
Nuestra senora de la leche y buen parto. Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery.
I hope I got that Spanish part correct and, no, this Tourist Tuesday isn't from Spain. The charming, wee shrine you see above is located in my own St. Augustine, Florida, here in the US of A.
Our Lady of La Leche is said to be the first shrine to Our Blessed Mother in the United States. As everything is so old around here this fact is believable.
The happy delivery part means easy birth, I think. When I was a young child I thought--well, of course I did--it meant the delivery of bottled milk.

Sometimes it is funny how things turn out. I had meant to show you today a cathedral in Barcelona but that will have to wait. I had meant to show you this sweet shrine later in the summer but here you have it now.
You will need to read all the way to the bottom of this to find out what happened.
I will tell you this much: Life happened.
Our Lady of La Leche is said to have been here from the mid-1500s. You can read more about the history here and I wish you would.
The ivy-covered chapel you see above is said to be the fourth such building on this same site with the other three destroyed by ugly war, looting pirates and raging storms.
I like to think Our Lady of le Leche will always be here. You would have to look and look to find a quieter, more holy spot so near the sea.
Sometimes I am so filled with the false pride of frequent-flier points and American Express Rewards that I forget how near I live to accessible art under blue skies, to quiet reverence under mossy trees.
Sometimes I am gently reminded of my great luck of location.
The lovely grounds surrounding the shrine are most days filled with travelers sporting cameras. I do my best to try to see this place through their eyes.
I am burdened slightly by my past. This chapel use to be lots, lots bigger when I was a child. Over the years I have watched it shrink as my own world grows larger.
I wonder what it would be like to grow up and older in Notre Dame or St. Paul's. I wonder if those magnificent, holy places shrink with age, too.
The inside of the shrine is simple and seemingly always cool. Mary has her place of honor and prayers sent out here do not get tangled in fancy tapestries or waylaid in heavy gold-plating.
I am told that prayers from here go quickly on to heaven.
My across-the-street neighbor tells me that sometimes prayers for babies are answered here. Loving, childless couples come and send heart-felt requests on up to God while seated on the simple wooden benches here.
Candles are lit with hope and faith. Some prayers are answered.
Who am I to say?
I will tell you this: My across-the-street neighbor has photos on her wall of healthy, adorable babies smiling down at her, photos of babies whose parents waited and waited for years and, then, finally sat inside this chapel and prayed.
I am just passing this along but I have heard the stories, have seen the shine in the eyes of the much-wanted babies.
There are stranger things.
I do know this, too: Somethings--like hope and faith--cannot be removed by ugly war, looting pirates and raging storms.
Thank goodness. Thank God.
I have said my own prayers here for unhatched babies waiting to be born healthy, for grown-up babies away at war waiting to come home safely.
So far, so good.
A teeny chapel for praying and quiet meditation, a park-like setting for strolling visitors and more. You would think there would be standing room only.
Most folks touring St. Augustine are not aware this serene paradise is tucked here under the tall trees near the water-way. Most sun-baked Florida visitors want to go here or here or here and I do not blame them.
There is only so much time on a vacation, only so many minutes to spend before you must return home to do your laundry and return to work to make some cash. All this traipsing around from place to place does not come free.
I think about missed opportunity every time I return home from travel.
"What did I miss?" I ask myself sitting on that airplane in jet-lagged weakness. "What was only one block away, down some quiet street? What have I left behind?"
Well, in truth, we cannot see it all. Trust me I have tried. I will keep trying.
I will pack my bag early the night before I leave a place and take Yet One More Walk, strolling, looking.
You know me. I do not want to miss a thing.
Buying larger and larger memory chips for my digital I try to capture what I have managed to see, to feel. I snap once with my eye and camera, and then again with my heart.
Meanwhile, back here on the farm, back here at the ranch, I am trying to see old things with new eyes.
To see the way the land slopes down to the estuary where the wading birds feed; to see the way college students sit shaded, studying Yeats and Chaos Theory with equal diligence while squirrels come begging.
Across the bridge the great stainless-steel cross stands 208 feet into the sky. Built in the 1960s this gleaming cross has since guarded the Manataza River and Our Lady.
When you stand at the base of the cross and look up you can see plum into next week.
See how close we are to the water? That is an island over there behind the boats. Out that way a bit further, on the horizon under the tree, is the Atlantic Ocean.
You can see how the Spanish landed here so easily. As did ugly war, looting pirates and raging storms.
You never know who or what is going to wash up here in my neighborhood.
Sometime a heart-pleasing surprise will wash ashore.
And here is the rest of my story: See that person intent on capturing the moment, capturing the fountain there behind the Our Lady of La Leche? See how she is capturing once with her eye and camera, and then again with her heart?
Can you see? So plainly she is.
Well, here she is again.
That is my friend, and maybe yours, from over here. On her way south with her warm and friendly tribe to see more of Florida's treasures.
A wonderful group of women who gave me the pleasure of sharing this day, sharing their look at my old place with brand new eyes.
Thank you, my new friends.
I know you wanted to see The Fountain of Youth but we ran out of time. It does not look a thing like this fountain but we could not have found a more suitable place to become better acquainted unless it was here near this fountain .
Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery honors the beginnings of all good things so this meeting was right up her alley.
Oh, and what you left behind, we will see next time.
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