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Reflections at a garden party: Always wear a hat

by Lea Henkes, FSPA

On Saturday, June 17, 2006, the 10th anniversary of the founding of Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center was celebrated with a garden party. Festivities began with an open house from 2-4 p.m. This included a silent auction of wonderful donated items; demonstrations of healing modalities, icon writing; displays depicting many facets of Prairiewoods-its founding, ecological features and more; tours if requested; a PowerPoint presentation; a movie in the art room. Beautiful music was played by Sisters Nina Shephard and Rosemary Riesberg and a guest pianist. Everywhere you saw the handiwork of Sister Rita Heires who gleaned blossoms and greens from outdoors to enhance the indoor space. The entire atmosphere was one of gracious loveliness.

Lea Henkes, FSPA

At 5:30 p.m. guests gathered for a dinner served outdoors under a tent. A delicious meal was provided by Prairiewoods staff and volunteers and ably served by members of a Confirmation class. An after dinner ritual of Thanksgiving told the story of how Prairiewoods came to be. Francis himself was there and played a major role! The evening closed with a live auction.

I was invited to walk around during the open house with a sandwich board sign which indicated many of the possibilities as I listed them above. I added my nearly famous garden hat and stood at the door welcoming those who came. I found it highly interesting to interact with guests. One of the first to come was a young Girl Scout. She seemed charged with purpose. When I welcomed her she said she had come to serve the punch and cookies and her name was Claire. I didn't see how she spelled her name. I asked if she knew it was a lovely Franciscan name and she did not. So I told her a bit about Clare of Assisi. Later her mother said she sometimes wished they had spelled it Clare. Other Girl Scouts came and they carefully poured punch into cups under the watchful eye of Claire's mother.

One of the first women guests said: "Oh, a garden hat! Why didn't I wear mine? Of course you should have a hat at a garden party!" I liked that. My hat is quite old. I wore it at most of the early Francis Day celebrations at Prairiewoods for rituals and entertainment and often think of it as my Prairiewoods hat. It has served me in flower beds, while mowing, on walks and more.

Dark clouds kept gathering and the men in charge of deciding whether to eat in or out kept going out to look at the sky. Two women came in laughing and said that we were in for rain. Not to worry, it would come fast and be gone but it would rain hard. I asked if they were prophetesses. They said no, actually they were not Catholics and was it all right to come? Of course! I explained Prairiewoods, being a sacred space, is open to all. They had a question about a brick wall, seemingly covered by glass, that they saw when driving by. That was a puzzle for me until one said she saw it when coming in the Prairiewoods drive. Oh, the trombe wall in the residence-one of our ecological features. I took them to see that display, we watched the PowerPoint presentation and then they left to see the guest house as they are very interested in getting their pastor to bring their "group" to Prairiewoods. Oh, yes, they took with them one of the delicious cookies being served along with punch by Claire and Company.

Artwork by Maryam Gossling, FSPA

Another interesting encounter was with Curt, who played guitar for the ritual. He had never been to Prairiewoods so I suggested he stop by someday and look around. He did that by coming early with his grown son. They walked the trails, looked into a hermitage and the guest house, and he had found the library. After dinner I took him to the library and explained that it was a lending library. He looked for books about Francis, saying he always kind of liked Francis. He found one and checked it out.

A woman came saying she would be staying for a retreat. She had not been to Prairiewoods for four years so brought her husband. She wanted him to see where she would be and what it was like. On my sign she saw the word "movie" so I asked Sister Carrie Kirsch to take them to see the movie being shown in the art room.

Incidentally, those who predicted rain were correct. The wind began to blow strongly, the men scooted into the tent and rain came down in sheets, visibly driving down the driveway. Several people got caught in it so towels were provided. Another brief shower followed but by meal time it had cleared off. What a blessing to eat outdoors. A perfect garden setting.

There is much more I could say but I would like to conclude this last thought. I seemed to notice throughout the entire event a kind of hummmm: a sense of joy-filled excitement. It began when I first arrived shortly after 1 p.m. and all who were responsible for the event were making last-minute preparations. To me it was the sense of all these persons responsible for the party doing it and loving it! The guests seemed to pick this up as most stayed for a long while, some for the entire afternoon and evening. I was glad I wore my hat.

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