…that’s right, we’re still snowed in. Some or all of us made it to the parish nearly every day, but the busiest I’ve been this week is crossing things off my calendar. With the schools closed and many parish events cancelled, we’ve found ourselves with many hours to fill…with CHRISTMAS MOVIES, which are the greatest thing ever. Less luckily, one of our community members, in a meticulously-planned attempt to make it to South Bend for a wedding on Saturday, spent 50-something hours at the Dublin airport as her flight was twice cancelled and ground transportation to anywhere else was pretty well thwarted.

Despite these frustrations, we at the house have had a pretty good week…we’ve been met at the parish each day with multiple offers of tea or coffee, and have had time to enjoy a “cuppa” with the ladies. We were invited to an extra lunch at Fr. Denis’s, where he shared a soup he’d made from our leftover turkey stock. And when we arrived for our regularly-scheduled lunch with Fr. Denis, we were pleasantly surprised to be joined by a few of the ladies, who had stopped in for coffee…and then gotten stuck, since it had started snowing again. Fortunately, the snow hasn’t seemed to bring out the worst in anyone, and it’s great to be part of this community that comes together to keep each other warm.

I haven’t, in all honesty, been outside today, but I’m pretty sure there’s been no additional snow. The forecast also tells me that temperatures shouldn’t get below freezing for at least the next 10 days…so there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully Monday’s blog will bring news of a thaw and a new sense of commitment to the work we’ve been missing.