{bits & pieces}

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

Good morning!

The peonies are blooming! They smell like heaven.

I’m itching to get out into the garden, aren’t you? Internet, garden. Internet, garden…

By the way, if you have garden-progress pictures, why not share them with us in the upcoming {pretty, happy, funny, real}, the link-up we do every Thursday? You can do a post on your blog or you can link an Instagram picture. I really have nothing interesting to show you other than my garden, so I’ll probably be posting about that too. We’d love to see your pictures!

We do have some good links for you!

I hope this article convinces you to stop with the educational time-wasters. Just have the courage to stop doing pointless or counterproductive things with your kids. The experts are not always right! And there is always an opportunity cost to any choice.


The Chief and I were just in Paris, and I’m bound to say that its beauty is something to contemplate. Would you and I make a virtue of wartime necessity as the Parisians did?


I thought you might like to hear a version of a piece we will sing at Mass tomorrow with our little volunteer choir (albeit in a slightly lower key). Many of our choir members are college- and high school- aged! Aim high, my friends! (We do have an amazing director and a wonderful legacy. Start getting yours! You can do it!)

 

People are confused, and I fear that even those who look on the Catholic Church from the outside, wondering where she leads if one follows her, find themselves confused. As a loyal Catholic who believes that the Pope represents St. Peter and continues his unbroken line of authority from the very dawn of the formation of the Body of Jesus Christ, I can’t pretend that I don’t find Pope Francis confusing and sometimes just wrong when his words are tested against the Gospel and the continuous teaching of the institution he ought to defend. There have been bad popes — history shows that clearly. This is not a bad thing — in fact, it demonstrates the indefectibility of her foundation: She will survive and has survived bad popes with her identity intact. Jeff Mirus has identified with admirable clarity and manly spirit just how this present pope has made standing for the truth difficult: On speaking the truth: Is confusion the chief “Francis effect”?


Speaking of speaking the truth, surrogacy is wrong. Always wrong, evil. It’s a kind of sex slavery and the very worst sort of prostitution. Especially if you live in Louisiana, you must read this article, but please read it wherever you are, and share it widely.


Jennifer Gregory Miller tells us all about the elevation of the celebration of St. Mary Magdalene to the status of feast. As she says, we have until July 22 to think of a nice way to honor her!


An interesting Facebook page about beauty (and ugliness) in architecture that you might want to follow. This post (without getting into the larger politics of this candidate) made me question why those running for office never pinpoint a specific policy they will change — they only ever say that they are for change itself! Odd. If someone came along and said, “I will change the zoning laws so that beautiful buildings can be built in our city again,” I would be very inclined to vote for him! In our visits to some European cities a few weeks ago, we couldn’t help noticing that we — and a bazillion other people — only wanted to see and to be in the old streets, delighting in the old buildings. Despite the huge amounts of money poured into the newer parts of those archetypal places — Rome, Florence, Paris, London — no one wants to go to those. Yet we are doomed to find the ancient charm unrepeatable. We doom ourselves! I thought that this post (on that same FB page) met — and challenged — that reality head on: The Beauty of Craft.


But — if you want a coherent explanation of why — of the objective reasons — one form of architecture delights the senses while another merely tweaks or offends them — you need this book: The Way of Beauty, by David Clayton. Bonus: It will help you figure out how to educate your older children in classical principles.


A funny send-up of music videos (although I admit that I find this form of music, even as parody, grating after about 3 seconds — if you ever want to know how to torture me, here you go):

 

From the archives:

The feast of the nativity of John the Baptist is coming up. I wrote about ways to celebrate it here (ignore the giveaway info, although of course the books are still relevant!).


And just before that, Father’s Day is coming! Don’t miss our truly epic gift-giving guide! Lots of great ideas there. By the way, you can use any Amazon link of ours to do any of your shopping on that site. When you do, we get a small portion. Thank you! This one works as well:

I did get my Spirit of the Liturgy post up yesterday. How is your reading going? Let us know in the comments to that post!

Happy feast of St. Barnabas! (Yes, we just use the word “feast” generically, even though it has a specific meaning — see, above, the link to the article about St. Mary Magdalene.)

 

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