St. Margaret Shrine

After the football game at Sacred Heart University,  we drove down the street a short bit until we came to Saint Margaret Shrine. I hadn't been there for several years and the last time I was there, I was sad to see it in a state of noticeable disrepair.

We were pleasantly surprised to find it in significantly better condition.  It was apparent that serious effort had been taken to repair and even upgrade the shrine.  It essentially is a hillside with about a dozen little stations devoted to saints and events (e.g. Fatima).

There was a new Padre Pio statue as well as a large area for Our Lady of Guadalupe.  We would've stayed longer but there was a wedding party taking pictures. Also since Saturday Mass was just letting out, we didn't get a chance to peek into the little church. Maybe next time.

Links:
http://www.parishesonline.com/stmargaretshrine
http://www.stpadrepiosociety.com

Slain by Sacred Heart

Richard and I attended our third college football game today. It was an "away" game at Sacred Heart University, another "Catholic" college. It was about an hour drive for us.

The weather was weird. Last week, we baked in the sun. So this week, because it was sunny again, we prepared for hot weather and left our jackets in the car. Mistake! The Visitors stands were located in the shade and it was very COOL in the shade. The Home stands were on the opposite side of the field in the sun. It was so hot in the sun, that the home fans were shedding their clothes and coming over to the shade of the Blue Devils. Meanwhile, we were freezing. How ironic.

Our football team must have felt us shivering because they were not hot at all. The Pioneers whooped the Blue Devils 59-36. Even though it wasn't very far to travel, our marching band, dance team, and cheer leaders did not attend. The SHU marching band put on a spiffy half-time show including the Michael Jackson song, "Thriller" which included a break where all the participants (including their flag line, dancers, and cheer leaders) were moon-walking.

The food was disappointing. They pre-cooked the hotdogs on the grill and then wrapped them in foil. So they were basically cold by the time we ate them. They shut the refreshment stand down shortly after half-time too. It felt good to get out of the shade at half-time and soak in the sun.

Chapel of the Holy Spirit (at Sacred Heart University).

On our way back to the car after the game, we peeked into the SHU Chapel, a very modern building, only a year or two old. The mosaics inside were fabulous. Check out the link to the web page-there is a lot of info and pictures there.

After we left, we drove down the street and stopped at St. Margaret's Shrine (see separate post).

Links:
http://www.sacredheart.edu/
http://www.sacredheartpioneers.com/sports/m-footbl/2013-14/boxscores/20131012_1vme.xml
http://www.sacredheart.edu/faithservice/chapeloftheholyspirit/

Devils Beat St. Francis!

What a day! A great game, great weather, and a delightful surprising burger.

Saturday (October 5, 2013) I accompanied my son, Richard, to another football game at his school.  You may recall that we went to a game a few weeks ago where Holy Cross got the upper hand.

This time the game started in the afternoon and the weather turned out much better than forecast. We were anticipating a partly cloudy day in the low 70s but were blessed with a mostly sunny day in the mid-upper 70s. Sitting in the student section was brutal because of the sun. Most of the fans bailed from that section by halftime.  I suspect many left around then because the score was was 28-3 at half time.

But the game turned out to be a nail biter as the St. Francis Red Flash almost caught up. By the early 4th quarter our Devils were only ahead 31-29. It came down to the final moments with the Blue Devils scoring with only 2 minutes to go. The final score was 38-29.

Last game, they passed out plastic blue devils horns that lit up. This game they gave out blue rally towels (see below).

Rally towel: about the size of a large wash cloth or small hand towel.

For the first half of the game we sat in the stands next to the visitors section. I was shocked to learn that St. Francis is in Loretto, Pennsylvania near Altoona and Pittsburgh and took about 8 hours to travel to the game. Saint Francis University is the oldest Franciscan institution of higher learning in the United States.  It is a Catholic, coeducational liberal arts university sponsored by the Franciscans of the Third Order Regular.

I find it interesting and somewhat more than coincidental that we (the Blue Devils) have played against Catholic Schools in both games Richard and I have attended. Next week, the Blue Devils play at Sacred Heart University (another RC school). Also, somewhat ironical, is that Richard's former roller hockey team was also the Blue Devils.

One of the highlights of the "game" for me was unexpectedly encountering a food truck from Ted's Restaurant. Because we sat in the Student Section/Visitor's stands, we were not near the stadium's refreshment booth. However, there were two food trucks parked nearby.

Initially, Richard took a look and was not impressed with the choices. However, when I took a peek I recognized the significance of Ted's Cheeseburgers. Ted's usually comes up in lists historic and significant area burger joints. One of my work colleagues had traveled with her family several hours just to try out the steamed burgers. So, recognizing the name, I decided to give it a try (without onions) even though sitting in the hot sun was not ideal for enjoying a juicy cheeseburger.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the cheeseburger. Very tasty and filling. I'm pretty sure it had all the fat and calories needed for the entire day (and perhaps more). Richard was not as adventurous (he was skeptical about the cheese, I think) and missed his opportunity.

After the game, however, we stopped by a nearby Mooyah. We have one of these near home, so it is familiar. Had the best sweet potato fries this time. Even though I was still stuffed from my steamed cheeseburger, I had a hard time to keep from stealing some of Richard's sweet potato fries. Yumm.

Links:
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2013/09/last-evening-richard-and-i-attended.html
http://www.ccsubluedevils.com/sports/fball/2013-14/boxscores/20131005_usc8.xml
http://francis.edu/
http://www.tedsrestaurant.com
http://www.mooyah.com/