It is suddenly the middle of summer and I have missed two months of “Happiness Is …” posts. Thankfully I’m chronically organized and upload my photos to the cloud by month so I never lose track of when images are taken!

In May, Husband and I decided to look for Irish colonies that were settled with the help of Bishop John Ireland in south central Minnesota between 1876-1881. It was considered a great success for the Catholic Church at the time. Today the settlers are buried in churchyards like this one at St. Patrick’s. It was interesting to read the tombstones and wonder how these immigrants handled the struggles of farming in a new land and discrimination from their Scandinavian neighbors. It was a history lesson, yet didn’t feel that far removed from the same issues America and other countries are debating today. My hope is the general population will remember this country was built on someone taking a chance, getting an opportunity, settling the unsettled, and creating a new place to call home.