by Mary | Sep 8, 2008 | Uncategorized
I’m back from my retreat, and, yes, I kept the silence — easily, I might add. In fact, I loved the silence, wanted more of the silence, hated to break the silence on Sunday morning. I found not talking to be a very easy thing to do. What I found much more difficult, verging on impossible, was not thinking, which is what I expected. I’ve done enough meditation and contemplation to know that “monkey mind,” as the Buddhists call it, will not settle down just because we quiet our mouths and settle our bodies. The weekend was an amazing experience. To sit in silence for hours at a time was a wonder to me. I’m really still processing everything that happened because the experience was so unlike anything else I’ve ever done. As opposed to my last retreat, which was about building community and sharing and bonding with my fellow retreatants in the typical sense, this was about solitude, about being alone together, if that makes sense. Yes, there were 20 of us on the retreat, but our bonds were forged by our shared experience of solitude not by our pouring out of our innermost thoughts and feelings. I want to talk more about my retreat in a follow-up post because there is so much more to say about silence. But for now I’d like to share some photos of the amazing Pyramid Life Center, which is very rustic and incredibly beautiful. I could see Pyramid Lake from my bedroom in the lodge. In fact, at night I would lay down with my head at the foot of the bed so I could fall asleep with the night sky as the backdrop.
Here’s the view from my room:
Here are just some general shots of the grounds, which include hundreds of acres with hiking trails, and a huge lake with a 16-acre island in the middle of it, which you are allowed to visit via canoe, kayak, or row boat:
by Mary | Sep 5, 2008 | prayer
When the kids come bounding off the school bus in a hour or so, I will be packed and ready to head to the Adirondack Mountains for a silent weekend retreat. I’ve never done a silent retreat, and I have to admit that I am more than a little intimidated. No talking, no casual eye contact, no reading and no writing. They should have just said, “No breathing.” But this is something I’ve been wanting to do for almost a year, a prayer challenge I feel I’m ready to take. This particular retreat combines so many of my favorite things: Thomas Merton, Franciscan spirituality, a gorgeous setting on a lake in upstate New York, and a chance to really, truly try my hand at serious contemplation. Dennis was the one who spotted the announcement in our parish bulletin and encouraged me to go, so I have him to thank for whatever is ahead.
Now, some of you out there who know me well and maybe even those who have met me only once, may already be taking wagers on whether I can be quiet for an entire weekend. I don’t think it will be easy by any stretch, but I do think I can survive maybe even thrive in the silence. I’ll be back with a post on Monday to tell you about it, unless I get voted off the mountain and end up back here tomorrow. Kidding. No way I’m letting that happen.
My blog will be quiet this weekend as well, so I thought this would be the perfect time to link you to my two most recent Life Lines columns posted on my website. For some talk of first days and fear, click HERE, and for my column on the importance of family click HERE. See, plenty to keep you busy while I’m away. Please send prayers and positive spiritual energy my way this weekend. Blessings!
by Mary | Sep 3, 2008 | Uncategorized
The day John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate, I made Noah and Olivia sit there with me and watch the announcement on CNN. That broadcast included the now-infamous moment where John Roberts of CNN questioned whether Palin should be considering a run for VP when she has a child with Down syndrome, who will require a lot of care, you know. There I was, surrounded by my three kids, yelling at the TV in the middle of a summer day, saying exactly what every other woman in America was probably saying at that moment: Would you ask that question if Palin were a man? And the answer, as we all know even if we all won’t admit it, is absolutely not. Of course, that was just the first of many, many variations of that same sexist question.
Olivia, who really just wanted to play a video game or run outside and collect leaves and acorns, asked why she had to sit there and watch the announcement at all. I looked her and, with a definite tone of annoyance in my voice, told her that this woman on TV could possibly be the first female vice president of our country and that as a girl who will one day be a woman, this should matter to her, will matter to her, matters to her right now, in fact, even if she doesn’t understand it yet. It wasn’t until I watched the reaction to Palin’s candidacy that I realized just how much it matters.
What has happened to Palin in the past few days is nothing short of mouth-dropping. The very same people who beat us over the head during the Democratic convention with promises of finally getting women equal pay for equal work are suddenly doubting that a woman with young children can do a tough job. The people who line their camp with NOW and NARAL supporters in an effort to convince us that because they are pro-abortion they are pro-women have suddenly gone all 1950s on us. The word “bimbo” has actually been bandied about, as has “Barbie” and “trophy” and a lot of unflattering and unprintable descriptions of the smart and savvy Sarah Palin. The worst part, I think, is that a lot of the nastiest attacks are coming from women, and that just stinks. Come on, if you’re a woman, then you know how tough it is to be a woman in a man’s world and you can probably imagine the kind of grit and fortitude it must take to get to the top of the Republican heap not only in Alaska but now on the national stage.
Sarah Palin has changed everything in this race for the White House. Regardless of what you think of her positions on policies, the mere presence of a woman on the Republican ticket has turned the world upside down. Who’d have thought a few weeks ago that we would see the old guard of the Republican party cheering a woman on for vice president while the Democrats tear her down, using her daughter’s pregnancy to try to humiliate her and her family and even going so far as to report on her husband’s traffic violations from years ago. Has anyone run a license check on the spouses of the other candidates?
Anyway, I could go on and on about this, but I won’t. If you want to read a couple of good articles, go to Peggy Noonan’s column from the Wall Street Journal by clicking HERE and go to National Review Online for Jim Geraghty’s humorous take on the situation by clicking HERE. Here’s one more from Andrea Peyser.
by Mary | Sep 2, 2008 | Uncategorized
I decided to do something special with the kids for the last official day of summer vacation, so we headed to Indian Ladder Farms for a little early-in-the-season apple picking. It was a gorgeous day for it — warm, sunny, dry, bright blue skies. And when you hit the orchards this early in the picking season, you get McIntosh, my favorite of the apple crops. Although the apples are not quite as abundant or as big this year because of a cold snap in the spring and a hailstorm that damaged the fruit, we still had plenty to choose from as we made our way through rows of trees, filling our half-bushel bag until it burst. Seriously. Fortunately the handle broke when I got home, so only a few rolled out onto the garage floor.
Chiara loved her first real turn in the apple fields, chomping away on a juicy red Mac as she looked for fruit hanging within her reach. What a way to end the summer. We headed over to the main farm before leaving and took some time to feed the goats and donkey and chickens. Chiara thought the one rooster looked “like Little Bear’s hen.” She wouldn’t get anywhere near close enough to the goats to feed them, although she did like the bid red tractor in the giant sandbox.
Now we’ve got a ton of crispy apples plus a bag of fresh cider donuts sitting on the counter just waiting for us to dig in. Fall has arrived, even if the calendar hasn’t caught up yet. I love this time of year, and I love this part of the country. Just check out that view in the photo below. That’s the Helderberg Escarpment in the distance. Just beautiful.
