Prisoner of Hopes

Tag: faith

  • Milano At a March: Travel Goals

    It was a priority to see the Last Supper at the Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milan. To get the tickets into there Last Supper, we had to take a tour. I may have mentioned that I am generally not a tour person.The walking tour of Milan started at 8:15 am. Our house was at…

  • Markets and Mountains: Travel Goals

    Today is my favorite day! When I travel in Italy, I can’t wait for market day, the day that a town has a pop up outdoor market. Usually each town has a set day for the market. In that way vendors can go from town to town, and the townspeople can plan their shopping. This…

  • Convents, Cable Cars, and Clothing: Travel Goals

    The day was overcast as we drove around the lake to Santa Caterina del Sasso. An ancient monastery along Lake Maggiore, Santa Caterina is carved into the rock. It hangs above the lake as if suspended by magic. After parking and trying to decipher signs that seemed to suggest the monastery was is two different…

  • Birthday Journey To Locarno: Travel Goals

    Today I turn 58 years old. To celebrate, I am traveling to Locarno Switzerland. It sounded like a great idea, yesterday, when after an “uphill day”, the travel office in Stresa was finally able to book it. After two unsuccessful attempts to purchase seats had failed, finally getting tickets for the rail and ferry Swiss…

  • Thanksgiving

    The leaves have turned. The air has turned colder. The days are shorter. There is an urgency to make the most of any weather that permits outdoor living. Winter is coming. It is the time of year that family negotiations begin. Where shall we meet? How many will come? Who will bring food? The coordination…

  • Peace be still

    The words sound simple and joyful. Peace be still. It is peaceful here. The birds are singing. The sun is shining. I am sitting by a campfire and in the stillness of the morning, I am thinking of my beautiful aunts. They are all with the Lord. But today, they are also vivid in my…

  • Life is hard. God is good.

    The last few weeks have been difficult; not because there is anything wrong in my life, only because I feel unsettled. Call it a physiological response or existential angst. Maybe it is the summer blahs. Perhaps it is living in what I like to call “the age of anxiety.“ It doesn’t really matter what it…

  • Serenity

    Up at dawn, I sip my coffee in solitude and say a prayer of gratitude. It is peaceful. The birds are making the small chirping sounds that accompany a new day. My family thinks I’m a little crazy for getting up with the sun each day. But to me, it is serene. A time when…

  • Making Do

    There is a game I play on a regular basis. Perhaps challenge is the better word. I look in the pantry and refrigerator to figure out how random and abandoned items can be turned into a meal. This purging of the remnants is cathartic. This Easter we took our first camping trip of the season.…

  • In Search of the Order of Christ: Travel Goals

    Templar knights…the very words evoke images of adventure and piety. The warrior priests who vow to take back and defend the holy land against the infidels are the stuff of legends. With my head full of images from books and film, we took the train to Tomar. Tomar was a city built as a Templar…