Apr. 25, 2008 - ANZAC DAY 2008

In rememberance of those who "took a stand"; lest we forget

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
--Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)Dachau Concentration Camp survivor

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Apr. 16, 2008 - Quite the quote!

Okay I admit it sounds a bit trite but q isn't the easiest letter to work with you Wordless Wednesday people!
Still all that aside I am inviting readers of this blog to share from their current readings passages that have impressed them, made a difference to their life or just plain made them laugh.I have another one ready(hint its another children's author[is this genre all I read these days!]and has nothing to do with the plot of the book which is..."Down in the Cellar" by Nicholas Stuart Gray)I have just discovered that a second-hand copy of this book starts at $125! And to think I bought it originally because I liked the illustrator!

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Apr. 16, 2008 - Listen to the Nightingale

Once upon a time- a hundred years ago the smallest children at Holbein’s believed- Madame had been Niura, a little Russian girl living in the country with her grandmother.” ’ Niura,’she used to tell me,” Madame in turn told the children,” ‘listen to the nightingale.’
“Why did she tell you to listen to the nightingale?” asked Archie, an inquisitive boy.
“I think she was trying to tell me that, though I was a dancer first and foremost, there are still other things in the world that I should need- yes, need,” said Madame.
“What sort of things?”
“Oh, cats and dogs, flowers, books, parties, wine and people of course. All things far removed from Lottie. We all need them and I have listened to nightingales and their kind ever since.”
From “Listen to the Nightingale” by Rumer Godden


Lottie is a little girl who has been primed from birth to be a dancer.
Dancing is her life and the expectation that this is to be the focus of her life is emphasized by all those around her.
How Lottie incorporates nightingales in her life forms the theme of the story
.
I picked this book up to take on a recent trip across the Tasman for “light” reading.
But I knew that because it was written by Rumer Godden it would also have something to say to my soul.
“Listen to the Nightingale” is one of the author’s children’s books.
Until now I have mainly read her adult fiction and biographies. I think the book itself was one of “their kind” for me but it also gave me permission to actively seek other nightingales.
I am a wife and mother. I believe God has called me to these vocations. These are if you like the focus, direction of my life. I could not and indeed it would not be right if I were to devote my time to themes outside these were God not to call me!!.
But the small and important secret is that as I nourish my soul with nightingales my focus or life’s direction is also fed; coloured in if you like by the other experiences I bring to it.

I think this wise fictional grandmother was reminding me that my life can become overly obsessionally directed in its focus if I don’t. How can being a mother, wife become an obsessional focus?
Well I’m thinking I suppose of the homeschooling aspect of mothering where without moving from my chair my eyes graze over titles such as “Ten things Parents must teach their children” “Babies Need Books” “”For the Children’s Sake” ”Education in the Heart of the Home” ”Designing your own classical curriculum” “Beyond Survival” ”Let us Highly Resolve”. Many of these books are favourite friends, and ones I would wholeheartedly recommend to those starting their homeschooling journey, they help me to stay focused.
But a focus needs diversions to survive, to stay fresh and to grow stronger.
Without it the converse applies dryness, burnout being some of the effects.
How have I applied this quote this week? Where are my nightingales? Well since returning home last Thursday I would count the following: a walk Sunday afternoon amongst “wonderfilled” plants. (You should have seen the colours of those dahlias and the shapes those melons could grow into!) with a close friend(thank you Mary)
Noting how Autumn is at last touching our district ,rejoicing in the vibrant reds on our otherwise ordinary trees that dot one of the main roads in our suburb as we drive to Mass. Savoring a cup of white tea(a sweet and subtle flavour from the Fujian mountains). Closing my eyes and remembering the smile, the hug, the touch received from my family.
Listening and watching the birds that visit our yard; such tiny delicate honey eaters come to drink nectar from our parched garden(amazing that they can find nourishment; take joy in the cycles of life).
I remember reading not so long ago how for one woman one of her nightingales was actually her salvation; turned her life around, drew her away from the obsessions in her mind gave her permission to start again. Try it!

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Mar. 19, 2008 - Check this out !

There is an interesting new blog on blogger. I really liked her bucket list: check it out!

  http://mezza-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/

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Mar. 6, 2008 - SEASONS

Recently a friend reminded me that it has been a while since I’ve updated this blog. Don’t know why exactly,things happen life gets busy,…. but last year/ month had the same amount of business, so I’m not sure why; seasons?

This Lent has been a time to come back to a more regular prayer time. I have been using  the Divine Office and thanks to ds leaving the books behind have begun by praying the morning and evening prayers and the office of readings.

Have loved finding connections in this too. No surprise that our school readings from “The Young Josephus” match often my Lenten readings in the morning.

Also I have been revisiting this blog  http://holyexperience.blogspot.com/  and through it I read a recommendation for a book ” The Contemplative Mom” by Ann Krocker. I am really enjoying this book. It is not that it offers anything new but more that it’s the right time to be reading it, seasons again?

Today: simply being with God; experiencing God by simply being His child is really freeing. Living conscious God is there always. Going about my day practicing the meditation”I am a child of God” , picturing Him holding my hand, walking beside me.Repeating,”my Father in heaven cares what happens to me His child” He is the parent I am His child; a perfect parent-perfect in caring, love and wisdom;always available. Rest in the moment. Not rocket science, not earth shattering or  going to change the world but where I am now this season.

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Jan. 17, 2008 - Mel in Jan

A photo of Mel before she went back. As you can see we will all miss her very much.

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Jan. 15, 2008 - Some gifts at Christmas

Here are some Christmas presents made by ds18. for ds6 and ds10 (ds18 received an equivalent TER of 99.15 and an offer to study in Journalism and International Studies. Wouldn’t you say that was something to be proud of!)

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Aug. 19, 2007 - FAIRY TALES

"In making a myth, in practicing 'mythopoeia,' and peopling the world with elves and dragons and goblins, a story-teller .. is actually fulfilling God's purpose, and reflecting a splintered fragment of the true light." J.R.R. Tolkien

 We have finished listening to Prince Caspian on audio tape. I love this description of celebration after a battle.

Then Bacchus and Silenus and the Maenads began a dance, far wilder than the dance of the trees; not merely a dance for fun and beauty(though it was that too) but a magic dance of plenty, and when their hands touched and where their feet fell, the feast came into existence--- sides of roasted meat that filled the grove with delicious smell, and wheaten cakes and oaten cakes, honey and many coloured sugars and cream as thick as porridge and as smooth as still water, peaches, nectarines, pomengranates, pears, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, pyramids and cataracts of fruit. Then in great wooden cups and bowls and mazers, wreathed with ivy, came the wines…..Then Aslan feasted the Narnians till long after the sunset had died away, and the stars had come out; ….The best thing of all about this feast was that there was no breaking up or going away, but as the talk grew  quieter and slower, one after another would begin to nod and finally drop off to sleep with feet towards the fire and good friends on either side, till at last there was silence around the circle…But all night Aslan and the moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.

 It is quite timely as I have been thinking a lot on fairy tales and fables and their importance in the development of a culture. Dh told us this story at the dinner table.

 Once a dying man was told by a western doctor, after many invasive tests  that he'd had a heart attack and was going to die. But the family were not reconciled to the news and  so they called in a Chinese physician. When he came all he did was hold the patients hand for a long time. Then finally he told a beautiful story about the man's life both in the past, where he was now and what he could expect in the future. The same facts as the western doctor were "included" in the sense that everyone knew the man would die but the story helped the family to accept and prepare so much better.

 Man is not ultimately a liar. He may pervert his thoughts into lies, but he comes from God, and it is from God that he draws his ultimate ideals ... Not merely the abstract thoughts of man but also his imaginative inventions must originate with God, and in consequence reflect something of eternal truth.

 So many Christians are frightened of the word magic. How sad when the word itself came into being through the Word. And if you think of the Supernatural what could be more “magical” than the good God thinking  then speaking the world and all its parts into being. Then too as a Catholic surely to a child(and we are all called to have faith such as these)isn’t it magical that a small wafer turns into Christ himself. I can only marvel and kneel in wonder at this Supernatural Power. Of course there is “bad” magic just as evil really does exist but here’s the thing surely its how , what and why something is used for that is important not the thing itself. It puts me in mind a bit of those who decry garden gnomes because they say they are of the occult. Oh for the innocence of a child.

 Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it Really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's myth where the others are men's myths; i.e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of the poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things' ... namely, the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection."(Tolkein)

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Aug. 18, 2007 - CRAFTING IN AUGUST

We have been doing a lot of making lately. Dd made this dress for one of our “ancient” dolls. She designed it without a pattern and it was her first use of the sewing machine. I think she did a really good job.

Two other projects she made were quilts for dolls house beds. The squares are very tiny. It must have been a real test of patience!

And finally I decided to make a minature babushka pincushion for a friends birthday

I also made her some chocolate fudge.

Here is our seasonal table in autumn/winter. Dd sewed the gnomes and ds6 + ds 10 found things to put on the table. The table is constantly changing as more treasures are found.

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Aug. 17, 2007 - THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

For the feast of the assumption. We put our art work on our sky bulletin board beneath a rainbow with this beautiful poem.

The Angels Prepare the Assumption

                         By Thomas H. Cosgrove

We'll hew a highway through the skies

And pave it white with sheen

For pure must be the pathway

Where walks a stainless Queen.

We'll fuse the fairest rainbows

In one symphonic hue

And gaily tint the fabric

Of our Lady's avenue.

If Heaven's brightest beauties

Should dare her pathway bar

We'll cleave the sun in splinters

And shatter every star.

We'll drain the fresh new dawning

Of all its dewdrop spray

And with it soothe the roughness

That mars the maiden's way.

Then all the angel choirs

With anthems swelling sweet

Shall lead the lovely Lady

Along her spangled street.

A destiny of glory

This roadway shall complete

When at its end the Mother

And the Son of God shall meet.

We had this delicious salad with our main course:

Assumpta Salad:           

 Salad

8 medium-size ripe tomatoes, sliced

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 cup pitted black olives, drained

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 cup cubed feta cheese (I omit)

Vinaigrette

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

5 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together until thickened. Let stand for about 1 hour before using to steep the garlic.

For the salad, arrange tomato slices on 6 to 8 salad plates. Sprinkle the onion and olives among them. Sprinkle the herbs evenly, then add the cheese cubes in the middle of each dish.

Whisk vinaigrette just before serving and drizzle evenly over each plate. Serve immediately.

and we ate mixed berries with vanilla ice-cream for dessert.

                                          Finally ds made these angels and Mary from beeswax. What he got out of this was so much more than the shaping and forming into recognizable models which he could have done more easily from sculpey if that was the only purpose of the activity. He found he really had to persevere with the beeswax even just to get it malleable but of course all the time he was doing this there was the beautiful soft smell of the wax to inhale.

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Aug. 3, 2007 - She's been gone One Week

A photo of  Mel before she left for a 6 month working holiday in N.Z. Lachlan says"Now I've got 2 people from my family in foreign countries.  " But L," I say" I'm a New Zealander and so are 3 of your brothers and 1 of your sisters." "well," came the prompt reply"Its still foreign to me."!

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Jun. 10, 2007 - The next stage of the journey

The postulants about to embark on their journey.

St Fidelis Friary, Kansas

I guess you could call this the pre-novitiate "settling in" process!!

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Apr. 17, 2007 - EASTER 2007

                                  Easter 2007.

Wonderful memories! The seventh anniversary of us “coming Home” as a family!

Master 9 served at all the Holy Week services; even to carrying a torch at the Easter Vigil. I am so proud of the way ds(17) has trained him in serving; albeit the training began only 2 weeks before Holy Week!

Master 9 put up ALL of our vine Lenten devotions” add-ons”.(On Holy Saturday the vine is decorated with flowers, caterpillars, butterflies and the like).

Master 5 rang in Easter Sunday by ringing the Alleluia bell.(master 9 not so happy about this as ds + dd in teens had stipulated after a late night with the Easter Vigil they did not one of the littles ringing the bell before 8am!...but said Master 5”I can’t tell the time yet”).

Grandma was with us for all of Holy Week and has just gone home today. What a treasure for the children to see their grandmother whenever she had a free moment “fingering her beads”.

Ds(17)presented me with a beautiful monogrammed egg he had decorated on my birthday.(even down to the crack he had sp painstakingly mended just hours before when it crashed from his desk to the floor it was perfect!

Dd(15) prepared and cooked beautiful treats for our family including magnificent “hot cross buns”. She decorated beautiful eggs including an egg tree.

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Mar. 26, 2007 - The Annunciation

    Instituted by the Apostles. The oldest Marian festival.The day marked the beginning of the New Year in old style calendars.

One of those features of the Christian story which is repulsive to the modern mind. To be quite frank, we do not at all like the idea of a "chosen people". Democrats by birth and education, we should prefer to think that all nations and individuals start level in the search for God, or even that all religions are equally true. It must be admitted at once that Christianity makes no concessions to this point of view. It does not tell of a human search for God at all, but of something done by God for, to, and about Man. And the way in which it is done is selective, undemocratic, to the highest degree. After the knowledge of God had been universally lost or obscured, one man from the whole earth (Abraham) is picked out. He is separated (miserably enough, we may suppose) from his natural surroundings, sent into a strange country, and made the ancestor of a nation who are to carry the knowledge of the true God. Within this nation there is further selection: some die in the desert, some remain behind in Babylon. There is further selection still. The process grows narrower and narrower, sharpens at last into one small bright point like the head of a spear. It is a Jewish girl at her prayers. All humanity (so far as concerns its redemption) has narrowed to that.(from MIRACLES, by C S Lewis.)

 "For He that is mighty hath done great things for me, and Holy is His Name." (Luke 1:49)

The "great things" are nothing less than that she became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed upon her as pass man's understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among whom she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in Heaven, and such a child.
   She herself is unable to find a name for this work, it is too exceedingly great; all she can do is break out in the fervent cry: "They are great things," impossible to describe or define. Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God.
   No one can say anything greater of her or to her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, or grass in the fields, or stars in the sky, or sand by the sea. It needs to be pondered in the heart, what it means to be the Mother of God

                             from Martin Luther's sermon "On the MAGNIFICAT"

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Mar. 23, 2007 - Rain Rain glorious rain!

  Rain, rain glorious rain!

Rain on me

Rain on you

Rain all over the windowpanes

Rain running all over the leaves, shining the flowers all clean again

Oh I am SO glad its raining again

                  by    T. Cromb   (9 years)

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