Morning Birds

There have been a couple of mornings while driving to work that I would see leafless trees full of blackbirds .  It was a neat site but I would never have my camera or if I would have stopped they would have flown off.  I decided to sketch it so I could keep the memory. 

Back

We are back from our Thanksgiving in Detroit, I have a few pictures to share.  This is Jefferson Avenue the sculpture in the middle is a fist.  It represents Joe Louis the fighter. 

Our hotel is across the street from the entrance to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel.  Now we have not made it over to Canada but it amazes me that one can drive underneath the Detroit River. 

We drove to Belle Isle to see what there was over there.  What a great view of the city of Detroit.  On the left is the GM Building. 

Jefferson Avenue all lite up at night.  In the background are the lights of the Ambassador Bridge.

Kevin and myself

While on Belle Isle it was so windy and cold and overcast.  Looking down the river the sun came out and shined on the freighter coming from the Canadian side. 

Magnificent Fountain on Belle Isle.

We had a great time as usual.  The Lions lost in overtime, but they were so close to winning. 
It was by far the best game we had seen. 

Book Review-Thank God Ahead of Time

 

I first became aware of Solanus Casey while on a family visit to Detroit.  My husband read about St. Bonaventure's Monastery and we decided to visit it and learn it's history.  It was an interesting experience and quite spiritual. 

Solanus Casey was born in Wisconsin on November 25, 1870 with the given name of Bernard into a very large, Irish Catholic family. 

In his early adulthood he held various jobs but then felt the calling to go into the priesthood. 

Solanus had some problems with his studies especially the learning of German.  He eventually made it through and became a priest but the superiors did not give him the ability to listen to confessions and gave him the job of porter. They did not think he was smart enough. This entailed essentially taking care of the door into the church. Speaking with people and listening to them.  He cared very much for people especially the poor.  It just evolved that people were drawn to him and he was a very patient man.  He would pray for them and oftentimes  peoples problems would get better, be solved or go away. 

Solanus Casey is the only American born man who is going through the process of canonizations.  There are 4 stages, Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed and Saint, he is at the Venerable stage.  It is a long process.  A Saint is a person who has patterned their life after Jesus.  They are very kind, and selfless. They live very simple lives with almost no possessions.  They are very prayerful and holy and they have to have had miracles performed.  Through a very holy bond Solanus Casey had followers and have many proclaim that after they had spoken with Solanus Casey their problems got better.  

This book was a very enjoyable read and was for the most part an easy read.  When the author got into the theology explanations it was deeper and harder to understand.

 

We visit the Solanus Casey Center once a year or it is called making a pilgrimage to a place where a holy person was at.