Thankful Thursday

Thank-you, dear Lord, for my son, Jon. 

I miss him so much now that he is gone.

But, You were so good to have given him

A sweet understanding of his mother's whims,

And a heart so kind, so generous, so big

That he conspired to buy me this flying pig:

Did you notice the pig, Lord?

A silly thing, for sure --

But, it's the giver not the gift I'm thanking You for.

See Your good work,  Lord?

My son, Jonathan Charles, a prince among men --

He's handsome, he's charming -- he even calls home now and then!

But the thing I love about Jon the most

Is that I'm sure he won't mind

(Or at least he'd be resigned)

 That we decided to name the pig

                                                    Juan Carlos.

After him.

                          On a whim.

Not  bcause he reminds us of Jon.

But as a whimsical thing to remember him by --

Because pigs can't fly

But Jon's such a nice guy.

Who loves his Mom.

Even though her poem stinks.

And who understands his Mom

When she misses the boat on things

Because she's waiting at the airport for the pigs with wings.

Jonathan Charles, son number three

Dearest Lord, thank-you for this young man,

Who also waits for them to land.

Juan Carlos, the yard-art flying pig

Because we never get tired of dreaming the impossible dream.

Cleaning Out My Picture File...

This is what I found.

The Omaha "Bigs" at Work



Dominic'sduties at the Seminary include cooking for his fellow seminarians,
as well as all the boarder kids at the school.  Here he is making garlic bread.



"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?"
 Matthew 5:13



Jon at his morning job at the hospital coffee shop, just around the corner from Dominic at the Seminary.



Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze. It maketh me to wake in green pastures:
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz:
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal™:
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of The Starbucks:
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the House of Mochas forever.
~Author Unknown

  And at Play




Our good friend, Sarah, who works at a popular Omaha gourmet ice cream shop. (Pictured here with Jon, Michelle, and good friend, Genevieve)

"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy the ice cream while it's on your plate."



~ Thornton Wilder

 

"See how they love one another?"
~ Tertullian, 3rd century

Note From my Aunt in Eastern North Carolina

Because my aunt is the most dedicated prayer warrior I know, I know she won't mind if I send out this prayer request on the world wide web.  Aunt Billie, my Mom's sister, and her husband, our Uncle Elbert are in their seventies.  The rest of my mothers siblings are all on the Carolina coast, as well as many of my cousins (two she references below, Micki and Joanne). We have relatives in Maryland, too, and Georgia, and Florida....  Anyway, we're concerned for everyone's safety!  Praying today!  Going to Mass right now, in fact to send intentions up for everyone in Hurricane Irene's path!

Here's Aunt Billie Jean's E-mail:

Looks like Irene is headed straight for us. 'Course, it often changes its course, but sometimes it doesn't. We've got everything (I hope) picked up and stored. We've still got one bird feeder out, but will put that away tomorrow morning. Schools are either closed tomorrow, or a few are going half a day. All visitors on the Outer Banks (OBX) and some in the IBX are under mandatory orders to evacuate and I expect that more will be tomorrow.


The llllllll Community College will open tomorrow at l:00 PM as an emergency shelter; and I'm not sure when the llllllllll County shelters will open, but soon, I'm sure. JoAnn is scheduled to be on duty at one of them. Haven't heard about Micki yet, but expect she, Lola, and Marley will be at the one where JoAnn is, but probably Micki will be on duty at llllllllll Hospital.

They've already cancelled our church service Sunday AM because it's supposed to be a BIG storm!! The weather man here said on the 6:00 news that if you have a tin roof on your house, expect it to be blown off!! We don't....but still..... He also said that if you have a lot of big trees in your yard....leave, even if you never have before!! I never have before, but I'm thinking about it now!! We've got some BIG trees. Elbert's not sure..but I asked him....what can you do if something terrible happens? He doesn't know. I've never been afraid in a big storm before, and I've been through some duzzies in Florida...but I was a lot younger then. I can't run fast now, and if a tree is falling, where do you run? You don't know what direction it's going to fall!! He says, "Where would you go?" I told him that I don't know, but probably southwest.
 Soooo, whenever you have a spare moment...or hour....say a prayer for all of us down here and along the northeast coast....looks like we're in for a bumpy ride!

 Love you all...
Billie Jean

First Day of School, 2011-2012

So, I arrived home from Omaha Tuesday afternoon; rechecked all the children's uniforms and school supplies Wednesday; packed the lunches last night, got everyone into the bathtub and into bed early -- and then got everyone out the door, happy, smiling, and on time this morning.  Everyone, that is, except this little guy:

William -- who is sick with mild flu symptoms -- bad cough and tummy troubles.  So, (heehee!)  Mommy gets a reprieve from sending baby #10 off to Kindergarten for a day or four...  I do still really have a difficulty with conventional schooling.  It's most unnatural for me to send my children away for someone else to teach them.  If it weren't for the world's best Kindergarten teacher and our stellar Teaching Sisters, I so would not be doing this.  Thankfully, I do still have Happy Homeschooler, Catherine, here to keep me company.  I'm so glad of that!  And William's kindergarten class has off on Wednesdays.  Plus, I still get to teach my awesome autistic high school buddy, Brian, history and English three days a week.  So I shouldn't be too lonesome. 



Cathy, such an indus-
trious little student,
playing the wii...


 Hopefully I'll have a chance (finally, maybe) this school year to tap out some ponderful  posts on the conventional school vs. home school, vs. boarding school decisions we've made...  and will likely continue to re-decide and re-defne and re-make as the years go on.

In the meantime, though:  Anyone else out there already starting the school season with sickness?  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!  Ugh.  What are your immune booster methods of choice?

Fisherman's Feast

http://www.fishermansfeast.com/

If you've already been by and wondered ---  I'm still on vacation in Omaha with a few of the grown-up (sorta) kids and only had a brief chance to get online (at the public computer at the hospital where Jon works) to check my e-mail, etc.  I was as surprised as you may have been to pop into my blog and find the above link -- all by itself, with no explanation...  And, well, I have to tell ya, I have no idea, really, why I posted this.  I think I must have done it some months ago, probably after stumbling upon this event in my wanderings.  I may have had some idea to incorporate it into a larger post, but, uh...  I have no idea now what that might have been about.  (gglggl)  But I do love fish.  And, being Catholic, fish has a special meaning in my life -- particularly on Fridays...  So, well -- If you're in the Boston area, go have some lovely fresh fish for me tomorrow! 

I'll be here in Nebraska for a couple more days, getting the kids here set up with chiropractor appointments and otherwise settled in.  Then, I plan to spend a couple days with family in Denver and will be back early next week to get the Littles ready for their first day back to school next Wednesday.  :0)  I'll check back in after that!

God bless!  And Happy Fisherman's Feast days I guess!

Checklist

Bags packed
 --  Everything Michelle owns * Check
      + the schoolwork for English Lit and Biology that she did over the summer * Check
 --  Enough clothes and shoes for me for a week * Check
 --  Toothbrushes * Check
 --  All other toiletries including hair clips and curling iron (which we girls use to "uncurl") * Check
 -- Missals and chapel veils and reading material * Check

Missives collected to deliver
 -- The notebook Fr. G. left at our chapel a couple weeks ago * Check
 -- Gifts of extra administrative binders from the Sisters at our school to the Sisters at Michelle's school * Check
 -- Kevin's suit coat that Dan accidentally picked up thinking it was his * Check
 -- Several donated computers and printers that Kevin wants to go through to see if they're any better than the ones he's got  * Check
 -- Two bushels of sweet corn for my brothers in Denver * Will pick up on the way
 -- A bushel of Palisade peaches to split up between my Mom and sisters * Will pick up on the way
 -- Hugs and kisses from everyone to be doled out to everyone we meet on the way * Check

Prayers said before leaving
 --  Mass and reception of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrment * Check
 -- Confession * check
 -- Seven-day candle lit * check
 -- Blessing from Father B. * check


We are READY to GO!

Where:
On our way to Omaha this morning, Michelle and I.  Her first day of school is August 17th, so we hope to get there by Monday, in time for Mass in Omaha on Monday, the Feast of the Assumption.  Then Shell and I will get her settled in at the Boarder House, and hang around drinking Starbux and enjoying a lack of a schedule until Wednesday -- at which time, I will scrounge around Omaha looking for my son, Jon, whom I will then hijack from all his friends for a couple of days. ;0)  (Look out, Jon!)  Then, I'm on my way home, via Denver, where I get to spend a couple days hanging around with my siblings, and my parents, and my son, Kevvy (whom I hope to go hiking Boulder Falls with next Saturday...).  So, until, next week sometime!:  Toodaloo and many blessings! 

Simple Woman

Outside my window… It is pitch black because I am typing this in the middle of the night.  (Have I ever shared this insomniac riddle:  What do you get if you cross an insomniac, an agnostic and a dyslexic? ** Answer at bottom of post)

I am hearing...  Nothing but the ceiling fan and my fingers tapping on the keyboard.

I am thinking…  this summer has passed by like Cathy flying around our circle driveway on her bike: with amazingly fast spurts that whiz around in a blur of color --interspersed with long moments lying flat out on the lawn.  And occasional wipe outs.

I am thankful for… The long moments lying flat out on the lawn.

From the kitchen… Olathe Sweet Sweet corn (best corn in the world, and I am not kidding).  It is everywhere here -- thank-you, God -- because we have the great blessing to live smack in the middle of the valley that grows this ambrosia -- and the Sweet Corn Festival (of great reknown) was this past weekend, so the very air is full of the sound and smell and taste of sweet corn.  We've been feasting on it -- raw, boiled, plain, buttered, salted -- and are only waiting for Dan to come home to roast some in the fire pit -- and slather it with this recipe we recently found for:

Chipolte Herb Butter

3 Tbs lime zest
3 Tbs chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
2 Tbs chopped fresh morjoram
1 1/2 Tbs chopped shallot
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Melt butter in small sauce pan or bowl. With mixer at medium speed or with vigorous swishing of whisk, mix in lime zest, peppers, morjoram, shallot, salt, and peppers until creamy. 

Then: Roast 8 ears of corn as you like.  In oven at 350, shuck and coat each ear of corn with the chipolte mixture, then  wrap in aluminum, and bake for 30 minutes (seam side up).  Or, follow the campfire method, and brush on melted butter and chipolte sauce after roasting and shucking.  Yum!  Can't wait to try this!

I am wearing... khaki capris and an orange blouse with cowboy hats and guitars all over.  And silver dangly cowboy hat earrings.

Plans for the week...  Help the Sisters at school with whatever needs doing to get ready for 'opening day';* buy school supplies for the four going to school across the hay field with the Sisters; get ready for some more traveling because

I am going… to Omaha a week from today.  I'm taking a week to get Michelle settled back in to her school time digs, as well as  trying to catch a little time with Seminarian son, Dominic.  But most of my time in Omaha I hope to spend with our number three son, Jon.  We got to see him on our road trip earlier in the summer, but things were so busy, busy, busy that I didn't feel like I had ten words with him.  I think I'm going through some Jon-withdrawal!  I am so looking forward to some real relaxation and down time spent in his company!

I am reading… Not much right now.  Too much on my plate to hold a book!

I am hoping… for a smooth and successful school year for all of our children -- the one boarding, the one in college, those in Catholic school, the one in the Seminary, the one homeschooling with me, and the little guy who's starting Kindergarten!

I am praying...  for the 31 soldiers who perished in Afghanistan Saturday.  God bless and help them and their  families.  May their souls, and all the souls of the Faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 

I am hearing… Yeah, I know you know about the ceiling fan and the tapping -- but added to that now is my stomach growling.  One of the side effects of insomnia.  If you're awake more than four hours after dinner, your stomach thinks it's chow time again. To eat or not to eat? That is the question that begins to go 'round and 'round an insomniac's addled brain... (Maybe I'll have a rice cake.)

Around the house… Monday morning?  Laundry, what else?

One of my favorite things… Kitty cats:




A picture thought I 'm sharing...


<><>

One of our kitties.  "Boo" I think... 
A serene pose, but very possibly not peaceful ponderings going on there. td>

*Aside to any Grammar Nerds here present:  Standard rule is that semicolons and colons go outside the quotation marks -- but that just doesn't look right... Any Grammar Refs out there? (If there are, please have mercy on me!  Heaven knows I don't proofread  like I ought to   like I should  as I ought...)

**  Someone who stays up all night wondering if there really is a dog.  (Yeah, sorry.  That was pretty bad, huh?)

You are hearing...  Me munching on mini Creme Brulee rice cakes...

'Night all! Or, er, Good Morning!  Or whatever it is wherever you are, I hope it's a good one.

Sunday Afternoon

Dan is in Denver this week and Michelle and Gabe are still in California, so it's just the five of us here at home: Theresa, Cathy, Anna, William and me.  With so few here, I catch myself looking over my shoulder a lot, feeling like I've lost something - or someone. Mind you, it's not exactly quiet around here (that's simply not possible with William in the house), but there's definitely less milling about of warm bodies going on.  And, as if I hadn't already had trouble adjusting to cooking without teenage boys around, preparing food for only myself and these three birdlike girls and William-who-never-eats is making me crazy. Anybody interested in some really good leftovers? I've got large quantities of spaghetti, bbq pork, pizza, and and chocolate cookie dough just waiting for a big appetite to show up...  Anybody's but mine, that is, because I'm on a diet.

Anyway, I'm glad you stopped by.  Welcome to our house.  Here's a little peek in the window at a slow and lazy Sunday with only 2/5ths of the kids at home.  (This is what you're missing, Dan.  Don't you wish you were here?)

A Musical Walk-through
(With Theresa on Keyboard)





Background Backstories For the Curious:

Flotsam and Jetsam from a Sunday morning.  We call the blue goo foofoo  -- Just the ticket for "slickin" up little boys' hair for Sunday Mass!  (Incidentally, I have no idea why we call it foofoo, except for that my uncle called it that when my brothers were kids.  You don't want to know what he said it was made out of...)



Anna is on a coloring kick, and was especially tickled when Sr. Corinne Marie gave her several coloring pages to take home with her from Saturday's work day at the school.  I don't know about most families, but we go through several different "play phases" every summer.  Some years it's cowboys and Indians followed by marbles or squirt guns; some years it's tea parties, followed by maybe faerie houses or dress-up days. This year, we started out early doing hoola-hoops and kittens,  and now that it's the dog-days of late August and too hot to hoola, the girls are teaching themselves to Irish Step Dance via Yootube lessons, while watching the hummingbirds fight for king of the feeder outside the patio doors -- and we're leaving crayons and markers all over the house. 

 

This year it's all about Nancy Drew.  All three girls (Theresa, Cathy, and Anna) are working their way through my old collection of thirty or so books.  Theresa just finished reading the Owen Francis Dudley series (aka: the Father Dudley books -- you can find Father Dudley's conversion story here!), as well, and is dipping into good ole Don Camillo.  But, Sunday morning is all about the comics.   Part of our conversation today will inevitably get around to a critique of them.  Everyone agrees:  most of them are pretty stupid.  But we all read them, anyway.



Always music of some kind going on in the background here.  If someone doesn't have her personal playlist going, Theresa's at the keyboard.  Right now she's teaching Cathy how to play.  Which suits me fine -- Two for one piano lessons are encouraged in big families, especially.

Not sure whether a couple kids finished a game and didn't re-set up, or William was playing "Guys."  Chess pieces are his Good-Guys vs. Bad-Guys figures of choice these days...



I think the picture tells the tale here.  Are you seeing what I'm seeing? 

Surfin' Thursday

Surf -- surf/sərf/

Noun: 1) The mass or line of foam formed by waves breaking on a seashore or reef: "the roar of the surf".

Verb: 2) Ride on the crest of a wave, typically toward the shore while riding on a surfboard: "learning to surf".  3) Move from site to site on the Internet: "She spent her idle moments surfing the web".




Little Boogie Board Girl, Theresa Philomena (12)




I grew up within a few miles of the beach, but didn't grow up with Boogie Boards.  They weren't the thing I guess on the Atlantic coast. But when Dan was a kid growing up in southern California, knowing how to maneuver them was a given, a right of passage.  If you didn't own a surfboard, you at least had a boogie board.  And you knew how to use it.  Dan can still ride a mean wave, belly down on a boogie board.

 I grew up a Virginia Beach girl, though.  In Virginia it was customary to bring a book, a blanket, an umbrella, and a picnic basket to the beach.  Which still works for me. And now that I'm a Mommy, I guard the post and take care of everyone's glasses and cell phones, too -- and mind that the flip flops don't float out to sea.  I slather sun screen on anything that moves and wash sand out of eyes.  I even record the fun for posterity -- but I do not ride boogie boards.  I have this notion that dignity is a terrible thing to waste...  But the children aren't shy; most of them gave it a try -- in some way or another. Cathy and William are sand pipers; they prefer to stay on the shore, but most of the kids took to the wave-riding thing like fish to water (uh, so to speak...). 

So, anyway, armed to the top of my computer's memory with photos from our summer vacation, I'm throwing a beach party today. :)

And here, to get things rolling, are some examples of surfing definitions 1 and 2...

"Follow me, kids.  I'll show ya how to use this thing!"
(Big brother, Kevvy, with Anna and Theresa)

Kevin Christopher (21) and Theresa

Theresa solo

Good friend, Brenda B., with Michelle Frances (16)

L-R: Theresa, Michelle, Kevvy. (You HAVE to click this one to enlarge it; it's hilarious, and Michelle is going to KILL me when she sees that I've shared it... but I just couldn't resist. ;0) Look how she's caught this wave! Look at the expression my camera caught!

Gabe's  Boogie Board Method:  

Wait for iiit......  Wait for iiiiitt....



And there he goes!


 William's Boogie Board Method:

Never goes anywhere, but does it with style.

The Real Surfing Pros:

Sharks or dolphins?  What do you think?  Dolphins, we're pretty sure.  But, um, I made the kids get out of the water, anyway...

* Now,  for some web surfing fun...  Surf the day away and never get wet!  A few of my favorite internet surf beaches:

Babble's Top 50 Mom Craft Blogs
(I have spent HOURS visiting these amazing, creative sites!  Great links, great ideas and tutorials!)

The Catholic Blog Directory
(An extensive, but basic listing of links -- good place to troll for kindred spirits)

The Catholic New Media Awards
(Because you never know what or who you'll find there.)

The Cannonball Catholic Blog Awards

(Because whatever you find there is irreverently funny -- Warning: NOT for easily offended or melancholic Catholics!) 

Frugal Catholic Mommy

(Great tips and lots of links to money saving coupons and contests!)

Happy Hearts at Home
(Alexandra always has the best links for frugal home schooling sources and other wonderful things)


Skywatch Friday

(For weekly glimpses of beautiful photography and beautiful skies all over the world)


Snapshots Around the World
(A new theme each week connects photographers around the globe. Never fails to delight!)

Sepia Saturday
(A weekly jaunt through history.  Meet folks around the country who share antique photos and the stories behind them.  If you love history and love old photos, you'll love these!)

No excuse to be bored -- even a thousand miles from the beach.  Grab that keyboard and jump on in!

* Let me know if there are any fun or useful web resources out there that I'm missing!

*  If you have any fun in the sun photo posts you'd like to add to the beach party, let me know and I'll link them below!