will be inaugurated. What if the leader wants to change things? There’s a lot of steps: and it takes votes. Paper your representatives and senators with requests and your beliefs. Promise someone else will replace them if they don’t do what we want. If I know history…. that is what this country was set up on. Because we don’t agree with 6 television networks, we set up an 7th who says what we want to hear? Problem… Just saying, my friends. Check out my December 2nd post, my "indecent proposal."

I hope you are staying health-safe this Christmas season. I hate not going to meetings and seeing my church friends, not going to art classes…. but I can’t risk getting sick. In case anyone doesn’t remember, Chuck and I had quite a "sick" event 10 years ago and I had pneumonia 2 years ago. That makes two of us who have to be careful. The news man says…. "blah blah blah, Fauchi" and I listen. God bless us!!!! Angels with us!

OK! I’ve been called Pushy Broad! … little Pushy!… Listen! I’m still having the discussions with friends about: Save your Money in case the house you are staying in is sold." "Save your money in case you get sick and work says you haven’t been there long enough to get sick pay." "Wait 4 years and then vote again. "Get up and get moving so legs won’t stiffen up and you will get warm!!!!." Yes! Pushy Broad is still alive! But …. Let’s say (I) we don’t shut up, we don’t move around, we don’t save money (for a rainy day – by the way; it’s pouring) …. Then what? We can, at least, shut up! I suggest we find a way to literally split the nation in half. Don’t try to get "the others" to agree with you. Just draw a line; Not a line in the sand, rather a line in concrete, don’t need a wall, but draw the line like they did at the Alamo. You can go to the side where you all agree. Just go there and live your "like lives." Stop accusing. Stop grinding your teeth at each other. Go to your own and love them. That’s it! It’s the answer! Go! I’m going to tell you right now, I won’t have to be pushy! We will bundle up, go to bed and sleep if we are tired and don’t feel well. We will drink (or not) (it’s your call just don’t judge) red wine or white wine, Scotch and other beverages, but we won’t overdo it. If you fall on the ground, we will move you into your house and make a lot of noise when you have a headache! We will use our words! No more imogees! (Words!) You disagree with me? Use your words and argue with me, but have rules: No name calling. We must come to a compromise or one of us has to move to "the other side." Wow!!!! I’m all fired up and hopeful! I probably need a trip to my favorite Sammy’s pizza joint to celebrate our new peace! Of coourse I’ll wear a mask except when I’m drinking a beer while waiting for my extra large Sammy’s beloved pizza!!!!! Take the pizza home, put my feet up on the coffee table, cover myself with a TV watching lap robe, and watch a movie. Then…. I’ll read or work on the puzzle.

Do you not like my indecent "split them apart" proposal? What has life become? People!!!! Pray for peace in our hearts and find a way to stop the "J’Accuse" mentality. In 1898, "Emile Zola addressed President of France Félix Faure and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage." Are we still accusing? Get over it America. Wait!!!! In 4 years we can vote again. God bless us. Angels with us.

I was so hoping for a Blue moon month when the second full moon would be called the Christmas Moon, but full moon was last day in November. We could use a little fun and joy here. The news instead of joy states: "The vaccine is coming, but not soon, and we better get used to that". I heard one voice on TV give the bitter facts: There are 326 million of us in the US… Each needs 2 doses of the same virus each so the virus vaccine must be portioned out to all of us…. and each of us have to be given the same kind of vaccine twice! I hear there are side effects (it hurts, we will feel sick, maybe get a fever) and we won’t want to come back… and we have to come back and get the second dose then repeat: it hurts, we will feel sick, and we might get a fever. Then we have to wait until it fills us and makes us immune. There’s a scientific term for that that I know: "waiting for immunity"….. I’m assuming I’ll stand in line with the 1452 million people…. (thats 726 million times 2). Boy oh boy. I think I’m stuck in isolation for a long time…. I can’t even figure the math…. 1452 doses divided by days of the year…. When will I get my 2 vaccines? I wake to the knowledge that "this isn’t going to be over soon for me." Time to walk and pray, my friends. Pray for a child to guide us…. Pray for a new peace. As Christ rejoiced: Rejoice in the Holy Spirit of God who fills us with his peace (Luke 10:21). It’s chilly outside for most of us. 50 degrees here in Lake Placid. Stay warm. Stay safe. God bless us!

My dear friend tells me she might not go back to church because of the turmoil over abortion and other changes in the church…. Whether we like the President elect or not…. we got him for 4 years and many don’t like his abortion acceptance. …. While some of us don’t accept abortion, Pope Francis is offering solace to "same sex family" that the church has not approved in the past. I’m not sure we really understand the Pope’s words about "family" or the church’s stance on "same sex union", although I know plenty of good people who can’t be at a loved one’s bed side because they don’t have a same sex civil union. So, "who am I to judge," says the Pope. Give him credit. He’s not a judge just a spiritual leader. Maybe his legacy will be "no judgment." I have stated in the past that I don’t understand meanness, judgement, name calling, and now, I’m in Limbo over what to "do about the changing church." What will we find when we emerge from isolation? It’s going to be our role to find a way to live and to find peace. God bless us.

About Thanksgiving: On the third of October 1789 (yes, I wrote 1789), George Washing issued a proclamation that the US would celebrate a day of Prayer of Thanksgiving as recommended by the Houses of Congress. We can read this proclamation today!!! Maybe our Houses of Congress should read it!!!! Any way, Washington asked, "Let us unite and render to God thanks for his protection; for our safety and happiness and favor; for tranquility and union. For his pardon." (I might be paraphrasing a little.) It would be good to pull this proclamation up in Google! It is built into our hearts to be tranquil. Imagine a baby being hugged with a belly full of warm milk and a changed diaper. Ah!!!! That baby has received all it needs. Now we adults need to Thank God for fields, rivers that run through our land, flowers that will grow for us if we plant them, and even weeds grow flowers for us! Go out to your private bench and think: What are the good things that grow for us? The day before Thanksgiving, my sister and I spoke of our mother who was the first of her large family to become a "professional woman." Mom was a great nurse who went on in my childhood to finish college and study for and receive a Master of Science degree in Nursing. Mom taught at the University of Miami and I benefitted by being a faculty daughter! Thank you Mom. Often quiet and sad due to a bad marriaage and a lost child, our Mom continued … She often said she had to continue; she had 3 remaining children. Mom taught us to sustain and to grow despite criticism and rages from her husband, my father. (I wonder why I cannot take the "mouth" and criticism and rages of our President…. It might be that, as a child, I used to hide from a big man’s anger and shouting)…. Oh well… I am what I am. Mom taught us to respect family. She never let us disrespect our father even though we came to her crying, she would not be ugly. She taught us love for the Blessed Mother of God. She taught us to pray. Mom loved to hug, and with her touch, Mom healed. Mom flew to the bedsides of my two sisters when they had babies, and she was with me in my surgery. I will never forget looking down at my mother’s fingers assisting the doctor remove stitches from my sewed up belly! Let us remember the ones who loved us and taught us to love. It might not be a Mom, but you can remember the one who taught you to be true to your heart. We are separated by Coronavirus-19, but we pray daily for health, joy (doesn’t that seem far off?), and peace. Pray!!!!! Thank you Lord, for your promises that you keep with everlasting love. Thank you and thank you!!!! God bless us!

There are a few things I don’t understand and it probably is because as a human being, I’m wired to be practical which is unusual because I love sunshine, butterflies, blue skies, sunshine, puppies, and Jesus. Wouldn’t these last few make me a Pollyanna? She’s a little orphan with an "indominatable will to see the good side of even the worst situations and bring it out for the betterment of all." I’m always trying to see the sunshine and blue sky! I’m out for the good and I’m for what is right, and I’m always surprised when people don’t do "right." It actually hurts my belly when I encounter what we have been through with the election this term. It hurt that people could sink to yelling things like "Antifa is funded by Biden’s side and Antifa is here…" and don’t forget "Dominion voting software (written in Canada) was written in Venezuela and will turn the vote to Communism." Yep. I got that and lots more thrown at me along… With, "Watch out Susie, you sound like a Socialist." I couldn’t understand living under an authoritarian who didn’t seem to love the little people. In Ezekiel 34, the Lord says, "I will tend, gather, give rest… I will shepherd rightly." I just want us to have a good shepherd for a while….. One flock. United. Not gonna happen is it? I have stopped talking, although that isn’t like me. I’m always trying to "get people to understand!"… Like I don’t understand people not being hopeful…. I don’t understand being in debt, but spending spare money on gifts, and "things". Nope says the practical one (me): "Get out of debt first." I am a practical bad girl when it comes to paying interest and fees!!!!!! I yell "don’t do it!!!" Pay no fees or interest on debt!!! So What I don’t understand is, why can’t everybody be just like me? OH NO!!!! Is that what I want? Wouldn’t that be … I can’t think of the right word. You fill it in. It’s not going to happen. When I get the belly ache, I have to shut off the TV and the phone and go sit on my bench. That’s where you will find me and hope it isn’t raining!!!!

God bless us!!! Be one who loves. Be one who thinks of Susie, the "do the right thing girl," and… grab an angel or two and move forward.

Happy autumn!!! It is amazing here in Lake Placid. Today I wore 2 tee shirts to walk as yesterday I could feel the cool breeze through my one tee shirt. It’s sunny and breezy. Wow! Thank God for this little taste of Paradise!!!! We have a turkey in the freezer that was only 39 cents per pound (had to buy it!!!). We just shopped for tenderloin and bacon (a BOGO) on sale. Don’t you love BOGO? Now unfortunately I have 2 containers of catsup. Might just put one in the donate pile….. Now we have too much turkey. Tenderloin. And bacon. Chocolate pie too (Mama Loretta’s recipe). We should emerge from the holidays looking plumper. We are watching too many Hallmark movies! And if you get UpTV… they make movies too….. Yikes. Poor Chuck. Thank heaven for football on weekends!!!! No hurricane football this weekend (not until Dec 5) as Hurricane coach and some (too many) players… have Covid and have to take 2 weeks off! Time for lunch! Avocados are still in season. So it will be Avocado salad. Again. Is there such a thing as too much avocado??? I was talking with friend while walking this morning…. Time for lunch means it’s time for me to make lunch. We used to go out a few times a week…. So now it’s giant salads or some form of grilled sandwich (every day…) She agreed, we can’t stand the sight of food anymore. God bless you!!! Happy happy weekend. STAY SAFE! God bless you.

We brought a bench from Miami that has a broken strap. Rather than throw it out, I placed it near the door of Chuck’s shed and now I use it almost every day! When I am changing my shoes from walking shoes to working shoes or when I’m taking off the dirty working shoes, I sit on that bench and look out down the canal towards the East. For some reason the breeze always seems to be in my face on that bench. I look at our trees and at the water always moving by. I feel the breeze and look up at the sky. It is a place where I am alone. The bench is hidden by the shed door. It’s not a pretty place near the open shed! but it’s in a quiet place. I receive an email from a religious group with saint of the day and other messages. Today there is a picture of a woman sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed. The room is dark. She weeps. The article suggests we go ahead and cry and weep, and then, the article suggests praying the Psalm De profundis: " Out of the depths I cry to you, O God." We are in difficult times. Covid is real and it is killing people. The election is over, but we are still fighting about it. Well, I’m trying not to fight…. Go ahead and recognize the ordeal! Lift your head and Plan to live through the day, looking around until you can see the light. I think the hardest thing is to get up from the floor and move toward the door that leads outside. At my age, it’s hard to get up off the floor. I look really awkward in my "get off the floor process", moving from my sprawling position in the yard pulling weeds to standing up… My old body is cranky. My hamstrings are tight!!! It’s not an option to sit in the dirt out in the weeds, but it is an option to sit on the floor at the foot of my bed. I groan. Finally I’m up and I move! When people offer help, I say "No, I have to get myself up in case I’m ever alone." … It’s a struggle. It’s hard! But, get up! Take a few steps towards the window…. Look out. This morning dawned cloudy and misty. "OH! No!!!!!" I said, "I can’t walk in misty rain"…. But get out!!!! It will clear. Of course, I live in Florida, the place of sunshine. Sometimes it doesn’t clear up in the north does it? So make a sunny place inside. Paint it light blue, light yellow!!! Put bright lights there and candles! Go to that bright place every day. Make your own light if you only have darkness. It’s time for me to go out walking and then…. to sit on my bench in the quiet of my yard. Look out and look up. God bless you. Angels with you.

My friend tells me it’s not over. The election isn’t over. A new couple we met for whom I painted a fish, 2 lizards, and a frog on their dock tell me "the Rapture is coming. Haven’t you read Revelation?" he asked. I have, but need some refreshment on the reading and the end times …. So guess what? The church is beginning to read Revelation in Mass. Today was chapters one and two. So! Great; I get my review with current events in mind. Father Matthew is a new Franciscan priest. It’s been nice watching him progress from Seminarian to Deacon, to priest and now he is saying Mass and he’s a good preacher. He explained first that Orthodoxy is common in the church (faith in truth), but without Love, Orthodoxy fails. What did Jesus say? What would Jesus do? The definition of Revelation/Apocalypse in Greek has been called the final destruction, but Fr Matthew said that isn’t necessarily so: In the Greek it is revealing of Jesus Christ… The Rapture is not in Catholic teaching, so let’s search for it in Revelation. I intend to do just that… Is this the end times? As an aside, I watched some of the Million MAGA March and I wasn’t happy. It seems that hundreds (thousands) of big muscled, bearded, pony tailed white men are marching for Trump saying he hasn’t lost yet. I am sorry for my friends who believe this and tell me it’s the end times. I tell anybody who will listen that we have 200 years of Constitutional Law and Amendments keeping us in order. We hold an election, we count votes, electoral college gets involved which is ancient and needs to be changed, and then on January 20 the (and I hate to use this word as some have made it dirty), the "loser" moves out and the winner moves in. For four years. And then we get to do it again. Suppose we don’t trust in the process? Suppose we think it is rigged and fraudulant? Doesn’t that mean it’s all over? Doesn’t that mean…. The Rapture. When we don’t have faith and hope… might as well give up… it’s over.

Orthodoxy is fighting error. But it must be mixed with Love (charity). St Paul said to the Ephesians, "Let only Love come out of your mouths. No malice. Be kind." Do I think the Lord will let me go if I spew Love? The Revelation of Jesus Christ is to show us what must happen soon. So, let’s begin reading! Chapters One and Two today…. We’ll have to scurry to keep up. Tomorrow is chapter three!!!! God bless us.

In daily Mass (On EWTN on TV) we are reading Luke chapter 17 wherein Jesus talks about the servant doing what he is obliged to do… Even if the servant is tired and full of a days work, he must serve the Master. The servant is rarely praised. At the Last Supper, Jesus said he is the servant. Rarely praised, He receives a lack of gratitude to the point of death in a very, the most, painful manner. The most beautiful and pure man we could ever see, killed by men who reject Grace. Some people we know are like those who reject Grace and some are like the one man out of 10 lepers who returns to thank the Lord for healing. Running to the Lord, singing and jumping! Grateful and thankful. Do I express that? Every time I open my mouth I express what I am and I reveal what I am. St James talked about our tongue, and I must be constantly aware of my tongue as I used some angry words in my youth! Expressing hate was often me expressing what was inside of my aching human heart. Now I’m grown and educated and the "old days" expressing my angst doesn’t work any more! Life’s too short. I remember vividly right after our boys came home from Viet Nam and a friend said something pretty awful, I won’t repeat it, and I remember how shocked I was, and will never forget it. Let us clean up our tongues even when we call our aquaintences names for their selfish behavior… let alone calling politicians names! Tired, full of the work of protecting myself and husband from Covid, and tired of politics, I must protect my tongue and serve the Master. Even more as we age. Serve the Master.

As I watch daily Mass on EWTN, Chuck jokes about Catholic feast days and he asks, "what’s the feast today?" Yesterday we celebrated the courage of St Josaphat, a Bishop who tried to reunite the Eastern, Russian Orthodox, church with the Roman, Latin, church. An obstinate faction of Eastern church people killed him for his efforts. They refused to unify East and West. Lately I’ve read and talked with my friend I walk with about the creation of Missouri and Kansas. When these 2 states entered the union, one had to be slave and one had to be free to keep the numbers even. Lincold battled Stephen Douglas in debates and Lincoln actually lost the Senate race, but won the Presidency only to be assassinated. People couldn’t find solid ground to stand on together so people resorted to ugliness and violence. Oh! let us find solid ground on which to agree. Let our solid ground be based on compassionate love for the poor and disadvantaged. Let it be based on love. Look ahead and look up! Ask, "Who can I help? How can I help?" With isolation from Covid… the answer might not be easy but it’s there.

Cindi McCain just said she hopes the demeanor of President elect Biden will be uplifting for America. I woner if uplifting is what we need…. On our walks, I keep pointing "up" "Look at the birds in the tree" I say pointing to 20 Ibis in the top of a tree. "Look at that! Is it an eagle? Look at that!!!!!" We miss the voices of reason. The voices of working together for the country, the voices saying, "Look up!"… For the American people.

I’m moving to new journal tomorrow! Let’s fill our new journals with great stuff!!! God bless America! God bless us!

Excuse me… Its almost Thanksgiving and my Connecticut cousins are cavorting in the garden in 70 degree weather and Florida and the Keys are ducking and weaving to survive a hurricane!!! Well, it’s not a hurricane thank God, but it’s close. The Keys are hunkering down and not evacuating and our friends have shuttered up on Big Pine Key. We too in central Florida have removed all the chairs and toys from the dock. The pontoon boat is tightly tied and … singing "rain rain go away" is occasionally necessary. Lake Placid is under a Tropical Storm warning as announced across the TV screen during a Sunday afternoon Football game… So unreal!!!

The election is over. The votes are counted and many of my friends are …. very quiet, but when they speak… One said, "I cannot support …. him." And she rattled off a few rumors that haven’t been proven. Another ugly thing that I’ve heard is that the Senate will block everything. Oh dear. "My dears." I answer: Let’s give America a chance to …. be America. Opponents are just that; not enemies. We compete. Fighting is against the rules in football and it should be against the rules here too. Opponents are not enemies; they are Americans. WE are Americans. We need to stop demonizing, and decide to cooperate. Lead the little ones to join together to heal and build. Most of my friends are wearing masks to avoid getting Covid and maybe getting seriously ill. So let’s decide to heal our sick hearts too. Joe Biden ended his President Elect speech by quoting from a hymn inspired by Psalm 91….. Let us be raised UP on eagles’ wings! Look up! God bless us!

As I roll into "position" in the night, and I make sure I can breathe with my face down in my favorite prone position on my belly…. I wonder what makes us breathe. Just now, I paid property taxes online. All you do is click a few keys on the computer, asure "them" I am not a robot", and "woooosh," money is gone from checkbook and my bank… to "their" bank. I then pulled up this blog and let out a long sigh…. "whooosh". Was I holding my breath? I wasn’t aware of that! In the old days, what I just paid in property taxes would buy a farm. No wonder my spirit was clenching her breath.

Life is anxious now. I don’t just count pennies. I count in thousands, which, thank God, with careful investment in real estate…. thousands are in the bank for paying taxes. We count votes too….. I turn on the TV for 60 seconds and I look at "the numbers" and I realize, "we have to wait, for the actual count. No guessing. No algorythms. No fancy math. Just one, two, three, 99,465, 108967, etc etc." Real numbers one by one. Chuck and I both remember counting pennies and dimes as we prepared on a Saturday morning for our monthly trip to, believe it or not, the same savings bank on the Trail and… 62 Avenue? There was actually a TV show for kids when (and this might not be his name) Ranger Bob used to talk to kids about saving money… He taught us to count, save, and deposit into a savings account. From our little piggy banks to the bank, recorded in a little book with our names on it! It wasn’t so hard then as we had no real responsibilities… Just monthly or maybe it was weekly deposit in the savings account. My dears! Let us now dig down and find the things we learned back then…. Hope, along with the careful savings, we learned patience and loving kindness! God bless us!!!!!

Yesterday (day after election), I turned on the TV twice. One time news showed a mob of people banging on the glass at a polling place where mail-in ballots were being counted (not quickly enough?). (If the post mark was before November 3, then the ballot has to be counted!) I am SO Glad that glass disn’t break! Oh what a mess we humans make with our ill behavior. Are we undisciplined? Are we sick? What exactly makes me think I can’t trust the counting process? If I can’t trust people to follow the "rule of order" then…. I feel like giving up. Sometimes, following written rules is difficult because we "see another way". But we can’t just do it our way when a process has been in place for a hundred years. OK maybe the old process is flawed and we don’t NEED the electoral college any more. Why can’t we have a vote "of the people"? I can’t answer that, but… "its the rule" and we have 4 years to change it!

The other thing I saw on TV is the Governor of Florida dissing the people of other states because their mail in ballot counting is taking too long. Give it up people! Quit criticizing!!! What is this teaching our children? "You don’t do it fast enough; You don’t do it the way I do it…. you idiot." Oh dear. My dears: I am praying for 4 years of peace and getting along. We voted. The nation voted more than it ever has before!!!! Now let us grab our God’s hand and walk together. God bless us!

Today began chilly here in mid Florida! My friends and I walked in near 70 degree breeze!!!! I did not come home all wet with sweat for the first time! YES! Autumn. Today the temperature will get to a high of 75! I promise not to tune in TV to any news channel until at least 11pm. At that time if announcers are pulling their hair out…. Turn Off the TV and say extra prayer! We all figure a few days until everything is counted, and I think we all agree we hope it isn’t so close it goes to lawyers and courts. And… Then we pray for peace and quiet. I heard sirens today and we never hear sirens in Lake Placid. Well maybe once a week. Sirens mean trouble and we don’t have a lot of that here. Hearing a distant train at the crossing of Main Street and Interlake Blvd is our "world coming through" here in our tiny town. Country music plays on the TV, and I’m going to the bank and the grocery store. All is well here on election day. Let’s all pray and look up! God bless us!

Today is the day before election day! Finally… I’m listening for just a moment to the news which is in heavy speculation mode …. It might take 7 days to count mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. Florida maybe take a while too. Houston is fighting to keep 120,000 ballots thrown out. All valid ballots must to be counted. We might not know for 7 days! The White House is building a wall due to expected anger and misbehavior. They built the wall before when there was rioting in DC. So…. Hold on folks. Most of us are good at hunkering down: People in Florida are good at sitting and waiting for hurricanes. My northern friends are good at sitting around fire places roasting marshmallows while blizzards wail… waiting. We have all waited and we can do it again. Keep the judges away. Keep the rhetoric to a dull whisper and wait. Praying for peace will help. My dears! Go out and enjoy nature! God is in the world and He loves us even if we are grumpy and mean… Love and Peace from your friend Susie.

I spoke last evening with a friend from Miami who can’t come visit as she has a full time job and is trying both to protect us and to protect herself. Isn’t that awful? We used to sip wine and laugh …. We used to have great meals in lovely Coral Gables restaurants and walk long distances together. Now we are separated and only have the phone or text. She said she feels anxious and unsettled. This calls for sliding closer on the sofa and drinking champagne as we share our feelings, but again, miles and Covid separate us. I told her there is no good result in feeling anxious, unsettled, angry, frightened… now (especially now), or any time. We both know "God is in charge", but even I, who know so well that God is in charge, I slip; big time.

Take today…. I walked without my normal friends today so i prayed the Rosary. I use my fingers, I say all the prayers, I try to get the mysteries of the day in order. I usually end up and realize I forgot the Baptism of Jesus… Same today! I prayed. I looked up at the beautiful sky. I thanked God for the gorgeous breeze and the lake view from the park. Then I even sang a few Marian hymns. As soon as I was finished and I turned the corner onto Cumquat I started thinking awful things about our political nemises. Did you ever imagine what you would do to someone including grilling them, calling down wrath, or infecting them? Well if you haven’t, then you are a much better person than I am! "Stop that!" my guardian angel said! I replied! "Yikes! I know! I know. I did all I can. I pray and I voted. That’s it. No bad thoughts. No bad words. "

In the Gospel this morning (Luke 13:10…) Jesus called out to a humped over lady; he laid his hands on her, and he straightened her up. He healed her. The church leaders criticized him for breaking the law. Jesus! They criticized Jesus! Jesus just turned to them from the Cross and asked his Father to forgive them. They are the worst of the worst for not taking care of their people and for criticizing the good man Jesus, and Jesus says not a word but he prays for them. St Paul says in Ephesians 4, "Be kind, forgive, have compassion." Do I believe this? As I walked home today, I asked for forgiveness… It seems I do this every day! "Forgive my sharp tongue and my judgmental imagination!" It’s not for me to judge; it’s for me to pray and vote. Done…. but I look up, and my guardian angel transmits the message, "Keep praying!". Keep admitting we have dirty feet and dirty hands (humility). Admit we can’t act alone (be merciful to me O God). Let God’s heart come in contact with our heart. Open up and show God (He’s seen it all). I have to ask God to get out his special Windex and wash me every time I let my mind go awry and every time my lips speak "not love." God bless us.

Our friend Renee has a beautiful back yard and front yard flower garden. Renee works hard, pulling weeds and replanting, and the result is beautiful. She has butterflies galore! Last time we visited her, she cut a ginger flower and brought it inside. I could barely restrain myself from hovering over the flower vase while Chuck and Renee watched movies on TV. "Susie, what are you doing in the kitchen, again?" Renee would ask…. "Smelling the ginger." I would reply with a silly grin. Finally, after moving into our new house with a big back yard, winter breezes, and a pandemic, I have finally dug a garden spot and planted flowers! Come on butterflies! Well, first, the seeds have to sprout and flower… but it will be this year. A Covid garden is something positive that isn’t torn up and reboxed when a puzzle is finished, or returned to the library when Chuck and I have finished a book. This morning I watched Sunday Mass, walked with neighbors and …. after planting seeds, I finished a puzzle and we are watching football! Busy busy! I hope we can continue with safe football! I hope we can find joy in small creations that keep our hearts happy. God bless us!

I remember when we moved to Lake Placid, my duty was to go to Xfinity to get signed up for service and to get necessary hardware. I started up my little car, rolled down the windows and took off for Sebring! As I rounded the corner onto Catfish drive I thrilled at the sight of Lake June on my left. The lake stays with us as we weave around it through orange groves. Then we make a big right turn at a circle and continue along the lake side to route 27 north and on to Sebring. I continued that day with my windows open! What freedom I felt in that blowing wind. All alone on the road. wind and orange trees and lake. I still feel that way … except I’ve noticed there have been big smelly bumps in that road of pleasure. Have you ever caught "that smell?" You stop and check the bottom of each shoe. "What did I step in? is your murmur. Well I caught it again today and yesterdy as I drove yesterday to vote and today to Sammy’s Pizza. WOW! This is big time bottom of your shoe smell! The orange groves get fertilized this time of year. With cow manure. It is pungent! Ah!!!!! Another time of year the growers spray pesticides (I think they do that as there is another smelly time, but it’s not manure….). So I wonder if moving to the outies, to the sticks, is indeed better for us than the smoggy oily smell of our big city. I don’t know which is better. Well yes i do. There is no noise. A traffic jam is 3 cars waiting for the train to go by when we are headed "into town." My belly is full of a lunch time Philly cheese steak sandwich, and, I’m so happy. May all of you get Philly cheese steaks or whatever is your comfort food! Look up! The clouds are beautiful today. Enjoy!!!! God bless us!

Since Chuck and I often bought cruises 3 years in advance and took long car journeys north and west, we always requested ballots for voting by mail. We were often the center of attention at cruise dinner tables, or once at a B&B in England when we lounged around on election day and foreign people asked us lots of questions about our voting process. People don’t understand our electoral college… It’s hard to explain that it kept things even between north and south when slave owners could vote with a heavy impact of being worth more than one vote…. A man was counted based on how many slaves he owned… So a plantation might get 100 votes but have only one man voting. A slave was worth 1/3 or 2/3 of a human being. The census is super important today as it decides how many "votes" a district gets based on how many people live there. I encourage anyone who didn’t vote yet to get your one vote counted… and to study the electoral college and the census. It’s up to "the people" to change things if we want to be counted!

Yesterday at 815am I left the house and got into line at the Lake Placid Community center (the Town hall) to vote with a Rosary and only got in 3 decades. I wore a mask and social distanced… When we entered the hall 5 at a time it was a little crowded but we were moved around and out quickly…. I turned in Chuck’s ballot, turned in my mail in ballot and said I wanted to "punch the ticket." They handed me a pen and I filled in the little circles on the ballot. I wrote on my ballot, slid it into a computer, and got out!!!! Home one hour after I left the house! I used a double dollop of hand sanitizer at the town hall and washed my hands at home. Back to the routine of walking for one hour and … I am done. I might glance at the last debate (I taped it). or not. I don’t know. I don’t want to get irritated by bad behavior. I want to remain calm and hopeful. I pray for unity and kindness. I hope and pray we will not dissolve into shouting and obstreperousness. Good word isn’t it!!!! Stubbornly resistent to control! What is it I want for us? What did I want to say in my last blog if it wasn’t clear enough? We have a moral standard. It was delivered in the early Old Testament. If one believes God speaks in Scripture then we have our standard. We don’t need a bunch of written rules (laws) with addendums…. We have the basics. No killing. No stealing. This includes no anger that kills the soul. And we have the words of Jesus and his Apostles after him… Love one another. I pray for peace. Let us all ask God to cover us with His Grace! Pour out Grace Lord.

I have written about vitriol and vicious words, about rumor, about the separation of us caused by words of accusation. All this caused by discussion of the upcoming election November 3, 2020. I have written about gentleness and kindness; about working together. I have talked about coming together in kindness and working for solutions. I tell my friends to stop "calling names," as I cannot bear accusations against fellow human beings. Maybe the "name calling" helps the accuser to "get it out," but it is not my way, and think about it? What would Jesus say? Jesus said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." (Matthew 12:25) We are a divided house. If my friends talk politics I often find myself backing away at their accusations. I say they are name calling. We are divided. I won’t argue, nor will I say ugly things, even if I’m thinking them in my heart. When people label me, say I am left or right, red or blue, etc, and they label me, "a democrat…", I say, "no, I am not that; I don’t really accept that label. I am a child of God." We are the same family, children of God, yet we stand on sides of a divide and we feel we have to raise our voices in order to be heard across the divide. While fires rage in the West, people are yelling at each other and tossing molatav cocktails and setting fires in cities, in anger. I thank God that I have eyes to see, and ears to hear, but lately, I have turned the "news" off. My church, the Roman Catholic church is divided. I am accosted and talked to, as if I am in error. Ladies with whom I served and worshipped (I have not been to church since March), they tell me to "come on in, you will be OK" and they accuse government of closing churches. Government closed everything to keep us from catching Covid from each other, now churches are open, and I am protecting myself. Without a vaccine, I don’t feel safe. I won’t go back into church until I feel safe. My friends say "Of course, You are voting for…." "You must vote for…" We stumble around each other with me talking about love and kindness as they look at me askance and pray for me… I believe in the sanctity of life, but in a different way. I believe I must uphold the non negotiable value of life, in the womb, and on the death bed. This is the essence of the moral law handed down by God. We all have received this law written on our hearts. God wrote it there when he knitted us together in our mothers’ wombs (see Psalm 139:13). Anyone who has voted or will vote in the next 15 days should consider abortion. Imagine if there were no need for Roe vs Wade or the Hyde Amendment. Imagine a world where delivering a child live and then killing it, had never even been considered. Just writing the words makes me shudder, but that is what late term abortion is. There should be no laws and no court issues. God already wrote: "Thou shalt not kill." We stare into an abyss as we write law defining, "how much and when we can kill". OK so…. rather than a law or court issues; what options do we have for women who don’t want their children? We must gather the funding to care for the women who are considering abortion. Convince the women we will care for them, feed them, educate them, train them for jobs if necessary, deliver their live babies and create adoption solutions. Deliver live babies. This is not to be labled "Socialism." This is answering God with a big "Yes!" God who said, "Take care of the widows and orphans." "You shall not harm … orphans…. I will hear their cry." (Exodus 22: 21) There is a film called "The silent scream" about the pain we inflict on badies when we abort them. Can you imagine God hearing those silent baby screams? The unloved child in the unloving mother’s womb is already an orphan. Give the orphan to a loving mother! The law was written by God! "No killing." We can’t erase the law written by God even if we break the tablets and don’t allow them to be displayed. OH but where will we get the money? I asked the question on Google and I got two answers "Between 560 and 614 billionaires live in the US" — the most of any country — and they control the most wealth. The internet lists 4 American men, Bezos, Gates, Buffett, Zuckerberg with about $412 billion. I can’t even figure out how much money is $412 Billion? How many zeros? a billion is one thousand million. A lot. Wow!

We are driven to killing and it is a Supreme Court Ruling that allows that. We fight vehemently about this law that enables us to kill small children… Yet it is written in our hearts that we do not kill. How can we all stop killing and yelling and get back to what the Founding Fathers wrote, "Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." How can we get back to Life? Back away from the abyss. Grab the hand next to you. Choose life and speak about Life. It is the ultimate kindness and gentleness to choose life. If vitriol is all you can come up with when you talk about the November 3 election, then close your mouth and pray. In Scripture, in 2 Chronicles verse 14, it is written that God says, "If my people will humble themselves and pray… I will heal their land." We will be healed. The whole of Deuteronomy is Moses’ goodbye to his people whom he led out of Egypt under God’s protection. Moses writes: "For this command is not far from you… it is not up in the sky… it is not across the sea… it is in your mouth and in your hearts… Love God… walk in his ways… Choose life" (Deuteronomy 30: 15-20). Choose to speak life not hatred. Whatever the result is November 3, choose Life; Be at peace; Pray to God. Find a way to believe God directs our life. Find a way to work with God. May the Grace and Peace of our Lord be with us.

We gathered under a poster depicting the soldier angel St Michael the Archangel with his foot on Satan’s chest. We all had our Rosary beads and we prayed on the sidewalk outside the police station at Lake Placid. I thought about this gathering in some towns in the US. It might not be peaceful. We might be jeered for supporting the police; for praying for peace. We ended the morning prayer with a rousing hymn… "God bless America." Acknowledging God as Creator and Father, we left that site in peace to return to our isolation. I thought for a moment that I got too close to several people…. Just in talking and meeting new people. It wasn’t 6 feet separating us. OH what has become of us that we cannot shake hands and hug? Sunday morning on CBS did a beautiful tribute to the baseball player who shook hands with Jackie Robinson as Jackie crossed the plate after his first home run. That handshake was the first of what didn’t happen at that time! It was 1946 and white people didn’t touch black people. Now once again, we can’t touch due to virus and I miss it! It will be a while before we can hug, and I pray for peace and a good vaccine! We lay before the Lord our necessities: Cure this land of virus. Cure this land of prejudice and hatred. It’s hard to keep faith in hard times, but we must keep looking up to the sky, to the Cross, and realize that our Creator walked on this earth and promised he is with us!!! We are reading the book of Job in daily Mass… "God it hurts," Job will say, but Job will not lose faith or disrespect God. St Peter wrote that we must cast all our cares on the Lord for he loves us. Let us enter the last month before elections with prayer for our country and our leaders. Be humble and do your jobs!!!! The rest of us: VOTE!!! God bless us.

My girlfriend Bonnie celebrated her ….. birthday yesterday! I remembered back to when we were 14 in the locker room in the gym at Southwest High School. 14 years old… debating Elvis vs the Beatles. Debating boy friends. Debating … well what do teenaged girls debate? I remember her mom coming in to tell us to get to sleep when I slept over. 14 years old… Then I met Chuck and Bonnie knew him from when they were "really young"… My Matron of Honor 50 years ago… We have kept close along with all the wedding party except George who passed away this year. Chuck and I keep friends close. Seek the old friends during this time of isolation and find out how they are doing!!! I ask Bonnie "How are you kiddo?" and she answers… "Fine". Bonnie has been through more than I have. She lost her husband while I still baby mine. But, she will survive. as we all will. It’s our job. Happy day all my "Old friends"… God bless us.

Today I joined my friends from St James and actually some others from the Baptist church which is wonderful!!! We met outside the Lake Placid Police department and prayed the Rosary asking for help from St Michael the Archangel and the mother of God, Mary, for our police… We pray that we hold on to the Joy that Jesus promises if we have faith. Have Joy because we are safe in God’s arms. He made us… Would he ever let us go?

In Luke chapter 5, Jesus orders the disciples to fish some more and they tell him they have been fishing all night and got nothing… But, he says, "Go!…" and they catch enough to sink a ship! Jesus says, "Go out into the deep", and .. because they trust God, they go. This is going to be a tough month and it is going to require a lot of prayer for us to stay sweet and sane! Remember, God pours out Grace always. Be calm. Stay sane, and be kind. God bless you!

We expanded our dock a few months ago and moved the boat lift to the other end allowing us a bigger shaded space than the original had. But as some know, when wood is laid, it needs to be sealed and perhaps colored. Chuck did as much sealer as we had and then we had to order more. It came and it sat. The shine was off the installation. The Joy was gone… So I said; "I’ll paint it." It has been SO HOT, that a morning walk wipes me OUT, but there is a tropical storm coming… maybe just a tropical depression, but it provided wind this morning. Ah! wind!!! If the sun shines here in Lake Placid, and the wind is still, we rack up temps in the high 90s. Out I went and along came Chuck to open the can. Then he proceeded to watch and advise… Soon, he thought I would fall off the dock and I said, "You are right," looking down off the narrow place I was standing…. handed him the roller and said, "if you will do this part, I can pull weeds." Now this was a Tom Sawyer of sorts, but i still had to work… I weeded the back shrubbery and cleaned up 4 orchids with some new mulch. Then into the showers. Now the big storm is coming in from the south and we will have bad weather for a day. God bless us and protect all my dear neighbors and friends.

Good morning! For our 50th Wedding Anniversary, I bought Chuck and me an American Road Trip puzzle. 1000 pieces travel from East to West, North to South, include Alaska, but not Hawaii. When we plug in the Statue of Liberty or Niagara Falls we have to talk about visiting there. As we plug in the Grand Canyon or Montana and the great Presidents on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, we remember the drive home from Kingman Arizona with me coughing in the front seat with pneumonia. Yes, we missed the great Mount Rushmore and the beautiful Yosemite, but we have still done A LOT!!!! I think all the memories led me to consider our favorite cruises… And I came up with Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. Ahhh! I used to buy 2 cruises and cruise 21 days back to back. Those certainly were the old days weren’t they? I would sit at my computer and make plans; writing on 8 1/2 sheets of paper our daily drive if it was across the US, up the Mississippi or across routes 10 or 40…. Or the ways to get to and from the cruises; the events on the cruises. Ah yes, those were the days. Now it’s "shall we walk all the way to the park or walk down to the Dollar Store and back on Anderson drive?" It’s not "go to show," it’s pull weeds or work on puzzle. Buy yesterday as we sat on our dock, it was just like our balcony!!!! Only here we can see turtle noses!!!! Thank God. What’s your memory? What’s your dream for 2021? God bless us!

I have said so many times for us to quit labeling each other… "A democrat", "a republican", "a liberal", "a conservative", "A Jew for Jesus", and more. So I ask, "Why can’t we just say what we want and go for it?" Doesn’t everybody want life, love, freedom, safety? What happened to us that we are fighting and shouting? I’ve watched almost all of the Conventions. I taped them on DVR so I could watch during the day without nodding off to sleep… and don’t you know I missed night 3 of the RNC when the nun spoke. So I’m now watching night 3… I need to hear what she says. She "was" a democrat and is now voting republican. It is on one (most important) issue. The right to life. That might well be a deal breaker. I understand Kamala Harris on whom many of us have pinned our hope, supports abortion into the 9th month of pregnancy; abortion of a viable life.

On night 3 of the RNC, a Mother spoke of her OB/GYN asking her to abort her baby because he was a Down’s Syndrome child, but she would not end his life, rather she fights for her child getting "an equal seat at the table" claiming children’s needs must be met the same as anyone’s: life, education, love. Life first. In case you missed night 3, here is Sr. Dede Byrne’s speech:

Good evening. I am Sister Dede Byrne, and I belong to the Community of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Last Fourth of July, I was honored to be one of the president’s guests at his Salute to America celebration. I must confess that I recently prayed while in chapel, begging God to allow me to be a voice, an instrument for human life. And now here I am, speaking at the Republican National Convention. I guess you’d better be careful what you pray for. My journey to religious life was not a traditional route, if there is such a thing. In 1978, as a medical school student at Georgetown University, I joined the Army to help pay for my tuition, and ended up devoting 29 years to the military, serving as a doctor and a surgeon in places like Afghanistan and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. After much prayer and contemplation, I entered my religious order in 2002, working to serve the poor and the sick in Haiti, Sudan, Kenya, Iraq and in Washington, D.C. Humility is at the foundation of our order, which makes it very difficult to talk about myself. But I can speak about my experience working for those fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries all around the world. Those refugees all share a common experience. They have all been marginalized, viewed as insignificant, powerless and voiceless. And while we tend to think of the marginalized as living beyond our borders, the truth is the largest marginalized group in the world can be found here in the United States. They are the unborn. As Christians, we first met Jesus as a stirring embryo in the womb of an unwed mother and saw him born nine months later in the poverty of the cave. It is no coincidence that Jesus stood up for what was just and was ultimately crucified because what he said was not politically correct or fashionable. As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today. We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb. Keep in mind, the laws we create define how we see our humanity. We must ask ourselves: What we are saying when we go into a womb and snuff out an innocent, powerless, voiceless life? As a physician, I can say without hesitation: Life begins at conception. While what I have to say may be difficult for some to hear, I am saying it because I am not just pro-life, I am pro-eternal life. I want all of us to end up in heaven together someday. Which brings me to why I am here today. Donald Trump is the most pro-life president this nation has ever had, defending life at all stages. His belief in the sanctity of life transcends politics. President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris, who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide. Because of his courage and conviction, President Trump has earned the support of America’s pro-life community. Moreover, he has a nationwide of religious standing behind him. You’ll find us here with our weapon of choice, the rosary. Thank you, Mr. President, we are all praying for you.

I’m listening to the news to see what the 2 conventions are proposing, and I’m hearing some accusations, bitterness, and name calling. There is a lot of we and they… Whatever happened to The United States that the fore fathers tried to establish. It may be that uniting 50 different states isn’t working? Maybe the Federal government just isn’t up to governing us any longer??? Should states care for themselves? I am sent out into the garden to look at what God did in creation… bugs and flowers, sunshine and storm. As he created, he sat back and looked and said "It is good!" (6 times). When he finished, he looked around and he said, "It is very good". (see Genesis 1). We live today with bugs and flowers, sunshine and storm. We are praying now for the Gulf coast about to be attacked by storm. We live with good intentions and angry gensures. What we live with is nature and reality. The reality of life is messy. Let us pray for what we need to live – food for the hungry. Beds and books for homeless children. Peace. Health. A cessation to name calling and blame. Love sees what we need. Let us pray for our leaders to see what we need: Peaceful dialog, dignity, loving care, justice, openness to Grace. What else? You add your needs. God bless us. God bless America.

Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton sing this song together and something just struck me. Brad Paisley sings, "When I’m get where I’m going, I’ll walk with my Grand Pappy…". Well, I realized, I never met any of my grandparents. They were all gone before I was born, and some stories like those about my Irish Grandfather are of a rather wild hard drinking Irishman from whom I steered clear. Mother talked about her family, but not much; she was very busy with three small children and the ghost of several angels in heaven that made my mother quiet…. You know who I want to meet and talk with? My Mother’s mother. I’ve only seen one photo of her. By current standards she was a small dumpy woman. Probably in a homemade cotton dress with those old lady high top shoes. She doesn’t show the beauty my Mother shows in her high school picture that I have on my dining room dresser. "Grandmother, I didn’t know you, but I find myself spouting bits of wisdom that I attribute to my Mother. Did you teach her that wisdom? I thank you for that Grand Mother. I thank you that you saw something bright in my mother and you sent her off to nursing school when some of the others before her did not finish high school. Thank You Grandmother." God bless us today in the USA. God bless the immigrants who came here: all 4 of my grandparents from Italy and Ireland. Thank you for that journey that made me an American.

My friend Bonnie asked why we pray Hail Mary…. over and over, repeating the Hail Mary 50 times in a Rosary over 1/2 hour…. And I told her, it’s not just Hail Mary … a greeting from the angel Gabriel to Mary in St Luke’s first chapter, he calls Mary "Full of Grace" and tells Mary she will be the mother of God, but also it ends with us asking Mary to pray for us…. So it like saying "Hello Mother… You are so blessed and so wonderful. I love you. Pray for me now, and at the hour of my death." My sisters and I have been so blessed that all of us have had Mother present at the birth of children (well not me… sorry Mom), and after surgeries. I will never forget watching Mother and my doctor touching the wound in my belly after surgery. … Mom and the doctor. What better thing can we ask? and wouldn’t it be the grandest thing to have our mother there with us, at the hour of death? Many of us can’t have our mother with us, as she has preceeded us. So we pray to Mary, Mother of God, who was given over to John’s care at the death of her Son on the cross. "This is your mother." We take that statement by Jesus from the cross, literally.

Today and yesterday as I watched Mass, the EWTN priest talked about the Million Rosary March. The church is attempting to pray a million Rosaries, and actually counting them through our commitment of time. So if I commit, they know Susie Peabody will pray 100 rosaries between now and December 8, 2020. Check. 100 rosaries. and onward to December when we will reach 1 million. The prayers are for the Covid victims, those sick and those who died. And the prayers are for those who need mercy and healing of their hearts that are full of anger, resentment, violence, all sickness. It just so happens that I am listening to a voice of the Holy Spirit. I heard the priest on the TV on Sunday morning, but it wasn’t until middle of the night that I realized I will pray a Rosary a day at the park, at the circle here in Lake Placid outside the school. I will pray for the health and safety of our school children who started school today. As I sat at the picnic table in the park, I prayed and watched school children in the school yard, in and out, phys ed I guess. There was a loud speaker announcement. Remember those? A disembodied voice comes at you and you have to be quiet…. "shhhh". It all floods over me when I sit still and listen in the park. Make your own personal commitment. It doesn’t have to be Hail Marys although it sure is comforting to know you have a Mother who will be with you…. "now and at the hour of your death", it can be reading prayers and meditations for 1/2 hour. Pray for the children. Peace, safety. God bless America.

Let’s say you were called in to "fix things" at an agency or a warehouse or anywhere… because they are in the "red"… Go for it. Make a plan to address the money problems. It might take some cut backs, it might take some changes… Hope if it is a needed service, you will make some great creative changes that somehow save money. I used to do this: First , I looked at the detail on the bills, I made some preconceived notions, then I went out into the warehouse or wherever I was and watched. Gradually I made some decisions as to what needs to be changed to save some money, or to make money. Every leader does this. The postal service has been bleeding since Trump took over. Need to make changes. But not during election time and Corona Virus time when we all need our checks and our mail because we are ordering online… and oh by the way we don’t want to go stand in line at the polls with hundreds of others… Ah! Social distancing and Isolation. Chuck and I have done mail in ballots due to our incredible blessing of being able to travel. Only twice in the past 10 years did we go to the polls. I will probably go to the polls this time. I’ll early vote on the first or second day. I want my vote counted, and I want to be safe. God bless America.

The announcement of a VP candidate by Biden closes another chapter in a book that is being written as we breathe. Whatever we want or think will be voted and done by November 4. Voting is a fundamental right, granted to all of us citizens, white, black, brown, women, men… I hope everyone will vote and then…. Accept the count. It would be so good for our collective hearts, blood pressures, souls and minds if we would settle down and start campaigning fairly, without ugliness. There are issues about heredity being debated which is the problem with labeling… It’s gets harder and harder in our mixed race environment to call us by a name….. It was always the "rule" to call anyone with any black in them Black. And the rest of us are white. Now there’s Black, Brown, Yellow, and white. I guess I’m pretty sure I’m white as an Irish-Italian (assuming Black folks didn’t get into Ireland or the hills above Rome to be in my heritage). I feel bad that the color of my face helped me rather than the work and study I did… But that is how the game has always been played. I wish we would give up the labels and talk issues. But we won’t will we? I have said it before…. I believe in God, the Father, the Creator. I believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, Redeemer. The rest is just frosting on the cake.

My sister says "not to be preachy, Susie" … On a lighter note, Chuck commissioned me to paint the garage windows because I complained about being able to see from the street and the front walk all his "Cr_P" on shelves in the garage in front of the garage windows. He’s not going to throw the bins and boxes full of man-stuff away, and I can’t make him do it as it’s HIS garage; so another mural is in the planning stage. This is 2 full sized windows about 8 feet by 4 feet. Today we clipped the hedges in front of the windows and I’m working on a prototype in the art room. Keeps me busy. I will make a water scene with palm trees and a big American egrit center stage. Come on inspiration!!!! Thank you angels for keeping the spiders away. God bless us!!!

Charlie wrote: My friend is dying. He said, “I looked out the window of my office. I saw the beauty of my surroundings. I asked God, ‘Can’t I stay just a few more years?’”

My friend told me this last week. I can’t stop thinking about it. And the more I think about it, the more I understand what is essential in life. His thinking exposed me to much I now appreciate.

My friend loves his wife, his children, his son and daughter-in-law, his grandchildren, his purposeful work and ministry, his friends, and his church family. In short, he loves his life and does not want to leave it.

I love all of this too. But am I grateful?

I once told this same friend how I sometimes battle depression.
He, like me, is one of those people whose reflex is to give advice.

He said, “Each day, I write a list of all the things I am grateful for. I am amazed at how the list seems to grow and grow. The people, the circumstances, the beauty, the problems, the way things have worked out. Even the illness I am struggling with.”

One day I followed his advice. I was depressed. I was in one of those dark moods which blots out any sense of optimism. Sometimes even hope. I wrote the list. It was difficult. I realized my list always starts with people. It never really has anything to do with my stuff or even my environment. People. Always people.

Truth be told. My making this “gratitude list” didn’t help me. It didn’t overcome the depression.
Then I realized, I need to write the list to avoid depression, not overcome it. My friend doesn’t seem to suffer from depression because he is grateful from the moment he opens his eyes. And then he writes his list of all he is grateful for. That is the key.

To Charlie: Wonderful memory piece. It’s hard to sit down and write, "What i am grateful for:"… And you are right. First the people God has placed in our life. Then look out and up… The sky, the clouds. Even when the dark clouds roll in and thunder rolls! Beautiful. Then tune in your ears…. The little clinks coming from the kitchen, the sound of running water. Go outside and listen to the birds. Look for butterflies. Amazing! all beautiful! And made just for us. Read Genesis 1. Six times God said, "It is good." The seventh time he spoke, he said, "It is very good." Ah! It is very good. Keep breathing and repeating what God said, ABOUT US! "It is good; it is very good." Thank you God my Father. Thank you for the Supreme sacrifice you made FOR ME. I will see you God and I thank you thank you thank you.

God bless you Charlie.

If I open my mouth, I shake a tree with my words… and I ask questions like "what is ‘the left’?" "What is a liberal?" "What is Conservative, anyway?" "So medical treatment costs a lot, and your diabetic friend with Obama Care stands in line for hours to get treatment… who should pay for it?" "Why did a person killing another person on camera look into the camera so beligerantly? was he trying to make a point?" "Who paid him?" "Is it really 3 months until election? and what difference will that make in our country?" "Do we really think things will change if Pelosi, McConnell, and Trump are changed out?" and finally, "I think the election won’t make a difference in the rhetoric." Wow! That should take a load off my chest for a few moments, but it doesn’t. I believe it will take a remarkable effort of leaders and citizens to bring the USA together. Saying things that marginalize, disunify, and antagonize cannot improve our toxic environment. We need unparalled leadership; Congress, Senate, Executive, and Justice Branches that speak to each other in non-toxic ways. No "Twitter", but talk from faces that is balanced, and not ugly. No use of words like "fraud," "hoax," or "lies" unless we can show the source. We have a choice to lose hope.

Every day, my niece Jennie’s husband takes a photo of the sunrise on his way to work and sends it to her. How sweet is that bit of love, sent every day? A small beautiful act that opens a day that could be physically or mentally frustrating… but a day that starts with a flower to the heart. All day long, remember the sunrise. Send sunrises. Call out Love! Remember Martha who said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, Lazarus would have lived." He does live! Jesus, nods his head, back and forth, and says, "Martha, Martha, if only you have faith…" And then Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb. (John 11). We have to have faith. Maybe we are being marched off to Babylon until we change. We can either react with Faith and Love, or we can react with Toxic words and hate. We have a choice. As Moses said…. "Choose Life."

In daily Mass lately, the Old Testament readings have been from Jeremiah, the last Prophet who pleaded with the people of Judah to change their hearts or get carriend off to Babylon. Jeremiah wrote, "The lord spoke to me… ‘ Go, cry out. The people have dug broken cisterns that hold no water’ " We have created wells that hold no water. Our hearts are full of leaks and holes. We have "created" that which is no good. We kill with our hands and our mouths, yelling at each other. Jeremiah cried out when Jerusalem was without a shepherd. People stopped speaking of hope and healings. People shouted of pain and fear. People stopped reflecting God, and started reflecting the fear inside their broken hearts. They got carried off and when they returned, priests prayed, "Have pity on us O Lord, and don’t let us return to the way we were. Change our hearts…" Today we plead, "Change our hearts, encounter us, O God-Man Jesus… Change our hearts." Today, let us speak of Jesus, let us be light. Let us think of what our mother’s taught us! I told a young man yesterday, "Remember what your mother taught you." And I prayed she wasn’t full of rage and pain. Speak of cooperation and compassion. Educate children with love.

On my birthday and for a few days afterwards, the church readings talked about sowing seed. Some people sow weeds and some sow good seed. If we water the seed, it will grow. Will it bear good fruit? Hover over the bean and watch! Yes there’s beans. Lots of them! Weeds grow, but God and angels who attend all deaths, separate the weeds and fruit, the goats from sheep, and the weeds are pulled out at the end, and they get burned by the farmer-God. If we didn’t believe this, we wouldn’t have Mother Teresa’s houses of care all over the world. One small woman accomplished so much because she asked God for help. Daily, constantly. How did she attract young women to join her to help people in the hell of poorest India? God brings good out of the fallen world. We must have faith that the fruit will grow and the weeds will be thrown out. So the Gospels say, "Be light! Be leaven! Pray for those who look like they are strangling from the weeds." Right now, that is some of us who are being strangled.

"Only do the right… Love goodness, and walk humbly with your God." wrote the prophet Micah 6: 1-8. Walk humbly. Speak gently. Expect life. Expect Peace.

Neighbors are SO important. Here in Lake Placid our neighbors to the west are away all the year and they rent the house to strangers in winter. To the east, they live in Chicago and come here occasionally. Oh dear…. Across the canal lives a couple we talk a lot to across the canal. Since we are isolating we don’t dock sit and talk; we talk across an expanse of a 20 foot canal. Today I saw people drive up to the house across the street where a sale pending sign resides (across street was a family that lives in Naples… we rarely saw them either.) NOW the new buyers are a very nice lady Laura Lee and her husband Joseph who want to move here full time and her 2 cousins live on these canals too!!! I’m excited because she says she likes to walk, and she is very sweet! I recommended our cement guy and our dock guy as both did great jobs for us. We miss our across the fence and lake neighbors Kathie, George, and Mike, and our lake friends. We used to pontoon to Glen’s and drink on his dock.

This has been another tough week for the nation… Florida’s "Covid numbers" are suspect and called fake and lies. Do we have a surge of Covid here? Should we give it all up and go back outside??? Of course Chuck and Sue are still isolated. I don’t go to church yet…. I wear a mask to Publix. But if you listen to our governor and our president, we have no problem. Miami has a problem though… there was an act of violence that shocked me in Miami very close to my friend Bonnie’s house at 137 Avenue and Sunset Drive. Bonnie lives about 8 blocks away. Someone (they) tore down a statue of Jesus at Good Shepherd Catholic church and decapitated Him. Can you imagine? I was struck to my belly. I guess I understand ripping down Confederate statues (not Cristopher Columbus or Abraham Lincoln for heaven’s sake), but Jesus? The church prayed for the people who did it, and I will send a donation. In the Book of Wisdom, we are called to fidelity to God’s Law. A wise man is called to love God in a fallen world. A wise man must follow the Ten Commandments which are all about love not hate. Not violence. If we are shaken today by violence, sickness, lack of work, ugliness, we must be "salt" and we must cast light. (Matt 5:13)

Pray for the day when children will ask "What is Hate?" Pray, "Lord, the one you love is sick. Come to our aid." God bless you.

When I walk with my Lake Placid friends (there are two friends I walk with in the church parking lot where there are a lot of wonderful shade trees or on Placid Lakes Boulevard – lots of trees and we walk to Lake June park and we look out at the lake) … anyhow when we walk the talk is generally Covid, politics, the labels people apply to us (Conservative, Liberal, Dem or Repub etc), the future (election, socialism, riots, recession)… We generally talk about family and if someone listened in they would wonder how we ever have enough oxygen to walk we talk so much. I have iterated several time that I don’t believe in lables… I don’t want to have some say "you are this, this, and this, therefore you believe in this this and this." Suddenly I said, outloud as if I were with my friends, "I believe… in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ the only Son of God…" I laughed as I heard my voice out there on Placid Lakes Boulevard… and I continued…"Who was conceived of the Virgin Mary, was baptized, suffered, died and was buried. " Continue through the Resurrection, Ascension and Descent of the Holy Spirit. I recited the whole Nicean Creed there on the sidewalk. So I just continued with the Rosary. It is a 45 minute walk and prayer. Occasionally I would stop to breathe. If you walk and pray out loud, you run out of oxygen. Think about this next time you use a label. What is most important is to remember that we believe and that can’t be labled. And I think most Christian faiths say the Creed.

It’s Sunday and daily Mass readings (on TV; I’m not back to Church yet.) filled me with thoughtfulness. Scripture speaks of suffering….. In Romans 8:18, St Paul wrote, "The suffering of this present time are as nothing compared with the Glory to be revealed… wait for adoption and redemption." I wrote, "What is the Key Word? WAIT" In Matthew 13: 1-23, Jesus patiently explained the Parable of the sower: I’ll paraphrase. You dig a hole in the earth and plant a seed in the ground (the man in the parable scattered the seed). You water and watch the sun warm the earth. You know a good thing is coming! Remember early Biology classes. Didn’t we plant beans? and we rejoiced when two green sprouts came up! Soon (think here of Jack and the Bean Stalk), soon we had a vine full of beans! This always happens! Beans sprout. It’s a pretty good lesson for kids. It’s a good exercise for our times, for those of us who think our bean will never sprout. We are stuck here in the dark, on the couch. For those of us who accuse God of being hidden. Where are you God? Isaiah 55:10, Isaiah says God is at work. His end will be achieved. He perseveres and he rescues the Jews from Babylon. He rescues us.

My friend tells me our world is in chaos. Uproar. Burning. Police, symbol of protectors, are (some of them) being ugly (some) and they are attacked and ambushed. Chuck always said that police wear a target on their backs. People are violent, tearing down anything they can get their hands on (that they don’t believe in). There’s that word believe. So what about the bean? If it is cultured, taught, loved, watered, it grows deep roots and withstands storm. The roots grow deep and seek moisture that we can’t see. Drought comes, but we have faith in the success of that little bean. Let us pray that the bean’s roots hold; that his foundation is deep enough to withstand fire, flood, and drought. Compassion and love planted that seed, gentle values. Yes we had to fight for freedom of the states, and now we have to express the values we cherish. Save the bean!!!! How about intentional, random acts of kindness. Go meet the people on your street (keep a safe distance.) God bless us. Angels with us.

My neighbor’s dock is all messy, falling down, broken and weedy. There are actually several messy docks like this in our remarkable beautiful series of canals, and neighbors are complaining on our neighborhood message board. Why don’t I go over there and ask if I can help repair it? It just needs the broken logs pulled up onto the lawn and carried to the street. The water is cool so I can stand in the water and pull the weeds. Why don’t I do that? Rather than yelling about the mess? Just move!

Do you remember (maybe from your long ago past) a story in the Bible about a woman suffering for years from hemorrarages(icky very icky)… She was an outcast and shunned because of the blood. Jesus walked by, and she, cast out as unclean because she was bleeding, sneaked forward and reached her hand out between the legs and feet of people… and she touched the tassel on his cloak. "If only I can touch the tassel on his cloak, I will be healed." He felt that (faith?). He knows each heart and knows what’s in each heart ("I need help," our heart whispers). (Matthew 9:18). What if we return to earlier days when mama taught us to pray. I remember one time I was standing in the doorway to Mom’s kitchen (doorway between dining room and kitchen in the Euclid apartment). I remember this vividly. I was complaining mightily about a relative who I felt wronged me… Mom listened, waited for me to catch my breath, and said, "Today is Saturday, you need to get to church and go to Confession." Oh darn. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I wanted SUPPORT. "You are right Susie, that woman is mean to you." Nope. "Get to church." I plodded up the road. The church was walkable, about 4 blocks. I sat down with the priest. Surely he will take my case. "’Pray for her,’ he said." Another "O darn." What is this, a conspiracy? Yes it is. By the great One, Jesus. He is the One who said, "Be still, and know that I am God." "Rest in me." … He conspires to get us close to his heart. So then what?

Pain, anguish, suffering all are valid emotions that we feel, and maybe feel worse now that the television is once again filled with images of ICUs filled with Covid patients in Florida and Texas as opposed to New York and New Jersey who were filled, but now cases are declining. Doctors and Mayors are begging for help… and it seems none is coming except pushes to "open up." Where do we get our strength? Where do we find peace? We can’t see the healing like it happened when Jesus healed and people jumped up and danced around praising God. Maybe our population is too large and the distance between us means we can’t see the miracles, but the miracles are happening. A priest on EWTN said God is like a magnet and we are like a piece of iron…. He draws us in. If we allow ourselves to get close enough, "Clump!" we are up against him. But we have to be still and listen. Now what? Hosea 11 says, " ‘My heart is overwhelmed with pity,’ says the Lord." He says we the people are like lost sheep who don’t have a shepherd. (Matthew 9:32). Can we accept that we have no shepherd? We are milling about, bleating for help… But we don’t get help. In Ezekiel 34, the Lord said, "I will shepherd my sheep." Maybe that’s it. Settle down, go speak with Jesus, be still. Watch and learn. Help that neighbor… Embrace peace. God bless us. Angels with us.

Does every generation say: "I think at this time that our country is changing a lot." Words change meanings. The younger ones don’t respect what the older ones respect. Spellings are fooled with, and new words are invented that quickly become "normal." Commas have disappeared and now we just use dashes and …

No kidding. Life is in flux right now! We see in Europe and Russia statues of dictators being torn down. We have done it ourselves for people we have liberated. We are now doing it ourselves. To ourselves. I think a whole generation of "people who know" (old people) are being whittled out (the nursing home people that are so vulnerable and dying). I am on the cusp of vulnerable. I don’t work. I use my social security, that I earned and gave to the government for safe keeping, But they spent it, and now that they have to give it back to me, they resent that… The poor and the vulnerable who don’t work, or who have few skills, and the old and sick will be "sacrificed" to Corona virus to bring our economy back. Fortunately, Chuck and I can take care of ourselves. We can afford to live isolated and not go out. Thank God. There isn’t anything I can do except pray and stay healthy. I think about my sweet Mom, who prayed several Rosaries a day a lot! I ask her and our Blessed Mother for advice all the time! Thank heaven for EWTN as I haven’t been to church since mid-March… I try to stay safe, When I think of something that might help or might be funny, I still blog but don’t have the heart for it lately as what I am thinking…. isn’t fun any more! Life is very good in Lake Placid. Dock sitting is lovely except it’s too HOT!!! So we try to go pontooning at 7pm.

I’m reminded of Ray Stevens who sang: "Don’t look Ethel!" Remember the song "the Streaker!" Well life and our government deserve to be ignored while we tightly shut our eyes…. My friend who is staunchly what she calls Conservative (I don’t use titles or put people in boxes or put names to what a person is…), her son yells at her because he is "liberal." Whatever those two titles mean. Atlanta, Portland and other cities are under fire and Mayors fight with governors. Our governor in FLA says we are OK as we lead the nation in virus cases! All we can do is "Hunker down. Exercise and get in shape." Try to stay alive. Pray a lot. What’s the future? Look up to the beautiful sky that changes constantly. Maybe that’s what it is! Flux. God bless us! Angels with us. I’m headed out walking. Love you.

Good day gentle reader! Yesterday I went to my favorite park where I walk in the mornings. This time, we went by pontoon boat and sat and talked to friends whom we have known since we were 16 years old… Across the table, more than 6 feet apart, outside. Good right? Today Chuck said, "When you went to get our barbeque, you were elbow to elbow getting the food plates." Oh darn. It’s actually the closest I’ve been to people since March. Now what? Wait 14 days? I just read a Washington Post article wherein Fauci was interviewed. He is 79 years old and considers himself very high risk. If they get take out and have an outside picnic, all the delivery food is in separate containers so no one has to stand near anyone to scoop their beans. OOPS. He says he wears a mask in public and he will not fly. I hope hope we can live through this pandemic without killing off many more Americans. I’ve read that even when one heals, there is damage to heart, lungs and possibly brain. So, my dears, don’t cluster around the food. Take your own food to picnics. I’m staying inside again and being more careful.

Today is 4th of July when our Founding Fathers pronounced the Declaration of Independence in 1776. And kept slaves until 1865. It wasn’t until 1965 that America wrote what we thought was "final" legislation giving rights to people of color. I am sure many of my older friends remember how Black people were treated, and still are treated. The Declaration of Independence did not address individual freedoms… It was to separate the States from England and her despotic king. It wasn’t for 90 years that slaves were finally freed. So our Founding Fathers owned slaves, but that wasn’t illegal. I think it’s time to let that go. People made terrible mistakes. Let us move forward today in peace and prayer. Let us ask God to help us to humbly make changes that truly make people equal and safe. Go please to your google sites and read the Declaration of Independence, and start today being kinder. God bless America. Angels with us.

This morning as the Market opened, President Trump held a news conference to announce jobs growth. While he spoke, the market opened and climbed 400 points over yesterday’s number. The President promised a bigger and better, even best 3rd quarter economy, just in time for the election. But meanwhile, men like Anthony Fauci and hospital center directors across the nation are warning us we could have between 50,000 and 100,000 Americans stricken with Corona virus every day. I do not watch a lot of TV news, but I have seen 2 walk throughs of hospitals, and in both cases, doctors try to show what Corona virus does. It turns the lungs into a disaster area. If respirator is required, it means the lungs can’t work and airways are turning bloody and fragile. Who is going on respirators and dying? The old, the fragile, the vulnerable, the poor who live crowded together. Those of us who can afford to stay home are doing all right. We can afford to stay home and we should. Those who have to go to work to feed families are succumbing to virus and carrying it home. The ones who are partying and getting sick should be seriously chastised and sent to their rooms. A report indicated that Florida should get a stay at home order, and our governor won’t even say we should wear masks. Life right now is crazy, and the only hope we have is to isolate. And it’s coming on 4th of July weekend!!!! So is Bigger and Better Best? The President thinks so. What do YOU think? God bless us. Angels with us.

My friend Pat and I walked and talked in the church parking lot on Monday, talking of the "awful" things happening in this world, about those in our families who claim to have no faith, who might get sick through careless behavior, … other items of discussion were man’s inhumanity to man, careless treatment of children, pandemic, our fears… As we talked I became increasingly aware that we could let fear overwhelm us if we don’t stop and look up. I felt stalled, but I could only say, as others have said to me, "The Lord is in control." We can’t see him and his controlling, compassionate hand, but we can read and see him in Scripture. See Matthew 8:23. A huge storm threatens the small boat carrying 12 men and Jesus "to the other shore." Jesus sleeps. Finally, the frightened men wake him up, crying, "Save us O lord!" "O you of little faith," he answers peacefully.

In 64AD, Nero initiated mass persecutions of Christians, ripping them up, feeding them to his animals, burning them alive, in his Circus which is now the site of St Peter’s in Rome. The first martyrs died, "covered in the blood of Christ," singing, "Lord save us!" We are challenged today, and he continues to answer, "O you of little faith. You still doubt me!" Today, Matthew continues (8: 28), Jesus sent demons into swine and sent them all tumbling into the lake to drown. The townspeople, not liking that solution, begged Jesus to leave the area! Not liking what is happening… Not believing the Lord is aware and in control? So my Mom might ask, "So what are you gonna do?" Continue forward, head facing forward, looking up. Beautiful sky today, by the way, looking like balls of cotton!!! God bless us! Angels with us.

Remember when we had jobs and a yearly plan and even a 5 year plan was vital? In evaluations bosses would ask, "What would you like to accomplish in the next month that will lead to achieving your plan for 2020? … Where would you like to be in 2021?" Now that I am retired, from several careers, I have different goals: I have some plans for myself like "losing 20 pounds" "walking an hour a day daily and keeping at it" "Painting a few canvases and joining the art leagues in my town when things open up again and virus is under control" …. and that is for 2020. I’d like to celebrate New Years Eve on the lake watching fireworks! I’d be happy celebrating 4th of July on the lake!!!! I’d like to Be peaceful, healthy, agile. I’d like to feel joy, and give joy. Short term, long term that is what goals are all about. There is no money in my goals. God has been good to us, and we have enough. I think being peaceful is the biggest. God sent the disciples out to preach and teach, and he said, "Take nothing. Eat what is given to you and sleep where you are taken in." Wouldn’t it be wonderful to trust the Lord? The gospel is not about prosperity, it’s about suffering… It’s about the Way of the Cross. It’s about changing our hearts and praying for "the others." Today is Sunday… traditional day of going to church … At least let us go out and praise God for the beauties of nature he has given to us. Amen! Alleluia! Thank God. Angels with us.

Remember when it made a difference that it was Friday? Rules were looser; we had casual Fridays, sometimes lunch was brought in, we generally got out an hour early…. Now, I will do the same thing as I did yesterday, and the day before. Life after Covid 19 is even more restricted than life after retirement. I used to go after Mass to the Parish Center where a group was doing crafts, blankets for babies, cards specialized for festival days and given to folks in nursing homes. There is a knitting/crocheting group and a Rosary group who make gifts and Rosaries. That work stopped at noon and we might have a snack together before heading home to husbands who were employed in mowing the lawn or fishing all morning. Now… The group is likewise employed as I am, many in isolation, not ready to go out. We are isolated, quaranteened and looking out at an earth that suddenly holds fear of disease. It’s almost July, and we are still inside. The funny emails no longer come. I think we are worn out. We languish. Like the people who languished on the streams of Babylon….

Today’s and yesterday’s Mass readings from 2nd book of Kings 24 and 25 follows upon the long listing of kings after David who "did evil in the sight of God." They ignored the First Commandment and built altars in the highest places for their foreign wives and invited the idols into their palaces. Killing for greed (like Jezebel did) was normal. Finally the Babylonian king burst through the defenses and carried Jerusalem off in 2 waves… The Temple was burned, palaces were destroyed. A remnant was left behind. Never a perfect people, at least the people had their symbols in Jerusalem. Now, languishing on the shores of a river in Babylon, the people can only weep for what is lost. Jerusalem is in ruins. Never perfect, the people left alive in Babylon, have nothing but memory (Psalm 137). Wow! How grim. I’ve been reading about "American sin" and the stories that are coming out about our building ghettos for the black communities, "outside of town." Sundown towns where people of color had to be out by sundown, etc. We hanged people for their color. In Matthew 8, a leper goes right up to Jesus and asks for healing… "If you will do it, Jesus." Jesus answers, "I will do it." and Boom! the leper is healed. Jesus doesn’t retreat from the leper, rather he puts out his hand. God has sent to the people who failed repeatedly to love a gentle, loving Savior. The Law no longer comes from stone tablets, although the law of the Ten Commandments still is the base stone, but the law comes from the lips of a traveling young preacher who said, "Take my words of love into your hearts, and love your neighbor." Love. My dears. Go outside and look at the beauty of nature. Enjoy some quiet time in the shade (It’s hot out there!). I’m off for a morning walk. You go too and say a little prayer for our hearts and our country. God bless us. Angels with us.

Please let us remember our history lessons. Unions saved small children from working in factories and put the little ones into school. Parents might have needed the money the children earned, but then unions got salaries raised. Police departments were created to "keep folks under control." Many of those folks were black, and "under control" meant keeping them locked onto the plantations, and out of white businesses and bathrooms. That was not so long ago…. So today when marchers say, "Defund the police", I don’t think we mean to abolish police, until we abolish crime… What a conundrum. In the past few weeks I’ve said increase education, child care, young mother care and single mother care. Increase mental health, alcohol and drug abuse services and centers so drunks aren’t shot in the back or strangled in their confused ranting stages. Today Sunday Morning on CBS covered this and the leader of the Police Chiefs’ Union talked about it. We must remember what started all this… and acknowledge what we need to do. Prejedice is real. Let’s be kinder, gentler people.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Apple said (on Sunday Morning) "We must start life on equal footing. If you work hard, you get ahead. Pay what you owe and then give back (more)." What an act of kindness that would be. Chuck and I were born white and somewhat middle class. I remember my father and mother struggled to provide for Christmas. We didn’t have a lot of extra money. But hard work got us forward. Chuck and I worked hard to put money aside. Thanks Chuck.

A beautiul white American egret visited this morning. He came very near… It’s interesting to be "studied" by mother nature!!!! When he’s done; he just flies away. Thanks God for nature! God bless us! Angels with us.

Have you ever had it all played out in your mind when you walk into a place and it plays out that way? I do my research most of the time and write a bunch of questions to ask a doctor. But he covers everything and then he asks, "now do you have any questions?" He sees that 8 1/2 x 11 paper in my lap… he sees me writing replies next to my questions. Well today it was the same. He wants what the 3 cardiac doctors before him told me what to do. 2 blood pressure medicines to keep the aneurysm quiet. Pooey. Plus he doesn’t mind that I am gaining weight. He probably sees it in every patient who has Covid19 syndrome… the growing belly… the slightly rising blood pressure. He is happy as a clam that I walk an hour a day. So why am I gaining weight? Potatoes, noodles, cheese, butter, full fat yogurt, meat. Oh did I forget vegetables? I know, do you find yourself eating richly but with no vegetables? Tonight I added green beans to our sausages ("homemade" by the butcher in town) with baked beans! We are still isolating and spending too much time on the sofa because Covid is still hot in Florida. Hospitals are full so we are laying low hibernating… Take it easy, be kind, and be at peace. God bless us. Angels with us.

Today for the second time I cut my hair (front and sides). I can’t get around to the back. Perhaps it will become a pony tail… The young lady who previously cut my hair here in Lake Placid is still "out at home." She has a child and she is caregiver when child is out of school (since March 15). So, going au naturel is a challenge, but a can-do thing as I’m not willing to go to a hair salon yet due to Covid as positives are "up" in Florida. Who is going to say my hair is raggedy since I gel it and stand it up?! Today was a "Come to Jesus day" as I made all the medical phone calls I have been avoiding… Our general practice doctor here in Lake Placid is very thorough. He wants bone density exam every 2 years, mammograms, blood work, blood circulation, carotid arteries all checked. If he finds something wierd, off you go to the specialist. Well with the aneurysm I have to keep blood pressure low and heart beat down. That takes 2 medicines which I do not like. So I guess I took one of them, prescribed in Miami, until it literally ran out. No refills. I’m not totally disobedient; I do not let heart medicine run out so the scramble began yesterday, "who wants to take care of Susie’s blood pressure which is taken care of to keep the aneurysm quiet"… Not the thoracic surgeon, not the vascular surgeon. It is like it was in Miami with everyone pointing to the general practice doctor. So I have to hope his knowledge is up to date on beta blockers and calcium inhibitors…. which is what these two meds are; all to keep the aneyrysm quiet. It is very creepy "maintaining an aneurysm". Meanwhile I have to get medical records from Baptist in Miami for mammogram and bone density. It’s nice to get a comparison so they don’t think "conditions" are new and they panic.

Oh, and the other one is gastroenterology. Got reflux? It can be damaging. So when the tv ads started talking about Zantac lawsuits, and I realized I had a constant belly ache and pain from an acid reflux med, I quit it. My belly pain cleared up, but general practice doctor freaked out! "Get to a gastroenterologist!" he ordered. OK, OK. I’m seeing general practice this afternoon for blood pressure and he’s going to ask…. did I have appointment? No, but I made one. Dragging me, kicking and screaming, to specialists takes a village. May the village people be kind! God bless us.

This morning in Mass one of the readings was from 1 Kings 21. Jezebel was a raging beauty and an evil soul. Her husband, the king, wanted a vineyard, but the owner of the vineyard said he couldn’t sell it because it was his family legacy. It was a big Jewish custom to pass land down in the family. So Jezebel took her husband’s seal and wrote letters to have the vineyard owner cursed and killed by stoning. Then she told her husband he could go ahead and have the land. Hearing about this and other evil actions make us cringe with disgust. How dare she have a man killed because he defended his family land? How disgusting the times when we take what we want if we are more powerful. Times haven’t changed much have they? Psalm 5 weeps, "Lord, listen to my groaning." … We beg for change. We read the saints for they somehow seemed to "see" the issues clearly. They saw good and evil and saw the roots are in our hearts. What is it that makes us react with distain and disgust to evil actions? What makes us turn back towards the person who hit us from the rear and we retaliate? We detest and disdain our enemy and feel nothing but disgust. And our hearts hurt. Old Testament writers dealt furiously with Jezebel. She fell out of her window, and dogs lapped up her blood. (just as the prophet had predicted).

The line separating good and evil passes right through our hearts; not through politics or economics, but through our hearts. So how do we find peace from this heart ache? Remember when Christ yelled at the money changers in the Temple? We call that righteous indignation. He did not do that very often. Instead, Christ’s teachings, tough as they are in "what we must do" were gentle. His low voice constantly calls us to learn humility. If a man hits us from behind with words or deeds? Give him the other cheek… God gives us the grace and strength. He pours out grace like a giant pitcher of grace pouring out. We are covered, only many of us don’t know it.

My friends talk about violence, law, police, abortion (etc) and always there’s mention of what Biden/Obama or Trump won’t do or does, what’s conservative or liberal or democrat or republican, voices start to rise with agitation and I start to get quiet. Mentally I take a step back and take a deep breath. My feet aren’t moving, but my mind is… If I can get a word in it’s , "talk about the issues; talk about what humanity needs to be human, to be dignified. Talk about ‘what if we could solve this problem’ … what would we do?" All of us, working together, could come up with some ideas. In love. In Christ. Call Christ into the circle! Who actually is in charge? Our God and Creator knows what we need. He is the one who fills us with that grace poured out. Take a deep breath and pray for peace that starts in our hearts. God bless us. Angels with us.

Martina McBride was belting out this song on Xfinity Music Choice which is on most of the day…. And I, looking for the basket of laundry clothes pins, stopped and listened, wondering "Gee, I wonder what I look like?" It’s been since way before March 15 that I got a hair cut and color. I have gained a few pounds and face cream and make up are … someplace. I’ve been through 2 cataract surgeries since isolation so I don’t like to put anything on my face except eye drops. But…. What do I look like? I looked in the bathroom mirror and heaved a sigh. My hair is way too long for my liking. It’s all fluffy behind my ears. Like puffs of gray-blond hair…. the top is rather frazzled looking. I’m in a tank top and shorts and bare feet…. carrying a laundry basket and clothes pins. Not necessarily the movie queen of the week. I remember house wives, wearing scarves over pin curls, a house dress, real shoes and probably stockings… Well, I guess my mirror is lucky I’m not presenting myself at 1230pm on a Friday in my pajamas!

Today I cut Chuck’s hair. I sat him in the bathroom on a small chair on the tile floor and proceeded to run my fingers through his hair and clip away! First one side and then the other side. His hair is soft and fluffy and beautifully white. Did I say soft? One side is actually longer and thicker than the other! I did not clip the back. Just the sides, over the ears, and "a little off the front." This was a really fun exercise. I just didn’t want him at the barbar shop yet. Me either… at the salon. So, next exercise is the scissors to the sides of my hair. OK Mirror, I’ll try to put a little face cream on my wrinkles.

Finally, about what’s happening outside. I understand Florida is a red state. Red for infection rising (not democrat or republican!!!)… It probably started with all the partying. "Kids" can’t do like old folks… Kids don’t think "it" will get them. "It" might be disease or death… Although I think our kids are answering the call to "human rights." Let’s see if they who saw nothing done about school shootings can get something done about murder by power on small people. I heard that Lexington enacted a ban on "no knock warrants." I am so glad about that. For heaven’s sake…. If you think there is someone bad in there, send a squad to the back door and knock and bang yelling "police"… Do not break into a place in the middle of the night. or ever. Also the word "defunding" is appearing. I made a mistake and said to a friend tht we ought to strip the police naked, wash everybody, and start over again…. Well I guess the analogy isn’t a good one. What I mean is get down to the basics and examine everything and strip out those who need investigation, examine the investigations, and look at how we spend funds for child care and child eduation, mental care, homelessness, drug programs, feeding and teaching, and mother care. We still have to get a handle on drug sales (opiods), cyber crime, 911 calls, rape, assult, and all the violence that happens in a crowded world. You can see how difficult this issue is in the 5 minutes you turn on the news. After that, you can turn TV off and sit down and come up with a plan for some change and get it to your legislature.

This week in church (TV church on EWTN) we are focusing on "seeing God’s face" as in "Lord let your face shine on us." (psalm 4). We can’t see anyone’s face if there is no light…. Jesus said, "You are the light of the world" … Shine like light and hold on to the Word of life. The Word tells me God came to earth and we celebrate this at Christmas… He was a tiny, vulnerable child who needed love. We were that once, and in many ways we still are. Let your frightened, vulnerable heart be made peaceful by leaning back on the chest of our Lord who picks you up… May I be so still and quiet that I hear his heartbeat when he picks me up. (Listen to his whisper… 1 Kings 19:9-16). Amen. God bless you.

My sisters are very conscious of their little sister (me) and her "anxieties…". One sister says she senses my angst, and that I fall back to religion. The Pope writes: "Prayer liberates us from our instinct toward violence." I don’t want to have even the instinct (the animal brain, or some call it the lizard brain) which prompts us to respond with violence and fear to violence and ugliness which I can easily do. I spent the weekend in deep discussion with house guest Karen…. we were prompted by recent George Floyd murder and aftermath "unrest" and we watched Catie Slipp’s documentary on Netflix called 41 Shots. Catie is the Story Editor for one of 6 documentaries called Trial by Media. She chronicled the aftermath of 4 police officers shooting and killing a young immigrant from Guyana…. He was entering his small apartment in the Bronx, entering a vestibule about 10 feet long by 5 feet wide. 4 police officers accosted him and fired 41 bullets into the vestibule. He was unarmed, probably didn’t know the "rule:" "STOP, put your hands up in sight, and PRAY (that they don’t shoot you)." The documentary was captivating and visceral. It sparked many discussions of police training…. Chuck said training in the 70s involved 2 shots then stopping. Many police were being killed, because criminals weren’t stopped." So now… Training involves fire until the suspect goes down. If a suspect remains on his feet… the police reload. So… What happened to George Floyd? There are pieces missing from the video we see. I thought I saw the police shove him into the (passenger side) back seat of the car and then suddenly there he is on the ground outside the car, on the drivers side, with a police officer Knee on his neck. What happened to "take him downtown and question him?" With questioning, the whole $20 counterfeit incident would be brought into the light…. NOW… we citizens who write the laws and rules have to decide… What is offensive to us? What will we accept as actions by others? What is right?

Another name came up this weekend: Breonna Taylor. I think everyone knows that many of us have a weapon near our bed. If I hear the front door broken in, I am to roll out of bed, keep the bed between me and the door, grab my gun, cock it, shout "Get OUT!!!", and shoot if anyone breaches the bedroom door way. Yikes. I hope that never happens. Police were enforcing a "no knock warrant". For heavens sake! It means police can break into a house without warning!!!!! The warrant had the right address, but it was for a man Breonna previously dated who mailed a package to her. She died before she got her moment to explain…. "he’s not here… I don’t know where he is." If necessary they could "take her downtown, and question her."

The young Story Director Catie Skipp had sent out a political cartoon asking … "which act of taking a knee to make a point…. (Colin Kaepernick or a police officer) will Americans decry as an offensive violation of Patriotic values and constitutional rights?" Something like that. I reacted violently to the question and answered "neither! I accept neither!" I don’t equate them or say anything about their value. What I reacted to is "lack of respect for what the flag represents (I used the term "who we are") versus lack of respect for law and life. Both are offensive.

Karen said, but we aren’t what the flag represents anymore. We are a nation who sits on our butts during the National Anthem…. We don’t respect … etc etc. The argument went on through the weekend. And I came out of the weekend saying…. "It is who we are. As Americans, we are the values we were bred with." I think my mother said to me…. "You must do this… that is what we are." Whatever the "good" behavior I was supposed to emulate was based on breeding and teaching. Mother taught us to do good. Work hard. Seek the best. Do I kneel, looking at the ground, or do I stand tall? I stand tall, hand over heart. Struggle to know what is good. Struggle to do good. Peace is what Christ did. He destroyed obstacles to Peace. We can find our way to peace. It’s just a hard road for us who are so covered with negative news and ugliness. Be kind.

The small birds are still struggling for the bird seed. The lady cardinal still comes to the feeder, but she backs off when the big guys come flapping their big wings. She doesn’t fight. You go girl…. God bless us! Angels with us.

Something has happened at the bird feeder! Today my friend and I sat watching for several hours the big and little birds sharing the bird feeder. It’s a dance indeed as the small birds land and the big birds land at the same time. They dance around and manage to get some feed before one or the other falls off with all the flapping of wings. A squirrel has figured out how to leap from chair back to chair back, to an electrical outlet box, to the post that he treats like a ladder… then he got up to the rafters… The leap to the top of the feeder was not pretty and the squirrel rolled and kept running when he hit the deck. As we watched, that was the closest the squirrel got to the bird feed. Two cardinals came for a time and prettied up the place and then… the rains started! Life goes on here on the canal.

If I don’t listen to the news, I can’t talk about it. Instead, house guests and us are watching a John Wayne movie!!! I pray for you that the birds are coming to eat of your gifts, or you are helping some little ones… God bless you! Angels with you!.

My friends writes to me, "We need cops; we need fire fighters; we need national guard; we need Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines; without them there is no order; as you can see." My immediate gut responce is, "Military is not to be used to protect us from within… Dictators use military to keep us under control."

In 1770, we had nothing but our squirrel guns when we revolted (and a few Polish and French supporters). We revolted because the King of England tried to dictate to us. We had nothing but our hearts and a few squirrel guns … Now, granted, our population is (too) well armed, and there is no king. There is only "We the people," and we must police ourselves in every town and state or we will have no freedom. Let us all make sure the "protectors" are our own people. Make sure the captain comes from our community. That "they" are "us." Then let us say to them "we all have the right to a trial." Watching video of the take down of George Floyd, people are beginning to ask, "Why wasn’t he put in a car and taken to a holding cell in a police station" (where he and the officers could get a breathing space). And then… oh my goodness, am I saying this? Let the lawyers take over. In America, under the law, we look at the original crime; investigate and prosecute. Was he trying to knowingly pass a bad $20? Did he take something from the store without paying for it with valid currency? Prosecute that, in the safety of a precinct. The ride to the precinct would be the end of the story and police would go back to their jobs. That’s the way we do things here in America. God bless us. Angels with us.

Good morning dear gentle readers! Today is a day when I focus not outside, and not even inside on my soul, but on the floors and window sills. It is flight of the butterflies Thursday because we have house guests coming on Friday. I woke up with a mission…. First a bath and clean the bathtub. I don’t do any kneel on the floor and scrub routine, rather I fill it and get in. Then the cleaning can be done while my feet soak!. Bugs begone. Have you ever noticed that flying knats love the bathtub? Out damned bugs! Clean the window sill like it’s always been that way, dry me, and come out all victorious to watch morning Mass! Today is Thursday and our weather is a bit cloudy with a massive amount of rain headed up the Gulf of Mexico towards New Orleans. We have a flood watch here and I see the Mississippi River is full and at flood stage… potential flooding everywhere from too much rain. What are you doing Mother Nature? Pray today for peace and do a little bit of scrubbing. Be calm and joyful. God bless us!!!! Angels with us.

I haven’t heard this spoken yet, but it would be great to be able to repeat it all over the United States. "We don’t get another chance to fix this," said the Governor of Minnesota. We must change. Let us look at practices and rules for regulating behavior in all levels of government. Let us raise expectations for kindness. If we must, let us take off the guns. What if police took off their gun belts and walked into cities and towns? Walk in… In the very old days, police wore a billy club and walked in town. Even then, police beat up citizens. "We don’t do that here." Repeat those words twelve times a day if you have to. Repeat the words of God in Jesus Christ, "Love your neighbor."

Let us meet with and thank police and soldiers. Let us change the way we see police and soldiers. Military is supposed to protect us from outside attack, and to preserve our lives and country from outside attack. The police is another matter. The role of police is to protect people and property in our towns and cities. We have rules, and the police job is to protect the rules. What sparked George Floyd’s death and the subsequent rioting is the alleged passing of a counterfeit $20 bill. A store clerk called 911 and said a big guy who was acting drunk took cigarettes and paid with a counterfeit bill. "Oh by the way, he’s black and he’s big; 6 1/2 feet tall". Police responded, and I think we can be certain that angry words were shouted. After that, it looks like Floyd was put into a police car and he wriggled out. At that point, Police had to contain the situation and get the accused person out of the area to the police station. What happened next seems to most of us as something we don’t do. Keep saying that, "We don’t do that here." Make this happen. Take off your guns. Close your mouths if violent hateful words are about to come out. Put fear in your back pocket and sit on it. Pray for peace and a calm, old fashioned America. Fly the flag and know what it stands for. God bless us. Angels with us.

( 1045 am Wednesday) Coral Gables Police Chief just said about dominating police presence: "We don’t do that". He is police chief who initiated meeting of police leaders who knelt on the steps of Coral Gables Police station on Friday. God bless them! We do this here.

What if you call the family of George Floyd to offer condonence, but you don’t let them talk and you march to a church that is locked and stand in front for a photo op, but you didn’t call the ministers to alert them you are coming? How right is all this? I feel certain some of my friends are happy as clams that he went to church and lifted a Bible. But please Google this…. Please google, "US Bishop ‘outraged’ by Trump’s church visit." The steps of the church were full of church priests and seminarians and medical aid workers giving out water and snacks. Yes a part of the basement was burned last night, but that can be replaced church leaders later reported. … The aid workers were astounded when they saw people running toward them, being herded away from the site by tear gas and rubber bullets. They had no warning to clear away which we would do (clear away) if someone said we have to clear the area because the President is coming. He lifted a Bible, and someone asked, "Is that your Bible?" and he answered, "It’s a Bible."… This led me to wonder… I’m leaving my home and going to church… I pick up my journal and my Magnificat (my daily prayer and Mass book). Christians going to Church pick up their Bible. Let me ask you: You are at home and headed out to stand in front of a church (to pray for peace?). Where is your Bible? I know where the Bible my Mother gave me is. I would probably grab that one. I know where the 3 Bibles are that Charlie and Kathy Paparelli gave me. I know where my Emmaus Bible is. All precious and given to me at times in my life when my Christian life was growing in Grace. Is it my Bible? "Yes"… Or no, if I don’t have mine…. "It is a friend’s Bible." About our faith and when we go back to church… Our Bishop for my county here in Florida has determined our rules for when we can go to church. He is opening the churches gradually. The Federal government can not tell us or me when to go to church. That is my call and my Bishop’s call. "Liquor stores are open and abortion clinics are open." Well that’s not my call. They belong to the state. Please look at the areas where Trump is tromping. Remember he ordered churches open for Easter, but he played 2 rounds of golf on Easter. He’s stomping in the wrong area!

From ABC news account: "Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde issued a response to the president’s visit to the church, "The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for. To do so, he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard. I am outraged." end of quote. Please my friends, call him what he is, a Bully. (A dictator?). We have had this trouble before. White people have horribly killed black people…. and have gotten away with it and neighborhoods were burned. We don’t seem to have a solution. Chuck says when he road "shotgun" in the Miami McDuffie riots in 1980, the shotgun was cocked and ready to shoot. He could have been one of those who shot a human being…. He said, he saw movement near a building, he readied himself to shoot and a National Guardsman stepped out. That shot gun could have ended my husband’s peace forever if he had used it….

Copied from Google: "Bishop at DC church outraged by Trump visit:" "’I just can’t believe what my eyes have seen’ And Greg Brewer, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, tweeted that he was “shaken watching protestors in Lafayette Park gassed and cleared so that the President of the United States can do a photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church holding a Bible.”

“This is blasphemy in real time,” Brewer said on Twitter. Today’s Gospel is from Mark 12:13. Jesus said we must render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and render to God what is God’s … We are bound by moral truth and we submit to God, our freedom and our human dignity are God-given, but some would take away the dignity and freedom. Recognize civil authority as Jesus had to recognize the Roman government, but we are bound to preserve human dignity…. to develop the Garden. What’s most important? God and the family, and our world. God be with us. Angels with us.

Trump plans to visit St John Paul II National Shrine today. It is 11am. Pray for peace. God bless us. Angels with us.

Surely every Christian knows who we welcomed today! I watched Mass on TV. Isolating myself still from church, I watched EWTN Mass and then Solemn Mass of Pentecost from the National Cathedral in Washington DC. The cathedral was empty. 4 choir persons, one priest, several servers. Isolation and lockdown is not the way we imagined celebrating Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost, ancient Jewish feasts and newer Christian feasts… It is not what we decided to do, how we would celebrate Easter and Pentecost, but here we are, isolated, 70 days after many of us began isolation in the middle of Lent. Today marks the end of the Easter season which many of us church-goers missed. Today we celebrate when Christians celebrate the receipt of the Fire of the Holy Spirit! 2000 years ago a group of frightened men and several women huddled in a room, told to pray, left by Jesus… "Just Pray," he said, "just pray, I’ll come." OK… he said to pray. now what? Think of the emptiness of the first verse of the Bible…. Into the chaos and emptiness, the Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the earth and breathed… He blew in life! Go read chapter 37 of Ezekiel when God told Ezekiel he could restore life to a valley full of dry bones!!! As i sat and watched TV today I wrote: "how is our world today?" Can we ever possibly imagine the chaos of our world? Human anger and greed. Think of Babel building up a tower to get more more more…. but what we have done is let anger and greed reign. And today, Pentecost Sunday, we are deep in disease and riots that only burn every section of our world. Hovering in my quiet home, with country music playing on "Xfinity Music Choice", I call upon the Holy Spirit, "could you please try to get in here?" How many times are we going to beg God to save us? How many times is he going to respond? He promised he loves us. He promised he would come, but we have to be open… That’s a big "have to" and bigger is what we "should do" that Americans right now aren’t willing to listen to… We are so used to our freedoms that when I say, "we should pray…. we should obey the Law (Love)" that people tell me I’m being preachy.

A few days ago, a man of the Law went to work and he killed another man. Recorded on cell phones. That night he was in jail for murder. Oh he did it OK. We all saw it on TV. There isn’t any excuse. It looks like the officer (now, ex-officer) put the offender in a car and the offender crawled out the other side. (It looks like that). So on the other side, a few ugly words probably were exchanged and a knee when to a neck. For 8 minutes. It’s a classic hold that police officers are warned not to use… my husband quotes the rule to me… if you use the choke hold or draw your gun be prepared to kill. Youch. But think about it. That’s policing. And that’s what the officers hear in their training. So what does this have to do with Pentecost. Because it’s happening right now on our TV sets, and in our cities, I talk about it, because it is horrible and in our faces. So how do we reconcile this? I hope you are isolated. I have that vision of the empty church in Washington and my own church here in Lake Placid with many many empty seats. Let us keep the vision of the frightened men and some women in the upper room. "He said to wait and pray. He said he would send a new power." And well, he did. He sent the Fire of his Holy Spirit! Not the fire that incites riots, but the fire that incites love. I can’t go out into the streets, and I shouldn’t! But I can pray and be kind in my neighborhood. In my Publix I can be kind, and in my Winn Dixie I can be kind. I can be kind with "oh my goodness" the IRS and the police officers of my town. I can say, "thank you for your service and I pray for you." God bless us. Angels with us.

News is something Trump encourages nobody to trust. He calls it Fake. So what am I to believe? I really do believe that we need something to rely on other than volatile rhetoric that raises our anxiety level and tempers. What good does it do to throw angry words at crisis when calm, kind words might settle us down? Yelling at students was sometimes my only option, but I knew it wouldn’t work. When I yelled, they knew they got me! They knew I was out of control. I didn’t know how to do otherwise. I could not calm down the mob of 9th and 11th graders I got that last year I taught, and realizing that, I got out. I didn’t teach them much, I never was "in control," and in my mind, the year was a waste. I was not trained to handle a mob and I got myself out. My friend Charlie said, "Sue you are not a policeman, you are a teacher, and THAT calls for police." So I left teaching. I look at what is happening today, our infrastructure is seriously threatened by flooding and storms, and our cities are in flames from rioting. Our hospital ICUs are full; our bars are full too! An Assumption student sent photos of flooding around her town in Minnesota that destroyed roads and bridges. I wondered who is going to help and rebuild? Who is in charge? I voted 8 years ago to improve the infrastructure and again 4 years ago to do the same. Fix America. We seem to be in worse shape. Get up and encourage voting. Don’t tear people down. Be kind. God bless us. Angels with us.

In a previous message I wrote that I sprinkled bird seed on the deck so the small birds could get it. Guess who came? Squirrels. OK so that didn’t work. Today, three birdies fought a big crew of black birds for the bird seed feeder. The little birdies showed the fierceness of hungry fighters and managed to win the hill several times! It was interesting to watch. As we watched the bird feeder we noticed animals lining up. Two squirrels, two mallard ducks, the limpkin and his partner, just hanging out and watching the pontoon boat. Then it began to rain and it has rained hard for about 6 hours. Chuck, noticing the animals hanging out in twos, suggested we should pack a few things in case we too have to retreat to the pontoon boat! I wonder what Noah felt as he built the Ark and the animals began to come in 2s. The east coast has gotten beaten with rain and the State of Florida has been inundated for days. I wish it could wash away Covid. Speaking of washing away Covid, we haven’t seen the otters since Covid the alligator started hanging around. A little prayer for the 2 little cute otters…. Hope they took a trip to another canal.

We must be careful as we emerge from isolation People are taking this differently and what other people do isn’t cause for criticism or bullying. I have not returned to Mass although daily Mass is being offered. In fact I have been walking with a church friend in the church parking lot. She lives across the street from the church and with the frequent rain showers, we just circle the lot and she can run home and I can run to my car if it rains. Well, 9am daily Mass let out as we made our circle of the parking lot and we said hello to our friends who went to Mass. I was questioned and my not being in Mass was queried. "Did I have no faith that Christ will save me? Need to go to Communion, … It’s really OK as Lots of distance is being observed etc etc." All I said was, "No, I’m staying outside in parking lots and sidewalks as much as possible for a while yet." (I’m waiting to see if we get an infection spike here in Lake Placid… ) I hear that air conditioning can just recycle virus as opposed to fresh air which blows germs away. The same with wearing a mask. I went to the Ace Hardware twice today to get bags of cement for Chuck. I had to return as he needed more. So 2 trips and no one but me was wearing a mask. Who is fool hardy? Who is a frightened ninny? This is not my call. Do what you have to do and keep your thoughts about it to yourself! This is a tough time and we are all affected. Be Kind! God bless us. Angels with us.

Good rainy morning! When I got up, Chuck told me the bird feeder is empty and some small birdies tried to eat, but there was no feed. So I zipped out to the dock, disturbing the limpkin feeding on our snails, and refilled the feeder. Now I’m counting 6 small birdies on the dock looking up at the full feeder, and one, no two, big black birds munching away. Those black birds attack each other for the feeder and sometimes a third will come and everybody’s feathers will be ruffled, but the little ones, and now a dove joins them, remain steady under the feeder on the dock. Why don’t they join forces and "take the feeder."? Because they can’t. They are gentle birds. Walking on the ground and eating the leftovers is their way. It’s their life. I often see doves walking around the yard, and I tell them, "get off the ground you silly birds; there might be a cat!" Silly birds. That’s a little the way I feel right now. A silly bird, hunkered down at home, avoiding the public places so as not to get infected. And young people, strong and confident take the world for themselves.

Chuck had an idea: put seed on the ground too. So I sprinkled a string of bird seed on the dock… All birds are now gone. It’s really quiet. Even the limpkin who "owns the sea wall on each side of the canal" is gone. Go figure, I meddled and everybody took off. Probably the gator has come back! Yikes. What a way to begin the day! I better get to praying! Actually Mass is about to begin, then the Rosary, they I will walk with lady friends for an hour. Today is a day to write cards. I have a few birthdays and anniversaries to honor. Also one of our priests at St James will celebrate 70 years in the priesthood on June 4. He is a wonderful, prayerful, positive man who served in Africa among other places taking care of souls. You my dears, have a wonderful day. Stay dry and stay safe! Stand in awe of the glory of God as it rains and cleans the earth and waters the spring buds. God bless us. Angels with us.

ps: The small birdies are on the feeder and the limpkin is back. Now all I need is a little sunshine for my laundry!!!

As we walked along Placid Lakes Boulevard today I saw that our neighbors are flying the American flag, some at half staff. The Federal Government suggested we fly at half staff until Monday for the dead heroes of the Covid 19. And then on Monday continue for the fallen soldier heroes. In thought and in heart, our heroes are close to us. Let us say a quiet "God speed you to heaven…. and Thank You for your life – lived in service."

Walking today was hard. Chuck walks fast… Good grief; he doesn’t sweat either. This little measly walk along the Boulevard doesn’t even make him breathe hard, let alone sweat. Today I just couldn’t keep up! After a few, "slow ups" I let him go. It was like letting a grey hound go! When I walk hard and fast I breathe hard! and sometimes I can’t get air fast enough. I found this on the mountain walks with Karla and her dogs, I felt funny breathing hard and my partner wasn’t. I always wondered about that. I have never smoked but CT revealed I have emphysematous changes in the apices of my lungs. What does this mean? My parents were heavy smokers. The car was often filled with smoke. The living room was filled with smoke and full ashtrays and I used to curl up in my father’s lap and eat cheese off his plate (and sip his beer). When I got out on the streets, I hung out in smoky bars. You know what we smelled like when we came home from bars. It was "get into the shower with your clothes on and wash your hair too" and I could still smell the smoke in my nose afterwards. So listen! Today I’m preaching (again!)… If you smoke… Stop It! If you go into a smoky place. Get Out!

I will not have the news on today so I say a little prayer for all "my people" and hope all are healing. Friend Mary is recovering from breast cancer surgery. God bless Mary and bring her to health. God bless you who are suffering financial and health woes. Angels with us. Fear not. God bless us.

In the lake in Miami we used to have a giant snail that laid eggs in giant pink slimy strings. icky messes of pink strings hung from our sea walls. Then along came the Limpkins. It’s funny how the birds "know" where the snails are and come and eat. Soon the pink slimy eggs dried up and no more appeared. Limpkins solved our slimy problem by eating the big snails who laid the eggs. Right now, here in Lake Placid, on our canal, there are 2 limpkins hunting in the yard across the canal from us. One is a regular. He "fishes" during sunrise and sunset hours. He walks along the seawall and then jumps in! he disappears for a moment and comes up with a snail in his mouth. Then, he jumps up on shore, wrangles the snail out of its shell, eats it, drops the shell on the neighbor’s lawn, and dives back in! We too have a pile of empty shells on our dock where he "fishes." He’s always been solitary, but this morning another limpkin came running toward him in another yard, but skidded to a stop up against the neighbor’s fence. Is it a mate? a friend? We don’t know. The two of them are studiously ignoring each other right now. I left Chuck watching them so I could watch daily Mass.

I also had to remove the bird feeder yesterday as a heavy rain got the bottom layer of seed all wet. It’s dry now, and birds are posted at judicious limits from each other on the fence, waiting for me to bring the feeder back out. While we sat watching the canal at sunset two nights ago, a beautiful shiny black bird with shiny blue highlights let us know the feeder was empty by serenading us with a raucous calling as he waited on the fence! Good grief! As I hang the full feeder, I tell those big birds, let the little guys get in here too!!!!

So I am concerned about the little guys! My sister said she is concerned about my anguish; my angst …. I turn on the news to see how "people… my people" are doing. I’m a people too so I want to know what improvements have been made in medicine to conquer the virus. The other day I was quickly overwhelmed by destructive, even pernicious, what I consider mean-spirited talk… I chewed off a thumb nail as I listened to accusing, arguing, name calling talk about political figures by a political figure… I had to turn the TV off without finding any constructive solutions. People are sickening and dying. I’ve shared stories and prayed for people in ICUs on respirators. We hear about families losing loved ones and now children are affected by a virus we all should be arm in arm fighting. Instead, we are slinging threats and vicious rhetoric. Yesterday I said I pray we come out of this isolation time a different people, concerned about the poor and concerned about life. "End abortion. End hate," I wrote. This isn’t political. This is life. Everyone, every human being is in this. Our world is a little like those two limpkins facing each other from different sides of the fence. They are of the same species, I looked them up and discovered "It is the only extant species in the genus Aramus and the family Aramidae. " Now I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I think it means they are the only ones like themselves. So, like us, they need to jump up on that fence and fight this thing together. Or …. one of them jump over that fence and make friends with the other one. There aren’t any others. Time to get outside and exercise. At a socially acceptable distance! God bless us. Angels with us.

In the Gospel of John chapter 16, Jesus says, "In a little while you won’t see me, and then you will see me again" and the Apostles ask among themselves, for who dares to ask the Master? "What does he mean…. in a little while… where is he going?" In daily Mass on EWTN, as the priest talked, as he spoke, I added to his beautiful homily. I wrote…. ….

In a little while your grief will become joy. It has been 40 days since Easter. This was an unforgettable Easter. We couldn’t celebrate Holy Thursday, the Last Supper, Good Friday. I missed half of Lent. Easter was a day meant to bring Joy and Hope. "He is Risen." Not joyful for many who couldn’t be with loved ones in sickness, it was a time of heavy grief. We have not been able to hold hands and comfort each other in sickness and death. Bodies still lie in freezers, unburied. Funerals cannot occur in many places yet. Grief, sadness, and loneliness have stalked us and wrapped around us. St Therese of the Child Jesus promised she would shower us with roses and the patrons of EWTN have surrounded the altar in the small chapel where daily Mass is said with roses. A rose for each Rosary said for healing. Jesus asks us to look at the flowers of the field. Look at the flowers of Spring. They grow for the glory of God! They grow for us for whom this earth was created. God gave us a gift of hope in the beauty of nature. We must let God’s creation: stars, great oceans of daffodils and tulips, iris and orchid, small animals fill us with Joy! Sorrow walks with us, but beauty surrounds us. Look up. A bird lands on my bird feeder. Yesterday 3 birds hit the feeder at the same time! They swayed there, pecking at the seed reminding me, "gotta buy more seed." An orchid sways in the warm breeze. Ripples in the water of the canal behind the house indicate to me a mysterious life I can’t see, reminding me that I hope to follow to a mysterious life I can’t see, but I must hope for. Today in celebrating Ascension, 40 days after Easter, we learn that Jesus has gone to Heaven, to the Father Creator to prepare a place for us. Because I can’t see or understand what heaven is, I must believe in and listen to the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ to whisper to me that Christ is with us and he waits for us (another mystery!). As Communion is given in a small chapel on television with only a few celebrants, I am reminded to graft on to Jesus in Spirit and heart. I’m reminded, "have faith. Be joyful." "Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." (Leon Bloy) In all the unbelievable meanness of our world, of politics and illness, I must be joyful.

Today is Ascension Thursday. 40 days ago, we celebrated Easter, at home, on our couches. Not in church. We celebrated the Resurrection and defeat of death. Easter reminds us to have joy over the defeat of death in the midst of sadness. Have Hope. Trust our Father has made us a heavenly home in the most perfect and beautiful place where tears and anger do not reside. When we come out of isolation we must use what we have learned in this time. Not the harsh political accusations, but the value of love and the value of life that must be honored. End hunger, end the poverty and wretched living conditions of our people (think of the poverty of the Navajo Nation). End abortion. End hate. "Behold I am with you always until the end of the age." Never permit me Lord to be separated from you. I know that my Redeemer lives." God bless us. Angels with us.

There we all were, dancing around the yard, laughing at the little otters poking their heads up and looking at us; as curious about us silly humans as we were about them. That was yesterday. Today the neighbors were all gathered out at the edge watching a 4 foot alligator slowly, brazenly, swimming up the center of the canal. "Boooooo! Get away from here! We have otters. … We hope." Isn’t life like that? One day all is well; we are playing and planning and the next day an alligator raises his ugly head. This alligator called Covid 19 has taken livlihoods and lives. He has sapped Joy and Hope. My sweet great nephew Nathan is Valedictorian of his high school class. He played both offence and defense on the highschool football team. He lifts weights to bulk up as…. he’s always trying to overcome his "short genes". My sister, his mother and father all barely reach five and a half feet!!! Nathan, you are fine. Just hold your head up and you will be 6 feet tall!!!! Nathan’s grandmother, my sister, said he has to give a speech. I wrote some healthy Bible quotes and some words about Joy and Hope in Christ in his graduation card. It’s all about looking out at what’s happening, even looking at people being miserable…. and holding on to faith. Jesus said, unequivocably, LOVE. FORGIVE. Period. Not the end of the story of course, but, we must not let the atmosphere of our nation and the world that carries a lot of animosity (we hear the word, "hate", a lot too)… we must not let it get to us. Acts of the Apostles recounts that Paul and Silas were scorned, arrested, stripped (naked?), beaten with rods, and thrown into chains in prison. Guess what they did? "praying and singing hymns to God… all the prisoners listened… a severe earthquake shook the foundations of the jail and the doors sprung open." Out they came and the jailer was converted. The jailer bathed their wounds (said, "I’m sorry"?) and fed them… He came to Faith in God. What did the jailer do? He gave up his job probably and took on the yoke of Christ. Love and service. That, Nathan, is what we must do, no matter what is happening on the surface of the waters. No matter that storms rage. We must be praying and at peace in our hearts. I learned something this week about our heart. It’s a muscle protected by the breast plate, and behind it, behind all that protection, resides the amazing blood vessel the aorta. What an amazing structure. Our vital organs are physically protected, down deep. So, Nathan, let the down deep things open up and accept the Peace of the Lord. Don’t be infected by "what other people do." "In the presence of angels, sing the Lord’s praise and have faith." (Acts 16 and Psalm 138.) You are beautifully and wonderfully made dear nephew….. grab hold of faith and move forward. Do not let these (bad) things get to you. Shine and find others who shine. Be an otter, not an alligator! God bless us. Angels with us!

Yesterday I was late for my walk because we had a party of otters in the canal! Chuck, John, Steve and Connie were all out on their docks as I was leaving to go walk. I love the neighborliness of our new home, as it is just like in Miami when someone would see a manatee, Mike, George, Kathie, Tammy, all of us walking up and down the beach, pointing, "there! there!" as the manatees rolled and spouted. But this was little smooth-headed sea creatures who roll and play and seemed as curious about us as we were about them! Up and down the canal they swam and dived as if to give us a little synchronized swimming show. Then they would come up and look at us! Sleek wet heads and little hairy noses poking up and just, looking at us! After I walked, I planted spider lilies a friend from church gave me. It is the first real gardening I have done since we moved in, but I am excited about gardening this year and growing yellow squash and other southern delights like our cousins Laura and Dennis a few miles to the west near the coast of Florida. They have weathered the sequestration by gardening and getting 2 new rescue pups bringing their family to 4 dogs and a cat! We must continue to live and to help serve the planet. Finally to complete the "sea-show" we have here on our canal… Chuck and I were dock-sitting at sunset and an anhinga flew in…. they swim under water and then come out and dry their wings, and then dive back in. Too funny. You get your hair all dry after a swim, only to dive back in. Up he finally came with a fat fish that looked like an angel fish. Way bigger than the anhinga’s throat. So he floated in the water in front of us, juggling that fat fish, got it into position (scales closed and head down), and he gave several giant swallows. Chuck and I were, as usual, astounded that he could do that…. With several "glump" movements of his head, he swallowed that wriggling fish – Whole and Alive. How’s that for an image!!!! We said goodnight to neighbors across the canal, and next door, and went in to finish the steak leftovers we brought from Renee’s, to finish the MacGyver shows for the season, to read, and to put to bed another day on canal # 5, Good night from Lake Placid!!!!! God bless us. Love and Angels with you.

I have to run to find my Magnificat (daily Mass prayers) to see what day it is because everyday I watch Mass on TV and move the book mark….. But if you catch me out on the back porch, I won’t know what day it is and, as for what time it is, ALL of Chuck’s clocks on the porch read 5 o’clock. You know what THAT means don’t you? So I tend to go through sequestered life in a haze: Wake up, "angel show", Rosary, Mass, all while drinking coffee. Then jump into sneakers and go walk with the girls. Wait until I get plenty sweaty walking and … then it’s time to come home. Shower. Then… it’s puzzle time. When tummy rumbles it’s probably lunch time, but watch the Mass again to get another homily from the wonderful EWTN priest of the day. Then it’s lunch time and watch a show on TV. If it’s not nap time, it’s watch TV time, or oh my goodness…. paperwork time (banking on the computer). Then! Puzzle time until the sun starts casting shadows and it’s cocktail time on the dock with a bottle of wine. Sunset? Bottle done? It’s dinner time, TV time, reading time, sleep time. Is this retirement in isolation or what? In "the old days" my calendar was full every day with ladies meetings or Church duties: Sacristan, lector at Mass, Emmaus, Catholic Women meetings, Crafts group, Bible study….. Now…. well… what day is it is my most important question. and well. what difference does it make?

When I got results of CT scan from Lake Placid doctor and he advised I see a surgeon, I wondered if he read the length of the aneurysm and not it’s width… but Orlando surgeon said I have a twisty aorta and it’s hard to measure, but surgeon says, do not worry about it… get echo cardio gram in 6 months measuring the aneurysm that way…. and…. then wait 6 months and another 6 months, etc. The bottom line is, live and enjoy life. Thank God for life and gifts like a husband like Chuck and friends and family all over who love me!!!!! Until tomorrow…. love you dear friends. God bless us. Angels with us.

May is supposed to be a beautiful spring time month, but some folks have written that rain and cold and fear of infection abound. From my sofa or from our back yard and dock, the world looks pretty good if I don’t turn on the TV to news. I turn on the TV for prayer and Mass on EWTN, the Catholic channel, but the rest of TV is pretty grim. If people aren’t talking about "how we did it wrong," they are talking about death and joblessness. It is reality, isn’t i? A neighbor young man came yesterday and helped Chuck and me to do things we can’t do. Move a heavy stainless steel cabinet from the shed to the new extended dock, dig holes and help Chuck plant the flag pole and my directions sign. Carry the hundreds of shells and coral rocks down to the dock and paste them in with mortor. We ate pizza and chicken wings from Sammy’s restaurant (eating out on the dock in the fresh air, observing social distancing, wearing my mask at Sammy’s) . Then I took the young man, Sergio, over to a friend who also needs what I call "young muscle". They exchanged phone #s and he will help her too. Young people helping others, earning a little money, and … being hopeful. That’s what we need. Hire the young those of us who are retired and need help and have a few extra dollars. I’m also donating weekly to my church. We need to do that. Churches have mortgages, electric, and water bills too. Today, on TV, EWTN crowned Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven singing "O Mary we crown you with flowers today…. Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May…. " Please, if you can’t believe Mary is the Mother of God because you weren’t taught that, or you just refuse it, at least consider what it meant for Jesus to be human and the Son of God, come here to be born (surely we all celebrate Christmas…). Come here to be the final sacrifice so we could have life. Thank God for preparing a beautiful earth for us, and for promising to be with us, "at the hour of our death." God bless you dear friends and family. Have faith. Be joyful in our beauties. Angels with us.

This is the first time in history that we can save the human race by lying in front of the TV and doing nothing….  Let’s not screw this up!!!!!! OK dear readers! This is the time to take all the cushions off the sofas and lounge chairs, vaccume and sweep, and pick up all the quarters that have fallen out of people’s pockets! For me…. I found 53 cents! AND I found a LOT of dust bunnies hiding out! Today a shelf fell where Chuck had put 2 cases of coke when we moved in….The cans had leaked and now we have a sticky mess where shelf and cans used to be…. Clean up on aisle 7!!! (wait, that’s me)… The Coke is probably a hold over from "party days" and making mixed drinks. Now all we have on hand is old whiskey and wine.

I’m getting a little crazy waiting for our trip to Orlando on Sunday. I haven’t been out on Route 27 since March. What will "traffic" be like? When we moved from Miami we left I95, 836 and Bird Road behind us. Now I truly drive like an old lady. 35 miles an hour on the way to "town," windows all open, my hair blowing in the wind!!!! Singing Willie Nelson songs. Me and everybody else. If you see me…. I cut my hair as it was getting in my eyes! Don’t laugh. I just put gel on it and it stands up straight.

It’s time to place an order with Ace hardware. We don’t have Home Depot or Lowes (its a little like Big Pine Key…. You want the big box store it’s a drive to Sebring on route 27….). If you are feeling bored, write a few cards. I send get well cards, love you, thinking of you and birthday cards to people now. I was too busy to think of sending cards before Covid. Go figure. What was I doing???? Rethink, pray, and be at peace. The Lord is with us. He said so. God bless you. Angels with us!!!!

Today (Covid-19 day 81 give or take), I tore a kleenex in half to blow my nose. I looked at that and I started to laugh! I read on Facebook that, before Covid-19, a lady used "to play like a roulette wheel with toilet paper, and now she counts out 5 squares"… I do that too!!!! And then I thought about Mom and wondered if she taught us "how to work with toilet paper"? I guess she did, but I don’t remember, and no one has told me any stories of my potty training…, But I do remember something TOO funny. Mother would sit down and take up the daily Jumble. She had a pile of them in her bathroom. She would take off a wad of toilet paper (how many squares Mom?) and fold them up. (Dear reader, Do you wrap them around your hand?) and then Mom would tuck them into her underpants which were down around her thighs. Then when ready, the toilet paper was ready! Well, guess what? I do that today too. Now comes the too funny part. I drove Mom, my sister Sarah, and cousin Lois to the Keys and we stopped at maybe the key lime shop and went tinkle and bought some key lime juice and maybe a pie…. Back in the car, Sarah burst out laughing, BIG belly laughs. There sat Mom with kleenex tucked in her shorts. OH Mom…. too funny!

Mom, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. Your lovely small well-groomed hands and finger nails … In 1999 I had to have belly surgery and I called Mom, like we girls used to do. Mom was at every baby’s birth and several other major events for my sisters, but this was my big first one. So at age 52, I called Mom to "come" and she did! Mom walked into pre op with me and she was there when I was wheeled into my room. She spent the night in my room, and she was there when the doctor came in on the second day to pick out stitches. I guess it was the second day…. Did they put in stitches and pick them out two days later in 1999? Anyhow, there were Mom’s beautiful fingers on my belly, pointing the way to the doctor. A mother’s hands. A medical-surgical nurse’s hands. God’s gift. So, Mom, I might have to have surgery again. Big girl surgery. Maybe a surgeon might hold my heart in his hand. I don’t know the details and even if it will happen or when. I understand the aneurysm I have is behind my heart so I assume there has to be some heart moving and holding. Will you be there Mom? I know you will. Point out to the surgeon every little detail. He will be guided by the best, and by you. Thank God for my gift! Thank you Jesus for keeping my Mom close. God bless us. Angels with us.

Have you documented the Covid 19 pandemic for yourself? Like where I was when…. It’s hard to believe it’s been 80 days since Chuck and I "self quaranteened" at home. It was February 16, 3 days before my first cataract eye surgery and I stayed at home for 3 days before surgery to ensure I was germ free. I stayed home for about a week after that and then we had a church Lenten mission on March 8 through 10 and I went, but the real order "stay in a secure location" must have come right after March 8. I remember we tried to sit apart in church, but who can, in church with loving friends? I stayed away from people and I remember, my friend Diane returned a pen I lent to her, and she said, "I wiped it down." The second eye surgery was March 18. If you haven’t had cataracts done…. afterwards the recovery is pretty quick except if you are like me, a glasses wearer, you can’t see really well as prescriptions are changed by the clean lens. So March was "a blur". After that quaranteening, or sequestering, began in earnest…. The town of Lake Placid is a ghost town with all the little shops and restaurants closed except for "take out". Questions rattle around empty streets and houses: What day is it, what is the date? Is anyone telling the truth? Do I care? Fortunately, Chuck and I are on fixed income and I don’t have to worry about where the rent payment is coming from, but we do have renters with whom we have suffered.

Remember the day we watched the towers fall and the stock market plumet 10,000 points? It happened 2001, 2008, 2020. A book called The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn details God’s call to Israel through Isaiah 9:10 and the prophets of Israel … God ordered us to honor the Sabbath, to take care of the widow and the orphan, to honor God. Israel jerked her head around towards God for a while after they were released from Babylon, but it didn’t take long before new idols were raised on the mountain tops. Cahn details some facts about September 11, 2001, and I also found some similarities in Amos about "the towers coming down." But how in America in our new "world view" can we go back to the morality and life God expects? Churches are closed to keep us from being infected, but many are praying more now as we wonder if "we might be next," as people are dying horrible deaths on respirators with blood clots killing them. So we remain inside (I do anyway) as the nation opens up. Let us pray and be safe. God bless you. Angels with us.

When I wrote my book back in 2005 I was watching the neighbors on our block put up and take down hurricane shutters for the "old guy" across the street. Four times neighbors marched over to "Mr. Stark’s" house and put shutters up and took them down. When Chuck and I took a cruise and hurricane Irma struck, our neighbors cleaned up all the millions of yard toys I kept in my yard… and closed up our house and sheds. Last night my neighbor across the lake called us because she saw a bright light low in the street trained on the lot and space next to our house… It reminds me of what a neighbor is: One who keeps an eye on us and calls if something is amiss; one who doesn’t worry to call if she needs several potatoes; one who calls if she needs a baby diapered because she just hurt her shoulder…. Our neighbor Kathie called us when she fell off her stoop… she actually couldn’t use her right arm, but she was baby sitting her little great nephew. Chuck went over and diapered the baby and ensured Kathie would get to the emergency room. She had broken her shoulder in that fall! For months we cooked for her and I put her hair in pony tails while she healed. In a sense it was fortunate because that was the exact time we needed help in the rebuild of the back of our house after hurricanes Katrina and Wilma took our back roof off… and Kathie’s husband worked with us so he could be near Kathie! It was a true case of neighbors helping neighbors.

So! What’s the take away here? If you are like me… You appreciate a neighbor watching for you! If you are my neighbor, know that I’m checking your yard and doors occasionally and looking for you to be outside, working on your boat, hanging laundry, mowing the lawn or just out there picking up stuff. I try to be outside every day as sunlight is so important for us, and, so my neighbor will know, if she needs anything; we are here. Hey Kathie! Need a can of beans or milk….? Love you! God bless you. Angels with us.

I tuned in the News to see if anything is happening…. I had news on when Sulli Sullenberger landed in the Hudson and saved a plane load of people! So occasionally I turn it on looking for something good And today… It’s the market dropping (again) and I went off to see what day of the month and what month it is on the Jewish calendar. The old Jewish state of Israel was warned to give the land a year off, feed the poor, and forgive all debts every 7 years… and the people (among other disagreements with God) did not follow the dictate. So God let Israel’s defences fall, in a sense, letting Israel be destroyed by the Assyrians and then Judah by the Babylonians. God never forgot his people, and after the land had rested for 70 years God inspired the Babylonian king Cyrus to let the people go back to Jerusalem. (the people had not observed the law of rest for 7 times 10 years give or take… anyhow they languished in Babylon for 70 years to make up for disobedience). So with markets falling and it attributed to Coronavirus, and my realization of Isaiah 9 how we "vowed" to rebuild after the towers fell, without asking God for forgiveness for our turning away from God (Pope called our abortion laws "a culture of death")… Rather than begging God to defend us and turning to our Creator for help, we vowed to build back even greater…. So now, I wonder: we can’t beat this Coronavirus/Market falling thing as people are travelling worldwide, why don’t we all stay home for 2 weeks. Turn off business; EVERYBODY stay home. We would save half the electricity, gasoline, and water used in the world. Get out the books and games. Huddle around fires, eat popcorn, (we used to stock up peanut butter and crackers for hurricanes), go to bed early. Rest. Get over this push for money. EVERYBODY! I have not gone crazy; go get a book called The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. He’s not Catholic; in fact he is Jewish so he knows Isaiah and the laws…. I am checking every quote because it seems too much to be true and his facts check. You will need a Bible to check facts although he does footnote everything. …. When we are all finished… Rested; and the land has rested; Then take 2 people to vote with you. God bless us. Angels with us.

My friend from church gave me a book to read based on Isaiah chapter 9… Isaiah prophesied the destruction of the kingdom of Israel if the priests, leaders, and people did not turn away from evil, idol worship, greed, sin all the stuff we hear about daily including desire for "our own way rather than God’s way." From the start of page one chapter one I couldn’t believe how real the story was… Isaiah preaching to ancient Israel that the Lord pledged to protect the kingdom in honor of the love God had for Israaael and in honor of David who loved God… to today in America where we established a country with the Declaration of Independence to establish a nation under God… for people to celebrate religious freedom and peace. I have gathered up to read Isaiah and the Declaration of Independence, but I know already the words of the Declaration and of the second Inaugural Adress wherein Abraham Lincoln called upon his faith that God judges us based on our inhumanity to man… What happened to us? When did we turn into a war-like hateful country that banished God from the courthouse steps and from the school? I was so startled when the hospital asked if I wnted prayer before my cataract surgery. "Yes" and my RN stopped in her duties, with me all strung up to the IV. She took my hand and prayed a beautiful prayer thanking God for me and Dr Pearce. We never know with even the most banal of procedures that something might go wrong and… we are off to judgement. So I asked God, Mary and angels to be with me. For Mary to pray for me "at the hour of my death." For an hour or maybe a little bit less I was asleep, breathing gas and being infused with sleeping medicine. I’m OK, thank God, and I will go on to live. But we must ask… what is our mission? What does God want? Each of us must ask and contemplate, what is in me? Is it a spirit? Is it a soul? Am I just a thing that rots and goes away when I die, or do I live on in spirit? Pascal said it would be better to believe in case it’s true… what if God and heaven exist? Believe now and receive the everlasting gift later on! If it does exist and I don’t believe it, I don’t get it! That’s quite a loss. God bless us! Have a beautiful sunny day. Look up! Angels with us.

I wrote this yesterday after cataract surgery. I was more than half blind! I would like to Thank God for the doctors who were able to make lenses for my glasses so I had 20-20 vision over the years because with the left eye patched, and no glasses on yesterday, I could not really see very well. I couldn’t see the television from 3 feet away and typing was ridiculously difficult! So I drafted a word document, and today, with eye patch off, and cataract-free eye working at almost 100%, I will make corrections and send along! Here it comes from yesterday!!!!

I just woke up from a great sleep after getting home from the hospital after having cataract removed from my left eye. I think I told you how one day about a month ago I closed one eye and said “wow the vision out of my left eye is foggy’… So even though I thought I could see… the right eye was doing a lot of work to keep things seeable. I do believe the last time my dear friend Saba corrected my vision with the best refraction she could do, she said she couldn’t correct that left eye to 20-20… oops , it was almost time for cataract surgery a year ago. In 2019, I missed my annual visit to Saba because we bought this house in Lake Placid and moved and I was busy with boxes and concrete slab and new shed and finding stuff and putting things away. Suddenly as many of you know, time passes by and …. It was almost a year later and past my refraction time. I did manage to slip in a mammogram though so I guess I got some good things done. So… I met Dr. Pearce here in Lake Placid. He is Austrian. His mother and Father’s families managed to get the children out of Austria in 1939. I think Dr. Pearce said his father lost his whole family which is really sad. Let us remember Auschwitz which was liberated 75 years ago this month. God bless millions of innocent people who are safe now. Both Dr. Pearce and his brother became healers. God bless them.

So today (Wednesday) Chuck drove me and I bravely marched into the hospital and I was nervous. It is a new hospital and all new people… AND so nice every one of them. I met all new gracious nurses and the RN who prepped me, put in my IV prayed for me! She thanked God for me and Dr. Pearce.

Advent Health is a Christian hospital with Scripture quotes and beautiful pictures on the walls. I could not read them or see the details because my glasses were now in a plastic bag with my clothes and shoes. I was wheeled into 3 lovely people in a surgery room who promised I would go right to sleep, but first the young man put an oxygen mask on my nose and said “breathe, it’s oxygen,” but I think the mask smelled funny, like medicine. “Now you will sleep”…. And they did something down by the IV and I woke up an hour later spitting out nasty tasting spit. I have to ask about that. Fortunately people watch and someone wiped it. I’ve never done that before. Note to self, was that the rubber oxygen mask or the anesthesia?

More gentle treatment and I was awakened and moved into “recovery”, a chair, apple juice, you know the drill…. And there was Chuck to take me home. We told the recovery nurse I wanted Eggplant rollatini with spinach and she suggested chicken soup… So we stopped at Publix and Chuck got chicken soup and chili. He is feeding two now. I ate half the soup, watched a little Hallmark and headed into a blissful sleep.
Remember Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird? I was Scout for a while, riding on skates in a little dress. The dress was little, because I was little. I don’t think I ever wore dresses and I know Scout didn’t like to wear them either. My Scout was a Tom girl growing up in sunny Miami! OH Then I was painting with my Sister Sarah and I wanted to learn how she paints the little beautiful dots all luminescent because someone wants to buy my painting with luminescent dots. (She really does and that is not a dream.). The fact that some one wants to buy my painting with luminescent dots is a dream. I slept sweetly for 2 ½ hours. And now am trying to recall more. Thank heaven I remember the dots. I’m drinking water. And I will try to watch the Mass if it is on at 7pm. My friend Karla told me the Scripture reading is about Jesus healing a man’s eyesight. Jesus wants us to be able to see. Later he will heal Bartimaeus who will see and understand and become a disciple and a witness! Pray for healing of our sight so we see what Jesus is and what he promises if we accept him as Lord. I thank God daily for all kinds of things: hooting birds, sunshine, our life here on the canal to the lake so beautiful; thank God that my eye doesn’t hurt, that I have beautiful sisters and friends, all the beauty God made for us. For anesthesia that allows us to be cut into, healed, and then have beautiful dreams!!! Maybe I’ll have a scrambled eggs sandwich with lots of lettuce layer. “OH Chuck!!!!! May I have a snack?”

Let us thank Jesus. Let us say thank you Mary. I prayed a lot of Hail Marys before surgery. My own mother must have been nearby. They both know I love them. Thank God for sending angels. Angels with us.

The wind is coming out of the north today. The sky is clear promising another sunny, warm noon, but for now it’s "brisk" for this Miami girl. I say "brisk" and I mean chilly. A month of 60 degree mornings is chilly to me! Fortunately because we traveled a lot to the north and to ski country in our youth, we have long sleeved shirts and a few sweat pants. So I go outside to review my little lawn, my painted shed, the birds on the bird feeder, the one bird at the top of a tree, and my piece of the canal, and I contemplate… "winter is longer here than it was in Miami". Chuck talks about the tropic zone "beginning" at Fort Pierce and heading south… well this is not the tropic zone in Lake Placid. And I love the difference. Today I’ll pull more weeds under a bush that has been overgrown since we moved here. With the end of the shed facing the street "finished," I am pointing my face to weeding the "borders around flowers" for a few days until I start painting the long (32 feet long) wall on the side of the shed facing the neighbor and the west. History is happening in the primaries and I hope you willl vote. If the entire nation gets out to vote we will have four years of what the nation chooses. Go out there folks and vote!!! God bless you. Happy and blessed Sunday. Angels with us.

What do babies notice first? Bright colors, soft, light, their toes, bunnies, birds, butterflies. If the baby has laughed yet, you will hear gurgling laughter as if there were a private joke between bunny and child… (sometimes it takes a little while to get a laugh out of a quiet baby, but, wait….) and the babies’ fascination with these things makes us laugh! Let us try today to see and do what makes us laugh!

Notice what babies don’t like: darkness, mean faces, ugly words, loud, sudden noises, sharp. Stay away from the darkness, the sharp, voices saying mean things, angry faces that make babies cringe and cry, not laugh. God makes babies to respond to love. Babies have recently been embraced by angels. God bless you. Angels with you.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t believe in angels, that angels are with us, serving as messengers from God and helpmates. We can’t see them when they are working… or if we pay careful attention, I’ll bet we could pick up the presence of angels at the birth of a baby or at the death of a loved one. When my mother was dying, I leaned over her one day and I felt a presence brushing up against my shoulder. Looking at mother too. It wasn’t my sister for she was out of the room at the time. Mother saw presences in her room. All positive. I don’t think mother ever feared. Thank God. I wonder if angels also prompt others to advise us, or whisper to us themselves when we are contemplating doing a wrong thing… Today in Mass we read from 2 Samuel 24. God had told the people not to count themselves, not to want a king, not to give every thing to a King who would take their sons and daughters to cook for him and fight for him, but the people wanted a king, "Just like the other countries around them." "Don’t do it" said the prophets, but they did. Then when David decided to count the people so he could "organze his armies," Joab said, "don’t do it; leave these things to the Lord." (I’m paraphrasing). You have heard this advice; "don’t do it." But David did do it to count "his people" then he realized immediately he had sinned against God, and he begged mercy. This is one of the reasons that God loved David so much. The man was a fighter and a leader, but he was proud…. He was just built that way. God had mercy. Anyhow, who was doing all that whispering in David’s ear and who does the whispering in our ears?

As Sacristan at daily Mass, I have to pick the hymn, and I can’t read music, and I don’t know many hymns enough to start the singing. I opened the book on Tuesday morning (yesterday) and it fell open to "On this day, O beautiful Mother, on this day we give you our love." We reserve songs to Mary for her feast days and days in May when, as a small child, I used to march with other little girls to bring flowers to Mary. When I announced the song, people started singing it, most from memory. We started Mass with a smile! Mary is the most important whisperer we have. So on that same morning…

For 2 months or so I’ve had the name and number of the eye doctor my new internist has recommended. The doctor, an opthalomologist, is a Board certified graduate of Johns Hopkins, Emory and Tulane. Been here since 1985. He isn’t a fly by night. What was holding me back from making the phone call for an appointment? I loved our eye doctor from Miami, friend and Emmaus sister Saba Millares. I just was resisting leaving her. Then one day, I closed my right eye probably to judge the size of something and I realized, "The left eye is blurry, … a lot!" People have been telling me, "No the moon does not have a hazy circle around it…" But I resist resist change. So yesterday, after Mass, grocery shopping, and gas fillup, I was picking up Chuck’s formal shirt from the dry cleaner and a voice whispered… "the eye doctor is right next door." "I guess I’ll go over and make the appointment and save myself a phone call I won’t make." I walked in and 2 ladies greeted me and heard my request, "I’ve moved and I need a full complete eye exam, it’s been a year, and I might have a cataract." "Come right in; we have just had a cancellation!" the receptionist said! "OH I have groceries in the car…" "I have a refrigerator," she said. So I was inside the gates. Plopped into a chair and tested, dilated, examined, and the doctor, regaled me with stories of his experiences in Miami while he waited for me to dilate. He looked in and he said, "you are an easy diagnosis. You have cataracts." He then explained how our lens is clear when we are born but get cloudy. He also showed me what the new lens will do. He will correct my vision at the same time but not to 20/20. He said I haven’t seen 20/20 since I was 5 when I got my first glasses. He said that would be a big shock. He showed me how a near sighted person can’t see far but can read well. And indeed I can read tiny type without my glasses. So, it’s scheduled. A pre op on Feb 11 and surgery on the left eye Feb 19. I’ll bring all the chest studies so the anesthesiologist has my aneurysm info. All will be well! Why do I know that? Because I have faith that what the Bible tells me is so! Remember we used to sing, "Jesus loves me; The Bible tells me so!" Go do something you have been resisting. (Well do it if it’s the right thing to do…. don’t go out and rob a gas station. If you have been resisting that it is a good thing!) God bless us. Angels with us!

I gave in and bought ice cream as it was a BOGO. I got our favorite flavors, moose tracks and turtle tracks first introduced to us by Heather… I had held out strongly until we were outside the Publix with my credit card clutched in my hand… for milk. We had such a good time at Renee’s eating Renee’s Lamb and at a lovely French restaurant in Winter Park. Then Chuck and I went to Winter Haven and ate dinner at Arabella’s, a small lovely Italian restaurant on Main Street in Winter Haven. …. Then we went to the submarine memorial and meeting with barbeque with 51 submariners and wives. Filled with great flavors, I couldn’t resist the ice cream. Once one begins to sin… sin becomes easy. I didn’t regret it until I tried to put on long pants this morning. Capris were not an issue as it was cold (66 degrees) and I was 2nd lector and I had to get up and read twice. We are supposed to dress up a little. I pinned my pants closed… and hanging my head over needing to lose weight and not doing it…. went to read. After Mass I came back to meet our friends Rick and Penny who came up to the memorial in Bartow and spend the night with us… We went to the Americn cafe and had a beautiful breakfast. Then we went to the Lake Placid festival. It was chilly, but warm in the sunshine. What a lovely place with friendly people. We looked long into the eyes of a Cur-Shepherd whose owners just couldn’t take care of her…. But I don’t think we are ready to adopt a puppy yet. What I’m going to do and I’m trying to talk Chuck into… is volunteer at the Humane Society to walk dogs and generally serve and make sure we feel we want a dog and will be responsible parents. If I were making this decision on my own, I would take her home, but there are two of us and we need to share the responsibilities. The humane society will do all the vet work for a small fee after the dogs are adopted and I am sure they help new adoptive parents… be parents. So pray for us that we find the right fit. I also met some wonderful folks at the Art society booth and I’ll do a painting class or two and get myself kick started. We bought a beautiful copper angel fish for the shed and I will copy it to make 2 for the shed! Home now with a list of things to do while the Super Bowl preview is on. I like Super Bowl Sunday and just enjoy one full day of football! Have a wonderful week. God bless you and keep you warm!!! Angels with us.

We carried a bottle of champagne out on our boat ride yesterday. The lake is SO beautiful and amazing that we drank the bottle in celebration a little enthusiastically and we had the bottle finished by the time we got half way around…. We go down our canal and turn left up a wide canal (I think it’s called catfish creek) with houses on the left and woods on the right. Birds and turtles nest along the river bank. We go under a bridge that is lower than our Westwood Lake bridge… When the water rises hgher in the rainy season the boat will fit but we will have to hug the deck!!!! Big beautiful RICH people houses line the lake on the north east side. Each one has lots of square footage and big docks, and we think most are winter snow birds! Several are for sale. I ought to find out how much!!! As we headed north, the houses got a little smaller and older. We got to US 27 end which is the north end of the lake and we turned to head west… Finished the bottle of champagne about an hour into the ride…. making the lake at least a 2 bottle lake. We continued and went about half way across towards the west. The west side is a government preserve. Probably a great bird wildlife preserve. We did not find the sand bar people talk about where folks dock up in the summer time. The ride was a little chilly; sun was shining, but wind blowing in from the north… Fortunately I was wearing one of the great big flannel shirts I got from my friend Mark… and I had another light jacket wrapped around my neck. When we turned south the wind died down and it was warm in the sunshine.

When we got back, having explored half the lake, we pulled the boat into the dock and headed over to church to pick up tabes we lent for the Trash and Treasure sale. Also carried an unsold table and chairs back across route 27 to a friends house. Well… guess what else is "across route 27"? The VFW. We don’t get over that way often so I said "let’s stop in and give them some business…." 3 beers and a pizza later we went back outside and it was only about 5pm, and one of us suggested, "Shall we go to Jaxson’s and see if we can find a way to park the boat and walk over?" Jaxson’s is a bar on one of the lakes that is connected to Lake June by a raggedy shallow little creek. We can’t get there with the pontoon boat, and we didn’t see a place to park the boat either, but stepped in to watch the Kobe Bryant news on television… and drink 3 more beers with chicken wings. We really spread ourselves around the little town yesterday!!!! This morning during the Mass on EWTN the priest talked about Kobe. He was Catholic and a real supporter of youth basketball with a young teenage daughter who was an excellent player. Unfortunately they were both killed. People were leaving basketballs out on their porches in Los Angeles for Kobe and his daughter Gianna. God bless them. What a big loss to us as people. Let this encourage us to support our youth and help them to grow to do things they maybe can’t afford or have no one to encourage them.

We are back home, sobering up from a tiny headache (me), and getting ready to face the taxman. Chuck is not allowed to have ice cream until our accountant/tax man signs on the bottom line! We need to submit completed tax form to get homestead exemption up here. So, it’s time for taxes people!!! Get it done! God bless us. Angels with us.

Hi dear Sunday morning friends! I’ve tried several times to blog on my cell phone… like when I’m sitting outside on the dock just hanging out… but my cell phone won’t save the message so my creativity just goes out wherever unsaved stuff goes… This has been a bit of a secretive time as I was monitoring Chuck’s health … he bumped his head hard enough to put a pretty bad bloody scratch on his soft spot (where the doctor did Mohs surgery last year.) It hurt and we watched him for dizziness or loss of function. He got a few headaches and a stiff neck so I finally called doctor and asked for an MRI. It showed normal and headaches have gone away. The whole event took a few weeks… So I guess you know how hard it was to keep it quiet as we remember "the last time.." In the meantime…

The pontoon boat is in the water and getting her first ride into the lake today at 1pm!!!! We got an estimate for extending our dock to give us more dock sitting party space and hold the boat too under cover. That ought to be done in a February timeframe. So when you come to visit… expect a boat ride.

We got a new sofa bed so staying here ought to be a little more comfortable! I also have half-painted the big orange shed. Need to finish detail on the street side and half the house side. I’m painting 2 big flowering pots on the back for the neighbors across the canal. I don’t want to be responsible for watering dying flowers out on the back of the shed!!! I have a whole 32 foot wall down the out side and 1/2 the shed wall facing the house. it’s big!!!! I have neglected painting on people sized canvases whil I paint 32 foot canvases!!!

I helped at the church Trash and Treasure sale. First it was unpacking and putting stuff where it goes in our large social hall. Working the sale was fun… I carried stuff around and invited people to "go into the jewelry room" I said jingling my big noisy earings and necklaces, or "go into the Christmas room," holding up my big coffee cup saying "Peace!" or jingling my BIG Christmas bracelet. I wore a jacket around that I later wore to church… I got some good stuff and nearly collapsed from exhaustion!!! I do not have the stamina some of my lady friends do. I’m OK now and I have a week to recover before the next meeting. We will be attending a Submariners picnic in Barstow this coming weekend. I love listening to the stories and the current news about our heroes. We have no BIG trips planned uptil August so schedule a week here in beautiful Lake Placid. Love you lots! God bless you. Angels with us!

Good Sunday morning dear gentle readers. This week has been extremely personal. There is no looking out here, only looking in. I went with a few ladies to the home of Liz who just lost her son. She held a memorial at morning Mass and invited her friends back for coffee. To lose your child is so hard and Liz is bravely bearing up under the blow. We talked of others and of the friend who is currently in the hospital doing diagnostics with complications. She’s supposed to have surgery, but her body filled with fluid. The email came to pray for her as it’s cancer and … probably spread out. There is a tqble in the lobby of the church where up coming funerals are honored. A photograph of the beloved, a note with their name on it, and a white vase with a white rose. People stop and talk there…. It’s a relatively small community. Only new people like me don’t know everybody. This is the "age" when we begin to lose our fellows. The prayer list is long. I’m one of the young ones but I stand with them and pray for me too. "Lord let me live to speak in church, to serve, to paint at the 2 art galleries! and … to finish the mural on the shed!!!"

I opened with the personal nature of this week. We don’t look "out." It’s almost if that is for the younger people and our role here at our age is to pray. When my mother retired from teaching, I said she shouldn’t retire yet; to me she was so vital! But she said, "Leave it to the young ones." My sister once said, "I am now a crone." Yes, I understand now… our role is advice, giving hugs, giving love and acceptance! i look around and hope the "young ones" will come to carry the load! Not only to carry the tables and chairs that are set up for the St Vincent de Paul collections, but for all the heavy lifting that "we used to do!" I will roll the little table around the church and set up the altar and the communion tables, and clean up after Mass as long as I can, and I will climb the steps and read the Word as long as my voice holds out ( I hear a lot of raspy voices here… I think that comes too when our voices go.) Let us do as much as we can… my gentle readers: get out the vote if you can! Get out there and speak, hug, and do the heavy lifting! God bless you. Angels with us.

I watched a little bit of news yesterday and today and there are 2 newsy "issues" out there floating around… Well there are many newsy items but I’ll focus on these two. (1) Has Iran backed down? Is it over and "All is well?" as President Trump says? Is the blowing up of our air bases in Iraq not really that important? Does Iraq care? Will he ever be tried in the Senate? and (2) How will Meghan and Harry ever earn a living? OH my dear. I paid attention to this one. Didn’t she save ANY money? I saw her on a Hallmark movie, and she was in several TV shows for a while and she managed to accumulate about $5 million. I saw her asset figure as i scanned thru an article and now I can’t find it. But let’s say her assets are that… $5 million… I am sure she and Harry will be writing a book and speaking (Harry will garner about $100,000 for each public speaking event.) And people are asking…."How will they live?" I’ll bet she has a closet full of clothes, and he equally a closet full of suits… They apparently get to stay in Frogmore Cottage. Have you seen a picture of it? It’s HUGE. Bigger than my several houses all patched together. I guess I’d sell that (oh wait they can’t; it belongs to England as a historical building)… So move in with Mama for pete’s sake…. Live in sunny California. Ah my dears. Could we live? Oh yes and give away much to the poor. I am going to go now and check my lottery ticket and buy more… Stay tuned to see how "Meghan ruined Harry’s life… How poor Harry hurt his Grandmother’s (the Queen’s) feelings…etc" Oh and Grandmother (the Queen) wouldn’t talk to him, she sent him to talk to his father. I’m not sure I’d want to do that. God bless us. God don’t laugh at us. Although we are funny. Angels with us.

This morning I had the time to turn on the TV for 15 minutes before going for a first time doctor’s visit…. I had looked at news the day before and was treated to the impeachment and Iraq news, so I guess I just had a prurient interest in whether the earth had a hole in it yet…. I was treated to all the news a person can take and it was riveting…. House of Representatives is trying to impeach a president who has fired or just not hired State Department diplomats and who is tweeting war with Iran. His attitude? "Who needs diplomats? You got me". I’ll admit, I don’t think "diplomacy" has worked… they hate us, but generally we send in dark operators who do the dirty work and carry the body out in the dark of night as if it never happened. I can’t believe I’m writing about this, and it’s probably the cause of my blood pressure being raised after waking up after 2 nightmares!!!

I went to the doctor’s office at 10am (1 1/2 hours after that early morning bp check), and my blood pressure was nice and low normal where doctors want it to protect the aneurism. I was surprised at 126/70 which makes the doctor very happy. It might be the country music I turned the TV to and keep on. Doctor gave me the name of a cardiac vascular surgeon he wants me to see "up here." It’s almost as if, "We got good doctors here too little lady!" He also told me not to tell the doctor what to do. Does he know me or what?

On New Years Day I made Chuck go into his shed and get all my (outdoor) painting supplies, paints, brushes, rollers etc and I harangued him about how I need part of that giant new shed for "my stuff!." You see, I’m about to repeat my part time job as an outdoor walls mural painter. So I have been working 3 to 4 hours a day since New Years day priming and painting the new 32 x 20 shed with mountains, ocean, sky, sun. Fish and small mountain villages are still in my imagination!!!  I think of ice sculptors working with chain saws as I roll the roller and ply the brushes on this work of art! It’s half done and I can’t answer any questions except to say, "It’s coming along" when Chuck gets home from hunting this Friday! In between times I’ve been trying to put away clothes that never found a permanent home since we only moved into this house in late September! Did you ever feel, "I have too many tee shirts?" All through my business and church career I collected tee shirts with logos, charity runs, holiday decorations, etc on them… So try to fit all that into a 2 bedroom house after retirment!  I’m doing better today but now what do I do with the 100 coats and jackets Chuck has collected over the years that I threw on the floor to accommodate my clothes in my side of the closet. I would suggest to those of you thinking of moving … make it 3 bedrooms (the third is for closets.) We have collected TOO much stuff! I’m back at it gentle reader. Be sure to pause and offer a little prayer for peace in your own heart…. We can pray for the world too, but don’t let the world get to you. God bless us. Angels with us.

My friend just wrote to me that she is lectoring once again at church and she described the struggle of getting into panty hose this morning. Just imagining that made me laugh out loud. I’m over 70 (I’ll bet you didn’t know that…) and I don’t even own panty hose. If I wear strappy shoes on formal night I trim my toenails and give them a coat of paint. That’s my nod to "getting dressed up." AND the dress rule for women who lector at her church is dress or skirt and blouse. OH boy I don’t have a dress tht isn’t floor length and I own 2 skirts. I do wear a skirt, blouse and jacket (I alternate the 2 skirts) to be a Sacristan because I am actually up on the altar a lot in the preparation for Mass, even opening the Tabernacle. This is such a lofty position, it humbles me. So today, I was a lector, it was 50 degrees and I wore pants, bright shirt and jacket and when I looked down as we entered the church, I was wearing socks and sneakers. OH NO! It’s 50 degrees. Flats without hose would have been cold. OH the guilt I felt marching into Mass carrying the Big Bible, wearing sneakers. My friend tells me she is not a libber. Neither am I. Am I? I am more like an old retired woman who paid my dues in suits, panty hose and heels … For some reason I kept those 2 skirts. Must have been angels whispering…. Wear a skirt when being Sacristan in church. At least I never wear shorts in church!

I am painting a great big shed that sits in our side yard. When Chuck and I ordered it, I didn’t think it would be so Orange!!! My goodness, every time we drive up to the house I say, "WOW! that shed is orange!" When I step out of the shower, there is a window I keep open and the shed is right THERE. Orange. So on January 2 I hauled out my outdoor paints, brushes, roller pans, rollers, rags, etc and set up to paint that orange shed. It’s huge! 12 feet wide by 32 feet long. It took 2 days to cover it with my favorite base coat, white Kills. And it’s got spaces between each board so it needed roller AND brush. Mountains sprung up and then I added the horizon. I will make little villages on the mountains like I did on the lakehouse in Miami, I’ll add palm trees and flowers, of course little water features and a great big ocean and fish. Chuck wants a leaping bill fish so I have some work to do! Why didn’t we buy a white shed? Do they make them? Ah the beauty of second thoughts!

Pray for our country today as apparently we have killed an Iranian General in front of everybody and Colin Kaepernick is calling the shot racism. Pray for America. God bless us. Angels with us.

I was speaking with my sister Sarah and she said I haven’t written in forever… And I realized, "I haven’t". Where has the time gone? On the 7 day cruise we took over Christmas every moment from 8 am until midnight was full. We sailed with friends Peter and Karen Skipp (Chuck and Peter friends since age 14, then I joined the gang at age 16, and Karen joined about age 23.) Peter and Karen’s two beautiful adult daughters joined us and quickly found Chuck’s and my hideaway in Vintages for pre dinner wine or champagne. I loved vintages because they have outside tables and I see a lot of people I know. At the first Mass on board I took my prayer book up to help out a girl who Father chose to sing! Then I read at a few Masses and father put me up on stage at the Royal theatre to sing at Christmas day Mass with a powerfully voiced Jamaican genteman. We sang about 8 hymns! So I knew a lot of people from daily Mass and they would stop to talk as we enjoyed the garden at Vintages (Including Father himself). The two giant RCCL cruise ships, Allure and Harmony have a beautiful Garden called Park Place on deck 8. You can’t tell you are on a cruise ship. Our cabin on the Harmony overlooked that garden and we got a huge balcony because they used the space next to us for storage but gave us the storage space’s balcony!!! Every day I woke up when I wanted (but remember the storage space is next door) so it was wake up time between 8 and 830am. Quick shower, put on clean clothes, and trot down to the Diamond lounge for latte machiato. We are Diamonds because we cruise so much so we get inordinate amounts of lattes, wine, and water all for free. I tell people to be loyal to a brand and "get the loyalty points". After breakfast in Diamond lounge almost like clockwork I was off to the pool from 11 to 12. Lunch, read my Maeve Binchy books, and take a nap. Get up, get dressed, formal wear two nights, lovely dinner, go to shows. Amazing shows. Back to room about midnight. Meanwhile we got off the ship twice to go to Cozemel twice (the weather kept us away from the private island so we stopped twice in Cozemel where we have a cute little bar called Ernestos where we eat mexican food and drink Dos XXees (how do you spell that?). Nap after. Dinners were lovely with the 6 of us as family. Food was wonderful. The last night we all went to Chops Grill as travel agent had given us dinners. We drove from Cape Canaveral to visit Renee and drink and eat more!!! And we ate Thai food with her. Then we binge watched the 2nd season of Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. Home for 2 days, I was so relaxed and tired that I totally forgot it was New Years Eve and when I heard fireworks I thought they were practicing!!! Chuck went hunting in Georgia with Dave and Sam, but not before I made him find all my mural painting brushes, rollers, roller pans, etc. I need to get into his shed and create my own space for my outdoor paints. I have painted for 3 days since Chuck left first covering our enormous shed with a base coat and today… mountains rose up! It is a huge shed. I am having a wonderful time at St James church. Today we wrapped about a million presents for the mission children (we have a lot of farms and migrants here). The church ladies are a lot of fun. That’s about it! I need to sink into Chuck’s easy chair and rest my poor paint covered body! God bless you! Angels with us!

Now that we have moved to Lake Placid, the routine has become more important. To go on a cruise we have to drive 3 hours and park a car and then get a shuttle bus. Allow 4 hours. So our routine is …. "What time do we have to leave the house and what time do i set the alarm for?" I’ve learned long ago, don’t argue about this second question and answer. The driver knows. I will fill up the car before Mass today. The tires are OK and we are packed. We are off for our last "booked Cruise"! Meaning I’ve not called our travel agent to book us a cruise nor have I used "Cruise holidays" on the ships to book. We are going cold turkey for an indeterminate amount of time. i have to change some credit card billing now as Bank of America changed our credit card number as one of their agents did some bad stuff. Off to do work on this beautiful Saturday before Christmas. Sail away tomorrow! God bless us! Happy Christmas. Welcome Christ. Angels with us!

Good morning gentle readers! I just looked at my last writing and it was Saturday morning 6 days ago!!! Where did time go? The 4 of us, Jane and Steve, Chuck and I enjoyed a day of ceremony (the submarine memorial), and raffles and gift giving and banquet. Then Sunday morning Chuck and I headed south back to Lake Placid. The roads were good and we arrived home about 5pm. Jane and Steve took the coast road stopping in Appalachicola, St Petersburg, Treasure Island and … Places Chuck and I haven’t been to! I can’t tell you what we did except unpack, laundry, clean up our rooms, and start packing again for the cruise this coming Sunday!!!! When Jane and Steve arrived we went out for meals and drank champagne and went into town for all kinds of shopping. Lake Placid is a little town with a crossroads of Main Street and Interlake Boulevard with wonderful shops branching out from the 4 corners. We broused and found some gifts and then I went to get my hair done and we had lunch at Schooni’s (a pizza and burgers place among other interesting meals). While Chuck fixed my car tire (out of which a Lake Placid tire repair guy pulled a nail and then repaired the tire), Jane and Steve drove me to church for an hour of adoration (taking the place of my friend Elsie). When they picked me up they had found me a dresser in a thrift shop. I’ve been complaining and moaning about having my clothes (especially long pants and sweats) spread all over the house and I need a proper dresser for them in our bedroom…. This is a proper dresser with really heavy iron scrollwork on the feet part and a nice light brown wicker. The top needs sanding and I’ve been fooling with the idea of sanding and painting the top which has a big scratch…. paint and make a little mural on it! I’ll start that right now…. So my $50 thrift find got me a new friend named Corky (who volunteers at the thrift shop that supports elderly care) whose husband wants to look at a 20 foot pontoon boat to see how big that is (we have a 20 foot pontoon boat). They live 1 block over on Anderson. New friend, thrift store dresser…. Lots of fun. Jane and Steve just took off. It’s a 2 hour drive north to the Orlando airport. I’ll say a little prayer for their safety. We sent them early at 10am and flight is at 6pm. That gets them through the roads and turns, the rental car return, baggage drop off and the dreaded TSA safty inspection and hope it leaves plenty of time to check in by 3pm and have a snack. So we leave you asking for prayer for our travelers back to England, and a little prayer for Chuck and I driving over to Cape Canaveral early Sunday morning where we will meet Peter and Karen Skipp and their 2 beautiful daughters Catie and Rebecca at the Vintages wine bar on the RCCL Harmony after noon on Sunday!!!! Happy last days of Advent my dear friends and May the Peace of Christmas and celebrating the (thank God) birth of Christ be with you! Angels with us.

We have gathered "upstairs" in the banquet room / restaurant here at the Hilton in Panama City Beach for the tolling of the Ship’s Bell for lost submarines. We will remember boats and men lost from the American Navy and boats and men lost from the British Navy. After the Navy hymn, we will go to lunch and then back to the hospitality room for celebrating Christmas!!! Jane and Steve, English friends, are welcomed and loved! All is well with the world with these wonderful veterans! God bless us! Angels with us!

I’m watching and listening to coffee drinkers and sea stories… I just heard, "and the captain said…’dont touch anything!’" to a visitor! And everybody laughed. They had Marines come on board for transport. The Marines would say, "I didn’t know we were going under water!" I guess it’s a bit scary when "Dive! Dive! " Is alarmed, and Chuck said you can feel it and things start to slide…. I’ve never done that. I’m the stay at home submarine sweetie.
Our English friends arrived last evening about 5pm. They followed the GPS and finally arrived safe. We walked down to the outdoor bar where the young bartender was lighting gas heaters. It was good enough to keep the 55 degree winds off of us. Due to the time change, when I went to bed at 8:15 it was actually 9:15! We were Up at 7am, 10 degrees warmer, and I’ve been drinking coffee and listening to stories ever since. When our English friends finally get here to the hospitality room, I’ll be ready for bed and a nap again!!!

Chuck and I have moved into the quiet lanes! The "biggest road" we have at home is 2 lane route 27 and now (930 am) we are taking route 19 / 98 north into the Panhandle to Panama City Beach for a Submariner’s Christmas party. We should enjoy sunny and 60s… Warmer would be better for me but we plan Beach walking and restaurant and bar sitting to prop up the local economy. The small fragile beach town was badly damaged by hurricane Michael in October 2018. That’s why we will shop and eat a lot to help the economy. I remember when we visited Waveland Ms after 20 feet of Katrina flood surge wiped out Waveland. We have all been hurt by storms; let us try to take care of each other. The drive on route 19 is peaceful and quiet with lots of trees and one other car. God bless us! Angels with us!

We have greeted our English friends, taken them all around Lake Placid, eaten way too many meals! And consumed mass quantities of tea and left overs!!! and gone to the Lake Placid Saturday morning market and a concert in our Main Street park… and we also watched some "American Telly" and put everyone to sleep! Yesterday was market and concert day and I served at the Church for a healing Mass and then the 4pm vigil. I met the family for the market and lunch then I rushed home to clean up the refrigerator and freeze some leftovers and to "prep" dinner for 9. Kathie and George brought up our pontoon boat from Miami and joined us with former Miami neighbors and now Lake Placid residents.. Laz and Ingrid and their handsome young son who helped us so much during the move so we had 9. When I drove in from vigil Mass (since I served as Sacristan I didn’t get home until 545) and the party was rousing out on the dock!!!! I heard them from the street and I thought! "Thats the Peabodys in your town you quiet Lake Placid friends!!! " We ate and drank and talked health care, politics and religion; all the things to be avoided at a quiet dinner party! but we had a mixed group and everyone wanted to know "everybody else’s ways." I poured us into bed and got us all up again for a good bye breakfast with George and Kathie. Then we mapquested and did Booking.com in prep for our English friends’ visit to Sarasota and Tarpon Springs. We will meet them in Panama City on Thursday. Off they go and off Chuck and I go to a party at the church. It’s men and women and Chuck has met a man or two so I figure if we bring wine as snack food…. it will be fun for all!!! After that party there is a Christmas concert at the Presbyterian church we will try to attend. Have a wonderful, prayerful Advent my friends. God bless us! Angels with us!!!

We played winter yesterday and sat outside at 5pm with English friends and across the canal neighbors. We all had jackets and I had a leg blanket but I got cold around sunset! We went inside and held a vote and Italian dinner at Sammy’s won. After dinner I served ice cream and everyone fell asleep while we watched FBI. I woke everyone up and sent them off to bed. After a good night’s sleep the sun is bright and beautiful!!!

I wrote the last paragraph while waiting for my new internist doctor to see me. He asked a lot of questions and supports cardiac doctor prescribing beta blocker to soften the punch of blood in arteries. He wants blood pressure to drop about 10 points and he will see me to take blood pressure every week. Also did a carotid artery sonogram. All points examined. Following up. Chuck and I have had flu and pneumonia shots so we are covering bases. I need to lose weight ( my own diagnosis) and get back to painting!!! So you. What do you need to do? Love one another ❤️. Stay warm! God bless you. Angels with us.

I got results from Cardiologist today that the aneurism has not changed… and "with technological developments this can be fixed….just not today" . The doctor is cautious on diving into surgery… I will get another test in a few months: an echo cardiogram and an MRA that has less radio waves in it and doctors will consult…. and we will go forward from there. I’ll get a cardiologist in Lake Placid and use Baptist Hospital in Miami as my "Directors and Producers"… We already have an Internist here in Lake Placid who has recommended a dentist and eye doctor….

We are home and it is a little chilly! 59degrees with a nice breeze. We have the windows open and Chuck is wearing jeans for the first time this year! I have chickens in the oven and we are waiting for our English friends who are lost…. They called from a gas station using someone’s cell phone and they got it all sorted out. It’s dark so I say a little prayer for travelers on I95!!!!! Oh dear Lord protect our travelers! Time to get to my unpacking and laundry piling… Dear December celebrationers be safe! God bless us. Angels with us!

Ever 🐝 n left standing to guard the luggage… for an intermidible time? It reminds me of the movie when the Russian passenger (Tom Hanks) spends months inside the airport! Chuck disappeared through a door marked suites to pick up his pocket knife that was confiscated from his suitcase 14 days ago and he’s been gone for a while … I wonder if a beagle got him for the second knife he has in his pocket. But beagles snif stuff and Chuck is clean. So I watch the door as people stream by me…here he is!!! And we are in a taxi! Our ride Rick is in Daytona so we are taxiing it to our car. Beautiful day! God has blessed us!

We close today of Thanksgiving with a turkey dinner and an ice show. It’s amazing to eat a turkey dinner with pumpkin pie AND see young people do ice dancing and tricks right before our eyes and Allure of the Seas is good at both!!!! Chuck and I went out for a walk in San Juan (in the oppressive heat! good grief! It’s snowing "up north")… Glenda and I spent an hour in the pool and then we had lunch with Glenda and Milton and then… you are not far off: if it’s Susie, it’s probably a nap!!!! We continue to thank God for our friends and wish you health and happiness. All of you know who you are! God bless you.

Good morning from Allure of the Seas docked for 5 hours in San Juan Puerto Rico. I just got up a little after 8am and I would be watching EWTN Mass and getting ready for Mass at Saint James if we were in Lake Placid… Yesterday we docked in Saint Maarten on the Phillipsburg side of the island (Dutch). I dropped Chuck off at our favorite little out door bar (Pirates Cove) on the boardwalk, and I walked into town, past the church to verify time of Mass (noon for them, 11am for us eastern standard time people). I walked along looking for the artist whom we loved last trip and bought her work. She is gone. I have 2 of her lovely pieces and I hope I have her name. I walked back to the church streaming with sweat. It was HOT in Saint Maarten. And I sat right in front of the fan at church. I used 2 kleenexes blotting up the water streaming from my head and cheeks. There is a lovely cantor who sang 5 hymns. And she led the Amen with vigor!!! We sang AAAmen, AAAmen! AAmen, Amen, Amen!!!! Several times!!! They really celebrate Mass with Joy and I am so grateful they are there safe in Saint Maarten!

Today is Thanksgiving. I’m sitting in the Diamond club, sipping chocolate caramel Latte Machiato… with extra steamy milk. Later I’ll have a croissant with creamy butter. I look outside at a beautiful day and I’m filled with Thanks to God who allows all this! I watch the young aqua stars walk through the show in practice (we can see the stage from the Diamond club). I will walk out into the sunshine and then go to the pool. Chuck is over by the window sipping coffee, reading and relaxing. On Monday, we will be home decorating for Christmas and entertaining English friends Jane and Steve. But for now… We are Celebrating 50 years with Milton and Glenda. Milton received a tee shirt that says "I am the Captain" and Glenda’s reads, "I am his Anchor". At first one could read that as "I’m the one who sinks him and spends all his money! but upon reflection, to be one’s anchor is to steady them, to keep them stable, to keep them in safe harbor. God bless Milton and Glenda, friends for 58 years. Keep us safe. You too dear friends. Keep you safe. Keep you praying for Peace. If we all storm heaven with prayer, God who hears us, will fill us with Peace. AAAAAmen!

I remember a television advertisement about the Bahamas that was full of birds singing and drums and music. And I always love to come to Nassau and the straw market. Yesterday was no different except in the old days there were us and another small cruise ship and the straw market was outside!!! Yesterday, we were the hugest ship with 5 other ships beside us!!! The entry/exit hall is a medium sized building… I went ashore alone as Chuck said he’s seen it and would rather read. No problem. After an hour in the pool, I set out for the straw market which is now crowded under roof in what might have been an old government building. It is still there, noisy and looking prosperous. I kept walking to the end of the pier entertained by drums, an artist who painted palm trees, sky, and ocean on panels and sold them for $10, and shell salesmen. I stopped to turn around at a Signor Frogs. As I turned, I noticed 4 little canvas tents set up in a parking lot in the sun so I went to see. I stopped at a table of small hand made crosses made of green sea glass and sea glass hand made jewelry. I didn’t have enough cash to buy what I wanted but I bought some. Back at the ship I told Chuck we will be back next week and I can get the necklace! "No! Go now and get it!" Chuck said, digging out 20s. I trotted back out (the round trip is 1 hour… Cabin to lady with jewelry). I found her and negotiated a swap of a pair of green earrings for a blue and white necklace, bracelet and earings… Back to the ship… Long line now at the small security building! No problem!!! I talk to people while we queue. Today we sit in Fort Lauderdale while new sailors get on. Then we turn around to go to Saint Martin and two other stops. Saint Martin is my favorite with noon Mass!!! God bless you and Angels with us!!!

Hi dear, gentle, reader friends! Today is a day at sea and I’ll bet the pools are full! Yesterday in the Solarium, the pool was empty because it was raining and the water was cold… The hot tub with a max of 16 people had about 100 people in it. Drinks were flowing and the hot tubbers were in high form! Do not give people a day in Mexico and then give them drinks at the pool!!! Chuck and I had a beautiful quiet afternoon (after my walk into Mexico and out again, and after 15 minutes in the hot tub which was not covered and not in the rain… We dressed in formal wear and floated down to the Champagne bar to people watch and drink champagne. The Allure has a floating bar that actually rises up and floats up from 5 to 8th floor! When it is up on 8 there is a fountain is on its place on 5!!! We also found last night for the first time, Park Place a beautiful out door garden area with the specialty restaurants. We listened to music and lingered in the beauty of a real garden on a cruise ship. I started falling asleep and I sent Chuck off to the ice show while I crawled into my warm bed. Wow! What sleeping we have done! I’m ready now to brave the pool and hope I can get an hour of aerobics in… I have another book to read. I selected The Help as I have seen the movie but I don’t remember reading the book. Our friends Milton and Glenda will be joining us on Sunday with family members celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!!!! I will write again next week. For now… free internet is ending for me! God bless you! Angels with you!!!

I bend over and look at my feet as I step into the elevator for the first time today… Ah!!!!! It’s Thursday. The elevators do not have clocks for time, only the day. We are on a very large ship that has food all over the place to accommodate over 5000 passengers. With about 2000 crew and staff that’s about the size of my new home Lake Placid!!!!! I always know where to find Chuck in the early morning. He’s sipping coffee in the Diamond lounge looking out over the Board walk. Last night we sat there after dinner while awaiting our show time and we watched an Aqua show that had high divers like the Olympics from very high platforms, gymnasts hanging on ropes and swings and diving into the pool below, clowns falling into the pool and lots of fun!!!! We have been to 2 comedy shows and tonight we will attend an Ice show. We read every day and I have finished 2 Maeve Binchy books. I adore her! She creates people in families that we would recognize… people with odd relations, wild women who run away and come back 25 years later, men who want to "do it" immediately with the girls they meet, mothers who are worn out, drinking fathers who either blend into the background and cause a lot of angst or earn a lot and lose it through fraud… etc etc. They all interact but don’t know we are watching!!! I finished two books and am starting The Help that I never read. Only watched the Movie. Chuck is reading Michael Connolly. We did not go ashore on the Perfect island Coco Cay and it turns out there were mosquitoes and the water was freezing cold. I have been in the pool here on ship every day and it has been cold except in the Solarium where I am heading when I finish this. We went ashore in Cozemel and walked about 4 miles in total along the beach. It was a beautiful day! We stopped for beer in small pubs on the water and watched swimmers in the beautiful teal waters! Back to the pool on ship for talk with others in the pool and exercise. We remembered that our last time on Costa Maya (many years ago) we found a small bar on the beach with swinging chairs and drank way too much tequila and the bar tender had a guy drive us back to the ship. There was a small wading pool that we waded through on the way back to the ship. It was rainy today so I went ashore alone to find the little pool. I found it, but the pool was full of children and the area was crowded with shops and people!!! I did not try to find the bar with the swings! We no longer drink tequila!!! Time for me to go pool swimming. Rain or shine, the Solarium calls. Tonight is formal night. Chuck and I show in black and white. He wears black tux pants and white jacket and I wear black skirt and I have 2 red dressy shirts! Just call us James and Zelda! "Having a wonderful time on the RCCL Allure." Will need diet and sleep!!!! God bless you! Angels with us!

We are visiting friend Glen in Miami as I have an appointment at Baptist hospital just down the street at noon. Glen graciously opened his house to us for last night and tonight. Last night we ate at our favorite Italian restaurant Osteria. Oh my goodness how delicious. We drank wine and carried half a bottle home which the boys finished while I slipped off to bed. I’ll bet I slept from 9pm to 8am.. and now, full of coffee I’m sitting on Glen’s dock. I miss the coots and limpkins! Glen’s part of the lake is wider than our canal! No kidding! It’s a nice respite! It’s odd not to have the same view as I have from our lake house on the north lake!!! Glen is on the south lake. When you visit us in Lake placid you will notice some differences; we are not on an airport landing path, we have no ducks, no traffic. We have herons, occasional trains, orange trees, and hills. My friend Kathie is right in holding off for a place on a lake! But we are happy! Ok, Sun’s out from behind a small cloud and I’m getting hot! God bless you! Angels with us!

"Our Sundays are better than Dairy Queen." Everyday there’s something new and fun in Lake Placid! We booked cruises before we bought this house, and I hope we get to do autumn, Thanksgiving, and Christmas here next year. We will miss a Christmas parade in downtown!!! There’s always next year! God bless you! Angels with us ❤️

Good morning gentle readers! Today we begin our big adventure in Miami. We will go to copy my Christmas letter and mail it. Then to Glen’s on the lake and to Italian dinner tonight at Osteria Piedmonte. Yum. Tomorrow I get the CT scan and we will have pizza dinner with Glen and friends and former neighbors Kathie and George!!! The next day Saturday to the USSVI meeting in a park in Miami that has about 11 submarine sails in it. The sail is the top part of a submarine. When the boats are scrapped, parts are purchased and used as memorials. Then we will go to lunch with the submariners. That night we will be with Chuck’s buddy Rick Hartman who will drive us to the ship on Sunday morning for a 2 week cruise!!! Since I don’t plan to do tours or even go ashore at most Caribbean island as we have been there so many times, I might not blog. You don’t really want to hear about me in the pool and drinking champagne! Just know that we are doing a fun thing and I’ll be back in two weeks. When we arrive in Miami I go for a visit to cardiologist to get results of CT scan then home to Lake Placid to meet friends Jane and Steve from England who will be visiting for 2 weeks. I’ll blog then because I plan to do some stuff here in Lake Placid I haven’t had time to do!!! Like visit the art places in Lake Placid. God bless you. Angles with us!

I find it a laughing matter that I wrote to my friend Karla and probably have written to many of you, "I’m cleaning up piles." I’m writing the Christmas letter and I always consult the calendar when I review the year, but there’s nothing written on the calendar for January 2019 (we might have changed calendars???) So I’m looking back at emails and I found a note to Karla written Jan 2, 2019……. I wrote that I was cleaning piles in January 2019 with no thought to moving. In preparation for and since the move, it’s amazing how much stuff I’ve put in the donate box and or thrown away!!!! It’s as many of you have said, "Throw it away. Start a new life today." And you know what? I go outside to turn on the hose to water our new avocado tree and I look at the caladiums and other plants someone planted in my yard, and I love all of them. I have pentas, plumbago (the blue flowered bush), lots of caladiums… nice grass mowed by a small family run group of gardeners. I walk out the front door, down my front walk to my car, and when I look back I have to laugh at all the decorations we have put out there! Frogs, rocks, shells and pots. It’s been fun. This week I have put away a lot of art work as the walls are full. You might walk in here and go "Whew! the walls are covered!" well we have a lot of great photos and art. I’ve tried to keep order.

My friend at church Elsie, a very prayerful lady! wrote that her sister in law went to the doctor for not being able to breathe…. He said he can’t do anything… she’s 86, organs are failing. Gave her lasix. so 86 is old…? My mom had congestive heart failure at about 90…. but she didn’t die until 97. I’m thinking of suggesting a visit to a specialist, but maybe this is what the end of life is all about…When do we stop going for help and going to specialists? I’m not asking for me… I’m only 72 with plenty of years left. But when? I pray every day for all of you that we remain healthy to play together for many more years. This Friday I go for a CT scan to measure the aneurism. I won’t get the result until Dec 2 when we get back from a 2 week cruise! Live life! Enjoy beauty! Thank God. Love you! God bless us! Angels with us.

I took a 5pm bicycle ride and encountered…. No traffic. No cars. 2 small dogs in their owners’ arms, and kids doing cart wheels in the front yard with mom and dad on the porch. How middle America is this??? Our streets are funny. My house is about in the middle of the block so if I turn left out of the driveway I go "down" to the cul de sac… turn around and suddenly realize it’s uphill! huffing and puffing, I turned left at the top of my street and turned left again onto Anderson. (in Coral Gables, Anderson was our next street too!). Swoosh! I was off like the wind. Downhill all the way to the cul de sac. UH OH.. Crawling up hill I looked like an old lady pumping those fat wheeled pedals!!!! breathing hard and sweating! and finally I walked my bike the last 12 feet to the corner! I drove over to friend Glenda’s street (Loquat) and it is pretty normal all the way to the cul de sac. All of these streets are on canals. At the cul de sac they join the one big canal into Lake June. We have not been on Lake June yet…. boat is in harbor in Miami patiently awaiting some repairs… But we know the lake is there! I can see it from the car. It’s especially exhilarating to go up a hill in the car and at the crest (top) see the lake!!!!

This week is going by fast. I was home here alone Sunday through Wednesday and I’ve been on the attack in the art room and other places. I’m trying to find places for papers and things or putting them in a box for the church who by the way wants the books from my library!!! I am so happy. I’m going to scout around town at the thrift stores and see if I can find a book shelf. The church has a social hall with about 5 classrooms attached. We have all our meetings there and Chuck and I went to October fest there. There isn’t really space for books in the hall itself, but one of the rooms has a sofa and soft chairs. I figure a small bookshelf won’t overwhelm. I have some enthusiastic folks and some who tell me there’s no space for books. I walk very softly here!!!! 5 boxes of books by Catholic writers need a home!

I’m painting my first mural at this house! On the sliding door that goes out to the porch. If we close the door… it’s too easy to run into because we keep it open most of the time. But during the summer we keep the door closed. Too hot … OK so Be Creative today!!! Paint, draw, write! There’s something fun going on that you can help others to see! God bless you. Angels with us!

I did not make that up! It is the sign on the small Baptist church I pass on the way to Church. We all have been with people who "comment" when we see a friend slip up, make a mistake, be rude etc etc. I actually said, "Woah, that’s not right… " and the lady next to me said, "Oh you don’t know the half of it and was off to the races with all the things wrong the third party does." I am still in the throes of trying to figure out how to do my Sacristan and Lector jobs…. But even I can spot what isn’t right. That’s all I wanted to confirm. We are not in charge…. We are not to comment on the personality defects of our peers, rather ask the one in charge how something should be done. Do it and shut up.

Yesterday 8 women sat outside the library in Lake Placid with the 3 schools (elementary, middle, and high school) within sight. It’s a very small town. The library and schools all surround a big traffic circle. We women were from 2 churches in town and we were praying for the children. We prayed for bullies, for traffic offenders, for parents who neglect to teach respect, for children who are tempted by other children to take drugs and alcohol, for children who feel great anxiety…). It makes our heart heavy that children are so in need, but one of us, a very wise woman said, "We are so blessed, because we know the end of the story." Know the end of the story… have faith that God never did and never will break his covenant. He made us; he loves us; he won’t leave us alone. Keep praying in faith and love. Pray for faith and love.

I’m home alone, drinking smoothies and trying to take off 10 pounds of anxiety fat! (I have been spreading ice cream and wine all over myself since we started packing to move!!!!). Giving those 2 up for the 10 days Chuck is away hunting, I might start fitting into my pants again! Fortunately I love salads and soup! I’m working very hard to put everything away in the art room… Getting close. I hope to paint soon. Clean something up. Enjoy giving things away to people who could use them! God bless you. Angels with you!

What if life were full of WOW! moments? Wouldn’t life be fun? Wouldn’t we all be going around with silly grins on our faces. Not silly like we are stupid, rather, silly like we love small beautiful things! Or big awesome things… Some examples of what makes me grin and say WOW!:
Chuck and I have been watching for birds at the bird feeder… I’m waiting for song birds, but any bird is good. Then: there were black birds, 3 doves and a great gray heron…. The doves were waiting for the black birds to "back off" and the heron was "just hanging out"… The heron leaned way out over the water, very still, watching the water. Then we realized the birds at the feeder were shaking it up and seed was falling onto the dock and into the water. Suddenly the heron dived in and came up with a fish horizontally in his mouth. Horizontally is important because he then has to go through some maneuverings to get that fish head down in the vertical position so it can slide down his gullet smoothly, so its scales don’t hurt the bird. Since it was a small fish, a simple throw and catch was all the heron needed. We whooped as he gobbled and swallowed. Poor fish. Like Jonah, swallowed alive. Ick…. The birds continued. This happened again the following night. Probably the same heron, but now he is across the canal on neighbor Connie and John’s dock. Watching, hanging way over the edge. "Hurry up," I whispered, "it’s getting dark!!!" Swoop! His great wings pulled tight he dived and came up with a fish that looked to be 10 inches long; big enough to filet…. He stood in the water near the seawall. (We have discovered it is pretty shallow near the seawall that the long legged birds can stand there.) He was now looking up at the grass. Chuck said, "He has to get up into the grass because he doesn’t want to drop the fish." Pretty smart Chuck…. a few minutes of looking at the grass in Connie and John’s back yard, and then, leap with a great flap of wings and a little shaking to dry out his wings. Ah! now the fun begins. He juggled and juggled, dropped the fish a few times. "Hurry!, I said. Now it was dark and we could hardly see him. There it goes, he finally got that fish to stop wiggling, and gulp, that fish is history. In the heron’s belly. Chuck thinks he had to wait for that one to die because it was so big. (like in the Country and Western song by the Dixie Chucks… "and Earl had to die"…). Oh that’s awful. Now the next WOW moment!
I volunteered to "help" the Sacristan at church…. HELP the Sacristan. Well I think you know how that goes. Last night I unlocked the church, turned on the lights and air conditioning and set up for vigil Mass. Vigil Mass is the Mass of the next day, but at night so people who work can attend. We are celebrating the Feast of All Saints. I set up according to a rather thorough and good list. Always give me written instructions… I enjoy lists! 5 chalices for the wine, 4 dishes for the Sacred bread. This will become the Body and Blood of Jesus when the Priest consecrates it. Altar cloths, towels and dishes of water for those giving out Communion all set up. Pray with the lectors and ministers who will process in, then go sit down. In they walked and Mass began. At Communion, the altar server (Nell) looked over at me with a question mark on her face? There weren’t enough servers for the number of chalices and dishes I put out. I didn’t know… So I let it unfold, which is usually seamless in our Church as we have a lovely priest with a forgiving nature! In the end, the priest had to put away 2 dishes of consecrated hosts and drank a full cup of consecrated wine. What happened? Well…. Despite the list, whoever schedules people only scheduled 4 wine servers and 2 Communion servers. It’s always something! How about let me know? Every time I serve I learn a new lesson (take the stoppers off the little cruets of wine and water before handing them to the Priest, put the challices on the altar for the priest to fill, look at how many are serving and only put out that many bowls and chalices.) What else???? Wash up, turn off the lights. It was now 8:30pm and pitch dark. OH! The alarm. Of course there are 3 choices… What button to push? I chose "Exit and Leave" Sounds good to me… I pushed the button and it began to click. Run to the other side of the room, turn off the entry room lights, open and close the big wooden door (why do churches always have big wooden doors???). Lock the door. Then I peeked in at the alarm. No red lights (I think…. ) Oh brother. Half way home (it’s a 5 minute drive), I thought, "Did I check the lock?" Turned around and tested the door. It didn’t open and there were no police sirens. I think my exit was safe. WHEW! … WOW! Heaved a sigh. I think the cops will not be coming this time. I hope. What an awesome, big responsibility serving the Lord!!! Go serve. Gird your loins, say a prayer, and leap!!! God bless you!

As I write about a meeting we just finished, as we head home on interstate expressways to a placid little town of about 10,000 people where I’m surrounded by lakes and orange trees, I think a person who didn’t see what we saw yesterday might wonder .. what’s everybody pounding their chests for? I’ve felt that while listening attentively to Admirals, commanders and unqualified young teenagers studying systems in order to "pass quals". What’s all this about.? Yesterday a group of us who had been prescreened, assembled at the "Goat Locker" the Chiefs Club. I asked why Is it called the goat locker? The answer left me puzzled, "because chiefs are called goats". Ok. So then a US Navy bus came with 2 Navy police and 1 sailor from the SS Maryland. We got on the bus with no cell phones and no exercise wrist bands.. and we were escorted by a security car to the dock. Where is it? We got over to the water and there she was .. a big dark grey half submerged war ship. That was my first WOW! She is huge! The Maryland is a Boomer. I never understood what that meant until we climbed down 3 levels and our guide, in for 18 years and sharp and handsome, said here they are. I reached out and touched, "is this concrete?" Yes. There are 24 of them. Concrete tubes, missile silos full of nuclear missiles capable of traveling thousands of miles steered by sophisticated GPS tracking. I kept touching it. Our young man "Thompson" took us on to two rooms where constant measurements are underway even in Port… Where we are and where "they" are. Thompson said, "we are constantly hiding. If we pick up any sounds other than whales, we run. We are strictly defensive." In another room full of computers 2 young men told how they are constantly checking the missiles and one of them is making calculations. If they get an order it has to be verified and authorized 3 times before a missile can be shot. By now I’m petrified and terrified. We have young men (ok they are in their late 30s and early 40s) plotting courses on nuclear boomers. One of our sailors said, "we should bring Puten to see this." Needless to say, I had a nightmare last night. We thanked our guide "Thompson" and everybody else we passed (oh by the way, at one point, stepping over beds that protruded into the passageways! )… Thanked and thanked! And blessed them too. We are headed home now. And the news on TV is that some brave young men tracked an ISIS leader into cave and killed him. Pray for peace. Maybe if we ALL pray. God bless us. Angels with us.

At 8am we drove over to the host hotel and got on a van to go to the Trident Training Center and join in the Memorial Ceremony that I documented as it happened. I wrote my last post as Admiral Holland spoke… I remembered our talk from the previous day and I put in some of my reactions. It is really unedited. One thing I straightened out is the name of the class of submarine to come out in 2028 is Columbia. A class of boat defines its length, width, height, weight and a lot of other capabilities and attributes. Chuck was on a diesel/Guppy sub. That actually was a class back then. Today there are fast attacks, boomers, trident missiles and tomahawk missile submarines and it goes on. Today’s heavy hitter is the Virginia class, and "tomorrow’s heavy hitter" due out in 2028 is the "Columbia class."

After the ceremony today we went into the Trident Training center and were shown the fire training and water training facilities. Rather than train on a sub there are simulators. There is a giant vat of water and lots of pipes that spring leaks and floods. Those in training have to fix the leaks under leak conditions. Big torrents of water might flood the compartment and they have to fix the leaks. Same with the fire fighters. We saw a torpedo and its loading tube and a diesel engine (for auxiliary power, and to be used in case of a reactor failure). WOW! That was exhausting! We were then driven back to Pirates Galley for lunch. Hamburgers, chili, and all kinds of other good stuff including ice cream. Then we went to the Base Exchange which is like a Target or Walmart except we sailors get discounts. I didn’t buy anything as…. I can still see all that stuff we unpacked at home. Then we went back to Trident Training Center and actually sat for an hour and waited for the crowds (there are 400 people attending this memorial weekend) to come for dinner. We headed upstairs in the training center where tables were set up end to end to serve 400 people. I was amazed at how seamless everything was. Everytime we all got together this week there were ceremonies. We watched sailors receive their Dolphins (that means they qualified) and sailors reenlists. And we clapped a lot in congratulations. Dinner was a huge steak with veggies, and a lot of other stuff. I ate 1/2 and put my steak aside. Chuck said, "get a salad bowl and we’ll take it with us." I had a plastic bag from Chuck’s purchase in the Navy Exchange so I put his steak and mine in a bowl with onions and mushrooms and put a bowl on top and put the whole delicious mess into a plastic bag. It is now in our refrigerator and will be our sandwich for the trip home on Sunday.

Am I done yet? Nope. We have been with our sub group most of the time (the base Chuck leads called Pelican Harbor) so there was a lot of sharing with people we knew including our own WWII veteran and his daughter who drove him up to Georgia. We sat and talked with them and with one of our van drivers who joined us and had a beer as he was "off duty." Throughout the week, we have had conversations with young sailors, men and females alike, and the Commander of the Trident Training Center. We listen to them tell of the way things are in 2019, and then our guys tell them "how it was" in the 40s, 50s and 60s. There is a lot of exchange and respect on both side young for old and old for young. Finally it was time to go, but wait!!!! Chuck and a guy started talking about the base at Cape Canaveral and the weapons facility there… I said finally, why don’t we go in and have a beer. So in we went to the hospitality room and I bought 1/2 and 1/2 tickets. I won nothing all weekend… Finally, after a wonderful conversation with the Commander of the Training Center and his wife… finally it was bedtime. And so… we are back in the hotel. Chuck is having hot chocolate and I am closing this memoir!!! God bless America. Angels with us!

Yesterday I made a mistake about Commander Perez. He is Commander of a sub group. He was commanding officer of the USS Georgia and USS New Mexico. Today our speaker at the Submarine Veterans of WWII Memorial was Admiral Holland. Both gentlemen started by saying they could go on all day until called off into their next meeting! They are enthused and excited to serve and command our military Navy and Marines. Yesterday Commander Perez went on for 2 hours, speaking of WWII War patrols, WWII departed, current activities, and future growth while we continue to build our Navy to protect America.
It’s important to take stock of how we are doing, keeping count, petitioning for budget, making plans to protect America. Speakers ranged in subject from WWII to 2028 when our newest submarine, now in construction, will be released for sea duty to go to impossible places and to keep turning the tide for peace and freedom. In 2028 the sailors will be brothers and sisters "of the phin" as today we talk of WWII veterans as "brothers of the phin".
We have a lot of work to do to keep ahead of Chinese and Russian competition in what we can call this 2nd Cold War. Words repeated these 2 days and probably tonight at the steak dinner and tomorrow as we tour a submarine… Perseverance, endurance, prevail, giving all, Columbia class (the newest), challenge, budget.
We called the roll of lost boats and tolled the bell for 65 lost subs and lost British subs. God bless America. Angels with us.

Today our speaker is Chief of Staff Submarine Group 10. The underwater defence of our country is impressive… We are "Combat Ready to Preserve the Peace"… The young men I see here at the base are averaging 20 years old to 40 years old. They are so proud and respectful of our old guys. They are in great shape! A COB sat with us at breakfast and I couldn’t believe how much he ate! He told us he has 2 children, one Air Force and one Navy. He is an empty nester at age 40. I thought to myself, "He’s 40, looks great and is in great shape." At age 40 he is chief of a "boat" a nuclear submarine! Something I learned today: Men introduce themselves as Alaska gold or Alaska blue. The submarines are under the water about 11 months a year but with 2 separate teams. So when they dock for refitting or maintenance a whole new team gets on in a "crew exchange" and "qualifies on all systems." A month later, they are "off again." It’s an interesting life … Definition of a submariner… "A person who operates sh** you can’t" … Submariners have attitude!

CO of Georgia and CO of New Mexico, Captain George Perez has served for 34 years and has been CO of Kings Bay for a year. Iraqui Freedom and Afganistan are under his belt and he wants to talk about "our submarines at Kings Bay!" Our strategic concerns are Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. No kidding. He said "you who finished WWII, and served during the Cold War, we are right back where we started." We are pushing development to stay ahead of Putin who is testing ballistic missiles during exercises and breaking treaties, in a global power competition… "This is the world our submarine force is operating in, but it is still is ours!" I’d say, sleep well tonight and know "America’s best have your 6"… God bless you. Angels with you.

Breakfast at the Pirates Cove Base Galley (not the mess)… With many uniformed men and women… About 10 Chiefs of Boat (COBs) and higher talked to us about their departments. This Navy is training women on submarines and refitting nuclear submarines to carry female enlisted and officers. This Navy is training constantly, refitting boats, and watching very carefully the waters all over the world. There is a submarine in for refitting that we might be able to visit. It all depends on "conditions". Chuck and I are are scheduled for Saturday afternoon to tour the submarine that is in dock. They always say, "Will let you know" based on conditions…. This afternoon we will attend a presentation by the Chief of Staff of Sub Group 10 and then we go back to the base for a Barbeque. All is well and we are in good hands from the Kings Bay Submarine Base! God bless us! Angels with us!

When I wrote my last post I had ridden my bike around the neighborhood for 2 days and I loved it! Now it is about 5 days later and every day has been full with no bike riding! Yesterday we came to Kingsland, Georgia for a WWII Submarine memorial and I swam in the pool for 45 minutes!!! It’s not really swimming; it’s more water aerobics, but at least it’s movement! Amazing how days go by and even though I move around, there isn’t real stretching!!!! Today I will get back into the pool and hope to continue for the week. Starting Thursday morning with breakfast in the "mess", we will have lots of amazing events at the Nuclear Submarine Base in Kingsland, Georgia. It is very convenient to drive here from Lake Placid, Florida (our new home) only about 5 hours with an over night stay with Renee, it cuts the trip in half. Last night we drove into St Mary’s for dinner, and it seems there are double the amount of Halloween decorations as there were last year! I’m not sure, we have to go back today and look in the day light! When I finally woke up at 830 this morning, I found Chuck drinking his 10teenth cup of coffee and taking with a nuclear sub sailor named Tim. The stories have begun, and will continue until Sunday when we leave to go back home! We stilll have lots to do at home, but it is mostly putting things away in a mini storage …. like winter clothes (half to the homeless, half into drawers) and paintings or pictures, (some on walls but many onto shelves….). I’ve unpacked the art room boxes, but not put all away onto shelves and drawers. Will do a lot next week. I’m serving next week at All Saints and All Souls Masses where we pray for those gone from us… Remember family and friends who are in God’s arms. God bless us! Angels with us.

Remember ? 52 years ago? That’s when Chuck "drank his dolphins" because he had finished all the on board training to "qualify" as a submarine sailor. He still has his "quals" document, a sturdy piece of paper that he was able to keep, that lists all the systems he had to be able to work and many men signed in pencil!!! I’ll bet today quals are on a laptop!!! Today we begin talking to submariners in Kingsland/St Mary’s Georgia and we celebrate the men (many who who lied about their ages ) to join the submarine service to serve in WWII. Thank you gentlemen for helping to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today in the United States. God bless our sailors.

Oh? Are there other forms of exercise? I finally asked Chuck to fill my bike tires and went out for the first time in about a year yesterday. From our house to the end of the street is "up hill." I was panting… That’s about 1/2 a block. I guess the reason is, the canal and lake are lower than the main street through our neighborhood; "Placid Lakes Boulevard" is higher… Anyhow, yesterday I huffed and puffed my way to the top of the street and then back down to the other end of the street which is a cul de sac. I can go up and down all the streets and not find cars except the Fed Ex man stalked me today when I went back out. I got into some dust in the art room and sneezed myself silly and then I decided I need some fresh air. Back to work now…. I am putting out paints that have been packed up since May and lining up colors, brushes, mediums, sponges, and all kinds of stuff artists use to paint with. I also have a lot of piles and canvasses to sort through and organize. I had 2 big closets to hide things in in the last art room! Chuck is hanging pictures in our bedroom as well as building shelves in the garage. Things are shaping up. Boxes all unpacked. What is missing is odd: socks, alarm clock, nail polish remover, cotton balls. Where’s the common denominator? Are they hiding in the shed????

I’m still loving our new church. I went to a Bible Study today. I have attended 3 sessions on Acts chapters 8, 9, and 10. Excellent study. Also we are reading Romans in daily Masses. I am very happy with the intellectual stimulation and pending art fest that is going to take place here in my new art room. As soon as I find…. no Im just kidding. All the art stuff seems to have turned up. God bless us. Angels with us!!!!

Chuck and I are like an old married couple. Together forever, telling the same stories. He came to me while I was sorting Rosaries… and he asked if I felt strong. "No…." Well I’m honest. It was "just" to carry a board left on the dock when the men built the dock… last year? He’s going to make a shelf. We jointly carried the board with me complaining mightily and wondering if Simon of Cyrene complained so much…. and then we got the sawhorses and I asked, "How long do you need it?" Apparently placement of the sawhorses depends on the length of the board. Chuck looked at me with a bothered look on his face. "Measure once, cut twice!" I enjoined (as in "direct or prescribe")… We cut the wood and I then disappeared back to my pile of Rosaries. I’ve sorted table cloths and underwear… folded sheets to make them smaller to fit into the linen closet, boxed up dishes and glasses for the church sale and now…. having not found the socks yet, I’m eyeing the last of Chuck’s boxes…. But they are full of military looking stuff and Highway Patrol (believe it or not) gas masks. Maybe I ought to just go sockless until…. they just show up, tired of hiding.

Today I served at Mass and got everything all set up until I did not hand the 93 year old priest the chalices… I don’t like to see him interrupted as then he has to recollect…. So he pointed and said "chalices" and I grinned a silly grin…. oops! I guess all else went well. I rang the bells loud, and no one complained. They are probably grateful they don’t have to get to the church at 8am for 9am Mass! Then do the dishes afterwards. It’s one day a week, once I get it right, it will be fine. Well, back to my domestic business. The next project is hanging pictures and then…. organizing the art room – no easy feat as I had 2 big closets in the last art room…. Is there a patron saint for "more space?" God bless you; Angels with us!

I realized as I made the slight left onto Washington towards church this morning that I was grinning in the wind as I traveled down the curvy road to church. My teeth were all exposed and I was singing along with the radio and, well, It isn’t Bird Road or 107 Avenue!!! Church is pretty full. At least 30 at daily Mass and all good people. I grin at them. They probably wonder why I seem so wierd. I found a "back road" along a lake into town. All roads are "around lakes!" Today a new Cardinal was celebrated on EWTN. He was a priest in Lithuania working to stop Russian persecution of the church in 1978 and in 1983 he was jailed in Siberia to forced labor. His fellow prisoners said, "Prison is easy for you because you have faith." He was finally freed, and after 50 years of persecution and Communism, with freedon for Lithuania, the priest, now a Catholic Cardinal said, "after 50 years of Communism, we kept our faith." What’s not to sing about? Jesus said, there is something greater than Jonah here… Little children know Jonah was held in the belly of a great whale and then he was spit out on Ninevah to convert the Ninevites. So my dears… Let us know "what is greater than Jonah here."

This weekend was amazing. We attended Octoberfest and sang and danced and ate too much and talked with parishoners. A lady our friend Glenda worked with in Miami is my friend at church!!!! Small world. I attended an Emmaus meeting. What a group of holy women! I will speak next meeting for 15 minutes or less…. right… yikes! how am I going to keep it down to less than 15??? …. Busy with emptying the last of the boxes and getting them to my friend who is packing her house to sell…. We think we have the last of the boxes, although there are some with man things in them in Chuck’s "bar room." I still haven’t found the socks! I need to send a text to my renter to say…. look in the closet drawers and see if there’s one full of socks. There is a saint to pray to for lost socks… He comes from Cornwall in England. Saint Madron. Patron Saint of Lost Socks. I am going through all the necklaces I’ve collected over the years…. Everywhere we go, Chuck buys for me and I have boxes and boxes. I’m trying to streamline and I’ll get the rest down to my friend Kathie for sale in her antique store. All is coming along here… I got black birds on my bird feeder. While I would prefer colorful birds, I figure they will come!!!! God bless us. Angels with us!!!!

In the penultimate box, marked "Sue Art", I found Emmaus tee shirts, exercise tops and leggings, 3 ice cube trays, one of Chuck’s bar trays full of pencils, pajamas (nightgowns) and 2 dressing gowns, and a wine glass. Oh and a basket full of big green and beige roap wrapped Christmas balls. I know I packed this box as it’s all my stuff, but "Sue Art"? and the wine glass all wrapped in a long nightie!? I long all right to go outside to the dock, but my friend Karla said "No drinking before 5pm." Ack! Oh well, I like the Christmas balls…….

Alas. We were all holding our breaths. Under the tray? …. socks? Nope. just more pesky pencils. The last box in the art room: Drumroll:….. The last on earth copies of Alphabet Soup for Christian Living and Christmas CDs.

Chuck says there are more boxes in the bar room. It’s 5 o’clock somewhere! Actually it’s 5 o’clock in Lake Placid! To the dock with that wine glass, a bottle, and an opener. "Oh CHUCK!!!!! bring a glass!" God bless us! Angels with us!

Funny. The last box I unpacked that said "art room" yielded our 3rd blender and 3 crock pots. That box must have been packed on one of those days that Dave and Drew came over and Chuck invited everyone for "a beer." After that, it all seemed like art. Most people don’t have 3 can openers, 3 crock pots, 2 exactly matching sets of soup pots (in 3 sizes per set), but remember, Chuck and I bought houses with all their contents from 2 very domestic women, Aunt Trudy and Loretta. And we eventually stored everything in the very commodious Lake House. So whose idea was it to move into a 2 bedroom house in Lake Placid? I think we have to blame this one on Glenda who lives across the canal and down a few houses. Her summer home was practically empty and it drew at me. What am I gonna do when I fill that last shelf in the garage???? My friend Karen would offer me black plastic bags and big garbage bins. I am using "Good will" commodiously and will drop it all off at the church when I get desperate. We have had no visitors today, and I haven’t had to tell any salesmen we are poor. That really tends to throw off a saleman’s pitch! The socks have not showed up yet. … Makes me wrinkle up my forehead and I don’t want a wrinkly forehead to go along with my baggy eyes! Well for now my dears… TaTa! God bless you. Angels with us.

No really! This is what I said yesterday afternoon when I unearthed a giant file full of maps and trip ideas for European countries we have been to and loved… England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, …. I was so tired at the time that this just leaped out of me, "England, France and Underpants." I wish I could tell you I dumped it all in the trash because the 5 drawer file cabinet is full, but Chuck took a look at me and headed for the Aleve bottle and said, "You throw that away and someone is going to give you a free trip to Europe." Really. So I took the Aleve and then kept an old ugly brown filing table I used to use in the Miami art room and put the fles in it.
Europe is now successfully stored in case someone sends us free tickets…. Oh! and then I found two boxes of files full of "art ideas" who also went into the brown file holder. So … then the doorbell rang. Aleve was working so I was able to get to the door without incident and a man holding an American flag greeted me, "You have a submariner in the family?" He went on to express his "Thanks for your service" to Chuck and then proceeded to try to sell us a vaccume cleaner. It looked good… anything to keep the dust bunnies at bay. We found our first dust bunny yesterday too…. Then the doorbell rang again. A friend from church came to help fix the sprinklers. What a nice dude!!! He too is a submariner! He took one look at the vaccume cleaner, now out of the box, being proudly explained by the sales person, and he said, slowly, "Oh I have one of those"…. long pause. I looked at his sour face and asked, "how is it?" and he honestly replied, "way overpriced." … gulp … was that me or the salesman gulping, looking at each other? So I told the salesman honestly (lots of honesty going on in the room), "I don’t have any money. We put everything into buying this house. I coudn’t pay my Visa bill last month and I had to borrow $1000 from a friend. So, why don’t we just say, your presentation was nice, but maybe I’ll see you next year in the store?" He bundled up his gear and repacked his box. I gave him a bottle of water and escorted him out the door. Meanwhile, Chuck and his new submarine friend were outside doing what men do… looking at sprinklers and discussing the problem very seriously. Finally we all went out to the dock and sat for a while. Our new friend only drinks soft drinks, but after the days I’m having, I’m chugging wine and not being embarassed about it!!! Chuck and I continued until dark. No mosquitoes and lots of breeze blowing in from the east. My last duty was dinner which was a grilled pork and cheese sandwich and ice cream. I’ve succumbed to ice cream so I’m developing a pot belly. Life is really wierd right now. … Well it’s tomorrow (Wednesday) and I servied as Sacristan (which is like a set up altar boy clean up person) this morning. I left the tops on the water and wine so the priest had to take the tops off. My hands were full so we just put them on the Altar. Ack! You have heard of stress sweat? …. All else went well. I’m a vigorous bell ringer. No tinkling bells here! Go and serve today!!!!! All is well here in Lake Placid. God bless us. Angels with us.

This week in the church is so wonderful with celebrations of St Jerome who translated Scripture into Latin so it isn’t lost for us. He died 1600 years ago. That means the Latin translation still living today, is 1600 years old. It amazes me and makes me feel grateful to know Scripture, and to hold it in my hand. The priest who said Mass today on EWTN said Scripture should make us tremble…. Tuesday we celebrated St Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus who said, I can put my head against your heart Lord, because it is my heart. To believe the Lord’s heart is my heart! Breathtaking! He likes us!!!! He cherishes us and wants us to put our head against his chest. We celebrated the feast day of our Guardian angel yesterday. The Lord said to the people fleeing Egypt, "I will send my angel before you to guide you and protect you." Do we think he didn’t mean that? The Exodus story tells of the big pillar of cloud and smoke that guided them through the desert… When the cloud stopped, they stopped, and when it started, they started. We might not have something so visible today, but we do have the Word of God in Scripture and the church. Today we celebrated the reading of the Word to the people who came out of captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem. Ezra stood up on a platform and read to the people from sunrise to noon and the people wept! I am sure if we believe "He likes us"… we would weep too! God and Creator of all this world, the stars and clouds and sky and me. Wow! Tomorrow is the celebration of St Francis of Assisi who loved God and took God’s word seriously… St Francis gave up everything and took nothing out to preach. He took God’s words in Luke 10:1-12 seriously. Be a lamb among wolves… take nothing… And we thank God today for the lives of amazing people who taught us! and who teach us today.

I’m still waiting and unpacking…. waiting for the plumber who is coming at 9:30, unpacking boxes that all say art room. I had a lot of stuff stored in my art room closets…. My sister Sarah has an art room too and I saw a lot of stuff stacked up! We artists pick up stuff to turn into art and the stuff stacks up! Oh the joyful excitement of a blank canvas and a pile of stuff and paint to put on it!!!! It’s beautiful here in Lake Placid and yesterday I saw 3 great brown egrets peacefully strolling across the road…. I’m still waiting for birdies to come to my bird feeder. Chuck was sent to therapy for the numbness in his leg. Both doctor and therapist say pinched nerve… and now he is giving blood and getting carotid arteries checked. He is happy with this new doctor. All is well. God bless us!

I drive all over Lake Placid using a local map. Many roads don’t "go through" due to the many lakes in Lake Placid! In Miami I knew what roads didn’t go through like 102 avenue and of course the whole circular pathways we have to take to get from Bird Road to Kendall. … Here it’s lakes and there are hills around the lakes! Today we meet the first new doctor. Chuck is the guinea pig to try out our choice of general practice physician. He teaches medicine at the FSU Fort Pierce Regional campus and there is a commendation in the waiting room.. And after our visit with him .. I like him a lot!!! I made an appointment for me after the next CT scan. . I’ve asked many people about doctors and everybody has a favorite! Never the same one. I got a glowing recommendation for a cardiac doctor in Seabring in the Advent health group… I might try there! That will take care of the insides. Need to find dentist and eye doctor! All new. Be ready for change if you decide to move! And be ready to examine your life… All the miniscule needs like, how many of these do I really need!!! That’s what I go through every day. Today is shoes. How many pairs of sneakers and slippers do I really need? Yikes!!! Today is the feast day of St Therese… She led the simple life. Simple!!! Only God. And a few angels. God bless us.

My way to church is country road with mostly trees, a few houses, no lights, no school traffic, 5 minutes! I rolled through there this week, and I thought about 107 Avenue and how hard it was to make the right hand turn on to 107, in all the school traffic, then one has to drive furiously to keep up and fight to get into the left hand turn lane… All gone. I volunteered to lector on Fridays and am helping the Sacristan clean up after Mass. Other days is Bible Study, Emmaus, and other meetings. As soon as I get the house under control I have the name of a lady at church who works in the art community! There are 2 art places that I plan to examine and play at.

We made our first general practice appointment for Chuck because his back and legs are bothering him. No kidding. He’s non stop on his feet in the shed. I got the name of a great Cardiologist today so we are moving forward on taking care of ourselves…. I will probably return to Miami if my aneurism grows, but until then, I have good reports of doctors from church people. If the aneurism monster grows we will be burning rubber to Miami! This week I concentrated on unpacking books (all done). Unpacking clothes (YIKES) I have a lot of clothes. Still haven’t found the socks. Oh well too many anyway! Chuck went to the house in Miami and found platters and serving bowls and seran wrap but no socks! Think about this and breathe a prayer that I take it to heart. We only need about 7 of everything because who doesn’t do laundry every 5 to 7 days? So GET RID of all but about 7 tee shirts, socks, and sweat shirts!!!! Oh but they have names on the front. Guess how many Eastern AirLines tee shirts I have???? Oh and all the tee shirts with American flags!!! And pretty nightgowns. And sweatshirts. Did it used to be colder in winter? Or do I now have a fat neck and I don’t like tight things around my neck???

Time to get back into the bedroom as the bed is covered with piles. I will finish clothes today!!!! Pray for me! Have a wonderful week! Angels with us!

My friend Kathie, next door neighbor, won’t move to a place where she can’t SEE the beautiful birds! Right now, out here in the dock 🏠 house I am hearing some very interesting twittering from the East. Several birds talking. And behind me to the west… Several chirpers. A flock of something just flew by going east… But so far I don’t think they have noticed the bird feeder. The eastern sky is glowing pink cotton. It will be another beautiful day!

Today is the first day I read in new church. We were so busy yesterday with emptying clothing boxes and sorting tee shirts and working with Xfinity to automate our bill that I forgot a Sacristan meeting. I’m in training to work at the altar, but missing a meeting while in training isn’t the nicest thing! Mea Culpa! The people at the church are all wonderful. Yesterday at Adoration they were singing a special office and I went looking for a book and a lady came from the back to hand me one! Our pastor is very friendly, he smiles and talks to people after Mass, yet he is very serious when he says Mass. As it should be (in my opinion).

It is still here at sunrise. Yesterday Chuck hung 3 wind chimes, but not a sound this morning except birds!!! God bless us!

Good morning gentle readers! In the past few weeks the readings at church have been about Masters leaving stewards in charge and asking the stewards to take care of things and bear fruit! I always remember this time of year how many films there are by documentarians who show us the dust and fumes spent into the atmosphere which tries to absorb and clean our dust and dirt… How we spew gasoline and diesel fumes into the neighborhoods… How we cut down trees that can breathe in our filth and give us good oxygen back. I remember the stories of stewards who are given "talents"… one invests and gives the master back 10 times! One buries his talent and gives back the Master only the barest minimum. I remember especially the stewards left in charge of the vineyard who do not donate anything to the poor (as is directed in the Pentateuch) and who kill those the Master send to collect the fruit. What mean spirited greedy creeps they are. I think we all know these stories. And I think we know what we are supposed to do! I’m following the Sacristan around at St James so I can volunteer on days when someone can’t be there to serve! I also sang in the choir but I still have a froggy throat from cold I am mostly over…. Also I will serve on Fridays as Eucharisti Minister (St James offers Body and Blood in Communion. What a blessing.) Also as a good steward I must put out the bird feeder and give the birdies some "more" so they in turn will sing to me!!!!

Chuck and I are about 1/2 way through getting the inside of the house unboxed and put away. We agree we have to ditch some clothes and we eagerly await the electrician Brian who will move an electrical outlet so we can move one hutch into place and put "dining room" pretties into the hutch!!! Believe it or not, my socks have not turned up yet! I have about 2 "master bedroom boxes" to unload yet; surely socks willl turn up!!! From Lake Placid we send our greetings and we wish you God blessings! Boat’s not here yet, but soon we will be able to give boat rides!!!!!

"I thank the Lord Above… I got a roof over my head!!!!" sings Darius Rucker on Music Choices. Last night Chuck fell asleep before supper to Classical Music! If I can get him into a chair he will rest, but I’m telling you… we are like little dervishes here in Lake Placid! I woke up thinking of a welcome painting on the entry wall! When you come to visit you will see the town of Skagway photo and a fish greeting you! "Welcome!" the wall says…. I’m going to paint a frame around the fish and let him swim in fanciful water. Give me a few weeks to get that done!

It’s cool this morning in Lake Placid. I know because I was out digging in the garbage to find the coffee filter from my coffee pot! There was a bag that was covered with ants. HOW do they know??? Chuck handed me a can of Raid. The ants are dispatched and the coffee filter is soaking in soapy water. Who ever gave Susie something that can’t be thrown out…. they are silly. Chuck found all the refrigerator magnets and now the childrens’ graduation pictures and wedding announcements are hanging in fine style on the refrigerator. There’s a photo someone took of me and Debby at a book talk. Debby won my book in a drawing and she is holding it. Thanks to all of you who support me in my creative efforts both writing and painting. At the church yesterdy I met the church secretary who is writing a teen romance book…. maybe I can encourage her and we can do a little creative work together! It’s all cooperation and love! Time to get out of this chair before I grow roots! Time for morning Mass on television! God bless us all. Angels with us!

We packed everything we have and finally ended up making boxes and filling them in the late hours of move day minus 12 hours. I now have a bunch of boxes labled "kitchen/bedroom" in my Lake Placid house! At the last minute when I thought I was finished, we were still filling boxes and filling the car and the truck. It’s a good thing we did that because the mover’s truck was FULL. I say to YOU, "Go NOW and clean out under the sinks." Do you keep old sponges? Do you keep bottles of cleaners with 1 inch of cleaner in the bottom and buy and start using a new one? How many spice containers of your favorite spice, all open, all half used? My car looked like I went to the grocery store and bought EVERYTHING!!!! It’s a good idea to throw it out now as moving day is the wrong time. I threw stuff into plastic bags and loaded my trunk. This was right in hurricane season so I had several large cases of bottled water, lots of beer, and there was a sale on wine so …. We moved a lot of cleaners, beer, and wine! Moving morning was amazing. We hired "The Good Greek" a very professional organization. We saw one guy move furniture that Chuck and I could not budge!!! Chuck pulled out first with the truck and trailer FULL, then the movers jumped in their big "Greek" truck and headed off for Lake Placid. I was last and got to the house as the first items went in from the big truck. i was going to run off to Seabring and get Xfinity parts but I got involved in placement of furniture. When your furniture is wrapped in blankets and plastic… you might ask, "What is that ugly thing?" Finally all was placed… OH boy!!!!! It’s actually not TOO over crowded. (yes it is) Our wonderful helper Sergio came over and while Chuck and I lay prostrate in easy chair and couch, Sergio emptied my car and Chuck’s truck. I could not have lifted a box of kleenex out of the car at that point. Sergio left and promised to return to unload the trailer the next day and he did! Sergio is a high school sophomore of lovely manners and great strength. He wants to join the Coast Guard out of High School. So say a little prayer for Sergio to succeed! Meanwhile, I finally got into the car the next morning and sang my way to Seabring with the windows open! It was so beautiful at 8am. Cool, no traffic!!!! I went to the Xfinity store, Home Depot and Winn Dixie and talked to lots of people and had a great time!!! I bought a Bird Feeder that is squirrel proof and bird seed to attract birdies who live near by! Friend Peter hooked up the TV and internet. No easy task for 72 years average age old folks…. We now have beautiful television and I have to figure out how to work DVR and other 21st century features. We are still dancing and singing although we are a little bent over from the hard work of opening boxes and figuring out where stuff goes. i still haven’t found any socks. I had to confess to some of my friends that I couldn’t find underwear, but that problem has been solved. They were in with Chuck’s boots. Now where might the socks be? I’m going to have to get off this sofa and make dinner. We have a delightful Italian pizzaria really close but we have had it for 3 days in a row…. I might have to do something different or spark a rebellion. Actually we have chicken from Shorty’s bar be que on Bird Road so… I get one more reprieve day!!!!

I went for morning Mass for the first time today at St. James in Lake Placid… It was a beautiful morning Mass with singing and extra prrayer! The Sacristan asked me to be a Eucharistic Minister, giving the Blood of Christ (the concecrated wine), and I realized I have not done that in almost 2 years as I took up full time lectoring at St Timothy. Here there seem to be fewer people (probably the whole of Lake Placid is the size of St Timothy parish!!!). So I will serve with the choir on weekends if they will have me… and serve as lector on Fridays. I also will talk with the Pastor about putting my Catholic books into the chruch library. This is a great opportunity for me to serve in a small community who needs servers! The Sacristan took me over to the office to "sign up" as a new parishoner and I was careful to tell them that this big city girl with lots of talent and experience is "here to serve! not to lead"… What can I do for you? If you ask for this kind of service, people will ask for you to help!!! So, go, walk into a place where you are new and no one knows you (your parish church? a home for aged or chronically ill?) and ask, what can I do for you? The Lord knows exactly what he needs! YOU! God bless you dear readers.

Drew is here (young muscle). moving boxes that are stacked up in front of furniture that is to be moved on Wednesday by movers. Drew, my firefighter friend said I must get a blood pressure monitor and measure BP every day!!!!! He made me promise. Isn’t it funny how people can see what we need and we, stubborn, …. think, "Ill get to it…" … I promised to do it today.

Today I packed everything I could find in kitchen and bathroom and I left only what we will live on for 2 days. Moving is a mixed blessing. I hoped I would clean out a lot of stuff, but I’m afraid we are clinging to too much. Nobody wants our books or old stuff…. It is so hard to throw away our old stuff. I’m hoping when we get to the house we will also throw away more stuff. Clean out the old stuff for "the last days." I think the dust of the ages is what got into my nose and gave me the cold. Oh well. Enough complaining.

We think a friend needs to go to the doctor as we are seeing some changes in his speech and movement. He and wife won’t listen to us. Pray for each other, that we would listen to each other. Pick a friend you trust and listen!!!! Go take care of your self "for the last years!" God bless us. Angels with us.

I haven’t written since the 12th when I was developing a "little cold". Well sometime in the night Thursday I started coughing and I realized when I got up that this is no normal head cold. I can’t take over the counter meds due to aneurism and blood pressure so I called pneumologist. He’s at the hospital… So I took myself off to the Baptist hospital ER. The check in lady handed me a mask for the coughing and I was wisked in to a room in ER. BIood work, chest x-ray and a nose probe revealed clear lungs and a rhino virus. You don’t have to take antibiotic if it’s a virus. Juice is making me itchy (too much fruit)… Cough medicine makes me sleepy, but coughing is under control. I sleep a lot in between packing "the last boxes". Wow we have more than I thought!!!! Our plan is get some of the boxes out of here tomorrow courtesy of our new renter Drew’s muscle. I hope we don’t hurt him. Movers come Wednesday and arrange our furniture in Lake Placid. I’m changing addresses, and will do change of address with post office. So Wednesday is our official last day! God bless you dear family and friends!!! Pray for healing for Chuck and me!!!

Today is my Father’s birthday and in the Church we celebrate today the Holy Name of Mary, Mother of God. We talk about Gratitude to God for making a totally human, humble woman bear the Son of God on earth making Jesus true man (wholly man) and True God (wholly God). What a mystery. Thank God for coming here and showing us we don’t have to bear the cross alone. He’s already done that for us! Gratitude is Thanksgiving which in Greek is Eucharistia, Eucharist. Celebrate Thanksgiving today to God for coming to earth and walking with us, and giving us himself to eat. Jews of Jesus’ time were scandalized by this whole "eat my body, drink my blood" speech which Jesus made in Matthew, Mark, and Luke…. but we take it as true and "do it in memory of Jesus." Yesterday I talked about a man who loved worship so much he served at two churches! His legacy is children, grand children and great grand children. I’ve seen the younger teenagers helping Grand Dad at conventions, especially in St Mary’s Georgia where we celebrate the WWII submarine veterans. Celebrate your veteran. Celebrate your father, and Thank God.

We girls (three of us) had a rocky relationship with our father. He had an illness that might have been genetic for we all seem to share the melancholy, polarity, and depressions that ached in him. He lost his mother, his wife and his daughter (my sister Annette) in a short time and it shook him more than he could handle. I think he left big parts of his heart in that cemetary upon a hill in Pittsburgh. All three McCarthy women (Sarah, Freda, and Annette) are buried together under a beautiful Irish Celtic headstone. So what did I get… a part of a man. 6 feet Tall, blue eyed, handsome actually… I remember playing with his tobacco stained fingers on the back of a church seat. I remember curling up in his chair late at night and eating cheese off a saucer he was nibbling from. He read books, and I learned the love of reading and writing from him. He fixed things. I remember him tinkering with the old Ford and teasing another 50,000 miles out of it. We didn’t have much, but I gained a love for books, writing and education from him. Remember the Concorde? When I was in grade school, I had to write about a new invention and I was stumped. "Write about the SST," he said, "What??" I researched and read all the latest on the British and French relationship (that failed) and the building of the Concorde…. Long before it was officially out, I had my paper out there. God bless Fathers today for giving good suggestions and influencing children in the good things. Fathers, influence your children! In the Good things. God bless you.

Fred Richards joined the Navy at the age of 15 (lying about his age). He wanted to be a submariner. Who wants THAT …? An underwater target. Doomed to sink to the bottom. Lost. And so it happens in war. And we honor the brave and we might whisper behind our hand… (foolish). If on a surface ship and hit by munitions… You could jump off. If a submarine is wounded, she just sinks to the bottom. Davy Jones’ Locker. Fred talked of being taken into submarine service and qualifying… Then transferred and on her next mission the boat he qualified on was sunk. His buddies, gone. Yet Fred continued to serve, with passion and honor. He loved service. He loved God, and in fact he served at two churches because he believed so much in worship of God. He and his wife went to Catholic church and served there, and they went to a local (beautiful) Methodist Church and they served there too! God bless our friend Fred who was double dipping! He had his Methodist minister and his Catholic priest blessing him today! Let us all go serve the Lord like a humble submariner did! God bless you Fred. God bless our troops and sailors today. Patriots Day.

Oh my goodness I cannot believe we are watching old episodes of old shows!!! I have a shed to clean out, but it’s going to be hot out there! I promise myself I’ll eat lunch, go work in the shed for one hour, and then jump in the lake for an hour. My patient, Chuck, is happily eating clam chowder with added broccoli and cheese. I don’t know what’s worse after belly / hernia surgery, the lower belly pain, the incisions (3), or the sore throat from the trach .. all 3 are what is making Chuck be obedient! Oh well… He’s eating and sleeping so healing will take place. It’s me being lazy stretched out on the sofa and reading. Occasionally looking up at TV. The weather is beautiful and I am sorry for our Bahamian neighbors. Be sure to donate something even the time to go over for a week if you can to volunteer clean up time! Remember the beautiful vacations we have spent in the Bahamas! It’s payback time. God bless you!

Chuck and I are watching an old Kevin Costner movie, "Field of Dreams." Poor Chuck is chair and house bound. I think his belly hurts but he won’t say too much. He’s "tough"! Friends Dave and Drew (our new renter, Dave’s son) will be coming over later to plan the loading of the trailer with stuff from our sheds and carrying it to Lake Placid. This is not what I imagined. My dream was downsizing…. Instead everything seems to be going north and double hernias is the result. Hmmmmm. What’s next? I love the movie. Even if you have seen it, watch it again! Then go outside and play! Enjoy life. Thank God.

Home. When we were little we sang a song on what seemed like everlasting never ending car trips…. "Oh show me the way to go home…. I’m tired and I want to go to bed." It’s in our hearts and in our bellies. Finally, Chuck and I got to go home. He’s fine. In fact he got served dinner and coffee in his recovery room. They might have been holding him looking at his blood pressure that was a little high… which it never is… or they just wanted to let him sleep…. So. We are home on our easy chair and sofa watching a Mission Impossible. Totaly mindless and then…. we will fall asleep. … Let us thank God for blessings tonight! And let us wake up refreshed and go out and help someone! Praising and singing. God bless you!!!

Doctor said Chuck is repaired. Doctor will review all when we see him in 8 days! Chuck is in recovery and I have a book to read while waiting!! I will probably be awake for days as I’ve had 5 cups of coffee ( they have a machine that makes wonderful flavored coffees! ) If I were at home I would curl up with a book and watch him sleep. Here I have to let post op ladies watch him. That’s the hard part .. letting others be in charge!!! I’m reading and waiting until he is released. Thank you my angels for praying for success .. and thank Chuck’s guardian angel for being with him!!! God bless us!

Many of us spent DAYS waiting to see what Dorian is going to do. … I wrote about waiting, which involved packing boxes, watching movies, swimming, cooking and drinking wine! This waiting for surgery is different. First "they" strip you naked and give you a gown. "Don’t tie it up; we will be moving it"… Then "they" search for veins. Actually the "they" here at Baptist hospital are pretty girls. I think they do that so we will relax being proded and poked .. Chuck was so calm! I was the nervous one and I had nothing to do and no place to go. When they rolled him off to surgery… him sleepy, I wanted to throw myself on that bed and be the one under the warm blanket. It’s hard to wait when a loved one is in the eye of the storm. God be with my dear husband !!!

Dorian is expected to hang over Bahamas for a day…. That means serious flooding… The strongest hurricane ever recorded with a well defined eye wall. Very sad for small islands. Then the hurricane takes a look at Florida… a long slow look…. What’s going on at my house is moving. Our new renter Drew is going to move his stuff in to the bar room and he and his father Dave came to move our heavy stuff out of the way. We have designated all the stuff movers will move and all the rest of my stuff that can be packed will be packed into boxes for the movers. Then Chuck and I have to live here until the 18th… So, I am praying for a successful surgery for Chuck that he recovers from by watching movies, reading books and resting. Then the final move on the 18th. God bless us and God bless Bahamians and America.

Seen on the internet. Priceless: "Waiting for a hurricane is like being stalked by a turtle." … And I add… "This turtle might squat down at the coast line and lick his chops."

I’m hearing words like Dorian and devastating in the same sentence. Chuck and I are at peace though. We have our new house with a new metal roof but a flimsy metal roof over porch… We installed a new shed in Lake Placid and it will be anchored tomorrow (Saturday) morning. The garage doors are stuck in the closed position and they will not rise up…. Some stuff including all my art supplies and art papers are in the porch where the art room will be…. It’s nothing I can’t lose if there is a porch leak (I can always recreate and use my imagination!!!) …. Wicker furniture is in the porch but that will dry. So we will hunker down here in Miami which withstood Andrew, Katrina (now has a rebuilt roof), and Irma. Chuck has an appointment with the VA at 1pm. They say even though he is on Medicare, he should sign up as they will help with hearing aids, which I’m sad to say, he needs. Then he’s heading north to Lake Placid taking hurricane supplies for shutters from neighbor George to a friend we have up in Lake Placid. We are so blessed with our friends!!!! So my dears, pray for Florida. Remember as you watch the news, the hurricane isn’t THAT big (isn’t as big as the big balloon), but that is the cone of uncertainty. It might enter Florida at Palm Beach and then head north, south, or west. We (ALL of Florida) have to be prepared. My prayer is: "God bless us. Send angels. Convert those, Lord, who do not believe in YOU." Love Susie

As I typed this title, I wrote Jesus the Fisherman. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus was a carpenter, "by trade", but he didn’t choose any carpenters to walk with him, rather fishermen and a tax collector. Yesterday I had occasion to call upon Jesus the Carpenter when Chuck got stuck in one of his many projects where I have called for help…. As we were leaving Lake Placid to come home for a doctor’s appointment today (the surgeon wants to do an ultrasound on Chuck’s 2 hernias), the garage door wouldn’t close…. So Chuck went into the garage and stayed for quite a long time… He came back to the truck to tell me it might be a while longer, he is looking for a bigger wrench. It turns out that when we unloaded the trailer into the garage there were a lot of poles, wood, pipe, etc and they were stacked in the front corner of the garage, but they shifted and fell into the track of the garage door as it was being closed. Broke a spring? I’m not sure. Lots of banging at a bent track, trying to get the wheels out of the broken track, etc, and the door was all bent and not straight…. I looked at Chuck struggling, and I couldn’t help because I’m not strong and not able to lift half the door, and not supposed to anyway… so I did the only thing left, I prayed, "Jesus the Carpenter, we need help here." I walked out to the truck to get a small tool box of widgets for Chuck and I saw a truck pulling up. The Property Appraiser. Never in our lives have Property Appraiser or Building and Zoning been our friend, but I saw "young muscle." Indeed he was coming to see us because our tax roll had some items on it that we didn’t recognize. I said, "Hi, do you know anything about garage doors?" He looked at the sorry wreck of door, half way down, one side much lower than the other…. and he said, "looks like a broken spring." I said, "you ought to see the other side." The door was literally falling apart on the inside. So the 2 boys, Chuck and the Property Appraiser, went off to the back yard to look at our boat dock which is 3 taxable units!!! Yes! you put a roof on a boat dock and it’s called a gazebo. Put on a little deck and it’s called something else. Three taxable units. OK! So then the nice guy said, "Let’s look at that door," and into the garage they went. Together they lowered the door. He gave us the names of 2 garage door installers and we left for Miami. Sometimes when we get into trouble, a call to Jesus the Carpenter, who must have called for help himself at times, is in order. Thank God.

This weekend was a little costlier that we wished. When we got to the house, the garage door didn’t work, the push button for it didn’t work, and the master bedroom lights didn’t work. At this point one goes to the fuse box. When that doesn’t work, you call an electrician. He actually came at 6pm and found the problem. When the concrete guys put in the pathway between house, slab for shed, and to the dock, they cut an electric wire to the dock and that shorted out the electric to the garage. Ah ha! Problem fixed by Brian the electric guy. Bedroom light and garage door and overhead garage light now lighted! We will call Brian back as we still need electric to the dock to lift the boat and put up dock lights. Thank you Brian. The Air conditioning guys came to open up the vents to the porches, but it was still hot in there. It is so hot this summer, as the nation knows. When the air conditioning guys came, I was painting the bathroom in my underpants as I couldn’t find my painting shorts. It very necessary for me to wear painting shorts as I do tend to bump into my own work. And this time sure enough I was scrubbing paint off hips and thighs. I painted the master bathroom and entry room as they were dark… but my color still looks dark. Could be the lighting, but at least it’s less dark than it was. We are ready for the movers on September 3. Today we go for ultrasound so doctor can make sure he sees a clear path to Chuck’s hernias. Also pre op blood work for Chuck today so he couldn’t drink any wine last night and he sure needed it after the garage door scuffle!!!! I am fine, I swam with Mike for over an hour in the lake and the rains didn’t come. Today looks sunny for a while so I will hang laundry. If it rains we get a third rinse. No problem. God bless you!!!! Angels with us. And Jesus the Carpenter. Thank God!

For a few days we are camping at our home in Lake Placid, in a subdivision named Placid Lakes. Boxes everywhere. We called an electrician (Brian) because the electric wasn’t working in garage he came at 6pm, worked for an hour, discovered the walkway was built over a cable that was probably cut…. $80. Now an A/C guy is here on the button of 9am… We are opening A/C ducts to the "Lanai" where the wicker room is. We talk gently of cutting a doorway between living room and wicker room. It’s Friday and I have boxes to unpack, oh and clean the grate over the A/C intake. Kathie and George are driving up from Miami for dinner! Busy busy. I’m resting Chuck as much as possible and preparing him for hernia surgery on Sept 5… God bless you! Thank God. Angels with us!

I was very frightened when I heard my sister Sarah was in ICU having trouble speaking and moving her right side after a stroke that knocked her flat on her face on the floor. It took about 4 days to "bring Sarah back" and after a lot of testing, micro artery disease is the culprit. Treatment is the common high blood pressure and cholesterol meds many of us already take. We might complain about taking the meds, but it’s the best defense against stroke according to Mayo clinic. Erin and I did exercises with Sarah last night and we realized how little we do… Erin hunched over a phone and PC all day, Sarah and I, while we are active, both spend a lot of time reading, doing art, writing, watching TV. So we 3 women pledged to "move more". I sat outside this morning in Sarah’s courtyard garden with an amazing trumpet tree hanging over me, trumpet flowers blowing against my hair! The 2 dogs come out into the garden to play, sniffing all the wonderful smells, chasing bugs. It is no wonder Sarah wanted to come home! It is quiet and serene, and cool, in the morning garden. The only sounds are birds. Today I will go south and meet Chuck at Building and Zoning to validate Chuck’s shed project. He drove up to Lake Placid with another trailer full. I certainly hope he left 2 towels and a spoon or two as we will be in and out of the Miami house until Sept 17 when we hope Chuck is released from Miami by his hernia surgeon. God bless us!

My sister Sarah, artist extraordinaire, creator of beautiful art; Imaginer of color and shape, walks slowly and crawls into bed, worn out. We are blessed a hundred times because Sarah, felled by a micro artery stroke was found by her daughter soon after the stroke. Erin called 911 who picked my sister off the floor and carried her to a premier stroke center at the Mayo clinic here in Jacksonville. She’s home a week later, unimpaired, but tired. Life isn’t easy and then our body starts betraying us! Little arteries start to clog with plaque. Dentists scrape plaque off my teeth and warn me to floss, but there isn’t a plaque scraper for arteries, until one fails us. We have had a busy first day home. Eat breakfast, get dressed, negotiate to pay a bill tomorrow, meet visiting nurse for an hour, talk with sister Susie (me) and daughter Jennie. Finally, eyes giving up and closing, Sarah sleeps. Let us live our lives with energy. Move a lot and exercise. Make our brains work. Create! So that when one nasty clogged micro artery goes, perhaps a new one is standing by to take over. The brain will regenerate. Trust you will survive. Angels with us.

Is it possible I wonder that an inner city could be rehabilitated so that children could play and go to school in peace? Is it possible that children could eat breakfast and then read and study, color, paint, play music and dance, learning that they have beautiful talents? Is it possible that Federal money intended for growth and cleanup is misspent? Is it possible that everyone, "we all", could stop talking and go take a look at our own inner city, take a tablet and make a list of "things to do". And make it happen? Today I pray that rhetoric stops and conversation begins. I pray for peace in every heart and honest thinking. God bless us.

So Karla says as she steps out onto the deck, coffee in hand, dog at heels. George Winston plays the piano on Alexa and we sip coffee and remember this last fun week. "Did you sleep well?" "Yes with the door open"… 60 degrees outside the open door. Quilt pulled up snug under my chin. Karla’s son Brad and family of lovely wife Becca and 2 little sweet kids and 2 dogs are coming for a visit. The Boone mountain house will hear laughter once again!!! Ahhhhhh…. long sigh of a little sadness that we have to leave, but also some excitement that we will be receiving the keys to our new house in Lake Placid on Wednesday. I think they have Bible study at Lake Placid church at 10 am after Mass… but I don’t think we will get there in time. But in the future. And future is a good thing to think about and all the gifts God has to offer. Say yes! this beautiful morning and live. God bless you!!!!!

It’s getting to where we are spoiled with cafe eating, wonderful leftovers (not beanie wienie), wine, fires set by Chuck in the fire place, movies, walks with "the dog" Jessie, petting the dog who comes to sit next to me and is so grateful for attention! I think both the ladies in this house (Jessie and Karla) are very sad because 9 months ago they lost a husband and a friend, Mark, with a boisterous laugh, a fine sense of the beautiful and thereby a fine talent at beautiful art, a love of music and singing (shall I repeat boisterous?). We lost a good friend, but the angels received his joy! What a soothing vacation this is for all of us! Today is Saturday. Clear and starting at 51 degrees. We already took a walk and found a centipede! Jessie sniffed it and probably most intelligently, left it alone. I’ll bet they sting if you chomp into them. Ok my gentle readers. On the schedule for today in Lake Placid is the Calladium festival which we will miss this year but make it next year!!! Join us next year! God bless you. Angels with us!

Jessie the Golden loves to be petted and I think she has found her match in Susie who will pet as long as the dog likes. We drove into town and Jessie sits on her side of the back seat and puts her paws and head in my lap … She is all ready for a nice dinner where she sits under the table and eats what we drop which… we do.  I tried to give Karla some of my salad and some dropped so the dog chomped on salad greens and corn with joy. It is quiet and peaceful here on the mountain in Boone. A lovely place to send kids to school (Appalacian State U)… and celebration of Appalacian Summer is underway. We are home now from dinner and ready to watch a movie (I’m thinking Gray Gardens)… Last two nights I was off to bed at 8 and then 9. Tonight I’m going for it! Going to stay up for the movie!!!!  God bless you!

We are visiting my college friend Karla in Boone, NC. The red dog is Jessie a red Golden retriever! She has a big fan tail which she happily waves like a plume or a flag when she goes out for a walk on trails smelling of deer and squirrels! Jessie loves attention so a dangling hand gets the occasional nudge with the unspoken plea "Nobody pets me! Please pet my ears, my muzzle . My forehead!" So I just sat down on the floor and spent some time with her! We took a walk earlier and now Jess is curled up with her bunny. What a quiet life the mountain here in Boone is. It’s a lovely cool day. We drove up to South Windsor, CT. In soaring temperatures up to 101 to celebrate cousins Barbara and Kenneth’s 60th wedding anniversary. Stayed with Chuck’s sister Thelma and ate great food including lobster, clams and oysters!!! It started a deluge of raining the afternoon we left CT and didn’t really let up while a cool front moved in. We would have taken the blue ridge parkway to Boone but it was shrouded in fog and rain. Mountain roads in fog just not for me. Today Karla and I will go to Mass at noon and then pick up Jessie and Chuck for a outdoor cafe treat in Banner Elk! Angels with us! Thank God.