I’ve tentatively identified the tree in our yard as a magnolia based on the leaf shape, flower, and dried seed cones I’ve found. But there are definite differences between it and the southern species I knew in Texas. This northern...
Check out this lovely video by the Dominican nuns of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersey. I love the Moniales blog because it offers a peek into the daily lives of these cloistered nuns. Reading about their lives and seeing...
Aimee at Historical Christian has a great reflection on my long time nemesis: clothes shopping, the fashion industry, and the difficulty of finding modest, flattering, feminine attire. I’ve read many, many good reflections on this...
I think it’s time to clean off the high chair and retire it to basement storage. Isabella has decided she wants to sit at the table with mommy and daddy. She was so insistent about sitting in the chairs, and we were worried about her falling...
from Saint Silouan (1866-1938), Orthodox monk If you want to pray with the mind in the heart and do not manage to do so, say your prayer with your lips and fix your mind on the words of the prayer, as is said in the Ladder of Perfection [of St John...
I’d read that language acquisition doesn’t happen at a constant rate over a period of time; but in bursts. Suddenly it will seem that something connects, new pathways open in the brain, and a child goes through a flurry of learning. This...
Jessica at Homemaking Through the Church Year writes an interesting reflection on “the ideas set forth in 1 Peter 3, the famous “weaker vessel” passage.” I guess what I’m trying to say is that I used to try to find some...
Inspired by literacy chic, I made an impulse buy today: little pink hair elastics for Bella. This afternoon I tried them out and made her first ponytails. I thought they came out rather well. And though she fussed a little at first, they stayed in...
Rachel Balducci of Testosterhome has written a lovely column for Respect Life Sunday. She describes a phenomenon I’ve encountered many times and has the perfect response: There is an interesting exchange people like to have with a pregnant...
My first and favorite literature professor in college, Fr. Maguire, whom everyone called Father Mac, said that for him the difference between an “A” paper and a “B” paper was not so much the content of the argument or how...
