White Bear Lake

Well it has been fun an adventure lately. I arrived in Minnesota and it was 60’s and rainy for the first three days. I hung out with Ryan and we went fishing up near north branch. He knows how to fish with a frog bait. It is this tackle bait that looks like a frog and the bass were all over it. He knew how to make act just like a frog. He caught about 12 bass that day. I caught only two. I obviously do not have the technique.  I also caught a Northern but he caught a nice 31 inch Northern which is a good size fish. After fishing we spent time with his 2 year old Keegan who has a broken fibula. He uses that cast as a weapon at times. I tell you that two year old has women wrapped around his little finger. He can get what ever he wants. 

It was sunny yesterday in Minnesota so i took the road bike for a spin along the Mississippi river. Great day a temperature for a bike ride. That afternoon I rode with Dan to White Bear lake where he swamped his canoe the day before and lost some things in the canoe. So I rented a scuba tank and was going to try and find it. Dan has hooked up a trolling motor to his canoe. Nice jimmy rigging. Well I get me gear on and dive in. It is only about 8 feet deep. However the weeds were very thick. I searched and searched but had no luck. It was fun to get out there and be on a diver search but there was no way to know the exact location and how thick the weeds were it was hopeless. That night dad and I went to the Twins game. Great weather and simply an incredible baseball park. Too bad the Twins lost 3-2. It was the 8 inning that did them in. 4 hits in a row is what cost them the game. Well I head back to Milwaukee for the National assembly on Sunday. I hope it stays sunny up here.

Silence

Well I have had action and silence these past two weeks. Went to the Mogollon rim with Fernando. Did a weekend of camping. Beautiful weather during the day but it got a lot colder than I expected t night. It got down in the high 30's with a cold wind blowing. We had a fun weekend. With many beautiful views driving along the rim. He did a 24 hour fast with me. It was fun watching how antsy he was the last few hours. We had some goo time for sharing. I then headed to St. Rita's Abbey in Soniota. You have to take dirt roads to get there and you feel out in the middle of no where. There is a adobe retreat house that maybe holds 10 people. 100 yards away is the Sisters convent. They are cisterncian and focus their life on prayer. Their chapel is in the shape of an L. I was on one end of the L and they were on the other end with the altar in the center focal point of the L. I would go there for prayer and mass. I could only see a few of them from where I was sitting. It is very pretty down there and very quiet. I was the only one there in the retreat center. Thus begins my time of silence. I spent most of my time just clearing my mind and staring at the mountains. very quiet. No phone, email, no people. After about 8 hours I started to feel this loneliness. There is no one out here. The only person I think I would have seen would be an illegal immigrant walking by. After a while I had to open a book and read just to feel some sort of connection with someone. As the sun went down I felt more and more desolate. Having a whole day of silence really makes one reflect. The sun rose and it was a beautiful sunrise. I went to mass in the morning and one of the sisters recognized me. She came over and said you did my bone scan. I did and I remembered her. She said, "let's meet after dinner". I said, "Ok what time" SHe said, "1:00pm". Ok then I responded. 1:00pm is after dinner. It was great meeting up with her again. It is a small world. I remembered our conversation when I was doing her scan at the Hospital. It is weird how things work. After the retreat I was ready to head back to Tucson and spend time with people.
That I did. I have been running around trying to see everyone. Went to breakers water park with Rand, Austin, Reed boy, and Fernando. Watching two children is a lot of work. I was whipped out at the end of the day. Then I went to the Salt river with my roommates and my cousin Laura up in phoenix and with her friends. I think I put on about 8 layers of spf 50 and I still got red. It was 107 that day. Well time is winding down here in Tucson. I stopped by the hospital and saw most of my former coworkers which was wonderful to see them. I have a few more days to enjoy Tucson.

 Austin who has no fear jumping into the pool

 Up on the Mogollon Rim

 In Soniota at St. Rita's Abbey

 Sister Catherine

 The Chapel

 Reed boy, Myself, Austin, and Fernando at breakers water park

The gang ready to go down the Salt River  and get burnt.

Randy and Austin in wave pool