Seven Quick Takes No. 86

I.

I've gotten a lot of comments about this post--so I'mw wondering, would you be interested in more of these sorts of things? Maybe not a lot of them, because there's a limited memory bank from which to draw, but an occasional series? In general, I think I'm going to be doing more recipe posts as we get into the fall, because I cook a lot more when it's not summer. 

II. 

This week really flew by. I mean, flew! I wasn't particularly busy, so I'm not sure why it felt this way. Maybe it was the ton of reading I did? :) I'm working on Middlemarch, Cloud Atlas, and Unglued right now. A big book review post is on the horizon for this month. 

III. 

Since it's a long weekend, and I don't have CCD, I think I'm going to try a few new recipes. When I was working full-time, I loved to try new recipes over the long weekend, particularly things like baking, which tend to require more time. So I think I might make Clodagh McKenna's tea brack recipe (brack is a loaf of bread with dried fruits soaked in Irish Breakfast tea). I've been loving her writing style and her recipes sound delicious, so this will be the first one I try. 

IV. 

I'm making bookmarks for Christmas gifts, so Project Purl is paused for the moment while I get these done. It's amazing how Christmas sneaks up on you when it comes to projects you have to make! 

V. 

I've been thinking about body image and health lately. I know, women are always thinking about this. But one f the things that I've noticed when I go to my doctors is that all they (the doctors) care about is if I've lost weight. They don't care if I'm trying to eat better, or if I'm making strides in physical areas (like the fact that I can do two sets of arm weight exercises, which is up from a month ago). It's all about the number on the scale. And this flies in the face of what a lot of people say about exercise/health/fitness--it's about how you feel, about getting better, about being healthier, in ways that the scale can't quantify. 

Currently, I have lost weight from my last clinic visit. And that's good. But I feel like if all they care about is weight, that doesn't precisely motivate me to do better. What about when I don't lose weight for a week or so at a time? The levaquin I was just on really hit me in the joint/muscle department; there were days when it was hard to stand, let alone go to the gym. I didn't sleep well for two weeks, either, which also affects weight. But it seems like we should be talking about the entire picture--shouldn't we? 

So my question is, how can I focus on doing things to be healthier, when the Powers That Be just care about the number on the scale on a given morning? Because it's really easy to get frustrated when all we care about is the scale.

(Ha, and yes I am going to clinic in about a week----how did you guess?)

VI.

 Any good book recommendations? I can always use some more. I love that I can get kindle books from my library. 

VII. 

No CCD this week, because of Labor Day, but we will have it next week. The kids had TWO weeks to do TWO PAGES of homework, so I'm hoping they don't forget about it. I'll be sending a reminder to parents next week, though, to cover the bases!

Yarn Along No. 34

So I realized--it's September. That means I need to start thinking about knitted Christmas gifts. I have some beautiful yarn I use for bookmarks, and I want to give out some of those this year. So project purl--and the evil yarn--has been temporarily set aside, while I work with these beauties!

Daybook No. 102

Outside my window::

Sunny and hot. Figures that once the kids are back in school we get summertime temperatures--mid to upper 80s and maybe even cracking 90 on Friday. But the pool is still open for those of us who don't have school!

Wearing::

Gray skirt, pink t-shirt. Going to the gym later and I can work out in this t-shirt. I like to keep the time between changing and working out to a minimum, but since I'm also going to run errands after the gym, I need something on the bottom other than my workout pants. 

Listening to: 

Audrey Assad's Death Be Not Proud

Reading::

Middlemarch, Cloud Atlas, The Sandcastle Girls, A Spool of Blue Thread. How much do I love being able to get library books on my kindle? WIN. I'm also loving Clodagh McKenna's cookbooks. I write a lot about Italian food, but I'm also Scots-Irish and German, and Irish food is really good. At least, I think it is. So I'm improving my skills there.

From the kitchen::

Salad with parmesan chicken from last night; dinner with Mom and Dad tonight. Meals this week include salmon stir fry, shrimp and avocados, and chicken fajitas. Two of these are new recipes, so we'll see how they go. They're from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cookbook, which I adore, so I'm pretty sure they're going to be delicious. I've only had a few misses with that collection. 

Praying for::

Guys, I've got some urgent prayer requests. Please join me in praying for these folks, especially? 

• My friends Abby and Chris, who are trying to sell their house near Boston--they moved to Ohio (yay!) but still have to sell the old house (boo!). 
• My friend Sage. Sage has CF like me, and she's in the process of being listed (or is already listed? I can't remember at the moment) for transplant. She's fighting a nasty infection with nasty medication--so really, life is misbehaving right now. Pray that she can kick this bug, and that he husband can get a new job in Wisconsin (where they have to relocate for the transplant). 

Thanks so much. And you're always welcome to leave prayer requests in the comments--always. I see all the comments that get posted here, and I'll pray for you!

Pondering::

September is like the new January, you know? Even though I'm long past going back to school, I always feel like it's a good time to start new habits or get back into a rhythm of life, after the sort of lazy summer scheduling. So I've got a new fitness tracking book, and I'm laying down some new fitness rails here. It helps that I took the last dose of the SCARY MEDICATION, that made me have lots of joint and muscle pain (to the point where standing was hard, sometimes), so my body is much more willing to move. Yay. But I'm also working on some new blog plans (post ideas), and I'm gathering supplies to print the manuscript off and mail it to a publisher. (I had to order mucho ink on Amazon today, so I don't run out!) CCD has started, so that alone means I have to keep that schedule and our syllabus on track. I'm also getting really excited about NaNoWriMo 2015. 

For some reason, I've always been sort of lackluster in August. September reinvigorates me. 

Around the house::

I've been a lot better about keeping the house in good shape. This was one of my August goals, and I'm proud of myself for achieving a weekly house cleaning schedule. Go, me! Since I work at home, it's important for me to have order, so I don't get distracted with a million other things. 

Creativity::

I'm making some bookmarks, because I have some beautiful yarn for them, and I need some more bookmarks around here! I will try purling again with a new ball of yarn, because the one I tried with before was just HOSTILE. 

My Italian Kitchens

My dad is 100% Calabrese (Calabria is seen above--it's the tip of the boot). His grandmother grew up on Mulberry Street, in NYC's Little Italy, at the turn of the 20th century.  Thus, when my grandparents got married, food was an important part of their household. 

My First Communion, April 1990, with my grandmothers: Grandma D is on the left, and Grandma H is on the right. 

One of the things I regret about my life is that I never got to know my Italian grandmother as an adult. She died when I was 20, and she had dementia for the last few years of her life, so I really only got to talk to her to my early teenage years. She scared me a bit a a child, because she was very particular about things. If I got an A on a math test, she'd ask me why I didn't get an A all the time. She didn't have  much of a filter when it came to talking to her family. But as I've grown up, I've realized how much we are actually alike. We both love food and cooking, and entertaining people. She received a college scholarship to study voice, but she couldn't take it. She did beautiful embroidery work. I would've loved for her to teach me how to cook. In a way, I guess, she did. 

Grandma D. certainly instilled a love of food and cooking in me. When I was a small child, we spent the Christmas holiday in Pittsburgh, and Christmas Eve was spent with my Dad's family. Grandma D's house was a great place for kids, because the basement was essentially another house. There was a kitchen down there, a TV, a bathroom, the parlor organ, a player piano, and furniture. A huge storage room held the tins full of Christmas cookies, wrapped in wax paper, that Grandma made all year. In the basement kitchen, my aunts would be peeling, chopping, slicing, and baking, their voices echoing off the concrete floor, which was covered in some sort of rough, fuzzy "carpet" material. The women always looked so happy, surrounded by cutting boards and knives, laughter ringing through the room. I wished I was old enough to help. I missed the Feast of the Seven Fishes, because I was too young. I ate at the kids' table, and we ate pasta. It was good, but it wasn't the magical meal of seafood that I would've loved (even the crazy parts). Her Christmas cookie plates and special desserts are still mentioned with longing by my dad. Mom got a pizelle maker a few years ago, and she'll make them at Christmas. They're a lovely throwback to Christmas at Grandma D's. 

Reggio Calabria 

When I was about eight or nine, Dad taught me how to cook pasta correctly. Our family al dente is a bit past "regular" al dente. In the Betty Crocker cookbook my mom had received as a wedding gift, Dad had scribbled a gnocchi recipe. He could make it from scratch, and his mom or grandma had probably taught him. We preferred red sauce to just about anything else; being Southern Italian, we didn't use the creamy white sauces of the north. The south is a poorer region not blessed with the dairy goodness of some other parts of Italy. Dad is a red sauce man all the way. I am too, actually. (Well, red sauce woman.) Not only is it easier to make, but it's so versatile. (You'll see what I mean in a second.) 

It's a cliche that food is love, but in this case--it really was. Grandma's affection for us might not have been in typical grandmotherly hugs and kisses and heaped up praise. It was hard, as a kid, to believe she really liked us. :) But now I think I would've understood her a lot better, and I hope we would've cooked together in the upstairs kitchen, overlooking the hills of her property that stretched farther than we could see. 

Basic Red Sauce 

yield: 4 cups

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

4 large basil leaves, or a palmful of dried basil. (If fresh, chopped) 

1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, and 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes--both with their juices

Coarse salt (I use kosher salt)

freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan or Dutch over over low heat. Add garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add half the basil and stir for one minute. Add tomatoes, their juice, and the rest of the basil. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, season with salt and pepper, and let cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and crushing tomatoes with the back of the wooden spoon. Cool and refrigerate. Use within 3-5 days. 

This basic sauce can be turned into a puttanesca sauce with the addition of red pepper flakes and anchovies. It's great for any shape pasta and reheats beautifully. You can use this for lasagne, too. 

Seven Quick Takes No. 85: Things I teach my CCD kids

CCD started last week, and I've realized that a lot of folks I talk to don't know the things I teach my kids--as in, they were never taught these things.  So, for your edification--and since all of you can't make it to class--here are seven big things we teach them during first grade. 

I. 

God loves them. God loves us all more than we can possibly imagine. He created us because he loves us--and so that we can know, love, and serve him in this life, and be happy with him forever in the next. God loves us no matter what we do. However: 

II. 

That doesn't mean you get a free pass . We teach the kids the 10 commandments early on. God loves us so much that He gives us rules for our happiness. He wants us to go to Heaven to be with Him when we die--but we have a choice. We don't have to do what He asks of us. 

At our parish, the kids receive First Confession and First Communion in second grade. So we have to make sure the kids are ready for these. So that means emphasizing that God loves us, but also, that our relationship with God is hurt by sin. Confession restores grace (God's life in our souls) and our friendship with God. 

We don't want them to be scared of God, as in, terrified that He'll send them to Hell for taking an extra cookie. (Fear of the Lord is something different.) But we do want them to know what sin is, and what it does. 

III.

On that end, we teach them about Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, and that everyone in Heaven is a saint. They may not be a canonized saint, but they are saints.  

IV. 

Prayer is talking with God. This week, we're going to talk about how God loves them, why God created them, and what prayer is. I know a lot of times we get hung up on formal norms of prayer and the "best" way to pray. But at its heart, prayer is just talking to God. That's it. You talk to your friends, right? God is your best friend. (Or He should be!) How will you get to know God if you never talk to Him? We also briefly touch on the different kinds of prayer--petition, intercession, thanksgiving, praise, adoration. 

V. 

Since we're a Dominican parish, we teach them about the Rosary, as well as Dominican saints. Our classroom's patron is St. Hyacinth. 

In that vein, we also teach them about the Church year, especially the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, and we teach them the Stations of the Cross. 

VI. 

They learn about the Real Presence. If I'm teaching that week, I am absolutely nuts about this. I love teaching kids about the Eucharist. When I tell them that they will receive Jesus--Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity--when they receive communion, their faces just light up. It's such an awesome part of our Catholic faith. We make sure that they know what it is before they leave. 

VII. 

Finally, we teach them about the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I became really big on this after a priest at our parish told the catechists during a meeting that he interviewed a sixth grader who didn't know what the trinity was. I vowed that would never happen in my classes. 

So, those are some of the most important points we teach in first grade. Did you know all these by the time you reached second grade? 

Daybook No. 101

Outside my window::

It's "partly sunny". All the kids are back in school, and the weather is in the low seventies, but will be in the 80s over the weekend. 

Wearing::

A robin's egg blue t-shirt and my tiered, gray skirt. Basically, my summer uniform. 

Reading::

I finished A God In Ruins yesterday. I'm sort of torn about it. There were parts I really enjoyed, and then there were parts that I skimmed. I didn't really care about the WWII stuff, even though I know that was important for the protagonist. I'm sort WWII'd out in my fiction and movies. (That's probably awful) But unless it's really creative, like The Book Thief,  or a part that hasn't been done to death, like Life After Life, I'm sort of "eh" about it. 

Still reading Middlemarch and What Matters in Jane Austen. 

Around the house::

Well I've had a cold ontop of the sinus issues, so for the past few days not much has been going on around here. After I got back from teaching CCD on Sunday I pretty much crashed. But I'm feeling more human today, so we'll see what I can get done. At the very least, I need to go out and provision a bit more. 

In the CD player::

Cassie and Maggie, Sterling Road

Health/fitness::

Well, see above, I guess. At least I don't eat a lot when I have a cold. Hahah. If today goes well, I'll be back to the gym tomorrow. 

CCD::

We have 28 kids this year. That's not bad, given that they can all write their names without help, and make the sign of the cross correctly. Having kids who already have a pretty good grasp on their letters is an excellent thing. We're giving homework this year. Not difficult homework, but still, homework. Mom had the great idea of having a drawing at the end of the year for a prize--every time the kid comes to class and completes homework (and brings it back), the kid gets an entry in each jar. "Truly, a little bribe never hurt." Right? 

The first week is always the introductory stuff--here are the books, here are the rules, here's the fire drill procedure, etc. Next week we start chapter 1, on prayer, and why God made them. 

Writing::

I'm getting ready to send the manuscript out to another publishing house. This house wants it completed, and as a hard copy, so yes, I will actually have to print out the Behemoth, and mail it. The USPS is going to love me. Really. 

I'm also thinking about new writing topics for here. So, what do you want me to write about? Do you have questions/burning topics you'd love to see me talk about? 

Seven Quick Takes No. 84

I. 

Another Friday, another Quick Takes! Here's what I've been writing about this week:Persuasion: The Last Entry in the Jane Re-Read; Sort of Knitting; Daybook with a Side of Sinus Trouble; Why I'm a Dominican; and  my August Real Housekeeping piece went live!

II.

To follow up on that last one--the sinuses are getting better. I think. Since I caught it early I didn't really have a lot of symptoms, per se. Only things that I, with my crazy knowledge and Spidey Sense, really picked up on. But it's always better to be early than late, when it comes to this sort of stuff. I felt sort of off yesterday so I took it easy, catching up on Netflix and reading. I'm on the second to last Pink Carnation novel and I'm still reading What Matters In Jane Austen and Middlemarch, but I've also started A God In Ruins. 

III. 

CCD starts this week, which I can't really believe. We used to start in September, so we are starting earlier than usual, but really, it's almost September? Most of the kids have gone back to school here already; in fact, I think they all have. I can't think of any districts that wait to start until next week. I think the football season starts next week, though I'm not sure, because I no longer have siblings in band. Your schedule was basically determined by the band performance/travel/practice/competition/Band Camp schedule. My high school's band was pretty good. I wasn't in it, but my brother and sister were, and they performed in the Macy's, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, and other parades I'm probably forgetting. Even though I took clarinet lessons as a kid, I was always much more of an indoor girl. (Seriously--marching in rain, snow, wet? NO THANK YOU.)

IV. 

One of the movies in my Netflix queue was Apocalypse Now, which I'd never seen, so naturally I had to watch it. It was intriguing; the end, especially, at Kurtz's compound, was really well done. I wasn't over or underwhelmed. It sort of fit the expectations that I had for it. Martin Sheen did a great job. I also started watching Cleopatra. What was it with these epics in the 50s and 60s, that they feel the need to start with Tedious Narration, and have all these long, drawn-out sequences? People! Come on! No wonder the movie was so expensive to make. I didn't finish it yet, though, so I should probably withhold judgment. I've also got Three Coins in a Fountain, Cinema Paradiso, and From Here to Eternity in the queue. 

V. 

I have bought, officially, one Christmas present for the upcoming season. I always get my dad more or less the same sorts of things, and my brother and sister have birthdays in the fall, so I don't get their Christmas gifts until after their birthdays. Since my sister lives in Texas, anything I get her for Christmas has to be easy to fit in her luggage, if she comes home, or easily mailable, if she can't come home (she's a nurse, so her schedule isn't exactly at her disposal, and she makes more money if she works the holidays, so she doesn't really mind working them, if she can't get out of them.). Gifts for my friends are a whole other story. 

I really love Christmas, so I don't mind thinking about it early. 

VI. 

I'm ready for Fall. Since I was about 16, I guess, I've been ready for fall by the middle of August. I don't know why, in particular. But I got the September Southern Living today, and Reese Witherspoon is in it, wearing all sorts o adorable fall clothes, and I just wanted it to be fall. Football! Hockey! Leaves! Sweaters! My fireplace! Candles! All that stuff! 

(And no, I'm not a pumpkin freak, like so many other people are. I mean, I like them, but not in my coffee or my doughnuts or in my candles....)

I mean, look at these clothes!

Seriously? (And I can't get rid of the "ad" at the bottom, but come on, these clothes, people) I ooooove that cardigan in the bottom right photo. I'm sort of a cardigan freak. And the blue sweater in the cover photo? To die for. Blue, in case you haven't noticed from the design around here, is my favorite color. As another Southern Belle, Shelby, said in Steel Magnolias, "Pink is my signature color." Well, here it's not pink. It's blue. 

(Yes, shades of Sleeping Beauty, right?) 

I love this photo I took at Disney World. This is what goes along with it: 

VII. 

And finally....

I have an audition tonight. Hope it goes well!

The Great Jane Re-Read: Persuasion

And so we come to the end: Persuasion. Last, but not least! I'm a big fan of Anne Elliot. 

I've written about Persuasion before, here. 

My favorite movie adaptation is the 2007 one. 

(Side note: Tobias Menzies, from Outlander, plays William Elliot!) 

So, let's talk about Anne, now that we've got the preliminaries out of the way. 

I could not have been as patient and good as Anne Elliot. I would've ripped Elizabeth's head off by the time we'd become eligible to marry. Mary isn't as bad as Elizabeth, but--that's not a great recommendation for Mary!

Anne, though, needs to be calm, cool one, because her father and sisters are clearly not. I imagine Anne is a lot like her mother, whom we never meet. She tries to keep everyone from flying off the handle.  She's sort of a typical middle child, in that sense. She will keep the peace. 

After Louisa falls from the Cobb in Lyme, Mary very strongly reacts to being told that Anne is the best person for Louisa. "Am I not as capable as Anne?" she cries. Well, no, Mary. You're not. You have been petted and cosseted and you barely take care of your children; how are you to take care of such a delicate situation, and keep a cool head? Anne is almost always level-headed and calm. She's ideal in an emergency. 

All the men in story, other than her father, see Anne's worth and value immediately, and they do not overlook her. Indeed, William Elliot and Charles both prefer Anne to her sisters, and Charles only married Mary because Anne turned him down. 

Anne also does not share her family's insistence on protocol and rank. "They should know what is due to you as my sister," Mary says to Anne about the Miss Musgroves visiting them. Elizabeth and Sir Walter cannot wait to make the acquaintance of their aristocratic relation, Lady Dalrymple, and Anne almost withdraws from it. She knows that as the daughter of a baronet, she has a certain rank, but she doesn't lord it over people. She also won't put Lady D's party above her visit to her friend Mrs. Smith, which greatly angers her father. "To place such a person ahead of your family connections among the nobility of England and Ireland! Mrs. Smith!" he rages. But Anne will not be cowered by her father's fury.

The Elliot family: Sir Walter, and (l-r), Anne, Elizabeth, and Mary. 

But under all that coolness, she very much regrets losing Frederick. Her love for Frederick is much deeper than she'd admit to anyone, no matter how cool she tries to play it in public. She knows how wrong she was to reject him, and to care more about the opinion of others over the feelings of her own heart. 

Frederick is ENTIRELY too hard on Anne in the beginning. She was young when they were in love, and he punishes her  for being persuaded by other people, or influence by them, even though she's now eight years older. He seems reluctant to let go of her, but also wants to punish her for breaking his heart. Well, Frederick, she broke her own heart, and I think she's been punishing herself enough, thanks. 

But it's clear that Frederick still loves her, even when he's busy with the Miss Musgroves....who, while they're sweet, are what Mr. Bennet would call "very silly girls." (Not that Mr. Bennet does much about the silly girls!) He can't stand to have anyone else be attracted to her, or pay her attention. (The scene between Frederick, Anne, and Walter is a great example of this.) 

The story is, at heart, a story of second chances. One of my favorite Jane quotes is found in Persuasion: 

The only privilege I claim for my own sex...is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone. 

Anne is constant to Frederick, even when she has no hope of ever seeing him again.

Anne at a musicale in Bath (before she goes chasing after Frederick.) 

One of the main settings of the novel is Bath, which both Anne and Jane disliked heartily. Anne's consolation is that she has a friend in Bath, especially since Elizabeth has no need of Anne. "She is nothing to me," Elizabeth tells Mrs. Clay (the lawyer's who has set her cap on Sir Walter). Elizabeth, of course, immediately tries to snare the heir to her father's estate, William Elliot, who is a cousin of theirs.  Elizabeth is in even greater danger than Anne for being "left on the shelf"--she is almost thirty. She must marry soon, if she is to marry at all. 

William at first appears worthy. He's a lot like many of Jane's other rakes--Wickham, Willoughby, Henry Crawford. They all look nice and shiny, but then we realize their deficiencies, as Anne does.  Of course, William beguiles Anne at first, as much as she tries to deny it. How many people have paid attention to her in her life? Not many. But Harriet, her delightful friend, informs her of his true character. That little scheming man! 

Frederick might be Jane's most ardent hero--his letter to Anne in the novel is certainly more ardent than anything we get from Edward, Edmund, or Mr. Knightley, or even Darcy. 

One of the reasons I really like Persuasion is because it's a more grown-up love story. It has a sort of elegiac quality to it, which makes sense, since it's Jane's last novel. I don't think she knew that, at the time--she had plans for other works, including "Sandition" and "The Watsons"--but the overtone to the story is autumnal and very much in the way of things ending or transitioning. Fortunately for Anne and Frederick, they're good transitions, into their natural relationship of husband and wife. 

Anne and Frederick 

August Real Housekeeping Piece is Live!

My piece on a well-stocked pantry is live at Real Housekeeping!

Yarn Along No. 33

So, here's how far I've gotten on the stockinette stitch washcloth: 

I know. Sorry! The knitting time sort of got away from me this week. But I have lots of movies queued up on my DVR and I'm hoping to get in some solid knitting time this week/weekend. I'm also trying to find a solid website for purling demonstrations. Anyone had any ideas/links? 

Reading hasn't changed much: still on Middlemarch, and I'm down to the last two books in my Pink Carnation series re-read.

They're good fun, if you've never read them. Really good summer reading (as summer winds down). I'm also hoping to pick up a copy of The Martian at the library today, because the movie looks really intriguing. 

Why I'm a Dominican

(For How a Lay Dominican Prays, go here) 

So, all throughout this long Dominican saints series, you may be wondering why I'm a Dominican. Well.....that's sort of an accident. 

I was unknowingly surrounded by Dominicans in elementary school. My favorite elementary school teacher had been a Dominican sister. The sisters at the convent on our parish grounds? Dominicans. My family always had a devotion to the rosary, which was given to us by....Dominicans. (You should know that by now, at least!) I always have a rosary in my purse, and my bedposts have always bedecked with rosaries. The rosary is my favorite prayer. If I say I'm praying for you, it usually means you're getting a decade of the rosary, or, in some cases, my entire rosary. 

I had always been drawn to the Liturgy of the Hours. I remember reading about them in one of my prayer books as a teenager, and I wished I knew how to pray this mysterious set of prayers. Back then, there wasn't internet like there is now--there were no websites to visit. 

I've always loved reading and study. Well, OK, not math study. (Sorry, Dad.) But learning has always been fun for me. I read our World Book Encyclopedia for fun. Sometimes I click around on Wikipedia for fun. I'm a nerd, yeah, but I like expanding my knowledge. Unless it's math. :) 

My patron saint for Confirmation was St. Therese, and I was definitely drawn to the Carmelites. As a child of John Paul II, the idea of redemptive suffering, of the meaning of suffering, was something I was attracted to, and something the Carmelites seemed to know a lot about. St. Teresa of Avila is also a saint I admire. 

So, all of this was sort of conspiring to lead me to the Dominicans--even the Carmelites. :) 

In 2010, I was looking for a way to deepen my spiritual life. I wanted more than just the prayers I was saying. I wanted a deeper, more cohesive prayer life. I knew some orders had third orders or lay associates. So I began to do a little web searching. 

I found the third order Dominican website (now we're called Lay Dominicans, but I still like being called Third Order Dominicans...I'm old-school). It talked about the four pillars of the life: prayer, study, community, apostolate. A lay Dominican prays a daily rosary, and the liturgy of the hours. A Lay Dominican loves study and the pursuit of truth. Apostolates bring the truth we study out into the world, and community binds us together. 

This sounded pretty good. Where could I find a chapter? 

Oh, two miles from my office. Really. 

At St. Patrick Church, which was run by Dominicans, there was a Lay Dominican chapter. I had also been toying with the idea of a new parish. 

So on my lunch hour that day, I went to St. Patrick's, and attended Mass. I loved the priests. I loved the way the Mass was said, reverently and prayerfully. I loved that confession was offered every day!

I went into the office and filled out a registration form. Two weeks later, I went to my first Lay Dominican meeting. 

I made life promises to the order last December, so they can't kick me out now! 

So, yes, I made up my mind quickly. But I'd been around Dominicans all my life, and hadn't known it. I knew, instinctively, that my personality and temperament fit into this order the best. Third Order life, to me, is a deepening of my instinctual desires. I have the Liturgy of the Hours, I have the richness of Dominican community--which is almost 800 years old!--and I have a place where my spiritual life can flourish under the rule St. Dominic gave his first followers.  It may not be as easy to identify as Franciscan or Carmelite or Benedictine spirituality, and one of the reasons I wrote the series on Dominican saints was to get some of them out there. We can be sort of forgotten. But Dominicans really are deeply embedded in the history of the church. 

For more Dominican saints and blesseds, you can go here.. If you'd like to investigate being a Lay Dominican, you can go here. 

Daybook No. 101

Outside my window::

Cloudy. I think it's going to rain. I'm not opposed to that. 

Wearing::

Grey tiered skirt from Garnet hill, Top-siders, and a seaglass colored t-shirt. 

Reading::

Persuasion, Middlemarch, and The Garden Intrigue--I'm re-reading the Pink Carnation series. If you haven't read these, they're pretty fun. Think Scarlet Pimpernel, but much more romp-ish. The last book in the series came out earlier this month, so I'm re-reading all the rest in homage. 

CCD:

There will be 25 kids in my class this year, plus one adult aide for one of the special-needs kids. My church does a bang-up job providing CCD and catechesis to kids who have physical/learning disabilities. Our first class is on Sunday, so I have to make the folders for each kid this week (each kid gets a file folder with the parents' contact info, date of birth, and any additional information, that I keep for the year. If we have any communications with the parents, that goes in the folder.), and fill out the attendance sheets. This totally appeals to my Type A side. :) 

Health/Fitness::

I went to the ENT this morning because my sinuses have been raising a ruckus, and one of them is infected, so joy. That explains a lot. So time for a two week course of antibiotics and hope that works. Otherwise, Plan B. I'm not sure what Plan B is at the moment. :) This may throw off my exercise game, but we'll see. I don't have a fever, which I sometimes get with sinus infections, but I  haven't been sleeping all that well, which of course impacts daily energy. But I'm going to try to stick with my program!

Around the House:: 

One of my goals for this month was to really work on cleaning out each room in turn, getting rid of things I don't want/don't use, and keeping the house in a general state of orderliness. I have to say, I think I've done pretty well in this regard. The house gets a general tidiness overview once a week (dusting, vacuuming, etc.) and each week has a specific "focus" area that gets deep cleaned, meaning the furniture gets  dusted with Pledge, and polished; sheets or linens (like towels) get changed; and the room is evaluated for things I don't want/use anymore. This week is the bedroom, so I vacuumed it this morning and changed the sheets on Sunday. My mom will read this and say, I TOLD YOU, but I really do like having the house in better order. 

Plans for the week::

• CCD prep
• The Last Jane Re-read goes up on Thursday--Persuasion
• starting a new knitting project
• an audition on Friday night. 
• The end of the Dominican Saints series. 

Bl. Margaret of Castello: Patron of the Unwanted

In the back corner of my parish sanctuary, there's a small shrine to Bl. Margaret of Castello. When I first joined St. Patrick's, I had no idea who this woman was. Blessed Margaret of where? But the more I learned about her, the more I realized that she needs to be much better known. She's a great blessed for our times. 

Bl. Margaret was born to noble parents, who were horrified when they found out that the son they had so wanted was, in fact, a girl--and a blind, hunchbacked dwarf of a girl, no less. She was hidden away from the world because her parents were terrified someone would see her. Food was passed in through a window, and she could hear Mass and receive communion through another window. (Like many wealthy families, her family had its own chapel.) The local priest undertook her catechesis. But Margaret, for the first sixteen years of her life, saw very few people. 

When she was sixteen, her parents heard of a shrine where miraculous cures were being reported. Her parents took her there, praying for a cure. When Margaret was not healed, her parents abandoned her. 

Think about that. They left a blind, totally innocent sixteen year old girl, alone. And didn't come back for her. They didn't have a change of heart halfway down the road. 

Eventually, she found shelter with some Dominican nuns. She became a member of the third order and took care of those in prison and the dying. 

She died on April 13, 1320, at the age of 33. More than 200 miracles have been attributed to her intercession after her death.  Her body is incorrupt. 

Her feast day is April 13 (yes, a lot of Dominicans in April!). She was beatified in 1609 by Pope Paul V, and her cause for canonization is pending. 

She was a blind, hunchbacked dwarf--and yet she worked miracles. She did incredible things in her life, but her parents--and many others--thought she was useless because of her disabilities. No one is useless to God. 

For more on her canonization process, and this incredible woman, you can visit the Blessed Margaret's Guild site. (The  Guild is based at my home parish. Every Wednesday we have veneration of a relic of her heart, and special prayers, after the daily Masses.) 

St. Hyacinth of Poland: The Apostle of the North

St. Hyacinth is a pretty cool saint, and I'd never heard of him until I started my formation with the Dominicans. He's called the "apostle of the north" because of his work spreading the Dominican order to the northern parts of Europe. 

He also carries around statues. But more on that in a second.

St. Hyacinth was a contemporary of St. Dominic's, being born around 1185 to a noble Polish family. He studied in Krakow and Bologna and received his Doctor of Law and Divinity. When in Rome with his uncle, the Bishop of Krakow, he witnessed a miracle performed by St. Dominic. He immediately entered the Dominican order with two companions and received the habit from St. Dominic himself in 1220. After an abbreviated novitiate, he and his companions were sent back to Poland to establish the order there. 

St. Hyacinth established new monasteries as he and his companions traveled north. He alone continued to Krakow and went through northern Europe spreading the faith. Tradition holds that he went as far as Scotland, Greece, Turkey, Russian, Sweden, Lithuania, Norway, and Denmark. 

It was in Kiev that his most famous miracle occurred. The Mongols were attacking the city, and the friars were preparing to flee the invading forces. Hyacinth went to the chapel to take the ciborium (the container that holds Consecrated Hosts--which means they have become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ) with him. As he opened the tabernacle, he heard the voice of Mary asking him to take her, as well. A large stone statue of Mary was in the chapel. Taking both the statue and the ciborium, Hyacinth kept them safely with the friars and safe from desecration by the Mongols. 

St. Hyacinth died in 1257, and was canonized by Pope Clement VIII on April 17, 1594

His feast day is August 17 (what a coincidence!), and he is the patron of Lithuania and those in danger of drowning. He is also, in some places, the "patron" of pirogies. He is also called the "Polish St. Dominic" for his evangelistic zeal. He was the seventh Dominican to be canonized, and he is pictured among the saints in the Bernini Colonnade outside St. Peter's Basilica.  

St. Agnes and Blessed Lucy: Saturday Dominican Special

I wrote about Bl. Lucy of Narni before, during my saint series. So if you missed that, go back and read it, because Blessed Lucy is awesome, and she's my Dominican patron. 

Today I'd like to introduce you to another Dominican saint: St. Agnes of Montepulciano. She was a Dominican prioress in medieval Tuscany who was known as a miracle worker during her lifetime--not too shabby, huh? So let's meet her. 

Agnes was born in in 1268 to a noble family. Her devotion to God was evident from a very young age, beginning at age four, when she would go to her room to pray to Jesus alone. At age nine, she entered a Franciscan convent, and by age fourteen, she was appointed bursar (the bursar provides for the material needs of the monastery and keeps the monastery's account books.). She was noted for her deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament  and deep life of prayer, and, at age 20, was elected Abbess of her community.

People suffering from physical and mental illnesses seemed to be cured in her presence, and was reported to have multiplied  loaves, like in the gospel stories of the loaves and the fishes. Sometimes flowers sprang up around her as she prayed. She was frequently called upon to make peace between warring families in Italy. An apparition of the baby Jesus, held in the arms of his mother, appeared to her one year on the Feast of the Assumption. 

It was another vision that led her to the Dominicans. St. Dominic appeared to her one day during prayer. Due to the inspiration she received during this vision, she led her monastery to enter the Dominican order. 

Other members of the order venerated St. Agnes for her holiness. St. Catherine of Siena called her "Our mother, the Glorious Agnes", and made a pilgrimage to her Agnes' hometown where her niece, Eugenie, was a nun. 

Agnes died at the age of 49, on April 20. Her body is incorrupt. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726.  

Her feast day is April 20. 

Seven Quick Takes No. 83

I. 

OK, so this week, we are going to talk bout something THRILLING!

How to organize books

I know. You guys just can't wait. 

Actually, I get this question a lot. People come to my house and see the massiveness of bookdom and ask how I know where everything is. I will tell you. 

It's because I'm slightly crazy. 

(Really. The first thing I did when I got home after transplant? I re-arranged my DVDs, because they were out of order in my bedroom. ) 

I am that person. (and no, I don't color code my closet....)

But even if you don't have as many books as I do, these might be helpful to you in organizing your library. 

(And sorry the pictures are sort of smudgy...I wrote this on Thursday night, so the good light was gone.) 

II. 

First, I divide everything by broad category.

Fiction/Non fiction/ biography/autobiography/books about Jane/theater-performing arts, for example. Then I divide them into smaller categories: fiction--novels; fiction--poetry; fiction--short stories. 

III. 

Then I shelve them. 

Or we put them on the floor or windowsills. Because I've done that. Right now, actually. I do not have enough book cases for all the madness. This does not stop me, however. 

III. 

Yes, those are all my cookbooks. Because I am CRAZY. But these, for example, I keep by the kitchen. (DUH!) These are loosely organized by author, but really it's more about use. The ones I use the most are on the top bracket, not in the sofa table. 

(And yes, there's piles. I'm sorry. Keeping it real here, guys)

IV. 

OK, so this is the "main" bookcase on the main floor. The pile is of my my performing arts/theater books. My scripts and librettos from shows I've done are downstairs by the keyboard with the rest of my sheet music. But here on the Shelf Proper, we have Jane on the top--books about her always come first--then autobiography/memoir, biography, current events, English Literature criticism, and some fiction creeping in at the bottom. 

Jane is nestled among the Precious Moments figurines (DON'T HATE). And yes, I've read Into Thin Air  a LOT. 

That bring us to....

V. 

I only keep books I'm going to re-read.

I know some people don't re-read books, but I do, compulsively. Right now, for example, I'm re-reading the Pink Carnation series. I've re-read Outlander more times than I can think of, and, of course, I re-read Jane. So every book I keep is either great for re-reading, or here because I will not toss them (like the Jane collection--people bring me books about Jane when they travel overseas. These are precious to me!). 

So every book you see here has been re-read, and some of them are heavily marked up. Yes, I do write in books. To me, books aren't here to be decorative. They are here to be loved! That being said, I do take exquisite care of most of my books. I do not like them torn or manhandled! But many of them have been well-loved. So well-loved, in fact, that I've had to replace them (Fiery Cross, for example.....pages falling out....) . And yes, I do fall asleep with them around me sometimes. I try not to hurt them. :-P 

VI.

Some books I have multiple copies of. This isn't just because I'm nuts. 

Behold--the Shelf of Jane (mostly). 

You see the Oxford's first, because that's my "scholarly" set. That's what I used for my academic work. The Annotated collection (Persuasion is being read, so that's why there's a space after Emma) I've been collecting, because they are darned useful for things like "What were the currency denominations in Regency England?" and exactly what a Barouche Box looks like. (And I have to capitalize that, because Lady Catherine Speaks of Hers in Capitals!)

The Ignatius ones (black spines) have a Catholic perspective on Jane in the end notes and essays, and the Marvel versions are just awesome. I mean, come on! So they all serve unique purposes for my Jane Girl Fandom. And yes, those are post-it notes you see in some of them! 

VII. 

So, yes, that's a quick tour of my library, leaving out the book room on the second floor, which is two more bookcases and more piles.  (That's almost all fiction, and theology. And YA.) But generally, I arrange by category, then author, then publishing date (or, in the case of unpublished works during th author's life, when it was written chronologically.)

You do not have to do this! As long as you have some system that allows you to find what you want easily, you're set. But this is how I do it, probably because my college boyfriend worked at his town library in his summers before school, and thus introduced me to this system of author then pub date. Before, I had just done author. 

S

Do you have a book system? Or do you just think I'm crazy?

(Good crazy, right? :) )

St. Pope Pius V: Rosary Warrior

Pope St. Pius V basically saved Christendom in Europe--not to mention Europe, period. That's right.

Well, OK. He didn't. The rosary did. But you'll understand more in a second. 

Pope St. Pius V is the only Dominican saint who was also a pope. (In the photo above, you can see his habit peeking out from under the surplice.) Born Antonio Ghislieri on January 17, 1504, he entered the Dominican order at the age of fourteen and took the name Michael (or Michele, in French and Italian) as his name in religion. 

(Side note: This is why you call Dominican priests/friars "Fr./Br. First name." They chose that name as their name in religion, and they're proud of it! So you can call them Fr. Michael, Fr. Thomas, Fr. Paul.) 

Michele was ordained in 1528 and was sent to the Italian town of Pavia, where he served as a priest for sixteen years. While there, he wrote many pieces against the Protestant Reformation. As prior of several Dominican priories, he insisted on discipline, overcoming the lax standards that had been the rule in these priories. He was elected pope on January 8, 1556, right before his fifty-fourth birthday. 

He was very important in ensuring the formality of the Mass, and asserted the importance of ceremonials in the life of the church. He also promulgated the 1570 version of the Roman Missal, which we know today as the "Latin Mass", "The Tridentine Mass", or "The Extraordinary form". (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI allowed this form of the Mass to be more widely celebrated following a molto proprio (meaning "on his own inititative"--it's a type of Apostolic Letter) promulgated in May, 2007.) 

He also declared Thomas Aquinas the fifth Doctor of the Church, and supported Mary, Queen of Scots, against Elizabeth I in England. (He's the pope who excommunicated Elizabeth.) He is also credited with the formation of the pope's signature white garments, since the Dominican habit is white. 

Like Rose of Lima, Pius V had to deal with a hostile navy--this time, the Turkish navy, in order to prevent Italy from being added to the Ottoman empire, and its Christians being forced to convert to Islam, or become slaves. Pius V had asked the Holy League countries to fight against this invasion. The Pope also asked all of Christendom to pray the Rosary for the success of the fleet.  On October 7, 1571, the pope and the Rosary Confraternity of Rome met to pray the rosary for the success of the Holy League ships against the invaders. Don Juan of Austria led the Holy League ships against the Turkish fleet, and routed the enemy near Lepanto, off the Greek coast. 

The Battle of Lepanto, by an unknown artist. 

Pius V attributed the victory to Mary's intercession. In the Church year, October 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was originally the feast of Our Lady of Victory, but Pope John XXIII changed it to the current title. 

A stained glass window of Our Lady of Victory. 

Pius V died on May 1, 1572, of cancer. He was canonized on May 22, 1712, by Pope Clement XI. His feast day is April 30 (right after St. Catherine of Siena!). 

St. Rose of Lima: Saint of Peru

St. Rose is an excellent saint for our times. 

Recently, I was reading a magazine article that talked about scar removal and the various ways to do it. I laughed a bit and then sighed, because I've got a third-degree burn on my right arm. Well, I did. But it's one huge scar, and no amount of dermatological intervention is going to make it go away. I live with it, and I don't mind it--but I know to some people, it would be a huge problem. 

I'm not saying we shouldn't try to be beautiful. I wear make-up, y'all. I'm saying that St. Rose teaches us that physical perfection isn't all we should be focusing on--in fact, she saw it as a hindrance to what her real calling was. 

St. Rose was born on April 20, 1586, the seventh of eleven children born to Gaspar and Maria Flores. Her parents had little money, but some social prestige. Her baptismal name was Isabel, but she was nicknamed Rose after an incident in her childhood--a servant claimed to have seen her face transform into a rose. When she was confirmed in 1597, she formally took Rose as her name. 

As a young girl, she read about St. Catherine of Siena, and began to emulate her, especially with intense fasting. She was a beautiful girl, and was often praised and admired for her beauty. In what may be a bit of extreme measures, she cut off her hair and smeared peppers on her face.(The hair, OK. The peppers? I'm not going to try that anytime soon.) This, you can imagine, did not please her parents, who wanted her married. Her mother, especially, loved and praised her daughter's beauty. 

Rose spent many hours before the Blessed Sacrament, and received communion frequently. She undertook severe, secret penances, and abstained entirely from meat. Finally, in frustration, her father gave her a private room in the family house for her use, and her parents gave up trying to marry her off. 

She helped the sick and hungry of Lima, bringing them to her room and caring for them, and selling her exquisite needlework and embroidery to help support the poor and her family. She was especially devoted to the indigenous Peruvians, and prayed intensely for their conversion. 

During this time, Dutch pirates invaded Lima's harbor and defeated the Peruvian fleet. They intended not only to loot the city, but to desecrate Lima's churches. The women, children, and religious of Lima took refuge in the churches, and in the church of Santo Domingo, Rose stirred all of them to prayer. The pirates burst into the church, but saw St. Rose ablaze in light, holding the monstrance which contained the Blessed Sacrament. They fled and returned to their ships, leaving the churches in tact. 

Rose had wanted to become a Dominican nun, but her father forbade it, so she became a member of the third order instead. She took a vow of perpetual virginity when she was twenty, and only allowed herself to sleep two hours a night, so she'd have more time for prayer.

Rose was eventually diagnosed with arthritis and asthma. Her only human support was St. Martin des Porres, himself a Dominican, who offered her spiritual counsel. 

She died at the age of 31, after being joined to Christ in a mystical marriage, like her great role model, St. Catherine of Siena. She was canonized on April 12, 1671, by Pope Clement X, and was the first Catholic in the Americas to be declared a saint. 

Her feast day is August 22, and she is the patron of embroiderers, gardeners, florists, India, Latin America, the resolution of family quarrels, Peru, the Philippines, against vanity, and the city of Lima. She's often seen wearing or holding wreaths of roses--her mother liked to place these on her daughter's head to accentuate her beauty, but Rose saw them as her own "crown of thorns" 

{Pretty, Funny, Happy, Real} 3

{Pretty}

My Penguin Drop Caps collection. Normally I alphabetize my books by author within genre, but these are designed to be displayed together. I just love the spot of color they add to the shelf and my living room. 

{Happy}

Homemade Pizza for St. Dominic's Day. I really don't eat pizza anymore, but I felt the urge to do it last week, and this is pretty healthy, all things considered. No grease, for starters! And deliciously summery. 

{Real}

The weekly planning, which I do on Saturday. Since I teach CCD on Sundays (we start in two weeks, yikes!), I don't like to do weekly planning then, because I'm beat. So Saturday is my day for weekly planning, grocery list making, and meal deciding. 

(No funny this week--I got nothing!) 

Yarn Along No. 32

So, I haven't actually started knitting anything. But behold the pretty yarn!

This is going to be another washcloth, but in stockinette stitch. Eventually all of this will pay off in being able to knit really awesome things. But I'm not there yet. 

As for what I'm reading: Still Middlemarch, and Persuasion for the last installment of the Great Jane Re-Read, which will go up next week.