[Magdalen] No mail...

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Well it was great to read all the responses to this subject - not always 
good news but good to hear from all who wrote. Jay, I'm glad to hear that at 
least you *know* what is going on and I hope for a good outcome. I share the 
thoughts about our ever-evolving social climate and wish I still had a link 
to either the NYTimes or the WPost to share, on the concept that our 
*little* 3-4 Centuries of social progress may not be sustainable for much 
longer.  Hard to think that we might be on the downside of a major social 
shift in civilization patterns.

My life has been extremely busy for the last few months - biz travel and 
getting ready for the Wedding of my son  and his  love Ali. The wedding was 
April 8 and a lovely time. This is the first marriage among my three kids 
and both of Nathan's sisters were in the wedding party along with 2 sisters 
and a friend of the bride. It was truly wonderful. Nathan is still close 
friends with a group of 10 guys who bonded Freshman year in HS and literally 
all spend that post-freshman-year summer hanging out in our backyard. Every 
day.  One of them, who I always liked 'married them', one of them (who was 
almost a family member for a while in HS) toasted them and all of them have 
turned into such nice guys (all in their late 30s), most are married and 
have families and it was so wonderful to see them again. Another one of 
Nathan's friends dating back to Freshman year  is a woman who has been 
'just' a very good friend all these years as well. She dressed in a dark 
'pants suit' and wore a white shirt and lavender tie like the 'other'  4 
groomsmen.

I'm trying to get myself motivated to work on numerous Pentecost projects 
(the day) and some Ordinary time ones as well. My own church, the Cathedral 
downtown (Houston) is making plans to do some major work inside the church 
itself and the nave in particular to re-do AC and lighting and address some 
serous structural issues in that building itself which is over 100 years 
old. We're relocating to  our 'great hall' to celebrate Mass for the 
duration which should be over by Advent and I've been tasked/hired to 
provide a GIANT dossal curtain to hang on one wall of the 'great hall' 
behind where the temporary altar will be located on a raised, flat 'stage' 
(which I'm also making a 'skirt' for).... Both curtain and skirt will be 
green (for Ordinary Time) and are intended to 'set the scene' for a more 
church-like 'feel' (according to those making the decisions). The curtain is 
14' from floor to top and 30' wide and I've toyed with 4 different ways to 
make this happen and have finally have up with a solution which will be both 
the easiest (may be bad juju to even write that 'out loud') to create, 
temporarily install, and store from Sunday afternoons - Saturday afternoons, 
as it will be set up every week for one day, during the entire season. A 
local Cajun restaurant rents out The Great Hall M-F for an alternate 
downtown location during the day (there is a commercial kitchen).  I'm glad 
to have the work, but it also makes me laugh that we can't figure out a 
'suck it up' solution to meet to celebrate Mass together without all the 
additional hoopla. Sigh.

Holding all of you in my thoughts and grateful for you being out there in 
cyberspace and sometimes face to face!!
love
Lynn