At last Lent is over and we are in the season of Easter. For me, the past days have been a tangled mix of emotions, including the death of a dear friend on Good Friday. Carolyn had been in cancer treatment for several years, so the news was not unexpected, but it is always a blow to lose a friend, is it not? When I told another friend that Carolyn had died on Good Friday, she replied by saying what... Read more
So once again we come to Holy Week, the days leading up to Easter. To my regret, I’ve been lazy about my spiritual practice this year during Lent—too many commitments, not enough discipline, too many distractions. But the wonderful thing about the church year is that these holy days come round once again, even when we’ve done little to prepare for them. For after all, grace comes not because we’ve earned it, but because it’s the job of grace to... Read more
While the holy site I wrote about last, the National Museum of Mexican Art, is filled with brilliant hues, I found another holy site in Chicago that shines not with color, but with light. I remember walking past the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies on previous trips to Chicago, intrigued by its sleek, post-modern architecture. Its entire ten-story front wall is made of angled panes of glass, creating a mirror that reflects the beauty of Grant Park, Lake Michigan, and... Read more
The Holy Rover has been in Chicago for a few days at a meeting of the Midwest Travel Writers Association. As always I was on the lookout for holy places, and I’m pleased to say I found one in an unexpected place: the National Museum of Mexican Art. Located in the heart of the Pilsen neighborhood (which is home to many Latinos), the museum celebrates both Mexican and Mexican-American art. While not large, the museum is a visual delight, full of works... Read more
Everyday love corners me somewhere and surrounds me with peace without my having to look very far or very hard or do anything special. Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas Read more
Today’s post is also my monthly column for the Episcopal News Service. You can read it here or below: Experienced travelers know that holy sites can often be found in unexpected places—on the side of a busy highway, for example, or tucked into the shadows of tall skyscrapers in the middle of a city. But while I’ve found many such places around the world, I think the most unusual holy place I’ve visited might well be the meditation room at... Read more
First, let me make it clear that today’s post does not advocate spying on your neighbors as a general principle. But it does encourage you to take a peek at some feathered neighbors of mine: a pair of wild bald eagles that are nesting in northeast Iowa near the town of Decorah. For the past several years, an Eagle Cam has provided a bird’s eye view (you knew that one was coming, didn’t you?) of their nest. What’s remarkable about this... Read more
If you were following this blog last summer, you may remember that my husband took a tumble on his bike in August, leading to six weeks on crutches. I wrote a post on “The Healing Powers of Pickled Beets,” a piece that led to the following essay that appeared in a recent issue of Woman’s Day Magazine. You can read it here on their website or below: When our neighbor Julia heard about my husband’s bike accident last summer,... Read more
Today I want to tell you about a wonderful movie that I recently saw: Temple Grandin, which was an HBO production that is now out on DVD. You may have heard of Grandin, who is the author of books that include Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals and The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger’s. I had read both of these books and found them very intriguing, in part because several of... Read more
By now the situation in Japan has a familiar ring, doesn’t it? The images of destruction, the bulletins about the nuclear plant’s difficulties, the reports of the clean-up efforts and the shaky amateur videos of the wall of water inundating the coastline—we’ve seen these images again and again, their power blunted by repetition. I have been heartsick by the news from Japan over the past days, in part because I have a personal connection to that country thanks to a children’s... Read more
Holy Rover
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