You probably will never experience this, but I was thoroughly dumbfounded Saturday when Sister Christina and I drove to Hankinson, North Dakota, for our Community meeting.  I just could not remember how to use the cruise control on our car.  Yes, this is true!  We have not taken a long road trip since August of last year, seven months.  Due to the COVID
pandemic so many events were canceled including attendance at the Fargo North Dakota Long Term Care Conference, our second trip to our lake vacation, out of town board meetings.

Due to my tendency to have a “heavy foot” I need to use the cruise control.  Traveling a straight 139 miles on I-29 can tend to get one to want to hurry up.  Well, the Police Force does not agree with this thought.  Trust me; I experienced that situation one time.  And, have you ever slowed up to 55 miles an hour through Fargo, after traveling 75 miles an hour?  It’s a “crawling” sensation.  Thanks for cruise control!

Town driving in Grand Forks does not warrant the use of cruise control unless you want to be careful to drive no faster than 25 miles an hour. In fact, the cruise control does not even work when driving too slowly.  From St. Anne’s Guest Home to Hugo’s grocery store, about seven blocks, to St. Michael’s Church, about ten blocks, to the Post Office about a mile.  With the covid restrictions, we just hardly go anywhere else.

So, we are exiting the off ramp in Grand Forks unto I-29, cars whizzing past us.  So, better get up to speed.  Got to 75 mph but did not want to use foot control all the way.  Yes, cruise control!  But – how do I engage it?  Can’t remember!  Looked around. There is a devise on the steering wheel stating “CRUISE”.  O.K.  So, I pressed it.  Well, a bright orange round light lit up on the steering wheel!  Good grief! What is wrong?  What does that orange “warning light” mean?  Then my brain kicked in!  That means that the cruise is turned on and can be regulated by the control buttons on the opposite side of the steering wheel.

Needless to say, I engaged the cruise control and we “cruised” to Hankinson, plus “cruised” back home after the meeting. Slow brain – fast foot!

Sister Elaine Marie Roggenbuck, OSF

Today is a special day, the feast (solemnity) of St. Joseph, within the year of St. Joseph!  Wow, that’s quite the occasion!  For this special day, a friend of ours brought over a beautiful, if smelly, bouquet of roses to put by his statue.  Since Mass is not currently in our chapel, but in another location, I brought a smaller statue of this special man over from the convent. 
 
As I left Before Mass, I brought the roses over to the spot, where I had set up a stand for the statue.  It looked nice, and helped make the day special.  We also sang the entrance antiphon, Gloria, and some other Mass parts, which was nice as well. 
 
After Mass, we started talking about the repercussions of having a solemnity on a Friday during Lent.  We were quite sure that the day’s status as solemnity (pretty much the highest rank on the Liturgical calendar) trumped the normal rule of Lenten Friday abstinence.  As I told another Sister, “I’m about 98% sure, but there’s a 2% uncertainty margin.” 
 
We decided to call the local parish, where the deacon confirmed our suspicions.  So, we think we’re safe in eating meat today.  I’m personally, not a real meat lover, but that’s beside the point, I guess.
 
With the COVID precautions, our social outings have been pretty much eliminated this past year.  In fact, we still have some gift cards for Panera (as well as other establishments) in a chest of drawers at our convent.  Sr. Elaine had the “scathingly brilliant” (as we like to say in fun) idea of making use of this tonight. 
 
I wondered what was on the menu here, what we would be missing if she stopped by Panera. 
 
Upon walking over to the dining room window, where the weekly menu is displayed, I learned that our dietary staff will be serving “Creamed Tuna over Toast.” 
 
Oh my!  With very little reluctance, in honor of the solemnity, I will abstain from that delicacy.

Happy Feast Day!

This morning, I was reading for Mass.  After the first reading, I glanced down and saw the words of Psalm 95.  Due to extenuating circumstances, I hadn’t prepared the readings.
 
On looking at the familiar passage, it was all I could do to keep from singing the psalm!  Due to my work schedule, I’d missed singing the responsorial here this past weekend, so I felt musically deprived. 
 
The musical setting I know for today’s psalm is so beautiful! 
 
Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord, let us kneel before the Rock of our Salvation,; let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing songs to Him.
 
I guess, in a way, this psalm, with its exhortations to ‘sing to the Lord’ was especially appropriate today.  As we waited for Father, we spontaneously decided to sing a couple of hymns.  After “Amazing Grace” and “Be Thou My Vision,” it was time for Mass!
 
It was so good to sing together again.  We hadn’t had Mass here as regularly of late, and this form of “praying twice” (to use a phrase attributed to St. Augustine) felt so good to have here again! 
 
This beautiful psalm was also appropriate on a deeply spiritual level.  As Father mentioned in his homily, it referred to the hardening of one’s heart.  He reminded us that this is a danger we should be aware of and pray against.
 
“If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart!”

The long-awaited time has come!  Last night, I got access to the seed catalog from NDSU that I’ll be using for some of my seeds for Mary’s Garden and the patio raised beds.  Looking through it and trying to decide what to plant and where reminded me of a little story Sr. Edwardine had shared when I was at our provincial house last week.
 
Sister Edwardine wanted some good manure fertilizer for their garden.  Someone brought them a load of cow pies that were as hard as rocks, and difficult to break up.  Creativity is not in short supply when it comes to Sr. Edwardine, and this time was no exception!  As she thought about how to work smarter - not harder - to break up those pies, she recalled they had a woodchipper that had been in storage for quite some time; she thought that maybe the cow pies would break up like wood chips.
 
So, they brought out the woodchipper and tried running some cow pies through it; it worked well, but all the pies were landing in one pile in the garden. The chips exit through a chute and are directed onto one spot on the ground.   So, Sister Edwardian had the idea to remove the board in front of the chipper that controlled the chute.  Lo and behold, the chute moved freely in any direction and, in no time flat, their garden was covered in cow pie chips!
 
As we lose a lot of snow and get excited for spring, it would be nice if we had such creative conveniences.  However, I don’t have any manure to worry about.  I’m going to start saving eggshells, banana peels, and coffee grounds again, though.

~ By Sister Christina with Cindy Flath