A Post I HAD to Share

I simply MUST share this beautiful post. 

"Unless you become as little children...."

Books Read In The Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with  a #

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


Sunday books 

"Sunshine and Freckles" #
by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.
[fiction]
(free online book)

"In A Great Tradition
Tribute to Dame Laurentia McLachlan,
Abbess of Stanbrook" #
by The Benedictines of Stanbrook
( Rumer Godden wrote in "In This House of Brede": 
"All of the characters
in this book are imaginary, but many of the episodes
are based on fact; some are taken from the life and
sayings of Dame Laurentia McLachlan and Sister Mary
Ann McArdle of Stanbrook Abbey.")

"Lisbeth: the Story of a First Communion" #
by Mary Theresa Waggaman
[fiction]
(free online book)

Weekday Books

"The Books You Read"
(AKA "The People You Meet
and The Books You Read
Professional Edition") 
edited by Charles E. Jones
foreword by Og Mandino  
[non-fiction]
(various people in various fields
comment on their favorite books, 
and/or about books and reading in general.)
{carried over from last week}

"Lulu's Window"

(openlibrary.org loan.  This is one

of the books lost when I moved, so

thank God I can read it online for free.)

"Lulu Herself"

(physical copy)

by Elisabeth Hubbard  Lansing

[children's fiction, 1950s]

"The Edge of Nowhere" #
"Cousins and Circuses" #
by Lucy Johnston Sypher
[children's fiction, historical]
(openlibrary.org loans)

"The Doll Shop Downstairs" #
by Yona Zeldis McDonough

[children's fiction, historical]

"Jillian Jiggs to the Rescue" #
by Phoebe Gilman
[picture book]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"The Velveteen Rabbit"
(free online book)
"The Skin Horse" #
(openlibrary.org loan)
by Margery Williams Bianco
[children's fiction]

"Donna Parker On Her Own"
by Marcia Martin
[children's/young teens' fiction]

"Naughty Bunny"
by Richard Scarry
[picture book]
(openlibrary.org loan)
I had this when I was a
little girl.

A Book for Weekdays AND Sundays
"The Imitation of Christ"
by Thomas A Kempis
[Kindle book]

For Today's Solemnity (re-post, slightly edited)

In Honor of the Solemnity of The Annunciation,

I am pleased to present 

all the images of The Annunciation 

in my Rosary Art Collection, (so far!) 

New Image in my Rosary Art Collection

In honor of the upcoming Solemnity, I've added this image to

my Rosary Art Collection.

Sunday Snippets---A Catholic Carnival

Well, once again, and sadly, for the last time, it is time to hop over to RAnn's Blog for Sunday Snippets, where Catholic bloggers like me share our posts.  I discovered some wonderful blogs here.   How about sharing yours?

 Semper Gaudete! : St. Patrick's Day Post

 Semper Gaudete! : One Of My Old Stories

Semper Gaudete! : The First Saint I Ever Heard Of

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 Sunday books) are grouped by author, and not necessarily in the order read.


Sunday books 

"Least of All, Me"

by Sr. Anthony Marie, OSF

[Catholic fiction, based on fact]

"But Thy Love and Thy Grace #
"Sunshine and Freckles" #
by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.
[fiction]
(free online books)

Weekday Books

"The Books You Read"
(AKA "The People You Meet
and The Books You Read
Professional Edition") 
edited by Charles E. Jones
foreword by Og Mandino  
[non-fiction]
(various people in various fields
comment on their favorite books, 
and/or about books and reading in general.)
{carried over from last week; carrying over into next week}


"A Lesson For Janie"
(openlibrary.org loan)

{carried over from last week}

"A Matter of Pride"
"New Horizons"

(physical copies)

by Dorothy Simpson
[children's fiction]

"Nobody Stole The Pie" #

by Sonia Levitin

[picture book]

(openlibrary.org loan)

"Norah and the Cable Car"

[children's fiction, historical]

This book covers the year from St. Patrick's Day

1873 to St. Patrick's Day 1874, so of COURSE I like

to read it on St. Patrick's Day!

"Chris Muldoon"
[children's fiction]

(openlibrary.org loans)
"Cecelia's Locket"
[children's fiction, historical]
(physical copy)

by Rita Shields

"The Only One Club"
by  Jane Naliboff
[picture book]
(Kindle book)
I read this recently,
but I felt like reading it
again.

"Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family"
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)
by Lensey Namioka

"Donna Parker At Cherrydale"
"Donna Parker, Special Agent"
by Marcia Martin
[children's/young teens' fiction]

"Spring Begins in March"
by Jean Little
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)

A Book for Weekdays AND Sundays
"The Imitation of Christ"
by Thomas A Kempis
[Kindle book]

The First Saint I Ever Heard Of

Slightly adapted from a post in one of my old blogs

Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary. People love to quote the saints, but we cannot quote St. Joseph. None of his words have been preserved.
I take that back about not being able to quote St. Joseph. We cannot quote his words, but we can, and should, "quote" his devotion to Jesus and Mary.
St. Joseph was the first saint I ever heard of, but that was because of the children's aspirins! LOL!
I like simple, homely {homely as in homelike, not, definitely not, as in unattractive] images. I love to think about St. Joseph walking the floor when the Baby Jesus was teething.

One Of My Old Stories

This is a story I wrote years ago, before I had a computer.  

A Bit  Of Land
A story with an Irish flavor

Once there was a peddler, and his name was Kevin Conroy, and he traveled about the countryside in his peddler's wagon, buying, selling, but mostly trading this, that, and the other thing. A silk scarf, a fiddle, a pair of gloves, a woolen skirt, a set of pots and pans, a doll, a book, a tin whistle....well, I couldn't begin to tell you what Kevin might have in his wagon from one time to the next.

If he had something that you wanted, he would let you have it for whatever it was that you were willing to trade, and never mind which one of you got the better part of the bargain.

"I have something you want," he would say, "and you have something I want, so let us trade, and we'll both be happy."

And it was not only goods that Kevin traded. He often traded work for a meal, for he was skilled at many tasks. And Kevin had no need to trade, or to work, for lodgings. He slept under the stars when the weather was fine, and in his wagon when it wasn't.
But more than anything else, Kevin loved to trade a story for a story. He would say, "I'll tell you a story, and then you'll tell me a story, and afterwards each of us will be the richer by a story, and neither of us will be any the poorer."

Now one Sunday, Kevin was in a village where he'd never been before, and he went to Mass at the local church. And for the first time, he laid his eyes on her, the loveliest girl he had ever seen. "Ah," thought Kevin to himself, "If I could trade everything I have for her heart and her hand, it would be the best trade of my life."
Yet on that day, Kevin Conroy spoke not one word to the beautiful girl, for he reasoned, "If I were to speak to her, the first thing out of my mouth would most likely be, "Will you marry me?" And what a bold, forward fool I'd seem, proposing to a girl whose name I don't even know. And like as not, she is already engaged to another."
The next day, while peddling his wares, Kevin stopped at a cottage belonging to an old woman. He traded a tablecloth to her for a pair of bookends, and a story about a knight for a story about a leprechaun. And then Kevin made bold to ask about the lovely girl he had seen at Mass.
"That would be Bridget O'Hara," said the old woman. "She came to our village a little more than a year ago. Many a young man has tried for her hand, but nobody has won it." "Then perhaps there's a chance for me, after all," thought Kevin to himself, and he gave the old woman a music box, and took nothing in exchange for it.
And as he went his way, Kevin said to himself, "Yes, there is a chance for me, if I but dared to speak to her. But how do I dare, when I have nothing worthy of such a beautiful girl? She has turned down many a suitor. What chance do I, a common peddler, have of winning her heart, when all I possess is this wagon? And how can I ask her to spend the rest of her life wandering about in a peddler's wagon? Ah, if I but had a bit of land...."
And at that moment, a thought came to Kevin. "And what is land, after all, but earth? And what is soil, but dirt? All I need do is gather enough of it, and then I'll be a landowner, and then I may seek Bridget O'Hara's hand."
And so Kevin Conroy began to trade his wares for common garden dirt. He traded a pair of candlesticks for one sack of dirt, a pair of silver bracelets for two sacks, a silk gown for five sacks, and nobody could understand why Kevin was trading such valuable goods for common garden dirt. In six weeks time, Kevin's wagon was filled with sacks of dirt.
"Now," said Kevin to himself, "I can go back to that village and seek out Bridget O'Hara, for I now have a wagon filled with all these sacks of garden dirt. Yes, I now have a whole wagonful of dirt." And then it struck him like a thunderbolt. "I have a wagonful of dirt. Nothing to show for six weeks of traveling and trading but a wagonful of dirt. Ah, Kevin Conroy, it's a fool you've been entirely, and no mistake. Well, there's nothing for you to do now but to trade your sacks of dirt for decent wares."

But Kevin soon found that while everyone had been more than willing to trade their garden soil for his wares, not one person would accept a sackful of dirt in exchange for goods.
And weeks went by, and Kevin had no wares to trade, and not a cent to spend on food, and had he not been skilled at many tasks, Kevin Conroy would have been hungry indeed.
And in all that time, Kevin did not return to the village where Bridget O'Hara lived. For he said to himself, "What is the use in tormenting myself by looking upon her who can never be mine?"
And one day, feeling especially downhearted, Kevin went into a church to seek comfort in prayer. And as he knelt there, a soft hand was laid upon his shoulder, and a soft voice asked "What's the matter? Can I help you?"
And he looked up, and there she was, Bridget O'Hara, and her voice was as sweet as you might have expected it to be.
"Bridget O'Hara!" Kevin exclaimed, forgetting entirely that they had never been properly introduced.
"Yes," whispered Bridget, "but how is it that you know my name?"
"Let us go outside," said Kevin, "and I will tell you everything."
And they went outside, and Kevin told Bridget the whole story, concluding, "So I wanted to get a bit of land, because I couldn't ask anyone as lovely as yourself to travel about in a peddler's wagon."
"And why not?" asked Bridget. "Wasn't my own father a peddler, and didn't I spend my happiest days traveling in his wagon? And what a good thing it is that I'm visiting my aunt, or our paths may have never crossed again."
"But I have nothing but these sacks of dirt, and nobody has any use for common garden dirt," said Kevin.
"I have," said Bridget. "Just you give that dirt to me, and you'll see what I can do with it. Only, you must stay in this village for awhile."
"That I will, and gladly," said Kevin, "if only for the sake of getting to know you better."
And what do you think Bridget O'Hara did with all that dirt? Well, she put it into pots, and in some of the pots she planted seeds, and in some of the pots she planted bulbs, and in some of the pots she planted cuttings. And by and by the seeds, the bulbs, and the cuttings grew into beautiful plants.
And when the time came for Bridget to return to her own village, she rode there in Kevin's wagon. On the way, Kevin traded every one of the plants, except for a pot of shamrock, which he kept.
Among the things he got in exchange for the plants were a set of willow-ware china, a book of poetry, a quilt, a paint-box, a necktie, a spinning-top, and more things than I can remember at the moment.
And a year afterwards, there was an exchange of rings in the church where Kevin Conroy had first laid his eyes on Bridget O'Hara.
Kevin and Bridget had five children, two boys and three girls. They traveled about in their wagon, buying, selling, but mostly
trading this, that, and the other thing. And every now and then, someone would ask, "Don't you ever wish that you had a bit of land?"
And one or another of them would answer, "What do we want with a bit of land, when we have all the countryside?

St. Patrick's Day Post

 Old Post: Contrary to Any Impression We May Get From The Secular Media----

----This is NOT a picture of St. Patrick! 

Sunday Snippets--- A Catholic Carnival

Well, once again it is time to hop over to RAnn's blog for Sunday Snippets, where Catholic bloggers like me share our posts.  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.   How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete! : There Has ALWAYS been Home Entertainment

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 Sunday books) are grouped by author, and not necessarily in the order read.


Sunday books

"The Joy of the Lord" (Regina Marie  and the Mysteries of Heaven Book 1) #

by Mark Andrews

[fiction, contemporary and Biblical]

(Kindle book)

I have mixed feelings about this book.

I enjoyed the contemporary storyline,

but certain parts of the Biblical storyline

made me a bit uncomfortable. 

"Least of All, Me"

by Sr. Anthony Marie, OSF

[Catholic fiction, based on fact]

"But Thy Love and Thy Grace #
by Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.
[fiction]
(free online book)

Weekday Books

"The Clubwoman's Book" #

by Helen M. Avery
and Frank w. Nye
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carried over from last week}

"To Teach, To Love"
by Jesse Stuart
[autobiography]
(openlibrary.org loan)

{carried over from last week}
didn't finish due to problems
with my computer. 

"Betsy's Wedding"
by Maud Hart Lovelace
[fiction]

"Trials for the Chalet School" #
by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
[children's fiction]

"Never Go Anywhere With Digby"
by Ethelyn M. Parkinson
[children's fiction]

"Penina Levine is a Potato Pancake"
"Penina Levine is a Hard-Boiled Egg"
by Rebecca O'Connell
[children's fiction, Judaica]

"Jenny Archer, Author"
by Ellen Conford
[children's fiction]

"The Naughtiest Girl In The School"
"The Naughtiest Girl Again"
"The Naughtiest Girl Is A Monitor"
by Enid Blyton
[children's fiction]

"I Should Worry, I Should Care"
"Finders Weepers"
by Miriam Chaikin
[children's fiction]

"Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia" #
by Herman Parish
nephew of Peggy Parish
[picture book]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"The Books You Read"
(AKA "The People You Meet
and The Books You Read
Professional Edition") 
edited by Charles E. Jones
foreword by Og Mandino  
[non-fiction]
(various people in various fields
comment on their favorite books, 
and/or about books and reading in general.)
{carrying over into next week}


"A Lesson For Janie"
by Dorothy Simpson
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carrying over into next week}

A Book for Weekdays AND Sundays
"The Imitation of Christ"
by Thomas A Kempis
[Kindle book]

There Has ALWAYS been Home Entertainment

These days, most of us... myself included.... tend to think of home entertainment as something we can access only through
electronic devices.  We must turn on the radio, the CD player, the TV, the computer in order to find entertainment.
Now, I'm not disparaging this in any way; that would be very
hypocritical of me since I make extensive use of these devices.
But I do say that home entertainment existed long before there
were any electronic devices, long before there was electricity.

Someone would play an instrument while the family sang and/or danced.   Think of Pa playing his fiddle in the "Little House" books.  Think of Julia, and, later, Betsy, playing the piano in
the "Betsy-Tacy" books.  (I have a recording on my computer
of some of the songs from those books.)
Parents and grandparents told stories, sometimes over and over, and nobody got tired of hearing them.
Some families had a ventriloquist who provided great amusement.  Some had at least one member who could
do bird calls.
There were no movies then, but there was a form of "animation"... shadow pictures.
Some families were fond of playing Charades.

And yes, I'm sure that there are families who still enjoy entertaining themselves, entertaining each other.  And they
need not miss out on any tv shows in order to do so... after
all, one of the greatest electronic devices we have these days
is the DVR.

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Well, once again it is time to hop over to RAnn's blog for Sunday Snippets, where Catholic bloggers like me share our posts.  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.   How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete! : My Patron Saint's Parents Are Going To Be Canonized!!!!

Semper Gaudete! : New Magnet Ordered

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 Sunday books) are grouped by author, and not necessarily in the order read.


Sunday books

"Olivia and the Little Way"
by Nancy Belanger
[children's fiction]
(Kindle book]

"The Joy of the Lord" (Regina Marie  and the Mysteries of Heaven Book 1) #
by Mark Andrews

[fiction, contemporary and Biblical]

(Kindle book)

Weekday Books

"Blatherskite"

{carried over from last week}

(openlibrary.org loan) 

"A Chance Wild Apple"
(physical copy)

by Marian Potter

[children's fiction]

"War Paint"

"Holiday Hero"
(physical copies)
"Backdoor Bridesmaid"
[Kindle book; original title "Petal Power"]

by Sandra Byrd
[children's fiction, Christian, (Protestant, no denomination specified) Secret Sisters series]

"The Great Brain"
by John D. Fitzgerald
[children's fiction, historical]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Little Toot"

by Hardie Gramatky

[picture book]

(openlibrary.org loan)

It's been years since I read this book.

"The Honest Dollar"

(physical copy)

by Dorothy Simpson

[children's fiction]

"Miss Happiness and Miss Flower"
"Little Plum"
by Rumer Godden
[children's fiction]

"The Clubwoman's Book" #

by Helen M. Avery
and Frank w. Nye
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carrying over into next week}

"To Teach, To Love"
by Jesse Stuart
[autobiography]
(openlibrary.org loan)

{carrying over into next week}

"The Home Has A Heart"

by Thyra Ferre Bjorn

[non-fiction; Christian (Protestant) themes, recipes, 

anecdotes]

(March chapter only)

A Book for Weekdays AND Sundays
"The Imitation of Christ"
by Thomas A Kempis
[Kindle book]

New Magnet Ordered

I've just ordered this magnet for my collection.  I'm glad I found this, because it's been months since I've added a new magnet to my collection, although I've been looking.
The price was less than $5.00, and shipping is free.
And... the seller is located in Thailand, and I don't know whether I've ever mentioned this, but I love getting packages
from foreign countries.

My Patron Saint's Parents Are Going To Be Canonized!!!!

Here is the article.
I'm absolutely ecstatic over this.