Long Ago Silence and Solitude

I am in Pittsburgh PA, visiting my husbands Brother and his family. They have an awesome home that is situated, pretty much, on the side of a mountain. They have a large yard, with among other things, a lovely pond, with great big fish that Toms daughter Jenny, can hand feed. They have a huge deck and below the deck, at the back part of the house is a place, that I noticed this morning. I am not sure if this place belongs to this property, but what I saw was this. Someones special place....it has a nice little area with flowers and a little fence and a statue. I can only assume that this statue is of Mary. I assume this because when I saw it, I was transported to another place in time, when I was a child. All of the families in my neighborhood, growing up, were Catholic, except my family. Each yard had a place where a statue of Mary sat. I never really investigated back then, why they had this statue or what its significance could be. I am still not entirely sure what that is about, but I intend to ask when everyone else in the house is awake. I know that when we were in Argentina last July, there were many "shrines" to Mary, again though, I didnt ask alot of questions, the only understanding I have of this "shrine" is that Mary is extremely important to the "statue bearers" faith. Anyway, all of that to say this. When I started my journey into Silence and Solitude I thought that this was some kind of new wave interest or experience. As I am becoming more aware of my surroundings, I am coming to believe that people have been practicing this discipline for a long time. I understand that this is an ancient discipline, but what I didnt understand is that people in and around my life have been practicing this for a long time, as evidenced by the sacred place where this statue sits. Just paying attention to my surroundings, every minute, shoots me off into another direction of learning. Today, I will try to learn about the Mary statue.
Also, the picture that I have posted labeled "The Cross" is very, very close to here. About 50 miles or so. "The Cross" has special significance to me. It was built a long time ago on the top of the highest mountain that overlooks my hometown of Uniontown PA, in a town called Jumonville. To the right side of my page, under the picture of The Cross is a link to the website...today, the area around the cross is a retreat center, How cool is that?! I remember fondly my parents taking us to this cross for sunrise service on Easter morning, it was such a beautiful place to be as the sun rose over the mountains on a cool spring morning. I remember what it smelled like there and how it felt to me. I have a sense again, of a sacred place, on top of that mountain, so long ago. Again, "sacred places" playing a part in my life, and I didnt even know it was happening, until now! How great God is, for allowing me to "see"