"THEN Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:1-4

Monday, May 10, 2010

The People on the River

Hum it with me (my kids don't let me sing...LOL) "rollin', rollin' rollin' on the river..."
This weekend we landed in Granite City, Illinois. We tossed a coin - fishing or the attractions of downtown St Louis. With my boys, fishing always wins. This time, I am also glad. The area we're in is definitely the outskirts of an urban area, but it's still reasonably *safe* and secluded. The campground is old. But the lake is well-stocked! We've seen some serious catfish come out of there and caught a couple and a stringer of little blue gills ("Shark bait, oooohaha").
And the full-time folks here are really special. Generous, welcoming, sharing hard-working folks. The boys have had fishing lessons and played football and had a bang-up time. We're here one, maybe two, more days as we chose to wait out the tornadoes predicted for western Missouri today and wait for Bud to get back from Mississippi.It's been a relaxing and fun couple days. We were honored to be invited to a fish fry. Yummy.

We did see a very tiny bit of downtown St Louis. We went to early Mass at the gorgeous and stately Old Cathedral.  It is such a beautiful church and home of a massive and magnificent pipe organ - I am sure it is some ancient piece of historic significance. I cried at the end because they recessional was "Let There be Peace on Earth" and I have not heard that accompanied by a spectacular pipe organ since my dad's funeral in 1984. It was a stunning rendition - proving that a pipe organ improves almost anything. "Peace is Flowing like a River" still sounds hokey even with a grand instrument and a well-trained, probably professional,  mezzo-soprano. It is a shame the song selections did not enhance the either the voices or the instrument.
Anyway, check out this photo of the Church. We didn't know that this was in the backyard until we got there.
We walked around it and saw The River and the riverboats. Bud had to get back and get to Tupelo, MS, so not enough day to explore it thoroughly. Perhaps tomorrow if I can determine the availability/accesibilty of RV parking in one of the most harrowing places I have to drive. (It's about 5th on the list, Kansas City is first, then the Twin Cities. I am sure this will change when I have to drive through Jersey. LOL)
If you are a mom, I hope your special day, was well, special.
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About Me

Welcome! The most important bread is the Bread of Life. I am Catholic and do my best to know, understand and live what that means that I might "know Him, love Him and serve Him." My husband, Bud, and I have been married for 24 years and we have seven children. Because of his job, we travel the country in an RV with five of them, learning as we go.