Makes My Monday

I have the dearest husband  He gave me the keys to his car Friday and a pass to stay as long as I want in Denver visiting my sister, Nina, for her birthday. 

So I got to Nina's house Friday night.  Stayed up talking  'til around midnight.

Went to Nina's birthday breakfast Saturday morning with my Mom and my other sister, Donna, and some of our dearest friends in the world -- where we closed down the breakfast crowd catching up with one another -- talking and talking and talking.

Then went back to Nina's and spent a good chunk of the afternoon visiting with Nina and my Mom -- drinking tea and mocha -- and talking.

After which my strong son, Kevvy came over and helped us rearrange Nina's living room.  Which took about 45 minutes -- but then, Kevvy stayed another couple hours and joined in some more talking. 

Which Nina and I continued doing -- talking, that is -- and watching old episodes of Ghost Hunters until 10:30, when we called it a night, because we had to get up early for Mass on Sunday.

After which, I got to catch up with some of the best friends in the world at our old parish.  And did just a little more talking.

Then, went back to Nina's, changed clothes, grabbed lunch at Chipoltle's and went to the cemetery to pray for the Souls in Purgatory -- which we did, in the midst of some (certainly!) uplifting and moderate conversation, in which she and I were the only ones talking.  (Thank goodness!)

Got home in time to freshen up and head out to dinner with Kevvy at 5:30.  Had some great food and less than an Irishman's portion of porter and red ale, and talked until 9:30.

And now it's late Sunday evening and I'm sitting here at Nina's computer typing in my pjs.  I still haven't had a chance to catch up with the rest of my brothers and sisters here in Denver -- and I haven't hardly seen my Dad yet. But, I have until Wednesday to finish up my visiting before I'll be heading home.

And you're probably wondering why I'm killing you with all these details on a Makes My Monday post.  Why don't I just say I'm so happy I got to make this trip and to spend time with my sister for her birthday weekend?  And I'm so blessed that I have a husband who would think to suggest I do it and to spend as much time as I like! And I love my friends and my family!  Why am I dragging this on?

Well, it's because I thank God for all those things.  But they aren't what make my Monday. And the details were necessary to drive home the point that...

...what really, really makes my Monday is that...

...after suffering five days last week with laryngitis...


 I got my voice back!

"Woot!" as the boys would say.


(But, I think there's a good chance I may lose it again before I get home...)

*Definitely run over and see Cheryl for more Makes My Monday posts!

Sorta Quick Takes

1.  I'm back -- Well, mostly so, anyway. We're all mostly back.   Everyone's technically fit to go to school but we're still tuning up every morning with a symphony of sniffs and coughs. Don't you hate that?   It's always a judgment call, deciding when it's both wise and acceptable to send  the troops out into public... but we figured, since:

1.  most of the school already had or has the same flu bug,
2.  nobody has a fever,
3. everyone seems reasonably able to keep their heads up off their desks,

                        and

4.  they felt well enough yesterday when they were still home that I was forced to repeatedly remind them to: 

          a)  Calm down!
          b)  Stop running in the house! 

                         and

          c)  For crying out loud, chill out or I'm taking you all over to the school! 

Well, I figured with a little coaching, they were ready to get out of my face back on the school wagon.  Except for Cathy and William, my homeschoolers, who are still here with me doing schoolwork and coughing and sniffing in a caucophonous duet, with their Dad and me chiming in with occasional jazz coughing riffs.

 But we're definitely on the mend, anyway.  Thank-you so much for the well-wishes and prayers!  Hope everyone out there is staying (or getting) well!

2.  Heard our first meadowlark of the season the other day.  And the school children came home with spring bulb sales forms to order from -- hyacinths, crocuses, bluebells, tulips, daffodils....  Be still my heart!  So, though we're expecting another snowstorm this weekend, we can console ourselves that, yes, indeed, snow and cold notwithstanding, nothing can keep spring from its appointed rounds.  Shew!  (Thank-you, God!)

3.  Came in yesterday from dropping Cathy off at her Thursday art class -- mind you, it's not a very long distance: twenty minutes there, ten minute stop at the grocery story, twenty minutes back.  Left Dan home to babysit.  And, honestly, I knew that leaving my husband and youngest child home alone together was not going to get the lunch dishes cleaned or the clothes folded.  I knew that.  But, still, really...  I couldn't help the involuntary reaction when I got home, opened the door and looked into the turned-upside-down living room, "Holy Cow, you guys!" I shrieked exclaimed.  "I was only gone an hour!"

To which William replied with a little shrug and a sigh, "Yeah.  We're a mess, aren't we?"

There was a little smirk there, too, pulling at the corners of that toothless little mouth of his, the little snot.
(gglggl)
I guess it's a healthy little man who knows what he is and accepts it.

And makes his mother laugh about it.


4.  Part of the mess: 

Above you see part of the contents of the little box of animals we inherited from my Uncle Art.  Over a lifetime, he collected many things, including  millions of these little plastic figures.  Birds and fish and lions and elephants and rhinos and buffalo and mountain goats and snakes and walruses and kangaroos and little plastic fences, etc., etc., etc...  William spent much of the day Thursday organizing and categorizing and talking about them nonstop. Made a mess.  But C'est la vie!   C'est si bon!

5.  Cathy, Theresa, and I had a girls' night out last night, went shopping first, then, gift card in hand, stopped by Chipoltle's for dinner.  Tried the new Chicken Pozole Soup.

It's a keeper.  We give it three thumbs up.  Just spicy enough, thick and nourishing.  Yum!  We love giving a Colorado native franchise our business and prefer their natural ingredients over fast food any day.  And, can't beat the price for the quantity and quality: under $20 for the three of us. 

6.  Update on Dominic, our sickly seminarian:  The agreement between three different medical professionals is that he is having some malfunction of his thyroid and adrenal glands, that have caused the blood pressure spikes, followed by fatigue.  We're not sure why there is a malfunction at this point, but it's being treated with meds and a careful attention to diet -- mostly to keep his blood sugars even.  He seems to be doing better, by any accounts I get -- but then I'm not really sure because Dominic lost his phone charger and the best I can do is try to get messages to him through our friend and Dominic's fellow seminarian, Carlos, or through son, Jon who is in Omaha now looking for a job.  A new phone charger is in the mail to him, as well as his Nikes and the sunglasses he left at home.  (They never depart without leaving us a few souvenires, doncha know...)

7.  And, last but not least, a gratuitous picture of my grandson:



Gavin James, two and a half months old



Here's where to go for lots of Quick Takes!

Guess What's Hanging Out at Our House.

Good news depending on who you are:  I've had laryngitis since last Thursday.

Bad news:  The kids have been too sick to enjoy it.

Everyone in the house is sniffing and coughing with fevers and headaches and various symptoms of stomach distress (not vomiting, though, thank Goodness...).  I'll be back when everyone's better. 

Stay well out there!

On The Day We Remember the Flight into Egypt

Caracci 1663

We take for granted, I think, that the Holy Family traveled places.  They went to Jerusalem all the time, traveled to Bethlehem, fled to Egypt, came back....  But, what we might not think about is how they did all this traveling. For us, it's just a matter of hopping in a car, or  a plane or on a train maybe to take a trip, but it was not so easy for folks at the time of Christ.  Pretty much everywhere they went they walked.  If someone had a little money, a donkey might be used to carry belongings on a trip, but seldom was it used to ride the whole journey.  And,since they were very poor, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph would likely not have had a donkey most of the time and would have had to carry the necessities for a journey on their backs!

Wm Hole 1500s



There is an amazing man named Arthur Blessit who became fascinated with the actual day-to-day realities of the travels of Jesus and Mary, so much so that he made it his life's goal to travel in their footsteps -- and beyond.  He's traveled the world carrying an eight foot cross on his back.  On his website, he calculates the mileage walked by both Our Lord and His Blessed Mother.  Following is the information he tallied on the travels Our Lady made on foot in her lifetime -- conservatively based on the information we have solely in the Bible:

Mary the Mother of Jesus

Ansaldo 1620s

* Mary was probably carried to Jerusalem till she reached 3 years of age. Mary would have walked from Nazareth to Jerusalem and back ‘at least’ once a year from the age of 3 till the Jesus when she may have been about the age of 20. The one way mileage was about 120 (193) each way and thus it would be about 240 miles round trip (386 km). Mary Walking: 240 miles (386 km) per year from Nazareth to Jerusalem round trip x 17 years = 4,080 miles (6,565 km)!

(This would mean walking roughly the distance from DesMoines, Iowa to Omaha, Nebraska  and back -- once a year) 

*After she conceived by the Holy Spirit of God she ‘walked’ traveled from Nazareth to south of Jerusalem where Elizabeth her cousin was pregnant with John the Baptist (130 miles, 209 km). She then ‘walked’ traveled back to Nazareth (130 miles, 209 km). Then with Joseph she ‘walked’ traveled back south of Jerusalem to Bethlehem (130 miles, 209 km). During all this walking travel of 390 miles (627 km) Mary ‘was’ with Child!

(This is roughly the distance between Washington D.C. and New York City.  Imagine walking that roundtrip pregnant!)

* Mary, Joseph and Jesus must have lived in Bethlehem for about two years. Jesus was taken at least twice to the Temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph for Circumcision and then again for Him to be ‘presented to the Lord’. (Luke 2:21-24) Let us count these two visits to Jerusalem for a total of 25 miles Mary walked.

(This is roughly the distance across the entire city of Denver)



Philip Otto Runge 1805
To learn about the legend of the Sycamore tree under which the Holy Family rested in Matariya, Egypt, go here.


* With Herod the King seeking to kill Jesus an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and he was told to flee to Egypt and they lived there till the death of Herod. Then he was told again by an angel to return to Israel and they came to live in Nazareth. (Matthew 2:13-23) The normal mileage from Bethlehem down to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, through Gaza across the Sinai Desert and into Egypt to the Pyramids along the Nile would be about 350 miles (563 km). Mary traveled with the infant baby Jesus at about the age of two for 350 miles (563 km) through the desert.

(This would be roughly the equivalent of a walk from Boston to Philadelphia -- and back the long way)

Dore. Click and print for a lovely coloring page!



* Mary, Joseph and child Jesus at about the age of 4 or 5 walked (traveled) from Egypt across the desert past Gaza and Joppa along the Mediterranean Sea to Nazareth. Mary walked about 400 miles (643 km) from Egypt to Nazareth with Jesus and Joseph.

(It's about 400 miles from Chicago, Illinois to Minneapolis, Minnesota)

* Living in Nazareth Mary would have gone at least once a year to the Temple in Jerusalem and back. This would surely have been at Passover or at least one of the Temple festivals. Jesus begins His public ministry at about the age of 30. Let us say they came back to Nazareth when Jesus was 5. For 25 years, Mary would have made round trips to and from Jerusalem once a year. Mary walked 240 miles (386 km) round trip from Nazareth to Jerusalem for 25 years, this = 25 x 240 = 6,000 miles (9655 km)!

(240 miles is about the distance from Baltimore, Maryland to Norfolk, Virginia)

* During the public ministry we find Mary in Cana with Jesus. (John 2:1-11) Mary was with Jesus in His ministry (Matt.12: 46-47; Mark 3:31; Luke 8:19)She was present as Jesus was crucified. (John 19:25-27) The disciple John was asked by Jesus to take care of Mary. (John 19: 27) Mary stayed to live with the early believers in Jerusalem. (Acts 1:14) We do not know the full extent of her travels with Jesus during this three year period but she surely went to the Passover three times, traveled to Cana round trip (12 miles, 19 km) and Capernaum round trip from Nazareth (60 miles, 96 km). The three Passovers including a one way from Nazareth to Jerusalem = 240 x 2 = 720 + 120 (one way to Jerusalem) + 72 = 912 miles (1,467 km). Mary walked at least 912 miles (1,467 km) during the 3-year public ministry of Jesus.



Total miles walked by Mary the Mother of Jesus!

Albrecht Durer.  Click and Print
for another great coloring page!

•4,080 Nazareth to Jerusalem and return. (Age 3 till 20)

•390 While with Child.



•25 From Bethlehem to Jerusalem twice.

•350 Bethlehem to Egypt

•400 Egypt to Nazareth.

•6,000 From Jesus age 5 till 30.

•912 During the public ministry of Jesus.

•Total: 12,187 Miles (19,612 km) Mary the Mother of Jesus Walked by the time she was about 50 years of age!

The distance around the world at the equator is 24,901.55 miles (40,074 km).

This means the Mary the Mother of Jesus Walked almost ‘HALF’ the distance around the world!

 The Flight into Egypt, as well as the Riposo -- or rest -- of the Holy Family, has been a favorite subject of artists since the beginning of Christian art.  There have been countless depictions! Many paintings are highly stylized and not very realistic, but this is a tendency we can easily forgive as they were graceful studies of a weary and gritty journey -- but a journey lit  with the beauty of the Divine Presence -- the Child Jesus safe in the haven of His Mother and St. Joseph's obedient care.

 Here are a few more paintings we've enjoyed looking up this morning:


Can't find the painter of this beautiful depiction.  Love the rich color and the pyramids in the distance.  Where is their baggage, though?



George Hitchcock - 1892  This is a lovely pastoral view of the Flight - but we wonder if it really would have looked like this in the desert between Bethlehem and Egypt.  And why is St. Joseph lagging so far behind?



George Hitchcock - 1895 A very different take on the same subject by Hitchcock, who seems to have moved onto Impressionism.  This one feels lonely and cold to us, compared to the other.  And again, St. Joseph lags way behind.

Luc Olivier Merson 1879.  This painting captures the desert starkness, we think, and is very beautiful in its simplicity, but we have a hard time imagining Our Blessed Mother crawling up to sleep in the arms of the little sphynx.. 


What do you think? Do you have a favorite?

Open to Walkers

How About Slip-and-Sliders?

Photo by Dominic;

Stunts by yours-truly;

Landscaping by God.

Check this out...

A little gem from Aubrey over at Laughing All The Way: 

Dear Anti-Catholic people,

We're happy to share our saints' feast days. After all, they're not ours, but are for all mankind to celebrate. Please remember, when you decide to hate Catholicism because we worship saints (we don't), to avoid celebrating those saints' feast days and other holy days ...

Read the rest here.

Makes My Valentine Monday

St. Valentine Sunday Brunch!

We celebrated the day early because we had a limited time to have some very special Valentine's Day cooks at our disposal!  See... Seminarian son, Dominic, had a doc appointment up here, and his sibs, Jon and Michelle, drove west with him for the trip home,  so we've had a delightfully unexpected full house -- and a busy schedule the last couple of days.  First we had the great pleasure and honor of having our three wonderful school Sisters, as well as their order's visiting much-beloved Reverend Mother over for dinner Saturday night.  (Which was one of the reasons the big kids were so excited to come home for the weekend!  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the evening!  But I was busy either cooking, or talking, or listening, so, well, ya know....)  But, then Sunday, we Davis girls were treated to our family St. Valentine's boys-cooking-for-the-girls tradition.  Everything was as yummy as ever!  And the service and company were fabulous.  What more could a mom ask?

(She could ask that the children could stay longer, I guess...  But, ah well...  Fiat.sigh.)

Anyway, here's a little taste of my sweet day:



The cooks

 

The waiters

 

 

A little of the silliness:



The heart of the meal!

                                                           Happy St. Valentine's Day!

You can find a retro post with links for the feast day right here -- and my favorite retro St. Valentine's post, here.  Plus, Catholic Icing, as always, has some lovely ideas for the day, as does Catholic Cusine.  There is one coloring page here, and another, here, at Waltzing Matilda.

Plus, here's a fun and easy idea if you have a blank wall and an image of the Blessed Mother -- our perfect Valentine.  We did this in art class at school for the lunchroom wall:

The children each made a valentine in honor of one of the titles of Our Lady, as they're found in the Litany of the Blessed Mother.  The cards are simple and one-sided, made with contruction paper hearts and pink, red, and white doilies, lightly rubbed with pastel chalk (Which makes for a cool effect!  Thanks, Sr. Corinne Marie for that idea!) The quote that we chose for beneath the print of our Valentine is:

If you put all the love of all the mothers into one heart

it still would not equal the love of the Heart of Mary for her children.

-- St. Louis de Montfort

Run over to Cheryl's for more sweetheart Makes My Monday posts!

For Friends of Fr. Jurado

Safe and sound at Holy Guardian Angels!

God is good!

The Feast of Our Lady at Lourdes

The only known photograph of St. Bernadette actually kneeling
at the grotto. This was taken some years after the apparitions.

I've been running around like the proverbial headless chicken the last couple of days, up to my chin with dentist appointments  (William -- He had four cavities!  Youch!) , doctor appointments (Cathy -- to figure out what it was she ate last week that gave her hives...) and chiropractor (Me --  Imagine. I have a pain in my neck...), as well as doing all the preparation and long distance organizing of my children's trip from Omaha to Denver to here.  But more on that later -- as I have a million things to do this morning, too, to get ready for a day of art classes over at the children's school...

  But, I couldn't let the day go without honoring the feast of the Apparition of Our Lady at Lourdes.  Because Bernadette is my middle name, I have a particular fondness for anything relating to St. Bernadette, but it's more than affection for my patron saint that draws me to the story of Lourdes.  Everything about Lourdes is beautiful and magical and tingling with the music of heaven to me -- reason alone to meditate upon it: the beauty of the image of Our Lady of Lourdes; the roses under her feet, the miracle of the rectory's roses in winter; and, last but not least, Our Lady's message that she is -- and always has been - the Immaculate Conception.  That she was conceived without the stain of sin.  That she remained always perfect and pure, as the Mother of God must be and is.  The thought transports my soul. 

But, then there's the other side of this story that literally grounds it in reality:  the abject poverty of Bernadette's family; the derision she received for being the recipient of such a divine gift, an ignorant, backward, and unhealthy child of no obvious merit; the lowly place the Queen of Heaven chose to be seen -- literally the town dump.  Such contradictions: the glory of heaven, the grittiness of earth. The whole thing reminds me of Bethlehem and the lowly stable where the King of Heaven chose to be born...  It's a wondrous thing to know, isn't it?  That God can appear anywhere -- in the most unlikely of places.  That He even seems to seek these places out -- like the Good Shepherd climbing down the cliff, hunting out His stray lambs.  He comes and dwells in the hearts that are prepared and beautiful in their love for Him, but He also comes into the poorest and most unprepared of hearts, seeking a place for Himself.

So much to meditate upon.  But I better get going this morning. Happy, Happy Feast of Our Lady at Lourdes!

I've posted a couple of times on this feast day before, with a plethora of links and photos.  You can go here or here, if you like to learn more about this feast day.

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!
St. Bernadette, pray for us!

Here Comes February

a little girl with her first valentine,

 a red bow in her windblown hair,

a kiss waiting on her lips,

 a tantrum just back of her laughter.

~ Hal Borland, Sundial of the Seasons (1964)

Bike Hospital Day

(Two Saturdays ago before the snow flew.)

Some people worked hard.

 Some people...

...not so much.

Spitwads

Have you heard about the fourteen-year-old honor student in Virginia who was caught red-handed and charged with criminal assault -- for shooting spitwads?  No kidding. It happened this past December.  Apparently, the powers-that-be at this child's school are recommending  felony charges against him for possessing a deadly weapon. Ummm.... Huh?  A deadly weapon?  We're talking about tiny bits of styrofoam blown through the emptied-out barrel of a ball point pen here.  Stupid.  Childish.  But not deadly.

When I was a fourth-grader I threw a concrete block on the foot of a boy who got too close to me playing tag.  Having been caught red-handed by the Sister on playground duty, I was sent to sit outside the principal's office for the rest of recess that day and got a stern -- but distracted -- lecture from the secretary sitting behind the desk -- who, after I'd sat there about a half hour asked me what on earth I wanted.  I told her my crime.  But what I wanted was to not be sitting there in ignomy.  What I wanted was to sink into the orange plastic of my chair and disappear so that everyone passing by wouldn't look at me so suspiciously.  And what I really wanted was for my Mom not to find out I'd gotten into so much trouble I'd had to sit outside the principal's office. It was a disgrace and I knew that I would be grounded forever if she heard about it.

  But my Mom didn't find out. In fact, I believe the playground Sister forgot to mention the concrete block incident to my teacher, because I sat there outside the principal's office for what seemed an eternity, kicking my feet, and looking guilty -- a forgotten criminal in exile.  It wasn't until the middle of science class, the last subject of the day, that my teacher finally noticed I was missing and sent a hall monitor out to find me.

And go figure.  The monitor was the kid whose foot I'd dropped the concrete block on.  But, by the time he came and got me, I  don't think he had a clue why I was sitting outside the principal's office.  He didn't say a word or even make a face at me,  just crooked his finger and pointed down the hall toward my classroom. Where I high-tailed it, gratefully.

I was a pipsqueak nine-year-old with a curly mop of hair hanging in my face; he was a linebacker disguised as a fifth grade Catholic grade school student.  (It seems I recall he even had a hint of a mustache...)  But I deserved the punishment I got, and it was more than sufficient.  I can honestly say that from that day to this, I have never purposely dropped anything on anyone's foot -- especially around teaching Sisters.

  But, seriously...  though I  really should not have dropped that concrete block on that boy's foot, I expect the playground Sister saw what was going on, and knew that what I did was...

             stupid.
                     And childish.
                                But not deadly.

And no charges were pressed.

Thank goodness.

Common sense still reigned.

When did we lose that?

Question:  Have you ever shot a spitwad?  Homeschoolers can answer this one, too...

"Every Mile Is Two In Winter"

~ George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651)

Though my relatives in Denver say they're getting socked,

it's not snowing here on the Western slope.  It is cold, though.  And has been for a while.

Which is extremely significant to us, because with this

cold, our outdoor hydrant froze a few weeks ago

 and we were having to water the cows

 by filling their trough

 with buckets filled in our bathtub. 

Picture that.

Six to eight five-gallon buckets, bathtub to barn.

Every day.

(Ugh)

But all is well now, thank God and our good friend, Carl,

who is letting us put the cows on his lovely pasture,

complete with running water and super dooper fences.

The cows are happy now.

But we're happier.

Unfortunately, though, 

that hasn't been the only problem.

The snow and cold have caused some other hitches in our git-along recently that are even more vexxing and have not quite been solved yet.  Our son, Dominic, the seminarian, has been having some health problems of a mysterious nature that have caused him to have periodic dizzy spells and shortness of breath.  Because we've eliminated all the harmless and passing maladies that might be causing this, and because his blood pressure has also been elevated, we decided we need to get him home to see the medical professionals we know and trust in Colorado.  So I made appointments for this past week, and the boys (Jon was going to drive over with him) planned to head to Denver last week. 

 But, of course there was a gigantic snowstorm across the whole United States last week. 



Dominic with
nephew, Gavin.

So I rescheduled the appointments for this upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday... And, of course it's snowing again.  It' snowing everywhere, isn't it?  It's like a song we can't get out of our heads this winter.  But, well, anyway...  The weather reports don't look as bad this time around so the boys are planning to make the trip tomorrow morning.  And I think Michelle might be coming with them.  They plan to leave around 8 a.m. Nebraska time.  So, I'm begging for prayers for their safe journey. And for a solution to Dominic's health issues quickly so he can head back to his studies.  I thank-you ahead of time from the bottom of my heart for any words you can send heavenward!  

 These are the youngins pictured below that will be making the drive: (l-r) Dominic, Jon, Michelley.  Just add about fifteen years to each of those little faces. 

Weren't they cute?  They still are, of course!  But, my, how time flies!