Easter

"Did e're such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?"

This Lenten season began with an quiet, reflective Ash Wednesday service at St Angeles and concluded last night at the marvelous, meaningful Good Friday service at our church. Reading through the gospels these days has made me love our God more and my overflowing heart is thankful for selflessness of his passion, his sacrifice to give us eternal hope. This morning working in the yard the melody, "Hallelujah, what a savior..." kept coming to mind. God is good.

Travels with Lolo -part1

I never would have taken this grand adventure if it hadn't been for Laurel--and the car-- and all her things waiting in Chicago. It started with an amazing city boat cruise and only improved from there!

Chicago was a time with dear old friends-- Phil and "my friend Elaine." They just get more dear as time goes on. And for Laurel a last hang out with good old Raul and Katie--her Chicago family. I especially loved seeing their adorable home where they welcomed Laurel to camp out for all those months.

We launched across the county on a Tuesday fortified with Dunkin' Donuts and Laurel's trusty iphone. It was a marvelous, memorable adventure. Thanks Lo!

Travels with Lolo -part 2

We saw the arch before we even saw St. Louis, peeking up beyond the hills surrounding the city. Arriving at the riverside park, we tracked down a grocers for a picnic and lunched under the arch. Potato salad, always good in the sunshine!

It's hard to describe how it can be so monumental and at the same time so simply, perfectly beautiful... luminous with the late afternoon sun. We were quite taken with the arch! Exquisite.

Travels with Lolo -part 3

We checked for Texas Bar-b-que in Amarillo and when Laurel's phone yelped a joint known as "Crazy Larry's," we knew we'd found our dinner. Pulled pork sandwich, coleslaw and Moose style Frito Pie!! Truly crazy!! and actually quite tasty.

But the best part of our hours rolling through Texas and New Mexico were the skies--glorious skies! I could scarcely take my eyes off the luminous white clouds set in a pristine blue sky, and one evening a silvery, glowing sunset filled my heart with worship...

Travels with Lolo -part 4

Here we are on the streets of Gallup, Laurel's camera ever at the ready. We walked across the small old downtown, dipping in to a couple museums, Richardson's (fascinating) trading post--Where else could you buy an enormous stuffed mountain goat?? -- and the tempting Cheapo-Depot used book store. We rounded out our stay at the Historic El Rancho Hotel, the stop off for old time movie stars--truly atmospheric! It was a great day in the car, watching Laurel be the Photojojo worker as we rolled along. I always knew she was clever and inventive, but talking through her work was exciting. That girl can turn a phrase --in fact, she should be writing this blog post!

Travels with Lolo -part 5

We woke up to snow-yes snow!! in Arizona. The report said 18 inches in the next 35 hours. So I was all for heading straight home. But intrepid Laurel urged us on to the Grand Canyon, snow and all! And it was Grand-- not the views we had anticipated but beautiful in a unique way, a softer, peaceful canyon... We hiked along the edge and after the requisite hot chocolate, we were on our way home. I can't tell you how much I loved this entire trip--all that time with Laurel was a true treasure-- good times, big sights, fun food, intriguing podcasts, bright skies and great talks...

Anipasti

Last weekend we had friends in for an Italian dinner in 4 courses. Larry put on the Italian opera music and gave it a bit of a go to thank God for the food in Italian. The rest of the meal was fine, but the best to me was the simple antipasti to start us off--bread sticks, olive bread, hard salami, honeyed goat cheese, pepperoncinis, good marinated olives and ground artichokes with parmesan. So easy to just arrange it all on a board and honestly, I'd be happy with just this for dinner with friends and a good class of wine...