Category: Susie’s musings

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.