Month of Thanks Day 11: Thanks be to God to all our Veterans and others who give service ...

Today, being Veterans' Day, we especially give thanks to those who have served our country (whether on foreign shores or here at home) ... who have given of themselves to protect our freedoms ... who have sacrificed life, limb or social-standing to be our guardians.  THANK YOU!

Today, since dh's high school was off, we were blessed to be able to spend the day with dh.  But even better than that (and that was pretty great), we are most thankful for being included in a service project with some of his wonderful students ....

Our group did yard work at one of the Mary's Shelter houses while another group of kids worked at the Paul Stefan House, both in the Fredericksburg area.  That's right ... these teens willingly got up and met at 9:00a.m. Mass, had a bite to eat (thanks to the wonderful KofC Ladies at our parish) and then headed out to do some service!  Other groups of kids from the high school went and did service also ... this is just our small part of the solution!

We raked and arranged and planted and worked to make the yard a bit of an oasis for the residents ...

  What a glorious day ... spent with glorious people ... doing glorious work!

 

Question for the crowd ...

Remembering that the only stupid question is the one left unasked ....

 Does anyone know what this flowering plant is called?  We only have this one plant in our front garden ... and it is doing beautifully in this heat!  It is tall ... maybe 24" tall ... with long, pointy leaves ... lots of fragrant pink blossoms on each stem top ... and is just a beaut!

Any one know?  I want to get some more, but don't know what it's called.

ETA:  thanks to some very kind readers ... it is Phlox!  I only knew of phlox as the kind that grows close to the ground, cascading over walls and flowers in culverts, etc.  Who knew that Phlox paniculata, known commonly as Summer Phlox ... or ... Garden Phlox ... or ... Perennial Phlox ... or ... Tall Phlox comes in gorgeous colors and blooms all summer -- just try a google image search and see all the gorgeous colors. [The culvert ground cover seems to flower in the spring and then loose its blooms and just is a green ground cover.]

The ironic thing?  A friend gave us "Tall Phlox" (supposed to be white) to transplant but ours hasn't bloomed yet.  But, boy that pink variety is having a "field day"!

Hospitality: visit from a couple of wonderful ladies ...

... Dominican sisters in full regalia!

I'd LOVE to be able to say this basket is full of our bounty that we gave to our guest. No such luck as we haven't even planted our garden. No, the lovely sisters brought these sumptuous (and spicy!) fresh and ripe veggies to us. We had the squash and zucchini tonight stir-fried and the tomato with mozarella as a side. The orange pepper (below the bell pepper) is just called "HOT" ... we can't wait to try that one! There are also home-grown jalapenos and the yellow grape-like veggies are tomatoes that ripen yellow! YUMMY!

These are two of the sisters who have been praying for us for the past 14 months: praying that we would sell the house in Denver ... and praying that we would be able to buy a house here in Virginia ... and generally, well, just praying for us!

Only two of the Dominicans living in Northern Virginia were on the road today ... but they spent more than an hour chatting and borrowing books and teaching and learning from us all at once! They were on the way to their Motherhouse in Nashville -- a wonderful, blessed spot -- for their annual retreat and guess who is right on the route?

So we loaded them up with coffee, bagels/cream cheese, fresh cherries and books for the 10-hour drive across the mountains and into Tennessee. One of the books is a copy of my In His Image for another dear sister and fellow knitter, Sr. Thomas More -- altho I believe they'll delve into the prose on the road.

God bless these wonderful women and their cohorts ... and prayers for a safe and fruitful retreat and a safe drive back (with maybe another stop at Hilltop on their way back in?).