Thundersnow and a modest swan

Last week we had a thunder snow. The booming thunder, blue lightning and the big, wet and heavy fast falling snowflakes made an impressive sight. Sadly, I slipped and fell down hard on the platform at the train station while trying to get home and spent the next day nursing my scrapes and bruises in bed.

The next couple of days were better. We went to Baltimore for a friend's birthday and first went to Mass at the St. Jude Shrine. The priest there is a good confessor and extremely jolly. He reminded me of a thin Friar Tuck. The only real flaw was the small army of Eucharistic Minister ladies. They weren't needed because even when the pews are full the shrine is actually much smaller and more intimate than it looks. The gem of the shrine is Andre, the head usher. He knows everything and is so patient with tourists and is a genuinely devout man, God bless him.

We went to the DC Car show on Sunday afternoon and I found looking at the people was just as interesting as gawking at the cars. I was struck by two things: leggings should not be worn as pants with a short top and that the more modestly dressed ladies far looked better than the rest of us. I saw a young Orthodox Jewish lady with her husband and five kids. She wore an exquisite looking scarf, a well fitting little sweater and a long velvet skirt with ballerina flats. She glided through the Convention Center like a swan amidst a flock of stewing hens. That woman looked elegant, charming and definitely not frumpy.