Old (Okay, not THAT old!) Forgotten Blog

I came across one of my old, forgotten blogs last night, and I've decided to start writing in it again.  There will be some cross-posting between that blog and this one.

More Word Play

Here is another one of my quirky little poems. This one was written just a few years ago. 

BROOKLYN COLLIE

Brooklyn collie

with broken collar

barking at broccoli.

Special Sunday Foods (Post Expanded)

One of the ways in which I enhance my Sundays is to have certain special foods.  On Saturday night, I like to have a few

spareribs.  I love spareribs.  In order to save money, I like to order two combination platters early in the month; spareribs,
pork fried rice, egg roll.  (One platter goes into the freezer.)
I usually order other things as well, enough so that I can get a free order of General Tso's chicken. That way, I'm sure to have my spareribs every Saturday evening, plus food well into the week.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

It's time for Sunday Snippets over at RAnn's blog!  I've found some wonderful Catholic blogs here. How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete! : New Painting in Rosary Art Collection

Semper Gaudete! : VERY old TV Show

Semper Gaudete! : Not Only Candy

Semper Gaudete! : Teen Mom Puts Baby in Trunk to Avoid Ticket for Child Without a Car Seat

Semper Gaudete! : Connecting Two Songs

Semper Gaudete! : Winky's New Favorite Spot

Semper Gaudete! : Books Read in the Past Week

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books are grouped by author,
and not necessarily in the order read.

"Between Heaven and Mirth"#

by James Martin, SJ

[non-fiction]

(Kindle book)

"A Right to Be Merry" #
by Mother Mary Francis, P. C. C
[nonfiction]
"Travelers Along the Way"
by Fr. Benedict Groeschel
[collective biography]

"The Story of a Soul"

by St. Therese of Lisieux

"In This House Of Brede"

by Rumer Godden

[fiction]

(a great favorite of mine)

{Sunday books}

Bible books read this week:

"Isaiah"

"The Gospel According to Matthew"

"The Saturdays"

{carried over from last week}
"The Four-Story Mistake"
{carrying over into next week}
by Elizabeth Enright
[children's fiction]
in The Melendy Family
three books in one volume
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Mud Castles" #
by Mel Ostrov
[fiction]
(Kindle Book)
I liked the setting (Brighton Beach, where I was born
and where I lived for almost 60 years) much better
than the story.

"Talking it Over" #
by Leah Klein
[children's fiction, Jewish]

"The Alpine Path"#
by L. M. Montgomery
[autobiography]
{carrying over into next week}
(Kindle book)
"The Sun Is Shining On The Other Side"
by Margaret Jensen
[Christian (Protestant) nonfiction]
(stories from her earlier books)
{carrying over into next week}

Winky's New Favorite Spot

Winky has a new favorite spot.. the computer chair!  He spends a great deal of time curled up in that chair.  This has caused a

curtailment in my time on the computer, because I just don't

have the heart to make him move.

Connecting Two Songs

There are two songs from the 1960s that I've always connected to each other.  I like to think that The Little Old Lady From Pasadena and the girl in Fun, Fun, Fun are grandmother and granddaughter!

Teen Mom Puts Baby in Trunk to Avoid Ticket for Child Without a Car Seat

Teen Mom Puts Baby in Trunk to Avoid Ticket for Child Without a Car Seat

Thank God that baby wasn't injured or poisoned.
I'm trying not to judge that young mother too harshly.
She panicked, and she made a bad choice. I can't know
how she feels now about her actions, but I like to think
that she regrets them.
And one important fact: she KEPT her baby; she didn't have
an abortion. Whether she should have put the baby up for
adoption is not for me to judge.

Not Only Candy

It's funny how many non-candy items were sold at the candy store on my block, and, most likely, at most corner candy stores. Come to think of it, didn't their signs include the word
SUNDRIES?

How many ice-cream sodas did I drink at that candy store?  How many sundaes did I consume? The best sundaes EVER!

Chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, mixed fruit topping, nuts, whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry.  Eaten slowly to make it last, yet not too slowly, so the ice cream wouldn't melt.

Oh, for one of those sundaes NOW!

Chocolate egg creams.

Hot chocolate in thick cups.

Cookies.  Little cakes.  Potato chips.  Pretzels. Popcorn.

Ice cream bars and sandwiches.

And then there were all the non-food and beverage items.

Comics. (I blogged about that several years ago.)

Magazines.

Paperback books. I remember buying my first two collections

of Shakespeare at that store, "Four (or was it Five?) Great
Comedies" and "Four (same question!) Great Tragedies."

Four or five, it was a great bargain at a quarter each! But

I hated the way the covers felt.  Looking back, I think they

may have just been a bit dusty!

Of course, I bought some other books there as well!

And then there were all the toys.  Balls. Airplanes (very fragile;

or should I say FLIMSY!)

Toy instruments. (I once bought a plastic flute; I think it was blue.)

Hula hoops (when they were popular.)

Yo-yos.

Plastic dolls.

So many other things that I can't think of at the moment.

An amazing variety for a rather small store.

When I was a kid, I didn't need to travel far to find magic and wonder.  Magic and wonder were right there on the corner of

my block.

VERY old TV Show

I've always been fascinated by old newspapers, old magazines, old books, old movies, old radio shows, old tv programs.  (Will later generations be equally fascinated by old web series, old blogs, old websites?)

Well, I've just learned about the very FIRST tv drama ever broadcast.
Click here for an article about this show, and here for a brief clip.

When this show was broadcast, my mother was a baby, not even a month old. 

New Painting in Rosary Art Collection

I've just added this painting to my Rosary Art Collection.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

It's time for Sunday Snippets over at RAnn's blog!  I've found some wonderful Catholic blogs here.  How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete! : Hair Ribbons

Semper Gaudete! : Kanye West Incident (with link to an old blog post)

Semper Gaudete! : Abortion Activists Vandalize and Ransack Pro-Life Group’s Office

Semper Gaudete! : Word Play

Semper Gaudete! : The Penguin John Lennon

Semper Gaudete! : TV Show Titles

Semper Gaudete! : New Magnet Ordered

Semper Gaudete! : Free Kindle Book Set Where I was Born

Semper Gaudete! : New MFVA Postulants

Semper Gaudete! : Books Read in the Past Week

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books are grouped by author
and not necessarily in the order read.

"Between Heaven and Mirth"#

by James Martin, SJ

[non-fiction]

(Kindle book)

"A Right to Be Merry" #
by Mother Mary Francis, P. C. C
[nonfiction]
"Travelers Along the Way"
by Fr. Benedict Groeschel
[collective biography]
"Kitty in the Summer"
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Kitty in High School"
by Judy Delton
[children's fiction]
(fast reads)

"The Story of a Soul"

by St. Therese of Lisieux

{Sunday books}

Bible books read this week:

"Isaiah"
"The Gospel According to Matthew"

"Intimate Practices: Literacy and Cultural Work in U. S. Women's

Clubs, 1880-1920" #

by Anne Ruggles Gere

{carried over from last week}

"grace under pressure"

"upsetting annie"

 "jazz off-key"
"storm warning"

by Dandi Daley Mackall

[children's fiction, Christian (Protestant, no denomination specified), "Blog On" series]



"A Summer's Lease"
by Marilyn Sachs
[children's fiction (older children)]
{carried over from last week}

"Chicken Little Jane" #
by Lily Munsell Ritchie 
[children's fiction]
(Kindle book)

"The Saturdays
by Elizabeth Enright
[children's fiction]
in The Melendy Family
three books in one volume
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carrying over into next week}
Started, rather appropriately, on Saturday!

New MFVA Postulants

Facebook message:
Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word added 2 new photos — at Eternal Word Television Network.
We welcome our new Postulants. Clark (left) from Saskatoon Saskatchewan, Canada and Andy (right) from Moreno Valley, California. May the Lord bless these young men as they begin their journey as Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.

   Let's keep these young men in our prayers.

Free Kindle Book Set Where I was Born

I just added this book to my Kindle Cloud Reader for FREE!!!!

Thank God for free books!

It is set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where I was born and where I lived

for almost 60 years.  Of COURSE  I had to get it!

Warning: Don't read the reviews; at least one contains a spoiler.

New Magnet Ordered

           I've just ordered this magnet for my collection.

It's about time I got a Bible magnet!

TV Show Titles

Just for fun, I'm going to take a few tv show titles, and add my own descriptions

Another World:
Sci-Fi about life on other planets.

All My Children:
Comedy/Drama about a family living in a shoe.

The Sopranos:
Drama about opera singers.

The Penguin John Lennon

I've ordered a book called "The Penguin John Lennon."

That title brings some rather silly thoughts to my mind.

1: John Lennon was not a Penguin; he was a Beatle.
The Penguins were an entirely different group.

Another whimsical thought is the picture that title puts into
my head!

Word Play

I've always enjoyed playing with words. (Come to think of it, if I didn't enjoy it, could I really call it playing with words?)  I love writing poems where the sounds are more important than the sense.

I was going to put several of them in this one post, but I've decided to share them one at a time instead.

This one was written in the 1980s.

GREEN-SONG IN L

Lila, in a lovely olive dress,

lying alone on the emerald lawn

lightly licking a lime lollipop.

Abortion Activists Vandalize and Ransack Pro-Life Group’s Office

Abortion Activists Vandalize and Ransack Pro-Life Group’s Office

This is disgraceful.
Prayers are definitely needed.

Kanye West Incident (with link to an old blog post)

Click here

I very, very seldom comment on the behavior of celebrities, but this time I have to say something.  Actually, a few things.

Whether or not a concert-goer is disabled, he or she is not obligated to stand up and dance.  Some people really don't

enjoy dancing at concerts.  They'd rather just sit back and

enjoy the performance, and that is their right.  Paying for

their tickets GAVE them that right.

I also feel disturbed and angered by the fact that members of the audience started chanting "Stand up! Stand up!" and booed

those who remained seated.  In a strange way, it reminded me

of this incident in my own life.

Perhaps I am basing my reaction to the Kanye West incident, at least in part, on what happened to me.  But, putting things into perspective, I can see that what Kanye did was so much worse.  The people on the bus thought that I should give the lady my seat; they did not believe that I was disabled. If I did not know about hidden disabilities, I may... no, I probably would... have reacted the way they did.

So why do I say that what Kanye did was so much worse?
Simple. When people come to see you perform, you do not
hassle them, you do not heckle them, you do not harrass them,
you do not humiliate them.
These people came to SEE the show, not BE the show.

If I could say anything to Kanye West, it would be, "Apologize... and mean it."

Hair Ribbons

I may be past middle age, but I love hair ribbons. In fact, I like them better than when I was a little girl!  I used to have so MANY of them, but most of them were lost when I moved; I now have only two, one green, one yellow, both

grosgrain.

I used to wear a grosgrain ribbon during the week, and a satin or taffeta (I love the word taffeta!) ribbon on Sundays.  Now, however, I go ribbonless during the week, and reserve my ribbons for Sundays.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

It's time for Sunday Snippets over at RAnn's blog!  I've found some wonderful Catholic blogs here.  How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete! : Not My Usual Sunday

Semper Gaudete! : The Greatest Woman Who Ever Lived??? NO!!!!! The Greatest Woman Who Ever Lived.... YES!!!!!

Semper Gaudete! : New Fanfiction.net Category

Semper Gaudete! : Fan Fiction and Originality

Semper Gaudete! : I Still Have It

Semper Gaudete! : Where Silence is Not Golden « The Gospel in the Digital Age

Semper Gaudete! : Cigar

Semper Gaudete! : This Week's Fan Fiction

Semper Gaudete! : Books Read in The Past Week

Books Read in The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books are grouped by author
and not necessarily in the order read.

The Sunday Books section will return next week.

Bible books read this week:

"Isaiah"
"The Gospel According to Matthew"

"Anne of Ingleside"
{carried over from last week}
"Rainbow Valley"

by L. M. Montgomery

[fiction]

"Intimate Practices: Literacy and Cultural Work in U. S. Women's

Clubs, 1880-1920" #

by Anne Ruggles Gere

{carried over from last week}

"love, annie"

{carried over from last week}

"just jazz"
"storm rising"

by Dandi Daley Mackall

[children's fiction, Christian (Protestant, no denomination specified), "Blog On" series]
(Google books, replacing the physical copies lost when I moved)
It seems rather appropriate to read books about blogging online! :)

"A Summer's Lease"
by Marilyn Sachs
[children's fiction (older children)]
{carrying over into next week}

This Week's Fan Fiction

Josie's Revenge

an Another World sillyfic

After So Many Years

a Betsy-Tacy story

Unsuited to Each Other
Chapter 3 is now up

Cigar

I''d like to share an incident I witnessed years ago.  

There was a luncheonette in my neighborhood where I often ate.  Everyone on the staff was polite to me.   The waitress brought my toast cut and buttered, no questions asked.

One morning I went there for breakfast.  The area I sat in had two tables

next to each other.  At the table in front of me sat a woman and a baby in a highchair.   At the table next to theirs sat a man whose breakfast (which included eggs sunnyside up) had already been served.

The man lit a cigar, even though we were in a nonsmoking section.

"Excuse me," the woman said, "but this is a nonsmoking area."

"So?" the guy asked.

"So please put out your cigar.  The smoke is bothering my baby."

I'll never forget what happened next, what that jerk did.

"Oh, yeah?" he said...

 and then he BLEW THE SMOKE INTO THE BABY'S FACE!!!!

The mother stood up, and seconds later that creep was WEARING

his breakfast!

Good for that mother!

Where Silence is Not Golden « The Gospel in the Digital Age

Where Silence is Not Golden « The Gospel in the Digital Age

I had to share this!

I Still Have It

By "it" I mean that cold that came on Saturday.  But, thank God I haven't had stomach cramps this time, and thank God I have plenty of chicken broth!

Fan Fiction and Originality

There are people... including some fan fiction writers... who say that works of fan fiction are not original, because the writers thereof are building on someone else's material.

Well, I do not agree with this. Yes, we are using material originated by others, but we are using it in a new way. 

If I were to design and sew a dress (not very likely), it would be

an original work, even though I did not weave the material myself.

The way I see, originality isn't so much using new material as it is using the material at hand in a new way, and adding a few personal touches.

New Fanfiction.net Category

At my request, (brag brag brag) the Books category on fanfiction.net now has a Betsy-Tacy sub-category.
I had a story ready and waiting, and I've already submitted it.

It will be on my This Week's Fan Fiction list.

The Greatest Woman Who Ever Lived??? NO!!!!! The Greatest Woman Who Ever Lived.... YES!!!!!

H.G. Wells once called Margaret Sanger "the greatest woman who ever lived."  
He could not have been more WRONG!!!

The greatest woman who ever lived is also the humblest woman

who ever lived... the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose birth we celebrate today.

Here is the Collect for today's feast.

Impart to your servants, we pray, O Lord,

the gift of heavenly grace,

that the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

may bring deeper peace

for those for whom the birth of her Son

was the dawning of salvation.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

– Amen.

Not My Usual Sunday

Those of you who are familiar with this blog know how much I love Sunday.  You know that I usher it in on Saturday evening,

with a candle (battery-operated), a prayer adapted from the Jewish Sabbath, the hymn "On This Day, The First Of Days,"

a whispered "Shabbat shalom," and Evening Prayer I.

That's not what happened this week.  I was feeling too sick...

the worst being a sore throat.

Long story short, I didn't have my usual Sunday, so the Sunday Books segment will not appear on this week's book list.

I hope to be able to have my customary Sunday next week.  I felt really deprived today.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

It's time to hop over to RAnn's blog for Sunday Snippets!  I've found some wonderful blogs thanks to RAnn.  How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete! : A Painting I Love

Semper Gaudete! : Fulton Sheen sainthood effort halted

Semper Gaudete! : Update on Bishop Sheen

Semper Gaudete! : A Post a Day

Semper Gaudete! : Finally Blogging About This

Semper Gaudete! : I'm Looking Forward to Reading This!

Semper Gaudete! : This Week's Fan Fiction

Semper Gaudete! : Books Read in the Past Week

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

Books, except for Sunday books, are grouped by author
and not necessarily in the order read.

"Between Heaven and Mirth"#

by James Martin, SJ

[non-fiction]

(Kindle book)

"A Right to Be Merry" #
by Mother Mary Francis, P. C. C
[nonfiction]
"Travelers Along the Way"
by Fr. Benedict Groeschel
[collective biography]
"Kitty from the Start"
"Kitty in the Middle"
(physical copies)
Kitty in the Summer"
(openlibrary.org loan)
by Judy Delton
[children's fiction]
(fast reads)

"The Story of a Soul"

by St. Therese of Lisieux

{Sunday books}

Bible books read this week:

"Isaiah"
"The Gospel According to John"
"The Gospel According to Matthew"

"Anne's House of Dreams"
{carried over from last week}
"Anne of Ingleside"
{carrying over into next week}

by L. M. Montgomery

[fiction]

"Intimate Practices: Literacy and Cultural Work in U. S. Women's

Clubs, 1880-1920" #

by Anne Ruggles Gere

{carrying over into next week}

"grace notes"
"love, annie"
{carrying over into next week}

by Dandi Daley Mackall

[children's fiction, Christian (Protestant, no denomination specified), "Blog On" series]
(Google books, replacing the physical copies lost when I moved)
It seems rather appropriate to read books about blogging online! :)


"A Time for Watching"
by Gunilla Norris
[children's fiction]

This Week's Fan Fiction

Friends at Last

an AU Another World story

Unsuited To Each Other
Chapter 2 is now up

I'm Looking Forward to Reading This!

I've just pre-ordered this book.

Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pamela Smith Hill, which will be published in late November.

It should be interesting, not to say intriguing, to see the differences, as well as the similarities, between the reality and the fiction.

Update on Bishop Sheen

Here is some more information regarding the suspension of

Bishop Sheen's Cause.

Finally Blogging About This

This is a cute incident that happened at least two years ago, when I was still living in Brooklyn.  It's something that I've always planned to share eventually.  Well, eventually has

become now.

  Often, when I'm sitting on the sofa, Winky will climb onto

the back. Every now and then, he will reach down and pet

me, the way that I pet him.

One day, Winky was stretched out on top of the computer that

I had then. (The one I have now is too thin for him to be able to

to that.)

I started to watch "Life On The Rock" on YouTube.... and Winky

reached down and petted Fr. Mark!

A Post a Day

I miss the days when I used to post something on this blog every day.  In a way, doing that kept me on my toes as a writer.  (Or should I say "on my fingers?"  After all, I don't type my blog posts, or anything else, with my toes!)

Well, I've decided to go back to posting something new here

every day.

I have to admit that one reason (perhaps the reason) I've made

this decision is that I've just started re-reading Dandi Daley Mackall's "Blog On" series!

Fulton Sheen sainthood effort halted

EWTN shared a link.

about an hour ago

This is a great disappointment to me.. and I'm afraid we can start looking for
some Catholic-bashing over this.