On the Feast of St. Patrick



Sunrise at Inishowen, Ireland (from Picture That)

May the blessed light be on you, light without and light within.  May the blessed sunlight shine on you and warm your heart until it glows like a great fire, so that the Stranger may come and warm himself at it, and also a Friend.

And may the light shine out of the two eyes of you like a candle set in two windows of a house, bidding the Wanderer to come in from out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the rain be on you -- the soft, sweet rain.  may it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air.

And may the blessing of the great rains be on you; may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines reflected, and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the earth be on you -- the great and round earth; and may you ever have a kindly greeting for them you pass as you're going along the roads.  May the earth be soft under you when you lie upon it, tired at the end of the day, and may it rest easy over you, when, at the last, you lie under it; may it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be quickly through it, and up, and off, and on its way to God.  may God always bless you, love you, and keep you.

And a Prayer

O God, Who deigned to send blessed Patrick, Thy confessor and bishop to preach Thy glory to the nations, grant, through his merits and intercession, that those commands which Thou doest set before us we may by Thy mercy be able to fulfill.

-- From the Mass of St. Patrick's Feast


Happy and Blessed St Patrick's Day, Everyone!

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Is it just me or is anyone else still struggling

 to come to terms with that lost hour Sunday morning?

Simple Woman Monday

What I'm hearing...  William grinding coffee beans in the kitchen. Bless him!

Outside my window...  Most of the snow is melted and the driveway is a muddy moat.  But the robins have arrived!  And the cardinals.  And the finches.  And I don't know who all else yet.  But the morning is full to bursting with birdsong.  If you can hear it over the coffee beans being ground.,

(Right now I'd rather hear coffee coming than birds, though...)

What I'm wearing...  A black tee and sweater with a long multicolored floaty gypsy skirt -- that I'm

going to be tripping over all day.  (Why do I do this to myself?)

What I'm thinking...  It's going to be a busy couple of weeks! I need to gear up body, mind, and spirit.

What I'm learning...  How to accept comings and goings. How to expect them.

What I'm hoping... That the buds start popping out on the millions of trees and shrubs all around our house -- and that we don't have any more serious cold snaps, but can enjoy the world greening in peace and relative warmth!

What I'm working on...  Springifying our house to match the spring-like weather this week (it's been in the 60s!) Also, getting the house straightened and beds ready for an influx of visitors over the next week or so (Kevin, his friend, Ina, and Dominic tonight, and Michelle -- and who knows who else -- next week.)

What I'm planning...  Finishing getting June packed to move back home to Western Colorado on Wednesday.  After 2+ years having her as our resident "grandma," she's ready to go back to the town of her birth and try living on her own again.  I'm planning on keeping a close eye from  here on how she's doing -- but prayers on her behalf are kindly requested!

From the mouths of Little Boys...  "I just love Fiddler on the Roof.  I mean, Tevye -- He can sing and he can dance and he talks to God...  On the other hand... he's big and tough and...  manly!" This from Gabe last night after watching Fiddler for the first time.  Definitely a manly musical.

From the mouth of Tevye... "As the good Book says, if you spit in the air, it lands on your face." (If that's not a quote a little boy would appreciate, I don't know what is.)

Some picture thoughts for today...

Gabe: all ten years old, all boy.

For more Simple Woman link-ups, run over to Peggy's!

7 ThingsThis Week

...that have made me smile, chortle, giggle, snort, or guffaw:


1) The Lady 

-- the grandma-age lady with a hoodie pulled up over her head and dark sunglasses on her face -- walking into the police station in the small town near our home -- carrying two six packs of beer. There's a story there I just know it. (I almost stopped to ask.)

St. Nicholas was the tree that Arius
ran right smack into.

2) "And he didn't see the tree until he smacked right into it!"  

William's way of saying that he thought the heretic, Arius, not only couldn't see the forest, but couldn't see the trees, either. I love the way this nine-year-old brain works!  He cracks me up -- and makes me think!


3)  Silly Me
...for protesting (at first) Gabe's burning desire to buy a broken Nerf Machine Gun at the thrift store the other day. Why waste $2.99 on a broken toy? Seriously, Gabe? 

The owner of this blog does not endorse gratuitous violence.
Except when it doesn't make a mess and nobody ends up crying.
Gabriel pretending to shoot William; William pretending to
cower in fright.  All part of a normal morning here.

But, hmmm...  Wait. Broken Nerf guns only shoot pretend Nerf bullets. Nothing I like better than pretend Nerf bullets lying all around the house! No mess, no siblings complaining about being shot in the eye, no ducking them, myself.  Happy Mommy.  

O.K., kiddo!  Go right ahead and buy yourself a broken toy!  So, he did; Gabe bought that $2.99 broken Nerf gun with his own money out of his own little wallet. And you know what? Both little boys have gotten more mileage out of that Nerf gun over the last couple of days, you just wouldn't believe it. Never measure another's enjoyment by your own dull light -- especially if you're too old to remember the better reality of make-believe. I remember now, though.  Silly me.


           4) This

Bless me, Father for I have sinned: I snarled at the children when I was hungry
and blamed it on Lent.  :/  Yeah.  True story.  But I'm working on it, I promise.

5) The Lewis Chessmen

Played as a knight, this "Warder," also called a
"Berserker," was known for his wild "trance-like"
rage during battle.  As you probably guessed, we
get the term "berserk" from these fellows. Look at
him, though.  Isn't he hysterical?

Discovered on a beach in Scotland in 1830, these fascinating and comical chess pieces were likely crafted by Scandinavian craftsman in the late 12th or early 13th century.  They're between 2.5 and 4 inches tall and are carved from walrus tusks.  No one knows how they came to buried on Ulg beach in Lewis, Scotland, but it seems that they were purposely deposited there, the chief repository appearing to have been within a small "drystone" chamber.  In all, there were found 93 game pieces, 78 of which were chess men -- and they are charming. They make me giggle.  We have to have some of these guys! 

Unfortunately, though, set of small chess pieces and a simple board is app $80 (American money)... Dernit.  But laughing at this crazy guy is free!

* Check out the interactive site explaining all about the history of these chess pieces -- and be sure and show the kids the free games!  Too much fun and lots of good learning here for all of us.  That always makes me smile!

          6) And This

Just bought the Brave soundtrack for my laptop playlist.



Sarah Bareilles' "Brave" is a great one to belt out, but "Touch the Sky" is a fun one, too.  Can you just see me flinging out the Summer Kitchen door, kids, dancing through the garden singing this?  No?  ;)  Maybe once the snow melts out that side of the house.  Ya never know.  Spring is upon us!

7) Our Sweet Evelyn

Evie turned one on March 4th!  Look at that face!  How could you not smile at that? Especially if you get to be the grandmother of  all that sweetness! 

I'm a grandmother? What's with that? (Still pinching myself over

Paul and Shelly -- the first two married
Davis kids (or soon to be): our oldest son
and our oldest daughter, though there are
three unmarried brothers between them.
They  look a bit alike, don't they? Had
a hankering to see their faces...  So here
they are.  Which makes me smile, too.

this...) Two sweet grandbabies thanks to Paul and Nicole, though -- and surely more to come.  Michelle's getting married in June, and that's only two out of the ten setting up to manufacture grandbabies for me.  All that scrumptious wonderfulness and I don't have to go through labor and delivery to get it!  Woot!  We are so blessed in our children and grand-children!  

* For lots of smiles and peeks into other blog windows this morning, run over to Kelly's at This Ain't the Lyceum.




*Oh, and one last reason to smile:

What did I come over here for?

I can't remember, so I guess I'll sit down and write a post about it.

~*~*~*~*~

Everyone has photographic memory.

Some just don't have film.

~ Stephen Wright

That's me. No film. To borrow another simile, I have a brain like a seive. I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning, and don't ask me what I did last weekend. Or last month. Or what I got for Christmas. Or what year any one of my children was born. Or who their godparents are. Or what I just walked into this room to do...

I might be able to drag a lost item up out of my memory banks if there's something remarkable that impressed itself so solidly on the interior of my brain that it's practically visible on the exterior. But, otherwise, I've learned to only fumble around for a minute or two before I ask the children what it was I was trying to remember. Sometimes they remember, sometimes they make something up. I don't know what the ratio of truth and fiction is, though. How would I?

I have a collection of excuses for my memory handicap, good for a variety of situations, depending upon how believable I need to be or how silly I don't mind appearing...

I can't think/remember because:

* I have early onset of senility (One of my favorite excuses and especially believable to the teen and twenties set)

* I'm distracted by the multitudinous responsibilities of my station (Feasible excuse, esp to other mothers, I think)

* Humidity curling my hair affects the pattern of my brain waves (Anyone who already thinks I'm an airhead believes this one)

* I'm suffering early onset of menopause (Other menopausal women understand that mushy-brain syndrome is really a symptom; young women squint with worry; kids don't have a clue what you're talking about; men just roll their eyes)

* I was out in the sun so long weeding the garden that someone else was told to weed -ahem!- that my brain is literally fried (Kids just roll their eyes at this one -- no way they'll be guilted out)

* I'm buzzing on coffee, and can't gather my thoughts because they're flitting around my brain on caffeine fizz (That's believable, isn't it?)

* Caffeine withdrawal headaches make it impossible to think straight (Just as believable, surely!)

* I was up all night with the baby (Would work if I had a baby at the moment...)

* I was up all night with insomnia (Elicits scores of advice on how to conquer insomnia, but only a little sympathy for how it makes me forget all my children's names -- and how I can't remember whose clothes are whose when I do laundry)

* I was up all night trying to load pictures onto Blogger (Gets total sympathy from other bloggers, but mystification from just about anyone else)

** There are probably more, but I can't remember them.

*** Definition for my children: film - n. A thin sheet or strip of flexible material, such as a cellulose derivative or a thermoplastic resin, coated with a photosensitive emulsion and used to make photographic negatives or transparencies.

****Translation of the definition: It's the stuff you used to put in old-time cameras to make pictures -- you took it out of the camera after you filled up its quota of pictures and took it to the photo processing center to have it developed. It's akin to a memory card, sorta. So, the analogy here would be the comparison of bad memory and very little memory on your memory card. Or having a faulty memory card that undependably recorded the pictures you took with your digital. Get it?
* From the archives: May, 2009

Feast of the Great King St. David of Wales

Today is the "St. Patrick's Day" of the Welsh people, but it didn't occur to me until a couple of years ago that this was our family's name day.  Most Davises I am told are of Welsh descent and are named in honor of the great saint of that country, Dewy San, or St. David.  King of  Ceredigion (one of many distinct kingdoms that emerged in Wales after the Romans left).

Our saint had an unusual start in life.  It is believed he was conceived in violence by a chieftain named Xantus.  His mother, Non, who is venerated as a saint, gave birth to him on a cliff top during a violent storm.  The pains of the birth were said to have been so bad that the imprint of Non's fingers were left in the rock she grasped, and the tale goes that as David was born a bolt of lightning split the rock in two.  Legend has it that the two pieces of the split rock later became part of the foundation for St. David's Cathedral (in the county of Pembrokeshire in the most westerly point of Wales) and  St. Non's Chapel (a few miles from the cathedral).

St. Non's Chapel, Wales                Photo by Lucy Hollis

St. David is an example that a child, no matter how he is conceived, is precious in the eyes of God and lit with the same spark of possibility as any soul.  There is a tradition that an angel told St. Patrick about the birth of St. David thirty years before his birth, and no doubt St. Patrick's prayers contributed to the holy outcome of a violent beginning, but this new baby born on the edge of a cliff was also blessed to be the son of a saintly mother and later became the pupil of another saint, St.Paulinus.  With these good influences and the strength of his own will, David grew up to be a great man.

Always a  respected and well-loved leader, he entered the religious life and became known as a preacher and teacher and founded many churches and monastaries.  He became a bishop, presiding over two synods,  made pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem, and while in Jerusalem was raised to an archbishop. The most famous miracle of his life was that of the raising of the hill of Llanddewi Brefi.  He was preaching to a large crowd at the synod being held there when the people at the back complained that they couldn't hear -- so a hill rose up beneath St. David's feet.  A village now stands on this hill. (It's my fondest wish to tour the British Isles some day -- and this is one of the places on my "must see" list!)

King St. David lived to be 100 years old, dying around the year 590.  His final words to his people were:

Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.

Do the little things in life.

"Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd"

The same message as our St. Theresa of Lisieux, only 1400 years earlier.

 

For more information about St. David's Day celebrations in Wales, there are many links in my post of last year.  and the image above can be printed for a lovely coloring page.  The best biography of our saint that I found is at the Monastary of Dewi Sant.

Happy Feast of St. David to all, but especially to those of Welsh descent, to all the Davises out there, and to all the Davids  (That means YOU especially, Uncle Dave!).

A prayer to St. David

(Can be said as a novena)

O great St. David, we hear you call us on towards a life of faith; a life that knows no fear of death. Christ was the centre of all your teaching; God’s holy will the centre of all you did.

Help us now by your great intercession, certain as we are that in your goodness you long ago made provision for all our present and future needs. We ask you now, dear brother, to watch over us, to stretch out your hands in blessing upon us and lead us now to God with our hearts confessing our King, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer who lives forever more.

Grant, we beseech you, Almighty God, that the loving intercession of Saint David, your Confessor and Bishop may protect us and guide us, help us to be joyful and keep the faith. We make our prayer in the Name of Jesus. Through Christ, our sweet and loving Lord, Amen.

* Repost from 2011 -- an annual tradition to re-post!  Happy San Dewey Day, 2015!

See Us Homeschool

Therese at Ordinary Lovely and Micaela at California to Korea are hosting a homeschooling link-up (or blog hop) -- and a really fun one!  For this particular round-up, no words are allowed -- only pictures to illustrate our home school days.  I like this idea.  All the words in the world can't capture a life (and trust me, I try!  Just look at the length of some of my posts!)

Anyone who home schools, though, knows that home school is life. It's not some small part of the day, not something that's compartmentalized, an afterthought or momentary chore.  It's a vocation.  A culture.  A mindset. And each home school family's take on the whole thing is as unique as a fingerprint.  A fingerprint that changes constantly.  How do you explain that? It's practically impossible to put into words what really goes on in the inside, outside, upside down of a home school family.  Charts, schedules and book lists really don't explain the life. And how we love it.  The craziness is perfectly upside-right to us.

The theme of this meme may be just the thing, though.  Maybe you can get a better idea with a bunch of random pictures, a window on our home schooling world.  I pulled the following photos down somewhat quickly and rather haphazardly from my files; they're not very good pictures most of them (Alas! My poor Nikon may never make it to the top of the necessary expenses list); my daughter's little, red, pocket-sized camera has been standing in for a couple months...  But, better than nothing, right?  And, you know, actually... the fuzz and poor lighting may capture real life better than the perfect focus of the expensive camera.  Our big picture is generally better than our minute detail around here, anyway -- and time's going by so quickly it does seem all to be a bit of a blur (heaven knows I was only just schooling the top five and now they're all off on their own!).

But, anyway...  No more words.  Here ya go.  The "big picture" -- with no captions, except for the first and last photos:

All ten children, plus grandson, Gavin -- about a year and a half ago. L-R; top row:Cathy, Paul, Kevin, Dominic, Frater Philip holding Gavin,, Michelle; front row: Theresa behind William next to Gabe and Cathy.

The five still at home: Theresa (11th grade), Cathy (9th grade), Anna (7th grade), 
William (3rd grade), Gabe (5th grade).  And, check it out: 4 normal smiles out of 5!

*  Why say i t in five pictures if you can say it in fifty, right?  ;)
*  Oh, and for the record, though you could probably tell -- we're a little more crazy than classical...
* Make sure and run over to Ordinary Lovely or California to Korea to do some more home school blog hopping!