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Sardines in a Can
So ww boarded and taxied away
from the gate in ATL by 5:30... But the pilot just informed us we face an "air traffic control delay" of about an hour and ten minutes. Still might make our Royal Jordanian connection... But it's getting closer!
Stay tuned!
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from the gate in ATL by 5:30... But the pilot just informed us we face an "air traffic control delay" of about an hour and ten minutes. Still might make our Royal Jordanian connection... But it's getting closer!
Stay tuned!
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Delay in Rainlanta
We all made it to Atlanta, after a pretty rocky flight. One airsickness bag and several doses of Dramamine later (for some of our group), we're now waiting out a delay due to mechanical problems--which Delta says no longer exist but the flight will be delayed an hour-plus anyway.
But that's okay. It's such a lovely day in ATL, and we have more than 4 hours of cushion before our Royal Jordanian flight leaves JFK.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
But that's okay. It's such a lovely day in ATL, and we have more than 4 hours of cushion before our Royal Jordanian flight leaves JFK.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wait at the Gate
Our Petra/Israel/Egypt group are all checked in and waiting at the gate! Everybody remembered their passport (whew!), every bag got in under the weight limit, and the first leg looks like it might depart on time.
Robin is performing some corrective AND preventive therapy (she stayed up till 4 am packing!).
Next stop: Atlanta!
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Robin is performing some corrective AND preventive therapy (she stayed up till 4 am packing!).
Next stop: Atlanta!
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Another Lunch with Miles
I got to take my grandson Miles to McD's again today for lunch. He surprised me by insisting on yogurt instead of his usual nuggets and apple slices....turns out he went to McD's for breakfast with his MOM and sister this morning, and had yogurt then, too! 
Not the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last, he gets the better of Crappaw!
After lunch, we spent a little time at the library, which Miles so far experiences as a low-key playroom. Though he has seen the books, I don't think he yet understands that reading and libraries are linked in some ways.
I wish I could have taken a picture of him saying "See you later, Hoppy and Boppy," to the two African frogs in an aquarium he likes to watch when we visit. Maybe next time.
Prayer Retreat 2010
There is no better way to start off a new year than with a prayer retreat.
Thanks to the prodding and trouble of a faithful friend, I was able to spend the last few days in silence and solitude once again, at the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Trappist, Kentucky (don't laugh, it's a real place!), one of my favorite spots on earth.
There I was able to read and pray and worship with the monks seven times a day, a retreat that never fails to rest and renew and refocus me. This year was no different. (By the way, I was dying to ask if the monk at the upper right, not the one coming in the door, but the one standing in the choir, was being punished or was mad at someone or something like that....but I didn't).
I expected to stay for the first time in the monastic wing, where the rooms do not have private bathrooms. But it turned out that there were enough no-shows that I was not only accommodated in the Guest House, but had the most commodious (pun intended) bathroom ever in all my stays at the Abbey.
While I was there, an inch or two of snow fell.
I would have liked to have stayed long enough to hear the Notre Dame concert choir that was to sing there on Saturday, but alas, they neglected to consult my schedule before planning theirs.
Someone PLEASE remind me that my spirit NEEDS this Sabbath much more frequently than I've been taking it the last three years (during which my retreats have been roughly 16 months apart).
If you want to know more about the abbey (Thomas Merton's monastery, by the way; he's buried there, and at least one of his fellow monks who knew him still live there), visit www.monks.org. No kidding. The monks have a website.
Thanks to the prodding and trouble of a faithful friend, I was able to spend the last few days in silence and solitude once again, at the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Trappist, Kentucky (don't laugh, it's a real place!), one of my favorite spots on earth.
There I was able to read and pray and worship with the monks seven times a day, a retreat that never fails to rest and renew and refocus me. This year was no different. (By the way, I was dying to ask if the monk at the upper right, not the one coming in the door, but the one standing in the choir, was being punished or was mad at someone or something like that....but I didn't). I expected to stay for the first time in the monastic wing, where the rooms do not have private bathrooms. But it turned out that there were enough no-shows that I was not only accommodated in the Guest House, but had the most commodious (pun intended) bathroom ever in all my stays at the Abbey.
While I was there, an inch or two of snow fell.
I would have liked to have stayed long enough to hear the Notre Dame concert choir that was to sing there on Saturday, but alas, they neglected to consult my schedule before planning theirs. Someone PLEASE remind me that my spirit NEEDS this Sabbath much more frequently than I've been taking it the last three years (during which my retreats have been roughly 16 months apart).
If you want to know more about the abbey (Thomas Merton's monastery, by the way; he's buried there, and at least one of his fellow monks who knew him still live there), visit www.monks.org. No kidding. The monks have a website.
A Scene You Should Make
The lovely Robin and I had a great time just before New Year's Day. We drove north to Russell's Point, Ohio, between Troy and Lima, where our friends Bill and Lorraine Riley live and lead a church.
This is their church, Russell's Point Church of God, and we quickly fell in love with the warm people of the church.
Bill and Lorraine took us to dinner at Jac-and-Do's Pizza joint right on the shores of Indian Lake (which, according to the Cowsills, is a scene you should make in the summertime). It's right on the shore, and if the weather were (MUCH) warmer, we could have pontoon-boated our way right up to the restaurant.
Indian Lake is a manmade lake (didn't know that), built in 1851 as "Lewistown Reservoir" to supply water for the shallow Erie Canal. After nine years' work, primarily by Irish labourers excavating outward from the source of the Miami River, 1,000 acres was filled, but by then the canal system was already in decline. In 1898 the lake was renamed Indian Lake, and enjoyed a few decades as the "Midwest's Million Dollar Playground," complete with an amusement park (Sandy Beach), and pavilions and dance halls that hosted Duke Ellington, Les Brown, and others (and, of course, the Cowsills, who had a top ten hit with "Indian Lake" in 1968).
We enjoyed a late breakfast at Aunt Millie's restaurant, where the lovely Robin ordered the Rancher's Breakfast, as if she had just come in from moving cattle. She didn't finish it all, but I cleaned my plate.
After breakfast, we took a drive around the lake and over and across a number of the many islands that abound in the area. We were amazed to see a half dozen or so people ice fishing, and found it hard to imagine that the ice was at a safe thickness. But then, what do we know about ice fishing?
It was delightful to be with such old and good friends, and we came home refreshed and ready (mostly) for a new year.
This is their church, Russell's Point Church of God, and we quickly fell in love with the warm people of the church. 
Bill and Lorraine took us to dinner at Jac-and-Do's Pizza joint right on the shores of Indian Lake (which, according to the Cowsills, is a scene you should make in the summertime). It's right on the shore, and if the weather were (MUCH) warmer, we could have pontoon-boated our way right up to the restaurant. 
Indian Lake is a manmade lake (didn't know that), built in 1851 as "Lewistown Reservoir" to supply water for the shallow Erie Canal. After nine years' work, primarily by Irish labourers excavating outward from the source of the Miami River, 1,000 acres was filled, but by then the canal system was already in decline. In 1898 the lake was renamed Indian Lake, and enjoyed a few decades as the "Midwest's Million Dollar Playground," complete with an amusement park (Sandy Beach), and pavilions and dance halls that hosted Duke Ellington, Les Brown, and others (and, of course, the Cowsills, who had a top ten hit with "Indian Lake" in 1968).
We enjoyed a late breakfast at Aunt Millie's restaurant, where the lovely Robin ordered the Rancher's Breakfast, as if she had just come in from moving cattle. She didn't finish it all, but I cleaned my plate.
After breakfast, we took a drive around the lake and over and across a number of the many islands that abound in the area. We were amazed to see a half dozen or so people ice fishing, and found it hard to imagine that the ice was at a safe thickness. But then, what do we know about ice fishing? It was delightful to be with such old and good friends, and we came home refreshed and ready (mostly) for a new year.
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