St. Gertrude’s Monastery

A couple of weekends ago, I (Cynthia) enjoyed a four day retreat at St. Gertrude’s Monastery in Cottonwood, Idaho.   This was my fourth trip there in the last few years and I was happy to return to this peaceful place that has been so meaningful to me.  (You can see a bit about the monastery here: http://www.stgertrudes.org/index.html)

The journey itself is good preparation for the time there.  It is an eight hour drive to Cottonwood from Seattle and along the way, one passes from city to suburbs to mountains to desert and finally to prairie.  The drive there was one of my favorite parts of the weekend.  Four of us rode together and had wonderful conversations about sex, politics, religion (while managing to remain friendly : ) and all kinds of other topics.

Once at the monastery, the days were mostly the same.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were eaten with the sisters (mostly all elderly, lovely women).  Morning Praise, Afternoon Prayer, and Vespers (one of those was usually Mass) were celebrated every day.  The rest of the day was for us to spend on our own.  I alternated between reading Scripture, praying, journaling, resting, and hiking.

I took two beautiful hikes during which I had views like this:

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was a couple of hours I spent sitting in this field of wildflowers.  The only thing I could hear was bees buzzing, crickets singing, the wind blowing through the trees and the birds – so many different kinds of beautiful birds.

I did spend a lot of time over the weekend thinking about Abigail and Tim back home.  Abigail was sick when I left and not herself at all.  Of course, Tim did a wonderful job caring for her but it was hard to not be with my sick baby!

All in all, I had a lovely weekend and am thankful that I had the opportunity to enjoy the beauty and peacefulness of St. Gertrude’s once again.

Summer Day on the Beach

 

 

It’s a very happy coincidence when beautiful sunny days coincide with the weekend or a holiday. This Saturday, that just so happened.

Of course, 75 degrees (~26 C) hardly sounds like “beach weather” for some (my family in chicago and DC have 90+ degrees!), but here in Seattle this was a lovely sign of summer. We spent the whole day on the beach overlooking the city and the mountains. Boy, it doesn’t get much better.

4 Years In…

 

4 years ago Thursday, this family began.  It was the hottest day in the month of May in Seattle’s recorded history (this site says it was 90 degrees; other sites say 92).  It was absolutely gorgeous, and I remember every minute of it, from waking up nervous, to taking pictures in the park early in the morning, to taking pictures with my groomsmen, pre-ceremony jitters… well, you get the idea.  It was an amazing day, and I still have people who were there tell me how much they enjoyed it.

Since, then, boy a lot has happened!  We lived in another country, I got a degree, we’ve moved 3 times, we had a baby (with another along the way), we moved back to the states, I switched careers.  I am now listening to our almost-2-yr-old protest taking her nap while trying to get stuff done around the house.  A lot of stuff has happened.  Maybe all that is predictable- that’s what happens when you get married!  But, looking back, it still seems like a lot.

I suppose God gives us anniversaries and other holidays to get a chance to take our breath and take stock of where we’ve been… and, to give thanks.

 

 

Small Group Night on the Houseboat in Lake Union

Surge Survivor

Well, it’s been a few years since we got stuck in a hairy situation on the West Coast Trail, but this weeks Backpacker Magazine features our ordeal.

Reading it, it occurs to me how dangerous a situation we were in.  (I suppose this goes without saying?  But reading it from a third-person perspective really helps see it this way even more…).  One of the ‘expert commentators’ footnotes’ on our plight mentions that, in June, the tides can vary as much as seven feet btw high and low tide.  And, that sea water is so heavy that even water coming up to your knees can sweep an adult over easily.  It didn’t help that we were kneeling at the time!

Weekend with Friends

Cyn & I are in Chicago to visit family and friends.  This weekend, I got together with some friends from High School.  We’ve made it an annual gathering to get together in the spring, and as always it’s always great to see how things have changed (and how they haven’t )

 

 

 

Aunt Colleen & Uncle Drew visit The Tonight Show

Colleen & Drew are vacationing in SoCal for the next few days, and they stopped by to see Jay Leno during their LA stint. You can see them on Friday night’s show (link: www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/friday-march-2-2012/1388792) from the 0.30-1.00 segment. They were part of the group that rushes out to see Jay as he makes his entrance at the beginning of the show. I think they both got to shake Jay’s hand. (drew is the guy all the way over on the right, with the baseball cap & beard. Colleen is just to his right in black)

Judging from their attire, it looks like LA’s weather is a little warmer than Seattle. When I think about our weather yesterday (a few wet snowflakes!), it makes me wish we had a little more sun.