a tranquil spirit

 "We must contain ourselves in patience, remembering each morning that our main job is to love God and to serve him and if we don't get things done due to interruptions, well, it cannot be helped, and God will take care of what we leave undone. But a tranquil spirit is important. Saint Teresa says that God cannot rest in an unquiet heart. I have to remember that many times during the day.

                                                               -  Dorothy Day, from Magnificat, April 2026

suddenly warm

 

a woodland themed towel from Debra!

I figure that normal temperatures for this time of year should be in the mid-fifties. Not this week, though! It is going to be in the eighties for a few days, so here we go, trying to get some more variety in the closet.

I finished my skirt, which is just an a-line with elastic waist - very basic. Now I want to make a dress with some thrifted fabric.

the Mr. Kibble statue holding down the pattern piece

It's a soft brushed cotton, a very small pine green and beige check. I was able to mark it with a piece of soap, since the colors were dark enough to show it up. 

Here's my inspiration, stolen off the internet from here

I cut out a bodice piece from a dress pattern I have, and sleeves from another. I'd like mine a little longer, like below the elbow. I've been trying to figure if I want to interline the bodice to give it more structure, or just line it. I think I'll just line it. I hope it will be something useful! One doesn't always know how a thing will come out, or how well it will fit. It is a bit girlish, but I hope that won't be a problem. 

by whose spirit

 God of everlasting mercy,
...increase, we pray,
the grace you have bestowed,
that all may grasp and rightly understand
at what font they have been washed, 
by whose Spirit they have been reborn,
by whose Blood they have been redeemed.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

- Magnificat, April 2026

still Easter

 I hope everyone had a lovely Easter observance. Our orthodox friends will have it tomorrow. The season lasts until Pentecost - we have a nice, long way to go.

"But after pondering Christ's Passion, we will spend the rest of April and beyond rejoicing in the light of his Resurrection, learning to come alive in his life."

                                         -  Fr. Philip Nolan, from Magnificat, April 2026

with the dead hath been

 Love lives again,
That with the dead hath been.
Love is come again
Like wheat that springeth green...

Dierec Bouts

the strange, still day

Holy Saturday almost escapes us in the rush from Good Friday to Easter. What are we to make of this strange and silent day, thousands of years later and already knowing the outcome that tomorrow holds? Should we just focus on the festivities of Easter, only a few hours away? No, for Jesus did not pass instantaneously from death to the Resurrection, skipping over the loneliness and sadness that death introduces into our world. Thus, Holy Saturday consoles us, revealing that even the painful cold and deafening silence of death has been embraced by the Lord.

                                               -   from Magnificat, April 2026

"Holy Saturday is a strange, still day, hanging in an unresolved poise between the darkness of the day before and the light that is not yet with us."

This is ground zero, emptiness and space
With nothing left to say or think or do,
But look unflinching on the sacred face
That cannot move or change or look at you.

-  Malcolm Guite

Diego Velasquez

enough for everyone

Upon this wood his body bore
The nails, the taunts, the spear,
Till water flowed with blood to wash
The whole world free of fear. 

Giotto's Christ Crucified