Ellen Gable's Blog

Looking Closer at the Hail Mary: Now Sunday Snippets – June 24

7 Quick Takes Friday – June 22

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday.

1. Concordia Convocation

Our second oldest son received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Theatre (with Distinction) this past week at Concordia University’s Convocation held at Place Des Arts in downtown Montreal. It was a proud moment for Mom and Dad! (Our son was homeschooled until high school).

This week’s convocation at Concordia University in Montreal.
Copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

2. Solo Art Exhibition

My husband, James, is currently exhibiting a number of art works at a solo exhibition in Cornwall, Ontario. It’s exciting because this is his first solo exhibition in decades.

3. Stitches

I don’t like stitches. It means someone has been hurt or has had an operation. Of course, you can’t have a family with five sons without having some experience with stitches. This past week, one of my sons was visiting his friend and he fell (my son, that is) and cut his hand and finger. I wasn’t there at the time and only got the call from the ER. Four stitches. He explained that he was glad I wasn’t there because with the amount of blood coming out of his hand, I would have been “freaking out.” Darn right.

Thirteen years ago, my second oldest son (the one who just graduated from university; he was 9 years old at the time) also fell at a friend’s house. But I was present that time. One of the children was riding a bike behind him. He accidentally fell and the boy behind him plowed into his face. When I looked up and saw my son running toward the house, it looked like he had been shot in the face. I have never seen so much blood coming from a wound. There’s just something about seeing your child bleed that doesn’t sit well with me. We took him to the emergency room where the wound was cleansed and stitched (and he still has a small scar on his cheek).

4. A Tale of Two Turtles

Two weeks ago, I had occasion to encounter a slowly moving turtle in the road, just beyond our driveway. We live in the country so we do see wild animals from time to time. Well, I didn’t want to run over the turtle, so I waited. My husband, seeing our car waiting at the end of the driveway, came over and moved the fellow out of the way. Earlier this week, my second oldest son encountered a turtle in the middle of the road. He stopped the car, put on work gloves and went to move the turtle, then realized the poor fellow was dead. We hope it wasn’t the same turtle.

5. Father Jungle Jim

Cartoon copyright Full Quiver Publishing/James & Ellen Hrkach

6. LifeSiteNews I just received an email from one of the writers at LifeSiteNews who just finished reading my novel, Stealing Jenny, and would like to do an interview with me for an article he’s writing about my book! Cool!

7. The “Chosen” One

Last, but not least, my youngest son took this photo earlier this week. We were sitting on the couch watching TV and noticed the sun streaming through. When we saw this, we both laughed out loud. This shows our “baby” wall, with each of my sons at around 9 months old, the oldest at the top and the youngest at the bottom.