Catholic road trips worth taking: and when you visit those monuments, marvels and miracles, don’t forget to hang around for Mass: the biggest marvel and miracle of all
TRAVEL
SO MUCH WE DO NOT SEE OR UNDERSTAND
I also learned only recently that pineapples don’t grow on trees. “They’re grown from the center of a leafy plant. They are an aggregate fruit, which is formed from a cluster of flowers, or inflorescence.”
I mean after a lifetime of opening Dole cans, who knew?
THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY HERE
Meanwhile, I am noting with interest and amusement the differences between Tucson and LA.
One: tons of people smoke!
HOMEGIRL
Whoa. Here’s some advice. Do not EVER move. Just kidding! What I really mean is: Do not ever move unless you have as your moving crew Dennis, Tensie, Donald and Alan. I am safely in my new place in Tucson, as of a week ago today, and I am still reeling from the way that […]
NEXT DOOR
As I pack up more and more stuff, it’s also interesting to see what’s left; what’s essential as I more or less camp out for a few days. Six 12-ounce packages of Starbucks French roast (I buy them expired on ebay). A giant container of pure cane sugar. A glass of roses from the garden. My portable prayer box (breviary, Magnificat, candle, incense, matches). A small old wooden crucifix. Three rosaries.
SAINTS ALIVE!
Pasadena native Mary Lea Carroll has written two engaging books on saints. The first, Saint Everywhere: Travels in Search of the Lady Saints, came out in 2019. In it, she travels among other places to Siena (St. Catherine), Prague (Infant Jesus) and Medjugorje (Our Lady of Peace). This year, just in time for Christmas, comes […]
COAST TO COAST
I always laugh when people say “I hope you enjoyed your retreat!” or “your vacation!” I do enjoy it, all of it, but my life and my travel are almost militarily disciplined and at all times retain a pilgrimage aspect. I often fast in my way, I always walk miles. This last trip to NYC […]
PROJECTS AND PLOWSHARES
I haven’t much checked in as of late. This is in large part because I have many PROJECTS. One: I am making a will! That’s right: getting “my affairs” in order, a task upon which I’ve been procrastinating for probably five years. So the ball is rolling. That feels good. It’s a lot of work. […]
CAMBRIA, CA
Hi. I’m in Cambria on the California Central Coast, on terrible circadian rhythm where I get max five or six hours a night of sleep. No matter. Those are the things of this world. Had fugue state pleasant drive up yesterday on about four hours of sleep, wheeled into town, sprang into action, explored both […]
TRANSITIONING FROM THE HERMITAGE
Now that I’ve completed it, here’s what my month-long artist’s residency looked like: Up at 5:30 for the stupendous sunrise, then prayer, then work, then usually 11:30 Mass, then lunch, then my chore of helping put away the dishes, then more work or a nap or a phone call, then the hour-long walk up the […]
THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE
How quickly my time has gone at the Monastery of St. Gertrude. I leave early next Saturday morning for four days in Boise, then down through Nevada to the Bristlecone Forest in the Eastern Sierras, a night in Independence, CA (home of Mary Austin, author of Land of Little Rain), then home. The schedule here, which […]
CONFLICTS AND CONTRADICTIONS
“[C]ontrary to what I might have hoped or expected when I was younger, life does not in fact grow simpler as one gets older, its complexities and contradictions do not actually decrease as time goes on.”–Esther de Waal, Living with Contradictions: Reflections on the Rule of St. Benedict How I do not know, but I […]
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Per usual, life has been moving at a faster clip than I’m able to keep up with. I do know this: I’m in Carson City, Nevada. That’s right. Holed up in the Forest Room of the Bliss Bungalow: “a charming inn for the discerning traveler.” Well, the first part is right. Carson City, the Historic […]