Photo Hunt--Theme: Lock

Find other Photo Hunters at TnChick's place.

Lock it up!

SkyWatch--how'd I miss sharing this?

This was from our mountain visit on Memorial Day weekend. We had glorious skies. I hope we experience the same when camping with our kids in a couple of weeks, and with blogger friends later.

See other wonderful skies at the Sky Watch headquarters.

ABC Wednesday--U is for ...

U is for traveling around Utah's National Parks and Monuments.

Arches National Park

Natural Bridges National Monument

Bryce Canyon National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Petroglyphs of "Newspaper Rock" on the way to Canyonlands

Climber at Zion National Park

In addition to those pictured, there are Capitol Reef National Park, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, and Timpanogos Cave National Monument.

There is always something different and interesting to explore when we drive through Utah on our way to visit our kids in Arizona.

ABC Wednesday, started by Denise, kept up at the ABC Wednesday blog, where you can see what bloggers all over the world have found to post for the letter U.

Odd Shot--barbecue

We do Odd Shots each Monday. All the details can be found by clicking the Odd Shots Camera logo in the sidebar. Please leave a comment with your URL if you have posted an Odd Shot so that others can visit. I will not set a Mr. Linky until the glitches that are being experienced with them Linky site have been cleared up.




So I am cheating a little bit today. The photo doesn't seem so odd, and it wasn't taken at this Sunday's Parish barbecue. It's from last year's.

But I needed a barbecue shot to explain why the choir totally dissolved in laughter Sunday morning, and just why it seemed so odd to the rest of the congregation.

You see, the choir sits in an alcove behind the priest's chair. Toward the end of Mass before the dismissal, Father was checking through the bulletin to be sure he made some necessary announcements. He invited everyone to the barbecue in the afternoon, and gave the time. Someone in the choir whispered a question to me just as Father asked if anyone knew of anything else he should mention. I repeated the question to Father, but was obviously not loud enough for him to hear, and just at that moment he found the other item he intended to announce. So the choir heard me ask "What are they barbecuing?" immediately followed by Father saying "The Finance Committee and Parish Council..."

Sunday's Psalm--Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.

He loves justice and right;

of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made;

by the breath of his mouth all their host.

For he spoke, and it was made;

he commanded, and it stood forth.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,

upon those who hope for his kindness,

To deliver them from death

and preserve them in sipite of famine.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Our soul waits for the LORD,

who is our help and our shield.

May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us

who have put our hope in you.

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.


Psalm 33: 4-5, 6, 9, 18-19, 20, 22

Photos:

beaver pond

great blue heron

Goose Lake State Park, Oregon

Mt. Hood, Oregon

cat

grass and sky

Stonehenge replica WWI memorial

Ohanapecosh River

Photo Hunt--Advertisement

An ad like many would like to see these days.

Glamor and glitz is not necessary in advertising if the need is enough. (Actually, neither is grammar in this case, I guess.) I hope they get their "helps." Service seemed a little slow this evening. But maybe it was because I was awfully hungry.

BTW, my fortune was "You will succeed at a difficult task." Hmmm. Which one? Only one? What about the others?

Photohunt is sponsored at TnChick's place. Visit her.

Threatening Skies

Can you see the raindrops?
Two seconds earlier the reflection on the road was brilliant orange. It took me two seconds to turn on my camera.

Listening. Watching. Thundering. Lightning. Our firs summer thunderstorm--and it isn't even summer.

Skywatch. Look for others here.

Thank you for stopping by. I could not sign in to Mr. Linky on the SkyWatch site, so I know if you are here you are probably one of my loyal visitors.

Letters...

They got letters! They got lots and lots of letters... Do you write letters any more? No, I don't mean memos or e-mails or tweets. Real down to earth letters? Do you receive letters--yes, the ones that come in the post box in among the bills and advertising circulars and the still continuing invitations to take out a credit card?
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My ancestors were real letter writers and apparently letter savers--(at least some of them--LOL--That is a story for another day.) and I am the repository of many of these bits of family history.
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The above is a letter received by my great-grandmother from one of her brothers, Alonzo--known as Lon--a Union Army soldier when he was in camp in Lousiana during the Civil War. It must have been a lull in the fighting, as Lon goes on and on about the beauty of the area and about the people he had written but had not heard back from and those he had heard from. He does not talk about the battles. Lon was not the only brother writing to her from the war, as she had, I believe, five brothers and at least four of them were fighting.
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That letter likely came in an envelope similar to this one, from another soldier brother. Did all the soldier letters go through Memphis? Did Jennie have to pay 3 cents postage due on this or were soldier's letters sent free?
Look at the signature on this one--written to one of the brothers. Do youget Jennie Burt out of that? What an elegant--what can I call it? I am tempted to say elegant scrawl, but does that describe it? She speaks of surprise at receiving his letter. Must be that not all of her brothers were the best of correspondents.

I think that this next is the oldest letter in my possession. The spelling here makes it somewhat difficult to read, where sometimes it is the handwriting. (Elegant as it is, some of the letter forms are archaic.)

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Charley, i got virj a pair of Calfskin shwes maid and they ???? refwesed to pay for them because i got her them gaiters they are not fit for her to ware this wether and her ????? Showes you see is gone so she gits her feet wet and she has not bin very well lately is wish you wood pay for them of give her money to pay for them. i told him i wood send her to you. he said he did not care he thot it was inyour place to git her close. Charley i wish you wood git her stof for a cloak that looks ???? on her i will make it...

*

Well, not too much into punctuation, either. I don't know who E. B was. I must look into the family charts. Charley was possibly my grandmother's uncle--the one who bought a piano in Chicago in 1860--the piano that is still waiting to go to my piano playing grandkids as soon as we can arrange transport. Well, that is another story as well.

Do you save letters? Think about someone who would love to get a letter today--write a note--handwrite a note. It's taking time. It's so personal. Who can I write to? Who can I surprise like brother Bennie surprised my great grandmother Jennie 145 years ago?

ABC Wednesday--T is for...

T is for Travel

By now you may have an idea that I like travel. Let me think how many different ways I have traveled over the years. Let's see, there are the many roadtrips. There is nothing like a roadtrip and I am ready for one almost any day. Ive taken to the road in a variety of cars and vans over the years.

As a student in Italy a lot of years ago I traveled by THUMB. Yes, this grandma is a former hitch-hiker. Hitch-hiking was a lot safer in the years of my youth, and we were only allowed by our university rules to go in pairs. But, of course, a girl couldn't go with a guy, so we were often threesomes. The guys were willing to go along with that because it was easier for girls to get rides--especially if the guys waited off the road. There were a couple of touchy incidents--one where we had not followed those rules, and another when we acquired a "godfather" who arranged a nine day ride for us through Sicily.

My first memorable TRAIN ride took place when I was eleven. My mother and I , leaving Dad to mind the store (quite literally--whole family vacations ended in the early days as storekeepers.) left Union Station in Los Angeles and took the train to Williams Arizona. There we transferred to the line that connects to the Grand Canyon. That train would travel by night, arriving at the Canyon to see the sun rise.

Except, there was something wrong with the train. We sat in Williams--or possibly somewhere int he middle of the desert--for four hours in the middle of the night while a lot of hammering went on under the train. We missed the sunrise.

I have traveled on trains pulled by locomotives that looked like this one which is part of the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad in Elbe. It was in Spain--again as a student. My companion and I had Eurail Passes (do they still have those?) We made some strange connections--riding third class at one point. A curious Guardia Civil (Franco's internal security) asked us where we were going next and when we showed him on the timetable the third class connection that would save us hours, he could only say: "MAL TREN!"

The biggest train adventure was 5000 miles on the Trans-Siberian Express, eleven years ago. I've shared bits of that here before--including the last two weeks of ABCs.

So, T is for TRAVEL, THUMBS, TRAINS, and THREE-WHEELED TAXIs called auto rickshaws. But that's another story, too.

Other ABC Wednesday postings can be found linked at the ABC site.

Odd Shot was early

Look below Sunday's Psalm for this week's Odd Shot, which was accidentally posted on Saturday afternoon. Let's just say I'm ahead of the game. Or I'm rearranging the days of the week...