A Full Mornng and Afternoon

Sunday was not necessarily restful, but it was rich!

A very moving testimony about the work of the St. James Immigration 

Assistance Program from a woman from Kenya who left her family to come and seek a better life, and became a citizen and now works with us helping others seeking new lives.

Then, my new friends V and G and I finally got to sit and talk and plan a dinner.

All the time we were surrounded by booths at the Environmental Fair. 

I found a wonderful group that supports animal welfare, and no surprise,

it's based out of Great Britain.  I joined.

Then it was time for the opera--- at the UW with S.

Dido did not look as pictured below. She was a little older.

108 Days

Here are views from VM's 9th Floor waiting area.
I  spent some time here while medical people
were doing some things with W.
I reminded him that he is ahead of POTUS #45.
W  has 108 consecutive days in some kind of hospital or nursing care
and he has done more good for people from those rooms
than the one who has now
 100 days  in office which seem like 100 years and
have only wreaked chaos.

Happy Birthday Mary Elizabeth!

Today would have been our mother's 

103rd birthday.

She had 90 of them on earth.

She was so very intelligent and logical, fun loving, 

and highly energetic it was sometimes hard to keep up with her. 

But in her final years

 Parkinson's slowed her mind and body and words to a standstill.

But we remember the summers at Cannon Beach,

the fairly elaborate birthday parties and Christmas and all of those 

wild children's stories she would embellish, substituting neighbors and all their quirks for the main characters, making those stories way more interesting.

We had to promise not to tell them to the neighbors, though.

Spring Sick Bay

The Santa Clara mold set off a string of sneezing, 

wild coughing, and finally just laid me low.

Here is the view from the last two days.

I got to do what all the cats have done from those perches for many years---

watch the hummingbirds pulling out strands of cotton for their nests, and  going nuts with the sugar water feeders. The  little sparrows had to fight the squirrels for space 

at the other feeders.

They are all looking pretty well fed.

I also slept, read and slept some more.

Today I graduated to phone meetings and sleep.

At the Mission

The mission church is guarded by 

St. Claire and Michael the Archangel.

and some stylish cherubs.

They also remember the lives of the women and Jesuits martyred in El Salvador 

in the middle of the night at the Jesuit residence.

The mission is a wedding hub.

At a Consultation

We met at the oldest part of the university.

with lots of porticoes 

and old palms and vines.
 

And some  pretty young Jesuits--one just back from Spain, 

and another visiting from Spain,

we sat in some pretty cool "bumper derby" student desks.

Very cute bikes lined the porticoes.



A very inspiring speaker from New York spoke about funding.

Fragrant Eve

I had forgotten about the roses and the very old wisteria.

At SCU

Arrived tonight for a consultation with 50 folks from all over the west coast 

engaged in Latino ministry and Jesuit universities, trying to figure out how the Spirit 

Might be speaking to us in new ways

Prodding us to act in new ways in these challenging days for immigrants.

I spent several summers down here early 40 years ago.

It is good to be back as an older, wiser person.

SCU has also become equally older and wiser as an institution.

Up in the Tower

It's not often that the day begins with a sweeping view of the city. 

This is the view from the 75th floor this morning.

It looks pretty crowded!

The Easter Octave

This week we celebrate the Octave of Days following Easter.

This 15th Station is my favorite...I like the fact that He is wearing something that looks like a royal lei. And that he looks like he has put on some weight!

Easter Supper with Fancy Daffodils and Tulips

We had a lovely small Easter dinner.  

The company was wonderful.

The food was perfect.

The flowers from the market were spectacular!

Easter Camino

I took a 3 plus mile camino this morning.

There was plenty to savor.

Inconvenient Truth of Resurrection

This was the sign at the gym this weekend.

They meant well, but got me stirred up.

Inconvenient truth for sure!

Easter disrupts more than gym schedules!

Easter is an inconvenient truth for those who claim

that death has the last word, or

that in the end the rest of us don't matter because 

 the powerful win.

Easter disrupts those who would convince us 

there is no room for hope. for kindness, or for mercy

Easter shouts "Oh no you don't!" to all those lies.

Easter, as a preacher said today, is a revolution--

a daily revolution of tenderness, hope, and courage.

The gym opens early tomorrow.

Easter Table

The Russian painting on my dining room wall 

is an image of a Russian Easter table.  

Mine is not as lush.

Day Three--Easter Vigil

We gathered at 8:30 as the sun was setting to begin our Holy Saturday Easter Vigil.

It was the nicest night we have had in a long while.

The first part of the liturgy begins with the Easter fire and the lighting of the Easter candle

which leads the procession into the very dark cathedral.

The light of Christ has come into the world.

Day Two--Good Friday

"This is what love  looks like."

Today was a lot of Church--

The Tre Ore was preached by a bright young Franciscan theologian who tied the old story of misery and hope to our contemporary life, its misery and struggle---  the ways in which we willfully choose to ignore the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable to the ways we choose love over feat.

II

III

IV 

XII

XIV

These Stations of the Cross were created by Joan Brand-Landkamer for the Cathedral.

She used found wood from the beaches at Ocean Shores and took inspiration from the paintins of Georges Rouault.  Joan used to worship at CK with her family.

It Has Begun--Holy Thursday

"This is what love looks like."