Saturday 6/20/09 - "THE BEAUTIFUL, THE CUTE, AND THE UGLY"

(The beautiful!)

(The cute: Peek-a-boo, the squirrel sees you!)

(...and the Ugly!)

"THE BEAUTIFUL, THE CUTE,
AND THE UGLY"

Thanks so much to all of you who commented on my serialized Flash Fiction Friday 55. It is so much fun and I'm as excited to know what will happen next and how things will develop as you are.

Yesterday was a piece of proof that I can be a "klutz" with little "memory power" at times. There is a step up in one area of the wrap-around porch here and I no sooner came down yesterday morning in flip flops rather than my tennis shoes than I forgot about the step up and walked right into it with my big toe taking the lead in my open-toed shoe. Ouch, darn, #@%**!

The result is as pictured. This toe throbbed like an aching tooth or ear ache all day, all night. Our gracious hostess prayed over my toe and brought an Epsom Salts soak. I wondered if I would be able to sleep, but the bed is so comfortable, like sleeping on a cloud and I had a huge pillow to put the foot up on and I again slept like a baby.

This morning - throbbing gone....thank you God. It's still painful, but not the pounding. Now, I just need to be careful. I'll probably loose the nail. I'm not young and have never had anything like this happen, never lost a nail. Well, maybe it won't happen.

Despite this mishap, the beauty of the woods, clouds, home, animals, total surroundings cannot be dimmed. The experience of making an AA meeting yesterday and another today where my sponsee attends regularly remains as wonderful no matter the mishap. The working of God between myself, my sponsee, and one of her sponsees can not be minimized by any toe problem.

On a walk yesterday before I realized walking in the mountains was no longer on my menu of activities, we took a walk and on the way back saw the little guy (the squirrel) peeking out of the opening where water comes out to turn the wheel on this decorative waterfall out front of the home.

Well - enough for today. I have an 11th step to do with my sponsee, a toe to take care of, an AA meeting to attend, and more beauty to drink in.

God bless all of you.

Prayer Girl

Thursday 6/18/09 - "MORE TRAVEL PICTURES"

Annunciation Garden

Four large bells in a reflection pool
located in the Annunciation Garden
toll the arrival of each hour

Sacred Heart

My nature trail
(I actually climbed over the trees)

A hummingbird on the porch
of the home I'm visiting in N.C.

The view from the top of the
mountain looking down on the town

"MORE TRAVEL PICTURES"

This blog will need to be quite short. We arrived at the top of this mountain where my sponsee lives this afternoon. Words cannot describe how beautiful it is. My friend is such a gracious hostess. We dined on potato crusted cod, Brussels sprouts, little potatoes, and a delicious salad. It was the healthiest meal I've had in a while and I loved every bite.

I am afraid of heights so being on the top of a mountain is a little strange. There is a porch running around most of the house and I just stay away from the edge. It is a spectacular view. The breeze outside was delightful. Now, a rain has begun to fall and I am sitting in a gigantic main room with glass windows all around me, watching lightening flash as the night grows darker. The only sound is the tapping on my keyboard as I blog. This is an unreal experience.

Tomorrow, we'll be going to a noon AA meeting with my friend and I'm truly looking forward to that. Later in the afternoon hubby and I will be off to Asheville, N.C. to meet up with another blogger.

My day has been a very long one and my head is pounding. I think it's time to put up the keyboard and mouse and say, "good-night".

Good-night from,
Prayer Girl

Wednesday 6/17/09 - "THE SHRINE IN PICTURES"

The Millennium Spire

Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill

The natural beauty of the surroundings

The main shrine/amphitheater

On the stage of the amphitheater


"THE SHRINE IN PICTURES"

These are some of the sights I saw in the two days we spent at the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine.

It rained like crazy the second morning and early afternoon, but I just waited till it ended about 2 p.m. While waiting, I did some shopping for a few needed items and went to a great AA meeting. Then with the rain over, I went out to do some more touring of the grounds. I went for a nature walk on a trail I had seen the times we had visited before, but had never had the chance to walk. It was wet. I was totally alone. It was wonderful.

I had almost the entire place to myself. There were very few people in any of the shrine areas I visited that Monday. I can't describe how it felt to be in such total solitude in the center of all that beauty, peace, and tranquility. Priceless. No words can describe it. ...What a lucky, lucky lady I am, a lucky lady indeed.... (That line is a modification of one that comes from a children's book that was one of my favorites when I was very little. I would have my mother read it over and over till I was able to read it over and over myself - "Mrs. Ticklefeather" was the name.)

Well, I'm tickled pink that the blogger picture function is up and running today. I have more for another time. I'll try to be discriminating in choosing.

Love you all,

Prayer Girl

Monday 6/15/09 - "OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS"

"OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS"

We arrived in Belleville, Illinois at "Our Lady of the Snows Shrine" Sunday afternoon. The forecast was for rain Monday so I'm really glad that I chose to hop in the car and make a tour of my favorite shrine spots as soon as I arrived.....a ride around the loop with the "Stations of the Cross", a drive around and stop at the gigantic and beautiful amphitheater that houses underneath it a very lovely and spiritual chapel. I also parked at several other sites and walked up to them...."Our Lady of Guadalupe Hill" and the "Millennium Spire". These are all 'DEVOTIONAL AREAS'.

There is a restaurant here and we lucked out with a Sunday fried chicken buffet. It was delicious and in keeping with my pattern so far on this trip, I ate more than I probably needed to, but surely exactly what I wanted. There was a wonderful bread pudding with lots of peaches and sweet sauce on top. Delightful.

We drove down to the "Lourdes Grotto" after dinner before it got dark. This is a replica in about quarter size of the grotto in Lourdes, France. I'm so glad we did this. Today looks like rain, lots of rain, all day.

I've called the AA central office here and have a fistfull of meetings with addresses. Thank God for the new GPS. I think we'll have little trouble finding a meeting.

For some reason blogger wouldn't upload images. I took some pictures yesterday before the clouds and rain arrived, but they'll have to wait for publishing at a later date.

In the meantime - love to all you bloggers,
Prayer Girl

Saturday 6/13/09 - "A FEW THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW"

"A FEW THINGS YOU
MIGHT NOT KNOW"

#1 - I have proven to myself that I can negotiate our brand new Toyota RAV4 on very small, winding, hilly, pot-holed,country roads in Southern Illinois. I was motivated by the fact that our destination was to meet a gracious blogger friend, her dear husband, and other friends on their lovely little piece of property in the woods off the main roads. In fact the setting reminded me of Robert Frost....."The woods are lovely, dark and deep."

#2 - I have written the "Final Scene" of my Flash Fiction Friday 55 serialized story blog. (It will be in waiting till I arrive at the end.) An author recently told my book club that when writing a story, the beginning and end should be written first and then everything in between.

#3 - I probably slept about 3 hours last night and had a full day today of driving from Paducah, Kentucky to a small town in Southern Illinois. We got settled in and I had about a half hour nap. We were then off to meet a blogger friend, AKAnnie, then to dinner at a wonderful buffet where I sampled more items than I could count, and went to a great meeting at which Annie received a 19 year medallion. What a wonderful day. And now I am dead tired.

#4 - The topic of the AA meeting tonight was change. If I'm going one way for too long, I best contemplate what might be possible by going another way.

#5 - I'm going to post this short blog and then hopefully sleep!!!

#6 - I still believe in the power of prayer and if I say I'll pray for you, I mean it.
I'll pray for you!

Prayer Girl