Mary Prayer Garden Establishment

Two enterprising Mesa State University coeds worked over the weekend in our new back patio area to help create a meditation garden. "Before" pictures three days ago would have shown aspen tree branches hanging down to the ground, completing obliterating the view of a raised tree bed area. If only pictures had recorded progress from Friday through Sunday... 

(Friday afternoon, half way finished pruning)

Megan's dad, a horticulturist, Face Timed with her and helped us decide which aspen branches to remove (all below fence line). Then Allie and Megan put their shoulders and backs to the test and trimmed branches, hauled gravel away from the bed, raked in a dozen bags of topsoil and compost, and planted a stature of the Virgin Mary in an elevated pot, placing St. Frances in another small stand of trees in the corner.  Water added, task completed!

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(birds and bunnies placed beside St. Frances)

The young women are helping to finance their Alternative Spring Break to El Salvador in 2017, sponsored by The Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Parish.  What a win-win proposition for us! 

Allie and Megan did excellent work and created a peaceful, spiritual, meditative space. We are all anxious to see how this space looks after the ajuga gets rooted in for the winter, with future herbs to be planted around the border of the bedded area. Thank you, girls!

Father Isaac and Very Reverend Father Don Malin

It is our privilege to have become members of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Parish this year.  Gene and I have grown in faith and have acquired new friends and spiritual partners in this parish.  The two priests serving at the parish are the Very Reverend Father Don P. Malin, V.F. and Father Isaac Kariuki, originally from Kenya. Here are a few pictures  of them over the past months.

Father Isaac Kairuki, fall of 2015 at RCI

 

Fr. Isaac, June, 2016

 

Fr. Isaac and Gene, June, 2016 at dinner

 

Father Don Malin, January, 2016, blessing our house

 

Father Don, March 2016

 

Father Don, March 2016 at Easter Vigil

 

 From this week at IHM:



'Just Believers'

Fr. Don Malin's band, 'Just Believers' will be performing after the 4PM mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Saturday, June 11th. The Knight's of Columbus will have a cook out and offer hot dogs and hamburgers! Come offer Fr Don and Fr Isaac a Happy Birthday!  

Fr. Don and the Just Believers, June 11, 2016





The Just Believers performed about a dozen pieces last night to an enthusiastic crowd.  Great meal, fun time

Photographic Mistakes

Thinking I was achieving a modicum of expertise with the camera, I snapped about two dozen or so pictures at the April 21 meeting of Brush and Palette with artist Kay Crane kindly providing the demonstration.  With humility and regret I report now that, every single one was lost due to my error. During the editing process, I inadvertently erased the entire album from my computer.  Alas, even after consulting experts from Google and Picasa, it was confirmed that I did the biggest no-no ever by deleting the album with one wrong key stroke.  The April meeting will go down without any visuals saved for posterity.  And Kay presented so well.  And we had a different venue for the meeting, with colorful backgrounds.  It is like telling you I caught a big fish, but he got away.  Those pictures were pretty good, really they were.

I was humbled by this faux paux but struggle forward and continue to volunteer my humble photographic efforts.  On May 7, about 50 individuals will be receiving their First Eucharist at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, and a photographer is needed to record their special day.  Yep, I will try.

Here is one picture of a baptism I photographed at the Easter Vigil service that has to be tops for sweetness and innocence appeal.

On the daughter front, she is getting along.  Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary since her husband's death.  You can imagine how that is impacting Julie.  She bought flowers this week for Sunday services in their former church in Rock Hill, SC to commemorate that anniversary.

Knitting: Reyna Shawl, about 1/3 completed and linking with Ginny and her Yarn Along:

Click on the Yarn Along Box to see what others are sharing this week on Ginny's blog