Thanks to Benefactors and an update on the Baldacchino for Holy Souls Hermitage

Laudie (above) and the neighbor’s dog checking out Jenny the Jeep, making sure all is ready for another trip up the mountain. Thanks go to the neighbor, who’s allowing me to get four hemlocks from the marshy shallow end of his pond. He helped me get them out with his John Deere. Easier to cut them up and load the logs onto Jenny the Jeep from the top of the bank. The trees were just about dead, and were cut down by the electric company in order to avoid them falling on the power lines. The zillion branches made walking on the water possible.

Here are some pics of the logs and… and… the neighbor surveying the project with his John Deere.

Thanks again, by the way, to those who helped, against all my protestations, get a chain saw and Jenny.

Some of the chunks were extraordinarily large. These two are about 3 1/2 feet wide. Just a light toss into Jenny!

• Thanks go to T.P.F. & R.L.F. for their contribution to the hermitage against all my protestations. Very kind of you.

• Thanks go to anonymous (I’m guessing C.W.) for a care package of soup. C.W. knows that I protest against these donations. But what am I to do? Very thoughtful of you C.W. These make for a more balanced diet. I hope I still have the heavenly support of the sainted hermits in my endeavors in the hermitage!

Just to say, someone dropped a comment in the comments box over on seminarian Philip Gerard Johnson’s website, In Caritate Non Ficta, condemning me for not insulting people by not taking their donations, donations, mind you, which are given against all my tantrum like protestations. I guess he thinks that Philip and I are the same person. Nope. He has brain cancer. As far as I know, I don’t. We are both Catholic though! Philip didn’t let that comment through the combox. Commenters should get the right website, right?!

The thing is, since I’m not incorporated in North Carolina because I don’t have a federal charity number because of logistics which have nothing to do with me, but which include my not wanting to provide abortion mandated insurance for the employees of the hermitage (namely myself), I can’t solicite donations. So, I even protest all donations. Some choose to ignore those protestations. I don’t insult them by not taking those donations. If people are all upset with me because some choose to send in donations, what am I to do? – Yikes!

• Thanks go to L.T., the artist who is painting the baldacchino (the painting being the baldacchino) for the little chapel at Holy Souls Hermitage. She writes:

So the canvas has arrived.  And still it sits in its wrapping – waiting now for the stretcher bars to arrive.  After very long consultation with my artist friends and family, and input from my husband, we are after all going to stretch the canvas – which will in the end give you a better product and really only add a little hiccup in getting it to you – but we have a lightweight utility trailer that it (in its protective box) will fit in for the ride to you – we are not sure if it will get up the hill in the trailer – the Jeep can pull it up but from the looks of your road pictures, perhaps if the switchbacks are very severe, we will have to transfer it to the top of one of the Jeeps.

This project is taking on a life of its own – bigger than I had envisioned – which is wonderful, really – my husband and son are very excited to have a part in this too with building the stretcher frame and the travel box to get it safely to you.  I expect the stretcher bars to arrive early next week – they will need to be assembled and the canvas stretched – that seems like it should be a half day project but the next weekend is taken up with my husband’s 4th Degree Knights ceremony (yay!) and the following week he’s taking part two of a ground search and rescue team leader class (he’s in the woods this weekend for part one – that’s how we met in fact, we were both on a SAR dog team).  So I may be waiting for a bit for the frame and stretching.  After that, the real work of it begins with the painting.

I’m sorry I can’t give you a quicker turn around for it. I also don’t have much in the way of fun pictures to show you yet – nothing exciting about a roll of canvas sitting on the table.  I did want to keep you up to date so you don’t lose heart and think I’ve forgotten.  I haven’t!  Once its framed, then it will start to really come together with sketching and painting and oh my!

Oh my! is right! So, I just thought I would include the picture of your great SAR dog team member. Am I right in thinking that this is a German Shepherd? Anyway, pictures of even the smallest details of the progress would be great. Sometimes we don’t appreciate all the work that has gone into a project if we don’t see even the before the before pictures!

Thanks, T.L. and family. I very much look forward to this!

May the Lord continue to bless all of you and yours and your intentions according to the perfect intercession of the Immaculate Conception, who is such a good mother to us all.