Another Death

 It seems that every day I hear of someone I know who has passed away. I realize that at my age, this is to be expected, though it still pains me. Covid has hit hard with many deaths and today I heard of a friend who was in the hospital and around 1:30 p.m. passed away. He had not had been vaccinated and went into the hospital feeling poorly. He was sent home after a few days, with medication, but went back into the hospital when his oxygen level fell to around thirty-two. Two days ago I heard he had been put on a ventilator and today he passed away.

I guess what I don't understand how Covid can attack a man with no underlying health problems and in a few weeks he is gone. This was a man who I followed on Facebook as he and his family posted parts of their lives. Spring, summer and fall there would be pictures of the family; wife, children, and grandkids enjoying the Colorado mountains. They would travel to Texas and enjoyed seeing family and even though they were Holy Trinity Parishioners, they sometimes would join Spirit of Christ Catholic Community at the Young At Heart functions. I remember seeing them yearly working at their parish bazaar. They traveled with me to New Mexico on one of the tours to Chimayo. They were involved in many activities, loved working in their beautiful yard and I am trying to grasp what happened.

He had a crop of curly grey hair and seemed to always have a smile on his face. It was such a pleasure to see him and his wife at our get togethers. A friend reminded me of how he would bring his own wine glass because he did not enjoy drinking out of a plastic cup. And now he is gone. I looked through my pictures and in every picture they are together. How will she cope without him?  I can't even imagine what she is going through at losing her beloved husband.

My heart aches for his wife who has lost her best friend and for the sorrow felt by his family and friends because he left them too soon. Dear God, help them through this sad and difficult time and take their beloved into your arms to be with you forever.

"What we have once

enjoyed we can never lose. 

All that we love deeply 

becomes part of us."

Helen Keller

My Handsome Brother

 Our family of five, has slowly been decreasing since my mother passed away in 1974. My dad and our younger brother are also gone.  Each death brought me pain though somehow, with God's help, I was able to survive those sad days.  Now, my family consists of my brother and me. I do have a daughter and four grandchildren though they do not know my life as well as my brother does! When I hear about my friends and their large families I do feel a bit of envy but realize that such is life!

Today is my brother's 84th birthday. As I think back about our life I have to smile at how two children brought up in the same house hold can be so different. Only one year separated us and yet, my brother is an artist, I am not. My brother liked brand clothing, and I could care less. Growing up I was a reader, he never picked up a book. I enjoyed talking and he talked only when necessary. He pursued his career and I took what was handy. He loves the sea and boats and the ocean scares me. I once wrote a serious short story and he found it humorous.  He has always had a pet and I never had one. Relatives always commented on what a cute boy he was and I don't recall anyone saying anything about me. We are quite different, yet the same blood runs through both of us.

We stay in touch by phone since he lives in Massachusetts and I am in Colorado. Our conversations are a lot about our growing up and what he remembers, I do not and what I remember he does not. It's fun to compare notes about those times of long ago! As adults I remember going out on his boat, Sea Bear, and while he enjoyed sailing, I found it difficult and not something I liked! He is and always has been a great tour guide because he has shown me the New York area and Boston! When he lived in Los Angeles, he took me to many touristy places in California.

Growing up we had many sibling arguments, but after he returned from serving in the Army, we got along much better. Now, he and I are the only two still alive in our immediate family and it is a pleasure talking to him on the phone.

"Siblings are often very opposite."

Alycia Debnam-Carey

Fake News

 The other day I saw on the Internet that Michael Strahan was having dental work to remove the gap from his two front teeth. I have always wondered why a professional man who is on television continues to have a huge gap. With his money, I thought, he could have it fixed! Now it was happening. A picture of him without the gap appeared on the screen and I realized his gap was part of his personality. There were many comments, pro and con, about what he should do with the gap.

Photo from the Internet

I never gave it another thought, until one morning when I watched Channel 7 and there he was on Good Morning America with his gap, the same as always. If fake news was real this was certainly what I would call fake! I returned to the Internet to find out what was going on with the announcer's gap. I found out that the closing of the gap was temporary to see if he liked it. As of the last reading he is unsure if he will have the gap filled in permanently or continue with his well-known gap.

Next time, I will read the article completely before commenting or blogging! 

"I like my teeth

like essays--

double spaced."

From the Internet

The Mystery of the Three Hole Punch

 This past week I have been culling all the trips I have planned to Santa Fe, New Mexico; Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota; Branson, Missouri; and San Antonio, Texas. I shredded three large bags of unwanted material and kept a minimal amount of information. In order to place what I was keeping in a notebook, I got my three hole punch to place the information into a notebook. But, for two days I tried to open the desk-top punch and no matter how I pushed, pulled. lifted. or tried to slide the gadget that would open the punch, nothing worked. My thought was that maybe I should squirt some WD40 on it to see if that would help. In the past I do not remember having any problems with it and it would easily slide to open the punch. After all my attempts, I decided that in the morning I would drive to an office supply store and surely someone would be able to open the hole punch.

In the morning, I tried once again, and without using any strength, the gadget slid open. I am at a loss to figure out what happened. After struggling with the hole punch for two days and then to wake up and have the metal gadget slide easily and causing the handle to spring open, I wondered what happened? I did sent a thank you prayer to the heavens above because I really do believe that someone "up there" took pity on me!

I will never know for sure but I have a suspicion that a higher power played a joke on me. Maybe He did not want me to work on my project on those two days. Who knows, but today I finished getting the files organized and into a large notebook.

"If the hole punch has a quirk,

it will never work!

'Can't be done,' I want to cry

But, give it time and once again try!"

E. Moscoso

A Letter to a Priest

April 23, 2021

Dear Father Greg,

I debated on whether to watch your talk on vocations last evening when you came to Spirit of Christ Catholic Community on April 21, 2021. You are such a great speaker and even though I thought you would be talking about priest vocations, I got on Utube to see what you would say about vocations.

What a surprise I got when you spoke on a "broad blanket" of vocations. You mentioned that first we must know that there is a God and searching for God should be our calling. Many think of a career as being our vocation and if we find the right career that will make us happy. I have always thought that a career was a vocation yet you mentioned that we should look inward and not out to see about finding our vocation.  We need to look into our heart to find the answer.

I found it sad to think that when a person begins to look inside into the heart, it is usually when we are older and have the time to contemplate what God wants from us. An older person has memories of mistakes, hurts, blessings, joys and the time to understand what God wants.

How I wish I would have known you early in my life and I believe my life would have been quite different than it has been!

You mentioned that to be holy, does not mean praying all the time, going to church, or being devoted to religion, but holiness is being compliant and obedient. Taking care of others and doing what God wants us to do. "If you are not on the road to holiness, your life will be hard." Love people and remember that God's will be done even if we want to do something else! I remember growing up and no matter what happened I would say a little pray and end it with your will be done. Somehow, as an adult I forgot what I had learned in Catechism and at home. It's been years since I have reminded myself because somehow I know His will will be done no matter what I think! And many times I find out it is better than what I would have chosen to do.

We need to take responsibility for our actions and when you spoke on marriage and how we should handle unhappiness in our marriage, I remembered seeking help from a priest because my marriage, which I thought would last forever, was causing me a lot of pain and suffering. The priest we went to see for counseling said, "Marriage is supposed to be a state of happiness and all I see is a lot of misery between you two." I wish I would have had you to talk to during those early years of my marriage and maybe it would not have ended in divorce. Then, I had to laugh because in my early twenties you were  around two years old!

I am eighty-two years old and I am not sure what my vocation should have been or is. I do know that writing has always been with me since childhood and continues to this day. It is something that gives me pleasure and joy and I believe it is a God given talent. There was satisfaction when an article got published. But, getting published was not my motivation, it was the enjoyment of writing that I liked. Now, it's my blog that gives me happiness! I also enjoy planning and taking people on tours and at the beginning they were pilgrimages to holy places. Later, the tours became more recreational and vacations to tourist places. I wonder if maybe I should plan more pilgrimages. Pilgrimages bring people closer to God. Could that be my vocation?

It's sad to think that at my age I am not sure about what my vocation in life could have been. A lot in this letter is paraphrasing what you said.  I enjoyed your talk and it sure made me think. Thank you for once again speaking to my heart!

"Do not worry about your career.

Concern yourself with your vocation, 

and that is to be lovers of Jesus."

Mother Teresa

Mae's Casita

 

In all my travels I have never felt as welcome as I did in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Mae's Casita. The owners left a letter welcoming us and the letter was addressed to my daughter, my son-in-law and to me. There was coffee, milk and tea plus beer, wine, cheese and crackers on the dining room table so we could be refreshed after our travels. I also found a container with cough drops and Energize C packets.

The Casita has two bedrooms, two baths, dining area, living room, kitchen and a patio surrounded by a Coyote fence. I learned that a Coyote fence were originally put up to keep coyotes out. A coyote cannot jump over the fence but with its front legs hooked on top of the fence he pushes himself over with his hind legs. In the article it did mention that many of the fences are for decoration and not to keep animals out.

The house is not decorated in a south western style as I thought it might be and it has a fireplace with a mantel and not a Kiva fireplace in the corner. In information in a notebook for guests to read was an interesting piece about the fireplace.

                "The fireplace used to be encased in a plaster shell. 

                  During renovations to the building, the plaster shell

                 was removed and, unexpectedly, sitting on top of the

                 fireplace was an old black and white photograph of a

                 naked baby lying on a bearskin rug. There was 

                 nothing written on the back of the photograph 

                 to indicate who the child was."

A few years later, a man stopped by who happened to live on the property in years past and when the picture was shown to him he remarked that it was his Aunt Mae. He pointed at the Casita and said that Aunt Mae used to live in the house. Consequently, the name of the adobe house became Mae's Casita. The Casita was built in the 1930's and I could tell that a lot of renovations had been made to modernize the house.

Now the Casita is a beautiful and comfortable place to stay with a new heating unit, a modern kitchen, the up-to-date bathrooms and showers, the cozy queen size beds, the large screen television, the two wing back chairs and couch and a patio.  After we finished playing tourists we would relax in front of the fire place, watch television and one night we snacked on popcorn in our home away from home!

A great feature is that Mae's Casita is centrally located and we could walk to the famous plaza in Santa Fe or to a well supplied organic market, or places to eat. One bakery near by is said to have the best baked goods in town!

I thank Linda and Lance, the owners, for a great mini-vacation in Santa Fe and the comfortable and lovely house called Mae's Casita!

"We hope you find peace

and comfort here where

Aunt Mae spent so many years."

Linda/Lance, owners

He's Making Sure He Is Not Forgotten

Last week, when I decided to ride the light rail to Union Station on the G Line, I parked in the Arvada RTD garage. After parking my car I found a penny in the garage. Oh, Andy, I thought, it's been over a year since I found a penny!  My guess is that the pandemic had something to do with me not being out as much and therefore, not seeing any reminders of my son. Somehow, it made me happy to find the penny.

At the airport, going through security, above the conveyor belt, on a narrow silver shelf, there was a penny. I reached over and took it because I knew it was Andy's greeting to me.

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, my daughter found a penny and said, "Hey, Andy's with us!"

On my return to Arvada, after a marvelous mini-vacation, on the train's platform there was another penny.

I mentioned it to my daughter that I had found three pennies and she said, "Andy traveled with you on your trip!"

After a year, to find three pennies, four with the one my daughter found, I really believe my son was letting me know that he is still around. Invisible, yet staying near to those that love him. 

"Don't cry because it's over,

smile because it happened."

Dr. Seuss

A Surprise in the Plaza of Santa Fe

 I flew in to meet my daughter and son-in-law in Albuquerque, New Mexico and after he rented a Toyota, we would drive to Santa Fe to spend a few days in the Land of Enchantment.  We stopped for lunch at Lindo Mexico and because of the lingering pandemic, the restaurant took our names and we had to go outside or sit in the car until we could be seated. The restaurant can only have so many persons inside and I was glad that they were still taking precautions. Everyone wears a mask until it is time to eat. While we waited outside, we took pictures near the giant tin sculptures. After a delicious meal we were ready to head to Santa Fe.

Arriving in Santa Fe, we found our little house where we would be staying. A cute adobe two bedroom, two bath with dining area, small patio, kitchen and living room named Mae's Casita. It was perfect for us and as my son-in-law said, "This is better than a hotel/motel because we will be living alone without having other people around!" 

After a good night's rest, we visited the Museum of National Folk Art and we went our separate ways to see the different displays. I chose the Hispanic Music with instruments dating back to the early 1800's and the violin, accordion and guitar were the main instruments used. Back ground music reminded me of my father and how he enjoyed the sound of the three instruments.

I then wandered into the large folk art area thinking it would be Hispanic type art but to my surprise it had folk art from every country represented. Many of the displays looked similar to me and my favorite one was of heaven, hell and extreme hell areas. Angels flew around with beautiful faces in heaven, hell had red devils and the bottom layer, my guess that it is the worst place to go, were grotesque, suffering looking faces. To go through the whole area of folk art would take more than a day because there are many, many things to see. The title of the whole individual art is Multiple Visions, A Common Bond.  In the booklet explaining the displays there are sixty-nine countries representing their folk art. 

Mae's Casita is located in a handy area accessible to the Santa Fe plaza and different eateries. We walked to the plaza and many stores and galleries were closed but in the middle of the park there appeared to be a Christmas market with some booths. Thinking that maybe there was a Christmas in April celebration we walked over to get a closer look. My daughter said, "I think I see someone I know." I thought she had seen someone she had met at one of her gourd shows. I followed her and she took a picture as I kept asking, "Who did you see?" Her reply of  "Mario Lopez" made me want to get closer but there were men keeping people away and quiet. I was unable to get a picture but she did get a good one of the star! That's when we realized it was a movie production and he was being filmed. I saw three semi-trucks loaded with decorations, electrical equipment, large lamps, white screens and cameras. That was the excitement for the day and later we found out the the movie is called Christmas in Santa Fe.

The walk back to Mae's Casita was a good hike for the younger generation, but I was dragging my feet.  We stopped at Pizza Centro for a large pepperoni pizza and a salad. Maybe because it was New York Style, to me, it tasted like the best pizza I have ever eaten and the salad was exceptional with greens, cucumbers, onion, green peppers, tomatoes and garlic bread. 

  

We relaxed in front of the fireplace and watched the show Rita on Netflix until bedtime.

In  the morning, my son-in-law went to play golf while my daughter and I walked to an organic market to buy something for dinner and to pick up some bottled water.  From the market we walked a few more blocks to Kakawa Chocolate House, a favorite place for chocolate candy and hot chocolate. 

Around 11:30 a.m. we headed to the Ranchos de Chimayo for lunch. Since only a certain amount of people can be in the restaurant, we waited outside and enjoyed the warm weather, looking at the red chile hanging from the wall of the building and waited our turn to go in to eat! Where there used to be ten tables, because of the pandemic, now there were six tables in the first room. It used to have two levels of patio seating and a third one has been added. Mrs. Jaramillo, the owner, was at her usual place and I spoke with her and reminded her of the groups I would take to the restaurant on our tours. She nodded and said she remembered me, but I don't think she did because wearing a mask makes it hard to recognize people. Mrs. Jaramillo told me that Covid has been hard on the restaurant but they are slowly starting to recuperate. 

 After eating, we visited the Santuario de Chimayo and found the museum and bathroom closed but the chapel was open and 2-3 people at a time entered the "Holy Dirt Hole" to get their dirt. The new item was a life size statue of Fr. Casimiro Roca who passed away in 2015. On the many times I had been to Chimayo, he was always waiting to greet and welcome the groups.

The trees were blooming with pink blossoms, one gift store was open and the fence that is covered with rosaries and crosses now has an addition of face masks! The Santuario is a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place and miracles can happen if one has faith!

In the morning it was time for me to leave my family, the cute adobe house, Santa Fe and an Uber driver picked me up in a white Prius to drive me to Albuquerque. This was my first time using Uber and my hippie like driver wore a Jamaican crochet black and white cap over long hair. His face was covered with a large western bandana and he only spoke when I asked a question! He was a good driver and I was pleased that we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in. My mini-vacation was perfect, the weather was okay except for an occasional cool, light wind, and the most important of all was spending time with my family.

"Rejoice with your family

in the beautiful land of life!"

Albert Einstein

Easter Vigil

It has been over forty years that I have attended an Easter Vigil.  The Vigil was a pleasant surprise for me. Of course, I was not present at the church but watched the ceremony on my computer and was able to see all that was happening. I found out that the Vigil should begin after it is dark and end before dawn on Sunday. The video began in the church patio where a large fire burned in a fire pit. The flames seemed to be reaching toward the heavens. A prayer about the flame being the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega and that all time belongs to God, was said. I especially liked the prayer, "May the light of  Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds." A Deacon held the Paschal candle and a priest lit the candle and a procession into the dark church followed. Three times the priest sang, "The light of Christ." and the congregation responded with "Thanks be to God." The Deacon placed the candle in its holder and lit a smaller candle from its flame and it became a chain reaction until eventually all the parishioners held a candle lit from the original Paschal candle. The dark church looked beautiful with the flickering lights of the candles.

The reading of the old testament continued in darkness but as the new testament began the lights came on. There were four gospels read and the one thing the priest said in the homily was, "His death transformed our lives." He mentioned that it is not easy being a Christian and how we long for meaning. purpose and beauty in our lives and that those three things will not be found in material things.

There were eight person who would be baptized, confirmed and receive communion at the vigil. I was surprised to see each person step into the small pool, kneel down in the water, hold up their arms to God, as the priest poured water over their heads and said,  "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As they came out of the water, a towel was handed to them. They left the area and another priest anointed them with the holy chrism. When they returned to the church they wore white robes. Confirmation took place but there was no slap like when I had been confirmed. The group was the first to receive communion and the one little girl wore a communion dress and veil. I couldn't help but think how wonderful and how close to God they must feel. There was a holy water blessing as the priest sprinkled the different sections of the church. I missed feeling the drops of water hit my face. Watching virtually has many advantages but it also has drawbacks. The biggest negative thing is not receiving the body of Christ.

Mass continued and the whole vigil lasted over two hours. The choir got a work out because they sang many hymns! We were asked the questions  asked at our baptism and "I do" could be heard in unison by the congregation. 

The mass ended with a lively hymn of Go Out, go out to all the world and tell the good news. Lent is now over and tomorrow morning Christ will rise again. Happy Easter to my family and friends.

"We proclaim the resurrection

of Christ when his light

illuminates the dark moments

of our existence.

Pope Francis

Veneration of the Cross

 

I hang quietly, silently, on the wooden cross.

Body after body, young and old,

each bowing their head,

at my blood covered feet.

Do you know how happy 

you make me as you remember

my death on the cross?

I silently watch each

and every one of you.

My eyes are closed

but my heart sees you

as you slowly walk by.

My beloved children

I love you with a love that never ends

and I would gladly die for you again

is what I am thinking

as I hang on the wooden cross.

E. Moscoso

April 2, 2021