This is Not an Anti-Panda Post

China is mourning the death of Quan Quan, a panda considered to be a hero for having given birth to seven baby pandas.
Let's pray that someday China will have the same attitude towards HUMAN mothers and babies!

Catholic 24/7

This is slightly, very slightly, modified from one of my other blogs.

I am a Catholic, 24/7, awake or asleep. Whatever I do, I do as a Catholic. Of course, not all activities are in themselves Catholic per se. Eating, for example, is not predominately Catholic; it is a universal, and universally necessary activity. :) Making the Sign of the Cross and saying the "Bless us, O Lord" prayer before eating, and the "We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits" prayer after is Catholic.
Reading, in itself, is not Catholic. Reading the Holy Bible [I prefer the Revised Standard Version], books by or about Saints, or any Catholic devotional and/or instructional book is Catholic. Watching TV is another activity not Catholic in and of itself, unless the programming is Catholic, for example, everything on EWTN. Saying a few Hail Mary's or some other prayer while I fast-forward through the commercials and/or scenes I don't care to watch on the secular programs [and thank God for tapes, DVRs, and fast-forward!]is Catholic.
Just one or two more examples. Being on my computer is not particularly Catholic; visiting Catholic websites is.
Singing, just plain singing, is not especially Catholic. Singing something like "Hail, Holy Queen", however.... aw, you know!
In other words, whatever I do, I do as a Catholic, but there are certain things I do specifically because I am a Catholic.
If I have to separate something in my life from the fact that I am a Catholic, then
that thing does not belong in my life.

I love the new Family Prayer before the Mass on EWTN.

I Also Read Comic Books

This post originally appeared in one of my old blogs.

I remember racing (okay, so not exactly racing, but it's a good cliche) to the corner candy store on Tuesdays and Thursdays to see which comic books had come in. Then, there was the ecstatic agony of deciding which ones to buy. Of course, I did have some favorites that I always bought, and my Aunt Lily (really my great-aunt, my Baba's sister) could usually be counted on to treat me to a comic or two every week.
My favorites were "Sugar and Spike", "Little Lulu","Dennis the Menace", "Little Audrey", "Little Dot", "Richie Rich", "Archie", "Betty and Veronica", and, as I grew older, "Superman", "Lois Lane", "Jimmy Olsen" and "Supergirl". I didn't start reading "Batman" until the TV show whet my appetite.
I should also admit that I liked "Tippy Teen". Anyone else remember her short-lived comics? In some ways, her universe resembled the "Archie" universe. Among Tippy's friends were a Moose-like boy called Animal, and a Dilton Doily type whose name escapes me at the moment.
No wonder the Tippy universe resembled, in some ways, the Archie universe. I've just found out, through a Google search, that Dan Decarlo, who worked on many of the "Archie" and "Betty and Veronica" comics, also worked on "Tippy Teen". LOL!
I am delighted, absolutely delighted, that so many comic stories from my childhood and earlier have been reprinted, either in digest form, or in hardcover. I'm even more delighted that some are available online.

My VERY OWN Library Card

This post is expanded from a post on one of my older blogs.
Almost every day after school, my Baba and I would go to the rather small, but to my childish eyes quite big enough, Brighton Beach Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, then located on Ocean Parkway. We'd browse among the picture books, and then I would choose a few books (as hard a decision, for me, as deciding what to get at the corner candy store!) Baba would check the books out on her library card; I was too young to have my own.
We'd go over to one of the benches on Ocean Parkway, and read at least one of the
books together. Usually, we saved the rest of them to read at home. Not that I minded reading
the books again and again. Most, if not all, bookworms are great re-readers.
And then, finally, when I was in the second grade, I was old enough for my very
own library card.(thrill thrill thrill!) I felt so grown-up that day. My very own library card!
The first book I took out on my VERY OWN library card was "Betsy and Billy" by Carolyn Haywood. I chose for two reasons: I had already read and loved her first book, "B is For Betsy", and I wanted to be seen leaving the library with a thick, grown-up looking book.