I stopped at the St. Cloud Bookshop on Monday to pick up a Bible for my brother. I came home with a few other items besides. It is a dangerous store for me to walk into.
The first of the items I picked up was A Garden Catechism by Margaret Rose Realy, Obl OSB (Our Sunday Visitor, 2022) I had seen this book advertised early last year, and had it on my Amazon wish list. I did the Amazon sneak peek, but still could not decide if it was worth the money. But buying it from the Bookshop gave me just one more incentive to purchase: I would be supporting a local business! So I took a look at the illustrations and sprang for it. I am glad I did. It fills in cracks left by the other books I have in my collection on Mary Gardens and flower names. As an example, Realy's book goes into detail about how the columbine, one of my favorite flowers, is named after the dove. The illustration shows an early cultivar which clearly resembles a dove in the way the blossoms are clustered with one petal like a wing gathering the others into itself. So beautiful. That is quite different than just reading on a list that columbine are "Jesus' shoes". I do not see them as shoes, unless one is talking about a very medieval style. I paged through most of the book late at night because it was so interesting. I am hoping to use the book in combination with my other sources to write little snippets for the bulletin when spring and summer come once again. I am not sure it will change the plants I use in my gardens at home and at church because there is no disputing taste. Red will never become a favorite color. Nor will cyclamen become a favorite flower. But I may tweak things here and there and use some of her design tips.
Another purchase was a book about St. Cloud by Susan Peek. The author's name did not ring a bell. Nor did the cover design. However, when I looked at other titles by the author I recognized one on Count Baldwin and the crusades from my homeschooling days. St. Cloud will be my Christmas break reading.
Yet another purchase (Told ya it is a dangerous place for me!) was Fr. Daniel Lord's book on St. Nicholas, The Man Who Was Really Santa Claus, reprinted by Refuge of Sinners Press. I finished that last night, and will mail it off to my brother tomorrow. I can't say I was really impressed, or that it left me with a feeling of devotion to St. Nicholas. Too much of the book was editorial comment on how people liked moral mystery plays and debate about whether we should tell children about Santa Claus or not. I did like his brief history of the celebration of Christmas in Europe as opposed to how it is celebrated in the United States, and the differences in celebrating between Catholics and Protestants. That knowledge is important.
I finished up most of my Christmas shopping yesterday. I am so glad that I was able to do it at Fleet Farm instead of at Walmart. That way I did not have to support Walmart's satanic merchandise or liberal politics. They score very poorly on 2nd Vote, which is quite too bad since they should be a store for the poor and families.
