Yes, we should apologize to homosexuals

I just had to post a link here.  This guy has put into words what was roiling around in my mind.

Busman's Honeymoon - Book 18

I've been reading through the Lord Peter Wimsey books in chronological order.  I decided to skip both The Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night because I have read them fairly recently (within the last 5 years) and go straight to Busman's Honeymoon.  This is the final full length novel of the series and it is the one where Lord Peter finally weds Harriet Vane.  It surprised me in that it is surprisingly deep and sad.

In order to avoid reporters and the odious Helen, Peter's sister in law, from ruining their wedding, Harriet and Peter plan an early surprise wedding at Oxford and then take off for a secret honeymoon at Talboys.  Talboys is an old Elizabethan estate that Harriet was familiar with in her childhood.  Peter buys it for her as wedding present when she realizes it is for sale.  But due to all the complications of the wedding, they never actually get to see it. Even Bunter isn't able to go and make sure things are all ready for the newlyweds because of those pesky reporters.  They arrive and nobody knows anything about the sale of the estate.  They jimmy up things so they can have a wedding night even though everything seems to be going wrong.  It gets worse the next day when, Noakes,  the former owner's body is discovered dead in the cellar.  It looks like someone clonked him on the head and he sort of wandered around in a concussion until he fell down the cellar steps and died.

Turns out nobody liked Noakes.  He was a mean, grasping sort of con man who was always bilking people out of their money.  Many people had reason to murder him.  The case looks the worst against the local constable, a young man who was being blackmailed by Noakes.  Peter really doesn't want to investigate a murder on his honeymoon and in fact it really adds a terrible burden to the sea-change that marriage is bringing to the 45 year old former bachelor.  Will their marriage even make it through these first few days?  But Lord Peter and Harriet truly love each other, even though both have some real neurotic issues to navigate to hold things together.  The ending is very true to life.  When we marry someone, we marry their weaknesses as well as all that is admirable about them.

This novel is a really lovely character study of Lord Peter and Harriet and marriage itself.  This is also an interesting mystery with lots of enjoyable side characters.  Bunter especially is a hero!  But we always knew that anyway.

I've had a lot of insomnia lately and this book was my best friend at 3 a.m. this past week.

Two thumbs up!  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Lull in the panic

It's been a good weekend, in spite of the fact that the a/c gave out Friday afternoon.  It really hasn't be that hot.  I find I am enjoying having all the windows open trying to catch a breeze.  I have been living outside on my porch for hours the last couple of days, trying to get my Theological Glossary Project done.  I still have a long way to go, but I did get a lot of stuff done, so I am feeling kind of confident.  The other thing though is the final exam.  I feel a need to go back and reread everything because of my lack of concentration, I just feel I read everything too superficially and no way am I ready for a long essay exam on it all.  Plus I still am behind on my research class.  Gee.  I was feeling great until I started typing!

Ralph Stanley passed away a couple days ago.  I remember reading about him when I was doing research on my NaNoWriMo novel.  And one of my all time favorite movies is O Brother Where Art Thou and he sang that haunting song O Death.  But I need something uplifting now.  Sean who has recently quit taking bass lessons to take piano has suddenly gone on a Victor Wooten kick.  This is all he's been listening to for the last two days.  So may Ralph Stanley rest in peace.  But here's Victor!

Music to commemorate Brexit

I didn't actually feel strongly one way or another about whether Britain voted to leave the EU.  I was slightly on the 'wouldn't it be cool if they left' side. I think that was just my ornery, rebel side.  Rick though was rooting for the Leave folks.  He loves the irony of the fact that it is basically a 'no taxation without representation' kind of thing.  Britain's American Revolution.  Hey, maybe people have things they care about more than the economic status quo.

(I wonder if Kathryn will see this post.  Kathryn, what do you think?)

Anyway, this is completely off topic but S showed me this video of Harry Connick Jr which I thought was pretty cool.  Maybe it will distract us all (and good music is always cheering!).

Here's a really nice version of Don't Get Around Much Anymore

More Del McCoury - Amnesia

Woke up with this song in my head

because I am panicking about not getting stuff done in time!

Monday Morning Music

S sent me on a rabbit trail that led to this song.  I can't stop listening to it!  Enjoy!

The Corinthian - Book 17

This cover has absolutely no relationship to the story.  The main character spends the whole novel dressed as a boy.

Alas, The Corinthian is the first Georgette Heyer I've read where I felt. . . meh about it.  It was just a bit too cutesy, a bit too contrived and too formulaic for me.  She's had the same sorts of plots twists and characters in others books done in a much better way.

Anyway, Penelope Creed dresses as a boy and escapes out her window in order to avoid being forced into marriage with her odious cousin.  While ineptly running away she is rescued by the Corinthian, aka Lord Richard Wyndham, walking home after drinking way too much brandy.  He's depressed because he realizes he probably, for duty's sake, needs to marry the cold Melissa, his mother and sister's choice for him.  On a drunken whim (much unlike his usual self) he decides to help Pen Creed escape her unpleasant betrothal.  And the adventure begins.  Things get complicated.  There's murder and jewel thieves and all sorts of complications furthered by the fact that everybody thinks Pen is Sir Richard's nephew or cousin or something.  Meanwhile in 3 days he manages to fall in love with the 17 yo.  At least he isn't really, really old.  He's 29.

Usually there are really well developed minor characters that create a lot of laughs.  There is a bit here, but not enough to rescue the story.

I now have read 26 of Heyer's Regency novels/histories.  I still need to read about 12 more to finish them all (I can't say my count is as accurate as can be, just a quick appraisal).  I have read about 5 of her mysteries, probably still have about 5 or so more to go.

For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Sundry Links

Some Reflections on the Orlando Horror.   This seems like an astute observation that no one seems to be focusing on.

I watched this movie and I think more people should watch it.  It jives with a book I read a few months ago (I didn't actually finish it though.  Gotta go back and do that!) called The Bright Continent.

Since I just finished reading a book set in the Pyrenees and a few years ago read Mark Kurlansky's book on the history of the Basque people, I found this article interesting.

I am still listening to Boswell's Life of Johnson in the car.  Because I am now interested in all things Johnson, I watched this very well done docu-drama on Samuel Johnson, put out by BBC4.

Since I've given up facebook and twitter, I've got to have a place to hang out, so I've been frequenting the Well Trained Mind Board more.  It really has changed from when I first starting going there, how long ago???  Anyway, I've noticed that it seems to be dominated by a lot of people who are openly hostile to religion or at least at odds with mainstream religion.  I find it funny that Susan Wise Bauer, Christian and wife to a pastor, has set up a homeschool board open to anybody and then members come to vent about how much they dislike religion.  People are rather obtuse at times, aren't they?

Anyway, off my high horse now and off to catch up on my Theological readings.  Gotta finish Lumen Fedei and then read some Aquinas Catechism.

Sean and I have been listening to this a lot.  Hard to be depressed when this exists in the world!

Deuteronomy

I finished the book of Deuteronomy, which means I've finished reading through the five books of Moses.

Spoiler alert!  Moses dies and doesn't get to cross over into the land of milk and honey.    This always seemed unfair to me and if I ever get to Heaven, I plan to ask the Good Lord why he was so harsh with his beloved servant Moses!  He messes up one time in doubting the Lord.  One time!  Of course, he did get to see the Lord face to face, so maybe he ought to have known better.

Still, it makes it pretty apparent that even the best human ever is still far below God.  We really can't earn this salvation thing.  We simply aren't capable.  Thank God for His Mercy!


Now on to the Historical books!

School on the Porch

The workmen started demolishing our bathroom last Thursday and, praise God, we've been able to sit out on the back screen porch do our studies, the weather has been so pleasant.  In fact, it's a little cool in the mornings with a lovely breeze.  It gets up into the low 80s by mid afternoon but it hasn't been humid so it still feels like a nice, warm summer day.  I don't know how long this will last but I am very grateful!

The above include:  my laptop which happens to be at my blog but is the source for the Scripture readings of the day, Saint of the Day, Periodic Video of the day, Latin copy work of the day (written in the three notebooks at the top left).  Then we move onto Ecce Romani.  I've also got my kindle from which I am reading aloud a book on the Mass and I am also attempting to get us doing a little conversational French this summer, since we've got a native French speaker here in the house who is happy to help us practice our French!  I've also got a bowl of grapes for us to munch on while we work.

After all this B goes on to do math and S goes on to do his chemistry and I go on to do my Theology.

Song of Bernadette - Book 16

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last read a complete book.  It's because life is a bit crazy right now and I have been reading but hard theological stuff that is taking a long time to get
through.

The Song of Bernadette was the first book club pick for my parish's new Spiritual Classics Discussion Group.  It is a long book, 578 pages, though not hard to read at all.  I had trouble though because I am going through one of those periods in my life when I only seem to get to my own pleasure reading at night before bed and I am so tired by the time I hit the sack I can barely read a page before falling asleep.  A couple of days ago when I realized I still had 200 pages to go, I started to really zoom in on getting it read and would you believe I read the last page in the parking lot of the church just before going into the book group!

The book is wonderful.  The writing is stellar, profound, nuanced, but tells the story simply.  The author keeps you engaged from the first page.  The character development is impeccable.

Bernadette is a very poor, ignorant peasant girl who sees a vision of a beautiful lady.  She tells her secret to the her sister and a couple classmates and the story gets around.  Bernadette feels drawn to the grotto where she saw the lady and goes back.  Others witness her ecstasy as she talks to the invisible lady.  They begin to believe.  The lady asks her to come back for 15 days which Bernadette tries to do even though her vision has now set off a chain of events that throw the town of Lourdes into turmoil.  These few weeks change life forever in that town and change Bernadette too.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the cataloguing of how everyone reacts to Bernadette's story.  From her own parents, to her classmates, the local church, the mayor and the police, the local intelligentsia, the doctors and it moves out from there to finally going all the way to the Emperor Louis Napoleon.  All these characters (and there are a lot with rather confusing names) are fully fleshed out and some of them are like little jewels of character writing.  I especially loved the cynical poet Lafite, and the character and depiction of the marriage of the Emperor and his wife Eugenia.

Bernadette herself is wonderfully drawn; so without guile, so honest, so tortured, so misunderstood.  She, the ignorant peasant girl, defeats all the naysayers and the powers that be, because of her faithful love for the beautiful lady.

This book is a miracle of sorts itself.  It was written by a Jewish author escaping Nazi Germany.  He was hiding out in Lourdes one step a head of the Nazis who were searching for him.  The few weeks he hid in Lourdes made him love it, and he vowed that if he got out alive he would sing the song of Bernadette by writing a book about her.  This book was a bestseller back when it was published in 1941 and the movie with Jennifer Jones was made soon after that.  Why is it that some authors who aren't Catholic seem to have such a profound understanding of its depiction of holiness?  Mark Twain wrote Joan of Arc which is wonderful that way.  This is another example of a non-Catholic author who 'gets it.'

This is a truly great book.  I am very glad I finally read it.

Two thumbs up!

Update!  Woke up this morning to do my Bible reading and read in Deuteronomy, the Song of Moses.  A song written by Moses and taught to the Israelites so that they would not forgot all he had done.  That must be what the title Song of Bernadette comes from!  I just thought the author was being poetical when he talked about vowing to sing the song of Bernadette by writing a book about her, but it is a biblical reference to Moses!

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Bathroom reno has officially started!

I forgot to take before pictures of our ugly master bathroom before they started demolishing it.  But Rick took this one.

Here's what the sink area in the 'dressing room' looked like.

Now it looks like this:

I am really excited!  How I hated those ugly plastic, gray corner shelves.  They were full of pill bottles, etc.  I wanted something I could shut a door on.  I hated those ugly lights above the sinks.  And the medicine cabinet in the middle of the wall o mirror was annoyingly shallow but long so it would knock over things like the the freestanding towel rack or any tall bottles that might be there on the counter.

I don't have before pictures of the other elements of this remodel.

Here's what our walk in closet looks like sans shelves and one wall and everything that was stashed in it.  It looks much bigger!

We are going to have built in bookshelves on the other side of the wall (bedroom side) on the left. the closet will be narrower but longer. We are going to go to California Closet or some such place and get built in shelves, etc to make the closet more usable.  It was just a big area with one shelf and a hanging bar going around the periphery, so not a good use of space.

The guys didn't demo this yet.  This is the broken tub that we never liked.  It took forever to fill, ate up all the hot water, was incredibly noisy (like you could hear the jets all over the house) and it leaked and ruined our newly redone powder room below it.  We are getting rid of it.  We are just going to have a regular tub and then a nice steam shower instead.

Here's where our forever running toilet was.  No matter how many times Rick would run to Home Depot and get new parts, within a few weeks/months it would begin to run again.  Good bye, good riddance!

We are also getting rid of the shower.  But my phone died and I am too lazy now to go and get the photo off of it.  Besides, the workmen will be here in 15 minutes and I need to run and get dressed!

Planning My Masters!

Oh boy.  I am excited!  Catholic Distance University just came out with the list of classes coming up from now through next summer!  So I just tentatively planned how I would proceed.

First I have to get through my current summer courses, Intro to Theology and Graduate Research Skills.  These are prerequisites to even starting the Masters program.  Then I have core courses to get through before I decide on my specialization and thesis.

Fall 2016
Graduate Writing Skills (another prerequisite)
Revelation and Faith

Winter 2017
Theology of the Sacraments
Philosophy for Theology

Spring 2017
Introduction to Christology (I am really excited about this one!)
Theology of the Church

Summer 2017
Fundamentals of Moral Theology

So, if all goes according to plan, I should be able to begin specializing (Sacred Scripture is what I'd like to do) in the Fall of 2017.

Quote for our times

This quote from Tertullian really struck me as applicable to our times.  Well, maybe not literally, but the idea behind it.

It's strange how the same man who can barely bring himself to lift his tunic in public, even when the call of nature urges him, takes it off in the circus, as if he longed to expose himself in front of everybody.  Or how a father who carefully protects and guards his virgin daughter's ears from every  bad word, takes her to the theater himself, exposing her to all its vile words and attitudes.  Or how someone who, if he comes across a fighter brawling in the streets, has him arrested or rebukes him severely, goes to the arena and encourages much more serious combats.  Or how someone who is horrified to see the body of someone who has died a natural death comes to the amphitheater and looks down with approval on bodies all mangled and torn and smeared with their own blood.

But actually it's not so strange.  Inconsistencies like those are just what we might expect from people who confuse the nature of good and evil as their feelings change and their judgments change along with them.

Bring Heyer to the Screen!

This is going to be my new cause to fight for!  And I've got Elizabeth Scalia on my side!

I think we should start an on line petition!

Journaling the Day - 6/2

Woke up around 6.  Fed pets.  I think I am going to have to start making Tillie's dog food.  I am going to be one of those people that cooks for their pets.

Morning reading:  Deuteronomy- rules about what to do with a captive woman you've fallen in love with and St. Ambrose on how to avoid using bad language.

Drove chicken to parish.  Listened to Johnson on the way there and back.  Came home and read wikipedia article on him to get some further context.

Worked on Latin 1 quizzes.  Woke kids.  Cleaned kitchen.

Gave B her history final to take.

Made phone calls. I am so irritated with our AHG parish.  I was kind of snappish to the secretary.  Need to go to confession.  But they demand that only pastor can sign but he's out of town and they are the ones that scheduled the mass a week early, so they plan on depriving 4 girls of their awards because of their rigid rules and arbitrary scheduling?  I am sure at my parish the secretary would be able to sign off for the pastor.  It says right on the form pastor or designee.  Sheesh.  I really am not doing this next year!  You really need to be a member of the parish to do it well.

Drove tests out to the teacher's house.  Made complicated plans for these stupid religious awards.  Drove home through heavy, construction-caused traffic.

S got his new harmonica in the mail.  Promptly taught himself Puff the Magic Dragon and played it for our little guest.

Starting goofing off.  Still thinking about getting a funny dvd set for Father's day.  Was thinking Blackadder.  Was looking around at the series and stumbled on the one about Samuel Johnson!!!

Took a nap.

More emails about religious awards that I have no idea about.

Ordered pizza for dinner.

See his cute little teeth?  Brand new!

Babysitting this little cutie.  Tried to feed him but he's not interested.  Really crawling around and trying to stand and walk a lot.  Had to take him with me to drop B at her rehearsal.  J said he'd pick her up at 9.  Dylan fell asleep on the way home and is still sleeping in his carseat now perched on the family room couch.

Update:

W called S and suggested he come to World Youth Day with him.  Now S is begging please, please, please?

S, not learning from his past experience with harmonicas, has already taken this harmonica apart and readjusted the slide.  However, this time he did fix it!  The slide was sticking and making a tapping noise whenever he used it.

Picked up Vivianne at 9:30 or so; her class ended early.  I took the baby with me since he was so restless.  He screamed the whole way there and back.  R came home and watched basketball.  I just think it is wrong to have basketball in the summer.  Basketball season should not overlap with baseball seasons.  I like my sports, like my kids when they were little liked their dinner, clearly defined and not touching each other.

Journaling the Day 6/1

Happy first of June!

Poor R worked very late last night.  He had a brief to finish and then he had to get up early this a.m. to take a train to Wilmington DE to meet with (new?) clients.  He's already gone.  Looks like it will be another late night too.

Fed pets - Tillie is still off her food.  Worried about that dog.
Read from Deuteronomy and Church Fathers.  Dt cracked me up.  Moses is telling the Israelites - go ahead and kill all the male enemies and take their children and women for spoils, but don't cut down any fruit trees!

Worked a bit more on the Latin syllabus.  Meeting Rosario this a.m. to go over things.

Drove to the meeting.  Met for almost 3 hours.  Pretty productive but there is lots to do!

Came home.  B was studying, slightly better than yesterday, she's not as pale.  S was also studying.  He asked me to quiz him so I did.

Ate leftovers for lunch.

Off and on dealing with religious awards issues that are cropping up in my email.  Sheesh, am I NOT doing this again next year.

Took B to her voice lessons.  Tried to read Aquinas Catechism in car but got too drowsy in the heat.

Came home.  S has resolved his own harmonica issue!  He called Suzuki's customer service and they told him to send it in for them to repair, takes 1 to 3 weeks.  And with his own money he bought a cheaper, smaller harmonica to play.

S was in a let's get this history test over with mood.  I thought he should review more.  He insisted so he took it.  And then immediately regretted it.  He kept saying, I didn't very well on that history final.

Meanwhile B has been studying and studying but going very, very slowly with everything.

Took S to piano lessons.  Went on a nice walk while he was there.  Weather was warm but dry and there was a nice breeze.  Nice summery day.  Came home.  Made two types of mac and cheese for dinner.  One white cheddar with leftover chicken and one just regular old box of mac n cheese.

B dragged herself to me and asked if I'd help her study.  So we started up but while I was checking something on my laptop I noticed I got an email from the research prof saying I had 0 points because I had missed an assignment deadline.  Gulp!  I thought it was due on the weekend!  I looked and looked and couldn't see where it said the deadline was.  Shoot.  Fortunately, I had written up most of the assignment last weekend, so I just tweaked it a bit and then submitted it.  Boy was that a confidence shaker.  This always happens.  I think I am on top of things and then I am not!  I think that is my ADD issue (one of them).

Started baking chicken for homeless shelter (I bake chicken for 16 every first Thursday of the month).  Realized I had no aluminium roasting pans to carry in the chicken in to the church tomorrow morning.  Ran to store to get that and a few other things, like ice cream.  Came home.  Everyone loved me because I brought various flavors of Ben and Jerry's.

Rick came home.  Turns out he drove to Delaware and back because the rush hour traffic this a.m. was so bad he wasn't going to make it to the train on time.  He was exhausted and kept dozing but then we started watching that new quiz show 500 questions, which we have quickly become addicted to.  Wound up not getting into bed until about 11:30.  Crazy foolish!

Journaling the day - 5/31

Thankfully didn't wake until 6 a.m.  Alleluia!

Fed pets
Made coffee
Read from Deuteronomy, Church Fathers, Lumen Fedei.  I must read more from my assigned reading and also work on my research assignment this week.  That's due Sunday by midnight.  I was taking a break yesterday since I had a 3 page essay due this past Sunday.

Did load of laundry

Posted in on going class discussion for Theo course.  I am so used to skimming when I am on line, that I have to stop myself and force myself to read every word posted in these discussions.  Theology is deep stuff that takes precision in thought.  I find I am really lazy about this and need to discipline myself.

Must take Dylan to his drs appt.  Need to leave by 8 a.m.

Took Dylan - turns out the clinic's fridge had been on the fritz over the weekend so they didn't know if vaccines were good so he didn't get a shot.  That's the second time this has happened with their vaccines.  They need a new fridge.

Came home. Vivianne made us scrambled eggs and French toast.

Showered and listened to this interesting podcast on CM and physical education.

Social Worker from St. L came over and took V. out shopping for food and baby items.

B has been super droopy and surprisingly isn't really focusing on her history exam.  She won't study with us though, yet she keeps complaining that she can't concentrate.

S and I went to Panera and studied some there until 1:30 or so.

Wrote up cover letter for AHG thing and drove everything over the the parish to have priest sign off on religious awards stuff.  Now that Rick got audible working in my car, I am listening to Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.  Oh my, I love that early 18th century language.  I am so weird.  I love it when the narrator reads off long quotes in Latin.  Johnson wrote in Latin in his own diary!

Tried to find a someone to repair S.'s harmonica.  Looks like the closest person is in Montclair NJ.  I tried looking up Washington Folklore society, bluegrass musicians, etc.  No luck.  He is soooo bummed.  So then I came up with the idea that we'd buy him another harmonica for his half-birthday.  His birthday is 12/22 and it is always swallowed up by Christmas, so we always say we owe him a half-birthday celebration to make up for the fact.  Well his half-birthday is 6/22 so as an early present we'd replace the harmonica.  Then he could use the broken harmonica to really explore how they work so that in the future he could repair it.

I did find out in my searches around the internet on harmonicas that they are having a big harmonica gathering/workshop in Edinburgh Scotland this summer.  Seriously, I would love to go.  S can go to the workshop and Rick and I can explore Scotland.  I think it's a great idea!

Poor B is really under the weather or something.  My usually attentive student just can't pull herself together to study well at all.  I don't know if it is her time of the month or what.  She's got rehearsal tonight as well.

Helped S study some more before I had to stop and make dinner.  I modified my old white enchilada chicken casserole to be vegetarian.  I replaced the chicken with a can of drained black beans, about 1/3 of a bag of frozen corn and a couple of small/medium zucchini grated up.  I thought it was pretty good.  Sean gave it a 6.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  Vivianne helped me cook it.  Little Dylan is starting to crawl around and get into things and he's too busy to eat, but he's also very small for his age.  I think he is going to be a small wiry type.  Anyway, she's trying to get food into him but he isn't interested.

Ran B to her rehearsal, listening to Johnson on the way there and back.

Studied more with S.  Whew, finally through the whole study guide.  So the plan is that he's going to review in the morning and then take the test in the afternoon.  I will have to run the tests to the teacher's house directly as it is due tomorrow.  I cancelled B's math tutor for tomorrow too.  She's been so draggy lately, I just want her to focus on history and get that over with.  She'll be doing math all summer so missing this time isn't going to change things much.

W called and it turns out that he is going to World Youth Day in Poland!  His friend, the seminarian, put W's Back Bay Mobile Soup Kitchen down as an organization so they have a bunch of people traveling together.  W is going to try to pay for everything himself.  I think he is really excited.  He is very tired though.  He gave a really successful concert on Saturday and he's been busy getting another performance ready.  He's on a real high about it all but I think he needs to sleep more.

J said he'd p/u B at 9.  I know they just came out with a report and everyone is tut tutting that more older children living at home is a bad thing, but actually it is a great thing!  Because when you are older, adult children are very helpful to have around!  I can see why the Amish just build on extensions to their houses.  The more adults around the easier the load is for everyone.