tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53764982012-01-14T12:42:28.286-05:00Catholics, Musicians, Students, in that order."They think us barbarians because we cling to the past. We think them barbarians because they do not cling to the past."Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.comBlogger6451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-33984471689056497292012-01-14T12:18:00.003-05:002012-01-14T12:42:28.295-05:00New Translation, and Teaching of EnglishI'm enjoying the new translation of the Roman Missal, what I hear of it. The sound system in our church isn't great, and from the choir loft I don't always hear everything clearly. We went to daily Mass at our cathedral last week, and could hear much better. I think we have the smallest cathedral in the country, so it's easy to hear the priest from Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-73484487731125160212011-12-07T23:33:00.002-05:002011-12-07T23:43:26.643-05:00Teaching MusicMy job as a music teacher is to tell my student what is wrong with her performance, make sure she understands how to correct it, and then send her away to drill on her own, or supervised by her parents or nanny. Later, I will see her again, and find out whether her practicing has been fruitful. My job is NOT, contrary to the opinion of the mother of my newest student, to superviseJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-91677605624337237822011-12-06T22:56:00.002-05:002011-12-06T23:08:39.336-05:00Project Vegetable, Day 2:Breakfast: Veggie omelette (2 servings vegetables)Lunch: French Onion Soup (1 serving vegetables)Dinner: Chicken stir-fry (2 servings vegetables)Dessert: Banana, peach slices and yogurt with honey (2 servings vegetables)I tried something new in the chicken stir-fry: beet greens. I prefer to buy golden beets rather than the purple/red kind. I know they probably lack the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-39316830647388262492011-12-05T17:28:00.003-05:002011-12-06T22:56:15.538-05:00Project VegetableI've looked over all the diets and examined how what I eat and what my husband eats relate to each other, and also what our food budget looks like (important because sometimes healthier foods cost more--sad, but true). I've figured out that the easiest thing I can do is eat more vegetables. If I eat more vegetables, I won't be so inclined to reach for desserts. I was also kindJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-70589524504303925742011-12-03T16:56:00.003-05:002011-12-03T17:28:33.962-05:00The Chant GuerrillaToday, for the first time in a year, I helped plan the music for a Mass as well as execute it. It was a retreat day, with a visiting priest whom we know and who is fond of chant. We knew we'd never be able to get away with a chant-only Mass, but we did the best we could. We sang an actual Graduale Romanum chant, the Kyrie was chanted, the Psalm used an actual chant Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-32802937275886500442011-11-22T07:21:00.003-05:002011-11-22T07:36:27.149-05:00Happy Feast of St. Cecilia!Since we're musicians around here, this is a special feast day for us. Let us do as St. Cecilia recommends, and also exemplified:Dum aurora finem daret, Caecilia exclamavit dicens: Eja, milites Christi, abjicite opera tenebrarum et induimini arma lucis.As dawn was fading into day, Cecilia spoke with a loud voice, saying: Arise, O soldiers of Christ, cast away the worksJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-52245940370368675542011-11-16T18:59:00.002-05:002011-11-16T19:11:52.416-05:00Que Sera, SeraThe girl who was my best friend in 7th grade has a three-year-old daughter now. As proven by a recent video, the three-year-old knows almost all the words to "Que Sera, Sera" and can actually sing them fairly tunefully. I am super impressed! Children are amazing.I babysat three awesome little ones today so that their mother could go to her first pre-natal visit for #4. They are Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-52110403571845165912011-11-13T14:48:00.003-05:002011-11-13T14:51:43.822-05:00Neat StuffCheck out my friend's Etsy shop PaxCarmel. She and her husband are selling beautiful knives made from railroad spikes made on a tiny forge in their backyard.I have the coolest friends!Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-74948252349782470182011-11-12T13:58:00.002-05:002011-11-12T14:00:03.076-05:00Very FunnyA friend's comment: "We're going to learn this for our first child's wedding. We will wow everybody."I fully support this endeavor and volunteer my services as a back-up dancer.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-43306508017419431102011-11-11T08:12:00.003-05:002011-11-11T08:32:11.250-05:00Veteran's DayWhen I think of WWI, I always think of two pictures that hung on the wall of my parents' home when I was a child. The pictures were of my mother's grandfathers, Otis and Olen, each in an Army uniform. Unfortunately I don't have copies of those pictures to share. I don't have pictures of my grandfather and grandmother in their Navy and Army Nurse uniforms. I don't have pictures ofJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-90412909543386634632011-10-27T07:23:00.003-04:002011-10-27T07:45:14.972-04:00BreakfastSorry the photo is a little blurry. I took it with my brand-new iPod Touch 4G, an early anniversary present from my husband. He thoughtfully had the back inscribed, "MVSICA LAETITIAE COMES MEDICINA DOLORVM." The previous iPod had my name and phone number on the back, but statistically it's unlikely to be returned even with that information. So we have a fun inscription this time, of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-45321267890706017312011-10-21T20:44:00.002-04:002011-10-21T20:53:49.478-04:00RacismWe have a parochial vicar from South America. This has been a problem for some people in the parish ever since he arrived."Why did they send us a hispanic priest?!" (Maybe because we have a huge hispanic community?)"I can't understand him!" (Our sound system is lousy. Try sitting at the front of the church instead of at the very back! Also, some people can't understand your accent. DealJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-27208273606224739792011-10-17T21:06:00.004-04:002011-10-17T21:30:02.114-04:00Prayers for a Suffering PriestIf you are reading this, please stop and say a prayer for a priest who is suffering. He recently began a very difficult assignment, one that few priests in his diocese would take on willingly. I suspect that even he doesn't do it very willingly, but only because his bishop gave him no choice. He is desperate to leave this situation, already counting down the days Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-38320072418723480842011-10-08T22:11:00.002-04:002011-10-08T23:20:15.566-04:00On GlossolaliaI have several friends who have or have had involvement in the Catholic Charismatic movement. I don't care for it myself, but there is one particular feature that I don't have much patience for: the phenomenon referred to as "speaking in tongues."Many Charismatics, both Catholic and Protestant, use the term "speaking in tongues" to refer to various noises people make that do not Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-3880395726558800672011-09-26T12:01:00.002-04:002011-09-26T12:52:00.659-04:00Liturgiam AuthenticamI bought Peter Jeffery's book "Translating Tradition" over a year ago, but only gave it a cursory glance. Hyped up on caffeine last night (should have ordered decaf!), I worked through 3/4ths of the book.I don't agree with everything he says--I agree with another reviewer who opined that Dr. Jeffery "over-interprets" the document in certain respects. I think that the issuesJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-77128904148289249052011-09-23T12:27:00.002-04:002011-09-23T12:31:55.171-04:00Das ElevatorMusik or '80s Science Fiction Theme?One of my friends pointed out the remarkable similarity between this unfortunate incident: Opening of Berlin Papal Mass from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.And the theme of one of the awesomest scifi shows ever:She's so right. And it's so wrong.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-19205588044111551232011-09-22T14:56:00.002-04:002011-09-22T15:05:28.684-04:00Why Don't We Chant?A dissertation that I'm currently reading for research gives a list of reasons cited by church musicians who are avoiding compliance with liturgical norms regarding music. Here are the basic points (some are paraphrased):1. Composers believe in good faith that any musical form might be adopted in church.2. It's easier to obtain impressive effects with small forces in "modern" Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-31951134412074118482011-09-20T18:57:00.002-04:002011-09-20T20:25:56.231-04:00Waiting and WonderingIn the last two weeks, three of my friends have announced pregnancies. Two of them are expecting second children, and the third is expecting her fourth child. All of them married not more than eighteen months before my husband and I.I am still waiting.It is hard not to wonder why. It does not seem, on the surface, as though we are any less suited to parenthood than anyone Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-26379184172087016422011-09-19T21:26:00.002-04:002011-09-19T21:34:11.854-04:00Art by Natalie DeeI've had a cold since Thursday. Couldn't talk at all on Saturday and most of yesterday. My throat and lungs hurt so much from coughing that I half expect to start hacking up bits of lung tissue any time now.I'm not very good at the whole "offer it up" thing. I whine a lot when I'm sick. That means I'm going to be doing a lot of whining in the next few months, because my Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-80100786650728367602011-09-10T15:02:00.003-04:002011-09-10T15:12:36.933-04:00We Should Have Known......that my husband would not get along with his boss when the man proudly showed us his Thomas Kinkade paintings. Actual painted ones, not prints. Plural. What's so bad about that?Simcha Fisher tells us.And no, they aren't Kinkade's better work, they're the fantasy hack stuff.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-10225676528008174052011-09-07T13:36:00.003-04:002011-09-07T13:42:20.192-04:00Huzzah!My bishop, Bishop Burbidge of Raleigh, has engaged James McCrery--yes, the one who designed the Carmelite Monastery in Wyoming--to design our new cathedral! I couldn't be more excited. This is really, really good news. Also, Baby Thomas, mentioned in my previous post, has been released from the hospital and is doing fine.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-33459418430532188852011-08-31T15:15:00.004-04:002011-08-31T17:16:13.955-04:00More Prayers Needed!
A nine-month-old baby named Thomas is in the hospital with some kind of infection. His parents and his three older sisters are very worried about him.
Update: Thomas has MRSA. It looks like he'll be ok, but they have to drain an infected wound, so it's still pretty scary.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-87311186376410352032011-08-31T08:16:00.003-04:002011-08-31T08:37:14.776-04:00Prayers for Upstate New York
Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I spend time every summer in the Catskills. The Catskills were devastated by flooding following Hurricane Irene, which dumped over a foot of water on them in one day. It had already been a wet summer, and the saturated ground and high creeks and rivers just could not absorb the additional water. Flash floods Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-35141442303901902282011-08-28T13:42:00.002-04:002011-08-28T14:04:58.218-04:00Diets
I need to lose quite a bit of weight, not just for aesthetic reasons but because high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes run rampant in my family and I want to put off that scourge as long as I can. I do quite a bit of walking with the dog, and some exercises with dumbbells three or four times a week, so it's not the exercise that's a problem. It's the food.
Since I married, I've Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-91665778128678684752011-08-26T14:27:00.001-04:002011-08-26T14:37:34.635-04:00I Love L'Angelus
The prayer:
And also the band:
I'm in a French (and Cajun) mode these days.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-86875756724634220402011-08-17T16:22:00.002-04:002011-08-17T16:30:27.829-04:00If You Have a Moment...
...stop and say a prayer for the dear lady who blogs at Renidemus and her husband. They have been hoping for a child ever since they married five years ago, and are now waiting on an adoption. The legal process for the adoption is moving very slowly, court dates keep being moved back, and there is no end in sight for them. I hope that their long-awaited child will be Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-72126525878337227502011-08-16T13:13:00.003-04:002011-08-16T13:51:06.073-04:00Well That Was Unnecessary
My husband's boss, who is ill and away receiving treatment, just sent an email update. He's doing ok, but for some reason he felt the need to sermonize as well:
We went to the Extraordinary Rite [sic] Mass at the Cathedral yesterday. As much as I love the Latin and the chant, it became painfully obvious to both of us why we had to move on to where we are today, and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-22932328153798982392011-07-06T10:08:00.003-04:002011-07-06T10:42:20.925-04:00Jammy MemoriesMy friend Maggie makes jam. I haven't bought any yet, but it sounds awesome. Today she posted on Facebook that she was making Santa Rosa Plum Jam.A flood of memories washed over me. When I was six years old, my family moved to Napa. The backyard was huge, 2/3 of an acre, and all uphill. Landscaping it was a real challenge for my parents, but they were up for it. They devoted aJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-20830554965350973972011-06-24T23:07:00.002-04:002011-06-24T23:18:46.411-04:00New York Descends Further Into the PitThey've legalized same-sex "marriage." Knowing that the vote was coming, some of my friends have been much more busy on Facebook than usual, and through this I discovered that three of my college friends are lesbians. I hadn't known that, although in one case I suspected it. They didn't have girlfriends when we were in college, but they do now (two are in Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-77650072663064096752011-06-24T10:31:00.006-04:002011-06-24T11:26:35.534-04:00Ut, Re, MiWarning: technical music stuff ahead!Happy feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist! Father Z reminds us that the Vespers hymn for today is Ut queant laxis from which the 11th-century Benedictine monk Guido d'Arezzo derived the now-familiar system of "solfege"--ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, or as Americans and some other English-speakers know it, "Do, re, mi." Each phrase of each verse Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-41915017038098117522011-06-21T21:37:00.005-04:002011-06-24T20:11:06.812-04:00Prayer RequestPlease keep this baby boy and his mom and dad in your prayers. He was born prematurely on June 18th. He weighs just 2.1 lbs. The good news is that he is breathing on his own. Poor little fellow doesn't have a name yet--his mom and dad thought they had almost three more months to think of one.Update: The baby's name is Bennett!Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-45925796250187721942011-06-21T16:23:00.002-04:002011-06-21T16:35:24.888-04:00Belmont Abbey, AgainWell, I may have criticized them for their church interior re-design, but here is something I can completely get behind:College Maternity Center is a FirstI'm also glad to see that the Knights of Columbus of North Carolina have contributed to the project. So proud my husband is one of them! Catholic colleges, particularly the larger ones, I hope you're taking notes. Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-66736686612204030752011-06-20T15:30:00.003-04:002011-06-20T15:38:27.832-04:00Father CorapiAll I have to say about it is, look at the date for this:The Black-Sheep Dog brand informationMantilla tip to my friend Barbara for this information.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-56878071858084119942011-06-16T14:40:00.003-04:002011-06-16T14:45:03.170-04:00Bishop BurbidgeMy bishop is in Rome for the Catholic/Pentecostal dialogue and he's Tweeting about it! With pictures! I really like that he uses his coat of arms as his profile picture. We love our bishop!Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-21966533821363976712011-06-15T10:58:00.003-04:002011-06-15T11:47:44.906-04:00{pretty, happy, funny, real} Little Dog Edition{pretty} This is Brody, dog of many nicknames. Sometimes we address him as "Cockapoo," which is what we were told he is. We think he has some terrier in him too, though. He has some big troubles for such a small dog, both epilepsy and behavioral issues. From this comes other nicknames, including Mr. Grumpypants and Dr. Teeth. But he is often Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-55299830921900781502011-06-11T15:14:00.007-04:002011-06-11T16:11:11.634-04:00Miscellaneous Thoughts on Church ArchitectureI was browsing around looking at lists of colleges here in North Carolina today, and I came across before and after pictures of the Abbey Basilica of Mary Help of Christians (Belmont Abbey College was founded by the same Benedictine monastery). Why do we allow this butchery of historic buildings? This church building was the first cathedral in North Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-44027986979504050402011-06-04T08:24:00.003-04:002011-06-10T21:55:53.048-04:00Read This BlogNot my blog, Appian's blog. He's a very cool guy. His post from 29 May reads like Chesterton, if Chesterton were less enamored of his own one-liners. I can hardly believe that someone can be as smart as this and not older than me. It makes me feel slightly old, actually. But he's brilliant, so go read.ETA: Link fixed.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-62479889261147399332011-06-02T15:53:00.002-04:002011-06-02T15:59:48.713-04:00Yesterday's LunchCold leftover salmon, orzo tossed with olive oil and rice vinegar, lettuce. Garnished with feta and basil. The basil is the first harvest from our own vegetable-growing attempts. The feta acted almost like salt, as a flavoring rather than an independent element of the dish. We've found ourselves eating out a lot lately--aka wasting money--because I either had nothing planned Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-57374745791362227532011-05-31T15:52:00.002-04:002011-05-31T15:56:02.830-04:00AwesomeI observed this exchange in my Facebook feed today (names redacted):Proud Dad: Little Girl: "I'm baptizing him (pointing to a stuffed animal). "He's not a little heathen anymore."Friend Dad: Little Boy is still available for early betrothal if Little Girl doesn't end up at a convent.Proud Dad: I might be able to scrounge together some used books as a dowry.Friend Dad: That should be Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-81274805213922374702011-05-27T15:19:00.002-04:002011-05-27T15:36:07.295-04:00On ForgivenessI am proud to call Rosario Rodriguez my friend. She is an amazing, beautiful, strong woman who has been through a lot, especially in these last couple of years. Rosario was our neighbor in L.A., and we regularly gave her rides to church, and sometimes my husband gave her a ride to work. She was part of the little group of us who sometimes had dinner together after Mass. One day Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-89319691040103518762011-05-26T13:35:00.002-04:002011-05-26T14:10:37.594-04:00St. Philip NeriWhen I was a sophomore in high school, my parents asked me to abandon my beloved little classical Catholic prep school in favor of the big Catholic high school in town, for a period of one year, basically to see if I could hack it. They weren't sure about how the little school's academic standards would compare. As it turned out, they needn't have worried--I did very well, and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-37686175831917082362011-05-03T11:45:00.003-04:002011-05-03T12:28:15.966-04:00Aquaponic AdventureHave you ever heard of aquaponics? It's a food-growing system that combines hydroponics with aquaculture (fish farming). The problems with hydroponics and aquaculture are that you have to constantly add nutrients to a hydroponic system, and remove waste products from aquaculture systems. Aquaponics, however, is a closed system: the waste from the fish provides nutrients to Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-59153686214124990192011-04-25T13:31:00.005-04:002011-04-25T13:52:44.865-04:00"Dad may try to ruin your style..."Has anyone seen the new Tide commercial with the white mini-skirt? In the commercial, Dad, who is fixing a rusty gate, spies a white mini skirt hanging on the clothesline. He takes it down and uses it to wipe his rust-covered hands, dropping it into the hamper inside the house. Teenage Daughter comes along and digs out the skirt, is appalled to see its Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-32977725163177205282011-04-22T12:01:00.002-04:002011-04-22T12:27:21.634-04:00Baking DisastersI thought that I would be very clever and bake pretzels for our fasting "snacks." I've never made pretzels before, but I looked through several similar recipes and it seemed easy enough. I am a novice bread baker, but I have done a bit of bread-baking before and am starting to get the hang of dough textures, etc. So, I thought I could handle this. The recipes promised Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-84136620310869709682011-04-21T09:24:00.002-04:002011-04-21T09:31:33.484-04:00Maundy Thursday MadnessMy husband was at the walk-through for the Triduum services this morning. Apparently, there will be foot-washing of both men and women tonight, in defiance of the rubrics. My husband was asked if he thought I'd like to participate and have my feet washed. He demurred on my behalf. He sent me this text message:"Hope you don't mind that I opted you out of the foot-washingJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-47144266384824573082011-04-15T02:00:00.004-04:002011-04-15T02:07:57.853-04:00Pink SlipFor TR A letter to announce a sudden end:They could not bear to tell you face-to-face.A note was all they could endure to send.Eighteen years of service to this place.“Stop filling young minds with worthy thoughts,”They could not bear to tell you face-to-face.In a different time, we’d go call out those snots.We suppose that you’ll go elsewhere. Now,Stop filling young minds with worthy Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-83117133156799785542011-04-14T13:36:00.002-04:002011-04-14T14:22:40.502-04:00RecognitionJeffery Tucker has posted a Faculty Profile of Edward Schaefer for the Sacred Music Colloquium over at the Chant Café. This makes me happy and kind of annoyed at the same time. Ever since the New Liturgical Movement blog got going, I've been trying to tell them about how awesome Dr. Schaefer (or Rev. Mr. Schaefer, if you prefer) is. He was my mentor, and Lizzy's too, and neither of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-85994205749725011652011-04-12T22:19:00.002-04:002011-04-12T23:02:10.356-04:00UnsettledImage: Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives by Frederick Edwin Church, 1870.Holy Week draws near. I am not at peace, for many reasons. My dissertation is not progressing at the rate I'd like, and I blame my own laziness. The house is not clean. My husband's boss is ill, and the prognosis and potential treatments seem to change every week, so that we do not know if he will retire or Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-61776575733418330232011-04-02T10:30:00.002-04:002011-04-02T10:54:45.362-04:00KneelersYesterday, I volunteered to cantor for Stations of the Cross. We usually have an opening and a closing hymn, for which the cantor sings into the microphone, and then, not using the microphone, the cantor gets everyone started for each verse of the "Stabat Mater" so we're all singing in the same key. It's all a cappella, and no big deal, musically. It was also my first experience of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-70882183369795653792011-03-28T12:25:00.002-04:002011-03-28T12:31:27.158-04:00DogwoodThe chinese fringe bushes are not quite as spectacular as they were, but the dogwood is now in full bloom. It's almost funny how much it looks like it did a few months ago, when it was covered in snow. Also, the ground cover in the flower bed near the patio has sprouted beautiful purplish-blue flowers. The backyard azaleas are not quite blooming, but the ones in the front yard are Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-31237000725609167192011-03-27T17:06:00.000-04:002011-03-27T17:53:32.605-04:00ClothesWhen flowers start to bloom and the weather warms, most girls of my acquaintance start thinking about spring and summer clothes. Lightweight skirts and dresses, sandals, a cute hat or two to keep that delicate complexion from too much sun. Those of you who tan nicely, rather than just turn unsightly shades of pink and mottled red, can keep that to yourselves, by the way.I probably won't Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-77576725979179299492011-03-22T16:34:00.000-04:002011-03-22T16:42:23.329-04:00Birthday CakeToday is my husband's birthday. What better day for my first foray into cake-baking from scratch? His mother gave me a cute little recipe book of some of his favorites from home as a Christmas present (I had requested it--he is not always easy to cook for, and also we have moved a long way away from his parents this year), and among the recipes was a cake she has often baked for Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-47696562619395737762011-03-20T11:18:00.000-04:002011-03-20T11:24:06.841-04:00North Carolina SpringtimeWhite dogwood, magenta Chinese fringe bushes, and brand new patio furniture (thanks, Mom!). Mixed daffodils under the Japanese maple. The pictures are slightly overexposed because it was amazingly bright and sunny yesterday, and 85 degrees!Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-40753734292705083732011-03-03T22:29:00.000-05:002011-03-03T22:32:10.720-05:00Prayer RequestPlease pray for my friend K.E. whose husband announced today that he is moving out immediately, leaving her and their two young children. This is apparently very sudden and unexpected, and K. of course is devastated. Hopefully this wound in their marriage will be healed, by God's grace.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-55147149367522558252011-02-26T10:30:00.000-05:002011-02-26T10:52:51.289-05:00Also, Seedlings!My husband and I are planting vegetables, and have started some of the seeds indoors. Here is what it looks like after one week. The tall ones are tomatoes, and the others are basil, chives, and Walla Walla sweet onions. The parsley, for some reason, has not sprouted. I don't know whether it's just slow, or was planted too deep, or the seeds were duds. The first round of Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-78333193126402184092011-02-26T10:11:00.000-05:002011-02-26T10:19:25.330-05:00From the File "Things I Love"Netflix has the "Wodehouse Playhouse" DVDs. We're currently on the second DVD. If you like Wodehouse, you must see these. They are hysterically funny. The acting is quite good, and the short intros by PG himself are a nice touch.Some of the episodes can also be seen on YouTube.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-84758955247351287722011-02-19T09:40:00.000-05:002011-02-19T09:53:11.528-05:00Hymnals, TooI actually started work on an index for my fantasy hymnal last night, beginning with excerpting everything worthwhile from the two hymnals that were already next to me: Worship III and Gather. I can report that I took about a third of the hymns that are in Worship. Note that the hymns make up about a third of the book, and I only took a third of them. So, by my calculations, 1/9th Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-78556361412636254532011-02-18T09:12:00.000-05:002011-02-18T10:04:32.193-05:00On Hymnals image sourceI was recently asked, casually, what hymnal I would pick if I had my choice. I'm sure that the friend who asked me this had no idea what a can of worms she was opening up. She probably thought I'd just be able to name one. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. There is no Catholic hymnal in existence that would be able to stand on its own for parish use. Any one that you Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-60162836671667581352011-02-17T22:01:00.001-05:002011-02-17T22:05:36.924-05:00UpdateI asked my husband how he felt about seeing women breastfeed. He said that he was a little unnerved the first couple of times, but he has now seen it often enough that he's used to it. I hope that someday, many more men in the U.S. will be able to say the same: that seeing a woman breastfeed in public, or even just in her own living room with family and friends around, is a perfectly Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-45959146085174177172011-02-16T22:13:00.000-05:002011-02-16T22:26:43.496-05:00Feed that KidI was in the local grocery store on Monday to pick up some last-minute items for our awesome Valentine's dinner. As I hoofed it past the dairy refrigerators, I noticed what appeared to be an abandoned shopping cart with a toddler standing next to it. He was poking the gallon milk jugs. I peered around to see if the child's mother was nearby. She was sitting on the floor across Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-49729572772073878752011-02-05T15:17:00.000-05:002011-02-05T15:23:09.724-05:00New CatholicI went to a baptism today, of a friend's new baby. At the party afterward, I got to hold the new little Christian for quite a long time. I am totally blissed out on that chrism-annointed-baby smell. Isn't that one of the best smells in the world? I think my top three favorite smells are, in no particular order, newly baptized baby, incense and beeswax, and roast chicken. I know Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-71339817539316291892011-01-25T14:51:00.001-05:002011-01-25T15:09:22.001-05:00Leave the Poor Priest AloneI'm not talking about bugging the priest to do this or that thing that should be part of his job, if you think he's not doing it properly (although there are probably some people who need to stop that, too). I'm talking about stalking him.On Saturday night, we had a nice dinner with Fr. M and some other friends. Fr. M confided in us, without offering any identifying Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-76684310660672660992011-01-11T12:55:00.000-05:002011-01-11T13:45:13.949-05:00IceOur little world is covered in it. The dog plays hockey with frozen leaves, my husband stays home because the school is closed and choir practice is cancelled. All the businesses are shut, and hardly anyone dares to drive down the street. It's very quiet, except for the crackling log fire and the steady drip of slightly melting icicles.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-57174224168017827262011-01-09T16:33:00.001-05:002011-01-09T17:00:33.350-05:00It's Funny, But Also NotMy husband's boss forwarded this "meditation" by Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM to my husband today, saying, "I think this encapsulates how you, your wife, and our parochial vicar feel."CULTURE OF ELDERSSunday, January 9, 2011Feast of the Baptism of Jesus Today, many young people and clergy long to return to an earlier and false innocence that never existed. I understand these Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-44979504402835044252011-01-04T17:13:00.001-05:002011-01-04T17:30:23.351-05:00It's 5 O'ClockLamb marinates in wine, olive oil, garlic, and some sea salt from the package that was in the Pascha basket we took to St. Andrews Russian Catholic church to be blessed last year.The laundry waits to be folded.Dinner is on-the-fly tonight because of choir practice, rather than at the dining room table, but I still feel smug about my Christmas dining table decorations.The dog waits Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-77712372259004077582011-01-04T15:40:00.000-05:002011-01-04T15:52:20.155-05:00Communion Antiphon for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time I don't often get fits of inspiration, but I did this afternoon. Here is a fairly simple, two-part setting in English of a Communion Antiphon. If the ending sounds a bit odd, that's because it's modal; the beginning and end are loosely based on the chant. I've licensed it under Creative Commons, so if you like it, take it, copy it, andJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-77529387824960749732010-12-29T16:59:00.000-05:002010-12-29T17:07:42.574-05:00On the Feast of StephenI know it isn't St. Stephen's Day (impeded) anymore, but it was when these photographs were taken. I didn't have time to blog until now because my husband's parents were here and we were entertaining them, but they've now gone home and all is quiet. Our little part of North Carolina doesn't usually get much snow--only one or two inches a year, and usually in January. OurJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-81237670221496464602010-12-10T18:47:00.000-05:002010-12-10T19:54:46.420-05:00Prayers to St. FrancisIf you read this, please say a prayer to St. Francis for our little dog. He was diagnosed with epilepsy yesterday. The disease is usually manageable in canines as it is in humans, and often with the same kinds of medications. Since he has only had two fairly brief seizures that we know of, we have chosen not to medicate him for now. We pray that there will be no major Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-57310892108787370402010-11-29T20:46:00.000-05:002010-11-29T20:52:50.475-05:00A DogSince October we have been the pleased owners of a two-year-old poodle mix. He is a little insecure; he cries and trembles when we get ready to leave the house and he knows he's not going, and he very much does not like strange men. He likes women well enough, but we had our priest to dinner last night and it was more than an hour before the dog could be in the same room with Father Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-6507805927004047032010-09-24T09:46:00.000-04:002010-09-24T10:03:28.258-04:00A House and YardWe moved into our first house six weeks ago, and the landscapers have now come and gone. When we arrived, there was a shed and some trees in the backyard, along with the remains of some old landscaping. The lot our house sits on is on a corner, and one of the streets immediately winds around, so our lot is sort of like a peninsula with street on three sides. This means that Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-61643772108332860672010-09-16T08:05:00.000-04:002010-09-16T09:13:44.223-04:00Papal Visit to EdinburghAs I was watching the live video feed from thepapalvisit.org.uk I saw the His Holiness go out to meet schoolchildren in the street after arriving at the archbishop's residence. It looked like this was a spontaneous decision made by the Holy Father--the guards and his entourage appeared briefly confused and were almost running to catch up with him. It is wonderful that heJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-63240360622517089742010-08-19T10:37:00.000-04:002010-08-19T13:29:48.668-04:00The Tale of the BellsMy husband unknowingly opened up a can of worms when he used the organ's zimbelstern as Sanctus bells. The music director is asserting his authority--the organist is not to take any requests or suggestions from the priest that have not been cleared with the music director first. The young parochial vicar, according to the music director, has a big ego, cannot work within Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-68823679212724714442010-08-08T20:50:00.000-04:002010-08-08T21:16:16.879-04:00Coast to CoastThe title does not refer to the oddball late-night radio show, but rather to my recent move. My blog partner, Lizzy, moved to the East Coast a few years ago, and my husband and I have now joined her on the Atlantic shores! Not only are we now living on the East Coast, we are living in the South. This should be interesting! My husband has his first full-time job as a church Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-71207395733276672962010-05-17T02:15:00.000-04:002010-05-17T02:24:32.448-04:00Prayer RequestWould you please keep in your prayers S. and T., siblings who have just lost their father? They lost their mother several years ago. T. is 30, but S. is only 15. Their father's live-in girlfriend has run off and abandoned S., and T. does not have a stable enough job to support a younger sibling. It is hoped that S.'s godparents will be willing to step up to the plate, but so farJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-42126945472903948272010-04-19T14:29:00.000-04:002010-04-19T15:33:06.052-04:00Good Homilies and Bad Music Yesterday at St. Victor's in West Hollywood, frequent guest priest Fr. Vincent Lopez, OP (pictured) talked about the recent media coverage of abuse of children by priests in the Catholic Church. He gave real statistics, pointing out that 4.2% of American priests over a number of decades have been the subject of credible accusations, but that the secular media makesJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-72684946798865186162010-04-04T18:58:00.000-04:002010-04-04T19:03:40.897-04:00Terra tremuit!The earthquake that rocked Mexicali about twenty minutes ago shook our building pretty hard for at least a couple of minutes. Even now the chain on my bedside lamp is still swinging, and I keep imagining swaying, but nothing fell off our shelves. I hope everyone in Mexico is ok, although it's such a big quake that it's unlikely everything is hunky-dory. We'll hear reports in a Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-58259499760047779122010-03-01T19:17:00.000-05:002010-03-01T20:18:34.443-05:00Jane Austen Liturgical Allegory: My TakeGiven that I and my blog-partner have taken our pen names from Pride and Prejudice, I could hardly be expected to let slide this post from Saint Louis Catholic and Fr. Z's post and comment thread on a liturgical allegory based on characters from P&P without comment.The original argument, from Saint Louis Catholic, has merit but is flawed. He casts Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-14855633161574444742010-01-30T00:51:00.000-05:002010-01-30T01:00:49.544-05:00Pergolesi Stabat Mater4th Movement: Quae moerebat et dolebat. Alto solo.The women of our choir are planning to do the whole Stabat Mater during Lent, probably on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, at the end of the usual Stations of the Cross service that our parish holds on Saturdays in Lent. Two mezzos and two sopranos will divide up the solos, and on a few of the movements all four, plus one Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-11116647462266553592010-01-23T22:14:00.001-05:002010-01-23T22:22:04.735-05:00Late to the PartyI just found out that Bishop Patrick Ziemann died last October. He was Bishop of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, where I grew up, from 1992-1999. He resigned amidst much scandal, which also involved a priest who was stationed at my parish at the time. Bishop Ziemann died of pancreatic cancer, at the monastery in Arizona where he had been living for the last several years. He was Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-33260215512871112922010-01-18T22:52:00.000-05:002010-01-30T01:19:58.346-05:00New Link in the BlogrollOur blogroll is in sad need of an overhaul--it represents about half the blogs I actually visit on a weekly basis--but I have managed to add one new one: "Modestia," a blog about being fashionable and modest. I have met the blogger "Catholic In Film School" in real life and she is indeed a well-dressed lady! Check out her blog.Edited 1/29/10: The blogroll has been Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-50768277337117589752010-01-04T02:47:00.001-05:002010-01-04T02:55:09.014-05:00AvatarI saw Avatar tonight. Overall, I liked it. It was a little preachy, but at the same time it would be easy to take away any number of messages from it, if you wanted to. I chose to take a pro-life message from it: it's not ok to kill people because it's convenient for you or because you think it will make your life better or easier.The special effects were pretty good, although I'm not Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-21741805600977081492010-01-02T16:33:00.000-05:002010-01-02T16:43:14.304-05:00New TemplateAs you can see, I've finally upgraded the template. I hope Lizzy doesn't mind. When Blogger instituted a new template system about two years ago, the links to our archives stopped working. I sort of ignored this, and soldiered on with the old template because I didn't think it mattered and I was too lazy to deal with getting a new template and making appropriate customizations. Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-79301980413134625542010-01-02T14:33:00.000-05:002010-01-02T17:21:23.354-05:00Christmas GiftsMy family members have always been very generous with Christmas and birthday gifts. Unlike my (much older) half-brother, whose birthday is today, I never had to endure the rounds of "this is for Christmas and your birthday!" when opening presents, although my birthday is even closer to Christmas Day than his. There were a few presents that stood out from the crowd, though. My Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-65455880510533306332009-12-28T14:05:00.000-05:002009-12-28T14:10:25.498-05:00Birthday Blast from the PastToday is my 25th birthday. Here, in celebration, is the archive page from December 2003, in the first year of this blog's life.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-85628295930432322112009-12-26T23:27:00.000-05:002009-12-26T23:34:23.180-05:00OverheardAunt: When was Baby Jesus born?Little girl, thinking hard: Um...after Michael Jackson died.Girl's father: What are they teaching these kids in catechism class?!Later on...Girl's mother: Baby Jesus's mom was Mary, and who was Mary's husband?Little girl: The guy with the stick.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-62161993999246996262009-11-30T17:06:00.000-05:002009-11-30T17:12:26.225-05:00St. Andrew's DayToday is St. Andrew's Day! Visit a church named for him, participate in cultural activities of places under his patronage (Scotland, Russia, Greece, Ukraine, Romania, among others), and don't forget to start your St. Andrew Novena for Christmas!Say fifteen times a day:Hail and blessed be the hour and moment when the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-62758226029305921612009-11-21T18:50:00.000-05:002009-11-21T19:31:24.081-05:00Musings (page from a Latin grammar, copied c. 800)There was a session on chant in the Carolingian era at AMS. All four papers were awesome. I very much enjoyed Peter Jeffrey's discussion of the dissemination of the Roman liturgy in France. Apparently, the gradual chant was not, in that period, sung from the steps from which it gets its name (gradus=step), but from the same lectern as the Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-15886737387471066782009-11-16T13:38:00.001-05:002009-11-16T14:06:09.758-05:00PhiladelphiaOver the weekend, I was in Philadelphia for the national meeting of the American Musicological Society. I heard some really excellent papers, and generally had a good time. The AMS is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and there were some special events involving people who had been members for 50 years. On Saturday evening, as the hotel elevator rushed downward toward theJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-50786246503718935192009-11-01T03:12:00.000-05:002009-11-01T03:15:31.512-05:00How I Killed That Hour I Gained TonightDomoNation.com: Domo and the Bat-that-Wasn't by greenharpistLike it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It's free and fun!Not too bad, eh? Some of the transitions are a little abrupt, but I think I did pretty well. Now run along to the website and animate your own, and be sure to leave a comment here with the link. I've got term paper deadlines soon and Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-12942046528312108782009-10-24T01:22:00.000-04:002009-10-24T01:37:03.334-04:00Footnotes, Anyone?I love footnotes. My love of footnotes is not confined to those glorious sorts of articles, thrust upon the world by medievalists as often as not, in which the text of the article occupies only the top third or so of each page, the rest being taken up by footnotes. No, even some of my favorite fictional books have footnotes; the epic Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has some Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-91742204829407834102009-08-19T12:22:00.000-04:002009-08-19T12:40:21.461-04:00Liturgical Weirdness from Before the CouncilMy university library happens to have a copy of the St. Gregory Society's 1954 White List of approved liturgical music--it also contains a short black list. While mostly it's all the stuff you'd expect, including things I (and the present pontiff) would disagree with (they exclude everything by Mozart, Schubert, Haydn, and Weber!), there was one Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-66653058466618370362009-08-18T14:32:00.000-04:002009-08-18T17:26:24.051-04:00Opinions?What do you all think about the recent spate of folks openly carrying guns outside the Town Hall meetings?I'm of two minds on it. First of all, disregard this man:He is obviously well beyond the bounds of charity or good taste, and is advocating the shedding of blood. He is not the kind of person I mean. I am talking about the man in Arizona carrying a rifle (which, when there was a Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-85176499028645995692009-08-01T00:34:00.000-04:002009-08-01T00:38:10.817-04:00My Nephew Fights a BullOk, it's just a baby really, and more likely pulled in from the field rather than a bull that's trained to fight. Still, he stepped into the ring and was charged by a beastie larger than himself! He's obviously having an even more exciting vacation in Peru than I had in New York. (Yes, there are two men in the ring in drag, and one of them is in blackface. It's Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-74656306802729245202009-07-26T16:23:00.000-04:002009-07-26T16:30:27.502-04:00Sunset CanoeingMy husband and I were visiting my parents' place in New York last week. While there, we cleaned out our neighbor's canoe and took it out on the lake. The second picture was taken from my folks' back deck--what a view! There's been a lot of rain in the Northeast this summer, so everything is green and lush. Not like L.A.--we were sad to return to the dry heat and palm trees.Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-76397014107565682212009-06-30T13:38:00.000-04:002009-06-30T13:46:39.071-04:00Urgent Prayer RequestA very dear friend of ours, who lives in our building and hitches a ride to Mass with us almost every Sunday, was mugged and shot in the chest last night, about half a mile from where we live. She was house-sitting for a friend, and had gone out to run an errand. She is in the hospital in critical care--the bullet punctured her esophagus and one of her lungs. Pray for her Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-21415255575680098882009-06-27T18:44:00.000-04:002009-06-27T19:00:32.675-04:00Free Things Are CoolArchery lesson: freeEquipment rental: freeChanging Facebook status to "has learned archery. +2": priceless.If you live in the Los Angeles area, you should definitely check out the Rancho Park Archery Range. Every Saturday there is a free lesson for beginners, along with a safety course mandatory for all archers new to the range. After you've completed the safety course, you Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-43220520679772873002009-06-21T22:18:00.000-04:002009-06-21T22:28:55.819-04:00Brick by BrickFirst of all, some congratulations are in order to a dear friend of both Lizzy's and mine. Our former schoolmate Joe is now Father Joe. You can read an interview with him here. Even before he entered the seminary, we called him "Cardinal" because he knew so much about the faith. (Seriously. Should Fr. Z ever retire from blogging, I think Joe could fill his shoes.) May God be Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-5079765154107583322009-06-20T19:46:00.000-04:002009-06-20T20:03:03.141-04:00Prayer RequestsI had breakfast with my half-brother this morning, and he had some bad news: he's been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The diagnosis was a big shock for a couple of reasons, mainly that he is twenty years younger than most people diagnosed with this, and that there is absolutely no family history of cancer of any kind. Virtually everyone in our shared background (Dad's side)Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-89499947593780770422009-06-17T03:23:00.001-04:002009-06-17T03:46:18.575-04:00Never Thought I'd Say This......but I went to a shooting range today, and shot a gun. Two guns actually: a Ruger 10/22 (a common, inexpensive .22 caliber rifle, the sort of thing a hunter might use to shoot rabbits), and a very pretty six-shooter that belonged to a nice gentleman down the line a bit. He saw us taking turns with the rifle and asked whether we'd like to try his six-shooter. He'sJanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5376498.post-85001802010572097762009-06-15T16:59:00.001-04:002009-06-15T17:18:56.414-04:00Hiking!My husband and I went hiking last Saturday. To those who know us, this may seem a little odd--we are not known to be the outdoorsy type. Hiking is a relatively new thing for us, at least in our adult lives. My husband was a boy scout as a child and went on lots of hikes and camping trips, and I participated in a fair number of short hikes and camp-outs myself as a kid. But I haven't Janehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03893341464969743583noreply@blogger.com0