{bits & pieces}
I’ll close the giveaway for God’s Wildest Wonderment of All (affiliate link) tomorrow night — do be sure you’ve left a comment on the post!
I’m so happy to offer you a code from TAN publishers for 20% off your purchase of the book from their site : LMLD20. This code will be good for the coming week!
My squash did not do well this year. I think my garden is actually getting shadier maybe. What a disaster! I had so many unripe tomatoes when the frost hit, and these squashes were totally green.
Do you think they will ripen in the house? And be any good at all?
In positive news, I planted 80 cloves of garlic in between the rain and the hard frost, so, feeling accomplished! And I got my DIY greenhouse frame back up and ready to go in the late winter.
Now turning my energy to knitting as the days grow decidedly colder…
bits & pieces
I want to highlight this interview with Bishop Schneider. All of us, at some level, feel that we are fighting off some serious evil outside of our home, but we’re not sure we can do it. Bishop Schneider draws on his own experience growing up with a committed, faithful mother and father to offer sound advice for all of us, no matter what the particular challenge we face might be. It’s not long — please watch and share!
Some gems:
“I had the privilege of living in a time of persecution.” “The children have to receive the faith with the milk of the mother.” “Establish a culture of domestic churches.” “You must withdraw your children [from schools pushing sex ed] — you cannot expose your children to a moral danger… be ready to suffer.”
I had great success teaching my 6-year-old granddaughter to knit Continental Style (as I do), using a rhyme I found in this helpful post. She is off to the races — she already finished her second dishcloth!
Our schola is (at last! I’ve been hoping for this!) learning the Bogoroditse Devo, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Ave Maria from his sublime All Night Vigil.
I need a mini cow, don’t you?
The politics of Prince Caspian.
My 11-Month-Old Baby’s HR Discrimination Complaint – McSweeney fun
from the archives
Do you wonder how to begin a life of prayer with your family? I have lots of posts about just that, and of course our book, The Little Oratory (affiliate link), will have you on your way in no time!
Sex ed outside the home is completely unacceptable.
Here’s how I did my greenhouse. I am pondering some sort of solar-powered battery-operated heater in there. Any thoughts on that?
the liturgical year
Prayer, to be something other than a good intention, quickly dropped (like most good intentions), needs to be grounded in the Liturgical Year. This is one of those things that the more you delve into it, the more important and fruitful it becomes. Today is a great example — it seems almost absurd to have a feast day for the dedication of a church! What will those Catholics think of next! But read the readings… soon you will get the hang of it and see how deep it goes.
Monday is the feast of St. Martin. Make your lanterns (lots of tutorials for jars and tissue paper — try this one, and please do use real candles!), have your procession! Sunday night is perfect for this!
Here’s what I have posted in the past about this feast:
I know that interest in celebrating Martinmas (November 11 — also — and not merely coincidentally! Veterans’ Day) has grown along with Waldorf schooling*, and that’s understandable! It’s so appealing for children to have a lantern procession along with a charming story of charity — a soldier who, for love of God, is renowned for cutting his Roman military cloak in half to give it to a naked beggar – Christ in disguise.
*not that I endorse Waldorf, which has a surface appeal but is deeply misguided — just remarking on how this particular tradition came to be revived.
I have been asked on several occasions about music for the celebration and especially for the procession. I’m hardly any kind of expert, but I came across two hymns that I think would be great — if we start learning them now, we should have them memorized by November 11! The first is the traditional ancient hymn for a saint, Iste Confessor. Here is the Gregorian Chant. Here is a transcendent rendition of the Scarlatti setting by The Sixteen:
The other is a hymn which I think is perfect for the day: The Light of the World is Jesus. (There’s a whole choral wiki page for music for Martinmas!)
Perhaps a special libation is in order to keep the grownups bonded… let’s not make the mistake of turning these things into “kids’ activities” — they are meant to appeal on all levels, organically and in a way that everyone misses them if they don’t happen. My suggestion would be to think of it this way: We aim to incorporate the children into a universal celebration, not to rope adults into a kids’ event.
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