Saturday, March 29, 2014

Sunday Snippets--- a Catholic Carnival

Well, here it is time once more for Sunday Snippets! Thanks to RAnn for hosting!  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.  How about sharing yours? 


Semper Gaudete!: Blogger Compares Abortion to Cavity Removal, Calls Babies “Time-Sucking Monsters”





Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

"Born Catholics"
compiled by F.J. Sheed
[non-fiction]
{Sunday Book}
  


 "The Woman's Club: A Practical Guide and Hand-book"
by Olive Thorne Miller
[non-fiction]
(free Google book)
{carried over from last week}

"Jerry Todd's Up-The-Ladder Club #
by Leo Edwards
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carried over from last week}


"Don't Call Me Katie Rose"
"The Winds of March"
by Lenora Mattingly Weber
[YA fiction]
{carried over from last week}

"John of Pudding Lane" #
by Mabel Leigh Hunt
[children's fiction, historical]
(openlibrary.org loan)

"Daddy Long-Legs" #
by Jean Webster
[fiction]
(free Kindle book)

"Dear Pen Pal" #
by Heather Vogel Frederick
[fiction]
(Kindle book]
{carrying over into next week} 

"Richie Rich Summer Games"
[comic digest]
(openlibrary.org loan)
appropriate, since I recently joined
Richie Rich Comics Fan Club



You may have noticed by now that I often have several books "going" at the same time!

Friday, March 28, 2014

The First Story That Ever Made Me Cry

The first story I ever cried over was The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck, by Beatrix Potter. That business about the eggs just got to me.
I didn't realize back then... I hadn't even heard the term... but that was my introduction (or should that be introDUCKtion?) to the literary device known as tragic irony.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Throwback Thursday

Originally posted on January 6th, 2012

The Name Was The Same

There was something that puzzled me, and I mean greatly puzzled me, when I was little. In order to understand my confusion, you need to know that my maternal grandfather's first name was Nathan.
Every now and then, my family would go to

for a meal. Baba preferred to sit down to eat, so we'd go inside and enjoy table service.
My usual meal was a hot dog or a hamburger (I was crazy about their hamburgers!) a chocolate shake or a cup of hot chocolate, and sometimes corn on the cob. There was one item I invariably
ordered: French fries.
So where does the confusion come in?
Remember, my grandfather's first name was Nathan.
The place was called Nathan's.
We've established these two facts.
I could never understand why we had to pay for our meals, since it was quite
obvious to me that my Grandpa owned the place!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Happy New Year!

Yes, at one time March 25th was the first day of the year.
I found this passage in "John of Pudding Lane", by Mabel Leigh Hunt:
"Do you not remember it is Lady Day, the first day of the year 1719?  And for once your father's almanac is right, for it says: 'March the twenty-fifth.  About this time expect sleet and foul weather.' "
As soon as I read that, I knew I had to blog about it.

A Post I HAVE to Share

I came across this post, and, as a "Betsy-Tacy" and "Little House" fan, I just HAD to share it.

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!) 

Monday, March 24, 2014

Blogger Compares Abortion to Cavity Removal, Calls Babies “Time-Sucking Monsters”

Blogger Compares Abortion to Cavity Removal, Calls Babies “Time-Sucking Monsters”

I don't usually apologize for someone else's words or actions, but in this case I have to make an exception and apologize for some of the language used in this article.
Seldom have I read ANYTHING that has made me feel so
furious, and so nauseated... and that includes all the other pro-abortion garbage I've come across!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Sunday Snippets-- A Catholic Carnival

Well, here it is time once more for Sunday Snippets! Thanks to RAnn for hosting!  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.  How about sharing yours?






Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #


"In This House of Brede,"
by Rumer Godden
[fiction]
{Sunday Book}
 


"Me Me Me Me Me Me
Not a Novel"
by M. E. Kerr 
[autobiography]
{carried over from last week}

"The Woman's Club" #
by Olive Thorn Miller
[non-fiction]
(free Google book)
{carried over from last week; carrying over into next week}

"The Chalet School in the Oberland"
"Bride Leads the Chalet School"
"Changes for the Chalet School"
by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
[children's fiction, Chalet School series]

"Fifteen"
by Beverly Cleary
[YA fiction]

"Jerry Todd's Up-The-Ladder Club #
by Leo Edwards
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carrying over into next week}

"Don't Call Me Katie Rose"
by Lenora Mattingly Weber
[YA fiction]
{carrying over into next week}

You may have noticed by now that I often have several books "going" at the same time!

This Week's Fan Fiction

New chapters were added to the following stories.


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Throwback Thursday

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2010


My Collections

This post originally appeared, in slightly different form, in one of my old blogs. 

I've been interested in collecting things ever since I read "Herbert", by Hazel Wilson. The first chapter was called "Herbert's Can Collection". That story got me started on my first collection: the LABELS from cans. Later on, I collected soda bottle caps, and then, obsolete words, which I copied into a notebook. That one didn't last long because of my handwriting problem. Another collection I had might best be called Chocolatenia, because it was made up of ads, wrappers, boxtops, ANYTHING to do with chocolate. (And WHY did I remind myself of chocolate NOW????) [This post was originally published during Lent!]
 I also enjoy reading about other people's collections,especially the more unusual ones. I'd sort of like an unusual collection of my own, but I'm not sure that I want to start yet another collection just for the sake of having an unusual collection.

First published here on December 16th, 2010

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The First Saint I Ever Head Of (re-post)

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.

Monday, March 17, 2014

New Item in Break-Off Collection.

I was sweeping the floor today with my red-handled broom (actually, my only broom!) when the top came off of the handle.  I found that I can use the broom just as well without a top to the handle, so I now have a new item in my Break-Off Collection.  
Items for this collection are not expensive, in fact, they are free, but lately they've been as rare as if they cost thousands of dollars!

VERY Appropriate Picture (repost)

In honor of St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland,
and St. Gertrude of Nivelles, Patron Saint of cats, both of whom are commemorated
today, I'd like to share this picture.

It took me only a few minutes of searching to find this!

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, March 16, 2014

Facebook post from Dion

I just have to share this message Dion posted on  Facebook.  It fits my Gratitude Attitude game
perfectly.

To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love & grace.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder. For the grateful person is a happy person, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.”

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Sunday Snippets-- A Catholic Carnival


Come one, come all, to Sunday Snippets  ! Thanks to RAnn for hosting!  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.  How about sharing yours?


Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #


"In This House of Brede,"
by Rumer Godden
[fiction]
{Sunday Book}


"The Baby-Sitters Club # 1: Kristy's Great Idea" #
by Ann M. Martin
[children's fiction]
{carried over from last week}
(openlibrary.org loan)
(I like "Yours Turly, Shirley,"
and "Slam Book" better.)


"Luv @ First Site"
by Tess Kindig
[children's fiction, Protestant (denomination(s) unspecified)
 "todaysgirls.com" series, (created by Terry K. Brown)]


"Carola Storms the Chalet School"
"The Wrong Chalet School"
"Shocks for the Chalet School"
by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
[children's fiction, Chalet School series]

"Mother Mason" #
by Bess Streeter Aldrich
[fiction]
(In "Bess Streeter Aldrich Anthology"
Amazon Kindle Book)

"Me Me Me Me Me Me
Not a Novel"
by M. E. Kerr 
[autobiography]
{carrying over into next week}

"The Woman's Club" #
by Olive Thorne Miller
[non-fiction]
(free Google book)
{carrying over into next week}


This Week's Fan Fiction


An "Another World" story
New chapter added

A humorous "As The World Turns" story

Hamantashen, and More Hamantashen

The Jewish holiday, Purim, begins this evening.  I took the precaution of ordering some hamantashen from amazon.com, because this year I have no Jewish neighbors to bring me any.  I'm saving them for tonight and tomorrow.
I remember one year when Mom and I received so many hamantashen that we had to put most of them in the freezer; so many that we were still eating them at Chanukkah!

Ethnically Exclusive Clubs

I remember the time one of my high school teachers asked what we thought about ethnically exclusive clubs.


Up went my hand.
"Yes, Rochelle?" 
"It depends," I said.  "If everyone in the club has the same ethnic background, for example, if all of them are of Italian descent, then that is a group of people getting together to celebrate a common heritage.  And that is something very good. But if it is, let's say, a "whites only" or "no Jews allowed" or "no Italians allowed", like some Country Clubs, then it's wrong, and, I think, immature. Clubs like that make me think of a bunch of little kids saying (I sing-songed the next part)
"Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!  We've got a club and you can't be in it."

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Throwback Thursday

Originally posted on December 4th, 2010

Amusement Park
I grew up within walking distance of Coney Island, but even closer to my apartment building, 
just down the block and across the street, was a small, but to a child, wonderful, amusement park.
I can't count the times my grandpa and I would walk down there.
The place was understaffed, with the workers going from ride 
to ride. I can't remember a time when all of the rides were
running at once.  I remember waiting by, for example, the tilt-a-whirl 
(my all-time favorite ride)... and waiting and waiting and waiting
There was one particular ride which I'd never been on, and really
wanted to try . It's funny, considering how I longed to ride that
ride, that I have forgotten which one it was.
I was sooooo disappointed when the operator told me that I was too young.
"You have to be in school to go on this ride." 
I answered that I was in school, and the man scolded me for lying.
"But I am in school! I'm in NURSERY school!" 
Grandpa told him off for calling me a liar, and then we walked  over to another ride. 
As much as I loved going with my Grandpa, however, I longed for the time when
I would be old enough to go by myself. Like so many other little girls,
I wanted, oh HOW I wanted, to be thought of as a BIG girl.
But by the time I was old enough, the rides were gone.
"They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot."

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Sunday Snippets-- A Catholic Carnival

Come one, come all, to Sunday Snippets ! Thanks to RAnn for hosting!  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.  How about sharing yours?

Semper Gaudete!: My First Ash Wednesday (re-post)

Semper Gaudete!: Throwback Thursday

Semper Gaudete!: 2001 MFVA Seminarians

Semper Gaudete!: Archbishop Sheen is One Step Closer to Beatification
 
Semper Gaudete!: Books Read in the Past Week

Books Read in the Past Week

Books read for the first time are marked with a #

"In A Great Tradition
Tribute to Dame Laurentia McLachlan,
Abbess of Stanbrook" #
by The Benedictines of Stanbrook
(I am very glad to have this book.  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."
"In This House of Brede,"
by Rumer Godden
[fiction]
{Sunday Books}


"The Imitation of Mary In Four Books" #
by Alexander De Rouville
Revised and Edited by Matthew J. O'Connell
[devotional reading, Catholic]
(one chapter a day; more on Sunday)


"Our Miss Boo" #
{carried over from last week}
"Time For Us" #
by Margaret Lee Runbeck
(In "Time For Miss Boo", two books in one volume)
(openlibrary.org loan)
(Thyra Ferre Bjorn mentions Margaret Lee Runbeck on
page 139 of "Mama's Way," which is why I wanted to
read her books.)


"Lily Rules!"
"Rough and Rugged Lily"
"Lily Speaks!"
by Nancy Rue
[children's fiction, Christian, (Protestant,
no denomination specified.) ]

"Under the Lilacs"
by Louisa May Alcott
[fiction]

"The Small Rain"

by Madeleine L'Engle
[fiction]

"My Name is Brain Brian" #

by Jeanne Betancourt
[children's fiction]

"R U 4 Real?"

by Nancy Been Peacock
[children's fiction, Protestant (denomination(s) unspecified) "todaysgirls.com" series, (created by Terry K. Brown)]

"The Baby-Sitters Club # 1: Kristy's Great Idea" #

by Ann M. Martin
[children's fiction]
(openlibrary.org loan)
{carrying over into next week}

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Archbishop Sheen is One Step Closer to Beatification

Click here.

I love watching "Life Is Worth Living" on EWTN.

2001 MFVA Seminarians

I just HAVE to share this picture!

Throwback Thursday

Unanswerable Questions

Sometimes, when I read an old book, or rather an old, used copy of a book, I find myself wondering about the book's earlier, or I should say earliest readers. For example, I'm currently reading a copy of Louisa May Alcott's Under the Lilacs which came out in 1905.



I wonder about the first person, (who was, I assume, perhaps erroneously, a young girl,) who read this particular copy. Where did she live? What else was going on in her life? What games did she play? What were her friends like? Did she enjoy school, or was school a struggle for her? Did she have a yard or a garden with a lilac bush, and actually read "Under the Lilacs"  under the lilacs? Or did she sigh wistfully, and wish she knew how lilacs smell?



I chose this post, originally published on August 9th, 2012, because I've been reading
"Under the Lilacs" again.  (Not, unfortunately,
the copy pictured; that was another book lost
when I moved.)
  (This post has been very slightly edited.)

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

My First Ash Wednesday (re-post)


I remember my very first Ash Wednesday, my first day of
fasting as a Catholic. For me it was easy as pie; it was
a piece of cake. (Although, of course, I had neither pie nor
cake!)
Remember, I am a Jewish convert, a veteran of Yom Kippur
fasts: From a little before sundown until a little after sundown,
no food, and nothing to drink. Not even a sip of water!
The not eating wasn't all that hard (I'm not saying it was a picnic, but who picnicked on Yom Kippur, anyway?).
What I found hard was the "not even a sip of water" part.
So, my first fast as a Catholic was easy in that respect. What I found difficult was figuring out the "two small meals that
together don't equal a full meal."
It was like a combined one-day-diet and math exercise!
When Fr. Kelly asked me how I'd gotten through my first
fast-day, I couldn't help laughing.
"Father," I said, "you don't know from fasting!"

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival



Come one, come all, to Sunday Snippets ! Thanks to RAnn for hosting!  I've discovered some wonderful blogs here.  How about sharing yours?


Semper Gaudete!: Well, you KNOW I love the Betsy-Tacy books!

Semper Gaudete!: Thanks to the Singer Sewing Machine Company

Semper Gaudete!: Wrong Again, Mr. President!

Semper Gaudete!: Throwback Thursday

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 #

"In A Great Tradition
Tribute to Dame Laurentia McLachlan,
Abbess of Stanbrook" #
by The Benedictines of Stanbrook
(I am very glad to have this book.  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."
"In This House of Brede,"
by Rumer Godden
[fiction]
{Sunday Books}


"The Imitation of Mary In Four Books" #
by Alexander De Rouville
Revised and Edited by Matthew J. O'Connell
[devotional reading, Catholic]
(one chapter a day; more on Sunday
 



"The Mother-Daughter Book Club" #
{carried over from last week}
"Much Ado About Anne" #
by Heather Vogel Frederick
[children's fiction]
(that Mrs. Chadwick makes me think of a fat,
modern-day Harriet Oleson from the "Little House
on the Prairie" tv show.)



"Marya of Clark Avenue"
by Marie Halun Bloch
[children's fiction, based on the author's childhood]
(this is one of my VERY  favorite books,
one of my SPECIAL books.)



"Portrait of Lies"
by Dandi Daley Mackall
"Tangled Web"
by Kristi Holl
[children's fiction, Christian, (Protestant, denomination
 or denominations not specified ) 
( todays.girls.com series, created by Terry K. Brown) ]
(openlibrary.org loans) 
Some, but not all, of the books in this series
were lost when I moved, so thank God for
free online books!

"Lily The Rebel"
"Lights, Action, Lily!"
by Nancy Rue
[children's fiction, Christian, (Protestant; no denomination
specified) ]


"How To Be A Clubwoman" #
by Helen Cowles Le Cron
and Edith Wasson McElroy
[nonfiction]
(This title made me laugh.  The way I see it,  any woman who
belongs to at least one club IS a clubwoman.  Perhaps a
better title would have been, "The Clubwoman and Her
Club(s)"


"Donna Parker at Cherrydale"
"Donna Parker, Special Agent"
by Marcia Martin
[children's/young teen fiction]
(I loved these books when  I was
in my early teens.  Not great literature,
but still enjoyable.)

"Our Miss Boo" #
(In "Time For Miss Boo",
two books in one volume)
by Margaret Lee Runbeck
{carrying over into next week}
(openlibrary.org loan)
Thyra Ferre Bjorn mentions Margaret Lee Runbeck on
page 139 of "Mama's Way," which is why I wanted to
read her books.

This looks like a long list, but some of the books on it are "quick reads."


This Week's Fan Fiction

One Careless Moment

New chapter added.  

Encouraging news about EWTN's Fr. Anthony

Fr. Anthony hopes to be back on the air in the near future.  Oh, HOW I'm praying for that to happen! https://franciscanmissionaries.c...