Reflections

Just Admiring

Funny story: Enjoying lunch at Beaver St Brewery, our favorite haunt in Flagstaff. I went to use the little girls room and there are the Sunday comics posted inside the stalls. So when I am zipping up I am taking my time and reading the comics....cause I don't think...

read more

A Detour

I had the opportunity to get away from the heat and step into the mountain air for a few days. There is just something about pines, aspen, and the crisp anticipation of fall…even if it is only an interlude. Colored leaves, cool mornings and fresh breezes that propose...

read more

Chivalry is Not Chopped

By: Barbara Lishko I got the rare chance the other night to watch the Food Network show, Chopped. I have seen the show maybe two or three times. It's an interesting premise. Professional chefs challenge each other to create something delectable and wildly authentic...

read more

A Misunderstanding

It has happened to all of us...more than once. More times than I can calculate. We think we are helping, but sometimes we are not...and a big 'ol ugly mess ensues. Hurt feelings, lost tempers, words that cannot be taken back. They are out there in the oxygen floating...

read more

Passed on the Reins

After 11 years in youth ministry, I have officially retired and have set my face in the direction of marriage preparation. I must say it feels good. Good in the sense that God helped set things in motion and I listened. But not only me, the young man who he called to...

read more

A Coward No More-Friendship and Politics

I have a very dear friend I have known since high school. We were both baptized Catholic as babies, raised in Catholic homes, and received all of our sacraments. I was in her Catholic wedding and she was in mine. We are Godparents of each other’s children. Where we...

read more

Seven Months Later

By Barbara Lishko "Where did all the time go" we often comment as we wonder out loud. I might say the same thing as I look at my dusty, neglected, first attempt at blogging and my sadly forgotten writing. What's the deal? How could so much time pass by without as much...

read more

Newfangled Nonesense- By Barb Lishko

I am attempting to stay up-to-date with the latest advances in bathroom technology, but every time I use the ladies room it is a whole new learning curve. What do I mean exactly? Some places have automatic faucets that turn on when your hands line up within the...

read more

Loved Into Exixtence

A glorious day awaits.... although every breath is a new beginning we make quite the deal of the new calendar year as human beings. I guess any day is as good as the next to begin anew in trying to improve ourselves. My mantra is all about accomplishing so much. I...

read more

Christmas Eve, beautiful, sunny and amazing

Hard to believe that today is the eve of Christmas. Without a deliberate intention of reminding myself frequently I can easily lapse into the "everyday" mode of life. It is so easy for me to get caught up in that. Stuff to do, more stuff to catch up on, people to...

read more

Go and Do Likewise

Today's Gospel is about the Good Samaritan. Everyone knows the story for the most part (Luke 10:25-37). Right? It's a real "feel good" story and I think we all would want  a chance to be a Good Samaritan if  it ever came about. I believe that this scenario presents...

read more

A Gift Poured Out

I love giving myself as a gift. I feel God has abundantly blessed me and while I joke about NOT being born with the "NO" gene, I do say yes a lot! Friday, my day off...NOT. I said yes to bake in Flagstaff for the NAU Newman Parents weekend. I loved it. Was blessed to...

read more

When We Get To The Freeway

This summer we had the opportunity to do a road trip together again. It would be the seven of us, packed in the old gray Suburban, just like old times. A few years have passed since we have had the occasion for six hours of this kind of togetherness and I was waiting...

read more

Filling the Unfillable Void

 By Barbara Lishko “Our hearts are restless Lord, until they rest in thee.”  St Augustine knew well what he was writing about, having spent part of his life filling the void with everything but God. It is difficult to watch people you care about “fill their voids”...

read more

Born in a Barn

I often recall when I come upon certain situations a statement my father used to say all the time when we were growing up: something, something blah blah blah"...were you born in a barn?" You could actually add any statement to proceed the infamous born in a barn...

read more

A Friday…

Life rolls on ready or not, prepared or not. How can we take the turmoil that hits us between the eyes, the unexpected twist, the drab routine at times...and turn it into a prayer, an offering, a means of salvation? "Blessed be God" in every situation. "Jesus trust in...

read more

Strangers, Neighbors and Friends

Ever since moving back to Arizona in ’97, we have lived in the same neighborhood; quite a feat these days. Only a few houses were finished back then, and the desert seemed to begin right where our yard ended. We had met on rare occasions, as our homes were being...

read more

Driving in Oven Mitts

It’s that time of the year in Phoenix, when we really do question why we live here. Could it be because it only gets down to ninety degrees at night, or perhaps because massive dust storms hit without warning? I would suggest that it is something more fundamental than...

read more

Wabbits and Roma’s

This is the second year I have decided to invest in a home garden here in the desert. That means we start planting by late February or March when most places are still shoveling the nasty white stuff. The only reason I toy with this fantasy has everything to do with...

read more

Those Before Us

I set up a tour of St Mary's Basilica today with our some of our teens. Gordon the Choir Director a wonderfully knowledgeable young man who hails from Scotland, presented the history of the Basilica with such passion and  joy it was hard not to be interested. The...

read more