Pondered In My Heart

On the Old Mass and New Germs

The topic of hygiene precautions at Mass during flu season has been popping up all over the internet. The threat of flu is heightened this year with the prevalence of H1N1 in many areas, and people are understandably even more concerned than usual about disease prevention. Our local bishops have implemented the guidelines of suspending the distribution of the Precious Blood, and the refraining from physical contact during the Sign of Peace. I found it very interesting that neither of these directives affect us, as we attend a Traditional Latin Mass community. We know that Christ is fully present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist and that it is not necessary to receive Him twice under two separate 'Forms' at Mass, and so the Precious Blood is never distributed to the people. The kiss of peace or 'Pax tecum' is exchanged only between the priests and deacons and altar servers at High Mass, and there is no physical contact between the hands - the priest kisses the altar and then symbolically passes on the peace of Christ by greeting the others with a bow.

There are other practices within the Extraordinary Form of the Mass which incidentally also provide for stellar 'health precautions'. The priest washes his hands as part of the ritual prayers and preparation before Mass. Just before the Consecration the priest washes his hands again at the lavabo, and the priest joins his thumb and forefinger after consecrating the Host, and out of reverence for Our Lord he does not disjoin them again until after he has finished distributing the Holy Eucharist. That is why at the 'kiss of peace' shaking hands with someone would be unthinkable.

It is also noteworthy to consider the distribution of the Holy Eucharist at the Extraordinary Form which is so very different from an Ordinary Form Mass. Some have questioned the reception of communion on the tongue in regards to flu precautions, and some parishes have taken to disruptive and irreverent practices in the name of disease prevention (for example, placing hand sanitizer on the altar). In the EF the Eucharist is always received on the tongue while the communicant is kneeling, and it really cannot be compared to receiving on the tongue at an OF Mass. During a OF Mass communicants must process in a line to receive, stop in the right spot, bow the head, say Amen, and then prepare to receive. This is very complicated! The precise timing involved in all these steps can be difficult to master for both communicant and priest, particularly those not accustomed to distributing on the tongue. There is also the issue of height differences that makes distributing on the tongue tricky for some, as the communicant is standing. So indeed, for reasons of timing and logistics the 'touching of the tongue' that horrifies some during flu season does occur frequently. (I have been a daily communicant for many years - I'm speaking from experience.)

In contrast, at the EF the Holy Eucharist is received while the communicant is kneeling and ready and prayerfully waiting to receive Our Lord - there is nothing to do, no walking or head nodding or speaking to distract. The priest distributes the Holy Eucharist while saying Corpus Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam aeternam. Amen. to each communicant which is considerably more lengthy than 'Body of Christ'. Consequently, everything is slow and reverent, and the priest stands above the communicant, able to easily place the Host on the tongue without any touching at all.

I just find it very interesting that the Novus Ordo Mass, which implemented so very many changes to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, now must incorporate more changes to accommodate health hazards and disease prevention. The Extraordinary Form of the Mass protects us from even extraordinary pathogens such as H1N1.

I Forgot the I Spy

I seem to do this with every alphabet post - I forgot to include our I Spy Activities with my H and I weeks post. I is also for I Spy! We got out our many I Spy books and I Spy puzzle and played I Spy by looking for things around the room. My biggest girls had a lot of fun making these I Spy bottles for the little girls. We used pint sized bottles and bird seed. They enjoyed making the pictorial list of items in the bottle, and then I laminated the lists (you can click on the pictures to enlarge). Although some people seal the tops on with glue, I just used packing tape on the outside for easy re-opening and recycling of the contents if we choose. Even the bigger kids think these are fun to play with, and they insist you have to find the items in order. :-)

Happy H and Interesting I Weeks

Along the Alphabet Path the past couple of weeks, Kateri and Eliza have completed  H and I weeks.

Some of our favorite things start with the letter H, as H is for Horses! I have several Horse-loving girls, so there were oodles of horse books and model horses and beanie horses to choose from. We read some of the classic Billy and Blaze series, and the girls painted horses. Lydia gladly drew the outlines for them, and as you can see Kateri chose Blaze for a model-

While Eliza chose to copy a dappled gray-

Huzzah for the artists!

H is for Hedgehog!

We read several classics about Hedgie like The Hat and The Mitten. For our Hedgie craft the girls made these fuzzy Hedgehogs. I printed out these hedgehogs on brown paper from author Jan Brett's site, then glued them onto cardboard to make them sturdy.

We cut yarn into fuzzy snippets and covered Hedgie with his fur, dark brown for his back and a lighter brown for his belly.

Hurray for Hedgie!

H is for Harriet the Hamster!

We also enjoyed reading Harriet, a sweet tale about a mischievous but timid Hamster who escapes from her cage and has quite the nature walk out in the big wide world before finding her way back Home. I've always liked the charming watercolor illustrations in this book, so I decided to let my little learners watercolor some of their own. We did some quick sketches with a fine Sharpie,

and then let the artists at them with watercolors,

using the book for reference.

 

Both girls love to paint, and giving them outline pictures allows them to work on skills like copying the colors and staying in the lines.

Harriet is also a fun story for re-telling so we got out the beanies and acted out the story.

H is for Hazel!

I also have to mention another favorite 'H' picture book, Hazel's Amazing Mother, one of Rosemary Wells' best. The whole town is in the habit of pampering coddled little Hazel, but when she makes a wrong turn and ends up in an unfamiliar part of town she is confronted by a bunch of bona fide bullies. It's definitely not a sanitized children's book, as the meanies have their way with poor Hazel's doll, but Hazel's mother comes to the rescue and restores justice and order and peace and all is then right with the world. This has been a favorite read-aloud of both Michael's and mine for many years, and we have a grand time with all the assorted voices that call for one's best booming, roaring, rumbling and even an opportunity to laugh thunderously (bwah ha ha ha ha ha!). 'It's my mother!' is a favorite endearing line around here, as well as the perennially wonderful theme of the power of a mother's love.

And moving on to I Week-
 
  I is for Iguana!

I do love having resident artists who love to oblige my every need for pictures. You can find loads of coloring pictures of just about anything online, but you can't use watercolors with them as regular printer ink runs. Enter my dynamic drawing duo and their Incredible Indelible Ink!

These little students have it so good - hand drawn Iguanas to paint!
  
 

Indescribable!

I is for Insects!

We did thumb print drawings of Insects a la Ed Emberley, only I had them use paint instead of stamp pads for more colors and easy wash-up.

I is for Instructive Ice Cream!

I made this counting Ice cream activity out of colored construction paper for the girls. I cut out the cone and thirty scoops of ice cream with numbers on them.

 

I can set them out and they can practice number recognition and counting, or they can try placing the scoops themselves. They can also use them for counting down backwards, or flip the scoops over and just use the colors for patterning practice.  

There's a cherry to put on top when you get all the way to thirty!

Weekend in Pictures

On Saturday after Mass we visited a cemetery where our priest led prayers for the Poor Souls.

It was a crisp, clear day with a beautiful blue sky. This ancient-looking Madonna was atop a priest's grave from 1901. Josiah noted it was a good example of how pollution causes erosion of statues. It gave her quite an eerie look.

Everyone is happy to have Jonathan around on the weekends- moods are jolly and lightheartedness prevails throughout the house. Miss Chocolate Eyes lovin' on her big brother-

 

And today we took a drive to the hawk lookout for a last look at migrating raptors. The weather was exceptionally mild, the sky clear, and no wind.

I never get tired of the incredible view. To the north is this:

And to the south:

My children don't get tired of being up on the mountain either.

And I love seeing them all, being their regular selves, on a mountaintop. Josiah carrying on as Bellarius,

Jonathan studying Gregorian chant-

Little girls who love to paint-

We also caught a glimpse of the rare Rainbow Crested Elizabird-

 I thought of other moss-and-fungus-loving bloggers as I delighted in the sunlit sights-

 And I somehow squeezed in just a wee bit of watercolor journaling myself-

It was a very slow day raptor-wise with a very low count as there was little to no wind. But we did see a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks and Northern Harriers. We were really hoping to see Golden Eagles, as this is their migrating time here and we had never seen one before. The last bird of the day, the only eagle of the day, was a Golden. We were very pleased, and Lydia gets one more for her life list.

 

 Hope you had a grand weekend, too!

Autumn Daybook

Outside my window - Dusk is settling in earlier each day. My little girls keep running to look out the window at the Shake-o-speare scene happening below down on the patio. The Shakespeare Summer has stretched into Shakespeare Fall as my big kids still can't get enough of the Bard and 'doing Shakespeare' remains the leisure activity of choice. The three big girls and Josiah have memorized several scenes from Cymbeline, and they have ambitious plans to learn some As You Like It, A Midsummer's Night's Dream and Richard III. Josiah has a natural flair for acting, and they all have impressive memorization skills. They usually practice in the cellar, but occasionally we are treated to a kitchen performance. I love having teenagers whose favorite thing to do is practice Shakespeare. 

 

I am hearing - See above.

I am wearing - A rusty cinnamon colored viney skirt, one of my trademark vintage lacey off-white cardigans, fall colored olive and rust floral scarf, chocolate brown tights and brown Mary Janes, little topaz earrings.

I am thankful for - this awesome family and this wonderful counter-cultural Catholic homeschooling life we live

From the kitchen -  Cloten's head (a cauliflower) will be turned into tonight's soup. Lydia is making three more apple galettes. She made two last night and they were sooo scrumptious.  We've been buying a bushel of apples a week at the farmer's market and enjoying them in so many appley-fall-goodness ways.

Lydia makes the best pie crust/galette pastry in the whole wide world. But don't take her picture while she's cooking.

 
 
From the learning house - I tried to think of a good title for this section. We don't have a school room so I can't say 'from the schoolroom'. I was going to say 'in the learning department' but that makes me think of a department store like Macy's or something. 'Lifestyle of learning' is appropriate but a mouthful. I like 'from the learning house' as it makes me think of The Napping House, where everyone is napping, only in the learning house everyone is learning. Shakespeare and astronomy and birds and Churchill and letters and reading and patterns and counting and ancient Greece and watercoloring, oh my.

Living the Liturgical Year - Daily Masses for the Dead this week (still no Suburban but I get to go tonight and tomorrow night). On Saturday our priest will lead Solemn Cemetery Prayers for the Poor Souls after Mass. Tonight we also have our weekly candlelight rosary vigil at the clinic.

Around the house - After we voted last night Michael took me to the thrift shop just to 'get out'. I knew I would find good stuff as I didn't really want to go but I tried to keep quiet and not complain as it was his idea. :-) Sure enough, I found a set of dishes that match the ones we have, or I should say that match what's left of the ones we have. I have so wanted to find dishes so we can have a large set that actually matches.  I also found a double decker wooden dolly bed for the girls, a little table that's perfect for where I need it,  charming vintage artwork, a linen shirt for my ranger, and best of all this old picture:

It still has the price tag on it from the five and ten - it originally cost $1.59. I've already hung it in my upstairs hallway. I love it.

One of my favorite things - this face

The Yucky Thing

For the comic relief that's needed in life, it's hard to beat a three year old.

This girl just cracks me up. Here is Kateri doing her 'Yucky Thing practice.'

"I can go up and down the mountain like the Yucky Thing."

 

 For those of you who are not in the know, the 'Yucky Thing' is of course Gollum.
 

All Souls Day

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. 

Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. - from the Introit

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful: grant to the souls of Thy servants and handmaidens the remission of all their sins: that through pious supplications, they may obtain that pardon which they have always desired. -from the Collect

We had a beautiful Solemn High Mass this evening, though our Catafalque was a bit simpler than this one in Rome. Here is an audio of our Men's Schola (with Jonathan conducting - the Requiem Mass is sung a cappella), singing the Dies Irae, a most beloved and popular piece of chant. Latin text and translation is found here.

Dies Irae

May the prayer of Thy suppliant people, we beseech Thee, O Lord, avail the souls of Thy servants and handmaidens: that Thou mayest deliver them from all their sins and make them sharers in Thy Redemption. - from the Postcommunion

Gaudeamus Omnes in Domino

Let us all rejoice in the Lord as we celebrate the feast in honor of all the saints, upon which the Angels rejoice and praise the Son of God. - from the Introit, Feast of All Saints

Yesterday we were blessed to attend a little party for the Feast of All Saints. It is always a delight to gather with friends and see the young ones so joyful and enthusiastic to dress up and tell about their friends in heaven, the saints. As I did last year, I will let you guess our saints!

The guys-

And here's a close-up of Josiah-

They are pretty easy if you know your Latin!

Anna and Mary Rose, and they do go together-

Lydia-

Eliza, with her basket of wood-

And I have to show you a picture of my friend's stunning statue of Our Lady which graces her living room. She's about four feet tall and so beautiful, and of course she is the Queen of All Saints-

And here's Kateri to show you it can be hard to be a saint, sometimes it just tires you right out-

And here's the lot of us. To guess who I am you might want to pay attention to my neck. ;-)

Well, I've certainly given you lots of clues. Never the less some of us are rather difficult to identify, though it would help if you read the same books we do and visit the same blogs. (that last link is a giveaway) Leave your guesses in the comment box!

For the Feast today I brought a variety of Charlotte's beautiful saint coloring pages to the coffee social time after Mass.

Children young and old and even some of the grown-ups enjoyed coloring them and delighted in Charlotte's talent in representing such a wide range of saints. Thank you Charlotte!

And another lady brought in supplies for the young (and young at heart) to make holy cards. She provided index cards and some beautiful holy cards for inspiration, and asked the children to draw a saint on one side and write a few things they knew about the saint on the back.

She also brought laminating sheets and laminated the cards when they were finished. Here are Mary Rose's St. Elizabeth, St. Rose of Lima and St. Anne, Lydia's Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Josiah's St. Joseph-

They turned out very nice and would be a great activity to continue throughout the month.
  
  

Hope your Feast day was a most blessed one!

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast enabled us to honour in one solemn Feast the merits of all Thy saints: we beseech Thee, that, with so many praying for us, Thou wouldst pour forth on us the abundance of Thy mercy for which we long. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ. -from the Collect, Feast of All Saints

Small Successes - October 29

1. Last Friday we hosted a party for 40 people - with less than 48 hours notice! A priest was visiting our TLM community while home from Mexico where he is assigned. He celebrated Masses and led the rosary for our weekly candlelight vigil at the clinic and so we decided to have some families over to throw him a little party. My friends helped out by bringing some food, my wonderful children did most of the cooking (all's I did was make punch and a cheese ball and steam carrots) and we all had a very enjoyable and blessed evening.

2. We made a huge cake for the coffee and donut time at church on Sunday to thank the social coordinators for all of their hard work. Lydia baked the cake and I frosted it. The cool part was writing Matthew 25:44-45 (abridged) all around the perimeter of the cake. I think it came out very nice.

3. Our Suburban has been in the shop for two weeks leaving me home without a car, and I haven't cracked up from cabin fever. I didn't even whine when I didn't get to go on the nature walk last Sunday, as we don't all fit in Michael's van. I was very thankful they came back with pretty pictures.

 I think I should get a bonus #4 as I actually remembered it's Thursday and Small Successes Day! Do visit Faith and Family to read lots of other successful moms. 

G Week was Great!

Along the Alphabet Path, we finished up with G last week. We missed some school days here and there and took two weeks to cover G, so I thought I'd post just one letter rather than wait for H which we've just started.

G is for Gardens!

We enjoyed some of our favorite garden themed books, like Flower Garden, Who Is in the Garden? and  Inch by Inch (The Garden Song).

The girls made these garden collage pictures  and they came out so pretty and cheery I stuck them on my kitchen wall. We started by making the grass out of a strip of green construction paper:

I marked a line along one edge of the paper and had them cut up to the line to make the 'blades' of grass. This is excellent fine motor and scissors practice, as they have to control the cutting enough to be able to stop and not cut all the way through the paper, and also be careful not to cut off the blades they have already made. Kateri said it was 'really tricky' - look at that concentration:

and Eliza was able to manage it with a little help as well. (We also made grass like this for the farm pictures in F week. )

Then we glued the 'grass' onto one edge of a piece of light blue construction paper. We glued on green yarn for stems and then added tissue paper flowers. I helped them cut little squares of colored tissue (great re-use for bits of tissue paper from gift bags),

and they scrunched them up to make the flowers, one for the center and a contrasting color for the petals. They glued them on top of the 'stems' with regular white Glue. Again, all that scrunching of the little bitty squares with the finger tips is a great fine motor/finger strength work out.

 
We added more yarn for leaves, and finished them off with a few garden themed stickers for embellishment - little lady bugs and butterflies and birds and all.

I do think G is the hardest letter to write, so for handwriting practice we made block paper with G's to trace over. As always, for Eliza these needed to be Giant G's, larger than anything I could find in a ready-made work sheet. So, if you have need of Giant G's here you Go:

Download Gray Box Paper Small - G 

Download Grey Box Paper Large - G

While making Garden pictures it's Good to sing the Garden Song:

We also made these jolly paper hats (idea found here). Start by painting a paper plate green - I gave them each a few squirts of blue and yellow so they could mix their own Green right on the plate. I used two regular paper plates glued together for added strength.

Then you cut slits in the center of the plate, like you're cutting a pie, bend up the points and glue a paper flower on each one. Add ribbons to the back or sides for extra pizzazz. These Flower Garden Hats work for F, G or H weeks! I commented that they are most appropriate for Girls, but someone said they look like Frank the Flower hats, and they don't even cost $29.95. Indeed they do look very much like the picture of Frank on the cover of our vintage copy of The Pushcart War. :-) Don't they look Gorgeous!

But Michael says Eliza's actually makes her look just like a certain Miss Doolittle. I think she looks Grand.

And finally I must give special mention to one of my very most favorite picture books, The Gardener. We've enjoyed this book for years, and we still have the little Lydia Grace doll that Nana bought to go with it back when my Lydia Grace was a little girl. It's the beautiful tale of Lydia Grace who goes to live with her Uncle Jim because of hard times during the thirties. The story is told entirely through the letters she writes to send back home, and the delightful, detailed Caldecott-winning illustrations. It's true that a cake can be worth a thousand smiles, just as a picture is worth a thousand words. The rich lessons in this story about love and sacrifice and beauty and joy and contentment and friendship and learning are to be savored over and over with each reading, and we never grow tired of studying the beautiful pictures that tell so much with so little. Just today I read the book again out loud to the little girls, but everyone else also stopped what they were doing to listen to this well-loved treasure. It's too special of a book to 'discuss', to add extra words where none are needed, but we re-read it together from time to time and just soak it all in with deep pleasure and satisfaction. That's how it is with a really good picture book.

Love to all, Lydia Grace

Edited to add all the things my Gray matter forgot: G is also for Goat - The Three Billy Goats Gruff lends itself very easily to re-telling with beanies or acting out in person, get a big brother or Dad to be the (cave) troll. We also enjoyed this video on milking goats. G is for Green Grasshopper - you can make egg carton grasshoppers like the ants we made in A week. G is for Granola - we made some really good granola - I'll try to get the recipe up on my cooking blog later today. We also read Silly Little Goose. and cuteThe Great Gracie Chase (ploop ploop).

Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat!

The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honour; to Him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Give to the King, O God, Thy justice, and to the King's Son Thy judgment. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.  - Introit, Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ

O Lord Jesus Christ, King of everlasting glory, behold I desire to come to Thee this day, and to receive Thy Body and Blood in this heavenly Sacrament, for Thy honour and glory, and the good of my soul. I desire to receive Thee, because it is Thy desire, and Thou hast so ordained: blessed be Thy Name for ever. I desire to come to Thee like Magdalen, that I may be delivered from all my evils, and embrace Thee, my only Good. I desire to come to Thee, that I may be happily united to Thee, and Thou in me; and that nothing in life or death may ever separate me from Thee.    - Prayer Before Communion

We have received the food of immortality and beg, Lord, that we who are proud to fight under the banner of Christ our King, may reign with Him for ever in His realm above: Who with Thee liveth and reigneth. - Postcommunion, Feast of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Wordless Wednesday: "I love my sister - take a picture!"

 

 
 
  

 
 
  

 

 
 
 (I couldn't possibly take just one...)

Excellent E and Fabulous F Weeks

Continuing along the Alphabet Path,

E is for Eliza!

 

Drawing lesson:

 

Handwriting practice on gray block paper:

 

 

Enormous Elephants painted at the Easel:
 
 

The literary highlight of the week was An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni. Our well-loved copy of this book is inscribed from Nana '95 and indeed we've been enjoying the story for many years. In fact, Look what I found! Isn't it extraordinary? proclaimed in that full-of-wonder Jessica voice, and an endearing honey-sweet Come here, my sweet little alligator are oft quoted favorite lines in my house.

Retelling the story with beanie props (and a little alligator in a plastic egg):

Extraordinary Egg artwork:

These pictures were a lot of fun to make and the girls really like them. We started with a large piece of drawing paper and added the sky with blue sidewalk chalk. The background rocks and pebbles and greenery were done in pastel, but more chalk would work as well.

Then I had the girls paint randomly on green and brown construction paper to make the patterned paper.

We ended up with these:

 

Then I just cut out the frog and alligator parts free hand from their paper creations and helped them glue the pieces onto the picture. I cut the bodies and all the legs out separately to add to the collage look and give them more personality. Little white circles were added for the eyes.

Isn't it extraordinary?

 

And on to more Fun in F Week - practicing First letter sounds and object sorting:

 

F is For Fish! I printed out fish templates on cardstock (I used this image, set at landscape and 200%.) and let the girls paint them with watercolors. I cut the fish out after they dried.

Meanwhile we prepared the background on blue construction paper. I set out the Rainbow Fish book for pretty color inspiration and had them draw a background of seaweed and pebbles and all with pastels, encouraging them to stick with bright greens and blues and purples for a peaceful aquatic look. Then we glued on the fish cut outs adding white card stock eyes and bubbles made with a hole puncher. Very cute!

 

F is For Farm!

We read some Favorite Farm books such as Our Animal Friends At Maple Hill Farm and The Year At Maple Hill Farm. That second one is very nice for learning about the seasons. Another Favorite Farm is of course Signing Time! Volume 7: Leah's Farm. We had lots of Fun making these Farm pictures. We cut green paper grass and glued it on to a large blue construction paper background. I cut barns out of red paper, cutting the doors and various other flaps for peek-a-booing the animals. I printed out a sheet of farm animal pictures on cardstock, (found here, printed at 200%) then cut them out and let the girls glue them where they wanted. (I had nothing to do with Eliza's flying pig.) I used the cardstock trimmings to make the white trim for the barn and doors. These were very simple but they turned out very cute, and the girls enjoyed making them and playing with them.

 

Rosary Rally

On Saturday we participated in a local rosary rally, one of over 4,300 rallies of people gathering to pray the rosary in public, begging Our Lady's intercession for our country. I thought I'd share a few pictures as today is October 13, the anniversary of Our Lady's final apparition at Fatima, Portugal and the miracle of the sun witnessed by thousands of people in 1917.

 

 

We were honored to have Josiah serve as cross bearer for the procession.

 

However we couldn't find Jonathan during the rally, despite the fact that we all went together. We were slightly concerned, as we were in the city, and he just sort of disappeared. But he eventually turned up (way up).

 

He was asked at the last minute to play the organ for Benediction after the rosary. Just like something out of one of his bad schola dreams, he had to play in his socks, poor guy, and spent the rosary time scrambling to find all of the appropriate music and figure out the registrations of an organ he's only played on once. (He keeps his organ shoes and music in his car all the time, but that doesn't help when he goes someplace with us.)  But he sounded just glorious on those great pipes as we processed into church singing Immaculate Mary. It was a splendid moment.

Even more amazing was when he started to play a postlude - I recognized it from his repertoire but I was rather incredulous as to how he was able to play the piece. He had 'just happened' to find the music for the Prelude from the Suite Medievale by Jean L'Anglaise lying out on the organ.  :-)

 

America really does need the message of Fatima, as our country has strayed so very far from God and daily distances herself farther and farther from the Christian principles upon which she was founded. We need the intercession of an ever patient and merciful Mother to plead God's mercy upon us. You can read more about the apparitions and the message of Fatima given to the little shepherd children here.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

More Alphabet Pictures!

We have the next batch of coloring pages in the Writing the ABC's on Little Hearts series. Lydia has done another wonderful job and given us four more sweet pictures. I can't tell you how much my little girls enjoy these - they both love to look at their coloring pages, saying A is for Always Ask, B is for Blessing... over and over again.  Kateri frequently asks about the letters that are yet to come like, What is T going to be for? but I just tell her we're not there yet. :-) 
 
  
So here we have G is for Gratitude, showing a girl thanking her mother for her food. The story of the ten lepers goes along nicely with Gratitude, and teaching our little ones to always be thankful.

 H is for Helpful, showing a boy helping an older man pick up his spilled fruit basket, and we discuss how we should always be Happy to Help even in spontaneous, unexpected situations (as opposed to the Do your Duty picture, where regular chores are implied).

I is for I'm sorry, showing a girl apologizing to her big sister for spilling the pitcher of milk. We talk about how we say I'm sorry not just when we do something wrong or hurt someone, but also when what we have done was an accident or not our fault.

J is for Joyful, showing two boys happily playing checkers indoors while it rains outside, their bat and ball cast aside. We wanted to show the concept of being content even when things are not going the way we would like, as true joy is not dependent on our circumstances.

Download Alphabet Coloring Pages G-J

And finally, my Tech Support tells me if your pages are slow to print you might find some useful tips here: PDF files slow to print on certain printers.  H is also for Helpful Husband. :-)

Roses, Roses, Roses

Hello! We've had a super busy weekend here but I didn't forget about the drawing and the roses. Thank you to everyone who entered and for all of the kind comments (if I were a hip and trendy craft blogger I would say 'thank you for all the crocheted rose love'). We put all of the entries in a basket and stirred them up good,

  

and Eliza picked one out,

 

and the winner is-

 

Renee! Congratulations, and I hope your grandchildren enjoy them! Please send an email with your mailing address.

There were about 45 entrants for the giveaway and that's a lot of little people left without roses, so I've been trying to think of other ways to obtain roses. Lydia did once make a set for one of my rosary customers who wanted to purchase some, but we are really too busy with school to make a whole lot of roses. One option of course would be to find someone local who crochets. There are many people who love to crochet and are very fast and prolific in their creations and are often looking for new things to make and a purpose to make them. Perhaps you could locate some avid 'crochet ladies' at your local church or in your neighborhood and commission some roses. You might even be able to barter for them, perhaps with a cake or home cooked meal, or some leaf raking or the like. Look for ladies wearing crocheted hats or scarves and approach them with a proposition. :-) If you find them in church I would think they'd be delighted to crochet roses for Our Lady. 

Another option would be to look on Etsy where many people offer handmade goods for sale. Search under 'crochet rose embellishments' and you will find many, many crocheted flower offerings. There is a wide variety of styles and sizes and colors available. The prices also vary greatly as well, but some are quite reasonable and you might even get a bargain by ordering a set of eleven. Many Etsy sellers welcome custom orders as well so you can get what you like.

And finally, I wanted to try to make a different kind of rose that doesn't involve crochet and I came up with this simple felt rose. I used a piece of felted wool cut from a thrifted wool sweater. (You can read about how I felt wool here in this post.) I just cut a circle about six inches in diameter, and then cut it in a free form spiral pattern. You can cut as wavy or as smooth as you like. (That pointy nose part where I started cutting is not intentional - I just snipped off that part.)

 

Then I rolled up the spiral beginning with the center part, and stitched along on the bottom as I went around to hold the layers together like so -

 

I just kept rolling and stitching round and round up to the end of the spiral. 

  

I also cut two leaves out of green wool. I applied tacky glue to the bottom of the rose for added durability and then stitched the leaves on, covering up the glue and stitching. My finished felt rose is about three inches diameter, while my crocheted ones are about three and a half inches.

I think it turned out rather pretty.

 

Thank you again to all my rosy readers!

On the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a festival day in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on whose solemnity the Angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God. (From the Introit)

We enjoyed a lovely feast day today, breaking our fast to indulge in sweet treats, painting pictures of Our Lady in the afternoon, listening to the beautiful voices of our schola singing at Holy Mass this evening, and praying the rosary at the clinic by candlelight after Mass. Well, a bit of candlelight - it was a remarkably windy night! It was good to be praying there on this feast day, which was established in 1571 in commemoration of the Christians’ unlikely victory at the Battle of Lepanto, and the feast was originally called Our Lady of Victory. We pray for victory in the battle for Life, and we beg Our Lady's intercession for our cause. (Josiah has posted a report he did on the Battle of Lepanto on his blog.) St. Padre Pio reminds us that the 'rosary is the weapon' against the evils of the world today. Let us wield it well and often!

In honor of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary I would like to give away a set of my crocheted roses that can be used by little ones to count the prayers while saying the rosary.

 

I originally posted about this idea here: Praying the Rosary with Little Ones and I find it's still making its way around the internet, particularly during this month dedicated to the rosary. It certainly blesses me to think that so many little ones are learning to love Our Lady and her 'weapon' at such a young age!

 

Just leave a comment on this post before noon (EST) on Saturday and we will draw a name at random to select the winner.

Wordless Wednesday: The Great Blue Takeoff

 

 

 
 (you know who took the photos)

The Stars - A New Way to Point at Them

Guest post by Michael, aka Dr. K, resident scientist extraordinaire (and I think he's cute too).

The Perseid meteor shower in August is a beautiful time to look at the stars – except when it rains, as it did for us this year (again).  However, a few days after the peak of the Perseids, the night was clear and dark.  After several minutes, I saw a shooting star and went inside and announced that there were still Perseids.  So, out we went and arranged ourselves on an old blanket -  Dad and the five oldest children, from Jonathan down to Mary Rose lined up like sardines.  It was very cozy, and we enjoyed ourselves, but unfortunately didn’t see any streaks of light.  Mary Rose was next to me, and I tried to point out the summer constellations to her.  Unfortunately, I could tell that my attempts were mostly unsuccessful:  It is difficult to get your “student” to look at the same stars that you are pointing at.

As a child I was able to identify the Big Dipper and Orion, but little else, despite reading several books on constellations.  But years ago, with two young boys who had an interest in the stars and a wife who has a knack for finding Just The Right Book, we started reading two books by H.A Rey: Find the Constellations   (a very simple book) and The Stars: A New Way to See Them (more detailed).  The entire sky is officially divided into named regions – the constellations.  However, there is no “official” identification that proscribes which stars make up the arms and legs of the “twins” (Gemini), for example.  Rey, the author of the Curious George books, uses his gifts as a children’s illustrator to “connect the dots” between the stars to make memorable line drawings, while providing text that is scientifically accurate yet easy to read.  I've learned a lot from these books.

Mary Rose decided she wanted to study Astronomy this year for science.  Meanwhile, I checked on the prices of green laser pointers, which I have always wanted for astronomical purposes, but which were always too expensive.  I was pleased to find that green laser pointers now cost less than $20!  I bought one almost immediately, and it arrived 2 days later on a day with a clear night.  I took Mary Rose and the green laser pointer out into the dark and pointed the laser at the stars.  WOW!  We were both impressed by the beam of light that is clearly visible against a dark sky.  The laser pointer appears to reach all the way to the stars, making it as easy to point to the stars in the sky as it would be to point to marks on a chalkboard or on a computer screen.  (The photo below, when viewed on a computer monitor in the dark, gives you a good idea of what you will see.)

[ Right click on the link below, then choose "Save Target As..."  Save the file, and then open it with a program that will let you view this "full screen".  This is a really neat picture - not enhanced in any way.  But the picture only looks good in the dark - just like the laser pointer! ]

View this photo

Within 15 minutes Mary Rose knew every star and constellation that I know in the summer sky, and I figured that the laser pointer had already paid for itself.  It is hard to describe the joy of Mary Rose’s discovery of the patterns in the sky.  When we went back into the house she said, “Now I can look up and know that the bright star is Vega, and those stars are the Summer Triangle, and ...”  ... and so we got out the books by Rey and identified several other constellations.  There is something about our human nature that has a need, and finds a joy,  in being able to name things, whether it is birds or the stars or any other part of God's creation.

The “winter stars” are coming soon and compared to the “summer stars”, they are a collection of jewels.  The clear winter air is perfect for observing stars, and there are many more bright stars visible in the winter than in the summer.  The “winter stars” are waiting for their turn in the evening sky, and are visible right now in the morning before dawn.  Mary Rose and I were up before dawn on a recent Saturday and took a few minutes to look at the stars.  Once again, I could see the delight in her face as she looked up and saw that the morning stars were not the same as the ones she had seen in the evening.  We are looking forward to the coming of crisp, clear winter air, and the joy of exploring the universe that God has spread out for us in the night sky!

About lasers:  Your eye is far more sensitive to green light, and green light is scattered better by the atmosphere – both of which combine to make a green laser pointer visible, whereas a standard red pointer is not.  I bought a laser pointer with a power less than 5 mW for two reasons:  safety for me and my family; and safety for those airplanes that I may accidentally point at.  It is not safe to view even this <5 mW laser pointer directly.  I chose the only green laser pointer on Amazon that had a 5-star rating, and bought from a vendor (HDE) who received many positive recommendations in the comments.  These pointers are not as rugged as the red pointers:  avoid shaking, jarring, or dropping the pointer.  The pointers are currently less than $15, including shipping.  At that price, you can't go wrong!

Editor's Note: Mary Rose is also using and enjoying this text: Exploring Creation With Astronomy (Young Explorers)

Raptor Rapture

Late Sunday afternoon we took off for a little drive to a nearby hawk lookout to watch for migrating raptors. We are in the middle of the fall migrating season, and many species of hawks can be observed making their journey south. It's a great chance to see birds not normally visible in an area, such as the osprey Lydia spotted on a nearby cell phone tower during the spring migration. Volunteer counters spend many hours a day during spring and fall migration seasons observing, counting, and entering their data in national databases that track raptor populations.

After climbing up this winding, never ending steep pile of rocks trail:

we ended up here:

 

and with one happy birding girl:

Right off she spotted a Sharp-shinned hawk, and impressed the official counters with her identification skills. We hung around for about an hour and a total of eighteen sharpies. The full count for the day was 533 raptors, including American kestrels, Bald eagles, Ospreys, and a Peregrine Falcon, but the vast bulk of the migrants was sharpies.  Also noted were a number of Monarchs and Chimney swifts.

 

Everyone enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and gorgeous fall weather,

and of course the incredible view:

 

Sam and Frodo wandered about on their quest,

 and even this cute little mountain goat did a great job tackling the rocks:

 

But this one had the widest grin, keenest observations, and exuded the most serene sort of bliss, just sitting on the top of the mountain watching the hawks fly past.

We all hope to go back again very soon, earlier in the day when the birds are more active.

Here are some informative links if you're interested in learning more about raptors:
 
 Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight - Lydia received this book for her birthday and has read and used it for reference extensively. The books covers the nineteen most common species seen throughout the US and Canada.

Hawks Aloft: The Story of Hawk Mountain - Another gift for Lydia, this tells the story of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania, the world's first refuge for birds of prey. Unbelievably, until about the 1930's when people's perceptions about wildlife began to change, these majestic birds were hunted and killed by the thousands just for sport. I don't know how Lydia can bear to read it, but she has several times. She says it's only dreadful for a little bit and then it's all good. 'A classic conservation story. '

Online Raptor Identification Quiz - this is a great quiz with some tricky ones in there!

Raptors of Hawk Mountain Coloring Book - free download of a nice coloring book with illustrations of various types of birds of prey, along with a fair bit of information about each

Raptor Fact Sheets - lots of information about hawks of the Northeast, much more detail than say the Cornell site which we usually use for bird identification help

Hawk Migration Association of North America 

Silhouette Hawk Id Guide  Raptor ID Slideshow - Power Point presentation for free download - I just found this so we haven't watched it yet, but it sounds great.