Feast of St. Eustachius and Companions

September 20th

The story of the symbol on Gabey's hat can be found here.

High and Low!

No, we're not following the Stock Market News...

We're working on our preschool concepts in a much more productive and fun way today!

HIGH

LOW
High
LOW

High

LOW

And, there's this, too, for more preschool fun.

That was a lot more fun than watching the economic news, wasn't it?

The Feast of St. Januarius

I could not possibly do a better job than the Catholic Tradition website (from whence I borrowed the beautiful painting, above) in re-telling the story of today's saint ~ and his is a story of such fortitude, piety and wondrous miracles, that I highly suggest running over to read the whole tale.

But, in the interest of piquing your curiosity, here are some highlights: St. Januarius was the bishop of Beneventum, Italy, during the reign of Diocletian. He was tortured for the Faith, then sent into the arena with the wild beasts to be devoured ~ but the beasts knelt before the holy bishop, sparing his life as the evil Romans would not do. After other amazing miracles, our saint was finally beheaded and his soul flew to its eternal reward in heaven.

His body was interred first at Beneventum, then, in the monastary of Monte Vergine, and finally at the principal church at Naples (the Cathedral of San Genarro). The holy relic has always been accompanied by miracles, one most notable being the quieting of Mount Vesuvius, thus sparing its prayerful neighbors from iminent destruction.

But, the most famous and enduring of the wonders of St. Januarius is the miracle of the liquification of his blood every year on the anniversary of his martyrdom. When a vial of the saint's blood is brought into the vicinity of the relic of his severed head, the contents, which, during the rest of the year, are dried and solid in the crystal reliquary, become liquid. God still honors and utilizes this holy saint to turn and edify souls by the proof of His power. This amazing miracle which has occured throught the centuries can still be seen today!

Praise be to God in his Angels and in His Saints!

Note: Removed the pic here, as it was pointed out to me that it wasn't of the actual miracle. Oops!

Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Asissi

St. Francis of Assisi's vocation prayer

Most High, Glorious God,

enlighten the darkness of our minds.

Give us a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity,

so that we may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will.

Amen.

Click on the title for the biography of this great saint, and go here for more prayers of St. Francis!

Making Faces

Inspired by this book ~ Making Faces, by Norman Messenger ~ we put together a simple, fun game for the children. Fun for all ages, it's a great cognitive tool for our toddlers, and silly enough to keep our teenagers busy, too.

And, it's easy-peasy.

All you need is a camera that can download to a printer, scissors, glue, construction paper and clear contact paper.

1. Take a picture of your child(ren), husband, self, whomever. More than one is better; half the fun is mixing and matching faces. Make sure you center each face so that the top of the hair and the bottom of the chin are framed the same in each photo.

2. Print out each photo.

3. Gluestick onto construction paper.

4. Cut each picture into thirds, measuring to make sure they are all the same, and that each contains the same facial features.

5. Cover each section of each picture with contact paper, leaving some overhang to fold around the edges, to keep the edges neat.

6. Voila! You're done! Now mix and match! Too much fun!

(That last one there, the mix & match of all three girls, just cracks them up!)

If you don't have a camera/printer, or just want to save ink, you can also just draw cartoon pictures to play the same game, like so:

Now, run over to Shannon's at Rocks in my Dryer, for literally hundreds of fun and useful tips!

Nightowl Reports...

Staying up to read the news so you don't have to...

Here's what I found out tonight:

Women May Be Starting to Rediscover What Our Grandmothers Knew All Along...

* That what we really want is not what the feminists tell us we want.

* That more children mean more blessings.

*That saving money makes money.

That anything cooked at home is just better..

And that you don't need to spend $4 at Starbuks for a good cup of coffee. Or mocha. Or frappuccino.

There ya go...

Who Am I?

I am under 45 years old,


I love the outdoors,


I hunt,


I am a Republican reformer,


I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,


I have many children,



I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor's office.


Have you ever heard of me before now?

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_

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_

_

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_

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I am Teddy Roosevelt.
















H/T: Tom S.

Notes from the backseat...

Peggy at The Simple Woman hosts this lovely excuse for visiting kindred spirits. Run over there to catch up on a cornucopia of Monday morning thoughts!

Outside my Window.... A beautiful, crisp Autumn morning!

I am thinking... How grateful I am for getting NINE whole hours of sleep last night! Wahoo! (First time in weeks!)

From the kitchen... I think the girls and I will make a pumpkin bread assembly line this afternoon ~ some to freeze, some to send to the boys in Omaha and to Paul in Grand Junction.

From the Learning Room... We just got the last of our school books, except the big map of the British Isles that we ordered. Plans to look up the tradition of family clans and find the tartan of our Irish ancestors this week, then have an Irish meal on Thursday, and watch an Irish movie ~ as yet to be decided. Any suggestions?

I am creating... our fall decorations this week! Gotta hunt them down out in their bins in the quanset hut today.

I am going... to my favorite place in the world this coming Friday! My sister, Nina, is sharing a trip to the Western Slope of Colorado with me as a belated birthday present. We're going to get to see the autumn leaves in the beautiful San Juans!

I am wearing...black capris and a tee that reads: "I child proofed the house, but the kids keep getting in!"

I am reading... Not much right now, other than things school-related. We just got a beautifully illustrated book called "One Hundred Saints, Their Lives and Likenesses" that I'm excited about incorporating into our studies of the saints.

I am hoping...I can find Theresa's Saxon 6/5 correction book when I go out to look for the autumn decorations this afternoon. It's a real bugger having to correct all her work with my own head!

I am hearing... Gabriel banging around in the kitchen, Cathy's bagel popping up, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot chattering on the TV. Since Mom got to sleep in, everyone's getting treated to a slow start this morning.

One of my favorite things... The Harvest Moon!

Around the house... Two zones of our central heating should be up and running tomorrow. Then, only the upstairs zone has to be connected to our new boiler. Hallelujah for central heat!

Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... This is one of the great weeks for saints in the liturgical year! Besides the 7 Sorrows today, we're looking forward to the Feast of the Stigmata of St. Francis of Asissi on Wednesday, the "Flying Saint" on Thursday, amazing St. Januarius on Friday, and the awesome family of St. Eustace on Saturday!


Here's a "picture" thought I'm sharing:

(Hugs from home, Paul and Nicole!)





Here's William (2), getting set to be the fourth
in Kevvy, Jon, Dominic's quartet.

If you have a minute, climb in the van and come on over for some more Sunday afternoon at our house... We'd love to visit with you!

The Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Our Blessed Mother

September 15th

Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows

By St. Bridget
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, who didst endure a martyrdom of love and grief, beholding the sufferings and sorrows of Jesus! Thou didst co-operate in the benefit of my redemption by thy innumerable afflictions and by offering to the Eternal Father His only-begotten Son as a holocaust and victim of propitiation for my sins. I thank thee for the unspeakable love which led thee to deprive thyself of the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus, true God and true Man, to save me, a sinner. Oh! make use of the unfailing intercession of thy sorrows with the Father and the Son. that I may steadfastly amend my life and never again crucify my loving Redeemer by new sins; arid that, persevering till death in His grace, I may obtain eternal life through the merits of His Cross and Passion. Amen.
Mother of love, of sorrow, and of mercy, pray for us.

The Seven Sorrows
First Sorrow: The Presentation

Second Sorrow: the Flight into Egypt

Third Sorrow: The Loss of Jesus in Jerusalem

Fourth Sorrow: Mary Meets Jesus on the Via Dolorosa

Fifth Sorrow: Mary at the Foot of the Cross

Sixth Sorrow: Mary Receives Jesus' body a it is Taken From the Cross

Seventh Sorrow: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

The devotions and promises for those who meditate on the Sorrows of Our Lady can be found here. And here are the details of the Chaplet of the Sorrowful Mother. Last year I wrote a modern mom's meditation on the Seven Sorrows, which can be found here, and I posted the boys singing the Stabat Mater last Lent right here.

Mother of Sorrows, pray for us in this vail of tears!

Look for the Harvest Moon: September 15th

On a clear night, we are blessed with a skyfull of stars here on the prairie, but the moon, no matter the phase, takes center stage. We love to watch the moon play its many roles as it crosses the night sky. When my baby brother was little, he coined the phrase "fingernail moon" to describe the the new moon, and that description was so perfect, we still call it that. And I will always cherish our loquacious two-year-old Jonathan many years ago (he's 17 now!) leaning up against me and whimpering, "I bumped my little yellow-moon head." (He really said that!) The moon isn't specifically about romance; it just inspires a special magical creativity, doesn't it?

Do you know the Indian names for the moon? There are twelve in all, from the strawberry moon in June to the Wolf moon in January. I am the most casual of skywatchers, but perhaps because I'm a night owl and because I so love this autumn season, I always look forward to spotting the harvest moon with particular expectation. Especially out here with the long lines of the horizon to the east of us, that big orange chinese lantern of a moon slipping up over our back twenty signals the real beginning of the fall festivities. It's really time to get the apple cider and unpack the sweaters. Our scarecrow, the venerable Jack-the-Haystack, will soon be making his 16th annual appearance out on the lawn furniture somewhere. The days are shorter, the air is crisper, and all is right with the world.

Because in Celtic tradition, September's moon is called the Singing Moon ~
James Last's version of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata...


Just For Fun

Here's a little MOon Trivia:
(Answers to the questions are at the bottom)

* The Earth's moon is the 5th largest in the entire solar system

* The size of the first moonboot footprint on the moon was 13" X 6".
1)Do you know whose foot it was?
2)Take a guess: right or left?
3) Do you know when the last moon landing took place?

* The average desktop computer contains 5-10 times more computing power than was used to land a man on the moon.

* Among the paraphernalia left on the moon is a gold-plated 33 rpm record left after the first moon landing, a number of golf balls, including the one hit by Alan Shepherd that landed about a half mile away from where it was hit. The moon is also the final resting place of the ashes of US geological scientist, Dr. Eugene Shoemaker.

(4) Extra points if you can guess what was on the gold record!

* If the moon were placed on the surface of the continental United States, it would extend from San Francisco to Cleveland (2,600 miles)

* The "Man in the Moon" is known as the "Toad in the Moon" in China.
5) Is it true or false that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure that can be seen from space?

* The moon can appear orange at any time; its occurrence can be due to the slant of light as the moon shines through the atmosphere or the presence of dust, smoke, or pollution in the air.

* Scientists still debate the exact cause for the illusion of the enormous moon that we see at the horizon. Because the humongous rising moon is an optical illusion, it's impossible to photograph. If you don't believe it, go out as the moon rises on Sept. 15th and see if you can capture it on your camera. Then go here to read the theories that prove why it can't be done.

* I only weigh about 27 lbs on the moon!
(Go here to see how much you weigh)

* Going 70 mph, it would take you 135 days to drive to the moon by car.
6) Does it take more or less than a minute for light to travel from the moon to the earth?

* The moon is not actually round! It's egg shaped with the large end pointed toward earth.
7) The volume of the moon is the about the same as the volume of which ocean?

* The New Moon always rises at sunrise and the first quarter at noon. The Full Moon always rises at sunset and the last quarter at midnight.

* The saying "once in a blue moon" is based on an astronomical phenomena in which a full moon occurs twice in one month. Our next blue moon will be in December, '09.
8) How long ago was the last blue moon?

*Contrary to popular opinion, the moon is not made of cheese, but you can go here for some fun moon food recipes to celebrate the Harvest Moon.

Answers:
1) Neil Armstrong's foot was the first to touch the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.
2) It was his left foot
3) Gene Cernan was the last man to step on the moon in 1972.
4) The gold record contained the soundtrack to Camelot.
5) False. It can actually only be seen from a relatively low Earth orbit. Many other human structures, such as cities, highways and agricultural patterns, are also visible from the same height.
6) Less. In fact it takes less than half a second for light to travel from the moon to the Earth.
7) The volume of the moon is about the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean.
8) The last blue moon was over two and a half years ago, in May of 2007.

**Check out my really great resource: Keith's Awesome Moon Page

And there she goes...

Marie over at A View From the Pews honored me with the commentator award! Many thanks to Marie; her posts are some of those in the blogosphere that are so inspiring and thought provoking, it's impossible not to make comment, just for the sake of rooting her on.

I'd like to pass the appreciation on to: Laura, Cathy, Bia, Suzy, and Kaila. Thanks, you guys, for your enduring support through your always thoughtful comments.

Blogging Meme

SuzyQ at Sailing by Starlight tagged me for the Blogging Meme. And, this is a thought provoking one; even as I type this, I don't know how I'm going to answer.

These are the rules:
1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
2. Link back to the person who tagged you
3. Link back to this parent post (I'm not so much interested in generating links, but rather in tracking the meme so I can perhaps do a summary post later on that looks at patterns and interesting discoveries.)
4. Tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

And, so, hmmmm, let's see.... How has blogging affected me?

1. I think I always knew that my protected little world was just the tiniest corner of a vast universe of thought, philosophy and custom. I'm just a little Who-mom in Whoville. But, it's one thing to compare yourself to a Dr. Seuss book, and another thing, entirely, to find yourself personally debating with the disembodied voices existing somewhere outside of your dandelion puff.

2. Having been a regular visitor to the world outside my dandelion puff for a little over a year now, though, I've discovered some surprising things:

• For one thing, though my voice is small, the tiniest bit of an infraction against the status quo ~ even within the group I choose to visit that breathes the same conservative, Catholic atmosphere that I do on my little puff ~ sends some kind of cosmic vibration along the internet nerve pathway, alerting every possible dissenter with every possible excuse to descend onto my dandelion puff. This is why I go to some lengths to be as uncontroversial as I can be. I'm not on here to fight.
• But, that said, I've discovered a whole world of friends that I didn't expect to find. I've had far more experience with gracious, thoughtful, intelligent internet travelers than anything else. The blogging world, if navigated carefully, is a continual source of inspiration. The ideas and resources I've found through other bloggers has opened up a whole new world for me as a Catholic, a homemaker, and especially as a homeschooling mom. Holy Cow, there are some creative ladies out there! And the deep spiritual life of some of my blogging friends shames me to work harder on my own.
• Blogging has been a process of personal discovery for me. I'm at a kind of crossroads in my life and have been trying to refigure things in general. My oldest children are moving out into the world and onto their own lives and my youngest is about to be potty trained. It looks like we will soon have a diaper-free house for the first time in 21 years! My days of bringing new life into the world appear to be coming to an end, as God wills it, and my role is shifting. It's been a wonderful opportunity to use my own voice on this computer, and to come to grips with the balancing act of a middle aged mother's identity. I've had the chance to rediscover that my name is still really Lisa and not Mommy, but that the biggest and best part of Lisa is the fact that she's a Mommy.
• I've also learned that I have obsessive computer disorder and I've had to learn to ration my time in the blogosphere with all my more important responsibilities. It's a daily balancing act that I know many other bloggers struggle with, as well. Who knew there'd be such an addictive quality to blogging? We need to have a support group for this addiction ~ Maybe I could start a new blog for that!
  

Now, who wants to be next? Anyone out there who wants to think this one through and share it, please feel free to consider yourself tagged!

9/11

We all remember where we were when it happened, don't we?

Here's our story:

It was my birthday and the kids and I had loaded the van for a field trip up to Mother Cabrini Shrine in the foothills above Denver. It was a beautiful day until we turned on the car radio.

The Twin Towers had tumbled down, the Pentagon (where my Dad once worked) was in flames, an airplane had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. It was such a shock ~ to our family, and to the whole country, though maybe it shouldn't have been.

Someone in the world hated us. Really hated us.

How do you handle that? What do you do? In those first days, America squared its shoulders, cleaned up the mess, and tried to figure it out. Our family ~ we painted a flag on our barn ~ because we didn't know what else we could do. We prayed. And we painted a great big flag.

While we worked on it, cars passing on the road at the bottom of the hill honked and waved up at us, and so now our house is referred to as "you know, the one on the hill with the flag on the barn..."

It looks nice up there, but I guess I look back now and wonder a little what possessed us to do it. I can't say we actually thought or pondered on it at all. We just went out and got the paint and brushes and got started almost immediately. Why?

It wasn't so that we'd stand out as the most patriotic family in our town (We're more the shy, retiring type of family...), or because we thought we ought to join in on the new ranks of flag wavers (We make a point not to follow fads, actually...). It was more, I think, a habit of thought. In our family, like in many other families, we place our hands on our hearts when we say the Pledge of Allegiance, or when the National Anthem is sung. We get teary-eyed hearing the bugle playing Taps at sundown. We love our country. We're small-town, middle-America hoaky that way. We sign on with our hearts to the Catholic notion that patriotism is a virtue of our Faith.

The symbol of our flag was an automatic response of love and concern for our country, naturally.

But, do you want to know why we really painted that flag? We were ticked off and wanted to shove that flag in someone's face! How dare those people bring their satanic plot across our borders, borders which had always been held open, free for the world to share in our bounty; how dare they hurt and kill our people, scar our earth, and stomp on our flag! And then in their twisted minds, in their twisted philosophy, they call us the evil ones?

America evil? The country that runs to the aid of anyone in trouble in the world, contributing more money, supplies and human aid toward foreign disaster than any other nation? The country that has fought for freedom throughout the world, at great loss to itself, and no gain other than to allow more to share in the freedom we hold so dear.

You bet! We painted that flag to shove in the face of those that doubt our country's strength and resolve. Those stars and stripes represent the courage and self-sacrifice of all the American men and women who have fought for the freedom those muslim terrorists would steal from us in a heartbeat.

America may not be the virtuous nation we would wish, but it is not in its essence and philosphy evil. If you believe in the America that the media represents to the world you'd be hard-pressed to find anything left of the spirit and morality our forefathers took for granted. It's true that the evils of modernism have weakened our country to its core. But, I think that, even though it may be weak, America's heart still beats for freedom, for the inalienable right to the reality of those words: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I think most Americans still believe the words of the Declaration, which define the original intention of those first signers to acknowlege and honor God as the supreme Author of our freedom, our divine Legislator, our merciful Protector, and our final Judge. It's just that people need to be shaken up sometimes to remember.

It's such a pity that it takes heart rending events like 9/11 to shake us up. And it's sad that we seem to forget so quickly.

And, so that flag on the barn helps us to remember. Our liberty is a tool for Christianity if we use it properly. Prayerfully. It will be no use to us without a crucifix above it.

God bless and help our country!

Random Notes from the Backseat

Paper towel update: I never would have believed it, but we've had a really quite painless transition to life without paper towels! Who'd have figured? Here we are three weeks without a single roll in the house, and we've barely even noticed.

As suggested, we keep a stack of rags handy on the counter for cleaning up, with a few bigger dishtowels on hand for big spills. We haven't gotten a rag bin yet for dirty rags, but it hasn't seemed to have been a big deal to just pitch the dirty ones in the laundry area when they pile up every afternoon. The biggest adjustment has been the preparation of sandwiches at lunchtime. We always made our lunches to eat at the table on paper towels. We found an easy, cheap substitute are the inexpensive paper napkins you can buy by the hundred. Since we only use them at lunchtime, and not for wiping, they're lasting us a long time. It's been a change that makes sense for us. And cents.

On the homeschool front: Everyone is settling in nicely. I think I'm the only one having trouble adjusting to our new routine. I've gotten used to the boys never being home, but now the girls are leaving me for spans of time, and it seems very unnatural. Michelle (13) is gone all day Fridays at the homeschool cooperative in town, and both she and Theresa (10) stay in town all day on Tuesdays to attend French and piano lessons. They take their school books and spend the day at my mom's house, who lives a street away from the sweet lady we know from Church who teaches the girls French and piano. So, we have small numbers those two days. Only four children on Tuesdays, and only five on Fridays. It's just weird. I'm always looking around with the vague idea that someone is missing. (I guess that's because they are....)

How we're schooling this year: 1) Year-long unit studies in Geography, traveling the globe, each month in a different country ~ starting with the British Isles. 2) Nature journals and writing journals, as always. 3) Special attention to the Liturgical year, with two or three pointed studies on the Lives of the Saints each week, in addition to the Baltimore Catechism. 4) Consumable workbooks in spelling and grammar, and the littlest girls' math. 5) Saxon for the two oldest girls' math. 6)Two science units ~ nature for the first half of the year, and human biology for the second half. 7) In History, we're continuing last year's study on Victoriana, and will be studying political science as the election unfolds. 8) Home ec ~ sewing and baking, when the spirit takes us.

On the things-that-crack-me- up front: William (2) has taken to referring to himself in third person. As in: "Uh Oh! Look what Yuyum did!" And: "Yuyum poopy. Smell him." I think it must be about time to work on potty training this guy...

And the Big Kids: We never hear from Jon (17) because his phone charger is in the big duffle bag he left at home, which also has half his school clothes and his new shoes in it. He doesn't care about the clothes or shoes, of course, only the charger. We're sending it all with the next Pony Express heading to Omaha. Can't afford to mail it; it must weigh about as much Jon. I can't believe he forgot to take that bag with him!


We get to hear from our Paul (20) in college on the other side of the mountains quite often, thanks especially, to his wonderful girlfriend, Nicole. We got a series of text messages from them, the night of Sarah Palin's speech. Here they are verbatim:

"Are you watching Palin?!"

"She's pretty freakin sweet!"

"She's an awesome speaker."

"She seems totally legit."

"She's Great!"

.........and

"WOO HOO!"

Kevin (19), on the other hand, texts every few days, bless him, asking "How's it going?" He usually doesn't have a whole lot to tell me about how he's doing, though, other than, "Nothing much. Pretty much the same." Unless there is a sporting event he needs to emote about, such as the text I got this morning, that only said: "GO BRONCOS!" He knew his mom would understand.



On the Lisa front: I'm going on my third week without decent or reliable sleep and suffering from it. So, here are my apologies and excuses to anyone out there who's noticed I'm not on my game.

The dull stuff (you can skip this part if you want): My thyroid and adrenal glands are basically nonfunctioning, which has led to a whole series of other problems, one of which is insomnia. I'm working hard to heal the problems naturopathically, but the lack of sleep creates a vicious circle; I can't sleep because I can't get better, and I can't get better because I can't sleep. And, let me tell you, sleep is not only vitally important to our physical health, but, um, let me just say I'm feeling practically brain dead right now.

I will continue to blog, though maybe sporadically at times. Blogging, though it can be mentally stimulating, is also something that's just relaxing to me. Poking around in (you)tube looking for funny videos, downloading pictures, or checking in on blog buddies are things I can do in my sleep (and have!) No responsibilities, no time limits, no stress (if I choose the right places to visit, anyway). If you see a series of goofy posts, empty of any real thought or meaning (and possibly full of typos), you can count on its all having been written in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. If I haven't returned your e-mail, or kept up with the kind comments in my combox, it's because I haven't been able to get enough brain cells awake to do anything that requires thought. I apologize. I hope to be getting better about everything soon! Thank you for your patience and understanding!

(Is it a coincidence, you suppose, that my latest insomnia phase coincides with our giving up paper towels? Hmmmm.....)

And on a completely unrelated note:

My 44th birthday is on Thursday (Yeah, Sept. 11th...), but my husband has to be out of town, so he took me out this past Sunday. (He's such a keeper!) My sweet sis, Nina (Who is also a keeper!), babysat so we could have the chance to toodle around in the mountains a bit. First, we went to beautiful Golden, CO and...

Here are the bronze statutes outside...

the restaurant where we had lunch which...
overlooks Clear Creek, which...
flows past the famous Coors Brewery which...
does not brew the beer we ordered with our lunch...

We both had: And, though it was locally politically incorrect, it was very good!

Happy Birthday, Dearest Mother!

September 8th

The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady

The Birth of the Virgin Mary - by Esteban Murillo ( at the Louvre, Paris)

September's Child

Blue gentians star the woods at morn

Near crystal pools in woodland aisles -

In this bright month a Queen was born.

No silver fanfare filled the air

As angel wings flashed round the child;

No crown was placed upon her head,

But at her halo, Heaven smiled.

October's trees wear rosaries

Of gold and scarlet, green and brown,

And as the west wind fingers them

The Ave-leaves drift slowly down.

May raises high her blossom-shrines

Where bird-choirs sing their wood-notes wild,

But both these months pay homage to

A blue-gowned Queen - September's child.

Sr. Maryanna

Catholic Culture has a good list of good ideas for celebrating this day.! But here are some more ideas we found:

How about some lovely Rosary coloring pages from Family in Feast and Feria ? These will be fun to color in honor of Our Lady's Day. The children might also want to make Our Heavenly Mother some birthday cards to display in front of her image!

The most simple and meaningful form of celebrating Mary's birthday is, of course, to bake a birthday cake and sing "Happy Birthday!" This afternoon maybe, the children can help bake a beautiful white cake ( or possibly a blue jello poke cake or a traditional angel food cake?), or maybe cupcakes with white icing! Since blue is the traditional color of Mary, blueberries might make a good garnish...

Here is a list of flowers meaningful to Our Lady. This would be a perfect day to make a trip to the florist and arrange a boquet forthe Blessed Mother. How perfect to choose flowers based on their meaning for her!

Simple Woman's Daybook

Peggy at Simple Woman hosts this lovely excuse for visiting kindred spirits every Monday. Run over there to catch up on everyone's Monday morning thoughts and plans!

Outside my Window.... It's very dark, not even a wink from the stars tonight, due to cloudcover, but there are a couple of house lights shining from the porches of two houses away to the east of us.

Which reminds me of a story, one of those ones with a permanent perch on a branch of the family tree. (This story bird is on Catherine's branch.) Most of our children grew up out here on our farm-ette, far from city lights, familiar only with the nightlights of stars and moon and distant houses. When we moved to a semi-suburban street a few years ago, Catherine, who was about five at the time, looked out the window in wide-eyed wonder the first night we slept there, and whispered in awe, "Look at the MOON! Look how close it is!" And, of course it was a streetlight. Her first experience with such a thing!

I am thinking... I miss our semi-suburban street in one of the world's most beautiful valleys, but there is much to be thankful for living right here where we are, back on the farm. I'm thinking I need to remember God's wisdom and blessings ~ and I think I need to make this a week focused on gratitude.

From the learning rooms... We are having fun with our daily journals this year, patterning them after some of the creative blogger ideas we've come across... So: Monday is our "Simple Girl Monday" where the girls fill in a daybook entry similar to this one. Tuesday is "Tickle Me Tuesday," the day the girls write about something funny, draw a funny picture or relate a joke or riddle they've heard that made them smile. Wednesday is "Wordless Wednesday," where they find or draw a picture that has meaning for them. Thursday is "Thankful Thursday," a day to record special thoughts of gratitude. Friday is "Family Friday," when they plan or remember special family outings, stories, or traditions.

I am thankful for... My Faith, my family, my friends, the roof over my head, the food in my fridge, my children's silly sweet faces, twenty-two years of highly blessed marriage, and forty-four years of wonderful life.

From the kitchen... Well, um, I'm going to show my gratitude for the blessing of having a plentitude of food to feed my family by cleaning out my fridge ~ an overdue job, I'm afraid...

I am creating... We'll be finishing up our decorated 3-ring binders for our schoolgirls' daily journals and hope to start our Christmas craft planning this week.

I am going... Nowhere special, everywhere special...

I am wearing... Teal striped pyjama pants and a teal green tee.

I am reading... The new Victorian Trading Company catalogue. Better than a novel!

I am hoping... To be purposeful in making this week a good one.

I am hearing... Absolutely nothing but the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard; it's the wee hours of the morning and everyone is sound asleep.

Around the house... We have an orphan kitten named "Cloudy" that we are hand-raising. Our seven and nine-year-olds have taken on the job, feeding the little guy every three hours through the last two days. I'm so proud of them for steadfastly taking this responsibility, and am touched by their tenderness.

Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Monday, cleaning and chiropractor appointments; Tuesday, French and piano for the two oldest girls; Wednesday, a blessedly free day; Thursday, my birthday (I don't know what to do with that day yet!); Friday, Shelly's schoolday in town and hubby still away on business trip, Thursday 'til Saturday night. (It's sort of therapeutic writing it out here like this on the first day of the week!)

Here is a picture thought I'm sharing with you... Prices are coming down here ~ some of them, anyway. It's now significantly cheaper to buy a gallon of gas than a gallon of milk. We're seeing around $3.59 for regular gas at most stations around Denver right now, but it was $4.04 to get a gallon of milk the other day! (Ouch! I really miss my dairy goats right now!) How are prices where you live? ** Kitty picture coming today, as soon as I recharge my camera's battery!

**Update** We had a heartbreaker early this morning. Theresa (10) got up to feed little Cloudy, and discovered that he'd died. Poor little thing. We had warned the children not to get too attached. Usually when a mama cat has rejected a kitten it's because she has a good reason; we expect she knew this kitten would not make it. Such a hard reality for little girls! Still, one we have faced fairly often raising animals on a farm, and a good lesson in understand the cycle of life. We can talk about the fact that our animals do have souls, as anyone knows who has beloved pets, but that they are not immortal souls. And we're grateful for our animals for their help, comfort and sustenance; we have a responsibility to God to care for them as His gift to us. They are not on a par with our immortal human souls. Still, we cried for our little orange kitty today.

Song of Mary in Late Summer

Song in Late Summer

Soft and blue are thy robes, my Mother,

Azure and clear as an angel's eyes -

Let me hide in them, oh, my Mother -

Radiant Queen of the summer skies!

Softly piled on the far horizon

Smoky white clouds drifting here and there;

These the border on your blue mantle -

Mother most holy......Virgin most fair!

Deep and blue and wide is the ocean -

Deep as the call of its peace to me;

Jeweled and shining.....

Thy veil, my Mother?

Thy silvered veil, oh Star of the sea?

Poem by Edith M. Stoney Robert

The first beautiful holy card is from Micki's collection at Holy Cards for Your Inspiration, one of my favorite sites on the internet; this second image of Our Lady Star of the Sea, I've had saved on my computer for quite some time and am not sure where I got it...

Lots of important work taken care of in St. Paul last week...

What? Didn't everyone know that this is how it's really done?

(Adorable siblings, Piper and Trig Palin, during Mom's speech at the RNC, last Thursday.)

Feast of the Great Pope St. Pius X

" To Restore All Things In Christ"

For a lengthy, wonderfully complete biography of the life of this great saint, go here. For a thumbnail sketch of his life, go here.
You can find a listing of all the Encyclicals of Pope St. Pius X here.
For one of Charlotte's wonderful coloring pages, head over here.
There is a Litany of Pope St. Pius X here.

Pope St. Pius, please pray for us in these troubling times!