Searching for a Balance

 I'd heard of Breaking Bread with the Dead by Alan Jacobs, and then someone returned a copy to the library today - I took it. "I wa...

 I really like blogging, but I was sick. I had very little inclination to be taking pictures. And now I'm out of the habit.  So, what...

 "When we are tempted to abandon our discipleship     because we fear our virtues are too small to serve you,                          ...

 "Only where the plough of God has tilled our lives can sowing bear fruit. An enduring deepening of the interior life can be brought ab...

 Oh, this morning - the golden light, the stillness. And the insects, whatever they are, always bzzzing in that background way that you almo...

 "For our nation on Labor Day tomorrow: that we might grow in sanctity by offering our daily tasks to the Lord, and that all who are un...

 I planted morning glory seeds late, I don't recall when, but maybe in June. I didn't want to think it was too late to be starting s...

 DOLLY April 22, 2003  -  August 24, 2022 Memory Eternal, little Queen of Our Hearts

 We had rain today. The real thing, and not for just two minutes. 

 In an article by Madeleine Kearns in National Review magazine, she quote Archbishop Fulton Sheen on the different stages of a man and woman...

 I read something about the blue hour. Then, tonight while doing the dishes, it arrived.  I'm not sure these are anything special, or bl...

Dolly isn't feeling so well these days, with a UTI and poor appetite. We're much occupied in trying to help her out - to feel more c...

 We have a lot of these. Today was the feast of the Assumption of Mary. At Mass on this occasion the priest will bless the fruits of your ga...

 We are still in a very hot spell; there is an official heat advisory until tomorrow night - it started Thursday morning! It was originally ...

 So I'm reading Gatsby, and I've never read Fitzgerald before. His prose is interesting in its spare, aloof matter-of-fact style. I ...

 And the apple slices were gone this morning!

 I am still reading the Gladys Taber; it was the February chapter and she was talking about the bird bath water which had thawed. I suddenly...

 "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."*                               ...

 It was time to shred some zucchini - I did sixteen cups! Well, it was the food processor who did it. All in little two cup bags in the free...

 "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace...

 My intention in blogging is to say something at least on my days off, but here I am after almost two weeks absent. It seems that every now ...

 I finished washing the dishes rather late - it was almost dark. Almost, but you could still see shapes of trees and other things. And firef...

 We sang this hymn at Mass today and it came to me that if an explanation of the goal of the Christian life was wanted, this would do it. Be...

 I'm working on a summery blouse - Butterick 6455 . The fabric is a soft, light yellow gauze type, with a stripe design. I bought it on ...

 It was still pretty light out at five to nine. I was about to close a kitchen window, but pushed up the screen instead and stuck my face ou...

 I came upon a copy of the Declaration of Independence at the thrift store. I bought it, of course!  My brother said it hasn't got prope...

 Last week Dolly's doctor told us she has a tumor on her bladder, most likely cancerous. He gave her a pain med, which is frankly doing ...

 A young woman came in the library the other day - she was maybe, junior high age. She asked my help in finding some books she wanted. One o...

 I picked up a copy of Bringing Tuscany Home, by Frances Mayes; I don't know if I've read it before - I may have - but it feels new....

 The other day, after barely overcoming a migraine, I cast around for a book to dive into and there was Island Magic by Elizabeth Goudge. He...

 I'm enjoying this book by Chesterton, about Saint Francis. "St. Francis was not a lover of nature....The phrase implies accepting ...