Growing up, one of my dad‘s favorite groups was the mamas and the Papas. Today I was listening to “California dreaming on a winters day.“ I began to ponder that we are experiencing some thing like a blizzard but in the best of spring weather in Maryland. Some of the things that I have enjoyed most from this reclusive experience have been inexplicably wonderful, and I will share a few with you. The several times I have asked myself, what would "Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie do?", I think a lot of my inspiration has come from her.
Here have been a few of the things I have enjoyed during this experience. I hate to call it quarantine, because it is more of a silent retreat and opportunity for growth and reflection.
Prayer and Meditation Outdoors
I imagine Mother Mary loved to walk, because she was three months pregnant with Baby Jesus and hiked 80 miles from Nazareth to Ein Karem, Judah described by the
Times of Israel as " A Paradise on the Slopes."
Mary went to help her cousin Elisabeth who was due to have Baby John the Baptist. Ein Karem is also 1,336 higher in elevation than Nazareth so she had to hike, and surely without good sandals... Her second long trip was not long after Jesus was born and she escaped into Egypt with St. Joseph. I wonder what she thought of as she walked and hiked in the hills, or in the desert. Where did she stop to rest, or did she bring any bag with food for her trip? I imagine her being strong and gentle like Jane Goodall as she hiked to Ein Karem, Judah.
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| Resting on the way up another hill. St. Elisabeth awaits. |
I have come to greatly enjoy praying and meditating in nature as I walk every morning and pray the rosary for my neighbors. Each of the five main beads of the rosary has a meditation on Jesus life to think on as you pray, along with a virtue to contemplate Looking at the sky like a work of art that changes with each morning raise, seeing rain drops drizzle down freshly growing green leaves, seeing different types of birds, becoming familiar with each birds chirp, and feeling the wind on my skin have all added to the depth of satisfaction in praying and realizing the little I know. Knowing that the Creator I am praying to made all of nature surrounding me as I walk, as brought on a different meaning to praying the rosary and sharing my walk with mother Mary telling her my thoughts.
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| If I were St. Francis, I would go here. The cardinals go nuts in this spot. |
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| Ready to call heaven for a little while. |
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| A blue robin's egg |
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| I got a spot of sunshine on my rosary on a rainy day. When it's cold outside...I've got the month of May. I guess you say, what can make me feel this way? Mother Mary... |
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| I wonder if Mary's feet hurt after hiking to Ein Karem. |
Cooking new things.
We’ve been handed the creative card. At first I thought that food would run dry like the toilet paper did so we all ate less in our house. Milk and fruit was eaten slowly to make it stretch. We lost weight and got creative with how to stretch food in case we couldn’t go to the grocery store. I taught myself how to use potatoes in new ways and also how to bake bread. The fear I had of using yeast disappeared as I saw my loaf rising and the house filled with aromas that had never been here before.
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| Working on making bread |
Seeing my neighbors
I have never seen so many of my neighbors, and we all smile at each other as we have one thing in common: no place to go but around the block. It has been wonderful seeing people out together in families. Children are no longer in soccer, aerobics, or swim clubs, which surely they miss. However, I have seen many parents playing outside, gardening with their little children, and drawing on the concrete with chalk. I have seen a father building an elaborate and creative playground in his backyard, and mothers and daughters going for walks. I wonder how many of these family moments wouldn't have happened without being homebound.
My initial "homebound" list included learning Latin, about birds and baking bread. Perhaps more of the Latin will develop (with significant effort no doubt). However, on beautiful spring days I will rather relish them out of the house and pondering the dew on the leaves of trees with bright red cardinals popping here and there.
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| A beautiful ancient tree we met |
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