Remember that guy who was behind me in the Mississippi River a couple of weeks ago, and I said that he wasn’t going to make it? Well, the water level has fallen, and I now find out that it is Lewis and Clark and their dog, Seaman, on returning to St. Louis from their westward adventure!That’s what 2 weeks without rain will do around here!
We were graced with our first visit from friends last week. Jane and Ron came! Jane is our friend from Florida, and Ron is Jane’s friend from Wisconsin.
We had a wonderful time, and I got to explore some more the museum under the St. Louis Arch. I feel like I am learning the history of my country for the first time, and considering it all as I muse over the land. (I'll have more to say about this as I go along ...)Ron took the tram to the top of the Arch while Jane and I browsed around the museum. I’m saving my trip to the top of the arch for autumn, when Eric comes to visit. (We're both claustrophobic, once leaving a climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty in a panic.)
The museum is very well done, in concentric circles, the outer one a complete recounting of Lewis and Clark’s Journey to the Pacific Ocean. As you walk through the more central circles, you see memorabilia and artifacts from the different phases and aspects of the westward expansion of the United States.
I had been wondering what kinds of “gifts” were sent to appease the Indians. There was a whole wall of the different “peace medals”, engraved with the head of the President (or “Great Father”), that were given to the Indian chiefs. They were fairly large and hollow inside. Essentially, trinkets. Gee.
[This is a photo of a wall in the museum, an artist's conception of what the crowd looked like that greeted Lewis and Clark as they returned to St. Louis in 1806.]There is an old Cathedral near the Arch. It reminds me of the old Churches of my childhood, with candles, communion rails, and confessionals. [Aside: my letter to the St. Louis newspaper about Archbishop Burke was published today. Can be seen online here.]
Last but not least, John wants me to post this beer list for Eric to see. There was a beer tasting festival at our neighborhood bar last weekend. You got to taste 20 beers for 10 dollars.
This blog is becoming a real scrapbook!Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Faye, seems to have spared our friends and home in Florida from damage or harm! We are forever grateful for the friends and neighbors who look after and take care of us.
7 comments:
Beth,
I would very much like to read your letter about Archbishop Burke, but as of my commenting here, there was no actual link at the word "here"
:)
Dear H.M ...
For some reason, I haven't yet been able to find the letter that was published in the newspaper today on the website ... something fishy about this. Anyway below is a copy of the letter I sent (they edited it somewhat) I'm assuming that they will add it to the online letters in the next couple of days, and I'll get the "here" link working.
Hope you are well; I am still a bit disoriented, but basically ok and enjoying everything. We're planning a trip to black hills and badlands in N. Dakota as soon as a window of opportunity opens. I would love to get a little further north.
Anyway, here is the letter:
Re: Politic or not, Burke was a true pastor
Colleen Carroll Campbell is right to commend Archbishop Burke for his faithfulness to Chuch teachings. I just wish that, as a Church leader, he were as vocal on Catholic opposition to capital punishment as he has been on its opposition to abortion. For over 25 years, U. S. Catholic Bishops have repeatedly called for an end to the death penalty in the United States, citing that its use should be abandoned not just for what it does for those who are executed, but for what it does to us as a society. We cannot teach respect for life by taking life.
Yet, even our five Catholic Supreme Court Justices do not understand Catholic teaching on the death penalty. If just one justice were to change his position on capital punishment, the death penalty could soon be abolished in the United States.
H.M - Well, I guess the St. Louis newspaper doesn't post online the letters that are published in the paper - at least I can't find it there today.
Basically the letter that was published is the one that I sent.
They changed my wording about the S.C. justices saying that "some" of them did not understand Catholic teaching on the D.P. But they all vote as if they did - it was the 5 CATHOLIC justices who voted that it's ok to use lethal injection to kill someone. I would like to ask whoever edited my words why they changed them.
I sent the letter as a response to an article by Colleen Campbell, in which she praised Archbishop Burke for his faithfulness to Catholic teaching etc. That article is here:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/colleencarrollcampbell/story/0A8FCADBA7F2864A862574A40080FC3D?OpenDocument
(I hope it works when you copy and paste!)
Thank you for the tours and the photos, Beth!
What fun!
We had such a good time. Now, for me, it's back to Palm Beach County.
Good luck, Jane!
It was a fun, fun visit with you and Ron!
Beth, I'm sure you are glad to be where you are this week rather than here in soggy Florida. Fay has been the strangest storm I have ever experienced. You may have read that at one point on Tuesday it actually formed an eye, and then stalled. And guess where that was? Right here in Lake Placid! (I actually checked the latitude and longitude.) Now the thing is stalling around Daytona Beach. They are predicting 30 inches of rain!
My gosh, Sally - Lake Placid seems to be the place that stirs things up! Hope that at least you are dry and didn't lose your power.
We're finally getting a bit of rain here - but just a bit.
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