Povey Prattle

We spent a couple of days in Atlanta. There I was able to stop by St. Luke’s Church on Peachtree Street. I took a three month sabbatical leave there in 1991. I got a bit teary eyed as good memories from 1991 flooded back. Up in Roswell GA I saw Ruth Card. She is one of the two parishioners at Good Shepherd, Fitchburg who, waiting at the front door, greeted me when I flew in from England in 1976 to be their Pastor. (The other, Sam Doak, is also still alive). Ruth is in her late 80’s and a bit frail. Gabriel and I went out to Decatur, GA for dinner. There we hooked up with Susan (from Pittsfield) and Tracy (from Cambridge). It was good also to see Susan’s partner Lisa (they have stayed with me here) and Tracy’s beau Peter-John. Best of all, I saw daffodils and forsythia in bloom. Neither grow in this part of Florida. I had forgotten how much I miss them.

My Brasilian friend Gabriel and I are back at home after a 13 day trip which took in six flights, two railway trips, twelve different beds (one each for six nights), three hotels, approximately 7,000 miles, and five different States. Most importantly, Gabriel saw some wonderful sites in these United States, and I was able to visit with dear and good friends. I will not bore you with a travelogue, but over the next few days will highlight some great moments. One was in Scottsdale, AZ where we stayed with my beloved friend Joyce Vidal. She took us to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. There we enjoyed all manner of desert flora, and were wowed by the Chihuly Glass exhibition. The following website will tell you something about the Chihuly exhibition in Phoenix. Then do a Google images search for Chihuly you will see hundreds of photo’s of this incredible blown gas. http://www.dbg.org/index.php/chihuly