Gladwish: A Summer Soap Opera in Three Acts

Unbeknownst to me, a simple request while on holiday at Bright’s Grove with a couple of friends, began an epic journey. How difficult could it be to drive into Sarnia to pick up two boxes of soap bars? My friend Sister Mabel’s earlier attempt had proved unsuccessful. After consulting a city map, she and I soon discovered why she had not succeeded on her first attempt. Now, we confidently set out. Heavy summer showers should have been an omen that not all would be well. Despite the downpours, initially we made good progress. In the pouring rain, we found Gladwish Drive but had no luck finding the address. We consulted a helpful man at a mechanical services place and learned that Gladwish Drive consists of two unconnected sections. We were on the wrong section. So, once again the mission was aborted, and we decided to return home.

After more extensive research, we discovered the section of Gladwish Drive where we needed to go. Ever more confidently, we set out for the third attempt, determined to be successful this time. A veteran of Toronto how could the much smaller Sarnia outsmart me? Surely the gorgeous sunshine was a good omen for success. All went well, until, to my dismay, we turned onto a road under construction. Road Closed! Local traffic only! Not deterred by this sign we soldiered on. However, luck was not on our side. We drove as far as we were able but there was no sign of Gladwish Drive. Finding our destination continued to elude us.

As we were about to turn around, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a partly toppled road sign. You guessed it! Gladwish Drive! We had almost missed it. I had mistaken the little dirt road for the access to a business. Could this road lead us to success? Indeed, it did! However, though we found our destination, a note on the door of True North Distributors advised customers to pick up their order at the warehouse. Oh no, was my first reaction! Undeterred once again, we entered the office. There, on a low table, stood two boxes with Sister Mabel’s name on them! Mission accomplished! Finally, on this third attempt to pick up the soap bars for the homeless, this epic journey came to a successful end. The grand finale of the Gladwish Summer Soap Opera.

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, CPS and friends

SUMMER READING

If you are on the lookout for an engaging book for backyard, front porch or cottage summer reading,  as one reader to another,  I offer you one of my picks for a good summer read. I suggest you find yourself a copy of The Maid. It was named one of the most anticipated books of 2022 by Glamour, Chatelaine, and Canadian Living among others and was an instant #1 bestseller. Nita Pronovost, writing under the pen name Nita Prose, is a Canadian author living in Toronto. Nita is a long-time book editor who has recently become a multiple award-winning mystery writer. The Maid, her first book, has sold over a million copies and has been published in more than forty countries in over thirty-five languages. Certainly, wanting to avoid being a spoiler, I sum things up as it is a tale of human dynamics, robbery, murder, and matters of the heart. I don’t hesitate to say, you’ll never look on a maid in ever the same way again.

““Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” ”

— Malorie Blackman

If you enjoy the writing style of Prose, you can read The Mystery Guest, Nita’s second mystery featuring several of the main characters you will have met in reading The Maid.

You might also like to read Nita Pronovost’s own article which ran in the Toronto Star in December of 2023. In it, the author reveals in her own words how a novelist takes a tiny nugget from her real life and turns it into fiction.

-Sister Nancy Wales ,CSJ

image: Anna Hamilton @lovingdreamer/Unsplash

The Green Mission: Cultivating Sustainability and Community

The Green Team at our Sisters of St. Joseph Residence in London was formed several years ago with the aim “to educate, empower and promote environmentally sustainable practices within the community and at home”. Composed of three sisters and several staff members, the initiative focuses on the education of integral ecology.  The hope is to have everyone involved and participating within and beyond our residence.

Along with many initiatives, the Green Team sends educational items to the staff newsletter and in poster form throughout our home as well. At Sisters’ house meetings there is information given re: ongoing ecological initiatives.

Our staff communication APP also carries eco information in the form of short educational videos etc. This is also communicated by closed circuit tv.   From time-to-time, in the staff room, incentive posters remind us, “Earth needs all of us”.

Special April Earth Day activities get people up and doing. Armed with compostable yard bags, compostable garbage bags, gloves and long trash pickers to pick up the refuse, off we go to collect garbage from the grounds and our section of Windermere Road, here in London, Ontario.  Every year, the debris lessens.  (In fact, I’ve almost given up my beer-can collecting business). Usually, a few drivers honk to encourage us in our green efforts. Indoors, coffee and Timbits are enjoyed while staff are invited to watch special Earth Day presentations and celebrate our various initiatives.

Sisters in Peterborough making “milk bag mats” to send overseas.

Another successful initiative with which many are familiar is collecting specific types of plastic bags which volunteers transform into durable mats for people in other countries.

Integral ecology involves composting which we see in action in our dining room and kitchen.  Following meals, food scraps are put in specific compost containers.  To ensure that every item gets to its proper place, a framed notice announces, “Compost is hungry for Kleenex and napkins too”.  Posted on the wall nearby are colorful educational compost posters: “Things that CAN be Composted” and “Things that CAN be Recycled”.

At the service entrance in the garbage room stand huge blue, green and black containers for specific kinds of waste waiting to be picked up by Waste Connections of Canada.  The oil products in the black container will be turned into biofuel and the contents of the other compost bins will be processed to nurture soil in fields, gardens etc.

On a creative note, what is prettier than hand-picked wildflowers arranged attractively, in front of our chapel altar?  Incidentally another way to replace costly store-bought bouquets. This too, is integral ecology!

-Sister Jean Moylan, CSJ

Header image: Jan Kopřiva/Unsplash