Ah, Dennison. Glorious Lake Dennison in Winchendon, MA this weekend when the Russians all converge upon it. It is a decades old tradition now for a group of Russian families to come here from Boston on a weekend mid August. It is glorious for adults and kids as well.As everyone gains what they crave most– an open-ended schedule and time to spend with friends.
Over ten years ago our family began camping at a place that has never ceased to satisfy our summer need for cooler temperatures, much swimming, and a night sky free of city lights. This summer alone, I have already returned three times to this beloved ground and now I wish to wax eloquently on all her virtues.
Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod sits in the crux of the Cape’s massive elbow just a half a mile south of its bay side shore. All 1,900 acres lay available for any citizen of the Commonwealth to rent for the current price of only $22 per night (slightly more for out of state and nicer accommodations like a yurt). Just bring your tent, some folding chairs and maybe even a portable shelter and the park provides the rest: a fire pit with grill, a picnic table, and a close by water spigot, bathrooms, and even showers! And best of all, when you go for 2-3 days during the week at Nickerson, there is almost always availability to book last minute and still have a decent choice of spots.
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Here on Cape Cod for an early June vacation. What an ideal time to come to this glorious destination in Massachusetts. This is our third time staying at a friend’s vacation house in Chatham, and it is a wonderful mix of things new with many things familiar. It is late enough to be warm for swimming but early enough in the summer to get greatly discounted rates (as most families are still finishing the school year). So the stores and beaches are open but no one charges for parking until next week and the crowds have not yet started choking the streets.
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Go therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:16-20
Many people find out that our family is Orthodox Christian. A question that often follows is, “What kind of Orthodox? Are you Greek, Russian?” When we respond that our parish is Bulgarian, meaning we are under the authority of a Bulgarian Bishop, but that most of our people are a mixture of nationalities including Russian, Romanian, Greek and just downright American, the response is usually bewilderment. They are used to Orthodoxy being contained in some kind of ethnic box. “Oh so you are in the Greek Church or the Bulgarian Church.” But the great commission of Our Lord to make disciples of ALL nations disputes this misunderstanding.
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The last day of our time near Miami, Florida. We are grateful for all the adventures great and small, difficult and enjoyable.
I sit in the lobby of the hotel named for the city that gave it birth: Hollywood, Florida. The weather today is in between that of yesterday (cloudy and rainy) and the day before (warm and sunny). Today so far it is just cloudy and cool. A hotel lobby is the perfect place to observe a vast cross section of humanity and to hear their stories as they check in and check out. Of course, we are all hoping for the same miracle that happened the first day when a cool and cloudy forecast gradually evolved into a tropical paradise. But we are preparing for other possibilities.
Continue readingA great gift was given to our family this Christmas by a heavenly benefactor known for his extreme generosity and timely interventions. On St. Nicholas Day in December, we found this gift in one of the stockings meant for mama, papa and the three youngest homeschoolers. We are now enjoying this gift: four nights and three days in the Sunshine State of Florida!
Our hearts are filled to the brim with great and memorable experiences as we have by God’s grace been able to vacation in our Nation’s Capital for the past several days. It is not as hard or expensive as you think, and I would like to provide a little travelogue of our experiences here to encourage other would-be family travelers to come to Washington, DC!
First off, the timing. If there is some way you can take time off in September/October or early November, it is perfect. There is no one else traveling which means there is hardly anyone at all in the FREE museums your tax dollars already pay for. We booked a flight with Spirit Airlines from Boston to BWI for less than $100 per person. Then we took the MARC commuter rail for less than an hour from Baltimore into Washington. From Boston, door to door, it came to just under 4 total hours of travel.
Continue readingWith malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan–to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations. (Second Inaugural Address of President Abraham Lincoln)
I went today to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It is a good place to visit the day after a contentious and hard fought presidential election, a reminder that however divided America may presently be, there was a time our divisions actually led to civil war. Today is the day that our current Vice President Kamala Harris chose to deliver her concession speech to President-Elect Donald Trump. I told my family who is visiting here with me not to underestimate this great tradition in our Democratic Republic.
Continue reading“Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.”
Psalm 133
There is nothing quite like hearing a group of brothers sing a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to their common mother. Our weekend Lenten Clergy Govenie (retreat) at St. George Orthodox Church in Orlando, Florida concludes today with a bang: a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy with our Diocesan Metropolitan Dedo Vladika Joseph. But before the bang comes this solemn moment on Friday, the climax of our quiet contemplation, our heart-felt prayer, and our ascetic labor: the Akathist prayer service to the Most Holy, Ever Virgin and Birthgiver of God, the Virgin Mary. It is a moment in our retreat when all the counsel and reflection of the previous two days is applied to each one of us personally. The fathers from the Govenie all confess their sins to one another and travel back to the hotel to sleep peacefully in anticipation of the morning.
Continue readingWe finally made it happen! It has been a dream since my children were born to visit the Statue of Liberty in New York City. Sure we have been to the city often enough for concerts and business at the Russian Consulate, but this trip was purely for taking in the city itself.
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