Author: cometsgirl

This first day of Holy Week finds me on my way to Arizona to visit some of my family. I will see twelve at last count! Over meals, of course.

I love bridges.

This morning on the way to the airport, driving under this new bridge, captivated me.

Today is Monday in Holy Week. From the assigned readings for this day, I landed on Psalm 36, verses 7-9. (The Message version).

“How exquisite your love, O God!
How eager we are to run under your wings,
To eat our fill at the banquet you spread as you fill our tankards with Eden spring water.
You’re a fountain of cascading light,
and you open our eyes to light.”

We generally read “hide us under the shadow of your wings,”. I love the image of running under God’s wings.

I see wings in this bridge design. I also see a place under the bridge to “hide” under God’s wings.

I’ve crossed many bridges in my life, real and symbolic. What bridges await me in this Arizona space?

“Keep on loving your friends;
do your work in welcoming hearts.” Psalm 36:10.

I’ve now been in a metal tube for close to five hours, seated in my chair in the sky. I’m eager to land and see my sister’s welcome smile.

Traveling mercies.

This was more than a concert. It was an event. An experience. Definitely one for the books.

We Ubered to the stadium (where the Dallas Cowboys play football) with cautionary comments from the driver about the possibility of not being able to find an Uber for our return trip home.

Nothing we could do about it when we arrived.

We joined throngs of concert goers! It was fun to get swept up in anticipation. Steps, stairs, and an elevator ride and we were in our fancy seats.

And then…Stevie and Billy.

Stevie and Billy performed well over four hours!

We sang, swayed, clapped and waved our flashlight-enabled phones all the while.

Singing along with my grandkids, it was so worth the wait!

Then it was time to make our way out of the stadium and then home. Easier said than done. I’ll just say, after walking and waiting in the cold night, our Uber picked up the last three concert-goers and delivered us home seven hours after we had departed home.

Now seated in my airport lounge awaiting my flight home.

Traveling mercies.

What do you think of when you see these names? Do you wonder who they are, or do you know instantly?

I know instantly because I’ve been waiting eleven months for a postponed concert with Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel. I’m a big fan of Stevie and in December 2022 I purchased three tickets – for my two Texas grandkids and myself.

Five days before the concert it was postponed because of a COVID outbreak in Stevie’s band. Ticket-holders were told to hold on to the tickets as the concert had been rescheduled for March 9, 2024.

That’s a long time to hold onto a ticket. But we did hold on.

Today I fly to Texas for the Stevie Nicks/Billy Joel concert on Saturday, March 9, 2024!

My granddaughter picked me up this morning for a day together with both grandkids. Tonight’s the concert.

Five months ago it was determined that I needed to have surgery. It turned out my surgeon is a big fan of Stevie Nicks and of Fleetwood Mac.

We talked about them at every visit.

My surgeon and I set up a schedule where I could complete the six trips I had already planned, then carve out four weeks for surgery and recovery in time for the concert.

So here I am. I’ve been carved up and I’ve recovered. And I’m in Texas for the concert.

Pizza in the cool sun.

Then a visit to a tattooist. We have plans and we needed to see if I’m young enough. Indeed I am.

My grandkids and I have strategized about what time to arrive at the stadium; what time to leave for the stadium, and then what time to order an Uber.

We’ve also talked about Uber pickup after the concert when 80,000 people will pour out of the stadium. We’re not sure about this just yet.

We are set! We’re leaving in 30 minutes.

My youngest granddaughter is a sophomore at Rice University in Houston. Her schedule worked for me to fly to Houston from Arkansas to have a visit.

We made plans for our afternoon together.

It began with lunch. We met at a local restaurant, Kâu Ba. Over lunch we began our 5-hour chat.

We talked about all the things going on in her life. Classes. A new job. Housing for next year. Study abroad this summer. On and on.

I found such delight in her smile as she talked.

After lunch we walked down the block to the coffee shop/bakery, Common Bond.

Coffee in hand, we Ubered to the Rice campus I’m a huge Uber fan, especially when I come to the big city to visit. The conversations I’ve had with the drivers are so interesting.

A short walk to Moody Museum for the exhibit Hayv Kahraman: The Foreign in Us. Gut Feelings. It was about the microbes within our body – those that harm us. We actually found some of it thought provoking.

Next up was the basketball game. Rice has a player who is remarkable and is quite the scorer. I was anxious to see her play. Sadly, she did not suit up for play. Other players were on fire!

Play was fast and furious. We cheered and cheered. And cheered some more. But Memphis overpowered Rice. Still, the fast and furious play was fun.

Our time together passed too quickly!

I have gratitude beyond measure for our time together.

I traded the quiet beauty of Crystal Bridges for a regional jet, with a cowboy-type pilot. He was determined to get us to Houston. On time. Possibly early.

Even though there were severe storms approaching. And the airport was temporarily closed in Houston.

Without any notice we were told to line up to board. The captain wanted to avoid the Oklahoma storms coming our way.

Onboard we waited impatiently for the last 2 passengers to show up so we could get out of dodge. Literally XMA.

While we waited we ended up chatting with our pilot. He told us it was quite possible we would end up in San Antonio. My friend mentioned that my son was a Captain with Southwest Airlines. Oh does he ever want to fly for SW! I told him I would see what I could do.

Last passenger onboard. Time to buckle up and soar to the awaiting clouds.

I put my airpods in and drifted into harmonies and soothing melodies. My bag of popcorn helped too.

The captain kept us apprised of the situation outside our windows. He was pretty certain we could weave through the storm, land now that the Houston airport was open, for an early arrival!

Our cowboy captain had the flight attendant notify us that we would land in seven minutes. I set my timer.

And just like that, we landed the very second the timer hit 0. Hallelujah!

Traveling mercies indeed.

Today it’s a Rice University women’s basketball game with my granddaughter. Go Lady Owls!

Yesterday was the 31st anniversary of my friend’s Ordination to the Priesthood. Yep, she’s an Episcopal priest.

We had lots of delightful reminiscing. I attended the ordination which was at my church at the time, St. Dunstan’s. She would go on to serve there for the next five years.

What follows are pieces of the ordination liturgy;

Do you believe that you are truly called by God and his Church to this priesthood?

I believe I am so called.

You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and poor.

With all God’s people, you are to tell the story of God’s love.

You are to share in the administration of Holy Baptism.

You are to love and serve the people among whom you work, caring alike for young and
old, strong and weak, rich and poor.

You are to preach, to declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners,

to pronounce God’s blessing.

In all that you do, you are to nourish Christ’s people from the riches of his grace,

and strengthen them to glorify God in this
life and in the life to come.

May the Lord who has given you the will to do these things give you the grace and power to perform them. Amen.

Well done good and faithful servant.

Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, collected contemporary art by artists in the United States for many years.

At some point she decided that the people of rural northwest Arkansas- most especially the children- deserved an art museum. Not just any art museum, rather one that rivaled well-known and prestigious museums on either coast of America. Plus, it should be free.

Thus Crystal Bridges Museum.

My first visit was in 2014, soon after it opened.

This is my fourth visit to Bentonville. Arkansas, location of Crystal Bridges Museum, also Walmart headquarters. I’m here to see an exhibit of photographs by Annie Leibovitz. Annie Leibovitz at Work.

Bentonville is a charming town, with much construction going on as the success of the museum has been significant. Still, it is a small town.

21C Museum Hotel. A museum within the hotel. And filled with green penguins.

Onyx Coffee an easy walk away.

Lunch at the museum.

Late afternoon at Onyx.

Premier of A Case for Love at the local theater.

A lovely first day in Bentonville.

Museum Hours is a 2012 film. “A Vienna museum guard befriends a visitor, and the two explore their lives, the city and the ways artwork reflects the world.”

While I’ve not seen the film, the words museum hours seems to fit as I travel today to Crystal Bridges museum. Located in northwest Arkansas, it’s an amazing place.

My best traveling friend and I are on a travel lark. We are journeying to see Annie Leibovitz At Work. Leibovitz, a famed photographer, has been in residence at Crystal Bridges for several months. She completes her residency in 6 days. Whew! We made it!

Annie Leibovitz At Work is a new exhibition of portraits.which includes a set of new works made just for Crystal Bridges—Leibovitz’s first museum commission.

Another exhibit I’m looking forward to seeing is Congruence by artist duo HYBYCOZO.

“Congruence is made up of 12 geometric forms. These are all truncated octahedrons, a special type of polyhedron that easily stacks together, leaving no gaps. The artwork includes a tall central structure and three individual shapes, revealing how the pieces fit together.”

Specifically commissioned for this site at Crystal Bridges. the sculpture glows with light,

We shall see.

Traveling mercies.

I returned home from the Land of Enchantment a week ago.

Writing those words just now made me wonder about the origin of the phrase.

I found this: “The phrase was first used by American journalist and author Lilian Whiting in her 1906 travel guide The Land of Enchantment:From Pike’S Peak to the Pacific. The book does not actually focus on New Mexico alone, but on the southwestern states of Colorado, Arizona, and California as well.”

It took nearly 30 years for New Mexico state authorities to take up the phrase. In 1935, New Mexico’s Tourist Bureau described the state as “the Land of Enchantment” in one of its brochures in an effort to attract visitors to the area. In 1941, the legend was added to license plates and came into common usage soon thereafter.

I find Land of Enchantment fits my expectation and my experience of travel in New Mexico. I am often enchanted in this place.

By the vistas…

by the food…

by the silence when everything is covered in snow…

by the faith expressed around me…

and by the people, some of whom have become treasured friends. Abby, Dean, Sue, Lydia, Pablo, Bonnie.

I will return again and again to this enchanted place.

Traveling mercies.