A summer shower

I last visited the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail in Concord, New Hampshire a few years ago, on a cool autumn day. I decided to return there the other day to see how it looks in summer.

I found a different kind of beauty near the trailhead, with summer wildflowers rather than fall foliage catching my eye. A beautiful start! The trail passed open space for a few hundred yards before entering deep shade under mature trees. I walked for about a mile and a half, enjoying the shade on a muggy day, before deciding to turn around.

Uh-oh…the forecast had been for scattered afternoon pop-up showers, and one of them popped up as soon as I turned around. I wasn’t carrying rain gear on the 80-degree day, and I had a half-hour walk between me and my car. I shrugged and took the consequences as a hard rain began to fall. It was over in 15 minutes, which was long enough to leave me drenched. It was a reminder that even for short walks, carrying an inexpensive poncho is a good idea.

A poncho wouldn’t have helped my shoes, of course. They should dry out within a few days. That’s a modest price to pay for some summer shade and beauty.

Read more about my walks throughout New Hampshire at Granite State Walker, where an earlier version of this post appeared.

Against human trafficking: from small steps to big strides

Human trafficking is a bad thing. Agreed? Okay. Now try putting specific public policies in place to address that fact. It can be achingly difficult work. That’s why I’m cheering for a bill that is quietly making its way to New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte’s desk. It’s been a long time coming.

“Relative to licensing requirements for massage therapy establishments” is a yawner of a title for the bill numbered HB 1469. There’s a lively intention behind it. It’s aimed at phony “massage parlors” that are fronts for sex trafficking. House and Senate conferees recently agreed on language for the bill, and so its path is cleared for consideration by the governor.

The New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police came out in favor of this bill, recognizing how hard it can be to shut such establishments down. This bill takes an administrative approach by requiring state-supervised licensure of massage establishments, with standards for licensing. Owners failing to get a license could be charged with a misdemeanor.

One law addressing one aspect of one type of human trafficking seems like a small step. But it is a step.

Read the rest of this post at Braided Trails.

Header image by Jill Wellington/pexels.com

Good gatherings, good books: “Evangeline” and “Pray With Us”

Writers and readers will flock together, given the chance. I’ve enjoyed two recent events featuring good books by authors whose work makes my shelves fuller and my horizons broader.

“Evangeline”

This year’s Catholic Literature Conference in New Hampshire (presented annually by the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH) featured a presentation on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Evangeline. Based on the 18th-century expulsion by the British of the French-descended Acadians from what is now Atlantic Canada, it’s a haunting and poignant tale of a woman’s lifelong search for her beloved, a man from whom she was suddenly separated by deportation. 

cover of book "Evangeline" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I read only a small portion of the poem many years ago. Professor Joseph Pearce’s lecture and reading at the conference brought the story back to life for me. Fortunately, included in my conference packet was a splendid gift: a new edition of Evangeline, published by the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (ACS Books). Introductory essays by Pearce and Christopher Check place the poem in historical and literary context. Evangeline is presented in a fresh and inviting way in this beautiful little volume. I’m rediscovering an underappreciated classic.

“Pray With Us: a Saint for Every Day”

cover of book "Pray With Us" by Belinda Terro Mooney

I caught up with Belinda Terro Mooney at the recent Catholic Writers Guild conference in Chicago. Her latest book is Pray With Us: a Saint for Every Day (published by Our Sunday Visitor). More than another lives-of-the-saints, it’s a calendar-based guide for daily prayer. There’s a page for each day of the year, with a brief biography of a saint or background of a feast day. Each biography is followed with a prayer that refers to the particular ministry or charism of the saint (or Blessed).

This is a convenient volume to keep on hand in the home, but it would also be a good addition to a parish or school library. Belinda writes as a guide, making introductions between readers and their brothers and sisters in faith who have gone before them. Her book is suitable for reading aloud with the family, for personal prayer and study, and for sharing with anyone who wants to learn more about Christian living.

This post is part of the Open Book linkup led by Carolyn Astfalk at My Scribbler’s Heart and CatholicMom.com.