Monday, April 29, 2013

Morning with Mary

After an early morning dental appointment today, I stopped in at Hamilton's.  Coffee and a meal re-revved my day.  As I left for my next stop, I was attracted to the piles of 4x4 timbers and mounds of gravel marching alongside the railroad track that runs up and down the San Joaquin and Central Valleys.

As luck would have it, a freight train came roaring through and I managed to get some shots though I did miss the lead engine.




Turning back to the car, I spotted a dead chicken next to the passenger door.  That would have been an unpleasant surprise to step onto had I had company with me.  No picture.  I'm not that bad.  It would take a lot for me to start taking pictures of roadkill.  Ugh.

Trains have been on my mind lately and I've been dreaming quite a lot  as well.  Trains are my quintessential symbol of travel.  Just as lighthouses show me the safe harbors, trains are my preferred form of long distance travel.  I can't afford them anymore but my memories of the time when I did travel via train are sharp and long lasting.

Thinking of travel got me to thinking of safety and security, two very big words in my personal book of life.  That naturally got me to thinking of Holy Mother.  Now, I never promised my train of thought (pardon my pun) would be a straight one but in my natural progression of rambling thought, She is a concluding destination I find myself at frequently.  So . . .

 . . .  I let the rambling thoughts flow and I wondered if there was a Lady of Travelers, or Lady of Railroads or Trains, or maybe a Lady of the Highways.  Google led me a merry dance and I found this wonderful shrine built against the side of a church in Bent, New Mexico.


Finding this shrine also landed me HERE at a charming blog I'm going to start following.  The writer does not share her name but she shares her observations and insights in a simple and totally unaffected way.  I imagine that she speaks very much as she writes and for me, that is the best sort of writing.

But best of all, she is from Missouri which is where my husband is from and where we are going next year for a few months.  No wonder I connected with her.  She has the same easy sense about her that Don has.

Wishing you a blessed time in what remains of your Monday.  May Mary be with you.

9 comments:

Felisol said...

I share your affection for travelling by train.
My memories about train travelling goes back to early 1950, when we took a steam train to visit my grand parents. I remember the open window and steam in the coupé as we went through a tunnel.
When my daughter was a toddler, I thought she had to share that magic experience, if with an electric train though. We took a cab, paying 100 dollars to get to the train station, but it sure was worth it.
Serina was entertaining the passengers with her happy outburst when the conductor blew his whistle and waved his flag.

Now, life for certain is a journey. The aim is fixed, but the company while travelling and the means of travel sure are of importance and of joy .
Glad you found a giving co-traveller.

Angelikas Photographic Sketchbook said...

Very inspiring. I like your still life. Never quite had an eye for it and found yours very inspiring.

Ginny Hartzler said...

This is a beautiful picture of a moving train!!! I do feel quite the way you do about trains. So you found this shrine while you were searching Google? It is beautiful, humble colorful, and truly looks like a shrine of the people.

Amy Burzese said...

Train travel seems very glamorous and mysterious to me. I'm not sure that I want to experience it at this point in life. My fantasy might be ruined.

trailbee said...

Nice post. Thanks you. :)

rebecca said...

dear annie,

i hoped that arriving, sharing, invoking mary love would take us places, unite and infuse hearts. uplift, console, encourage, delight. it seems that today you followed your heart and achieved all this!
thank you for taking us along on the train of mary love!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed your post and visited the Rootless one as you suggested.

Diane AZ said...

I think it would be fun to travel by train, though it's been about fifty years since I've been on one. Interesting how you discovered the new blog. The shrine is beautiful!

Jeanie said...

What a lovely post, Annie. I love what you see and how you see. You captured all that energy in that train! Splendid!