Yarn Along: Digging into the stash!

I don’t know what it is about vacations but it always seems to give me mental clarity. Does this happen to you?

One of the things I was thinking bout when I was in Texas (which I will write about soon!) is knitting. I didn’t bring a knitting project with me, but I was thinking about what to do with some yarn I have and hadn’t used. That lead me to remember this kit that my parents got me for Christmas, for a shawl called “Take It All.” The kit uses one main color (that’s the ‘natural’ color you see) and a mini-skein kit for the contrasting colors. I thought that would be a great project to work on. I wanted something pretty simple but also fun, and this checked all the boxes. (You can see a version of it knitted up here)

I also decided wht I’ll be knitting next, so I have my updated “knitting queue” ready to go. It can be so overwhelming to have yarn for so many projects, and to have a huge Ravelry queue, so sometimes it’s easier for me to write a “top three” list and then work down that.

My Ursina sweater is sort of in limbo because I have to learn how to do magic loop! So I’m taking a short (I hope) break from it. I finished my Quinidici shawl, and that was a lot of fun. I especially liked working with La Bien Aimee’s cashmerino yarn! I used Winterfell, Hegelia, and Nymeria for my Quindici. (I bought the yarn with birthday money—a very good expenditure if I do say so myself!) I actually have a ton of Nymeria left so I’m thinking about doing another quindici with two other colors…hmmm! (You only use a little of the second contrast color in this project.) I mean, waste not want not, right? :)

As far as reading: I love visiting a little independent bookshop whenever I visit Diane. So we made a trip to the Blue Willow Bookshop!

It’s so adorable and it’s home to lots of amazing things. I bought two copies of the 200th anniversary edition of Emma for Di and I….she’d never read it, except in its Baby Lit version:

Johnny: Emewee, are these the same book?

(Yes I have multiple copies of Emma, don’t judge.)

When I do the full Houston write up I’ll include book links.

What are you making/crafting/reading?

Recipe: Diane's improvised pasta sauce--toddler approved!

While I was in Houston Diane made some amazing food, including her sourdough (which she taught me!) and this improvised pasta sauce. We all liked it so much that I told her we had to write it down because it was that good.

You can see that Patty enjoyed the fruit of her mother’s labors!

Diane’s Improvised Pasta Sauce

Makes enough for one pound of pasta (we used penne)

1 jar of marinara sauce

2 fresh tomatoes, quartered

jarred mined garlic or fresh minced garlic, 2 tbsp.

Extra virgin olive oil, about 2 tbsp.

salt to taste

Pinot grigio, 1- 1 1/2 cups

heavy cream 2/3 c.

basil, fresh or dried (Diane has a basil plant so we used fresh)—as much as you want.

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pot, then add quartered tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Once the tomatoes are soft, add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add wine, cook until about reduced by half. Add marinara sauce and basil leaves, bring to a simmer and let simmer for 1-2 minutes. Take off the heat, add cream, taste and adjust seasoning if necessarily. Use immersion blender to blend (Or a regular blender).

You can either use fresh or let cool and put in the fridge for later use.

"Our human rights derive from our humanity"

While in Houston, I (of course) went to church with my cousin and her family, and heard an amazing homily, centered on the decision in the Dobbs case. I took so many notes I thought I’d share them with you. It was a long homily, so this is just a taste.

Rogier van der Weyden, The Magdalene Reading. The National Gallery, London.

“The government does not and cannot give us rights. Our human rights do not come from the US government, our human rights derive from our humanity, and derive from the fact that we are human….{The Declaration of Independence states that] We hold these truths to be self-evident. We are endowed with those rights by our Creator and these rights are inalienable…

“To enjoy liberty, we must enjoy the exercise of the right to life. There is no pursuit of happiness without life. It’s inalienable…

“Legal does not equal just. We have the obligation to overturn unjust laws and to come to the aid of the oppressed. Slavery, women’s inability to vote, racial segregation and Nazism were all legal.

“We need, as citizens, to participate in the democratic process. There is much more to come. We must pray. Changing hearts and minds is a much more formidable task [that what has just been done]. We must have charity in all things and we need to treat everyone with respect. We must continue to work and build a culture of life. We must care for people, and show the mercy and forgiveness of God to everyone.”

Deo Gratias!

On the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is so appropriate that one of the worst SCOTUS decisions in history is overturned, joining Dred Scot and Plessy on the ash heap of history.

Every since I was old enough to know what abortion was, I—and so many others—have prayed and worked for today. This is a victory for the pro-life movement, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all to take today and celebrate and give thanks for this.

I am happy on a more personal level as well. If you’ve read my book, you know that I have often had people tell me that people with genetic diseases are not “worthy” of living, because our lives are too hard or we suffer.

Ninety-six percent of babies who are discovered to have CF in utero are aborted.

Today, that number will begin to decrease, and more people like me will have a chance at life.

It’s important to note that Dobbs doesn’t make abortion illegal in the United States. Instead, it throws the matter back to the states (which is where it should have been all the time.). Every state can determine their own abortion laws.

This is not the end of the pro-life movement. In the words of Winston Churchill, “It is the end of the beginning.”

We know that there is work to do to change perceptions. We know that more pro-family legislation is needed, and we need to continue to support the work of maternity/crisis pregnancy homes, pro-life charities, and other supportive networks.

If you want to contact your state legislators about this, be sure to do it politely (always, please, especially if you’re calling them).Let them know that you support legislation that helps the vulnerable. See what your state already has and then work to support it, financially, materially, or with your time. I’ll be compiling a list of resources later, but you can always start with the Sisters of Life, who do such great work in the US and Canada.

And let’s stop talking about how children are barriers to our lives, OK? Let’s stop talking about how women have “fewer rights” then men. Women, it’s time for us to stop believing the lies that the sexual revolution taught us. Sex is not free. Having sex with multiple partners is not liberating. Let’s reject this mindset for the lie it is. Let’s teach our daughters that. Let’s not continue to perpetuate a lie—which is really a malicious, twisted lie—that sexual freedom is a good thing, that we are “entitled” to do whatever we want, when we want it. That’s a perversion of our freedom.

There are certainly times when women find themselves in situations that they didn’t expect. The pro-life movement is there for them. We need to champion life in all its stages, and Dobbs gives us the framework to start doing that legislatively—but it also gives us the freedom to start doing more outside of the statehouses, to step up our advocacy and demonstrate that it’s truth that sets us free.

Women deserve better than abortion. Children deserve better than abortion. We all deserve better than a culture that takes innocent lives and treats them like garbage, and cloaks its satanic mission in words like “care” or “health decisions” or “choice”.

Today is a victory for life.

Let’s celebrate it, and then continue our work.

(NOTE: normally, I let the combox be totally open. But I will delete any comments that have bad language on this post, OK? I would do that anyway, but….just a reminder.)

"Life, London, this moment of June"

OK, I’m not in London. (The quote is from Mrs. Dalloway, one of my favorite novels.)

And June can actually be a really hard month for me, because there’s been a lot of medical crap that went down in June. (And I actually have a squamous cell carcinoma that needs removed—that’s next month—that I just found out about, but honestly, I don’t really care, we’ll handle it)

But this June? This June has been pretty fun.

Patty discovers…THE TENT.

I’m going to see Patty and her siblings!

Peanut (Patty’s newest sibling) is growing well! S/he is due in October.

It might be really hot, but it’s super pretty. This I the view from my porch. I love sitting here and reading at night. Right now I’m re-reading Emma* as part of the Jane Summer Re-Read.

Tiffany and I went to see the Columbus Symphony play at a local church as part of their summer night music programming. Cheaper tickets, don’t have to drive downtown, and don’t have to pay to park? Count me in. It was a beautiful program!

How’s your summer going so far?

Maddie: Five Months!

Folks, I can’t believe Maddie is five months old.

I just cannot.

Do you see her teeth?!

Here’s the round-up!

New Things

 -two teeth! And a third is emerging!

-has rolled back to front!  (Once but rolls on her side all the time)

- can pivot on her belly!  Very close to crawling.

-starting to laugh!

-can pass toys back and forth between hands

-starting to sit up unsupported

Likes

-being on the floor (aka, the Maddie Olympics)

-being in her carrier

-seeing the world

-new toys! Loves knocking over her blocks, the rolling bell.

-caterpillar coffee time! (Caterpillar==her chair. It’s the best.)

- being read to (if she can stay still for it). I loved reading to her when we visited.

-grabbing everything mommy and daddy have (clothing, glasses, food, drinks)

-has pet Duke and Bella. (Duke is their dog, and Bella is their kitty). Bella is neutral on the subject, but Duke licked her feet!

-stroller, as long as she’s looking out!
-playing with her owls in her crib (The owls are a paper banner of….owls (ha!) that are hung on the room-facing side of her crib. She has now discovered she can play with them. I think they might not be long for this world now that she has found this out.)

-listening to audio books to help her fall asleep.

-dancing/ singing to music

-looking in the mirror

Dislikes

-Being held or restrained (unless it’s in her carrier)- she wants to move!!

-Putting her arms in sleeves.

-Being tired

-hungry… again (tired+hungry=hangry baby!)

-wearing her sleep mittens (she will bite them off!)

-having her nails filed.

-being left in her crib too long after waking up (see wants to see people, above)

Monthly photos:

"Thank you, Ma'am"

As you all know, I am an Anglophile, and so I loved the Platinum Jubilee Extravaganza last weekend! (Well actually Thursday-Sunday). So I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos and videos, because we all need some happiness and cute, right?

From the Party at the Palace:

*Paddington and the Queen kicked off the party

* the West End segment! (the WHOLE THING, which we didn’t see here in the US)

There was a CORGI PARADE!

Royal kids stealing the show!

The flypast on Thursday:

Photos:

The Cambridge kids (L-R: George, Louis, and Charlotte) make their carriage debut at Trooping the Colour

Louis was a crack up the entire weekend.

With the queen on the balcony at Buckingham Palace

This is TOO CUTE

Charlotte and George (sandwiched between their parents) at the Party at the Palace on Saturday

The final balcony appearance of the weekend, after the Jubilee Pageant

Catholic Girl Problems

So I had to read at Mass on Saturday night—Pentecost Vigil. No biggie. I did my job, I pronounced “Bitumen” correctly (that word is not fun to say), and it was time to receive Communion.

As a lector, I am sitting in the front row on the right side of the church. So, I’m fairly visible.

I go up to receive communion. Now, I have done this for 32 years. That’s over 1,600 communions roughly. I have received on the tongue pretty much exclusively for the past 12 years, no problems.

So I get in line.

Then, the following:
Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion: (ECMH) (Holding up the Host) The Body of Christ.

Me: Amen. ( I open my mouth. the EMCH extends his hand, holding the Host, toward my mouth. The DEACON appears, and STARTLES the EMCH.)

THE HOST FALLS.

ALL OUR EYES meet in total panic and confusion.

ME: Where did it go?
Deacon: It went…down your dress. (With discreet hand motion indicating it went….south.)
Me: OK. (To EMCH) Let’s try this again.

EMCH: The Body of Christ.
ME: (receiving in the hand this time) AMEN.

I head back to my seat. I look at the floor I just walked over. No host there. OK. So Jesus is….on my person.
I begin discreetly patting down my dress, wondering if the Host got caught in the folds or the lining or the flounces…

And then I see.

The Host is IN MY BRA.

That’s right. Jesus—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—has taken up residence in my bra cup.

(Did I mention I’m in the front row?)

My dress neckline is a shallow v-neck. So very discreetly (I HOPE), I reach into my dress and remove Jesus from my bra. I then consume the Lord.

I don’t know if Jesus thought that I needed extra grace this week or what, but I totally want to crack up laughing and I’m wondering, OK, what do I do with my bra now? Is it a relic? Am I a relic?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

(What makes it even more humorous is that usually we have altar servers with patens to catch any Hosts that escape like this. We were short one altar boy, I think, on Saturday. So if the altar boy had been there, this wouldn’t have happened! But it did!)

So after Mass the other lector asks me, “What happened during Communion?” I tell him. He cracks up.

Mom asks me the same thing as we head into the parking lot. She starts cackling, and then laughing so hard she cannot breathe. And then I’m laughing.

I mean, the ways of the Lord are indeed mysterious. But I had never thought that The Lord would…decide to fly down my dress.

Whatever Lord. Whatever.

My Writing Process

I’m currently working on another writing project (Yay! All will be revealed later!)and I thought I’d share my writing process with you.

I generally write in the afternoons but sometimes I change that to the morning. The morning is usually me reading email, perusing the Web while I have breakfast, writing in my journal, and catching up on the news (although not nearly as much news as I used to read—this is a good thing!). This is also usually when I write blog posts.

I work on big writing projects in the afternoon, and I use pomodoros to do this. I usually write for 1-2 hours (that’s 2-4 pomodoros) and then I’m done for the day. I don’t have word goals, I have time goals.

I work on a rough draft until it’s “done”, in the sense that I’ve reached the end of the story I was trying to tell. I do not re-read at all during this stage. I might read the last few lines of what I wrote the day before, in order to get back into the groove of my train of thought, but that’s as much as I’ll do.

The second phase is the LET IT SIT phase. I like to let big projects (like books) sit for at least a month, so I can let it coalesce and I can get appropriate distance from the project. After a month (at least!), I head into the third phase, which is revising. During revising, I’m pretty critical, but I don’t delete anything; I keep a document called “scrap”, where I’ll place sections that I’ve cut. (I don’t delete them because I might want them later!) Revising is generally a slower process than writing because I’m being more critical and I’m trying to shape the document into something cohesive, as opposed to the “word vomit” of the first phase.

After revising, we hit the second Let It Sit phase. This is also about a month. At the end of this phase, I have choices. I can either ask a writer friend to look at what I’ve done so far and offer feedback, or I can do another round of revising before I offer it to someone else to read.

These are my basic steps. What happens after step five is fungible. I might let it sit again, I might think about submitting it somewhere, I might do a lot of things. But the first five stages always happen.

So there you go—my writing process! Questions? Drop them in the comment box below and I’ll answer them.

Travel Tips: How I Travel With All My Medication and Medical Stuff!

I don’t leave home without my pink InPen, obviously. :)

A lot of people assume I am a “bad packer” because I always have to check a bag—I can’t do any trip with just carry-ons. That’s not because I bring a lot of stuff for fun—it’s because I have so much medical stuff to pack! Traveling is easier now that it was pre-transplant because I don’t have to bring machines with me, like my aerosol machine and nebulizers, and all the parts that go with that. But I still have quite a few things that I have to take with me, so I thought I’d give you my tips and strategies in case you ever need them.

The first thing is my big bag of meds. I probably started doing this about 10 years ago. I keep all of my medications (except my vitamins) in a large zip top bag. (I use one of these). That way I can just grab the bag and go (this was actually done in case of random hospital admits. My parents would be able to just grab one bag and take it to the hospital without wondering if something was left behind.) When I travel, I do put my supplements and vitamins in here, as long as they fit. If the bottles don’t fit, I just put them in plastic bags. The reason I take the bottles along is in case I need a refill or something happens (always be prepared!), I have the pharmacy bottle and people can see exactly what I take. It’s also good in case I get stuck somewhere longer than I had planned; this way I have all my meds with me at all times.

Once I’m at my destination, I don’t have to carry my meds around with me, because they’re morning and evening meds, so I just take them with breakfast and whenever before bedtime is at my destination. (In Denver, I took them whenever we got back from my sister’s house.)

The big bag of meds on my insanely covered kitchen table!

Second is my insulin and other diabetes things.

I always carry in my purse my glucose meter (just in case my continuous glucose monitor has a hiccup) ,as well as backup insulin (both types), pen needles, and my emergency glucagon kit (this is “emergency glucose”, basically.) I keep all of these things in one of these pouches and that pouch always lives in my purse. I also try to remember to keep candy in this pouch in case I need it. I make sure my glucose monitor has lancets and plenty of (non-expired!) test strips. I will also keep two cartridges of short acting insulin for my inPen in there when I travel, so if I had to reload it when I’m out I can do it easily. (The inPen is the pink item in the top picture.)

Here’s what goes in the blue pouch: Pen needles, backup insulins, emergency glucose (in the red case) and my glucose meter. There are more pen needles inside.

For traveling, I have to bring more insulin. I take two kinds: short acting (right before meals) and “intermediate acting” that lasts for about 10-12 hours. These live in the refrigerator until I need them. When I travel, I take the supply I need and put them in one of these pouches* (do you see a trend here with pouches?) These pouches are great because you don’t need ice or ice packs! They work with cold water and keep insulin cold for up to 45 hours. These are fabulous and they come in tons of sizes!

So what I do is prep the pouch the night before and then stick my insulin in there. I pack waaaayyyy too much insulin—I’m getting better about that!—but I’d rather have too much than not enough. It stays in a refrigerator once I get to my destination (if you don’t have a fridge, you can use the pouch—there are instructions for continual cooling included) and then I prep the pouch again the night before I leave. When I get home, the insulin that I took with me is first in line to get used at home, so that way there’s no issues with waste or things not being cold. (My insulin can be used at room temperature as well, as in, it’s not “bad” if it’s at room temperature. I just use it first. But not all types are like this, so check yours!)

The other things I pack are: keto urine test strips, and a backup continuous glucose monitor, in case the one I’m wearing comes loose or gets accidentally removed. I also pack alcohol wipes. I put the monitor and the alcohol wipes in their own plastic bag and hopefully I won’t need to use this, but better safe than sorry!

The third thing I pack is candy or something that will raise my blood glucose if I need it. This is usually candy or a non-diet drink (like regular Gatorade that I’ll pick up at the airport if I’m flying). If I’m staying with someone I usually ask them to get me regular orange juice just in case I need it. (Or really any kind of juice, orange juice is my current favorite.) For the trip to Denver I put a few boxes of Sour Patch Kids in my luggage and in my carry on backpack, and picked up some additional candy and Gatorade at the airport. (This is also useful for taking my meds, since some of them are really nasty if taken with plain water! Steroid, looking at you.)

You can see, this is quite a bit of stuff; it all goes in my carry-on, which also holds my makeup and anything else I don’t want to risk being lost (like jewelry) and my chargers, which I need for my phone, but also my cochlear implant charger. My extra CI battery goes in my eyeglasses case, which is also in my carryon, as well as my contacts. (I have two CI batteries; one that is the backup and one that’s being used. I try to rotate them daily so they don’t wear out quickly. A battery can last up to 24 hours when fully charged.) In case you’re wondering, I use an LL Bean backpack as my carry-on, because it has lots of compartments and it’s extremely sturdy.

And that is all the medical stuff I pack! Whew! I really find that the pouches are great in keeping my organized, so I highly recommend those. I don’t use any pill boxes because I can remember what I need to take and for me it’s easier to just dole out the meds individually each day. This is my system, and it might not work for you, but I hope that some of these times are helpful!

Colorado Travel Notes

Time for a travel post!

Here I’ll be talking about places we stayed, ate at, and visited while we were in the Littleton area. I hope it’s useful for you if you go visit!

Stayed

Marriott Courtyard Denver Southwest/ Littleton

We really liked this hotel for a lot of reasons. It’s close to my sister’s place, located right off the “main drag” of Littleton (Santa Fe Dr.) , and they had a great restaurant! They also have a little pantry where you can buy drinks, snacks, and small toiletries. This was really useful in helping us sty hydrated, and also for me in keeping my blood sugar levels up! There’s also a fire pit and a swimming pool. The rooms were very comfortable and had couches and a desk, as well as coffee/tea making supplies and a refrigerator.

View from my room

EAT

Toast I’m a HUGE fan of Toast so I was glad we got to go eat here during this visit! They have an amazing array of choices, from their famous French Toast to pancakes, sandwiches, and all sorts of other great lunch and breakfast goodies.

I got the Berries and Cream French toast, as well as a side of bacon.

in-Tea: Located in Downtown Little, this adorable tea salon offers a huge variety of teas, as well as bakery items and sandwiches, and beer and cocktails! I had a fabulous time in here and bought two types of tea to take home—they also have an online shop and will ship to you!

So much tea!

My order: Iced English Tea—their special Earl Grey blend + half and half+ honey (and a refill is standing ready!)

There are a ton of places to sit, from cozy nooks like this one to regular tables and outdoor seating!

Tavern Littleton is located two blocks down from In-Tea (downtown Littleton is adorable and has tons of places to eat and shop). Tavern is a sports bar, and they have fabulous chips and salsa and burgers. I’d been here twice on my first trip to Colorado and I was happy to visit again. (And they have a parking lot behind the restaurant, bonus!)

Breckenridge Brewery: This is where we had lunch before Maddie’s baptism. It’s really a campus, like the website says; the restaurant is on the right as you drive in, and the brewery, which is open for tours, is on the left. The restaurant is great—they’ll even give you free tastings at a bar when you walk in!—and they sell the brewery’s products as well as branded merchandise.

memento mori at the brewery!

Maddie clearly enjoyed it.

It’s very kid friendly and allows dogs, so this is a popular place, for good reason. There’s an extensive menu and everyone who worked there was very friendly. I’d love to go back! (And maybe drink some more of their Palisade Peach!)

(For those of you worried about me consuming alcohol: I had a taste of it, and a few others, at the tasting bar. :) I didn’t actually have a whole glass. My meds don’t play nicely with alcohol, but I am allowed to have some a few times a year! So, yes, I could’ve had a beer if I had wanted it.)

Rice sushi and bistro (delivery) : Mel and Jason (and my dad) really like sushi, and mom and I love Chinese/Asian food, so this was a great choice for us. We ordered it in on our last night there and it was delicious!

Dirt Coffee: Mel and I had coffee here, and it’s Mel’s favorite coffee place. It has a unique mission:

Located in Historic Downtown Littleton, DIRT is a local, women-run social enterprise with the mission to bring you quality crafted Huckleberry coffee, food, and drink while training, employing & empowering neurodivergent individuals through workforce development programming.

Sounds good to me—and they had great coffee! Mel and I both had the lavender lattes. (And I got a sticker that says “ableism is trash”, which I greatly enjoy)

Outside of Dirt—they have a lawn with seating, porch seating, and indoor seating, as well as water bowls for dogs!

Snooze: Another lunch/breakfast place like Toast, Snooze is a chain that’s expanding across the country but so far I only get to eat it in Colorado! It’s another great place where I had shrimp and grits and fruit for breakfast, along with their great house coffee.

Shop

Tattered Cover (at Aspen Grove) : One of the best independent bookstores in the country, Tattered Cover is always worth a visit when in Colorado!

Aspen Grove: This is an open-air mall/shopping center in Littleton that has stores and restaurants. We visited here briefly. Rice Sushi and Tattered Cover are both here, as well as a Chik-Fil-A.

Meeting Miss Maddie

My parents and I just got back from Colorado, where we finally got to meet Miss Maddie!

Let me tell you, it was a lot of love.

She smiles. A lot.

She ponders which key to hit!

I know I have a really large bias here, being her aunt and all, but I have to say that Maddie is just precious. She’s so alert! You can almost see the wheels turning in her head when she’s trying to figure something out (like rolling over—so close!). When she met us for the first time, you could tell she thought we were familiar, but here we were in person, not in a little screen!

Maddie checking us out for the first time.

I am so glad we were able to go visit, and also glad that things like FAceTime are available. I honestly don’t know how people did it back in the day. Think about the beginning of Little House on the Prairie. Caroline and Charles’ parents never saw Grace. They never saw their children and grand-children again after they left. Of course they had letters, but that’s not the same. At least I can see and talk to Maddie and she can talk to me! (And my sister and brother-in-law, of course!) It makes distance somewhat more bearable.

Madeleine was baptized on Saturday at their parish:

And she was a very good girl through it, even if she did have a bottle right before Mass started and um, spit some of that back up before we got to the font. :) But it was OK she was a champ during the actual baptism itself. She didn’t seem to like the baptismal garment very much, although it was very pretty! She kept tugging at it.

Maddie also has a very cute habit of only wearing one sock/one shoe and getting rid of the others. It’s very Cinderella. (As you can see in the photo at the top of the post.) Apparently she only needs one sock or one shoe, the other foot can go bare, it’s fine.

She also likes to feed herself!

I got this, Aunt Em.

But feeding her and reading to her is awfully fun.

And she is, indeed, my little sunshine.

I will definitely miss being greeted like this

And I’ll miss seeing my sister and brother in law every day.
And cuddling Maddie.

And playing on the floor.

I’m not sure when the next time we’ll see them will be. I hope it’s soon.

Until then, I’ll just keep looking at the pictures my sister sends, and sending her cute clothes and books. :)

Maddie: Four months!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Maddie is four months old today! And she’s being baptized on Saturday! Yayyyy! (Her baptism outfit is so cute. I can’t wait to show you.)

Here’s the monthly update:

LIKES/SKILLS:

Cooing and laughing! She likes to talk!

Two teeth are coming in

rolls front to back and almost back to front

loves tummy time (this is a change from HATING TUMMY TIME!)

Holds her own bottle!

Fishy is her new buddy

Fishy

her chews life rosary!

Caterpillar chair (this thing is AWESOME)

front facing stroller

Duke, their dog (she smiles/laughs whenever she sees him!)

She LOVES being sung to and tries to sing back!

Loves reading, especially Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Looking in the mirror and smiling when she sees hreself

Outdoor swing!

“The Olympics”—mat time. I call it “Maddie Disneyland”:

Find the baby!

Hates:

Putting her arms in sleeves!

Being hungry (I feel ya, Maddie)

When you don’t let her hold the bottle…..but then she gets mad when it falls out of her mouth!

Monthly photos:

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months!

Why the Best Narnia Book is Voyage of the Dawn Treader

It’s mostly because of Reepicheep.

Why is a talking mouse so important? You can read my essay over at Mere Orthodoxy:

Clearly, Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the best of the Narnia novels, and a big part of that is due to a talking mouse.

Yes. I’m talking about Reepicheep, the brave, swashbuckling Narnian mouse who is on a quest to find Aslan’s country (and defend the honor of the Kings and Queens of Narnia while he’s at it.).

Sure, a lot of things happen in Voyage that also give it the claim to being the best novel, the discussion of science and modernism versus tradition and religion (although religion and science aren’t actually at loggerheads), Eustace’s Pauline conversion, the growth of Lucy, Edmund, and Caspian, and of course the quest to find the seven lost Narnian lords, which gives the entire book its shape. All of these things add up to a tightly plotted and fast moving adventure. But I think that the reason it’s the best isn’t just Reepicheep, but what he and the other characters go through in the novel, which is growing up and becoming adult Christians.

In Voyage, the things that stop our heroes and heroines are themselves, which is true in our own lives. 

Read the rest here.

A Truly Massive Birthday Yarn Along!

In the words of an Eva Cassidy song, “People get ready”—there’s a lot of yarn and books to discuss!

For my birthday, I received a lot of books and yarn gift cards/money I used on yarn. Since it was a milestone birthday I definitely was spoiled! I can’t wait to walk you through the goodness.

The yarn you see above was bought with some birthday money. It’s La Bien Aimee’s cashmerino yarn, all the way from Paris! Aimee, the owner, is known throughout the yarn world for her amazing colors and yarns, and I was so glad to be able to finally get my hands on some of it. From left to right, the colors are: Nymeria, Hegelia, and Winterfell. Knitting with it is a delight! I’m turning the yarn into this project.

I love blue, but I don’t actually have a “plainer” blue lightweight shawl or wrap, and that’s something I definitely need in my wardrobe, so this is a good addition to my knitted accessories repertoire. (By “plainer” I mean, one that’s mostly shades of blue and isn’t knit up with other wilder/brighter colors or mixes and that is also lightweight. I do have a shawl that is mostly blue and gray, but it’s a sport weight so it’s a little heavier than what I’m currently knitting up.)

Onto the next batch of yarn! Behold!

Wanna talk wild colors? We got your wild colors right here!

This is more La Bien Aimee yarn, but this time I got it from a US store, so I didn’t have to pay shipping and I could pay in dollars, not euros! Yay! :)

Knit Stars is both a knitting masterclass series and a yarn store in Tulsa, OK. Every Spring and Fall they rearrange their “hot loops” wall, which is a bunch of projects and yarn they’re featuring that particular season. This spring, knitter and designer Gaye Glasspie (aka, GG, aka, the Iconic Orange Lady) designed the wall and picked the projects. So obviously orange figured in a BIG way.

At first I wasn’t sure about this because….orange is not really a color I use. My friend Andrea loves orange. But I am not really much of an orange person.

However I did want more LBA yarn….

And these flowers arrived on my birthday, which was also the same day as the Spring Hot Loops wall reveal:

Hmmmmmmmmm. That’s a lot of orange! And bright pink! And purple!

And the yarn could capture these flowers and I could have a shawl that would echo these flowers and pay homage to a special birthday……

BINGO.
So I’m making my second Find Your Fade shawl using these colors, which is the LBA Merino Aran base. (You can get it at KnitStars here) My Ravelry notes are here. The shawl is originally designed for a fingering weight yarn, and I’ve obviously bumped it up several thicknesses to an Aran base, but I’m using the same yardage amounts (which means I’ll need to order more of some of these colors). I’m also only doing one lace repeat per color, which is also what I did with my original Find Your Fade. (This is a shawl that can be huge.)

Here are the colors in the order I’ll be using them in the shawl, starting at the bottom (blue) and working up:

From bottom: Hegelia, Winter Garden, Sari, Fiori, RGO, Le Littoral

I just couldn’t wait to start….so I didn’t….and I’ve finished two colors (Hegelia and Winter Garden) and moved on to the third (Sari)! I am seriously obsessed with this project.

Sari comes in…

Whew! I love it! And I’m still working on a baby blanket for Miss Alice and I’m about to start the sleeves on my Ursina! Hopefully I’ll have some finished objects to show you in May!

Now let’s talk books.

I got a lot of book gift cards for my birthday so I, of course, got a lot of books with them. There are so many that I think I might share them with you over the coming weeks (and Yarn Alongs!). So let’s take the first four: (yes, FOUR!)

Time for Tea* is in the first photo. This is from Fortnum and Mason, the big food emporium in London. If you’ve been reading here for awhile, you know that I love tea! So this book discusses the history of tea, types of tea, hat tea is best for various occasions, and also, recipes for tea time! It’s gorgeously produced and its cover is Fortnum and Mason’s signature “eau-de-nil” color.

The second book, which is perched on the shawl above, is Queens of the Conquest: England’s Medieval Queens.* You should also know, if you’re a longtime reader, that I am an anglophile. A big one. :) My friend Amilia got me this book, because we both share a love of British history. Weir has written many, many books about British royalty—both fiction and nonfiction—and this is the first in a series that will look at England’s early queens. I really loved this book and I loved taking notes and adding to my research files, because, yes, I do research files for fun, because I am a nerd! The second book in the series is Queens of the Crusades: England’s Medieval Queens*, which I need to read next!

I also just finished All The Queen’s Men*, which was another birthday book. I actually got the first book in the series, The Windsor Knot*, too. The books revolve around the premises that Queen Elizabeth II isn’t just queen—she’s also. sleuth who has been solving mysteries since her father, George VI, was on the throne. with the help of her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie, and a retired member of her protection detail, she cracks the case of a murdered pianist in the first book, and a murdered housekeeper in the second.

This installment definitely has a British flavor, doesn’t it? I didn’t just get books about England for my birthday, I promise. I’ll share the rest of them soon!

Forty

I’m forty.

I wasn’t supposed to be forty. This was a birthday I was never supposed to see.

When I was diagnosed with CF, the average life expectancy was mid-thirties. Then I almost died at nineteen.

If my organ donor, Suzanne, hadn’t made the decision to donate her organs, I’d have died at twenty-three.

But she did. And seventeen years later, I’m forty.

FORTY.

Unlike a lot of people, I don’t dread my birthdays. I celebrate them with full vigor, and this one, especially, was celebrated to the hilt.

My door was decorated by my brother Bryan and my sister-in-law, Sarah.

They also sent me a truly stupendous bouquet of flowers.

That night, my parents hosted a party for me at a local restaurant. We had a private room!

I did the name cards!

(Sarris chocolate is my favorite chocolate in life. It’s a Pittsburgh-based chocolate company and I’ve been eating it since I’ve been old enough to have teeth. My grandma used to have little bowls of their foil wrapped Easter egg chocolates in her house and I loved to eat them. So I thought they’d be a sweet treat for our guests!)

Some of my favorite people were there…..

Amilia came all the way from Illinois for the party!

Tiffany and Bill were there! (Alice was with her grandparents.)

Mary was there!

If you’re read Living Memento Mori, then you know about Rita, one of my favorite nurses—she was at the party!

And my brother and SIL were there too!

It was a fabulous party—it went on for four hours, which didn’t seem quite possible.

It was, simply, way too much fun.

Suzanne made all of this possible. She makes my writing this possible.

If you’re not an organ donor, please consider it. You can sign up online here.

Maddie is Three Months Old!

Yay, Maddie! :)

She is the sweetest baby I have ever seen, and she’s so happy! She loves her little morning chats with Melanie. :)

(Here she is at two months and here’s one month)

Here’s the low down on Miss Maddie at three months old

LIKES:

—pacifier (Longhorn buddy, also Elephant buddy, also plain pacifiers!)

—Food, but WARM FOOD, thank you very much.

—reading! She and mommy have reading time now.

—people. People. More people. Did I mention people?

—Her swing and her play gym.

—music

—Duke the dog!

—going to church

—going places in general

—her carrier (Patty also REALLY likes her carrier)

—smiling is her favorite!

—talking. Apparently she has a lot to say!

DISLIKES:

—napping alone in her crib

—the cold milk dislike continues

—being cold

—being bored!

—having a messy/wet diaper

—not being able to see people (see people person, above)

—gas! poor baby!

I can’t believe how much she’s grown in the past month. I mean look at this:

She just keeps getting cuter, as evidenced below:

Her dad went to UT, hence the Longhorn gear. :)

Being a "disabled writer"

violets in my yard

The other day on IG I saw someone asking if there were more Catholics who spoke about disability issues or accounts that focused on disability and faith.

Now, this, in and of itself, is not a bad thing but it got me thinking, which got me writing.

I am “disabled”. I put that word in quotes because I don’t really think of myself as disabled apart from my hearing loss. This is something that I’ve noticed, that the range of disability—and who considers themselves disabled—is wide.

And that’s the same as my interests. Like Elizabeth Bennet, “I take pleasure in many things.” I don’t just write about disability and faith, or just disability, or just faith! Taking a quick scan of my blog posts and IG feed, you’ll see babies (ok, lots of babies), knitting, flowers, food, paintings, books, games….all sorts of things. I’m interested in a lot of things, and that’s what I write about. Obviously I am also interested in writing about health because my health is a big part of my life. I do advocate for accommodation. (Here are all my posts with the disability tag)

But I’m never going to start a conversation with “Hi, I’m disabled.” I don’t start by telling people I have CF or I had a transplant or I’m hearing impaired. The latter does tend to come up earlier than usual when I talk to people because, well, it’s sort of urgent if I can’t understand you.

Everyone handles disability or illness in a different way, but don’t expect us to just talk about those things. Some people do—that’s what they feel called to do. But if I just wrote about my disabilities I’d be bored stiff and so would you! I’d run out of things to talk about!

I like to talk about knitting and Maddie and Patty and travel and cooking and TV shows and movies (and speaking of hearing impaired-ness and movies, go CODA!). Don’t just see the disability. See the person behind it.

And also, at the same time, don’t think that we’re exceptionally “brave” or “strong” people because we live with a disability. Seriously. I’m not a saint (ask anyone who knows me, not a saint definitely not). We’re people doing the best we can with the life we have. That’s all.

Reader Q&A!

I had a really good question from a reader recently:

What’s the difference between memento mori and the Mexican “days of the dead”?

Now, I am not, at all, Hispanic. I have zero Spanish/Latino heritage in my family. (We’re Italian, German, and Scottish.) So this is based on some light research. If you are Hispanic, please feel free to chime in and let me know where I’m wrong!)

Memento mori is an ancient practice—it actually predates Christianity, with most records saying that it was common in Ancient Rome. But Christianity definitely picked up the practice, incorporating it into art, accessories, and architecture.

Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini in Rome—yes, those are real skulls. And yes, you can visit!

Another part of the church.

In art, you’ll see a memento mori—usually a skull:

Caravaggio, “St. Jerome Writing”, 1605-1606

On of El Greco’s Magdalenes—see the skull on the right?

Mary, Queen of Scots, even had a memento mori watch:

And you can even get memento mori watches today!

For Christians, memento mori is about remembering where we’re headed after this life, because we know that this life isn’t all there is. Our actions prepare us for heaven, hell, or purgatory. Our choices determine our afterlife—so choose wisely! In a less, I suppose, “morbid” way, we can talk about using the fact of our death to decide how we’ll live today.

As you can see, in art, it’s mostly simply a skull, or bones. It’s not decorated in any sense—it’s just a skull.

Now, if you look at dia de los muertos art, the first thing you see is COLOR, from the vibrancy of the marigolds to the creative sugar skulls, and even in the makeup.

A woman depicting “La Catrina”

An ofrenda

And while memento mori is something that you can do every day, the official day of the dead festival runs from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2—which in the Catholic calendar is All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day. The point of dia de los muertos is to remember family members who have died. Ofrendas (“offerings”, as seen in the photo above) are left for the departed—their favorite food and drink, photos of the deceased, and the beautiful marigold flowers are often there.

The sugar skull (“calavera”) is a big part of the celebrations and actually dates back to prehistoric times. The color has a purpose:

The reason a holiday revolving around death is so full of color instead of being gloomy and gray is because we celebrate the lives led by those who are now gone. It’s not simply a day about mourning our loved ones and telling stories of them around their tombstones in the cemetery and our altars; it’s a day about remembering their lives and the impact they had upon us, as well as keeping in mind that just because they’re no longer with us doesn’t mean that they’re entirely gone, because we keep them alive in our hearts and memories.

https://dayofthedead.holiday/sugar-skull/the-meaning-and-importance-of-sugar-skulls (accessed March 22, 2022)

So the Day of the Dead is about remembering and celebrating those who have gone before, and also to appreciate the live that we have right now, since we will soon be on ofrendas or buried in the local churchyard.

The two concepts are linked by the same idea—that life is fleeting, and we have only today.

(If you haven’t seen the movie Coco*, definitely do that—it’s all about Dia de los Muertos!)

Oscars 2021: CODA

Of all the best picture nominees, this one I probably the most interesting to me. CODA stands for “Child of Deaf Adults” , and is the story of Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), the only hearing person in her family, who has a passion for music. She’s torn between pursuing her love of music or abandoning her parents—her father is a fisherman, and eventually they’re busted by the Coast Guard for not having a hearing deckhand on board. Does Ruby give up her dream of music school to stay and help her family?

(Other reviews in this series: West Side Story, The Power of the Dog, King Richard, Belfast, Dune)

CODA has been nominated for three Oscars: best picture, best performance by an actor in a supporting role, and best adapted screen play (Of the big five oscars, we have three nominations. Not bad!) It’s rated PG-13.

I was really worried about this one—I didn’t think I’d like it. I loved it. It’s so good and deals with so many issues around deafness, but also family!

Ruby’s parents are pretty isolated. At one point, Ruby’s mom, Jackie (Marlee Matlin) talks about how they have their own Deaf community, to which Ruby replies, “Who, your deaf friends? You see them once a month.” And that’s a real issue for her family. Even though her father, Frank (Troy Kotsur) is part of a family that’s been fishing in Gloucester, MA, for generations, he’s not “buddy buddy” with the fisherman. His son, Leo (Daniel Durant), who is also Ruby’s older brother, tries, but it’s hard because there’s no one to interpret for him, and reading lips only gets you so far. (This is illustrated perfectly in a scene where Leo goes to get a beer with the other fishermen, and he just sits at the table, staring at his beer can and missing what is going on around him.) Ruby has to translate everything for her parents—at their doctor appointments, at meetings, even calling her grandmother when her mother doesn’t want to use the video relay because of an interpreter being present.

( I will say, I get that and it’s very weird. It’s like this other person is in on these personal details of your life and you really wish they weren’t.)

(Also: I groan when I hear people say, “I’m deaf (or I have CF, or I have whatever) and I can do ANYthING!” No, you really can’t. You can’t! I can’t! I can’t scuba dive, for example! If you are profoundly deaf you need help interacting with the rest of the world. That’s vitally true, and I’m glad CODA showed it, because it’s too often easy to say “oh, well I don’t need help”. )

The family’s “plan”, if there was one, is for Ruby to continue being the hearing deckhand that the boat needs to operate under Coast Guard guidelines. She’s also their line to the world. But when she joins the school choir and finds out that her music teacher thinks she has a shot at a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, Ruby frantically tries to divide her time between fishing, school, preparing audition material, and being a normal teenager.

Daniel Durant (Leo), Marlee Matlin (Jackie), and Emilia Jones (Ruby) in CODA.

While Ruby’s family intesenly depends on her—something that her brother tries to get them to do less of, hoping they’ll rely on him (He has lip reading skills, and tries to insinuate himself into the hearing culture around him)—Ruby also expresses her ambivalence about leaving her family when she tells her teacher, “I’ve never done anything without my family.”

The Rossis are a vibrant, extroverted family, which can embarrass Ruby, but as one of her friends says, “You parents still like each other!” They’re close knit and that causes tension but they also really do want what is best for each other—even if that means change.

(There’s a crucifix in their house and Ruby wears a small Miraculous Medal throughout the movie. Loved it. :) )

Also from a music standpoint, it’s also accurate. Auditions tend to run the way they do in the movie and if you walked in without your music, you’d definitely get those looks. And you’d also definitely get those looks if you turned up dressed the way Ruby was dressed! (Also big dog, little dog? YES! cracked me up. But I wanted to scream, Ruby put on your concert dress it is right there!!!!!!!! when they left for the audition!)

If there was justice in the world, this would be the movie that people talked about instead of the inane The Power of the Dog, but, we sadly don’t live in this world. While there’s some crude sexual humor, this is a very warm portrayal of a loving family that has flaws and faults but also great strengths.

Kotsur is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the Rossi family patriarch, Frank, (He just won the BAFTA for it) and he does a great job creating a believable relationship with his daughter, and the struggle to stay with what’s familiar as opposed to being vulnerable to new people, who may or may not be totally straight with him.

Emilia Jones (Ruby) and Troy Kotsur (Frank)

I found this movie totally delightful, and I highly encourage you to see it.