When I did a sabbatical at the Trappist monastery of St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts in 1997, one of my favorite spots was the Infirmary chapel where I used to pray as early as 4:30 AM, just after Vigils in the main chapel. This chapel had triple arched windows overlooking a peaceful scene which changed dramatically according to the seasons. Here you see 2 photos I took a few weeks apart. The first one shows the colorful autumn trees in beautiful fall colors, in mid-October.
The second one shows it in early December when the snow and ice covered everything in brilliant white, the trees naked of the billion of leaves which we had to rake and bag. It was definitely the best time of the year, even though we even had to shovel most of the snow in pathways and other accessible entrances. The Trappist monks built the monastery themselves in the early 1950s, after their previous monastery burned to the ground in Rhode Island.
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