Posts

Black History Month 2026: The National African American History & Culture Museum

Image
I have wanted to go to the National African American History Museum since it opened in 2016. I wanted to learn more about the contributions of African American's to our country's history and what they have endured to make them. Our country isn't the clear cut beacon of democracy that we like to portray it.  Given the current administration, I decided I needed to go there soon while the museum was still open and intact. I planned a trip from February 21-25, 2026. I wanted to get this post up while it was still February, Black History Month, which it barely is. This post will mainly consist of pictures I took with my iphone in the Museum and around D.C. The Museum is huge. It starts underground with our--I'm trying to think of an adjective, but I can't--history of slavery. I'm mainly going to let the photos speak for themselves. But as the words in the above photo admit: it's not like they didn't know how what they were doing with slavery, but they wanted ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Nighttime Mysteries

Image
Like much of the population over 50 in this country, I don't sleep well. So in the middle of the night as I lay awake, either never having fallen asleep or having woken up, I often say the Rosary. The Rosary is a Catholic prayer that takes about 20 minutes or so to pray. It is divided into five decades, with ten Hail Mary's and one Our Father and one Glory Be prayed for each decade.  While praying the Rosary, we focus on different mysteries of the faith for specific days of the week. Sundays and Wednesdays are the Glorious Mysteries (Resurrection of Jesus, Ascension of Jesus, Descent of the Holy Spirit, Assumption of Mary, and Coronation of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth), Monday and Saturday are the Joyful Mysteries (Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, Finding Jesus in the Temple), Tuesday and Friday are the Sorrowful Mysteries (Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns, Jesus Carries His Cross, Crucifixion and Death of Jesus), and Thurs...
Post a Comment
Read more

2025 Year In Review

Image
  Here is the Christmas card and letter we sent out. Late, but back in the day, the Christmas season went until Candlemas, on February 2. Here's to old traditions!
Post a Comment
Read more

Some Old Acquaintances Will Never Be Forgotten

Image
It's December 31, 2025 and I am typing these words in the library of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception Convent on Heading Avenue in West Peoria, Illinois. The year is ending, and not to put too fine a point on it, so in the not distant future is the convent. For the past few years, the Catholic sisters have been moving to (don't laugh) Lutheran Hillside Village in Peoria, a lovely retirement community with apartments, assisted living, and nursing home care.  The reason for this move is that the convent at over 55,000 square feet, situated on five acres, is too large for the 20 some remaining sisters. It won't surprise you to learn that over the past few decades, the number of sisters in the order has been declining, as it has for Catholic orders across the United States. Religious life, especially for women, is not a common choice anymore. I won't go into the reasons for decline in this post, but want to acknowledge how sad it is for those of us wh...
Post a Comment
Read more