Michaelmas!

Today is the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel. 
One of my favorite prayers, that I say often, is the prayer to Saint Michael:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle

be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.

And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, 

by the Divine power of God, 

cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, 

who roam throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls.

Last year, Paul and I planted Michaelmas Daisies in the garden.  I brought some into the house for today.

Darling

This is a tale of the elusive "Darling" pin.  My mother had a beautiful antique pin, inscribed with the word "Darling".  I always loved that pin, and when my mother passed, expressed a desire to keep it from my mother's belongings.

When my sisters and I began going through my mother's things after she passed, we could not find the pin in with the rest of her jewelry.  We felt really horrible.  Then, miraculously (St. Anthony had a a hand in this!) we found the pin almost by chance, after unfolding a crochet shawl my mother had made.  She had worn the Darling pin with the shawl, but had the foresight to attach it to the shawl with a vinyl (invisible) thread so it would not be lost by accident.  So I took the pin home and placed it in my jewelry box.

A few weeks ago, I was looking for the pin.  I swear I took apart my jewelry box looking for it, but it was not there.  I asked my sister Barbara if she had it by chance - she did not, but promised to say a prayer to St. Anthony, asking for his assistance.  I did so as well.  I looked in the attic, trying to find my mother's shawl.  I couldn't find that either (although I did find a shawl she had made for me).  I felt just awful, thinking it was gone for good.

Today, I set about cleaning my completely messy and disorganized house (Robert is coming here on Tuesday!!).  I have been in the process of setting up a makeup table in an antique desk in our room (more on that in a future blog post).  I decided to do a clean and purge of my jewelry box (something I had planned on doing whilst looking for the pin; there was so much in there that I no longer wanted, and it was bursting at the seams).  And what do you think happened?  I found "Darling"!!  She is now in a small box, safely in the jewelry box, so I will always know exactly where she is.

I'm so happy!

Health Update (Healthy Eating)

So, I have been sick for 2 1/2 weeks.  It started just before I began my healthy living stuff I mentioned in my previous posts.  It just seemed to get worse and worse with each day.  Finally the doctor gave me antibiotics last week.  I also am getting over laryngitis.  I was too exhausted to do much, but during this time the sprouts grew, Paul and I are eating more salads (with sprouts!), and I also tried a healing drink.

But I am finally on the mend.  I still cannot sing due to the recovering laryngitis.  So I doubt I will be able to sing at all for Easter.  This bums me out more than I can say.  Maybe I'll post on those emotions another time.  Today though, I went to ballet class!  So that was a bright spot. (Separate post on that to come.)

Photos:

Pea Shoot Sprouts Growing Nicely

Healthy Healing Drink:

Coconut milk, Manuka honey, fresh ginger, turmeric

I had peeled the ginger and turmeric that went into the drink pictured

Note: the AC vinegar in the back was not part of the drink!

Mardi Gras King Cake (gluten-free!)

We had only a small memento of Mardi Gras this year - a King Cake alone.  I was tied up with appointments, and Tyler and Paul went to Boy Scouts.  So no party.  But I had the presence of mind several weeks ago to order a gluten-free King Cake from Sweet Ali's in Glenview.  It was beautifully made, and included the requisite plastic baby (added after baking, of course). It was really delicious!  I was worried about that, and even considered getting a regular cake in addition, but the whole family liked it.  Sweet Ali's is an excellent bakery.  We are fortunate to have them so close.

There's that baby

om nom nom

Kleen Owt!! (Healthy Start/CIRS)

Yesterday I watched a webinar (free!) presented by Dr. Axe.  I was interested in the whole "leaky gut" business because my doctor diagnosed me with Hashimoto's and CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome) last year.  I had an understanding of how the gut plays into this, but needed reinforcement because I am easily tempted to cheat.  To my credit, I have been working assiduously for the past month to avoid it.  I'm doing very well.  The only hang up is the small amount of gluten contained in the Communion hosts each Sunday (I have read that they do make reduced gluten hosts, apparently low enough that some celiacs could potentially consider using them? But don't go by me on that!! Ask your doctor!)  My doctor felt that for me, a non-celiac, the weekly host would not be a problem.  But I may gently probe around at church, see if they do offer them.  

For those who are not familiar with CIRS, here's a nice general definition from a website:
"CIRS is the illness that occurs when someone who is genetically vulnerable to bio-toxins is exposed and reacts with chronic and systemic inflammation. It turns out 25% of the population carries the genetics responsible for this condition."

I found the webinar talk to be inspiring, just the push I needed.  I wanted to have a small renewal, have plans to make an immune-building soup, plus this yummy other soup I made previously.  But my fridge was woefully in need of a cleaning and purging.  I did this, there was some "Eeew" involved in the back of the vegetable drawer, got the shelves wiped down (need to do the door shelves still).  Here it is, emptied out, waiting for new groceries:  

Groceries are bought, waiting to be utilized.  I started today baking a large butternut squash for tonight's soup.  Tomorrow I'll do the immune-building soup.  I also want to make a soup I posted about previously (here).  It was so yummy, and made enough to freeze, which I did.  Last week I thawed it out for dinner - still yummy!!

I see my doctor at the end of the month.  I hope my month of gluten-free strictness and this new motivation to improve diet even more will pay off.  

Epiphany - Chalking The Door

Chalking the door is a tradition that I had never heard about until this year.  The wonders of social media introduced me to this.  Here is an explanation (with the year adjusted for 2017) of what this is all about from the website One Peter Five: "Epiphany marks the occasion of a time-honored Christian tradition of “chalking the doors.” Take chalk of any color and write the following above the entrance of your home: 20 + C+M + B + 17.  The letters have two meanings. First, they represent the initials of the Magi - Caspar, Malchior, and Balthazar - who came to visit Jesus in His first home. They also abbreviate the Latin phrase, Christus mansionem benedicat: “May Christ bless the house.” The “+” signs represent the cross, and the “20” at the beginning and the “17” at the end mark the year. Taken together, this inscription is performed as a request that Christ to bless those homes so marked that he stay with those who dwell therein throughout the entire year."

"Practicing traditions like the chalking of the doors helps us to live our Faith more concretely and serve as an outward sign of our dedication to Our Lord. Our homes are also the place where many of us will make the greatest strides in our spiritual growth, through observance of daily prayer, spiritual reading, and work offered as an oblation to God.  The chalking of the doors of a home encourages Christians to dedicate their life at home to God and to others. Seeing the symbols over our doors can help to remind us, while passing in and out on our daily routines, that our homes and all those who dwell there belong to Christ. It also serves as a reminder of welcoming the Magi gave to Jesus. We should strive to be as welcoming to all who come to our homes to visit us!"

So, this year we decided to do this.  After this Sunday's Mass, we came home, got the chalk, our bottle of Holy Water, and a printed-our prayer.  I lit a "Jesus, Mary, Joseph" stick of incense, and we went outside to our front porch and chalked the door.  Paul held Tyler up on his shoulder so Tyler could chalk the door.  We said the prayers and sprinkled some Holy Water.  I like this ritual!

This Christmas Season 2016

Christmas this year was/is unusual.  It was very musical choir-wise, not harp though (at least - not played by me, we did a special piece with choir and a professional harpist).  I was on the "bad list" at work, so was scheduled for all of Christmas, other than a small window of time later on Christmas Eve. Robert is in Portland, and Julie and Tyler went to Michigan since I was stuck working.  So our big family dinner is yet to come.  But I will give you the highlights so far, starting from early December.

Early December: 

Handel's Messiah, a new church for us, with a new choir.  

I was asked to sing a "O Thou That Tellest", my first solo.  

It was nerve-wracking, but all went well.

Our fireplace needed extensive repairs: 

Tuck-pointing, chimney cap, a stainless steel liner, and a fan.  ($$$)  

But all is well, and I love being able to use the fireplace again.  

Before Christmas frivolousness:

Christmas red toenail polish!

(And a kitty who likes to rub his chin on toes!)

Christmas Eve Choir Music:

Multiple pieces, including selections from Britten's "Ceremony of Carols".  

We had Ben Melsky as our harpist (awesome, playing the difficult harp accompaniment).  

I practiced long and hard on this piece.  

Musically it is difficult, but also the text is Middle English and Latin.  

(Here's a sample: "Wolcum Yole!" Voci Nobili with harpist Willy Postma)

In a nice surprise, we have been slow at work.  I had to go in from 11 AM to 3 PM, but then was downstaffed for the rest. Paul, Kristin, and I had a nice Christmas Dinner together - enjoying each other, but missing the rest of our family members. But we will all be together next week.  Julie and Tyler are home, and Robert will be visiting from far away Portland.  

(I haven't seen the lad in four whole months!)

Advent Begins

“Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent…If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time.”

— Fr. Edward Hayes

On Saturday, Julie and Tyler went to Queen of All Saints for an Advent wreath crafting.  The result is beautiful.  We lit the first candle this evening.  In the background is a 2016 Valrhona chocolate Advent calendar that we bought at Trader Joe's.  Tyler is very much looking forward to December 1st, when he can open the first flap.

"Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel 

Shall come to thee, O Israel."

Vacation Photos! (Lodgings and Interesting Places)

I have been a very bad blogger lately.  Either too busy or too tired and unorganized to get a post together.  I have been meaning to post these photos for two months.

We went to South Sea Resort on Captiva Island, Florida.  It was lovely.  I was so glad to have the entire family together.  And I was so happy that Tyler finally had a "real" vacation, and his first airplane ride.

Our lodgings:

Our building

Spiral staircase to the loft!

Loft bedroom 

(there were two additional bedrooms downstairs, 

plus a sleeper sofa, to fit all of us in.)

View from the loft, taken by Kristin 

Interesting places:

Trolley for traveling about the resort

The Arcade

Scoops Ice Cream and Candy Shop

Cantina Captiva with the family

The view from Saint Isabel's Church.  

We went to Mass there on the Sunday of our trip.

Stayed tuned - more to come!

Beautiful Easter Morning

Organizing The Music - Before

Back in the year 2011, five years ago, I had posted about three areas I wanted to organize: sewing stuff, long hair stuff, and music.  I completed the first two that year.  It has taken me five years to get around to organizing the music.  There was a reason for that; the music was all over the place, in large unorganized piles, and the thought of going there was completely overwhelming.  I had four file boxes that I had started organizing previously, but as I said - it was overwhelming, and so nothing was really done.

But in preparation for and during this Lenten season, I have been reading a book called The Little Oratory.  The book is about creating sacred spaces in the home, in particular a prayer table, or oratory, to be a bridge between church and home.  I loved this idea, and wanted it for my home.  But where to put it?  I considered each room of the house.  The dining room is too crowded, as is the sitting room.  The foyer is too busy of a space.  But the parlor, which is also our music room, seemed perfect: quiet, peaceful, and we even have two small stained glass windows there!  The recommendation is that, if possible, if one could be facing east when at the oratory that would be ideal.  But we had our love seat in that space:

However, I thought that if I reversed the placement of everything in the room from east to west, I could have the harp by the window on the right, and the oratory on the left.  This seemed ideal.  But then there was that pesky little problem of disorganization of the music.  I wanted the room to be worthy of a sacred space.  But this is what I saw:

And this was just the tip of the iceberg.  Besides this and the files already in boxes, I had another stack near the files in the basement, and another huge stack in a small cabinet in the dining room.  The writing was on the wall - I had a big job to do, and do it I must.  

It "helped" that right around the time I decided to do this, I had a small cut on my index finger: one of those tiny, but horridly painful cracked skin cuts from winter weather and handwashing as a nurse.  Small as a paper cut, but infinitely more deadly in pain, rendering me unable to practice harp.  So I gathered everything together: all of the music, the four file boxes, file folders, label maker (for the outside file box labels; the label tabs were done by hand or I would be working forever on this), a Sharpie marker, and a good movie to watch:

It is important to note that I did this gradually, over at least a week, because it is boring tedious work.  Plus the fact that I tried to move everything out of the way once done for the day, do we could still live in the space.  It was important to be by a TV while doing this to stave off boredom, but it was right plunk in our living space.  During, before moving out of the way (I Spy - three cats!):

Stayed tuned for the next post: After!

Lent Is Upon Us (But First, A King Cake!)

Prior to Ash Wednesday this year, we did not have a Mardi Gras party as we did last.  But I wanted to try making a King cake.  I found this one:

It included a little plastic baby; note that you are not supposed to bake the baby in the cake. They recommend just placing it under someone's slice of cake, but that is dumb.  What I did was this - once the cake was cooled, I wheedled the baby into the seam where the cake had been rolled up after adding the praline mixture.  Then we frosted it, so no evidence was seen. Of course, I made sure Tyler got the plastic baby piece.  However, he was not impressed (thought it was creepy - it sort of was!).  I did not try it since I am avoiding gluten, but Paul, Kristin, and Tyler all seemed to enjoy it.

The cake, all decorated.

Inside Tyler's piece, the creepy baby.

Before I wrapped up the rest of the cake, I stuck the baby on top.  

Can you tell I had fun with this?

A New Session of Bible Study

My Bible study group finished our Daniel study before Christmas.  We had a break and are now working on a study of Malachi.  It's a shorter and less intense study.  The videos are important to this study - it does not stand alone well without them.  And the videos are funny, because the author, Lisa Harper, is a hoot.

Today, Paul and I went for coffee (I was picking up from the co-op, which is sort of near his work).  We were talking about a work issue he had, and how he knew there was a problem in a certain situation.  Without thinking I said, "Oh, so you saw the writing on the wall".  Then I realized I was using the idiom that we had learned got its source from Daniel (Daniel 5:5, if you want to look it up!).  I explained all this to Paul - not sure how interested he was, but I was very proud of myself for remembering this!

Malachi: a messenger sent to a spiritually wretched people 

- can apply as much today as it did back then.

A Chesterton quote from the study:

"God had written, not so much a poem, but rather a play; 

a play he had planned as perfect, but which had necessarily been left 

to human actors and stage-managers, who had since made a great mess of it.”

Christmas Was Lovely

This Christmas was one of the best I have ever had.  It was mostly stress-free, pleasant happenings, happy memories.

Christmas Eve - I only had to work a half-shift, then came home to eat and rest before Mass. I sang with the choir.  We started before the Mass.  We sang a lot of different music, some very difficult, some familiar.  It was a lot of work learning it.  But we sang well.  The whole Mass was very beautiful.  Then home to finish up wrapping and do the stockings.  Julie outdid herself by baking tons of cookies for Santa.

Christmas Day Morning - Ty woke us up early, very excited.  We opened gifts.  I got a bottle of Jo Malone Orange Blossom (I have been wanting it for perhaps a year!).  It smells divine. The Little Boy was happy with his gifts.

Christmas Day Afternoon - Cooking!  Kristin made her usual lasagna.  I made the dark and soft restaurant rolls and seasoned the Tofurkey to bake.  Robert and Sierra made all of the sides, with me just helping here and there with chopping, and then minding everything while it baked.

Christmas Dinner - How beautiful.  It was candlelight and china, tasty wine and unusual beer provided by Sierra, and the food turned out great.  The conversation was pleasant, no fighting amongst the siblings, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

It was a blessed season.

Ty places the star.

The tree, all decorated.

Orange Blossom Deliciousness!

Advent 2015

Ty lights the Advent Wreath (with Santa in the middle!).

Meeting the Archbishop - 170 Year Church Anniversary

Last Saturday evening, for the Vigil Mass at St. Joseph, we celebrated 170 years since our church's founding.  There were at least 17 current and former priests, and the celebrant of the Mass was His Excellency Archbishop Blase Cupich.  Bishop Francis Kane was also there.  It was pretty awesome to see two Bishops on the altar in their mitres.

Our choir sang. We had a live string quartet to accompany us, plus, our director put other instruments into his keyboard, so it sounded like an orchestra.  There were two soprano soloists who sang so beautifully.  Our director picked some fantastic music, very moving and uplifting.  In particular, When In Our Music God Is Glorified by Green/Stanford/arr. by McDonald and Faithfulness by Chisholm/Raney.  We also sang excerpts from Hör mein Bitten by Mendelssohn, with a soprano soloist.  This was tricky!  Difficult parts, all in German! What was really neat is that this piece was written in the same year our church was founded. And our church has a strong German influence. More props to our director for finding it.

At the end, the Archbishop greeted the parishioners, even posing for pictures.  I got such a nice photo of Tyler with him.  He's holding his crozier, which I have never seen up close.  It was a marvelous event!

Vintage Book - With Stories Of Saints

A long time ago I had purchased a vintage book from childhood: This is Our Town.  I had always loved the stories in this book as a child.  Then, this week Tyler got an assignment in his Catholic PREP class regarding saints, and we needed to find some information on saints that might interest Tyler.

A tangent: I should mention a change that has occurred, resulting in Ty needing to attend PREP; he no longer goes to our local Catholic school, and needs his religious education to continue.  PREP is the modern day equivalent of CCD (for all of you vintage Catholics out there that may have attended this while going to public school).  Tyler had enjoyed our Catholic school since the beginning, but last year was troublesome and difficult for him. And rather lonely.  There were very few boys in his class.  Those that were there were each difficult in their own way.  The one that he could count as his friend lived far, and playdates were hard to arrange.  Two had various problems making friendship difficult.  The other two were very exclusive, and would not open their circle to any other boys.  Ty spent a sad and lonely year last year.  As much as we loved the school, and loved Catholic education, the sadness and loneliness were just not worth it.  So far, he is having a great year at public school, and PREP gives him his weekly religious education that is so important.  

So, back to the book - I remembered one of my favorite stories from This is Our Town.  It was about St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the river, and how heavy he got with each step.  This was because he carried the sins of the world - what a heavy load that is!  So I read the story to Ty.  He liked it too, and used St. Christopher as one of the saints for his assignment.

I love sharing old favorite books with my grandson!

How happy I was to have found this book again

Beautiful artwork

Bible Study - Can a Catholic Come and Play?

I have recently joined a group Bible Study.  It is an ecumenical study (many different Christian denominations represented), which pleases me, because I really do like this particular method of study (discussion of previous week's homework, new video lecture, and workbook homework to be done during the following week).  I was a little nervous the first time I went, because A. the study is held in a church in a very wealthy suburb, and I was afraid I would not "measure up" (I know, I know, dopey of me!), and B. it is not a Catholic church, and not all Protestant churches are accepting of Catholics.

To expound on that a bit - it has been my experience that some members of some non-Catholic churches can be very judgmental of Catholics.  When we "came home" to the Catholic church in 2005, I had a friend, a friend, tell me that she feared my family and I would not receive salvation in the Catholic church.  I was so flabbergasted, I could not think of a reply.  And it made no sense, because she is of the belief that all one has to do to be saved is to accept Christ as their savior.  Well, I accepted Christ as my savior a long time ago, so what - is it now nullified because I am worshiping as a Catholic?  Totally illogical conclusion, yet it persists in some.

Anyway, no fears on that score at this Bible study.  The women are lovely and accepting, and there just happens to be two other Catholics in the group.  I have gotten so much out of the study already, and I am very glad I sought it out.  The idea to do this came to me in prayer, and everything just lined up so nicely.  I came into the group two weeks after it started, but I simply caught up with what I missed and am now right in sync.  It is very nice to spend time each day working on this and having time with God.

I am memorizing a small bit of Scripture.  While I can memorize music and phone numbers easily, Scripture is very difficult.  But my index cards are helping.

Adjusting the Dining Table (With Nods to a Bible Study and Downton Abbey)

Our dining table is an antique that my mother gave to us.  It is oak, and it is lovely.  The one problem with it was that it had wheel casters under the four legs, which were not original to the design.  Now, this was very convenient, because it is a heavy table and the casters helped it move.  But it also lifted the table at least 2" higher than it should be.  I had been aware of this, and sometimes it bothered me.  But it really started bothering me once Tyler came along, because the extra height made it even harder for a child to be comfortable at.

The kicker was that I am having a fancy dinner party (Downton Abbey themed!) in November, and with the sprucing up of the dining room, I wanted the table to be just right.  Additionally, I have started attending a group bible study (more on that in an upcoming post), and I like to work at the table for this - more room to spread out with the bible and the workbook.  Oh, and a cup of tea of course!  But at the higher table I always felt a little bit like Edith Ann (for the younger folks, Google Edith Ann and Lily Tomlin from Laugh In in the 1960's).

So, Paul endeavored to remove the wheel casters and replace them with glides (a product unavailable when the casters were put on, otherwise I think they might have used them).

Paul, hard at work.

One of the legs with the new glide on it (not visible once the table is upright). 

All done.  Beauty!