Today, on All Souls Day after Mass we processed out to our cemetery as the Church bell tolls.  We go there to pray, to remember our sisters who have passed into the New Life of Christ; our Srs. Columba and Augustine.  In our cloister we place pictures of our beloved deceased, our parents, siblings and friends and pray for them throughout the day.

Pumpkin Carving

Sr. Mary and her creation

Bearded Pumpkin

Srs. Chris, Kathleen, Ciaran and Grace

Sr. Grace poses with pumpkins

 We don't celebrate Halloween (All Hallows Eve) per say but if we have lots of pumpkins from our garden, as we did this year we get together to carve them.  We save the pumpkin seeds to cook and roast.  They are really, really good!  We do celebrate All Saints tomorrow and have a day off from candy production.  May you have a blessed All Saints Day tomorrow!

Glorious Autumn

We have had the nicest autumn with beautiful weather and lovely scenery.  The above pictures were taken this past Sunday.  In the top picture , in the background you can see the Julian Dubuque Bridge which crosses the Mississippi River from Illinois into Iowa.  To the left of the bridge is the city of Dubuque.  In the bottom picture you can see part our farm and woodlands and in the background the Mississippi River is visible.  The views are seen from our refectory.

Sr. Jeroma Day

Sr. Jeroma Day, BVM is one of our most faithful volunteers.  Sr. Jeroma is often manning our gift shop, selling candy and craft items and answering the abbey phone.  It is very likely that if you call the abbey her cheerful voice will greet you and direct your call for you.  Last Saturday she celebrated her 75th birthday.  The sisters went over to St. Benedict's, where our gift shop is located, to greet her with happy birthday wishes and to share cake and ice cream.  We are grateful to have such a cheerful, loyal and helpful volunteer!

Bountiful Harvest

We have had an amazing harvest this year.  Potato digging is in process.  It is a fun job that everyone enjoys.  We say it is like digging for gold.  We usually produce enough potatoes to supply us for the whole year.  Our tomato harvest has been plentiful too. We have put up lots of spaghetti sauce, salsa, both hot and mild and dried lots of sliced tomatoes to eat in the winter months.  Not to mention that we eat tomatoes for breakfast lunch and dinner.  They are so good.  God is good!