Did You Wonder Where I Was?

I wish I could say that I was on a Lenten retreat spending time in prayer and meditation.

On second thought, no I don't, since my husband and I were off for a few days with my daughter and her children which was absolutely wonderful! We stayed at a lovely historic old home (1760) in Surry on the opposite side of the river and a ferry ride from Jamestown. The property sits on about 100 acres of woods which made me think of Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood and all its inhabitants. I never saw Pooh or any of his friends, but here and there were fairies and fairy houses which seem to be part of the theme at the house since there were several books about fairies as well.


Every morning for three days I walked the woodland path (a mile and a half) with my daughter -- up hill, down hill, alongside the stream, over a few logs, and by the spooky tree with the dangling white shreds of material looking like a ghost tree. One morning in the fog I could imagine it was a ghost ship with shredded sails flapping in the wind. The owners of the home offer a "treasure hunt" so I suspect this is part of the adventure. Mardi Gras beads dangled from the branches.

I took my tablet to keep up with the blog, but it was dead on arrival and would not charge. So I set it aside and decided I was meant to have a blog free few days just enjoying my granddaughters -- five of them. We rode the ferry a half dozen times feeding the sea gulls, went to Ash Wednesday Mass at the Wren Chapel in Williamsburg, walked around Jamestown in a frigid wind, visited the Goodwill and another thrift store, and had a seafood dinner in Surry. It was altogether delightful!

I talked to the girls (who are home schooled) about piano festival, debate club, the new job with the oldest, and college plans for the high school senior. We were treated to a 10-minute dramatic presentation based on portions of It's a Wonderful Life that one of the girls was preparing for a speech contest. We played numerous card games that usually included lots of laughing and teasing. I brought along the complete DVDs of Agatha Christi's Hercule Poirot and we watched a few of his adventures while we joked about using the "little grey cells" with a French Belgian accent, of course.

We talked about Lenten sacrifices and prayed the rosary with nighttime prayers. We hugged a lot.

And now we are home, but the party has just transferred to Camp Kreitzer since we are the overnight "hotel" on the way home for our daughter. And since another daughter lives nearby, it is the cousins' slumber party tonight. We'll have 14 for dinner tonight and 14 or 15 for brunch tomorrow. What a celebration of family, the domestic church! I love our little congregation.

May God bless us all, those who are here, those who aren't, and those who are far away.

St. Joseph, guardian of the family, pray for us!