An August Daybook

Outside my window...black and white cat whining for his breakfast, orange tree, hanging flower baskets that are surviving the summer, megablocks scattered on the cement, 

I am thinking...that my three-year old girl looks silly (but cute) in her big sister's ballet recital costume. 

I am thankful...for my parents' visit and for their skyping with my in-laws in the old country. 

In the kitchen...I want to create orange marmalade from our oranges. It just hasn't happened yet.

I am wearing...pajamas!

I am creating...a diet and exercise plan to deal with my newly flaring lupus problem. Stinging nettle tea- here I come!

I am going...to the natural history museum today to introduce my son to his first T-Rex skeleton. He's looking forward to it

I am wondering...if I have fulfilled my summer goals....not quite....I have two weeks left before I start work...time to get to the park!

I am reading...The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom (about Shakespeare)

I am hoping...that I have enough students enrolled in my classes in two weeks so I will have a job

I am looking forward to...finishing up the garage/family/storage/school room and posting before and after pictures. Soon!

I am learning...that doctors have to be forced to communicate

Around the house...we are getting ready for the grandparents' last day here. We will miss them!

I am pondering..."I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."~ Albert Einstein


a photo from a fun day....

A favorite quote for today..."By bells and many other similar techniques [schools] teach that nothing is worth finishing. The gross error of this is progressive: if nothing is worth finishing then by extension nothing is worth starting either. Few children are so thick-skulled they miss the point."~ John Taylor Gatto

Some of my favorite things... songs by James Taylor, classic Elton John, Cat Stevens,  Steve Winwood, anything baroque for Sundays- my song choices are older than I am

A few plans for the rest of the week: talk to my conventional doctor about my lupus and then make an appointment with a homeopathic doctor. 

Disappointing 'Liberal' Catholics on Wordless Wednesday

'Liberal' Catholics get giddy when they discover that I am married to a Catholic priest. They assume that I am going to agree with their refusal to say the words of the corrected Latin-rite translation and that I stopped at four children because I am so in love with President Obama's healthcare mandate & coverage of artificial birth control that I put myself on it. They go from there to believe that I want all Latin-rite priests (even the monks!) to be forced to marry and while we are at it...how about women catholic priests (I've never gotten the connection between the possibility for married men to be ordained deacon and/or priest to the non-Catholic idea of women clergy)? 

But then they come down from their high when I tell them that Liturgy will be something like the above photo. They get disappointed, but as a demi-feminist (I can't help it! I was born in the 70s!), I choose to prefer the Liturgy this way. In any case, I have plenty of work to do on the other side of the icon screen.

Thoughts on NFP- wordless wednesday

No Wealth But Life hates NFP

NFP Works

I Use NFP- a new, non-religious site with NFP information

Hearty London Broil Salad a la "I don't know exactly when the guests will be here"

It's been getting a little hot here, so dinner salad has been on my mind. of course, my go-to blog for homemaking inspiration, Like Mother, Like Daughter had a splendid post on salad and the secret to the perfect one- a platter. So, I copied Leila.

Guests were coming to dinner, and I had a London broil that needed to be cooked. I didn't know exactly when they would be arriving, so drying out the meat was a very real possibility. I could make a stew, as usual. But then I remembered Leila's salad post. I decided on broiling the meat, slicing it and serving it room-temperature on top of a salad. Here's the basic recipe:

on a platter, place:

baby kale greens

sliced red onions

chopped broccoli florets

sliced crimini mushrooms

cherry tomatoes

drizzle homemade dressing (click on Leila's post for a specific recipe)

 over the fresh vegetables

place sliced beef over the salad

serve with good bread

Church & Art- a guest post

"When I look around in a beautiful church one of the things I notice as much as the artwork is where the artwork is placed. Placement of the artwork can mean as much as the content of the art. Big thick books could be written on this subject, but I don't have that attention span. Here are some examples of the use of space that many people may not realize.

For instance, the area around the altar will have images relating to sacrifice. My parish has icons of Abraham's almost sacrifice of Isaac and Abel's sacrifice of first fruits. St John the Baptist Cathedral in Savannah, GA has images that subtly refer to the events from the Last Supper up to the Resurrection. On the left is a chalice with a cross emerging from it and the story continues in images to the right until the Resurrection

Traditionally, there is a higher ceiling above the altar with either artwork evoking the glory of God such as the Christ Pantocrator or a painting of the sky. The idea is to use this space above the altar and on the ceiling to both lift the eye to the Heavens and the soul with it to God. It also evokes the idea of Heaven and Earth united during the Mass/Divine Liturgy, that the Most High God has revealed Himself to His Church and JesusChrist condescended to become a Man and the sacrifice of the God Man is continued on the altar below. I really enjoy the way that older, traditional Roman altars are tall, often with spires pointing upward towards the space above the altar.

Traditionally, churches have been built in a cruciform style. This crossing of the transept and the nave further emphasizes the sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist. There is a church in Kaiserslautern, Germany where the apse for the altar is not aligned straight with the nave, but instead is about a 45 degree angle from the nave. According to local legend this is to resemble a the limp head of Jesus Christ as He hung dead upon the cross.

In Byzantine Churches it is traditional to have an iconostasis, a wall of icons between the nave and the Holy Space. This barrier is lifted at moments of Revelation such as Gospel readings when the Royal Doors in the center of the iconostasis are opened and this opening between the two emphasizes the connecting of the two through the mystery of the Incarnation.

Another example is when a patron saint is portrayed in a relevant area, like in Sacred Heart (a former Jesuit parish in Augusta, GA) a stained glass window of St Cecilia is in the choir loft next to the organ. Or when saints with something in common are portrayed together or near each other.

Sacred Heart, for instance, has five stained glass windows in the apse of the main altar. Directly behind the altar is Christ the High Priest. On his left is St Patrick and on his right is St John the Evangelist. On St Patrick's right is St Ignatius of Loyola and on St John's left is St Francis Xavier. So the space is used to portray that bishops (Sts. Patrick and John) have a share in Christ's priesthood and priests (Sts. Ignatius and Francis) share in their priesthood, but that Christ is source of the priesthood. He is shown above the altar with his arms outstretched in blessing, but when it was still a church there would have been a crucifix on the altar. 

We are body and soul, which means that we have spiritual experiences through our sense of sight."

Many thanks for your guest post! You can read more from Chris at 50 Days After