Strange Days!

The heat wave FINALLY broke! And last Sunday night our young adults group met for an outdoor movie night (1-8). The movie was "Allied" which was just okay. Fairly predictable.

This first image is a panoramic of the venue (1). It's located on the local fair grounds when the fair is not happening. They inflate this huge screen (far right in photo 1) and project the movie on it at sunset. You can bring folding chairs or rent bean bag chairs (some big enough for two). Here's a selfie with our group (2). We each brought a plate to share. Here is some humus, on the left, with some humus made with "beet root" (Aussie for beets), on the right (3). I had to take this shot to show my Franciscan brothers back home who don't understand the creative porcesses that might go into making dips. These last shots are of the sky as the sun set (4-8). With the hot weather breaking just that night, the clouds were something else. These photos don't do it justice.

I celebrated Mass for a priest friend of mine in Windsor, the neighboring town. St. Matthew's is one of the oldest churches in the diocese, built in 1840. Daily Mass goers the day I was there were only 15 or so! Here's a shot of the church from the street (9). This is the centeral nave (10) with the small sanctuary (11). Here is a detail of the altar stonework (12). It had some very pretty nice old stain glass windows (13, 16, 17, 19) and some not so nice newer windows that had faded (18). Some crazy modern priest decided to build a huge baptistry that you could walk into (14). It really looked out of place and way too big for the space. I'm guessing this side altar (15) was the original altar set in the middle of the church. Now it is used as the Tabernacle on the side. This is a nice statue of Mary (20); another shot from the street (21) and right across from church a busy bocce ball court (22)!

And then more strange weather later this week! This rainbow was at sunset again after the storms rolled through; the sky was all rosy (23). Yesterday several massive storms ripped through our area. This is between the lightening and thunder showers (24). We had lots of marble sized hail in our area (25). All those littel white "rocks" are balls of ice! This is a shot of the hail nearby that looks more golf ball sized to me (26). Finally a dramatic shot after the storms (27). I love the way the light highlights only some of the clouds while leaving other parts in the dark.