Have you ever traveled to a place found in a book you read?
In the past, I’ve gone to a castle that featured prominently in Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman.
More recently, over my summer vacation, I traveled to Three Pines from the Louise Penny books. I saw the bistro/cafe they set up in the lower part of LacBrome Books and the Haskell Free Library and Opera House (photos below).
One of my rituals when I’m on writing retreat is to take a photo of the first breakfast oatmeal of the retreat. I don’t always publish it, but it’s nearly always there in my phone’s memory. In addition to the taste and variety of the food, there is the wonderful blessing of not having to plan it or cook it or clean it up. It takes some of the stress out of the weekend.
Last weekend’s writing retreat, or was it two weekends ago, left me with inspiration as well as the dread of reevaluating my checklists and my outlines and my path forward. However, the food can still inspire even when the planned inspiration hangs like dew over the morning grass.
Added to my hot, comfortable oatmeal is butter, brown sugar, and dried cranberries. A very simple combination that always says retreat to me, and gets me in the right mindset for a writing weekend.
My tea this weekend was PG Tips. It is a good writing tea.
The flowers were not for eating, but we enjoyed them with our meals nonetheless.
(c)2026
The St. Kateri Tekakwitha National Shrine & Historic Site is located on State Rt. 5 in Fonda, New York, deep in the heart of the Mohawk Valley. This is the home of St. Kateri Tekakwitha who lived here from 1666-1676 before moving north to New France, now known as Quebec, Canada. The Mohawk village of Caughnawaga (“on the rapids”) brought its name with them when they moved north in earlier years. While the meaning is the same, it is spelled differently, taking on the Mohawk language’s characteristics rather than the English or French: Kahnawake.
Here, the shrine in Fonda was established in 1938 as the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha and operates under the Order of Franciscan Friars Minor Conventual. It has long been a place of pilgrimage. Fr. Thomas Grassman, OFM was integral in developing the shrine land and excavating the village of Caughnawaga, which remains the only fully excavated Iroquois village in the world.
The shrine grounds are open year round from dawn to dusk, and the trails have a difficulty range for all ages. The Candle Chapel is also open year round for prayer and meditation. The other buildings are open in the spring, and will be available through their last mass in late October or the first weekend in November.
On the grounds you will find the Native American museum and St. Peter’s Chapel housed in what was once the Veeder Family Barn, the Maximilian Kolbe Pavilion where most of their masses take place on Saturday at 4:30pm and Sunday at 10:30am in the warmer seasons. There is a peace grove, Grassman Hall (only opened for specific events), the candle chapel, the Caughnawaga Village Site, and Kateri Spring in addition to hiking trails. Public bathrooms are closed in the winter and the gift shop is by appointment only.
This weekend, however, everything is open and available in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend. The Mohawk Choir from Akwesasne will be in attendance for both masses, and Albany Diocese Bishop Mark O’Connell will be presiding at the Sunday mass.
Saturday welcomes Jon Sweeney at 2pm for a lecture and book signing for his book, Nicholas Black Elk and Francis of Assisi and on Sunday at 1pm, archives assistant Nathan Turkowsky lectures on “The Waters of Creation: Baptism and Haudenosaunee Cosmology.” This is a perfect way to commemorate St. Kateri’s 350th anniversary of her baptism on these very grounds!
Additional photos below cut:
Continue readingIn celebration of the upcoming release, at the end of this month, of Louise Penny’s newest Armand Gamache mystery book, Mrs. Wolcott’s Ghost, I invite you to join me each Wednesday from now until October 27th for special writing prompts I’ve devised using excerpts from her books.
While on our summer holiday, we stopped for tea at the Three Pines Cafe, which may have been the impetus for doing this series now.
(c)2026
“…wiped the condensation off the bathroom mirror and a man in his late fifties appeared…”
Armand Gamache, The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
“Though it happened each and every morning, the face that looked back could still surprise him. Away from any reflection, he was in his early forties. But each morning he was reminded that was not actually true.”
I think many of us have had this same moment that Armand is feeling when something comes up that we are no longer able to do or look into the mirror accidentally and wonder who that is looking back at us.
At a conference, and I may have written about this before, I was asked my age, and I replied, “38.” Friends, I was 48, and it took me a full ten minutes or more to realize that. Even now, more than a decade later, I still think I’m 38 give or take a few years.
Today’s prompt is:
How old do you feel? If you could go back to any age in your past (or perhaps a future age), what is it about that age that makes it a happy time for you? What are things you did then that you don’t do now (for whatever reason) that you would like to do again? What about things you did that you don’t necessarily regret, but what would you have thought twice about or not done with the wisdom you now have?
One of the best things about being on vacation is trying new foods or enjoying old favorites. We try to avoid chain and fast food restaurants, although we do like to see the different options available in other places at McDonald’s, Starbucks, and the like.
My daughter found a place a couple of years ago that is her go-to place when we are in Toronto. It has an extraordinary pop culture/fandom decor and menu, and the food is great! I’ll have a separate post and review of that one next week.
Pics and links to follow:
Continue reading
I was born three months after Star Trek premiered in 1966, and today they will celebrate their 60th birthday while mine is still a couple of months off. I don’t imagine that I watched the premiere or the original seasons live, but in my mind I watched it live. I have always had Star Trek in my life, or so it seems. As a child, I have a vague memory of the cartoons, I had Star Trek comic books and a photo-journal episode book for The Trouble with Tribbles that I still have in a box somewhere in my house. I read it over and over again until the cover fell off and some of the pages loosened and slipped away. I always put them back and one day I stopped reading its frail pages, wanting to keep it as intact as it remained, but also having memorized it I could read it in my mind.
As a post-teen/college graduate, I went to many sci-fi conventions, most especially ICON on Long Island, and one or two Creation Cons. I have a vague memory of seeing the big three, but my husband tells me we never did. I would swear though that I saw William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForrest Kelley in Manhattan. I picture it as if it was yesterday, but the mind is a tricky thing. I did see Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. George Takei at ICON. Did I see Walter Koenig? I’d have to check, it’s fuzzy, but I know I’ve seen Nichelle Nichols and Robin Curtis. Some next generation folks or rather DS9 – Nana Visitor, Alexandar el Siddig, Armin Shimmerman, Rene Auberjenois, writer Harlan Ellison, and others. We would watch Next Gen in my husband’s friend’s basement, eating chicken parm subs for dinner each week for each new episode. We continue that tradition when there is a new Star Trek – DS9, Enterprise, Picard. I don’t have fond memories of Voyager – I was a new mother, and my infant son screamed through every episode – I hear ya; I feel the same way, kid.
Two hours north of the New York state capitol is a small town of Ticonderoga, known for its pencils and Revolutionary era fort. There is also a Star Trek Original Series Set Tour created from the original blueprints with the impetus and creative spirit of James Cawley. It is a must for any STar Trek fan. There is a sweet spot that I talk about where the corridors meet and form a ‘T’, and for a split second, a moment in time, you are on the Enterprise. You can’t see the overhanging set lights, you can’t see the behind the scenes areas, in that one space, you are on the Enterprise. It’s magical.
Sadly, I have not found any merch, no pins, stickers, or anything for my collections to celebrate the big 6-0!
How am I spending today?
Re-watching The Voyage Home in my home with a bucket of popcorn and a Diet Coke. How will you celebrate this once in a lifetime anniversary?
On Saturday, our Cursillo group held what was our combination of the weekend commissioning mass and holy hour. We also were able to attend the scheduled mass for the Assumption of Mary. It was held at a church of the same name – Our Lady of the Assumption. It turned into a wonderful morning of piety, fellowship, and friendship.
As I was leaving, I noticed a statue on the side of the church – there are a few points of interest on the grounds. I saw the statue, and the way it was standing, I felt that it was St. Kateri. I pulled over to take a picture, and then thought I’ve got time, and walked over to see it more closely.
It was indeed St. Kateri.
There is something in the way her statues depict her that have her holding her blanket closed across her body with a cross resting near her shoulder that makes it distinctive as a Kateri statue. It was really nice, and I stood for a minute. I saw that immediately next to St. Kateri was a labyrinth! I didn’t know that this labyrinth even existed. It was the Chartres shape, but a smaller than usual one. I walked it, serenely and slowly, savoring the sunshine and the space, the sacredness coming naturally to me. I said a decade of the rosary – that was just the right amount of time to walk it through.
I took a few photos, and then of course of the statue with the labyrinth. It was a close moment.
As I was leaving and driving along the entrance/exit space, I realized they also have a painted walking rosary around the entrance driveway. More than a close moment, it is a special place that I will visit again, even without “a reason”.
In addition to these most recent books pictured, I am also reading:
Saturday morning on retreat, and breakfast consists of oatmeal. Hot, solid, healthy, and filling. I add a small amount of butter, brown sugar, and craisins. My tea of choice is Bigelow’s orange spice, and a bowl of cantaloupe and blueberries round off the healthiest meal in my repertoire. I don’t know why, but I almost always take a photo of the first bowl of oatmeal on the weekend. I look forward to it every time, and I never get tired of it. It’s a wonderful start to a weekend of contemplation, inspiration, and learning.
While driving to work yesterday, the sun in my eyes, I saw a person walking on the sidewalk opposite where I was. He (this is presumed) was wearing blue bike shorts and a blue shirt, not too bright, but not navy either, in another timeline, I’d probably describe it as American flag blue, both spandex, made most likely for exercise or biking and a red do-rag on his head. See if you can picture it.
I asked myself, out loud mind you, “Is that Spider-Man?”
I did a double take, and what he was wearing came into better focus, and I laughed. I enjoyed the rest of my drive to work.
I don’t have a photo (I was driving after all), so below are some of the other things I’ve seen this week on my way to and from work:
