Day-trip Wellington, Ohio

I posted a new page of photos from a pleasant daytrip to Wellington, Ohio, visiting an elk farm, concluding the day with a surprisingly hospitable priest, Father James Reymann, showing me around the local parish St Patrick. Father was quite the character declaring I Had the privilege of enjoying the company of the oldest priest in the Cleveland diocese. He spoke knowingly of St Paul Shrine, familiar with the Poor Clares and Franciscans, telling me of younger years teaching at the Cleveland seminary. He knew intimate details of Sister Mary Thomas’ artistic endeavors, informing me he knew the parish in Pittsburg she was performing her latest painting for. Father told me a charming story about the St Patrick statue carved on the stump of an ash tree that was overcome with disease on their property grounds. The artist is a local man, a high school dropout who struggled through life before finding his calling as a chainsaw sculptor. He now does statues throughout the United States, a local celebrity. Father possessed a wonderful sense of humor, truly a people loving eccentric. At least three times, he asked me ‘how long will you be staying, I am getting really tired’. I said father I have been heading for the door for quite a while, you are the one who keeps starting new stories’. He laughed often and from the depths of his soul. His bulldog (fitting matters after viewing the bull elks) continued the jovial camaraderie by running at me and striking me with his paws. The large bulldog was quite strong, and though friendly, his playfulness was a bit rough. Father only laughed, informing me how much his dog liked me. It was the fifth bulldog he owned.

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