back to the park with Emily

The same place we'd been to about a year ago - a place full of bright flowers, long views, cool shade, picturesque sculptures and all kinds of birds. Spaces perfect for weddings and other kinds of get-togethers.

Lots of walking on a warm and humid day. Good exercise, and then root beer floats at the end.

misty morning

much better

I guess I got the hang of it.

knitting agony

After all these years of knitting, I am finally making myself do something with double pointed needles. Hand warmers.

What a misery.

But I'm getting used to it.

does this remind you of a fairy tale?

except there isn't any pea under there,

just a few magazines.

(illustration by Edmund Dulac)

the shed gets a re-paint

amazing how quick they fade.

respectable laziness

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."

                       - from an old issue of Country Living

an unexpected pleasure

Emily dropped by today, bringing a group of sunny faces with her.

A very welcome visit.

first crop

Well, I wandered out to the garden last evening and there was my first crop of the season! A pleasant surprise for this haphazard gardener.

sturdy, thrifted apron

Anna's actually the one who thrifted it - I bought it from her. It's nice and strong, homemade from a heavy ticking. I got the idea at the time that she didn't think anyone would like it. The name on the pocket captivated me. So, thank you, Anna!

and thank you, Rivka.

for He is like a refiner's fire

"Just about the worst thing we can do with Jesus is to domesticate him, to turn him into a nice, harmless figure, simply a teller of tales and a wise spiritual teacher. He announces himself as an arsonist. I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! Jesus' purpose was to set the human race on fire with the Holy Spirit, and that fire would burn away the chaff of sin, corruption, cruelty, and violence. Jesus and the fiery Spirit would clear the spiritual ground, painfully if necessary, in order to create something new.

The arsonist also characterizes himself as a home-wrecker! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Jesus indeed wants to establish a great family. He himself called it the Kingdom of God, and the great tradition refers to it as the mystical body of Christ. But in order for that new and authentic family to emerge, all dysfunctional forms of human community have to give way. If a family or society or culture is predicated upon manipulation, games of domination, arrogance, and fear, then it has to be undermined, cleared away.

The domesticated Christ makes no demands. The real Christ burns and divides - in order to make all things new."

                                              Fr. Robert Barron, Magnificat, August 2013


"Whoever comes close to him must be prepared to be burned. This is a fire that makes things bright and pure and free and grand. Being a Christian, then, is daring to entrust oneself to this burning fire."

                                                Pope Benedict XVI

cross stitch in the hallway

ode to The Murmuring Cottage

Rhonda recently had a link to it on her blog, Down to Earth.  The Murmuring Cottage - now, doesn't that sound dreamy?  It is.

I have no prior experience with Tumblr - I guess I don't troll around the internet as much as some folks do - but I was immediately glad I followed this link. The Murmuring Cottage, a place I am happy to visit any time. A photoblog of every single thing which appeals to me. Who is this person, and how does she know? Everything I like.

Some seem to be her own photos; most, from here and there on the internet. I'm one who feels better just looking at pictures in cozy decor books and magazines. I suppose Pinterest would do the same for me, but I don't belong to that; I prefer tearing out pages. I don't really want to be always becoming a member here there and everywhere. But, guess what? After discovering what a group of photos in such an arrangement can do, I was seized with the desire to see my own pictures in the same arrangement. So I joined Tumblr and started my own photoblog, here. For anyone who's familiar with this blog, the pictures you see there will all be old friends. But I didn't have to think twice about it, and now they're all there. For what it's worth.

Mine will never have that same air, the aura which can be found at the Murmuring Cottage, but that's okay. And to the person who is collecting those photographs - thank you, whoever you are. To anybody like me who responds to imagery, it's a soothing oasis. I do appreciate it.

fading hydrangeas

The hydrangeas weren't so deeply blue this summer, but they're fading to such a beautiful lavender.

feast of St. Jane Frances de Chantal

"If we patiently accept through love all that God allows to happen, then we will begin to taste even here on earth something of the delights the saints experience in heaven. But for this we must serve God willingly and lovingly, seeking to obey the Divine Will rather than to follow our own inclinations and desires. For the perfection of love demands that we desire for ourselves only whatever God wills. Let us implore the good God unceasingly to grant us this grace!"

                                 -  St. Jane Frances de Chantal

Martha's tomato, basil and white bean salad

There's a bean salad recipe in Martha Stewart's Dinner at Home which is a great substitute for potato or pasta salad, and much faster; I made it today.

It's basically a mixture of canned beans, chopped plum tomatoes and basil, with some salt. You then heat up some olive oil and add minced garlic, heating it for no more than two minutes. Pour it over the bean mix, and let it sit a half hour for flavors to mix. (I forgot this step today, but it tasted fine.)

So, what I did today for three people was mix:

• three cans of any kind of beans, drained and rinsed
• plum tomatoes, chopped (or canned diced tomatoes) *
• plenty of fresh basil (or dried if that's what you have) *
• some salt

the dressing:

• three tablespoons or so of olive oil, warmed up on medium
• three garlic cloves, minced

I think it's best at room temperature. So easy, so fast, so good!

*amounts up to you

bouquet of summer

making iced tea

white socks on a line?

or just a Rorschach moment?

two down

“Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together we become a new creature.

To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take…If we commit ourselves to one person for life this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation…It takes a lifetime to learn another person…When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected.”

― Madeleine L'Engle, The Irrational Season

August Saturday

one down

the dress I made for the wedding

Well, I've been asked about the dress I'm making for the second wedding.

Like I said, I didn't have anything in my closet suitable, so I went through my clippings - and decided on this -

It's beautiful, isn't it?  But don't get excited. I knew I wasn't going to find that wonderful, embroidered fabric; and I don't have her slim, long waist or broader shoulders either.. What appealed to me was the gracefulness of it, the long, sleeveless coolness for the dog days of early August.

So my first task was to find a pattern. I didn't think I could just come across a dress pattern like this one, but was pretty sure there must be a blouse pattern which I could combine with an a-line skirt design I already have. And I was right - I got Butterick 5890 on sale - almost exactly what I was looking for. My idea was to buy some cheap but pretty fabric to try it out on and get it perfected, then buy some nicer fabric and make another one for the wedding. A suggested fabric on the pattern envelope was eyelet - everybody loves that! I found some on fabric.com which was only four dollars and something per yard and I bought plenty. I think this is about when I found the Chinese seamstress on Etsy and ordered my other dress - which took much stress off me; but I still wanted to continue with my creation. The fabric was a poly/cotton, which I really don't like, but since this was to be an experiment, I wanted to spend as little as possible, so I put up with the fabric content I didn't want. Here it is waiting to be hemmed - pretty, at least.

Like I've said, I make lots of mistakes when sewing, so I went very slowly, in between household chores; it took far longer than anticipated. I realized I didn't need to combine it with my skirt pattern - I just extended the line of the blouse, which is rather long and full - much easier! I cut out my size on the pattern piece but it was huge and I had to take in the sides more than once. The armholes were quite big and needed adjusting. It also took me a couple of tries to get the bias binding on the neck edge to lay flat. (much spraying and pressing!) Oh, and the invisible zipper - after sewing it in twice with a method from Threads, I ended up stitching it in by hand. After three rows of stitching, now it's perfect.

Since the fabric quality is cheap, it's kind of thin and I realized early on I'd need an underdress for it. I used some bleached muslin I bought for quilt backing and just made another dress (which went quite fast, by the way). I left out the zipper, feeling I should just tack it inside somehow.

So I decided to hand-stitch it to the zipper tape all the way down, and also a little on the shoulder seams.

I got it to fit in nicely (praise God and all the saints!) As there's no time to make another version, I think it'll do well enough with my white sandals, silver hoops, and my mother's white beads. I also trecently bought a green cardigan which just happens to look very good with this dress - I always have to be sure I won't freeze in air conditioning.

So, there it is - not as flowing as the inspiration - I will have to try it again with a wider fabric than the usual 44" to get that effect, I think. Yes, I definitely plan to make it again.

the half-made home

"Nobody has a right to be bored in a half-made home. A home which is not a fair expression of us at our best, a home which lacks what it might have, a home which is in any part more ugly or in any part more uncomfortable than it absolutely need be...a home which cannot be run without waste, a home which by any detail gets on the nerves of its inhabitants and so impairs the harmony of their existence - something ought to be done about such a home."

                                         -  Arnold Bennett,  quoted by Sarah Ban Breathnach in Simple Abundance

a prayer

God our Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, grant us in accord with the riches of your glory to be strengthened with power through your Spirit in the inner self. Grant that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, and that rooted and grounded in love, we may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Through the same Christ our Lord, Amen.

                                               -  Magnificat,  July 2013

cats relaxing

thinking again about canning jars

A year ago I was telling Debra that if she wanted any canning jars she could have some, because I had so many and knew I'd never have any use for them.  Now suddenly I'm using them - not for canning, but for my refrigerator pickles and my iced tea, which I don't have a nice pitcher for. (Actually, there was a pretty one at Salvation Army the other day, but two quarts of tea in a glass pitcher?  It would be so heavy - I didn't buy it.)

I'm not so inclined to be rid of them anymore.

a jam swap

When we were rolling in wild berries, I had so many in the fridge but not enough time to bake with them. So, one night around nine thirty I decided to make freezer jam, like last year. I altered the flavorings, but the berry to sugar to pectin ratios were the same. It took less than a half hour. 

Meanwhile, my co-worker Linda had made some raspberry freezer jam - did I want some? Yes, and would you like a jar of mine? And that's how I ended up with a nice dilemma for my morning toast. 

When in doubt,  have some of each.