Big Bear Lake

This morning I woke up and felt a bit dizzy. I remembered that I had not been pushing fluids the way I should here at 7,000 feet above sea level.

I flew into Ontario, California yesterday and two Sisters drove me up into the San Bernardino Mountains to their congregation's retreat house and camp on Big Bear Lake. We began their annual eight day retreat last night. The schedule is pretty simple: three 20 minute talks a day (9 AM, 4 PM, and 7:15 PM), Mass at 11:15 AM, and confessions or brief meetings for spiritual direction throughout the day. Forty-four Sisters are making the "Spiritual Exercises" of St. Ignatius with me and they are an impressive group. I'll write more about them another day.

I didn't have to worry about mosquitoes last night, but when I left the main conference room to return to my cabin a short distance away, one of the Sisters warned me about a bear that travels around town at night.