Men Who Gave Me Hope in 2018

2018 was not a good year for men.  We've been dealing with Trump and Jeff Sessions and the attention seeking Alt-right men.  The whole MeToo movement makes it seem like all men are creeps.  The whole Roman Catholic Church crisis seems to be based on perverted, evil, power-seeking men who betrayed their duty and their God.

I've seen many cracks about men in comments and facebook, etc.  People say that the reason for the Church crisis is because no women are allowed to be priests.  I find this a ludicrous claim.  Women, like men, are full of flaws and sin.  Women can abuse just as much as men, they just haven't had quite as much opportunity on the grander scheme that men have had.  That might be a silver lining in the injustice that women have been treated with as less important or weaker than men.  Women weren't allowed to get quite as evil collectively.

But in the midst of all this I've found some men who have given me hope.

Catholic:

Father John Hallowell - just one example of his excellent homilies.  He never disappoints, always goes deeper to the truth.

Brian Holdsworth - So intelligent, thoughtful and well spoken.  He gives me hope for the younger generation!

Bishop Barron - I have known about Bishop Barron for years now and I've watched his Catholicism series several times.  I follow him pretty consistently.  He is very inspiring and refreshing.  I do get nervous though because 1) he's a bishop - and in this day and age you sort of have to prove your worthiness for this office.  2) he's a celebrity and celebrity-ness is never a good thing for one's soul.  But still, he continued to buoy me up during this year of crisis, where I really have been struggling with staying Catholic.

Robert George - professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton, fearless Catholic commentator of staunch integrity, never tribal, always honest and charitable.  His twitter account is actually inspiring.  Anyone who can do that is admirable in my book! 

Christian:

Roger Maxson - I just discovered this guy's you tube channel.  He's just starting to build it, but what is there is astounding.  I look forward to more.  A philosopher who has examined in depth both the atheist and Christian claims in the most honest, intelligent, reasonable way and come to the conclusion that Christianity is it. 

& Campaign - This is a wonderful campaign spearheaded by African American Baptist churches who are uncomfortable with the political divide that doesn't allow for both Biblical Christians and social justice - which is absurd!  Their spokesperson, attorney Justin Gibony, excels at summarizing the problems and stating clearly the crux of different political issues and how Christians ought to approach them. 

Jewish:

Rabbi Sacks - a righteous man of humility, faith, compassion and intelligence. 

Secular:

Glenn Loury - a professor of economics at Brown University, he hosts the most intelligent, look-the-truth-straight-in-the-eye, informative, eloquent and witty interviews on the internet.  His conversations with John McWhorter are fascinating.  He is no in-the-box, partisan voice but one who cuts to the chase and can't put up with nonsense. 

Homesteading:

I watch a lot of homesteading videos.  If you want to find a lot of likable, earnest, hardworking men, watch homesteading videos!

Justin Rhodes - permaculture chicken guy and family man trying to be a good husband, father and son, neighbor and business man.  Always refreshing.

Art and Bri - Another homesteading family.  Art is so thoughtful, gentle, hardworking, deep, talented, just an excellent guy. 

The Fit Farmer - I just started watching this channel.  A fun family living in a yurt, living off their market garden.  They are an interracial couple living in the south and no one seems to care.

Swedish Homestead - Simeon is a farmer in Sweden who is experimenting with regenerative agriculture based on Joel Salatin's methods.  Beautiful videos, always interesting and worthwhile.  A man of excellent character.

The African Homestead - this guy hasn't been putting out videos lately but he's trying to homestead in Liberia.  He's a Christian missionary with ten kids (I believe some are biological and some are adopted Liberian children). 

Homesteady - another fun homesteading channel, chronicling Austin and Kay's family as they farm, hunt, grow their family (Kay is pregnant with number 5) and unschool their kids.  Austin is a hoot!  He's hardworking, dedicated, with a heart of gold and a capacity to laugh at himself.  He makes great videos too.

Bobblehead Homestead - Jeff is a middle aged, single guy who is living his dream.  He bought cheap property in Arkansas where he cleans up the trash left on the property, admires his stray cats, raises chickens and grows flowers.  He's got Parkinson's so he gets head tremors, hence the name Bobblehead Homestead.  He is the sweetest guy!  It's wonderful to watch his joy in simple things and in nature and to watch him work towards his dream. 

Out of Goshen - a large Jewish family who spent 2018 searching for their homestead and then finally found it after much suspense!  The suspense was real because Ashley, the wife, was about to have baby number 7!  They settled in central MI.  They are a lovely family.  Eric is such a good and dedicated father and husband.  A joy to watch.

Thank you to these men who really have boosted my spirits, made me happy to be human, kept life interesting and taught me so much this past year. 

Persuasion - Book 51

This cover looks a bit sinister to me!  And the dress is more Victorian than Napoleonic.

I still remember the first time I read Persuasion.  I guess it was about 20+ years ago.  I remember it was one of the first warm spring days of that year.  I remember that R was gone on a business trip over the whole weekend, which always depressed me when that happened (which was pretty rarely).  I could handle a business trip away during the week pretty well, but single parenting over the weekend too, defeated me.  Anyway, horribly, we came down with a 24 hour stomach bug.  We all had it.  I was running a fever and vomiting myself and I had to clean up after two young children's vomit and diarrhea.

But God was good to me.  Earlier in the week we'd been to the library and I had picked up a copy of Persuasion   I was trying to read all the Austen books.  I had only read Pride and Prejudice and maybe Northanger Abbey.  Also, I think fortuitously we had a lot of saltines and bananas and rice to eat in the house, so I didn't have to go out shopping for delicate tummies.

I parked the kids in front of Disney movies most of the weekend, occasionally tackled mount laundry, popped Advil right and left, and spent most of my time curled up with Persuasion.  It truly transported me and I never got so much comfort from a novel as that.  Austen always did that for me.  I read it all over the weekend.  And then I reread about five times after that.

Wonderful adaptation.  My only complaint is the audio is sometimes too indistinct.

I must have reread since then, but I don't remember.  Anyway, I just finished my latest reread.  My reading of the novel though is now very colored by my seeing the movie adaption many times since then.  I love the movie version.  Almost every scene is like a painting.  And even though it is anachronistic, I love the Chopin music as the score.

Anyway, I wasn't as entranced as in my first encounter, but I enjoyed the novel this time around too.  Her oldest sister and father are so unfailingly annoying.  Her sister Mary is annoying but funny too.  The Crofts are so lovable. The whole family at Uppercross is warm and loving.  And the tension between Anne and Captain Wentworth is understated but still palpable.  The poignant, secret longing is finally resolved.  Even Lady Russell learns something. It's a really satisfying read.

Two thumbs up!  And now it is December 28th and I must quickly read another book before the New Year and then without even meaning to, I'll have managed to read 52 books in 52 weeks!

CathLIT Reading Challenge 2019

Here's a link to a really interesting Catholic Reading Challenge.  I've decided I will participate.


Categories:

A Spiritual Memoir:

I might reread The Seven Storey Mountain.  I read it back in my early 20s and honestly I don't think I finished it.

A Classic Spiritual Work

Interior Castle - been wanting to read this ever since we visited Avila, Spain.  This will also count as a book by a Catholic saint and woman!

A Book About Mary

Not sure.  Might check out the Brant Pitre book on the Jewish Roots of Mary

Book By A Catholic Novelist

I've never read Walker Percy.

Book By A Pope

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict.  Another book I started and never finished.

Book By A Catholic Woman

See Interior Castle

A Book About Liturgy

I've had Scott Hahn's The Lamb's Supper sitting on my book shelf for 15 years maybe. When did it come out?  It's been staring at me for ages.

Book By An Early Church Father

On Social Justice by Basil the Great sounds intriguing

A Conversion Story

I have read many conversion stories.  I love them.  But I have never read An Immovable Feast.

A Book About Apologetics

I am actually currently reading The Light of Christ by Father White, I'll finish in 2019 at some point.  I only read a few pages at a time most mornings.

A Book By An Orthodox Christian

I read Laurus a year or so ago.  I loved it!  Highly, highly recommend it.  And I just finished The Brothers Karamazov this year.  So much to that book!  I feel like I only took in maybe 20% of it's wisdom. However, I do not feel up for rereading it so soon.  So I am not sure what I will read here.  I think I need a novel of some sort.  I'm reading too many heavy theological and historical books!  Wait, I just remembered that I've been wanting to read The Life of Moses by St. Gregory Nyssa for a while now.  Maybe that fits in this category?

A Hagiography

Helena by Waugh - I've been meaning to read this for a while.  But I'm also interested in Black Elk.  Might read two for this category!

A Long Catholic Book

Might reread In This House of Brede.  Again, read it so many years ago I can barely remember it.

A Book By A Catholic Philosopher - hmmm.

A Catholic Classic
I was planning to attempt The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius this year anyway.  Perhaps that can be both a classic and a book by a philosopher?

Book By A Saint

I do want to read Life of Christ by Sheen.  I started it and found it absolutely luminous but I misplaced the book and life got too distracting and busy and to my sorrow, I never picked it up again.

A Book By A Non-Catholic That All The Catholics Are Reading

I really enjoyed Karen Prior Swallow's first book so I think I'll go for her On Reading Well.

Book About A Catholic Monarch

I might skip this category.  I honestly have no interest right now in this topic.  I think it's because I found out there are all these hidden Catholic monarchists in the American Solidarity Party. I became so disenchanted and disgusted by this that I have a mental block about anything that lionizes Catholic monarchy.  However, I am also reading SWB's history books on the Medieval and Renaissance ages as part of my own personal reading plan for 2019, so maybe there will be someone who pops up that I will be interested in.  But I am giving myself the permission to give this category a pass, if I so choose.

A Recently Published Catholic Book

The Grace of Enough is a book I had already planned to read as a group read in the Catholics for Zero Waste facebook group.

The Small House at Allington - Book 50

The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope had me totally enthralled.  I listened to it on audio CDs that I took out of the library.  The reader, Simon Vance, was very good, except occasionally he didn't switch voices enough so that it was hard to tell who was talking during a conversation.  This only happened a few times.   He was actually pretty amazing because he had a lot of voices to do, both male and female.  So all in all, he did an amazing job.

The Small House at Allington is part of Trollope's Barchester chronicles.  I've read the first two books, The Warden and Barchester Towers a long, long time ago.  I've decided for 2019, I'm going to read the whole series.

The plot revolves around two sisters and their mother.  They live at the small house at the generosity of their uncle, the squire, Christopher Dale.  He lives at the great house.  This has never been a comfortable situation for Mrs Dale the widowed mother of the two girls, Bell and Lily.  Gruff Uncle Dale never approved of his younger brother's marriage.  Mrs. Dale, though, is a lady through and through, and she has raised two wonderful daughters who are now at marriageable ages.  Along comes handsome and suave Aldophus Crosbie to steal Lily Dale's heart.

Crosbie, however, makes a selfish, bad choice and ruins the chances of happiness for himself and several other people as well.  The novel is actually very sad, though Trollope ends it on a comic note with the curmudgeonly but kind Hopkins the gardener.

While Bell and Lily are contrasted in how their marriage possibilities work out; John Eames and Crosbie are another parallel.  Eames is a poor neighbor of the Dales and he's long been in love with Lily.  He declares himself to her after he knows of her engagement to Crosbie.  One can feel his heartbreak throughout, though he is young and callow.  We see him mature into manhood, while we see Crosbie settle into the narrow life he's created for himself out of his own shallow selfishness.

I did find myself feeling sorry for Crosbie.  He seems to have no family, no one to turn to for wisdom.  He immediately regrets what he has done, but can't turn back.  Eames is better able to extricate himself from a foolish engagement.  Both John Eames and Adolphus Crosbie have an Amelia to deal with.  Eames gets himself almost engaged to Amelia Roper, who is a manipulative, grasping sort of person (though I often think, how did women who were forced to rely so much on marriage to keep them secure, not resort to such methods that were available to them. It seems like they are put in a very difficult situation and then looked down up when they have resorted to flattery and flirtation to win their beau).  Crosbie has to deal with his wife, Alexandrina's, sister Amelia, who tries to manage him too.

I found myself also getting angry with Lily, who is our heroine, strong, deep, steadfast, witty, charming, loving.  But she's maybe more in love with her notion of love than she was with the actual Crosbie.  She'd only known him two months.  And that stubborn loyalty to her ideal of love closes her off to John Eames's as a suitor.  But one is left hoping that maybe one day when she has grown older and softened a bit and Eames is older too and more mature and self-confident, they may find each other again.  That's what everybody is hoping may happen.

There's more characters than these.  The novel is peopled with so many and all wonderfully drawn.   Honestly, the book is so good, it ought to be better known than it is. 

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

Laudato Si' - Book 49

We did a very slow group read of Laudato Si' in my Catholics for Zero Waste facebook group.  It is a really thought-provoking, God-centered analysis of our relationship to nature, that is, God's creation and how we need to incorporate into our Christian life, care for creation.  I loved all the insights and the profundity of faith.  It really is a document that questions blind consumerism, our relationship with the gifts God has given us, our connection to the poor and how we should live out lives as Christ-centered people.

I'm sad that Pope Francis seems so inconsistent.  The whole sex abuse crisis seems to have been mishandled (though maybe things will get better?  There's that meeting in February - but he seems very hit or miss about it all).  Also the whole thing with China is just beyond my comprehension.  It seems like the Church is truly going in the wrong direction there.  I feel like these two crisis-causing issues are overshadowing Pope Francis' brilliant teachings on the environment.   I am disappointed in that.

But if you have a chance, do read Laudato Si'.  It is truly inspirational.  Apparently, Wyoming Catholic College has a blog section on Laudato Si'.

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

Food Diary 12/19/18

I got really burnt out cooking this past semester, what with the restricted diet and everyone being out at dinner time, I was flummoxed as to how to feed people.  So I am trying to turn over a new leaf, especially since I am worried about R's health and I really think he should start eating more anti-inflammatory stuff.  He's miserable with his arthritis.  One of my Christmas presents to him is going to be a coupon for a healthy, tasty homemade lunch every day.  He really liked it when I was making him the no-salt lunches, even though then the doctor decided he didn't need no/low salt.  But I fell away from making lunch for him.  But that's a different plan I have to think through in terms of groceries and prep time.

So here's a list of what I've cooked for dinner since Saturday:

Saturday:  brown rice pasta with local sausage, leftover tomato sauce and some goat mozzarella, crudites of carrot sticks, bell peppers and cucumbers.

Sunday:  slow cooker bbq chicken with rice, leftover veggies (I felt pretty inadequate on the veggie front there).

Monday:  homemade salmon patties, homemade cole slaw, roasted potatoes (with carrot, mushroom and onion).  That dinner took a lot of chopping and prep work but was delicious!

Tuesday:  blue corn tacos with local ground beef, topped with grated goat cheddar cheese and homemade guacamole, cole slaw.

Wednesday:  I might try to use up leftover chicken and make chicken fried rice.  I've got celery, carrot, mushroom, leftover bell peppers I can stir fry into it.  I'm going shopping today so I can buy some aminos, which is our soy sauce replacement (haven't had any since the fridge died this summer and we had to throw everything out), peanut oil, maybe throw in a dollop of crunchy peanut butter, as well as buy some baby corn or bamboo or water chestnut or Chinese pea pods.  Something to make it more typical of something found on a Chinese restaurant menu.  Also I will throw in an egg or two.  Maybe we can try to finish up the cole slaw along with it.  I also should make chicken broth today with the carcass. 

Thursday:  I might have oven baked chicken.  I found a package of cut up chicken in the garage freezer.  I must have overbought last time I was making chicken for the homeless shelter.  Usually all my chicken is whole because I got it from the CSA this fall.  Might have sweet potatoes with it and whatever kind of seasonal green/veggie I can muster.

Friday:  Might make veggie chili, topped with goat cheese, corn chips and salsa on the side.  I think Will is coming home that day.

Saturday is Sean's birthday and I have no idea what to do.  Must think on that.

The Cricket on the Hearth- Book 48

The Cricket on the Hearth is one of Charles Dickens' Christmas novellas (the most famous of these being A Christmas Carol).  However, there is nothing about Christmas in it!  It does take place in a cold month, perhaps it was December, though I can't recall if the month was mentioned.

It is definitely a fairy tale, as there is a wise but mysterious cricket who sings when important things are about to happen.  And household fairies visit people in their dreams to set things aright.

As I was reading this for my Christmas Literary Challenge, I realized I had already read it!  I must have long ago because as I read it, it was very familiar to me.  But I had forgotten the ending (as I so frequently do in these cases).  We come into the seemingly happy home of the Carrier (kind of like the UPS guy in our day) John Peerybingle and his new wife, Dot, their newborn baby and their little servant girl.   We also meet their neighbors, Caleb the poor toymaker and his blind daughter Bertha.  Their sour, rather sinister boss who is the Tackleton of Gruff and Tackleton, toy purveyors.  Tackleton, oddly enough, is about to marry the beautiful May Fielding for some reason we cannot discern as the reader.  We also meet an old, deaf Stranger who throws everything into confusion.

You can actually buy a metal cricket to keep on your hearth.

It's a charming story as far as it goes, but honestly, I found it a bit hard to understand and grew impatient with the over the top coyness and the rather cloying sentimentality.  I think Dickens might have been tippling the Christmas punch as he wrote this!

I was googling around to find out more about The Cricket on the Hearth and I came across a really kitschy 1967 animated retelling (which takes great liberties with the story) staring Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas.  I could only get through the first few minutes but it was a blast from the past!

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

Commonplace Book 12/16/18

This is why believing Catholics should be concerned with the environment.

From p. 71 of The Light of Christ by Father Thomas Joseph White:

(He's been talking about the 'names of God' in the tradition of the Church Fathers.  God is simple, perfect, eternal, good, and wise.  He says from this, we can immediately perceive a kind of 'creation mysticism.')

This also means that realities that spring from God, and that are more manifest to us, are a kind of visible expression or natural beauty and complexity of nature, its immense, intricate order and vast history, are visible expressions of the infinite hidden wisdom of God.  His divine eternity and wisdom are manifest in the unfolding effects of time and creaturely history.  The creation is the written tableau on which God expresses his being outwardly.  

A Beautiful Adoption Story

When I was 7 or 8 my oldest sister went away.  She had been to college for a little bit, I remember, and then for some reason she went to live with my Aunt Jackie who at that time was living in East Lansing, Michigan, at Michigan State University where she (my aunt) worked in their Labor Studies department.  I didn't understand why she (my sister) was living with Aunt Jackie but I was little and didn't think much about it.   And then my sister was back home and then she moved out and then she got married.

Years later, when I was in my teens, she told me that she had had a baby and given that baby up for adoption.  She went to live with Aunt Jackie during her pregnancy and Aunt Jackie had made the adoption arrangements.  Ever since then my oldest sister and Jackie were very close.  I always wondered why because they were as different as any two people could be!  My aunt was cultivated and academic, my sister loved country music and Harlequin romance novels.  My aunt tended toward reticence and refinement, my sister was blunt and sarcastic.  They were an odd mix. But somehow they were very close.  My sister adored my aunt.  And my aunt was always very patient with her, a patience she did not show others.  But once I heard about the baby I realize that they had really bonded.  That there was a terrible rift between my mother and my oldest sister (that much later, and very slowly, healed) and that my Aunt Jackie had been my sister's lifeline and kept her whole and sane while she went through pregnancy and childbirth. Which is funny because my mother bore 13 children and my aunt was a spinster.

My sister had two children with her husband, her now ex-husband as the marriage lasted only ten years.  She never told her own children about the baby she had had when she was 21.

Fast forward to last spring.  Someone on facebook kept trying to send messages to a niece and two of my sisters.  It's funny because my oldest sister changed her married name back to her maiden name after her divorce but they didn't find her via facebook, they found the niece and two sisters.  It turns out one of the daughters of the little baby boy my sister gave up was trying to find her long lost biological grandmother.

And so facebook brought together my sister and her son, Stephen.  A son she'd never known.  He was raised by a loving couple.  He married and had a couple children and then his wife died.  He later married again and had three more children.  On Easter Sunday 2018 my sister got to talk on the phone to her son.  She said the emotions were indescribable.  Both his adoptive parents have passed on now.  I think his youngest is in college.  My sister says his adoptive parents did a wonderful job raising him.  He's lovely.  Kind and smart and generous.

He calls her every Saturday now and for every holiday.  They got to meet in person in June when one of his children was graduating from a college in North Carolina.  They drove through Virginia on the way back up to Michigan.  My niece and nephew got to meet the older brother they never knew they had.  And guess what!   The half brothers look alike!  You can definitely see a family resemblance.

My sister says the father was a Marine she met one night while out.  They drank too much and went too far.  He was going off to Vietnam.  She never saw him again.

Pregnancy is temporary, but a life is real.  It has a lifetime.  It is so precious.  My sister has new grandchildren.  She is writing them Christmas cards this year.  She is so happy.  Her heart is full of joy.  A thing that was a terrible hardship, a crisis pregnancy, has ended, 50 years later, in joy and love and gratitude.

Choose life!

Housekeeping Notes 12/14/18

My housekeeping has been abysmal this week.  Let's not talk about it.  I am so burned out about cooking.  So today I made a page where I am going to organize my food thoughts.  We are on a gluten free, soy free, cow dairy free, nut free diet.  Also, I want to be zero waste. I am not able to stay home for hours cooking.  And even when I am able to stay home for hours cooking, I am not in the habit and always seem to be missing a major ingredient or tool!  Not a foodie but forced into the situation of having to be a foodie. 

So here's the link to my new page.  I just wrote up basic stuff.  I hope to have more recipes soon.

Thoughts on getting a new puppy at the age of 58

I have brought chaos into my family in the guise of a hyperactive puppy named Skipper.  My family kind of resents this.  However, my family is gone much of the time:  my husband to work or if he is home, he's often watching football or sleeping or reading, etc.  My teens are in their rooms or out.  My 23 year old works and is in his room, mostly.  Not that we don't socialize and hang out together.  We all like each other!  But there are long swathes of time when I am by myself.  I'm by myself but I am chained to duties, etc that don't really let me be free to do what I want.  Every time I want to do something there is some kind of pay off.  And that's part of being a mom and living in a family.  I don't really resent it or anything, but those are the realities of my present day living.

I don't knit or do any kind of crafty thing.  I want to be a gardener but seem to be only good at killing plants.  I want to be a bird watcher and hiker but can only do that sort of thing intermittently.  I do like to read.  I like to be involved with parish stuff.  I occasionally like to do civic minded things, but the truth is I've always wanted to have a great dog.

When I was about 11 or so I convinced my tired and busy parents to get me a Labrador Retriever.  We only had him a few months.  He was too much for us to handle as he kept running away.  I'll never forget how my dad labored to build a dog run in our backyard to contain the dog.  The very first time we put him in it, he cleared the six foot gate, no problem.  He kept running after cars and kids on bikes.  This was back in the 70s when people still let their dogs roam around, though leash laws were starting to go into effect.  The big worry was he'd get hit by a car.  So he went to live on a farm somewhere.  And my family went back to being cat people. 

That was my first dog failure.

Fast forward.  At age 28 I got married and started having children at age 30.  At some point after having bought our own house with a conveniently fenced in backyard, I started longing for a dog again.  Now I'm an adult, I said to myself, I can get a dog!  So we rescued this wonderful mutt, named Scout.  He was part Golden Retriever and part some sort of Spitz dog.  He was so smart and friendly.  Apparently he'd just been chained in someone's backyard so he had separation anxiety and the minute you left him alone outside he'd start barking and then frantically jump the fence.  I actually slowly trained him not to do that.  He was highly trainable.  Feeling successful and also feeling that I went out too much or needed too much time off from the dog to take care of my young children, I went out and rescued another dog named Maisie.  She was part some kind of hound and part German Shepherd.  She was very timid which proved to be a problem because she was a fear biter.

I had baby number 3 and Scout got incredibly jealous.  He took to jumping the fence again after three years of not do that.  I literally had to choose between staying with my baby or running after the dog.  One day a neighbor down the street got really angry at me for letting me let my dog run loose and threatened to call the authorities.  So we gave Scout away to a crazy dog lady who sent a photo of her with Scout sitting at her table eating dinner together.  She was an old spinster type and apparently Scout and she dined together in the evenings.

We kept Maisie, but as Maisie aged she got worse and worse about fear biting.  I always had to sequester her off in her crate or behind a baby gate whenever kids came over to play, and this happened frequently.  Then I had baby number 4 and Maisie got incredibly jealous.  One day she was begging for my attention and I literally said to her, wait Maisie I have to finish here with the baby and she turned and just as an older kid was walking out the front door, she bolted out!  She did it deliberately so that we'd pay attention to her and run after her, which the kids did.  And then right in front of their eyes, she ran into the street and was hit by a car and died.  In the wink of an eye.

So dog failures 2 and 3.

Just before we decided to move to our present house, we got a Golden Retriever puppy.  We named him Ranger.  He was the stupidest dog I've ever known.  And he had no personality.  And I was pregnant with number 5.  See, I've never been rational about dogs!  So we gave him away to a Golden Retriever rescue group.  I remember the person came to take him away and she said, this dog is a pain!  That was from someone who loves Golden Retrievers and rescues them as a hobby!!! He was like the 'Marley' of Golden Retrievers.

Failure 4.

So finally about 10 years ago we got a Sheltie, and named her Tillie.  Tillie was a sweet dog.  She was an easy dog too.  She was quite trainable and she didn't run away.  She liked guarding her territory of our yard.  I wanted a Sheltie because I heard they were good for agility and I had this idea that we'd get into that with her.  However, she was so timid around other dogs, she'd freak out at the 4H training sessions.  She also early on developed a weird limp.  We went to a couple different vets who all tested her for Lyme and heartworm, etc.  No one could figure out the problem.  She didn't like going for walks.  She was content to dig a little hollow in the backyard and stay there most of the time.  She had various weird ailments all her life and this past summer she suddenly went into kidney failure and died at age 10.

Failure 5

So now I own Skipper.  I am 58.  This is probably the last dog I'm going to get in my life.  If he lives 15 years, I'll be 73 about then!  The dog is my hobby.  He's a pain now, but if I train him right, I think he'll be an awesome dog.  He is so smart.  But the truth is puppies are pains.  They take a while to housebreak, they need tons of attention, they chew on things, they develop bad habits like jumping on you, grabbing stuff off the table and counters, barking when you don't want them too, etc.  You kind of have to take a long term approach and work on one thing at a time, training-wise.  He'll be an adult at age 2, he's only 4 months now.  It's like with kids.  You have to be prepared for the long haul, except with kids it take 18-20 some years.

UPDATE from when I first wrote this.

Well, Skipper is now almost 7 months.  I see hope but I also see problems.  For instance right now he's chewing on a chair cushion.  Skipper, no!  Aw, but now he's curled up in a ball and looks sweet!  Good, Skipper!

There's been progress.  I moved his crate from the family room to the mudroom, which means that I can stick him back there and his incessant barking doesn't interrupt football watching like it did when he was right in the room.

He's also gotten quieter during the day, so I don't have to put him in the crate every time I need to go upstairs or even out to run errands for a short while.  That's really good.

He's completely housebroken.  That's good!  He's been housebroken for a while now.

This is a terrible picture, but Skipper and Dylan are a volatile combination!

Things I love:

I don't exactly love this, but it is a very good thing.  I used to stay in my robe unless I had something I had to run to.   I just never bothered getting dressed until later in the a.m.  I did this for years raising small children and then I was in the habit.  But with this dog, I get up and get dressed in the dark and make my way downstairs because one of the very first things I have to do is take the dog out.  I know it is crazy but for some reason I love being outside early in the morning.  I'm too lazy to actually do it without a reason and I hated having to do it say when I had to drive someone somewhere early.  That's stressful!   But just getting outside for a few minutes while Skipper does his thing is a pleasant wake up for me.  Even if it is raining or cold, there's something refreshing about getting outside for a few minutes.  Weird, I know.

I love taking Skipper on a mid-morning walk.  He's kind of hard to walk still.  He's part hound so he wants to sniff everything.  I let him do some sniffing but then after a few minutes, we walk.  I feel like I am getting good exercise.  I love seeing the sky, the trees, the birds and any other possible wildlife I might notice, and all the people coming and going.  Walking your dog is very neighborly!  People recognize you and wave!  You get to know other dog walkers.  Skipper is stubborn though and sometimes he balks because something has spooked him.  He's easily spooked.  Some lawn guy starts up a leaf blower?  He freaks.  A sudden gust gets some wind chimes playing loudly?  He freaks.  Some guy jogging?  He freaks.  He also sometimes catches a scent and absolutely wants to follow it and tries to drag me after it suddenly.  I remind myself I weigh more than him and then use my weight to hold him back. 

I love when he sits quietly on the couch with me.  He likes to snuggle.

He does however do many annoying things:

He constantly counter surfs
He jumps on people
He barks a lot
He chews things up

Slowly but surely, he'll get better.  I am remiss in not training him more though.  I'd better get my act together and do that.  He still only comes when he wants to.  However, he's accidentally gotten off leash a few times and he never ran away. 

Anyway, enough going on about my dog!

Today's To Do List

Already done:
6:30 a.m.
Up and dressed
Make coffee
Fed cat
Took dog out to do his duty (or should I say doody??) using my environmentally friendly flush puppy bag.  It is very frosty out this a.m.
Feed dog and give water

(Doing this now as dog scampers back and forth frantically chasing toys.)

To Do:
CZW Laudato Si' Post
7:30 a.m. B up and breakfasted (sausage and eggs I think)
Carpool this a.m. to get B to 9:00 a.m. classes; leave here at 8:10
Home again - clean kitchen, walk do (30 min) and shower, maybe some dusting
Take S to class in Annandale, drop off by 12:20
Drive back through Vienna to drop off library books (overdue!), pick up pet food (fish and dog), drop by Maple Ave. Market for eggs, any veggies and some ground beef
Put groceries away and take dog with me to pick up B.  Skipper likes car rides and he gets this one every week.
P/u B
Drive home; leaving dog with her.
Drive back to Annandale to p/u S.
The thing that makes driving tolerable is I'm listening to a great audio book right now.  Can't wait to listen!
Home again around 3 p.m.
Take dog for another walk
Rest and read for a bit
B needs to be dropped off for early choir practice carpool though by 4:30
Make some kind of dinner so people can eat (tomato sauce and ground beef will be involved)
Feed pets
Drive through awful traffic to listen to B sing (I better reserve seat this a.m.)
S says he will watch D while I am gone.
Drive home with B (I hate driving at night.  Please don't rain!)
Collapse into bed

Northanger Abbey - Book 47

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen is a delightful novel.  I know I have read it several times before but I can't remember the last time I actually did read it.  It's been a while.  My husband and I are reading through all the Austen novels together.  He's actually still ahead of me.  I thought he was giving up after Northanger Abbey but he has pushed on with Persuasion.  However, I am committed to reading A Cricket on the Hearth first for my Literary Christmas Challenge.

I love Austen's tongue in cheek tone and the wonderfully likable characters of our heroine, Catherine Morland and our hero, Henry Tilney.   It really is a novel about perception.  I think only Henry really has an accurate understanding of everyone's motives and personalities.  Yet in spite of being grounded in realism, he is not cynical, but a decent man with a witty sense of humor.  There's nothing not to like about him!

Poor Catherine pretty much gets everything wrong, except she does have a strong moral compass which helps her through the cognitive dissonance she experiences when people she trusts say one thing and do another.  She assumes everyone's good will and they take advantage of that.  She also lets her imagination run away with her and color her understanding of situations.  The characters of the Thorpe brother and sister team, John and Isabella, are so laughably odious.  They are like the stupider version of Mary and Henry Crawford from Mansfield Park.  And even an intimidating and reputable man of General Tilney's standing gets duped because of his preoccupation with money.

This is Catherine's first time away from home.  Her eyes are opened to the manipulations, cruelty and insolence of others.  She recognizes the flaws of her own characters.  But she also recognizes her soul mate in Henry and a true friend in his sister, Eleanor. And as Austen so cheekily notes at the end, through all the frustrations and painful occurrences of their meeting and courtship, it only is a twelvemonth from their first meeting until their wedding, so dear reader, it really isn't at all like those Gothic romances of yore.

All through this book though I kept wondering why Austen spelled Elinor one way in Sense and Sensibility and another way in Northanger Abbey?  For some reason that jumped out at me!

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

Nicholas Gilroy - Book 46

Nicholas Gilroy was written by Father Stephen Gemme and Deacon George.  I actually got a free copy from Father Stephen, who I happen to be facebook friends with.  He asked me to read it and pass it on. I plan to donate it to the parish where my daughter attends youth group.

This book tells the story of Nicholas' experiences as he enters a fictional high school seminary located in Baltimore.  I enjoyed the interaction of real Baltimore (my home for 3 years and where my husband and his family hail from) and the imaginary Baltimore.  Nicholas comes from a wealthy neighborhood, Roland Park, and he has adventures at the Inner Harbor.  We follow Nicholas as he makes new friends, grows in his love for Christ, and learns to translate that love into serving the less fortunate.

The tone of the writing is a reminiscent of the pious, idealized narrative voice of such authors as Brother Ernest and his saints series.  Or Mary Fabian Windeatt and her saint books.  It also reminded me of the Father Finn, Tom Playfair books as well (maybe because Nicholas is at a Catholic boarding school/seminary).  But there were some more modern touches as well.  For instance, Nicholas was homeschooled.  And at the seminary they have to have rules about cell phones.  There's mention of whiteboards replacing old blackboards and even some talk on bias in the media coverage of the annual March for Life in Washington D.C.  Again, like the charming mix of real and imaginary Baltimore, there is a mix of a sense of the old fashioned with new, modern elements which I found charming.

I loved this series by Father Finn.  Nicholas Gilroy reminded me a bit of them, only more modern.

The ending of the story does involve some violence and tragedy.  I would say Nicholas Gilroy is aimed at advanced 4th grade through average 6th grade reading levels.  However, there are a couple of very advanced Catholic vocabulary words, like humeral and luna!  It is an intensely Catholic book meant to awaken in the reader a pious love for Christ and His great Mother Mary.

Thank you very much, Father Gemme for giving me this book.  I enjoyed reading it!

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

Neighborhood Nature Notes

This is the little stream at the bottom of our backyard.

Just cataloging this because I enjoy nature watching.  This is from about the last two weeks:

This is the pond the stream empties into.  Our house is behind the trees in the upper right.

• A raccoon darted across my path one night on a street near here.  Didn't hit it with the car!
• On a walk with the dog, we surprised a gray fox in the patch of woods beyond the pond.  We were very close.  He looked very scraggly and jogged away seeming only a little concerned.  Skipper didn't even bark at him.  He wanted to follow him though.  Red fox are more common around here.  That's only the second time I've seen a gray fox.
• A couple of times on our walks, came across dozens and dozens of robins searching through the grass.
• A few days ago saw several blue birds which startled me.  I thought they migrated?  And we've had some really solid frosts.
• 12/3/18 saw a lone crow mobbing a hawk.  Also saw what I think was a Dark-eyed Junco.
• 12/4 cloudy, chilly day.  Saw another lone crow, some Mourning Doves and Mockingbirds in the thrush on the other side of the little creek at the boundary of our backyard.
• 12/5  ran into the fox again.  This time though it really looked like a red fox to me.  So now I think I am just not very good at identifying wildlife.  

Beyond the new McMansion development is a steep ravine.  We had just hiked up the path from it here.

Housekeeping Notes - 12/7/18

This week, in housekeeping news:

• Managed to find and get front door Christmas wreath up!
• Tidied up yard a bit
• Gardeners built raised beds in the back yard!
• Washed dog blankets!
• Washed one load of my clothes, need to do more - washer keeps refusing to drain so we have to play with it every. single. time.
• Cleaned master shower stall and also wiped down sink and counter
• Managed to keep kitchen reasonably clean in terms of dishes and pots and pans.  Mail and clutter are a different issue.
• Moved the dog crate to the mud room which is a good move.
• Meant to do a vacuuming today but I think V must have it down in the basement, so I never bothered to haul it back up here.  Must do before Sunday!
• Cleaned out fridge from Thanksgiving and got compost, recycling and trash out to the curb on the correct night!
• Got S and B to go shopping for the Giving Tree for me.  It's wonderful having kids who can drive!
• Baked enough chicken for 16 at homeless shelter and took over to church, early Thursday a.m.
• I have to admit I only cooked dinner M, W, Th.  And tonight we are doing take out.
• The heat went off in the night.  Was quite chilly.  Repair guy finally came out at 4 p.m. today and fixed it.  Same problem as last time.  What's up with that?
• Bought a couple of presents on line, but I still need to do a lot.
• Bought lots of frozen latkes and apple sauce for when in laws come over on Sunday - last day of Hanukkah.

For my classic spin reading challenge (deadline 1/31/19), The History of the Ancient World, I'm on page 51/777.  Better get hopping!

Commonplace Book 12/5/18

A quote from this morning's theological read, p. 58, The Light of Christ by Father Thomas Joseph White OP

. . . The traditional Catholic arguments for the existence of God are not geometrical proofs derived from self-evident axioms, but are something more elevated and deal with a subject matter that is more elusive.  They function primarily as intellectual discernments about the nature of reality as we perceive it all the time.  They begin from things around us so as to perceive the necessity of a transcendent origin, God the creator, who remains hidden and hence not immediately subject to the constraints of our "clear and distinct ideas."  That is to say, thinking about God is realistic and philosophical, but it also seeks to acknowledge the numinous character of our existence and the ways that our limited, finite being points toward something transcendent, necessary, and eternal, which is the cause of our existence.  Thinking about God in this sense is difficult for the human mind, not because theology is soft-headed, but simply because the subject matter is so elevated and not intrinsically capturable in the way mathematics or empirical topics are.

Christmas Literary Challenge

I think I'll join in on this Literary Christmas challenge, hosted by In The Bookcase, though I am not going to challenge myself too much!  I think I am morphing into more of a book blog and so I am trying to elbow my way into the book blog community!   I've been clicking around the internet trying to snoop out good book blogs.

It's been so long since I've done something like this, I completely forget how to post here the cozy Christmas illustration that shows I am part of this book challenge. I apologize. I'm very late to the party anyway, as the challenge started November 1st.    But I don't do Christmas that early anyway.  That's All Saint's Day to me!  I'm busy praying for the dead and giving thanks in November.  So Christmas doesn't really start until December.  And actually that's Advent.  Christmas doesn't officially start until December 24th, but try telling the modern world that one!  My Christmas season goes to January 13, 2019.

I've always heard that Charles Dickens' The Cricket on the Hearth is one of his Christmas stories (the only other one I am familiar with is the classic A Christmas Carol), so that's my pick.  I've thought about reading it for years now.  Now I will finally do it. Right after I finish Northanger Abbey!

Sense and Sensibility - Book 45

R and I are doing something fun.  We are trying to read all the Jane Austen novels together.  It was actually R's idea!  He'd only read Pride and Prejudice, but for some reason (I think the netflix capabilities of our new TV) we binged watched a couple of BBC productions and one of them was Sense and Sensibility. 

I realize that I wrote a review of the last time I 'read' S&S (I actually listened to it on audio), so I am going to link to that review from back in 2012.

This time reading it, two things stood out to me:

1)  How it really is an exploration of Stoicism.  Elinor is a bit too stoical while Marianne is the opposite.  Both sisters move toward the golden mean as a result of the trials and tribulations their love lives go through.

Thinking about stoicism, I googled to see if anyone has ever written on Austen and it.  Apparently someone did for their thesis.  They connected the 'bluestocking' scholarship of Elizabeth Carter, who translated the great Stoic philosopher's Epictetus into English.  Apparently, Jane Austen read Carter's work.  Pretty cool!

Elizabeth Carter

2)  It struck me that a major meme for British literature is the idea of two sisters or two almost sisters and how they each deal with romance and heartache.   S&S is the first that I know of, but Anthony Trollope follows this exact theme in his novel, The Small House at Allington (which I am currently listening to), E. M. Forster in Howard's End also treats of this theme.  And there is an absolutely wonderful in depth essay on Georgette Heyer's novel, A Civil Contract, which compares it to Sense and Sensibility.  

Two thumbs up for this classic!  Brava Jane Austen!  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.