July 26, 2011

A couple really nice days right now.  Sounds like the weather will be more active this coming night!  Lord, protect us all from violent storms.  Last Saturday morning we got 8/10s of an inch of rain in 25 minutes.  I know some of you got more than that.

Saturday afternoon I went outside to get a bit of fresh air.  Then I saw the pick-up by the Community Gardens and remembered that this was the day for the Community Garden Tour (Sponsored by Grace Covenant Church).  So I went over to talk to Ron.  He gave me a program of places that were on the list.  Two of them were within two blocks of the Motherhouse…and two of them were right here on our campus.  One of them was the Community Gardens that I’ve mentioned before—68 plots cared for by people of the area.  The other was Sister Ruth’s Campus Garden along with the rhubarb patch, orchard, and other things.  Sr. Ruth is a Horticulturalist and knows how to get the best results.

Then I went to Lucy’s home on St. Joseph Street.  There were beautiful annuals, perennials and a vegetable patch…so many colorful flowers in such a small space…and one patch of  “no  mow” grass. 

Next I went to the Barnes’ back yard on 8^th Ave.  The first thing one sees is an arched gate covered with a huge grape vine with lots of grapes.  Then I saw a mix of plants and antiques.  Very nice.

While talking about plants, I stopped to see “Sr. Deb’s Garden.”  Sr. Deb died last year, but she had a beautiful flower garden where she lived in Flensburg.  Last fall several  Sisters and others moved many of the flowers to the field across from the Grotto and put it into two flower patches.  The lilies had mostly been picked and put in chapel, but there were many lovely flowers still blooming in the gardens.

Each month we celebrate a Department.  This month we honor the Music Department.  The Sobania  Family gave us a 15-minute strings concert…the mother on the keyboard and 4 of her children.  What a lovely treat to hear such beautiful music.

The Music Center was started by Sr. Cecilia in 1979.  A typical week included 271 private lessons, 6 music theory lessons, 56 dancers, 30 gymnasts, 6 piano party kids, 5 violin party students and 22 Preschool Arts Kids.  The “party” kids are group lessons.  Students come from Staples, Browerville, Long Prairie, Onamia, Rice and Little Falls.

Sisters Olga and Blasé were playing with some of the kittens one evening after supper.

Last week, Tuesday through Thursday, 28 Directors of Nursing were here for a Nursing Leadership Symposium sponsored by the Aging Service of MN.  The participants came form all parts of Minnesota.

May the Lord continue to care for you. and those you love.
Let us pray for the people of Norway as they mourn the deaths of so many young people.
And let us pray for our own country.

Pax et Bonum,

Sister Mary Lou

Everybody is talking about the weather!

Everybody is talking about it! What other than the weather!!! In mid-winter I expect my glasses to frost over when I go outside…but to have it happen in mid-July! That is something very different. The high temperatures and high humidity these past few days has been something else! The heat index was over 105 degrees yesterday. All the motherhouse windows were frosted over with little drops of water on the outside of the windows, from top to bottom because it was cooler inside than outside. I’ve never seen anything like that before… and all the people having to clean up after rain and wind storms the past week! Prayers for protection from storms are frequent this year.


Right now I am back to using my battery-operated cart because I took a tumble last Thursday and sprained my ankle. But I can still get around.

Saturday I took a quick trip half way around the building. I went out the west door and came in the east door. I saw interesting things on my short journey. This is a picture of the flower bed near the front door of the Motherhouse. It is a very welcoming invitation to come for a visit.

Then as I went around the north side, I saw this unique bicycle-built-for-two. Two folks were most probably exercising in the Health and Recreation area--probably swimming.

Next I noticed the lovely flowers by the Health and Recreation entrance. I was reminded that I wanted to write about the new Health and Recreation Director that has just been hired. Jennifer Basch, currently our part-time Volunteer Coordinator, will assume the part-time Health and Recreation position after we find a new person to fill her current position. Congratulations, Jennifer. Thank you.

My next stop was to tell the Receptionist that I was back in the building. And I saw this beautiful bouquet of lilies give us by Norb Kaiser. Every so often he shares the beauties of his garden with us. Thank you.

On Friday, Fr. Nick Landsberger will celebrate 11 a.m. Mass here at the Motherhouse and then have lunch with us. It is our little way of celebrating his 50th Ordination Anniversary. We are part of St. Mary’s Parish since our campus is in that parish.

Last Friday night into Saturday morning was our Relay for Life event in Little Falls. What a grand success it was. So far the total collected for this cancer drive is $140,633.00. That is a lot of money! And more money is still coming in. There were 28 teams doing the walking at the High School track. Each team had at least one member on the track at all times until 7 a.m. Saturday. God bless you and thank you to organizers, team members and all who helped with this big event. God blessed us with a nice evening and night for the walk.

Pax et Bonum. Pray for protection from storms…and for all the people cleaning up after the storms we’ve had.

Sister Mary Lou