Today’s posting may seem like a collection of random thoughts – and in a way, it is.  I write these postings as material for a future book (if it ever gets written), but also as self-therapy.  In fact, I recently responded to the following question on the Mennonite Health Assembly Association Website, “What have you learned about yourself during the past year?”, with the following:                   “I have learned that I need to write – not for others, but for myself. By organizing my thoughts that I share with others, it forces me to create a lucid narrative that helps me to understand why I hold certain world views. And…

So, what does one do on a “rest day” in Cusco to acclimate to the high altitude before cycling and hiking the Sacred Valley in the Andes Mountains? Well you walk slowly around the city, maybe buy something, go to a chocolate museum, visit an huge indoor/outdoor market, and make a reservation to eat dinner at one of the best Vegan Restaurants one of my friends has ever visited. viva El Peru Thank you Judy Amiano for recommending Green Point because the food was extraordinary. And Luna our server had plenty of positive personality and the ambience was very zen. If all Vegan restaurants were like this, I would eat…

Yesterday evening I had a conversation with a friend who attends church with me.  Afterwards, I realized that I had used a part of that discussion to complain about some things at our church. And to be more specific, I shared how some older people in our congregation who have been members for many years feel dismissed by our relatively new Rector because the new Rector seems more focused on recruiting young families to our Church. And then I added on to this general statement with the following experience I had. During our Ministries Fair several Sundays ago, I approached two young men who were staffing the Men’s Softball Table.…

We started in Dublin With lots of things “happenin” Including Temple Bar And singing on Grafton We journeyed to Tralee To start The Dingle Way A 110-mile excursion With feats each day We walked Tralee to Camp Where streams ran strong With views of Tralee Bay Where we met MAGA John To Annascaul we marched On a wet Day two As we swam in the sea Dining at South Pole Pub too From Annascaul to Dingle We trudged through the “mud” Not wanting to know What was in that Crud In Dingle we played And had a great time Dining on Oysters With Guinness and wine On to Dunquin Around…

Day 9 of our trip would be Day 6 of our hike on the Dingle Way. The 13-mile hike to Cloghane is one of the most remote and dramatic sections of the DINGLE WAY, and the most challenging as we reached the highest point. The trail offered a combination of history and breathtaking views. We crossed the shoulder of Mount Brandon, one of Ireland’s highest mountains and passed by groups of standing stones. This was by far the coldest day of the hike due to the elevation. We were literally hiking in the clouds. The descent down the mountain was steep, but we were rewarded by spotting a hut where…

I write this on our bus ride to Tralee. We were originally scheduled to take the 1pm Train from Dublin Heuston train station to Mallow (then connect to Tralee), arriving at 5 pm. However, Irish Rail in its infinite wisdom decided on short notice to do rail work for the next couple weeks. So trains for this day had partially been cancelled and were replaced by a bus service and all seat reservations were voided.  Luckily our fearless leaders the Hoffmanns, after consulting with some of our fellow travellers, decided not to take this chance but to scramble and find different means of transportation from Dublin to Tralee and on the return…

Today, before leaving for Ireland I spent much of the afternoon outdoors at our Lake house swimming in the lake and soaking up the late summer sun. I sometimes forget how wonderful this time of year can be in Virginia. I soaked it in because this will be the last day I will see this much sun until I return to Virginia. You do not go to Ireland for sunshine.  The weather in Ireland is all over the place.  As one of our backroad leaders on my last trip to Ireland said, “Ireland has one season all year, but you can get all four seasons in one day.”  He should know…

A tribute to a family member who recently passed away

A post about Celebrations and Marriage