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Last year, I mentioned my dissatisfaction with the way in which the Triduum liturgy was handled at sv. Tomaš and speculated that I might opt for a retreat in an English-speaking country this year instead. Well, that’s exactly what I did: I went to St. Beuno’s, a Jesuit retreat house (excuse me, "Spirituality Centre") on the coast in Wales.

St. Beuno’s was originally built as a Jesuit college, and its main claim to fame is that it was home to Gerard Manley Hopkins at the time he resumed writing poetry.

The retreat started on Wednesday and ended Monday morning. The retreat itself was silent, though not individually directed. There was also an eight-day individually directed retreat (IDR) running almost concurrently that started on Thursday. Our group met every morning with the retreat directors (Angela O’Donoghue and Damian Jackson SJ), who gave us material and ideas for prayer for the day. There were about 20 of us in the Triduum retreat and similarly about 20 in the IDR.

The liturgies were really lovely. Quite simple, but very rich, and the materials that Angela and Fr. Damian gave us were well-chosen. The only downside was that, since there’s no parish community attached (although the liturgies were attended by a number of locals who apparently prefer St. Beuno’s to their own parishes), there was no one being received for Baptism or full communion. I did miss that. Indeed, it’s the main reason I’ve never done a Triduum retreat before.

The main entrance:

The rose garden must be lovely later in the year, but it’s rather bleak this time of year. My room was the fourth pair of windows from the left on the third floor.

Looking down from the garden:

The grounds are really lovely, too. The daffodils were in bloom for Easter.

There’s a Lourdes shrine in the garden:

They’ve started installing a labyrinth. It still needs work, but it is functional.

It’s not readily apparent from this picture, but there’s a chapel atop the little tree covered hill in the background:

Getting there requires crossing a sheep pasture. The sheep do not like being disturbed, though you’d think they’d be used to it.

The chapel:

And the interior:

The surrounding countryside is mostly given over to farms and pastureland.


The ocean is barely visible:

I may well go back next Easter (although perhaps for the individually directed retreat instead).

I went out the other day to play tourist and visit the Easter markets. Not, mind, with the thought of buying anything, but just to look.

My outing coincided with the "Right to Life" (anti-abortion) March:

The more Easter-specific booths tend to feature decorated eggs:

As at Christmas, though, a lot of booths just sell the usual tourist junk:

These dancers were preparing to go on stage at the market at Staroměstské náměstí:

The Easter egg tree at Staroměstské náměstí:

I also paid a visit to sv. Mikuláš in Malá Strana. Sv. Mikuláš is no longer a "working" church; instead, it is mainly used these days as a concert site.

The square outside sv. Mikuláš is home to a plague column that I haven’t previously photographed:

I visited the States for the first time since leaving more than two years ago. It was Little Brother’s birthday, which seemed like a reasonable excuse.

Oregon

Since my putative excuse for the trip was LB’s birthday, I started my visit on the Oregon coast, near Lincoln City. I made LB a seafood lasagne and blueberry cheesecake (his favorites!) for his birthday, and we just hung out. We did make one little excursion to the Rogue Brewery in Newport, where I discovered their Hazelnut Brown Nectar. That is one seriously excellent ale.

California

The second part of my trip took me the Bay Area, to catch up with friends and the rest of my family. There were excursions to Marin County and Sacramento for family, dinners, lunches, glasses of wine with old friends, and a few days just wandering around revisiting old haunts. I was not, alas, able to visit my favorite bookstore, Staceys, as it closed its doors for the last time before I arrived:

The California Academy of Sciences

I took one day to play tourist in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. I was thinking about paying a visit to the new DeYoung Museum:

First, though, I made my way across the Music Concourse:

My destination was the new California Academy of Sciences, where I ended up spending the day.

The new Academy is significantly more expensive than the old one: $24.95 for the day’s admission. Although, since I was able to show a bus transfer as evidence that I had dutifully taken public transit to get there, I did receive a $3.00 discount. Unlike the old Academy, however, the admission price included free admission to the planetarium show. This was something of a mixed blessing. While I appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to pay yet again to see the planetarium show, the fact that it was already included meant that everyone seemingly attends a show. It is necessary to have a pass, but at 10 AM, passes were available only for the last show at 4 PM.

Even though it was a weekday, this new Academy was also much more crowded than I ever remember the old one being. And it didn’t appear to be due to school field trips either: it looked as though it was mostly families.

My favorite part was the new Rain forest exhibit: four stories of flora and fauna:

Some of the birds dining on a bit of melon:

The route through the exhibit goes in an upward spiral. Looking down from the midpoint:

They very carefully control access to the exhibit to make sure that no butterflies or birds slip out when people enter and leave. On leaving, there’s an attendant at the elevator to help you check:

Another feature that I liked was the living roof: 2.5 acres planted with close to 2 million native plants.

I also attended the 4 PM Planetarium show. The old projector is gone, and with it, the silhouette of the San Francisco skyline. Instead, there is amphitheater style seating and the effect is more akin to an IMAX theater. Indeed, as with IMAX, the effect can be a little dizzying at first. I enjoyed the show.

I was particularly disappointed that the fish roundabout is gone. And, generally, I was unimpressed by the new Aquarium, though some of that undoubtedly had to do with the crowding.

They devoted a lot of exhibit space to self-congratulations on how green and sustainable the new building is. I appreciate their virtue, but I could have done without the self-righteousness!

Oakland

The new cathedral, Christ the Light, which was still under construction when I had left, was recently dedicated. And so I stopped by. I have to say that I was less impressed than I expected to be. I found it rather stark and not particularly welcoming. On the other hand, my first impression of Our Lady of Lourdes, my old home parish, had been similar. It was only when I went to Mass there that I warmed to it, so I’ll reserve judgment on the cathedral until I can attend a service there.

A friend had expressed disappointment with the central image of Christ Pantokrator above the altar, saying she thought it too stern. Since that space is usually occupied by a crucifix, though, which doesn’t exactly portray a cheery Christ, that didn’t bother me.

As luck would have it though, my visit to the cathedral coincided with the tail end of the press conference in which the newly appointed bishop, Salvatore Cordileone, was introduced. And so it was that I got to see the new bishop in the flesh before most of his new flock even knew about the appointment.

Back to Prague

By the end of my two weeks in the States, though, I was starting to get homesick. While it was lovely to see family and friends and to be in familiar surroundings, it’s just not home anymore. At least not for now, it isn’t.

It was of course possible to watch the inauguration streaming online, but I really wanted to be with like-minded folk for this. So off I went to the Globe Bookstore. Turns out I had more than enough company:

The speech was well-received, and I was particularly pleased that Obama specifically refuted the idea that we should compromise our ideals in the name of security.

I didn’t stick around to watch the parade: for that I came home and settled for online streaming.

Before leaving Caledonian School, I tried to present my medical bills for reimbursement. However, the insurance clerk was out sick the week before Christmas. No problem, I was told, just come back in the New Year. This was a bit of an annoyance, since it would have been nice to have the money before Christmas. That, and I didn’t have any other reason to go into that part of town. But there was nothing else to be done.

So, this week, I returned with my bills. And was told that I could not be reimbursed because they had already closed the books for 2008! And everyone I spoke with told me the same story.

I wonder if there’s a National Labor Board to which I can appeal?