A friend of mine was going to a conference in New Orleans last week. Since she’d never been there, she arranged to stay a few extra days for a mini-vacation. The person who was going to join her ended up having to cancel, so she called and asked if I was available, and if I wanted to go. I was, and I did, so I booked a flight to New Orleans, and met her at her hotel as soon as the conference was over. This [...]
“We don’t take a vow of poverty,” he told us. “We take a vow of simplicity.” The person speaking was a Trappist monk who was leading the retreat I attended at my church last weekend. At the start of the retreat, he shared some of his background, answered some questions, and corrected some mistakes and misconceptions about what his day-to-day life is like, adding that the beliefs many people have about monks and monasteries come more from Hollywood than they do from reality. I enjoyed [...]
The beautiful fall colors haven’t fully made their way here to Georgia yet, but there’s no mistaking the change of seasons. I’m not really crazy about the dark of night coming earlier and earlier in the day, but the brisk, cool weather is a welcome respite after the heat and humidity of summer. These are changes we expected, of course. But there have been a few surprises for us in our new home as summer turned to fall. One is the sparkle on the water [...]
I logged in almost 3,000 miles this week, starting with a two-hour drive to the Atlanta airport, then a flight to Minneapolis, and finally a scenic drive from there across the Canadian border and on to Winnipeg. There I spoke - along with two other women - for approximately 20 minutes to the Rotary Club of Winnipeg. After the meeting, we got back in the car and did the trip in reverse. Not all at once, but over the course of a few days. It [...]
I have often read that even if you work from home, you should get dressed every day as if you were going in to the office. How you’re dressed changes your attitude, your attention, and even your voice when you’re talking on the phone. And I know this to be true. A “Decluttering” website I used to subscribe to takes this premise even further, saying you should get dressed all the way to your shoes, which should have lace-up ties or buckles. No slip-ons that [...]
“We take love out into the community.” Of all the statements I heard last Saturday night, that is the one that touched me the most – and has stayed with me ever since. My husband and I were at a Wine and Cheese gathering for new parishioners at our church. We met a number of other new members there, as well as some long-time parishioners. And we chatted with some of the people we see regularly at Mass, but had never officially met before. In [...]
My book club met this week, and when I got home after the meeting, I realized my cell phone was missing. I always keep it in a side pocket of my purse, so I figured it probably fell out in the car. But I searched the entire car, and didn’t find it anywhere. I then dialed the number from our house phone, even though I had turned the sound off on my cell phone so it wouldn’t ring during the meeting. After that, I searched [...]
We were nervous and concerned when we went to bed last Sunday night. Not for ourselves, but for our daughter and son-in-law in Orlando, which was expected to get pounded by Hurricane Irma during the night. On Monday morning, we talked to our daughter, who told us they had a scary and sleepless night, and now had a yard full of tree limbs and other debris, but only minor damage from the storm. And, miraculously, they still had power, while most of the surrounding areas [...]
We are still without power after the storm. I am sending this from a remote location. I will post as soon as I can.
I can’t remember any other time when something I’ve written in my weekly column or blog became so outdated so quickly. But it was just last week that I wrote, “Hurricane Harvey is the most recent storm to wreak havoc on everyone in and beyond its path.” That’s no longer true. Hurricane Irma, which has already done horrendous damage and is set to hit southern Florida by tonight, now has that dubious distinction. Like many people in the Southeast and throughout the country, we’ve had [...]