Vacation and a prayer request

I am off to Winnipeg for a week, so probably won't be posting anything til I get back. I am bringing my camera, but not my laptop. I hope to have a computer-free week so I can finish reading Victories of the Martyrs by Saint Alphonsus Liguori.

May I ask everyone to pray for a special intention of mine?

5 Days of Vacation

I won't be online for the next five days, as we are heading to the lake for some fishing and R & R. Above is a picture of Kootenay Lake, where our little getaway is waiting for us. No internet, no noise, no alarm clocks, and no schedule - just five days of peace. I am bringing a few Catholic books, (are there any other kind?) a rosary and my camera. Life is good.

Four days of sunshine (I hope)

And speaking of cooling off, I am off to the lake for four days. Back on Tuesday. Have a good weekend, everyone!

On Vacation

...at beautiful Kootenay Lake, where there is no internet access. Back on July 30th. I love vacations!

The last five days

It's good to be back home after five days away; two of which were spent driving across the province and home again to get to and from our location on Kootenay Lake. Now that we are living at the coast, I think it's time to find a closer vacation spot, but then we wouldn't get to see family. On Sunday, I got to go to Mass with my sister Shirley at a little mission church in Proctor, where I spent a few years of my early childhood. This picture was taken by my sister (mine did not turn out). The old Church is in a very picturesque setting, with a walking bridge across a raging creek.




The old altar is still intact inside the simple Church.


My sister and I were the only traditional Catholics in that small little group. We wore our head coverings as we always do, and after Mass an elderly woman I used to know (Mrs. H.) approached me and we chatted. (She's the one in the blue shirt talking to me in the above photo). I remember playing on her farm as a five year old, hiding in the hay stacks and feeding her chickens, and watching the cows. She must be well into her seventies now and she obviously noticed that we are traditional Catholics, and she told me that she was very happy that Pope John XXlll, so long ago, had ushered in a new era of change for all Catholics, and wanted to know how I felt about these important changes. Our conversation went something like this:


Mrs. H: You know, the Church has undergone some very important changes in the last decades. Isn't it wonderful how we are now part of a living Church?

PG: Well, Mrs. H., just as we have a living God, we have always had a living faith and been part of a living Church. Are you saying that you think the Church was dead prior to the second Vatican Council?

Mrs. H: Well, the Church doesn't belong in a museum. It's good that we have gotten rid of all those things that stifled us and kept us locked in the past.

PG: Mrs H, the Catholic Church has a rich history of sacred tradition, architecture, religious art and holiness. Are you suggesting that these things are no longer important for Catholics? You are correct in observing that many of these things have disappeared from our Churches today, but did you know that it is through the misinterpretation of the Second Vatican Council that much of these things were done away with?


Mrs. H: Well, I just don't think we should be living in the past. As I said, the Church is not a museum.

PG: We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, though. There is much value to keeping our Sacred traditions alive. I love the traditional Latin Mass; the relevance of each gesture of the priest, all the sacred and beautiful prayers, and the Gregorian Chant of the High Mass. Those are things we almost lost, and now our Pope has restored them to all Catholics.

Mrs. H: How can you understand it? The Mass is so much better in English. At least I know what the priest is saying.

PG: Mrs. H, the missals have a side by side Latin/English interpretation. The prayers of the traditional Mass are so much more beautiful and prayerful than those of the new Mass. A traditional Mass is truly the place where heaven meets earth.

Mrs. H: Well, I just don't know. I like the living Church better.


Pray for Mrs. H!

Home Again

It's good to get away for the weekend, but it's also good to be home again. We went to the lake where there was no computer access - can you imagine that? A whole four days without being able to log onto the web! We caught a couple of nice sized rainbow trouts; one was almost ten pounds and the other was about three.

The trip home took longer than expected - we decided to take the scenic route and went over the Galena Bay ferry where we had to wait three hours for our turn to board. I walked down to the lake, and counted our vehicle as number 100 in the line up, so I knew I had plenty of time to sit on the rocks, watching the waves lap in, and pray the Rosary. It is such a beautiful place to meditate on the mysteries of God.

I read meditations from Saint Alphonsus' book, Attaining Salvation; a book I highly recommend to all Catholics. Saint Alphonsus has been called the "Doctor of Prayer," and I can't think of a more suitable title to describe this great saint and writer. If only I could attain such a perfect love of God as Saint Alphonsus implores us to strive for! The book is full of provocative Scripture quotes that give one pause to think - just consider this one from the book of James: For what is your life? It is a vapor, which appeareth for a little while, and afterwards shall vanish away. James 4:15

I know now that our lives are a pathway to God, that our souls were created to love God, and they long to be united with Him, whether we realize it or not. It seems so simple now. But I remember when I was a teenager, I used to wonder what the meaning of life was. I thought there must be some grand reason we were all put here on earth, and I wasted many years trying to find that elusive happiness that was always out of my reach. If I had only known then that my soul was crying for God! How patient He is to wait for us while we keep running away from Him, amassing sin upon sin.

Someone once told me that learning to be Catholic is like learning a whole new language. I haven't finished learning it yet.

Fishbone Art

When we went to Mexico in February, (yes, that was before the Swine Flu outbreak), I bought these two items from a little street market in Puerto Morelos. They are carved out of fish bone, and when I asked what kind of fish, I was told the "big one!"

The crucifix is really beautiful; it is of such an incredible quality with very intricate detail etched into every line.


Here is a close up.


This is a plaque of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with the same amazing detail etched throughout.



I had them blessed a few weeks ago, and they now adorn the walls of my living room.

Seven days on the beach

Vacation time is getting closer, and we've finally settled on where we want to go. Check this out. The pictures make it look great, and it's a new resort, built just last year. It's warm, exotic, lots of sand and ocean, and did I mention warm? It's on the Carribean side of the Mayan Riviera. Our departure date is still a few weeks away, but already I'm planning what to bring. The first thing I pack for any trip is appropriate clothing to wear to Mass. So that leads me to my question. Has anyone reading this been to Cancun? I would like to know where to attend Mass, and would love to tour Mexico's ancient Cathedrals as well. Anyone?

Decisions, decisions

I have 20 days vacation coming up in February, and our vacation plans have been derailed. We had planned for the whole family to get together in Hawaii, (side by side condos would have been nice, just picture the leisure nights on the deck overlooking the ocean, tropical drinks in hand), but the economy interfered, and not everyone could afford to go. There goes my opportunity to say, "Here today, gone to Maui!") So the remaining family members who still planned on a joint vacation settled on Cancun as a less expensive but still affordable alternative. The economy interfered again,though, with more family members experiencing lay-offs. So now I still have all this vacation time already booked, and nowhere to go. There are plenty of last minute deals that are quite affordable - have passport, will travel -so now I am spending quite a bit of time surfing the web looking for all inclusive vacations to Cuba, Los Cabos, etc. The longer I wait, the more affordable it gets. Vegas is also an option. Anywhere sunny and warm will do.

Vacation Pictures

Below is the resort on Kootenay Lake that we go to every summer.


This is Kootenay Lake at its most beautiful - peaceful and quiet.


Our access to anywhere...and the beach I call my favourite. The joy of having a boat is that you don't have to share a beach with anyone else.


The water was cold for this time of year, about 59 - 62 degrees F. The dog even had to bury his head in the sand after getting a doggie bath in the lake!


A historic moment, the SS Moyie, the oldest restored passenger sternwheeler of its kind in the world. It sits in Kaslo and has been restored to all her former glory. A sight worth seeing if you love the early history of the area.


Just one of the artifacts from the SS Moyie that has been preserved. Note the hand cranked washing bucket that reads, "The 1900 washer saves women's lives." Huh? I didn't know that scrubbing clothes on a washboard in the creek was a task that produced fatalities!

Going Fishing...

and boating and swimming for the next ten days in the Kootenays. Posting will resume on July 20 (unless Dr. Bombay pops in and treats everyone to his unique style of writing).


This is beautiful Campbell Bay, only accessible by boat, across from Kaslo on Kootenay Lake. It is my favourite summertime haunt.



I took these pictures last year. This is Kootenay Lake at its best. I'm hoping for more of the same this year. Back in a week.

Miss me??

Of course you did.

FYI....they charge $19 (American) to go to the top of the Empire State Building. I declined. I was going to ask if they'd let us walk to the top for free, but my companions didn't care for that idea. Heh. Can't please anybody.

Anyhoo....here's the proof that I was there. They will let you in the lobby for free.

Yes, mighty tall buildings they construct in New York City. They say it's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. In the interest of full disclosure, it's not really that nice of a place to visit either. Unless you like wall to wall people and overpriced food. I found the people to be nice, however. Contrary to popular opinion, New Yorkers, at least the ones I met, were extremely friendly.

$6 (American) for a bottle of Coors Light. And I don't even like Coors Light. However, present circumstances demand that I ingest some sort of booze every day. Any port in a storm, as they say.

Here's New York's finest, working hard. If you're a cop, you find this picture funny I'm told. Got a pretty strong police union in New York, I guess.

Lots of pagan gods and goddesses around the city, if you're into that sort of thing.

Mass at St. Paddy's was the highlight. Not a bit of hand holding during the Our Father, I'm pleased to report. God bless the Cardinal Archbishop for keeping a leash on that nonsense.

If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Or go completely insane. One or the other.

Heading home

Vacation was great! Nantucket was beautiful and we're just leaving Boston now, and will be home in BC later this evening. Lynne from A Quiet Catholic directed me to a Saturday Vigil Mass at St. Anthony's Chapel at the Prudential Centre in downtown Boston, and I went early to check it out and they were holding adoration and confessions. I stayed for both and we went back for Mass later.

I noticed they are holding a solemn sung Latin Mass (Novus Ordo) on Tuesday, September 11. I would have loved to be able to attend that. I have been to only one before and that was at the Father Corapi Lenten Retreat in Seattle this year. It's a very beautiful way to hold the Novus Ordo Mass.

Anyway, off to the airport now....

Mass in Nantucket

This is the Catholic Church in Nantucket, three blocks from where we are staying. It didn't take more than a few seconds to notice that every building, even the Church, is sided in shingles that are allowed to gray naturally, in keeping with the historic bylaws of the island.

Just look at this house, and you will see that it, too, is sided with shingles that give it that natural aged look, so sought after by the locals.

Gotta try really hard not to use buildings for landmarks here, because they are all the same colour! Actually, they allow seven different colours for trim and clapboard siding, but most people just seem to prefer shingles.

Now here is a sign I can relate to! This is posted right inside the church, in the doors of the main entrance.


The back of the church has several statues. I'm not familiar with which saint this one depicts.

The Church has a choir loft, but I'm not sure if it is used any more. There is a choir area to the left of the sanctuary, in keeping with true Vatican II style.

The Tabernacle is off to the side of the sanctuary, but at least it's at the front of the Church, and not shoved off into a side chapel somewhere. Still, though it made me think that poor Jesus is relegated to second place, especially when I saw that the EMHC were used to offer the Eucharist to the people while one of the two priests gave out the Precious Blood. True, there were probably eighty people at daily Mass, more than I have ever seen, with two EMHC serving alongside of two priests, but is that really an extraordinary situation? Not having the EMHC may have delayed Mass by about two minutes, and since most people here are on vacation with no schedules, I found it difficult to rationalize their use at all.

We used the dreaded OCP hymnals called "Breaking Bread," something we don't see in my neck of the woods in Canada. Now that I have been exposed to these mundane songs that don't really qualify as hymns, I can really sympathize with those who have to suffer through them. It's very tempting to just close the hymnal and pray for better use of liturgical music, and in fact, I did just that.

One good thiing is that the church is open until 7 PM at night, for anyone who wants to go in and pray before the Tabernacle. I plan on doing just that for every day I am here.

Counting the days

Vacation time! Yes, again! Ok, we're not actually leaving for another week, but I'm really excited to go. It's the last one of the summer, and this time we are going to Nantucket. I can't think of a better way to wrap up the summer than spending it here in this old sea captain's mansion, that has been turned into a B&B hotel on the quaint little island off the coast of Massachusetts. There are cobblestone streets and lots of historical attractions, but best of all, we get to spend time on the beach and go whale watching. It's a family vacation, and every time I go to the US, (especially New England), I never want to come home again. Maybe I'll just become an illegal alien!

Vacation Pictures

Here is a photo I took of the sea gulls lazing in the sun. The lake was like glass that day.


Campbell Bay, the secluded beach where we spent most of our time.


Tubing is for the dogs!


Heading over to Campbell Bay for the day.


The captain of the boat!


Packing up.

Mass in Boston

I'm looking for input from a traditional perspective on where to go to Mass in Boston. We will be there just for one night on a Saturday, and won't be able to attend Sunday Mass due to flight times. (Unless it's a really early Mass). So if anyone knows a good Mass that isn't happy clappy, I'd like to hear from you.

Seven days and counting

Camping and boating for nine days on this beautiful lake. Another week to wait.