SIRI’S SCENIC ROUTE

365 DAYS OF THANKSLIVING — DAY 172

This morning, I was out the door about an hour earlier than usual—men’s Bible study and all. But, before dashing out the door, I grabbed my camera bag because I knew I’d be out and about visiting folks; and, well, ya just never know when some totally gnarly shot is just waiting to catch your eye.

Two hours later with a fresh communion kit in hand, I was out the church doors and headed for the hospital. When one of your sweet congregants is hurting, ya just gotta go. Honestly, I had no idea where on the prairie the town of Westbrook sat until today, but thanks to Apple Maps, Siri got me there lickety-split. Along the way, I took note of a couple of locations that might make for interesting compositions: an old country church, and a few falling-down barns here and there.

Thirty-five minutes later, I arrived at the prairie metropolis; a town of about 750 (or so). I was actually surprised to see a critical-access hospital equipped with a helipad in a town only twice the size of Comfrey. And the staff, super-duper helpful and nice; but, what do you expect from a bunch of Minnesotans and employees of Sanford Health?

It’s hard to see one of the sweetest old ladies you know not doing well. One of my friends said it best today when she texted, “I hope she rallies.” Me too. Seeing how tired my friend was, I prayed for her then told her I’d see her soon. She smiled and simply said, “I hope so.” Me too, G. Me too, this side of heaven.

Back in the car, I engaged Siri again to get me to my next location. Don’t ya love it when she brings up ten thousand ways to reach your destination, including the longest possible route? Gee Siri, why don’t ya just take me into South Dakota and Nebraska while you’re at it. Note the sarcasm.

Anyway, I chose the simplest way, but as I was tootling down the road, getting off the beaten path seemed like a lot more fun; and hey, the time to destination was exactly the same. I’m glad I took the first turn, and then the second, because I zipped by a new dairy I’d been dying to try.

Of course, I had to take a ten-minute detour to go inside. Scored us some locally made caramel corn, too. Wish I’d had my freezer bags with me because I could’ve scored some cheese curds for Danielle. Me, personally, I think those squeaky little things are gross. But had I had the bag, I would’ve scored me some serious brownie points.

Anywho… because you need the play-by-play, I stopped in to see Irene, visited for a while, and then grabbed a to-go bite at a local choke-and-puke (McDonald’s for all ye laymen). And… while I had every intention of visiting the oldest member of our church right then, I looked at the clock and knew I’d be interfering with Ricardo, her favorite time of the week. Ricardo is a local musician who plays his guitar and sings the oldie-but-goodie hymns at the nursing home, and all the ladies have absolute goo-goo eyes for the guy. Oh, Ricardo…. Hahahaha. Squirrel.

Knowing I couldn’t compete with Ricardo's serenade, I figured I'd catch her next week. I had every intention at that point of heading back to the office to bang out an article for the local newspaper since it’s my turn and all. But… there were two compositions I’ve been dying to snap; and being that it’s already been a long week, and it ain’t done, I decided to carve out a couple of hours for myself and go grab those gnarly shots.

Neither disappointed. I plugged the GPS coordinates to the Albion barn in, and good ol' Siri actually took me right there for once. Two different lenses and an equal number of angles, and I presume I’ve captured the compositions I was looking for. If the sky had only been a bit moodier… but ya know, you get what you get. Overall, I was pleased with the shots I took. Now, to fire up the professional printer, edit the rest of the batch, and determine which one gets the gallery treatment to hang on the wall.

All in all, I have tons to be thankful for today: a good car that takes me here and there; the time and ability to see my sisters-in-Christ; the quick and somewhat tasty lunch on the go; and the time to take a bit of downtime to do what I love—besides doing what I truly love, serving Jesus and His church.

Moment by moment, there can be much for which to give thanks. What did you do today for which you can give thanks? Drop me a line in the comments below.