Leila Marie Lawler's Blog, page 42

{bits & pieces}

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

You know how you feel weird for a few days and then you get a pain in your abdomen and you think, “hmm, seems like a muscle strain, but that’s a weird place for it on the side there” and then you do a search and see before the autofill even finishes that google thinks it’s gallbladder, so you think, “well, maybe it’s actually something like your gallbladder but there is probably some sort of essential oil/bone broth/witchcraft solution because you are not going to the doctor, and then you consult with a friend, and then you talk to a nurse, who says “go in now and don’t drive yourself”?

Or is that just me?

Anyway, it really did turn out to be a muscle strain, not related to indigestion that went before, I guess — at any rate, it’s not my gallbladder.* I’m not mad that I went, because you just know that I would have spent all weekend being afraid to eat and regretting the fun things I need to make for the Superbowl (go Pats!) and knowing that I’d stay awake wondering if I had to rush to the hospital in the middle of the night.

*May I just say how grateful I am to modern medicine that this issue was ruled out really quite quickly. Go modern medicine!

All of which to say, I only have this picture from yesterday afternoon of me knitting while being driven to figure all this out.

But I do have links!

Quick reminder: The Seven Sundays of St. Joseph start tomorrow. After many long years of praying this prayer, I am starting to see a pattern: It starts on Superbowl Sunday. That is good, because it’s easy to remember; it’s not so good, because it’s easy to get all excited about football and forget to pray. I do love St. Joseph though, so I encourage you to check in with him well before the game.


An unexpected opportunity for engaging with participants in the Women’s March — in the bathroom line at the Dominican House of Studies!


Fr. Schall has “retired” — he just celebrated his 89th birthday, as this appreciative and informative piece reminds  us (and parents, take heart! according to the author, this paragon of intellectual insight had no interest in books of any kind at all until he was a young man!)  — but he’s still going strong and getting better and better. Here he muses on “The Goodness and Humanity of God.”


A kind friend posted on our Facebook page the link to the Gutenberg file of  this interesting and oddly comforting Jewish Orthodox cookery book of yore. 


This post by Matt Labash is a bit edgier than what we normally share, but actually, I think the tone is warranted, given the subject matter, which is the disappearance of masculinity among our elites: Boys Will Be Boys and Eventually Should Be Men.

Here’s a pull quote, on the whining about how hard it is to raise boys to be sensitive and, well, more like girls:

“I not only don’t condone Reiner’s parenting approach, but actively advocate against it. I don’t raise my own two sons to be mouth-breathing hooligans out of the Male Stereotype Handbook. I want them to respect women, to be gallant, to stand up for the weak, to neither count themselves bullies, nor to suffer being bullied. In short, I want them to grow up to be well-adjusted men. Which used to be considered a worthy aspiration, not a badge of shame.”

I wanted to share with you the particulars of a conference coming up next month, on the subject of “Gregorian Chant in Pastoral Ministry and Religious Education.” There will be a special focus on music programs for children, especially homeschoolers. The conference will be at the St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie – Yonkers, NY). Two good friends of ours will be presenting, including a keynote speech from the inimitable Mark Langley. Go and tell me how it went! Find it on FB here. (The registration deadline has been extended, so do plan on going!)

From the archives:

Cabin fever? Homeschool burnout? I have a post for that!


Early distant warning for wedding season! Here is my “read this not that” guide for marriage books.

 

 

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A little chatty, a little learning sacred music with children.

Finally got fairly reasonably cleaned up around here. I’m looking forward to Candlemas in two days, but the Christmas decorations had to go!

 

 

 

 

Do you love the Scottish wool blanket that Habou gave me for Little Christmas? She found it at the thrift store and I couldn’t love it more in here.

 

A while ago I told you about a find — the book of songs and pictures called The Story of the Redemption for Children by Fr. Adair and Sr. M. Joanne. You can definitely print this out for your own use, and I really recommend that you do before it is lost — it’s really a treasure!

First, this is the traditional and beautiful way to teach the faith to children, in a gentle timeline from Creation to Redemption. You can approach the timeline differently according to the age of the child; teaching these songs is one lovely way to get started.

Second, I think it’s really inspired to use the ancient chants as the music for the story.* It seems to me that you would want to also be learning the Latin chants parallel to learning these, because it is important that we preserve the semantic of sacred music.

I’ve been thinking about this, and I’d be interested to know what you think as well.

On the one hand, if you introduce sacred things with cartoons and silly ditties, you create with that semantic an association that taints the sacred things. Children learn by absorbing the feel of the thing. They have an instinctive hierarchy of solemnity.

For instance, a child might encounter something that perhaps isn’t even holy, but has the attributes of something solemn and mysterious, and he will be attracted to it, maybe even in spite of the content. This, I believe, is why today we have young people who are more moved by athletic ceremonies than by religious ones (I mean really moved, even if they dutifully prioritize religion).

On the other hand, if you use sacred modes for anything other than what they were made for, you might ruin their power. A good example of this might be the Rogers and Hammerstein Alleluia from the Sound of Music. I could imagine a good choir singing this at Mass — except that it is pretty indelibly associated with a Hollywood musical! If something is going to be used for worship, it must be set apart.

We don’t make altar cloths with the same fabric as tablecloths; we don’t grab a handy candlestick from the altar to put in the front hall. The same with music. This semantic (imbued meaning) is what makes chant unique and universal as a sacred mode.

So I would definitely be sure to sing the original chants, preferably in their context in the liturgy at the same time as we were learning these songs.

Maybe it seems like I’m overthinking this, but I do wonder how we’ve gotten into such a mess with our musical culture. Perhaps confusion in musical education is a reason… I don’t know.

One thing is that it is much easier to learn chant (especially while also learning the Latin text) if you already know the tune, so I’m coming down on the side of this book!

 

I recently found out that Erin McFarland, a homeschooling mother and musician, has posted audio files of all the songs, which is such a help if you don’t read music or just need a little boost! You can find her study guide for this book here. With her guidance, you can learn all the songs before you teach your children, or as you go if you like to do things together that way.

She has lots of resources for singing with your children on her site, Traditional Catholic Living.  I highly recommend it. One reason I always recommend Ambleside Online’s Charlotte Mason curriculum is that they have handy cycles of hymns and folk songs (you can see them on their sidebar).

Erin’s site really gives you a focused way to implement that approach, with a distinctively Catholic (liturgical) emphasis. She also has plenty of thoughts for both young and more advanced students. I recommend signing up for her emails.

I said I’d give this book a post of its own and so here you go!

______

*Here’s what I said on that previous post: It’s important to read the instructions [in the text of the book] on how to sing chant, which differs from more familiar metrical music in that it is more relaxed and is never forced into an even rhythm. I also suggest getting children used to hearing monks singing these same tunes (with the liturgical texts) so they know how they should sound. In other words, the originals should be the model, and then the little poems in this book can be part of their religious education.

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{bits & pieces} and another journal!

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

I’m finally being a good Daughter and getting around to reading Casti Connubii, the encyclical that my mother has been on a mission to get everyone to read for several years now. Actually, I’m reading it along with the ladies from my St. Greg’s Pocket reading group (fondly dubbed the Pocketbook Club).

Thanks, among other factors, to this club, I’ve picked up my reading habit in a big way over the past couple of years. But as 2016 came to a close, I realized that I didn’t have a solid list of what I had recently read. In fact, I have no record at all of the many, various books I’ve read over my lifetime! You know me and how I like to keep records.

This needed to be remedied.

Hence the Commonplace book, pictured above (under the encyclical). So yes, I’ve now added to my stack of active journals. Oh and don’t forget the other recent addition of Chickapee’s baby journal.

Please note: 1) the series on Casti Connubii was originally written as a Lenten series/reflection (now available as a book). 2) The beginning of Lent is approaching – about a month away. 3) You really should go ahead and start forming that Pocket you’ve been thinking about or get your Pocket to do that reading together! There’s time if you want to have this particular Lenten reading be a goal!

In case you needed another little nudge, consider yourself nudged. {mwah!}

On to this week’s links!

For anyone interested in Monsignor Ronald Knox, there is a new collection of his essays out and a little review of it here.


An absolutely beautiful piece reflecting on the importance of the sacraments, conscience, and the question of Communion for the divorced and remarried (from someone who’s been there): A Response to Archbishop Victor Fernandez from First Things. I actually caught my breath at the following bit:



“Because if a man can divorce his wife, or if a wife can divorce her husband, then Christ can divorce the Church. Which means that Christ can divorce Man. And that is a lie. It is the anti-Gospel.”


Speaking of marriage, what some activists are calling a “spreading of hate” in Virginia is actually just a proposed bill to protect from coercion or civil punishment those who maintain the belief that marriage is between a man and a woman (HB 2025) — just in case there are Virginians among us who should know.


A friend brought this to my attention: a little report claiming that No One Cooks Anymore. Actually, people may be cooking very intensely or at a very advanced level (the cooks are certainly working hard in restaurants, for one thing) — just not on a regular basis, for their families, at home. The article questions whether this is a bad thing and can only respond by venturing that it’s perhaps not good for folks’ health. How about for their hearts and souls? How about for their communities? How does it feel – for the work-weary and those in the rat race and the children – that there’s no plan to come home and sit down at the dinner table with loved ones on a routine basis? I submit that it is a kind of homelessness and that, for the majority of people experiencing it (that is to say, not necessarily the affluent [although probably for many of the affluent] but the average singleton or family) it’s very, very sad.

And that’s why we do what we do here at LMLD! The collective memory for homemaking and family-feeding has not been totally lost and can be revived! (Relevant links below in the ‘From the Archives’ section.)


An actually rather spot-on post from Apartment Therapy about how to make your home more sophisticated; well, just nicer, maybe!

In the Liturgical Year:

Today is the feast of the great and awesome philosopher, theologian, Doctor of the Church, poet, traveler: St. Thomas Aquinas! I love him. How could you not? Light a candle today to celebrate the Angelic Doctor.

 

From the Archives:

What we do “in here” – a post about homemaking, wrapping up the series on Casti Connubii.
Ask Auntie Leila: I feel guilty not working! Always worth a re-read as a reminder of the function and importance of homemaking.
Dinner Every Day.

 

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There is no other plan ~ Marriage is the plan.

It’s now been 44 years since abortion was made legal in our country. 

Since writing the piece I’m reposting below, I’ve written a small book that attempts to unfold the Christian vision of marriage, so convinced am I that the remedy for the great pain and evil we are suffering as a nation is this sacred covenant given by God, on which all society is based, for the very sake of the child. It’s God’s plan. There is no other plan.

The book is called God Has No Grandchildren. It doesn’t cost very much and it will explain thoroughly what I can only hint at here. (If you have read and enjoyed it, would you consider leaving even a short review on Amazon so that others can find it more easily? Thank you!)

Rededicate yourself to God’s plan of marriage in whatever way you can. That is the key. If your marriage is intact, give thanks to God. If your marriage is broken, know that your respect for the bond in its breach is a tremendous witness.

Don’t lose heart, and don’t be surprised when the remedy for what is overwhelming, huge, and evil is what is small, humble, and good.

 

 

My post from January 22, 2013:

Today is a sad day.

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been forty years since the Supreme Court of the United States made abortion legal.

I ask you to think of one thing on this day when we unite in offering to God our sorrow for this terrible reality of babies taken from their mothers’ wombs.

Abortion is the result of forgetting that God had a plan for man and woman.

It’s not a terrible evil that befalls the child randomly.

Rather, abortion on the scale that we witness today in America is the logical consequence of forgetting that a baby is meant to be the expression of love between a man and a woman who have pledged themselves to unity.

Marriage is the solution to abortion.

Of course, we will always have abortion and all the other ills of our human nature with us. We will always have to fight this fight. With the sheer numbers of babies being killed, it’s very good to march on Washington. It’s good to fight for just laws. It’s very good to try to give witness at an abortion clinic and pray there.

We have to rescue babies.

Rescuing babies is pulling them out of the stream of death as they come by, at great risk to ourselves. It’s reaching out to their mothers who are being sucked under by the maelstrom.

And then some of us must climb upriver to see who or what is throwing them in at the top.

If we want to solve the problem of abortion as a way of life, which is what we have today in our country, we must think of how the babies and their sad mothers are being thrown into the river of death.

Then we must acknowledge and proclaim that a baby is safest when it’s born to a mother and a father who have promised before God and man that they will form a family.

Marriage doesn’t just happen, and isn’t one option among many. It’s an institution that requires great commitment from every person in society, for the simple reason (among many complex ones) that when families are formed through marriage, the weak are given their best chance at being protected.

Today, possibly the greatest act of love for the unborn that you could make is striving your utmost to heal and promote and maintain and provide for and respect marriage.

Know that your own marriage is a good for the whole community. Every person you know — and many you will never see — benefits from your fidelity, your struggle, your resolve to love and honor your spouse. Your sufferings are a fitting incense rising to God — they are not in vain.

When you appreciate your husband as the protector and provider of this safe haven for you and your children, you help the unborn.

When he loves and protects you and your children, he offers society a church in miniature — a sanctuary — and babies everywhere are safer.

Know that when you raise your children to love and respect marriage by treating their own bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit, you are fighting abortion with all your might. Every watchful, protective moment you spend guarding your children’s purity is a blow against the scourge of abortion.

When you teach your children to internalize the reality that they have a precious gift to give to someone, a gift that, in its turn, will enrich the whole community and the whole world, you do something noble for the fight for the unborn.

When you protect your young children from hearing about offenses against purity and witnessing acts and sights that can only disturb them, you strengthen the fight against abortion.

Know that when you help friends thinking of divorce, showing them that their unity means the world to you — or when you speak to a young woman of respect for her body or to a young man of respect for women, you turn the tide against the violence done to the smallest infant in the womb.

When you show that you believe a child is safest with a mother and a father in a family, and meant by God to be there, you work for the unborn.

Every person can love and respect marriage, God’s plan, by his acts. Be convinced that marriage will heal society, and then act accordingly.

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{bits & pieces}

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Today I’m still undecorating, but also enjoying my new thrift-store pillow (it’s from Pier One, in new condition, and goes really nicely with the other ones in the den — lucky me for $5!).

I’m continuing my reading of this excellent book (available here), planning my day, and doing a little knitting for Rosie’s baby. It’s this little “vintage baby cap” that I’ve made two of before — in theory it knits up very quickly, and also in theory I have enough of this sweet white yarn left to do it. But you know me.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Here are our links:

I truly enjoyed this post from dear Mary Ellen at Tales from The Bonny Blue House, on how she makes her husband lunches every day. Of course I enjoy all the ins and outs of which container and how to get it all prepared — but I also commend the object lesson of her loving care for her husband, even though — and I can really relate to this — making lunches is, shall we say, not her favorite thing: Packing Lunches Makes Me Want to Weep.


Every sacrifice counts. The little and the big. Here is the last page of a speech given by Marine Lt. John Kelly — it’s a long speech (you can watch the whole thing here), but it’s the end that will make you realize that our true home is not here on earth — the point is especially driven home when you realize that Kelly’s own son died in combat four days — four days — before he gave this incredibly moving speech. Please pray for the safety and sanctification of those defending our country!


Is there such a thing as “authentic” or “renewed” or “Christian” or even “Catholic” feminism? This essay by Dawn Eden takes on many assumptions, including putative support from St. Pope John Paul II, and is well worth reading. I am definitely using the quote from Chesterton that “Feminism will always oppose chivalry, but chivalry is rather in favor of feminism.” This means that feminists won the cultural battle in large part because good men hesitate to fight against women (of course, there are many bad men who were wholly opportunistic in their support of so-called “equality”, especially in sexual matters).


Speaking of equality, this readable essay by Samual Gregg shows how Tocqueville, writing in the 19th century, predicted the corrosive effect of the pursuit of equality on society, as it trumps every other consideration, including virtue and most of all, the reality of complementarity.


What happens is that, in order to attain the impossible goal of equality, its adherents find that facts get in their way. George Weigel reminds us that Fake History needs to be exposed.

From the archives:

I have lots of posts on discipline. This one, , has a link in it to a (newly revised) worksheet that can really help you and your husband adjust your overall parenting approach.


I call it “Spanking” and maybe that gets your attention, but it’s really about figuring out, in your own unique way, how to bring your parenthood in line with God’s. Print it out and read it together, answering the questions at the end, together, with what I call “free and frank” discussion.

Happy Feast of St. Agnes! 

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The moral life of the child and how to nurture it. Part 3.

So far in this series:

Part 1: Only the moral life can bring happiness, and suffering is part of the journey.

Part 2: Resources for and thoughts on teaching the Ten Commandments.

 

As I take down the Christmas decorations (a days’ long process, and not a pretty sight), I am so happy that I remembered to order some paper whites to help me greet the emerging sunniness!

My recent reading has converged on this idea we are discussing, of the moral development of children. Well, of course it seems that way to me, since our moral life is intrinsic to our nature — we were made to be good, to respond to goodness, to love the good. So naturally, everything reminds me of this beautiful truth!

We did suffer the Fall, and thus there is a division introduced into life, where we have trouble with being good — trouble for ourselves and when it comes to teaching our children. But if you pay close attention to the readings at Mass, you will see how often the Church brings our attention back to loving God’s law.

The other day was noticing the familiar reading from the Divine Office on the Feast of St. Anthony, taken from the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy:

The law of love

These are the words that Moses spoke beyond Jordan to the whole of Israel:

Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart. You shall repeat them to your children and say them over to them whether at rest in your house or walking abroad, at your lying down or at your rising; you shall fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a circlet; you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

When the Lord has brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give you, with great and prosperous cities not of your building, houses full of good things not furnished by you, wells you did not dig, vineyards and olives you did not plant, when you have eaten these and had your fill, then take care you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must fear the Lord your God, you must serve him, by his name you must swear.

Do not follow other gods, gods of the peoples round you, for the Lord your God who dwells among you is a jealous God; his anger could blaze out against you and wipe you from the face of the earth. Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you tested him at Massah. Keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees and laws that he has laid down for you, and do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord so that you may prosper and take possession of the rich land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, driving out your enemies before you; this was the promise of the Lord.

In times to come, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the decrees and laws and customs that the Lord our God has laid down for you?” you shall tell your son, “Once we were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt by his mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his House. And he brought us out from there to lead us into the land he swore to our fathers he would give to us. And the Lord commanded us to observe all these laws and to fear the Lord our God, so as to be happy for ever and to live, as he has granted us to do until now. For us right living will mean this: to keep and observe all these commandments before the Lord our God as he has directed us.”

Responsory

℟. The law of the Lord is perfect: it revives the soul. The rule of the Lord is to be trusted, it gives wisdom to the simple.* The command of the Lord is clear, it gives light to the eyes.

℣. He who loves his neighbour has satisfied every claim of the law: the whole law is summed up in love.* The command of the Lord is clear, it gives light to the eyes.

And it’s on hearing the Gospel of the Rich Young Man (the reading for his feast, Matthew 19:16-26 — all the readings for his Mass are here) that St. Anthony sold all he had and basically founded monasticism.

“Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart. You shall repeat them to your children… ”

 

At the moment, I’m reading a fascinating book about a gentleman who is a favorite here, John Senior. I’ve come to the part where he is realizing that he is not succeeding as a professor when he, so to speak, brings his students to the waters of Thomas Aquinas and expects them to drink.

The modern student, the student who lacks basic human formation, simply cannot.

Senior sees that their inability — not only to understand the text, but even to be sparked by the light of knowledge — has to do with a lack of imagination and connection with reality. From the book:

“The Summa Theologiae [the text by Thomas Aquinas he wants them to read] contains clear refutations of reasonable heresies [by this he means simple errors] but scarcely touches anyone who disbelieves in the very difference between truth and error.” Senior found that his students simply did not recognize “the absolute difference between ‘is’ and ‘is not.’ “

This he calls an “unreasonable” heresy — there is no reasoning with a person in this condition, as they have not the faculty of reasoning.

As I mentioned long ago here on this blog when I was trying to stress the importance of disciplining children, this basic habit of “liking and disliking what he ought” must be nurtured in a child when he is very young, as the ancients tell us, or else he arrives at this pitiable state of not being able to move on to abstract reasoning. He becomes impervious to moral thought, and hence, to moral action. He is at the mercy of his appetites — or, more seriously, of the will of those who are more powerful than he.

This fundamental observation explains why I pretty much despair when someone remarks that the trouble with the state of marriage in our society is the state of “marriage prep,” as if a class during the weeks before the wedding can rectify a lifetime of moral neglect.

The reality is that the proper formation takes the form of organic life, directed by loving parents and teachers — not a program.

Senior came to change his approach to teaching, realizing that the student’s preparation takes place outside the classroom and long before he arrives there, if his mind is to be open to truth.

The child, briefly stated, has to be connected to reality at an early age, or the chances that he will be able to function as a free adult (freedom being precisely the ability to control oneself morally) will be low; far less will he be able to tackle intellectually rich fare later in life.

But even if a person doesn’t go on to study philosophy, his life will be destroyed by the “unreasonable” heresy — the failure to know that good and truth, above all, exist.

In education, Senior says, “Learning is gradual and first things must come first.”

 

So I keep coming back to this.

When your children are very young, you might not think you are giving them a moral education by nurturing their imaginations with good stories; their senses with good contact with the world as it is outside, in the fresh air, under the stars; and with your loving (and sometimes exasperated) insistence that they not be naughty but that they try to be good. It all seems so messy, and so slow, and so very, very unproductive,

But you are; you are nurturing them.

You are nurturing the moral life when you say to your three-year-old, “Go wash your hands,” and he comes back in a minute and says, “I did,” but you see that he didn’t, so you say, “Don’t be naughty — when I tell you to wash your hands, you must do it”; when you say, “Don’t hit your brother, that’s naughty — go help him climb that thing”; you are establishing reality for them, in the only way they can apprehend it, through you. Don’t forget that God is Father. He gives us earthly fathers so that we can come to know Him.

“We are a rooted species,” Senior wrote, “rooted through our sense in the air, water, earth, and fire of elemental experience.”

I would add: and through our fundamental relationships in the family!

Later, around the age of reason, when the child has the habit of obeying and has a growing awareness that the world is a big place, you can start the gentle process of acquainting him with God’s law — helping him lift his eyes up from his mother and father to the universe that awaits him.

Here are a few more resources for you.

As your child moves out of Bible stories and into reading actual Scripture, the Child’s Bible History will help him to grasp the overall sweep of Salvation History. This book is not a Bible and it’s not a catechism, but it’s very helpful for understanding both. Use the questions after each section as prompts for discussion — a simple narration of the text will be fine and fix it in his memory.

The Penny Catechism is a supplement to the Baltimore Catechism I have recommended in the other posts. It’s really helpful for an adult too. Honestly, this little book is worth a million motivational volumes about becoming a dynamic Christian etc etc. What we need is for our consciences to become informed, and the Holy Spirit will do the rest.

At the back of the Penny Catechism you will find helpful prayers and a short “Christian’s Rule of Life.” What is a rule of life? It’s simply the few habits that you want to have to stay on track. Contrary to what you may think, it’s not at all burdensome or anxiety-producing to have a “rule,” far less is it complicated — it’s simple and freeing, especially when you realize that you just choose one thing at a time to concentrate on, perhaps mentioning it to your spiritual director (usually the priest you go to Confession with).

For a child, I hope you can find this charming book A Child’s Rule of Life. Robert Hugh Benson gently and poetically shows the child what “a day in the life” looks like. A quick search doesn’t turn it up for sale, but you might come across it in a second-hand shop. It’s very sweet. You may be able to order it here.

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A knit cap for Bridget.

A little more crafting reveal:

Bridget asked for a knit cap. My knitting has been weird — I keep making things too big! I made this cap so ridiculously big that it swallowed up the head of the Chief, and believe me when I tell you that he has quite the noggin. I should have taken pictures, but I was doing a million things as weren’t we all, just before Christmas!

And a picture would have convinced you that I’m bonkers. Who would make such a thing.

 

 

So in that panicky rush when you know your crafting time is running out, I washed and dried it. Like, in the dryer.

I actually really liked the near-felted texture when I was done (and think it’s probably much warmer this way). Maybe in the photos it doesn’t look felted, but it did get thicker and tighter. But then the worry is (of course!) that it got a mite too short.

But I added the trim and I think all is well. I also used up every scrap of (leftover stash) yarn (the yarn from my “Breaking Bad” afghan and also from my  green leaf shawl, which I’m seeing now I haven’t put on Ravelry yet) — hence the idiosyncratic pompom.

 

I wish I could knit faster. Bridget says that if I weren’t so distracted all the time my knitting would count for more (that is, I wouldn’t have to rip everything out all the time; and what about the time just spent staring at the article, gently shaking my head back and forth, moaning? What about that time??).

Do you have all sorts of resolutions to do more crafting this year? What are you going to make? If you are a knitter, and like making socks, you might like to know that this pretty pattern is offered free until the 20th.

 

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{bits & pieces}

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

My mom has been holding down the {b&p} fort lately, as I imagine you’ve noticed. I’m finally back in a routine, after the holidays!

I say “after the holidays” because things have quieted down and yes, it’s technically Ordinary Time. We had our travels and we had our 2nd annual hot cocoa gathering and we even celebrated The Artist’s birthday, which comes in early January as a kind of wrap-up-the-feasting sort of deal.

But we’ll be hanging on to our Christmas cheer until the Feast of the Presentation (also known as Candlemas)! People may call us curmudgeons for keeping an Advent observance that involves no Christmas carols until Christmas actually arrives — but darn it if we don’t party hard on the other end!

I actually have to keep stopping myself at my instinctive desire to adopt any and all Christmas trees I see out on the curb: “Why would they get rid of that? It’s a perfectly good, shapely Christmas tree! This waste is madness – quick! I have to stop the next passing car to see who will help me haul this up to my apartment?” Oh right. It is well into the new year and I don’t actually have the space for that (no doubt extremely dry, needle-shedding) vegetation…

 

In the meantime, the days are lengthening again. A strange January thaw and some sunny days have had me reveling in early afternoon sunlight flooding my kitchen.

 

 

And I’m back in the Daedalshop, as I like to say (code: back at my kitchen table), returning to the routine of making pysanky after a Christmas hiatus. I just got the most glorious yellow on these duck eggs and I’m planning them to be a set for a giveaway for my Instagram followers, so do get on there and keep an eye out for me if you’re interested! I think they’ll make exciting Easter decorations, just to think ahead a little to the next liturgical feasting season!

 

 

And yesterday morning, early in my 3rd trimester, we finally got around to an ultrasound for Chickapea, who seems to be doing well! I would share a picture of that, too, except that The Artist accidentally pocketed the photos on his way into the studio so I didn’t have them around when I was writing this. Maybe next time.

Spoiler: This mom thinks: Baby is cute.

On to this week’s links!

This week’s headliner, because it is fascinating: That Time I Turned a Routine Traffic Ticket into the Constitutional Trial of the Century. I was so excited to read this, because I’ve felt a general uneasiness about traffic cameras (I mean, they are objectively just rather Orwellian, aren’t they? is there any arguing that?), but didn’t know how to articulate it on any constitutional terms; and a specific uneasiness about the time that one nabbed us back in Montgomery County, where the story of this article takes place. Let me give you a few juicy excerpts to help convince you to read it and perhaps share it:“I then asked the question one is taught never to ask on cross—the last one. “So, you signed an affidavit under the pains and penalties of perjury alleging probable cause to believe that Adam MacLeod committed a violation of traffic laws without any evidence that was so?”Without hesitating he answered, “Yes.” This surprised both of us. It also surprised the judge, who looked up from his desk for the first time. A police officer had just testified under oath that he perjured himself in service to a city government and a mysterious, far-away corporation whose officers probably earn many times his salary.



“… One might say that the traffic camera is a sign of our times. Its widespread use and acceptance reveals how far we have drifted from our fundamental commitment to self-government.”
Speaking of personal freedoms, I just got an alert from a friend about the option to opt out of FamilyTreeNow, a new website that has personal information stored and collected on all of us. I appreciated knowing that this was out there and having the chance to say, “no thank you,” so I thought you might as well.


Care to see photos of some very tiny boxwood carvings from the early 1500s? I would love to see what tools were used for this beautiful, intricate work!


A fun and beautiful pastry – the Brioche Star. From my mom: “I made this recipe for the Epiphany. I posted it on Instagram and many asked for the recipe. Here it is — it’s not hard! But it does use a lot of butter and eggs — oh well, we just have to sacrifice ourselves. I put lemon oil in the dough and used one jar of Bonne Maman wild blueberry preserves for the filling.”

 

From the Archives:

12 Things to Stash that Will Help you Get Supper on the Table – have you read this one already? I remember that something truly “clicked” with me when I read it. Obviously I grew up watching my mom pull these things out of the freezer and whip dinners together, but somehow it made things come together for me when I read them all laid out in a list, now that I have my own kitchen to manage.


Rosie’s adorable DIY fabric memory game.


Laundry Problems Start with Clothes: an explanation of how to tackle the problems of laundry systems before they start. (Auntie Leila says that she keeps getting emails from gals who are drowning in laundry; this post is the essential first step to getting control of the situation!)

In the Liturgical Year:

Today we remember St. Felix (who, as it happens, is a patron saint against perjury! See excerpt from first article linked, above!)

 

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Flying Geese (ish) Quilt

First, an early distant warning about Candlemas prep.

We who have survived the Christmas season which included a power outage in the middle of our 7th Day/New Year’s Eve gathering, necessitating lighting not just some, but virtually all of our candles lest we stumble around in the pitch dark (and it was magical and lovely, actually, to sing our carols by candlelight only), are reduced to burning stubs of Advent candles on this late date of the 10th of January.

 

 

Time to order. (My usual sources have dried up in the votive department. I used to be able to keep well supplied with quality 10-hour votives at Marshall’s. I think I will be ordering these.)

I finished the quilt!

I don’t know if you can see that the quilting thread (pearl or perle cotton) is quite pink.

This quilt took on a life of its own and there’s nothing I can say about the design choices — they just happened. Other than that Rosie suggested the flying geese (ish) design and I went with that.

It’s now safely on Finnabee’s bed!

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{bits & pieces}

The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

We are expecting a large or else small snowstorm, so I’m trying to get things hunkered down here. But how about a quick look at some crafting and then on to our links!

I made two pairs of these Minky Mittens — one for Deirdre’s little boy and one for Nora. (These are Nora’s.)

I adore the colorwork. Not only is it super appealing to look at, it feels so great. It’s my first try using two colors! I will put my notes on Ravelry (I’m leilamarie on there) soon.

Basically, the pattern needs tweaking if you want the thumbs to be offset, which of course you do, and for the tops to be a little more shapely in the decrease/top. I like this simple, old-fashioned pattern for mittens. I like that it’s a chart (not a pattern chart but a chart of sizes), and it’s clearly written.

But of course I liked the colorwork on these — and then trying to adapt the pattern spelled doom for my knitting distraction problem.

I could have knit 5 pairs of mittens in the time it took me to knit one, but it got done in the end. This, alas, is the story of my knitting life. Dive in, try to hack/adapt, knit, tink (undo), get in a twist, redo, repeat.

By the way, using two colors makes the mittens much warmer, because you are essentially doubling up on the layers of wool.

I will show you a few more things I made later on!

Today’s links:

A blog I always find edifying: Fr. Hunwicke’s Mutual Enrichment. A priest of the Ordinariate, Fr. Hunwicke is erudite, clear, and refreshingly direct.


Have you looked at duolingo? If you want to brush up on a language or give your kids easy, motivating practice, I think this app/site is a good one. I’m brushing up on my French and German and find it a little obsessing! The Chief is doing Spanish and Bridget is doing French.


I love reading about my favorite authors: P. G. Wodehouse in the New Yorker.


This probably needs a post of its own, but I will throw it on here now: A scan of an old book from the time before the changes in the Church when many people tried to bring traditional chant back into worship. In this case, a lovely book of songs that tell salvation history using ancient chants. The illustrations are charming! It’s important to read the instructions on how to sing chant, which differs from more familiar metrical music in that it is more relaxed and is never forced into an even rhythm. I also suggest getting children used to hearing monks singing these same tunes (with the liturgical texts) so they know how they should sound. In other words, the originals should be the model, and then the little poems in this book can be part of their religious education.


Tony Esolen on Dietrich von Hildebrand on the liturgy.

From the archives:

P. G. Wodehouse in the Library Project.


If you live somewhere cold, you need to know how to dress properly — and how to dress your children. Did you know that children (and everyone, really) can get chilblains if not dressed for the weather, even indoors? Do you want to lower your heat a little so it’s less stuffy and more economical? Well, you need this information! (And please, if you live in Arizona or something, spare me the rant about how you are NOT putting an undershirt on your child. I get it.)


This time of year I get a lot of emails from parents who are feeling overwhelmed by homeschooling. That’s normal. Step back a little and adjust your vision.

Today is the feast of St. Raymond Penafort, a canon lawyer of great faith and devotion. Let’s pray for his intercession in these confused days! And a happy Epiphany to you all, whether you celebrated yesterday or are celebrating tomorrow!

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Auntie Leila’s Pinterest.
Rosie’s Pinterest.
Sukie’s Pinterest.
Deirdre’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Pinterest.
Bridget’s Pinterest.
Habou’s Blog: Corner Art Studio.
Auntie Leila’s Ravelry.
Auntie Leila’s Instagram.
Rosie’s Instagram.
Sukie’s Instagram.
Deirdre’s Instagram.
Bridget’s Instagram.

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