Thanksgiving at Our New Table

I promised myself that when our new table arrived, I would put up a puzzle. I saved this Peace Like a River puzzle by Kim Norlien just for the occasion. He is, or was, a local artist. His studio was down the road from us in Clearwater. When we stopped in there this past summer the studio was locked, and there was a realty sign on the lawn. The last time I checked his web site it still had the Clearwater address. At any rate, the puzzle finally went up and was finished.  But just like a country music song, I have to analyze it! Notice that the sky looks like daylight. You can't see it from the picture, but there are people sitting out on the deck on the right, just above and to the left of the blue car. Yet. the fireplace is lit, and all of the lights are on in every room of the house. They are wasting electricity and firewood! I guess that means the light is merely symbolic. When I first started this puzzle I was dropping in pieces left and right. As I neared the end, when it is normally easier, it got harder and harder. It was a challenge. The hidden images were a little bonus, and the scripture quote a commentary on the artist. I am sorry that he is moving, or has moved from, the area.

I have been able to finish two mysteries, Ralph McInerny's On This Rockne, and a garage sale find, George Harmon Coxe' Top Assignment (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1955). Ralph's book was entertaining from his commentaries on academic life and on the state of affairs in the Catholic church. I got a kick out of "The Old Bastards Table" and the faculty senate. Took me back to my days at CSB/SJU. Academia! Top Assignment was interesting in that Communist infiltration in the United States was part of the plot. Today no one would think anything of it, and in fact people would probably cheer it on.  

We have had some life adventures this week. Arthur's car just came back from the garage. Mine needs to go in. On top of that our local e-mail service provider closed up out of the blue, or if it was a one man operation, he was injured in a hunting accident and is lying in a hospital bed somewhere while the company goes belly up. We had not had service for almost a week. Last night we decided to scramble and go for a new e-mail.

The St. Marcellus Mission group craft sale is over for the year. I am free to craft as I like without deadlines for another whole ten months! Glory! But not really any time to rest. I had to deliver a bunch of leftover hats and scarves to Catholic Charities, and I brought home some stained and holey vintage embroidered tablecloths that I will have to figure out how to use for next year's sale. There is no rest for the wicked. And I still have to get caught up on dishes, housecleaning and laundry. 

Homemade Apple Cider

    In spite of the drought, we had an abundance of apples this year. My husband picked them all before frost. He put four 10-gallon pails in the basement, gave some to Anne and some to a friend, and put the rest out on the end of the driveway for anyone to take. I have already put eight quarts of sliced apples in the freezer for pies or crisps. The rest are waiting to get eaten or to be made into apple sauce. 

    I have been craving apple cider but have not bought any because of the price. Yesterday I decided that I would try making my own. 

    I quartered enough apples to fill my pressure cooker two thirds full. Then I filled it with water to cover the apples and let them simmer on the stove for three hours. No work to that. It was Sunday, after all. But the labor part was yet to come. After cooking and mashing as best I could, I strained the pulp through a mest strainer. Then I restrained it through the mesh strainer and a layer of cheese cloth. It was messy because each time I emptied the strainer I had to rinse it off before reloading it. With the cheese cloth it was even tricker since I had only the one piece of cheese cloth left. I had to rinse it out as well and then try to get it stretched out again. I did save the apple sauce left after the cheese cloth strain, since by that time all of the seeds, stems and skins were removed. After all of that I was left with a gallon and a pint of cider.  

    I had not added any spices, sugar or oranges to the brew as many recipes called for, since our apples were sweet enough, and I already consume enough sugar. I used a mix of both Haral Red and Northern Spy apples. The result was sweet enough but tasted a bit watery. Still, it satisfied my desire for cider. 

    Would I make some again? Not this year for sure. Perhaps in the future. But I think I will use all Northern Spy apples next time. Now time to scrub the sticky floor.

    Otherwise, I have been trying to finish embroidered dish towels for our mission group craft sale, and reading, reading, reading. 

    I finished The Evolution Hoax Exposed. Glad to give that one away. I am too old for such small print. Then I read Seymour Reit's Guns for General Washington so that I could pass it on to my granddaughter, who is studying the Revolutionary War in social studies. Interesting that the author was also the writer behind the Caspar, the Friendly Ghost cartoons which I watched daily as a child. Also interesting because the main characters were Henry and Will Knox, and I am sure that Fort Knox must be named after one of them. Now I know who they are. I had purchased this book when Anne was homeschooling but had never read it myself. What a sacrifice they made for the cause of the Revolution.

    Now I am reading The Life of Washington by Josephine Pollard (McLoughlin Brothers, 1893, reprinted by Beautiful Feet Press). George did not chop down the cherry tree, he only gouged it with his axe. And yes, his family did highly prize honesty. I just finished Chapter 3, which included the story of his trip from Williamsburg to a French outpost on Lake Erie on behalf of Virginia Governor Dinwiddie. It was no easy journey. One cannot help but admire the heroic effort that it cost.

    I have not made it to the basement to finish my card bases yet. Little by little they will get done. But I have been giving them away almost as fast as they have gotten finished. Not sure how many will be left for the sale!

DSP Scrap Busting and other Adventures

 I am on a mission to complete two different aspects of downsizing. The first is to clear some books off our shelves. The second is to clean out some of my stamping stuff. 

To accomplish the first item, my job has been to read, read and read. After The King's Thane I picked up The Riddle of the Rosetta Stone (James Cross Giblin, Harper Trophy, 1990), a book I had purchased for homeschooling. That was a quick little read over a few nights when I could not sleep. I will pass it on to the girls. It gave me some background on ancient Egypt and on Napoleon, both subjects I knew little about. The Rosetta stone is an arifact which Napoleon's army discovered in 1799 when tearing down an old fort. The stone contained a decree writtin in three languages, Greek, Egyptian and Demotic. Over the next 40 years it took several scholars to unlock the "riddle" of how to read the Egyptian and Demotic writing. The rest, as they say, is history. Opening the door to history, that is.

My next foray into the bookshelf was a book I am only half way through, The Evolution Hoax Exposed (A.N. Field, Tan, 1971, reprint of  Why Colleges Breed Communists, Christian Book Club of America, 1941). I chose this book because I had done an independent study of  Evolution in college, but I had not put much effort into the class. I had purchased this book many years ago to fill in some details that I had not studied. When I first started reading the book my impression was that the author's belittling comments on college and university students would not win anyone over to his side. As I pursue reading, however, I find the book very enlightening. Evolution in some form or another is taken for granted these days. I hear both  Fr. Richard Simon and Patrick Madrid speak of it on Relevant Radio. But Mr. Field digs into the scientific and news communities at the time of Darwin's publication of The Origin of a Species, and demonstrates that right from the beginning there were those who did not believe Darwin credible. Two big hurdle were the absence of fossils and the inability of species to breed and produce fertile offspring. Those hurdles still exist. Darwin's claims were mostly assertions, not verifiable facts. But the most important part for me has been reading about the silencing and censorship of those who did not accept Darwin. What happened from 1859 to 1941 when this book was written seems exactly like today, when people are being censored for disagreeing with climate change, COVID, and transgenderism. Scientific facts are being replaced with name calling. Those who disagree with the politically correct position (The book deals with the influcence of the theory of evolution on politics, sociology and philosophy in the section I have not yet read.) are denied grants and advancement opportunities in their fields of study. Deja vu. 

As for stamping, I have made a concerted effort to depleat my scrap box. The picture shows more than 30 of the card bases which I have put together so far. I am enjoying some of the mixtures of old and new designer series papers that I was able to combine. When my box is cleaned out I will go back to stamping for the tops. Most of the completed cards will go to Sleepy Eye for the Schoenstatt gift shop, and to our St. Marcellus Mission Group Craft Sale in November. I have dug deeply into my stamps as well, and have used some of the previously unused stamps that I had purchased from JLN Connections in Wisconsin. Good to make use of all of the supplies I have spent money on over the years. But using up the scraps has not come without a price. I have gone through several rolls of adhesive tape. I am out of Old Olive paper, one of my favorites. And I had to purchase another packet  each of Whisper White and Very Vanilla paper. But it is exciting to get things done. Wahoo!

The top two are some of my favorites.

Last, I tried a recipe for Ezekiel bread which I had clipped from Tast of Home several years ago. I looked up the quote from Ezekiel which inspired the bread makers. I have to say that I felt like the bakers used the Bible. The only ingredient they used which was mentioned in Ezediel was wheat. Further searches of recipes on the internet showed me numerous others who actually used lentils, barley and the other ingredients in scripture for a true Ezekiel bread. But sprouted grains sound like lots of work, so I  think I will just look for a loaf in the store if I ever want to try it.   

Beowolf

 A long, long time ago, after my two older sisters' graduations from Archbishop Murry Memorial High School (AMMHS), I inherited a copy of their English textbook, England in Literature. It was a wonderful book, leading me to knowledge of Old English, Roman and medieval England, and the tale of Beowulf. I kept that book for many years, using it occasionally for reference and for pleasure. I eventually sold it when my days as a homeschooling mom came to an end. But I still regret it. 

Fast forward to the present. I have had a few sleepless nights, curtesy of MSG in my food, and thoughts of my kitchen cabinet project. (As I lay in bed I am re-arranging  the contents of cupboards to figure out what will work best where.) My usual recourse to insomnia, besides praying the rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet, is to read. I move to the little bedroom, crawl under my down comforter, and grab a book. My current read is one of my homeschool juvenile collection books, The King's Thane, by Charles A. Brady (Clarion Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY 1961). It is the tale of Beorn, a lame lad who serves under the great hunter, Bjarki, later known as Beowulf. It is a difficult read in terms of medieval linguistics. But it is also written in a rather poetic style with lots of alliteration. I would call it sing-song. I have resorted to the computer to look up words such as Geat, scop and Gautland. But it is grwoing on me. I am almost half way done. Beorn is a descendant of King Arthur, and mention is made of Augustine of Canterbury and others whom I have met in my reading. What it all boils down to is that after I finish this book, I will have to read my copy of Beowulf the Warrior (Ian Serraillier, Bethlehm Books/Ignatius Press, 1994), along with some of my other books from that time period. 

I got a new estimate and some kitchen designs with and without an island on Friday. I will stick with the original design proposed by Steve from MHI. I will have to buy a smaller dish washer than originally planned, but that will be no problem. I am sure the next people who buy our house in the future will not have ten children. If they do, they will just have to run the dishwasher three times a day instead of one. I am going to be my own contractor. I have the time to make phone calls and get estimates. It looks like I will be able to stay within our budget and still be able to purchase the dining room table that I have picked out. It is a fun project. This is the first time we have made an real changes in our house on the interior, besides flooring and paint.  

Alleluia!

 He is Risen as He said. Alleluia!

What consolations I have received this Easter season! For the first time in many years I did not suffer from scrupulosity. I am usually plagued the most around Christmas and Easter. This year, just peace. I am not sure what has made the difference besides gentle, good confessors over time. Not much else has changed. But I am very grateful.

About two weeks ago our snow finally stopped. It was then that I remembered that I still had a bag of unblessed palms out on our deck. When I opened it up they were still pliable and had no mold. Before dumping them in the compost pile I decided to give the Palmeto rose one last exasperated try. Lois Maciej taught this rose in her class, and I have spent lots of time watching Youtube videos on how to do it. Still, I had noever been able to figure it out. I watched  this video one more time, and then sat on the deck to practice. Ran back to watch the video a few more times, and then back out to practice. Finally something clicked, and I got it. I recognized that certain folds should always run paralell to other folds. That was all I needed to know. I've got both muscle memory and verbal cues locked into place. Looking forward to using it next Palm Sunday. I am so glad. So cool.

Akin to palm weaving is napin folding, and I am happy to say that I added the butterfly fold to my repertoire. 

I am re-doing my kitchen. I was unsure where to start on the project, and which way I wanted to go. Originally we thought that we would just have the lower cupboards and the counters replaced. I wanted to do it myself, but Husband was not very enthused. He wanted stain again, and that is much harder to match than paint. Then we thought that if we do cupboards, we may as well put in a space for a dishwasher to increase the market value of our house. But then I would lose all my drawer space. That limited our options. So I started making phone calls and checking on Angi. Then Steve from Minnesota Home Improvement came over last week and gave me some good suggestions. Now I wait estimates on cupboards and counters. For the sake of comparison I am getting one for custom cabinets, and one for ready-built. But my inclination is for custom built. I have my cabinet color, style and crown picked out. I know where I want drawers and where I will want cabinets. We will get rid of our railing along the steps and replace that with drywall and cabinets. When I get a cabinet timeline nailded down we can start on the drywall and electrical work in the middle room, which will become our new dining room. Very exciting. I plan on getting a dining table large enough to accommodate family and friends. 

The sun is out and our weather is beautiful. Time to go pull quack grass.  

Easter

 This year we tried the Martha Stewart Bunny Napkin Fold for our Easter table. It was quite easy. Ari picked it up very quickly. The other girls did not try it. I would add two tips. The first is to use a napkin which has a thin or small hem. The second is that at the second fold uing a square napkin, the original first fold should be at the back, and the hemmed portion of the napkin should be on the top facing you. That way the fold will be on the outside of the finished napkin, not the hem. It just looks better. 

We also tried the shaving cream method for dying eggs. We wre really disappointed. The only color that seemed to adhere to the eggs was pink. I told the girls that if they ever need a science experiment for school, they could test this method using a few variations that I have seen on other blogs, such as leaving the eggs in the shaving cream overnight, or soaking the eggs in vinegar before putting them in the shaving cream. My other tip would be to use an unfragranced shaving cream. We used the last of Grandpa's can of sensetive skin Barbasol which was very perfumed. It was more than I cared to smell. (Grandpa asked if it turned me on. Certainly not in that dose!) 

We also tried making bird nests using this recipe. I had to put them in the refrigerator to get them to set. Of course our kitchen temperature was up to 77 degrees because the oven was on all afternoon. But still if I remember other recipes used a little bit of wax to set the candy, making it much easier to eat.   

Yesterday's snow covered up my blooming squills and crocus. They say one is supposed to wait for a week of temperatures before cleaning off flower beds in order to protect the bees. The leaves were still plastered to the ground in the flowers because of all of the rain, so as much as I like to get them  cleaned off, I was not even tempted to do it last week until they dried up more. 

A highlight for me this Easter was the arrival of my new, large Rubbermaid dish drainer and drain board. I guess I am a classic at heart. When Arthur dropped a dish out of the cupboard a couple of weeks ago it  broke the utensil caddy in the dish drainer. That meant a search for a new drainer and a couple of weeks of washing very small loads of dishes, then stopping to dry them before I could do more.. At first I thought of just replacing the caddy, but the dish drainer was getting a little rusty and I really did not like it because it did not keep the plates and glasses out of the drain water. Yuck. Nothing more gross than having your clean dishes hit the disgusting stuff on the drain board. I think I had gotten this last one at a garage sale. When I looked on Amazon I was shocked at the high cost of my old Rubbermaid favorite. More than double the price of yesteryear, and of course the drain board came separately, doubling the price again. But I am glad I have it. Holds so much more, keeps clean dishes out of the drain water, as I menioned, and I can use the glass holders once again. Wahoo!

Sewing Disaster and Recovery

 It has been quite the two weeks. We have been down to one car during this time. First my car was in the shop. Now Arthur's car is in having the transmission rebuilt. Meanwhile I have been stuck at home. It has been a good time to get caught up on projects. But oh, so frustrating.

First, as I wrote in my last post, I printed an embroidery transfer upside down. The embroidery is half finished. I am really pleased with how it looks. But I will need to rip the towel holder off and re-attach it to the opposite corner of the towel so that it hangs right-side up. Then I will add another small design to the bottom of the towel to balance it out. Extra work, but it will fix the problem. Transfer ink never washes out for me, so I dared not just throw it in the wash. I do not have room in my house for another goof. 

Next, I finished the top of a table runner which I have been working on for a friend. I made my sandwich and basted it all together. But it was too puckered to stitch. I took it apart and re-sewed a few seams. It worked better the second time around. I decided that the design would work best with stitch in the ditch instead of an meander or other free motion design after spending hours practicing stars. Okay. Got that together and it looked much  better. The binding is attached and ready for hand stitching. 

Finally, the last project is an apron that I started quite some time ago. I used a See & Sew pattern, but I have to say that it has been anything but. I cut two aprons out at the same time, and had planned on completing them side by side. But they were both planned as gifts, and I needed to finish one much earlier. I was so frustrated after finishing the first one that I did not want to face the second. The second has not been any better. It is done, but I had to leave the basement  because I was close to tears. I told my husband last night that this is the reason I no longer sew garments. It just is not fun. 

Sometimes even the simplest sewing project can get de-railed. Not long ago I had to sew rick-rack on a towel. It should have been a five minute project, but the turned over edge of the rick-rack and the hem on the towel were too thick for my machine. It jammed a few times. Ended up not so perfect, but I had to leave it. Not such a great thing for a perfectionist. 

These are the things that make for humility. 

And I can say on a few things, "Done is better than perfect."

But once again I am bemoaning all of the projects sitting in my basement. Hope I don't die before I make a bigger dent in them. What a mess for my poor husband to have to clean up.  

More Books

 My latest children's read was Astrid Lindgren's The Children of Noisy Village. I found a copy at Saver's about three weeks ago. I have found almost every children's book that I have wanted at Saver's sooner or later. At any rate, it was such a fun read. I got a kick out of the blunt telling of the lives of the neighborhood children through the eyes of nine year old Lisa. It left me feeling happy and refreshed. 

After that I discovered Ralph McInerny's autobiography,  I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You on the shelf. I wondered how it had gotten there. I did not remember buying it, although it would have been something I may have purchased somewhere. Turns out my husband was the culprit. He had read a review of the book somewhere, ordered it and read it, all without my knowing, or remembering. Stinkerpants! At any rate, I picked it up for a read. It appealed to me on a few different fronts than perhaps it did for Arthur. First, because I was a philosophy major, and I remember McInerny from my time in college. Second, because I have read Fr. Dowling and a few more of his mystery stories and other fictional works. Third, because we have his book, A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists. I had no idea that Ralph was a Minnesota native, so it was interesting to read about his childhood in Minneapolis and his time at Nazareth Hall. I was quite young when my brother Gerard was at Nazareth Hall, and I remember only negative comments that my mom made of it. Ralph painted a different picture of a place with a very classical curriculum where it was expected that not all who attended would continue on to the priesthood. Of course, my brother was there after Vatican II, so it may have been quite different by that time. I only recognized the names of two of the priests who were there when Ralph was there. I was unaware that Ralph had written under several pseudonyms, and I did not know he had a series of mysteries based on Notre Dame University. They are now on my Saver's/used book store list! A quick search on Amazon shows that most are out of print and not available. When I was in college we used texts from Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson, both mentioned in Ralph's book. I did not know of the Maritain Center which Ralph headed at Notre Dame. The book gave me insight on the solidity of Thomistic philosophy compared to other modern philosophies. I wish that I had had that insight while I was in college. It might have saved me some confusion. For that reason alone the book was profitable for me. He gave a  negative assessment of symbolic logic. I had symbolic logic at CSB/SJU, and my feeling at the time was that it was like learning chemical formulas. High school chemistry boggled my mind, so it is not surprising that symbolic logic did the same. Nice to know he did not think symbolic logic is what it is cracked up to be. His writing on what it means to be a Catholic university or college as opposed to "Meatball Tech" was helpful since my time in college was fraught with professors who dissented on church teaching. I am afraid my alma mater has continued down that path to absurdity. Just this past year they were unable to condemn an alleged sex competition in any other way than to cry rape, because the only sex they claim to be immoral these days is non-consensual sex. His writing on Vatican II was also helpful. He pointed out the expectation that Pope Paul's commission on birth control would overturn the ban on the Pill. When this did not happen, there was open dissent. (I knew that Bishop Shannon of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis had left the priesthood to get married, but I did not know that it was because he objected to Humanae Vitae.) We are still dealing with that dissent today. Some would perhaps say that Ralph was naïve in not noting the deliberate masterminds behind liturgical changes, he did rightly point out that the "spirit" of Vatican II is very different than the letter of Vatican II, and that most Catholics have not the slightest knowledge of what the documents actually say.  I experienced that myself at CSB/SJU. I believe that it is also fair to say that those who dissent from moral law have also not cared if they dissented from liturgical law. The two seem to go hand in hand. I do not think this book will go into the give-away pile. I may have to re-read parts of it from time to time. 

On the craft side, I have been doing loads of embroidery. I am also trying to redeem a table runner that I put together for a gift for someone. Better had I trimmed each unit before sewing together. It is waiting for quilting. The first time I basted my sandwich I had lots of puckers. I had to take it apart and re-sew a few seams. It seems to have helped a bit. This time around I put in loads more pins. I am also hand-basting to ease in what is left of the fulness.   

Saint Cloud of Gaul: The Prince Who Traded Kingdoms

I have to write about my latest read, Saint Cloud of Gaul: The Prince Who Traded Kingdoms (Susan Peek, Seven Swords Publications, 2022). I can't help but think that if everyone in our diocese read this book we would see a renewed local church. 

I passed this book up about three times before I finally bought it. I did not recognize the author's name, and I did not like the cover. But it was about our diocesan patron, so I kept thinking. Finally I looked inside the cover to see what other books Susan Peek had written. I recognized a few from my homeschool days. That clinched the deal. I started it the night I brought it home, and finished it the next. And I am a slow reader. 

The  book starts out with Cloud's witnessing the murder of his two brothers at the hands of his uncles. Cloud manages to escape. But right there I was imagining what it would be like for my granddaughter of almost the same age to witness such evil acts. Cloud's nightmare did not stop there since he knew he would be hunted down for perhaps his entire life. Talk about stress! And he could not exactly pop a Prozac or a Shaklee Stress Relief Complex, or B Complex. In our day and age he would have spent the rest of his life in counseling to overcome the trauma. 

The book revealed two aspects of early French history that I thought were interesting. First, Cloud hid for a night in the ruin of a Roman staircase. That painted a strong picture of the time period and the landscape for me. We do not have Roman ruins in our back yards! Second, I learned that Frankish royalty did not cut their hair. That made them readily identifiable. It also made me think of the long hair given to Christ Our King in many works of art.  

In Schoenstatt we have our "team" to call on when we need help: our patron saints, guardian angels, the Blessed Mother, and the Trinity. In the book Cloud referred to the saints in both the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant as "the gang". He was influenced by his holy contemporaries, notably his grandmother Clotilde, Bishop Remigius, and the hermit Severin. 

The book was written as a novel for teens. Susan Peek did an excellent job in presenting many of the emotions and temptations which teens, and really all of us, may experience: loneliness, social isolation, fear, the desire for vengeance, the attraction of marriage and the struggle to discern a vocation.  

 My one disappointment is that Susan Peek did not include a summary about which of the events in the book were real, and which were literary. My guess is that all of them happened more or less as described. I also would have loved a recommendation list for further reading. But I have a start. I dragged my Ignatius Press copy of  Saint Clotilde out of the back bedroom and started  reading that last night.

A Garden Catechism

 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.  

WINE (Women in the New Evangelization)

 Arthur and I attended the Catholic United Financial Regional Gathering at Queen of Peace in Rogers last Saturday. The keynote speaker was Kelly Wahlquist, founder of WINE, Women of the New Evangelization. Kelly's talk was inspiring. AND, she was selling books. Sucker that I am, I had to buy three of them. I'm always looking for things that may appeal to my granddaughters, or things that may help me in my own spiritual life. The three which I purchased were The Mother of Jesus is Wonderfully Real by Paul Murray, OP, Gaze Upon Jesus; Experiencing Christ's Childhood through the Eyes of Women, and Walk in Her Sandals. I could hardly wait to dig into them.

I read through Fr. Paul's book almost immediately. I have to say that I was disappointed. Was it bad? No. But I  was not thrilled, either. Some of the water colors in the book were absolutely gorgeous. Particularly the first picture of Fr. Paul mailing a letter. But wait! He was living in Italy when he wrote the letter, and the mail box clearly had the USPS eagle logo and the blue mail box color. Husband had to point that out right away, too. I guess I can overlook it, but it was a detail that could have coordinated with the story better. Other wonderful pictures were of Isabelle surrounded by photographs, and a young Fr. Paul with his father, and with his teacher and classmates. The picture of the Blessed Mother on page 12 was also beautiful. The pie on page 14 looked delicious, and I liked the flamingo. But I did not care at all for the other pictures of the Blessed Mother. She just did not look beautiful. Her smiles on page 25 and on the medal, and perhaps the large nose did not become her. The text fell a little flat as well. I wish that Fr. Paul had talked more about ideas of things that we cannot see, such as truth, goodness and beauty. The book did end with another fabulous picture of Fr. Paul. Kelly Wahlquist recommended the book as a baptism or First Communion gift, but I think I would pass on it in the future. I am not even sure that the book will be liked if I pass it on.

I had been reading Marian Consecration with Aquinas (Matt Fradd and Fr. Gergory Pine, OP, Tan Books) in preparation for my covenant renewal. I finished it late last night, along with reading the Schoenstatt founding documents. I treated myself to a sneak peak into Gaze Upon Jesus. I read through all of the commendations again, and then the forward and half of the introduction. Then I skimmed through parts of the first meditation by Stephanie Landsem. Did no one else catch it? Mary is described not as a woman immaculately conceived, free from all sin, but as a woman who prefers working in her  flower beds so much that her vegetable garden is neglected. Her mother teases her that St. Joseph will starve to death because of it. Mary is unmarried in the story, again, a false narrative, since she was already betrothed to Joseph, though they were mot yet living together. In fact, the text indicates that  she has not even met Joseph yet. Mary also ponders the future children which she and Joseph may or may not have together because of his old age, contradicting the tradition that Mary and Joseph both had made the Nazarite vow, and would not be engaging in sexual intercourse. Scripture itself affirms this, since Mary expressed surprise that she was to bear a child. Had she and Joseph planned on living as husband and wife in that aspect, pregnancy would have been no surprise. She would have just assumed that this would take place after they came to live together. There would have been no need to question the angel. Then, of course, the idea that Joseph was an old man who was widowed with other children fits nicely the Protestant interpretation of passages of the Bible which refer to Jesus' brothers. But we really do not know whether he was married prior to that or not. And we do know that there is no word for cousin in Aramaic, so Jesus' "brothers" were not his brothers as we understand the term. As colorful as Stephanie Landsem''s story might be, I am thinking that if the other mediations are that inaccurate, the books may not be that helpful. Time will tell as I read through them. 

Crosstown Appliance was here for the second time in a week this morning. Last week it was the stove. A minor clog in the whatchamajigi that kept a burner from always lighting, and the flame from increasing and decreasing. The technician fixed it with a toothpick. Our toothpick, even. A cheap repair. This morning he was back to fix the coils in the dryer. Another relatively cheap repair, particularly given that our dryer is over thirty years old. This is the first time we have had to have it repaired. No matter how good the deal, I am so glad that we have never bought into offers of discounts if we replace more than one appliance at a time. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why clog up the landfills with appliances which are not dead yet?

I am up to my ears in alterations and repairs. Had to sew part of the zipper in Husband's new pair of pants because the zipper kept coming off of the track. I took in the shoulders on a new dress. Now I have to do the shoulders on a blazer. I am hemming the sleeves on my new winter coat, and re-hemming the sleeves on the lining of the rain coat I got last year. I have the sewing skills (YouTube helps.). But I am short on patience. Something to offer up to the Capital of Grace.

A Tale with Two Morals

 We got rid of all of the carpet in our house a couple of years ago. Now it is time to get rid of our Kirby Gen 4 vacuum cleaner. Yes, I could use the Kirby on our laminate flooring, but it is getting too heavy to haul up and down the steps every time I want to use it. We decided to donate it to our parish when we found out they needed a vacuum cleaner. 

A couple of months ago I had already wiped the Kirby down and packed all of the accessories in a box. Still, I wanted to make sure that I had covered all of my bases before I gave it away. Did I clean the roller? Yes. Better check the em-tor to make sure that there are no diamonds that got sucked up in there. Good thing I looked.

When I removed the em-tor I gave it a little shake. A couple of rocks fell out, and then a dust bunny caught my eye. Good thing I saw it. I pulled on it, and more came out. Then more, and more. The thing was loaded. I shook it, and dared to put my fingers in, and then finally grabbed the double-pointed knitting needle which I keep by my sewing machine to reach in and get the remains. By the time I was done I had about three cups of sand, cement, pins, screws, dirt, hair and change in a large pile on the floor. Really gross. I fished out all of the coins before I swept up the pile. I know they came from the time we cleaned out our daughter's car, and I knew they would be really dirty. When we did the car we had cleaned out everything imaginable that a kid could spill in a car - chocolate and white milk. pop, milk shakes, ice cream, melted candy, chips. I soaked the money in dish soap. Then I dumped it in Basic H and water and let it sit overnight. This morning I rubbed it with baking soda, and then finally added vinegar to the baking soda. Still, I can see lots of stuff still sticking to the coins.

The morals of the story are, 

1. Your mom was right when she told you not to put money in your mouth because you do not know where it has been. 

and,

2. If you have a Kirby, give that em-tor a good shake when you check it, and turn it over to see the inside. 

I thought I had been doing that, but obviously, I had not been doing that well enough.  

Books, Books and More Books

 My car is in the shop today, so it is a good time to blog. 

As usual, I pursue my quest to find more books which my granddaughters just might like to pick up and read. When I saw that Tan had The Chestertons and the Golden Key (Nancy Carpentier Brown, 2016) on their $5 book list, I had to get it. The story begins with an eleven year old girl's invitation to the Chestertons after her siblings see them at a hotel in their town. Woven into the story are a pair of roller skates and a missing piano key. I did not like the book at first because I thought it a bit far fetched, first, that such a young girl would recognize Chesterton, and second, that she would venture to write him a fan letter and invite him to lunch. But at the end of the book I found that the story was based on real events. Oh, how mature and well educated that young lady was at a time that we think was so repressive to women! Compare that to now, when kids of the same age cannot drag their eyes off of their computer screens. The truth behind the fiction put an entire new light on the story. The book does have a very attractive, colorful cover. The black and white drawings throughout the book are also very well done with beautiful details. Leaded window pains reminded me of my grandparent's house in Montana, and on one of the pages I saw a drawing of my beloved "teddy bear" bed frame. I got a laugh out of  GK's demonstration on handling writer's block through the use of a  sword and throw pillows. Can't say I'll try it, but it was funny.

After I finished that book I decided that I would order another of Brown's books, The Woman Who was Chesterton (American Chesterton Society, 2015).  Frances Chesterton sounded like a virtuous, kind, faithful Christian woman. Also interesting to see references to my old homeschool friend Charlotte Mason in the book in connection with the Parents National Education Union, of which Frances Chesterton was a member. That is such a cool historical connection. At a time when I can barely stand reading or listening to the news, the mainstream media because of all of it's propaganda, and LifeSiteNews because it is too depressing, this book was a refreshing read. I needed that. 

Now I am into something far more serious, but also riveting: The Sexual State by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (Tan Books, 2018). This was also a Tan $5 book purchase. But I know Dr. J. from the Ruth Institute, and it seemed a good follow-up to Leila Miller's Primal Loss. I felt the need to hear something of the harm that has come through the Sexual Revolution to counteract all of the societal messages promoting divorce, abortion and contraception. Even the Church seems to turn a blind eye to the harm that comes to children through divorce. The focus has been on the need for annulments before re-marriage, which is fine and good. But in the process no one is talking about whether it is really such a good idea for a second marriage even if it can be a sacramental one. I see these books as sort of reparational reading after my own daughter's first divorce. I can't help but think that had I read these books first, I would have given her different advice and acted differently myself. It will be hard for me when my granddaughter is old enough to start asking questions.

Now, for something lighter. I have dome some card stamping recently. My biggest need is sympathy cards, always. I did two designs which I really liked, based on a card which I saw on Split Coast Stampers. I also made a few graduation cards which I really liked. I have enough stamping stuff to last for ages, but I want to try using an ink blending tool when I can get my hands on one. Stampin' Up has a new Sale-a-bration coming up in August, so I will wait until then. 

My flower beds are looking good. It is time to pull out all of the johnny jump-ups which have gone to seed and I have just a few more iris to cut back. But the day lilies are just starting to bloom, and the lamb's ears and mallow are both blooming, and the light green foliage and white blossoms are beautiful. I am hankering after more dwarf iris for next year. I got some free mint seed at The Plant Place in St. Cloud, and that should be close to sprouting. But I also discovered that some of the mint I had put in a couple of years ago is still growing. It is not abundant by any means, but it is still alive. The mint which we had at Bald Eagle was very aggressive, so I wonder why I am having such a hard time getting it to thrive here. The zinnias which I started from seed from gift seed are blooming already in the Mary Garden at St. John Cantius. Once they were planted in the garden they really took off. 

I believe the gophers are gone, but we continue the battle with chipmunks. Cute as they are, they are becoming a nuisance. They ripped some insulation out of the walls in the garage, and dug a hole in my bag of potting soil. I am sure that we have one running around inside the walls of our house, since I have heard it at night. The drywall in our garage has a few access holes in it, and we have found holes in the slat wall and in the concrete near the garage door. 

Another Quilter in the Making

 The girls were here this week-end. We were working on Christmas gifts, since the time is fast approaching. I was in the basement helping Ari sew when Missy Maja decided that she wanted to sew, too. I was pleasantly surprised. I got her started right away on a practice strip. After all, I only have a million scraps of fabric sitting around. Then she picked a few pieces out of my scrap bin to start a little patch work. Now I have to get a few more pieces cut before she comes over again. As usual Grandma was busy running back and forth trying to keep both girls going on their different projects, which was hectic. But how cool to have another seamstress in the family!

I managed to get part of a pillow case sewn while Ari was pinning, and before Maja came downstairs. We have so many left-overs in the fridge that I will not have to cook tomorrow, so I should be able to get back to it tonight or tomorrow afternoon. 

I have been reading Outlaws of Ravenhurst from my homeschool book collection. It is a refreshing read. I would call it an adventure story of faith and martyrdom. It is set in the reign of the Stuarts of Scotland Henry VIII of England. It makes me pause to think of what I would do were I one of the last Catholics in a country where Catholicism was outlaw. That is really not such a far flung possibility in our country today. I can see the appeal of the story for young people who are willing to work their way through the Scottish dialect. Would that we all had the faith and reverence for Jesus in the Eucharist which the children in the novel portray. 

Ari, Maja and I hosted a tea party for the mothers and daughters in our neighborhood a couple of months ago. The girls did a wonderful job with our guests. Yesterday Ari asked when we would be having another one. I am glad that she wants to. It says to me that the first party meant something to her. We have started discussing possibilities.

Fall Garden Clean-up

 I was working outside this afternoon cutting back perennials. My nose was running, so as I usually do when outside, I went to the car to look for facial tissue. No such luck. But I did find our good full sized stapler. Grandchildren! I am sure they brought it along for a project during our twenty minute ride to mass last time they visited. Although I got distracted cutting things back and pulling weeds, my objective today is to finish planting daffodil bulbs. My sister gave me about a hundred bulbs from her flower beds. Many of them went in at St. John Cantius, but the rest will get planted here at home. I also took the geraniums out of their pots so that they can overwinter in the basement. Last but not least, I will take the clothes off of our scarecrows and wash them for next spring. Hopefully I can get all of that done before it starts raining. I have been comfortable working in shirt sleeves. 

A little perk to my clean-up has been seeing all of the new johnny jump-ups which are blooming away. I just love the purple and yellow flowers. I am also enjoying the rich green of the lamb's ears after I cut them back about a month ago. I am sure the fall rain helped them very much. And then there are the weeds which have grown since the rain. 

We are two weeks away from our mission group craft sale. I still have about six pillow cases cut and ready to sew. Besides that, a few more pieces in my fabric stash that I would also like to use for pillow cases, just to be done with them. I have the coordinating prints necessary, so it is simply a matter of getting down there and getting it done. It is so good to have much of my old fabric made into something useful and out of the way. I still have a number of projects in the finishing stages - an apron, a dress, a quilt top, and about three quilts ready for machine quilting. But it feels much more under control. I can't wait to get it all done so that I can dig into some more of the gorgeous new fabrics my sister Janice gave me.    

 

Cookies in a Jar

 I hope to have a little meet and greet  tea party for our girls and a few of the neighbor girls. I decided to look at an old booklet by Jackie Gannaway to see if there was anything special in there that I wanted to serve. That got me looking through a couple other booklets of hers that I have. Yesterday I tried the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Mix from her Cookies in a Jar (Cookbook Cupboard, Austin, TX, 1997). They were the worst cookies I have ever eaten. They looked perfect on the outside, but the recipe called for a combination of powdered sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar was granular, and overpowering. The chocolate was from cocoa powder, which was fine, although I prefer the more chocolate flavor of chips, chunks or unsweetened chocolate bars. Neither my husband nor I could taste any peanut butter flavor. I scratched that recipe off of my list! It will be a penance to finish them, although we can use them for the caffeine.

I also took out my scrap totes last night to try my hand at crumb quilting. I discovered that my scrap totes are loaded with mostly larger pieces, nothing very crumb worthy. However, I did get about three 5.5" blocks finished. Very scrappy looking. I have lots of fabric strips, so I will probably make a few table runners. Then from those snippets I will have genuine crumbs. Of course, now I am in a quandary because all of my old scraps are washed. It almost forces me to keep pre-shrinking all of my fabrics.

Paul Bunyon Land

 Last week we took the girls to Brainerd for a little get-away. 

Our first stop after picking them up was Safari North, since we could not check into our hotel until after 4:00 PM. We saw lots of animals, including alligators. We enjoyed it, but I did not like having to pay for every extra - feeding the animals, riding the train, and using the amusement park. By the time we were done we had spent a considerable amount beyond the admission price. There were no hand stamps, so we could not come and go as we pleased. We were forced to eat there, and the menu was extremely limited. The girls had Uncrustables, hardly a hearty, filling meal. Our only other option would have been pizza.   

The next day we stopped at Paul Bunyon Land. We liked that much better. We had the place almost to ourselves. We were not sure if that was because of the weather, or because it was a week-day. The girls went on ride after ride without having to wait. Ari is an old hand at amusement park rides, but it was new to Maja. She was scared the first time she went on the Frog Hopper. We were surprised that they wanted to go on it a couple of times more. We really appreciated the man voicing Paul Bunyon. Arthur described him as a Santa Claus personality. I would say he was grandfatherly. Not only did he remember the girls' names as we went back and forth during the day, but he also sang a few songs for us. We were thrilled that the animals in the petting zoo came up to visit us without our even having food in our hands. They had to parade from one side of the enclosure to the other so that we could see them. Bella Rose the calf was especially sweet and gentle and ready to nuzzle. 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn because the water park was open, unlike at the Arrowwood. The girls had a blast in the water. The hotel had very few guests, so we also had quiet nights. That was a Godsend. The breakfasts were not so great. We had to eat bagged foods in our room because people are still afraid of COVID.  We had only one desk and chair for the four of us so it was not very comfortable. Mixing beds and food is disgusting. The girls had oranges the first morning. That was a sticky mess, with no paper towels or dish rags to clean things up afterwards. I felt bad for the housekeeping crew which had to empty garbage with all of the breakfast food waste in it. I just cannot believe that eating in our rooms was healthier than exposing ourselves to the possibility of contracting COVID in the breakfast room. 

On the way home we stopped at the Northland Arboretum. We did not spend much time there, but we did see some beautiful peonies and other spring bloomers. The Arboretum was suffering from drought as well as we are at our house. I was thrilled at the help the Arb staff gave me in looking up Ak-Sar-Ben (That's Nebraska spelled backwards.) Gardens, a place my family visited in the late 1960's during our stay at The Gingerbread Cabins on Serpent Lake near Crosby. It sounds like the gardens still exist, but as a private event venue. 

I gave in and spot watered a few of my perennials last night, just to keep them alive. I lost an echinacea on the side of the house already for lack of moisture. Also one in the Mary Garden at church. I thought echinacea were supposed to be drought hardy. The lilies look great in the heat. The asters, heliopsis and echinacea are the ones that get droopy with no rain. 

Rosary Making

I have been making rosaries from supplies purchased through Our Lady's Rosary Makers for years. Here is a little video on them published by Catholic News Report. Enjoy. 

We interrupt this program....

 I have been taking a pause in sewing quilt tops to make some of these cuties. This Easy Squeeze Gift Bag pattern is from Gruber's. I had some squares of fabric already cut which I thought would work perfectly for this bag. I also thought it would be a great pattern for my ten year old granddaughter to sew. I like them. Grandpa likes them, too. The small bags made from 12" squares will be perfect for wrapping soap, jars of jelly, gift cards, muffins, cookies or candles.

                                        

        

                     

On Another (Jelly) Roll

 

I'm on another quilting roll. Last night I finished this top made from a batik Bally Pop Pack which I had won at the St. Cloud Heritage Quilters Show from Just Sew Studios several years ago. It was a quick finish, and I like the colors. It will work in a few different rooms in my house. I have to admit that I did not do it completely randomly, as is typically done with a jelly roll. Some of the colors just begged to be put together, so when I did the end to end sewing, I coupled them. From here I will sew another top, and then do machine quilting all at one time. 

I finished reading Theology of Home by Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering (Tan Books, 2019). I purchased it for a few reasons. First, to see what all of the hype was about, since I have seen their blog and merchandise. Second, to see if it would be a suitable bridal shower gift. Third, to glean from it anything helpful in honing in on my personal mission. The book contains lots of photos of the authors' and others homes and children. My first response in looking at the cover was, this home is definitely not my taste. It was a mix of way too many different styles of furniture and and picture frames. I had similar reactions to many of the photos in the book. Too many white walls and cold interiors. Arthur agreed. But it did contain pictures of some very cute kids! I had hoped that it would be a good "bridge" book that might draw a new bride back into the faith, but I do not think it would work for that. There are many quotes from Scripture and from the saints, and many sacred images and statues that would probably turn off a person who was not going to church. As for my personal mission, I did find a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas on beauty which I will add to my notebook for meditation. 

At present I am reading Ryann Topping's Rebuilding a Catholic Culture: How the Catechism Can Shape Our Common Life (Sophia Institute Press, 2012). I found a line that expresses the present understanding of active participation in the liturgy to a tee: "Where the older Liturgical Movement had sought to increase the participation of the faithful by a deepened understanding of the prayer of he Mass, the more recent trend simply encouraged people to become busy...." Perfect.