R. L. Stevenson on Travel

"If we didn’t travel now and then, we should forget what the feeling of life is."

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Chasing Steeples

 Jim and I just returned from a 3 day drive down the east side of Iowa.  It is such a beautiful area – following the Mississippi river - I never get tired of driving it.  And when we take these drives we become steeple-chasers.  Now we aren’t on horseback and we rarely encounter hurdles but we do, as the name suggests, chase steeples.  The Iowa country side is the best for seeking steeples; they dot most every country road.

 

Most often these country churches are Lutheran as the Scandinavians were major immigrants to the farmlands of Iowa.  But closer to the River we found historically significant Catholic Parishes.

  

This church was the most interesting.  St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the area of Garryowen, Iowa just south and west of Dubuque was established by Irish immigrants from County Limerick in 1838-1839.  The parish was founded by the Father Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli, OP in 1840.   (More on Father Mazzuchelli can be found here.)

 We found St. Patrick’s only because we first saw the steeple of St. Lawrence Catholic Church.  While stopping and admiring this church, a retired Pastor - and now caretaker of sorts - came out to visit with us.  He gave us some history about both St. Lawrence and then he mentioned St. Patrick’s church and suggested that we search it out.  We followed his directions and found the church nestled way off the beaten path.  Mass is still offered in both churches.  And both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Getting off the highways always provides interesting discoveries.

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On the Road

The beauty of Iowa

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Gladness!

Gladness!  I like to cultivate the spirit of gladness!  It puts the soul so in tune again, and keeps it in tune, so that Satan is shy of touching it - the chords of the soul become too warm, or too full of heavenly electricity, for his infernal fingers, and he goes off somewhere else!  Satan is always very shy of meddling with me when my heart is full of gladness and joy in the Holy Ghost.

Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman, Streams in the Desert

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Time to Think and Pray

 Brenda, of the blog It's a Beautiful Life sent me this after reading the quote I posted earlier about taking time to watch the leaves change.

"I was reading in a little pretty book I own something that says something similar.  I just read it this morning..."

"Mother Schaefer has a yard full of leaf-shedding trees, and she picks up every leaf unaided in spite of her sons' repeated protests. . . 'They just don't understand.'  (She explains.)  'My basket and I want to do the job."

'You see, this life's just too busy nowadays.  Everybody's busy rushing someplace so they can get back in time to rush someplace else.  They want me to join this and that; they want me to go here and go there.  It's all very nice, but they don't give me any time to think... I need to sort things out, to think them over and then talk about them---with God.'

Even as she explained, the fragile little lady knelt and kept on with the work she loved so well.... She rubbed each leaf against her pale cheek as if to feel each tiny vein.... Then for a moment she closed her eyes, and I knew it was in prayer."

June Masters Bacher
Quiet Moments for Women
(this piece was found in "The Charm of Simple Things", editor Terri Gibbs, (c) 1998v)

Thanks Brenda! 

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Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

One of the fun things about rummaging in thrift stores is the books you might find.  Old classics and interesting out of print books are almost the norm.  One such book – published in 1925 – also gives a glimpse of the culture of the era.

The book is Streams in the Desert and the author is Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman.  It isn’t until the Forward of the book, where the author signs her name in her own handwriting, do we learn her name is actually Lettie B. Cowman.

That was the reason I picked the book up but I bought it (for 50 cents) because of the content.

From the dust jacket:  Streams in the Desert offers
- 365 inspired meditations of encouragement
- Practical directives for inner peace and certainty
– A tried formula for successful living.

How could I not buy Mrs. Chas E. Cowman’s book!

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Take Time

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn." 

~   Elizabeth Lawrence

The perfect agenda for a Fall day!

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A "sound heart and merry throat"

 

"When piped a tiny voice hard by,

Gay and polite, a cheerful cry,

Chic-chic-a-dee-dee! saucy note

Out of sound heart and merry throat."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

The chickadees are becoming my favorite bird. There are certainly birds showier in color but nothing beats the spunk of a chickadee.

When I fill my feeders, it is the chickadees that jump right in and start eating the fresh seed before I’ve even finished. Most other birds stay at a safe distance and don’t venture near the feeders until I am long gone. But not the brave little chickadee.

And when he finds the seed he wants, it is very often a huge find. How he is able to handle those large seeds and nuts with only his little beak and the branch of a tree is beyond me. But he does.

What a fun – and very motivating – little bird!

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