Holy Souls Chaplet

I have many types of plants, but they seem to fall into three main categories: those I pay money for that die right away; those I get free that live forever; and the hardest one to understand, the plant I buy that seems happy for years and then suddenly gets sick, and no matter what I do, it doesn't get better. For example, I have a cactus I bought at the farmers' market some time ago, and it was so happy that it grew a couple of little arms. But just now I looked at it, and parts of it are turning white, which doesn't seem like a good sign. Why?? I haven't changed its growing conditions, and it was so happy for so long!

Today I discovered there is a chaplet called the Holy Souls Chaplet, or something along those lines, and it's just a decade of a rosary, but instead of Hail Marys you pray: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Then I thought, Hey! That's what I can do with my made-up fifteen bead chaplet! It's a short prayer, so why not do it fifteen times instead of ten? And then at the end I prayed: May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Of course, since it has the starting beads of a regular rosary, I began with the Apostles' Creed, an Our Father, three Hail Marys, and a Glory Be. So - just what I need - another chaplet to add to my repertoire. 

This evening Travalon and I went swimming at Governor Nelson, and we saw a catamaran sail by. I'm not sure why, but they always have brightly-colored sails, while other sailboats just have white sails except for their spinnakers. I've always said my favorite boat is a sailboat, and my favorite sailboat is a catamaran. They can really zip along!... as Richard Bonomo and I found out that time we got stuck in the weeds on the far side of Lake Wingra. In front of all my coworkers. But it was fun getting over there!

Here are some recent photos. First is the rosary someone put some weird pendants on and the pretty glass bracelet I got at the antiques shop in Minocqua on Highway 47, as well as the lovely rosary necklace I got at the shop in downtown Minocqua.  

This is the firefighter Texaco teddy bear Travalon got at the same antiques shop where I got the messed-up rosary and the bracelet that is my favorite color - right where blue meets green!

When Travalon went to Oconomowoc yesterday to visit his mom, he found this stuffed Boo Boo Bear at the antiques shop there. (He said he couldn't find any rosaries.) To his surprise, when he got home, this Yogi Bear shirt was waiting for him! He ordered it back in March and already got his money back because it had never come, so we assumed it never would. But it did! And now it's free!

There was a beautiful sunset last night as I returned home from my adoration hour.

Tonight when we went swimming, we saw this sandcastle some kids had made.

Here is a picture of the beach at Governor Nelson State Park.

I tried to take a picture of the view of downtown, but it didn't really turn out. We have to remember to bring a good camera with us sometime and take a picture with that to really do it justice.

Famous Hat