Change of Address

I love doing this blog. For nearly six years I've welcomed the chance to share nuggets of inspiration and encouragement, usually from the saints. What a privilege it has been; what a gift.

Does this sound like a goodbye? 

It's not that. Well, not exactly. But it could be seen as a change of address. 

Due to recent health issues, my energy is at an all time low. I now have no choice but to set limits. 

I have two blogs, and thankfully still have energy for one of them. The Cloistered Heart is the “bigger” blog, the same age as this one, and anything I'd put here on TheBreadboxLetters (at least in recent years) fits very well over there.

So I am now "consolidating" the two and plan to put graphics, etc, that I might normally post here.... there. 

I hope to keep this space atThe Breadbox Letters open for awhile, putting in (below) links to some of our archived posts. Which is not the least bit confusing, is it? I thought not.

Confusing or not, let's take a first peek into the archives to find:

Our most popular post

A “look at what God did!” story

A graphic (and another) (and this one)(and one more)

Why a Breadbox? (our first post)

And now (ta daaaa) see you over at www.thecloisteredheart.org? Y'all come....

Beware of the Blog!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to me!
This blog's five years old now...
Oh, how can that be?!

It can be, I guess, because on September 20, 2011, I sat down and started clacking away at a keyboard, and a teensy little spot in the blogworld was carved into place.

No one who happened upon that first ramble had a clue of the secret I'm about to tell you now, here on this very screen. Which is that I wrote while shaking in my blogboots. I didn't even do e-mail at the time. I knew nothing about the big wild world of the Internet. I'd felt "nudged" for months to blog, but I barely knew what a blog was. I had never even read one, so how could I have gotten such an idea?

Considering the fact that anything involving the Internet was a mystery to me (and I really wanted to keep it that way), I had begun to think this wild notion THAT WOULD NOT LEAVE ME ALONE might, in fact, be an inspiration from God. 

I could at least give it a try. Except that I didn't. I had gone through the spring and summer of that year trying to convince myself that I must be mistaken, it was just a silly idea. And all the while the thought kept following me around like a puppy. It lodged in my mind like a melody, like one of those tunes you just can't get out of your head - and in fact an old song popped in to keep "reminding me" that I was being chased by a strange notion. The song's lyrics, which I found amusingly appropriate for what I was feeling, sneaked into my brain and (when others were not within earshot) out of my mouth. Because my husband and I once had a "retro" jukebox loaded with old 45s and this record had been one of them, I knew the words to this theme from a campy 1950s movie. So for months, as I drove or cooked or sorted laundry, I found myself constantly singing this - but with one changed word.

All you have to do is change the last letter of the title and you'll know just what I was fearing five years ago. It's a fun tune, not spooky, from surely one of the campiest films ever made. 

Shall we check out what I was humming as I wrote that first blog post five years ago? 

It's a splotch! A blotch! 

BE CAREFUL OF THE BLOG...





(to our e-mail subscribers: this post features a video, which can be viewed by coming to the blog itself)

(disclaimer: any other videos that may come up after the song entitled "The Blob" are not chosen nor endorsed by me)

Come See us on Facebook!

The Breadbox Letters is now on Facebook. Many of our graphics are already posted there. 

Please come check us out, like and share whatever you wish, and together may we give praise to God!

You can find The Breadbox Letters on Facebook by clicking this line.

Getting Graphic

You might have noticed. Almost every post on this blog in the last (six?) months has featured some kind of graphic. And there's a reason for this.

I love making graphics.

I mean: I love making graphics. I surround myself with quotes of saints, verses of Scripture, poetry, artwork, and I match colors and fonts to pull things together. And as I do this, I pray.

Not a bad way to spend a bit of time ('she understated,'), and I thank YOU for sticking with me as I learn how to do it. Once, this little blog shared stories and personal reflections (some of which can be found by clicking this line). Now I do most of my writing at my other blog, The Cloistered Heart.org, and I come here to share a few things that have inspired me, and to relax and visit with you. 

It's a luxury to have this space. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing it with me.

Don't Worry. You're Just Invisible.

If you happen to wonder why your blog disappeared from the blog roll on our sidebar, you have company. I've wondered too.

The entire blog roll vanished last night. Thankfully, my helpful family nailed down the cause of the problem - which really wasn't a problem at all. However, all of the  blogs remain gone, and I will be adding them back one by one as I find time. Which can only be 'occasionally' during this busy (happily busy) week.

To add to the intrigue, the blog list 'widget' adds things sometimes, and at other times it's contrary and takes its time. Some blogs even show up on MY list, but not on the sidebar (five that were added half an hour ago are still not showing up yet). So....

If you look at the list and don't see yourself, you just might be there after all.

Thank You For The Blogiversary!

Well, what do you know. It is the eve of The Breadbox Letters' blogiversary, and I have YOU to thank for it, you who have come along with me on this journey. It has been four years since I sat down to this computer (brand spanking new then, bought specifically for the purpose of blogging) and plunked out my first-ever post.

Things have changed at this tiny spot on the Internet in these four years. I've learned that blogs are that way.... they change and evolve. Which Breadbox Letters seems to have been doing again lately, hasn't it? More and more, I'm sharing graphics - and I thank you for your patience as I do so. I like to keep things rather brief (after all, there are so many blogs out there with inspiration to offer), so graphics do seem an appropriate thing to share now and then.

Thank you for being here as I learn to put words with pictures, and as I post writings of saints, and as I share a personal story now and then.

If anyone should care to stroll down Memory Bloglane with me, some of our archived 'stories' can be found by clicking here.

And a few adventures of My Excellent Family (who are kept mostly out of the 'bloglight,' but I sneak up on them now and then) can be found by clicking here.  

And our most popular-of-all-time-post can be found by clicking here.  

AND - that first ever blog post, written four years ago tomorrow??  Ta daa.... right here!

Four years spent primarily with words of the saints. It is a privilege for which I thank God.

And I thank you, my friends, for spending moments of your precious time at this little spot on the Internet. I thank you oh, so much.

Painting: Gaetano Bellei

How Bloggers' Heads Explode

I'm still doing a bit of blogkeeping around here. Changing the header, mostly, which you may have noticed, and maybe noticed again. And, well... possibly again. I don't close the blog while I try different things, lest anyone think this spot on the Internet has left the building.

But I really should get in better shape before I do such heavy lifting. I can't even remember how many different headers have been on here in the last two weeks, and now I think I am definitely might be getting just a teeensy bit compulsive about the whole thing.

There are so many things to consider, after all. Like wondering whether or not Mr. Homer would have approved of my using his painting in this way, even if it IS in public domain. And of course I do have photos lying around, but I would prefer to use a painting because paintings are mostly what are used in the blog itself and it's nice if a header gives some clue as to actual blog content but it would be nice if I could use something I didn't feel I was borrowing from someone else but it's not like I paint although I once did but gosh I haven't done a painting myself since 1824. Give or take a year. 

(is it remotely possible that I'm overthinking this?)

Are you still with me?

You ARE?!?!?!!!  In the face of such heroism, I have nothing left to say. Except thank you, and please stay tuned.

Painting: Pieter de Hooch

Memo From Housekeeping

Don't mind me - I'm just doing a bit of blogkeeping. Some people close their blogs while they work on templates and headers, but I'm just as happy to let you go through variations in color schemes right alongside me.  I don't want anyone thinking this little spot on the Internet has closed, when really I'm just rearranging a few pieces of furniture.

One thing that will stay the same is the blog's contents and layout. Colors may or may not change (in all likelihood, they'll change and then come back to exactly what they were). Please bear with me - oh, I hope you will! - while I'm checking out how gold brocade curtains look when hung beside plaid purple wallpaper.  So to speak. Anything too garish is probably temporary, and I'm sure there will be a number of 'temporaries' throughout this ..interesting?... day.

In the meantime, please pull up a chair and browse our archives. In keeping with the spirit of Lent, I invite you to start by clicking here.

Where Have all the Stories Gone? Gone to Memoirs, Every One.

Confession:  I have been writing (true) stories that are not on this blog.

A few weeks ago, I pointed those kind persons who'd asked "where have all the stories gone?" toward a new page right here on the Breadbox Letters. But in case anyone is interested in more current scribbles, you can check out my blog It's Only Write.

Well.  I say "more current." But the truth is, some of these are about events that happened years ago. Like a little old gently maturing lady penning her memoirs, I'm looking over events, old and new, and setting some down on paper. Or at least on screen.

No RSVP required.


Painting: Haynes King

The Perfect Saint for Bloggers

St. Francis de Sales is patron of Catholic writers.  As a blogger, therefore, I happily claim him as patron of me. 

As the Church celebrates his feast today, I can easily imagine him sitting with a laptop, clicking out the good news that indeed Jesus lives. 

Francis wrote voluminously.  Not only is he known for his books, but for his (numerous) letters. 

He also composed short papers and pamphlets for wide distribution, to help clarify the faith in a time when confusion abounded.  

I like to imagine him patting today's Catholic bloggers on the back, encouraging us to 'keep it up' as we distribute our witness to the Truth in THIS age of the Church and in the turbulence of our world. 

Francis de Sales was a bishop and founder of the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.  He was definitely a busy man in France in the early 1600s. Still, he found time to take up his quill pen and spread the good news of Christ.

As we clack away at our keyboards, often in wee hours of the morning or while a baby naps, I'd like to think our patron is praying for us.  

I have a feeling he is doing just that.  


(this is an edited re-post from our earliest archives)

Where Have all the Stories Gone?

I have been asked, on several occasions, where this blog's "stories" have gone. I used to write them frequently, oh yes I did. True and Amazing accounts of mailing letters in my mother's breadbox, of blatantly disobeying on my first day of school, of blue velvet ribbons on purple cake. I even wrote about my earliest romantic adventures (...what? You say you missed that one...?) and I've shared a number of serious, prayerful reflections along the way. 

I still "write,"and much of that can be found at my other blog, The Cloistered Heart. And I hope to continue rambling over here also, from time to time. However, nothing matches what the saints have said over the centuries. And certainly no words come close to those of Sacred Scripture. What incredible treasures we have in these!

As for me, I'm a personal fan of not-too-lengthy blog posts. I like finding a nugget, a thought, a few words of inspiration to send me on my way.  From what some of you have told me, you do as well. It is my hope that Breadbox Letters can continue sharing little bits of saints' wisdom as we go through our (often hectic) days.

But for those who wondered where all the stories went, I've gathered links on a stand-alone page, with little snippets and thumbnails of each, so we can find what's what. I will continue linking things I run across in our archives.

Thanks for being here (do I thank you enough? Nope - I couldn't possibly!). It's SO GOOD to know we're on this Homeward journey together! I thank God for you daily - I absolutely do. 

Along the way, if you should want to find longer reflections - or occasional touches of silliness - our new Stories page can be found just under the blog header.  Or, of course, by clicking here.

May God bless us, every one.    



Sebastian Stoskopff painting, digitally altered

In Which I Bend Rules and Answer All the Questions

One thing I love about blog awards is being able to answer all the things. It's like settling back for a relaxing conversation with dear friends. In this case: you!

Laura at String of Pearls has generously nominated me for a Liebster award. Thank you, Laura, for such a great honor! And while I'm going to break bend the official Leibster rules a bit (more on that later), I will answer the questions Laura presented, and I'll have fun with them, and I solemnly promise to respond to the best of my ability so help me Aging Brain.

Laura's questions:

1. Do you have a favorite saint, and what drew you to him/her?
    I'd have to go with St. Francis de Sales. I was drawn to him by... I think by him! That's a long story, of post-length all on its own, and maybe I'll write it down one day. The main thing is that this saint and Doctor of the Church taught lay people about their call to live totally for Christ.
     Not so radical, you say? Actually, In the 1600s .... it kind of was.

 2. Do you have a best-loved book that you've read multiple times?  (And will you probably read it again?)  Or do you always just read a book once and pass it on to others?
     Admission: my books alone would qualify me for one of those programs about hoarders.
     Oh dear. Did I just write that out loud? The thing is: after (and before) they've been read, books become my wallpaper. I love living surrounded by them. I "blame" that, in large part, on cozy rainy afternoons in the used books store when I was a child. Which is all to say I'm rather selfish about passing them on. BUT!  I do actually re-read many of them, and pass portions on to you, right here.
     And best loved ones? Oh, so many! Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales. St. Faustina's Diary. And from the strictly secular end: To Kill a Mockingbird (is that everyone's favorite?), and the poetry of Robert Frost. 

3. What is your family's Christmas Eve tradition?
    That changes year-to-year, now that the children are grown and cherished grandchildren are in the picture.

4. When you dress up in heels, do you wear panty hose/tights, or do you go bare-legged?
    I haven't worn heels in ages, but when I wear 'dress' shoes, I always wear hose.

5. How did you and your husband meet?
    Through God's grace to help me make a good decision, and I'm absolutely certain that was the case. It was a Memorial Day, I was in college, and I was invited to a party. I'd been to a gathering with this basic group of people before, and it had gotten a bit wilder than I was comfortable with. But this was a holiday, after all, so I figured I'd probably just go.
    Then I got a phone call from the president of the Catholic student center at my University. Would I like to come over that night to do some typing for their Mass bulletin? I'd wanted to get to know some Catholic students, so I made a decision right there on the spot. I'd go for the typing.
    Boy, did I take flak for that one! Type instead of going to a cool party...? On Memorial Day?!?! ("what on EARTH has happened to Nancy?!"). The typing took about half an hour, and then - well, what do you know. There was a party right there, in the kitchen of a priest-chaplain! Into the gathering walked a tall, smiling young man and that, as they say, was that. He called me the next night and talked for over two hours (he told me later that he was trying to get up the nerve to ask me out). We dated for a year, became best friends as well as sweethearts, saw each other nearly every day, and he called me absolutely every day. We sent silly greeting cards to each other constantly, and we went to the Catholic student center chapel to make visits to the Blessed Sacrament as an end to many of our dates (his idea). We married thirteen months after that first meeting.
    Typing on Memorial Day? It turned out that decision was worth any amount of "flak" I had to endure.

6. What's your go-to prayer in times of distress?
    The Sign of the Cross, and the aspiration "'Jesus, I trust in You."

7. Where is the one place in the world you would visit if you could?
    Annecy, France, where Sts, Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. Anyway, Annecy is a charming little town.  See...............................................?

8. How many siblings do you have?
    I had one sister, thirteen years older than I. She's no longer living.

9. Are you a worrier?  (I'm worried you'll think that's a weird question.)
    I'm worried that if I say yes, you'll think I don't trust in God enough. And I'm worried that if I say no, I won't be entirely truthful. I'm worried that I'm worrying too much about what you'll think, either way. I'm worried that I should trust God with my feelings as much as with my decisions, but of course I can help my decisions but not my feelings. I'm worried that I might be over-thinking this. I'm worried that I might be, in fact, a worrier. I'm worried that I will never actually get around to answering this question.
    Am I a worrier? Hmm. Think I need some help answering that. What do you think......

10. What, if any, sport do you enjoy watching the most?
    Thank you for the "if any." In my case, it definitely applies.  In my high school and college days I did like basketball, but that was looooooong ago. Now I can ... sort of ... tolerate watching ice skating and surfing, but I get bored quickly even with those.

Now: here's the part where I break the rules. I do hope you will forgive me, but you see, I really wanted to answer Laura's fun questions, and this blog has been "'Liebstered" before, and I think I've passed the award on to a number of other bloggers and now I can't remember who they are (oooops), and there are many blogs I'd like to pass it along to but I'm WORRIED that I'll leave out a blog that I love, love, love simply because my memory is old and creaky, creaky, creaky.

So - instead of posing questions and officially nominating anyone, I am simply going to call your attention to a few blogs that probably don't take "blog questions" anyway.  If you have not found these yet, you just might thank me for telling you about them (and you're welcome!).

I encourage you to visit these ....

Ben O'Neill at Walk with Me.  Ben is a young man serving as a missionary with FOCUS, and his enthusiastic dedication to God is contagious.

Victoria's Art. I find Victoria's artwork stunning. It's a big word, 'stunning,' and I mean every bit of its bigness. Not only does Victoria share her finished work, she often takes us through her process of creating it. Check it out!

The Mad Eyed Monk.  I've mentioned this blog here before, but the writer has begun posting again after a little break. Hers is good poetry.  And I mean really good poetry.  Poetry shows, it does not tell, a writing teacher said years ago. Check out this blog and I think you'll see what that means.

Linda Maran's blogs, particularly It's Time for Pain Free, Prep Free Living and Linda Maran, Freelance Writer. Linda writes Christian fiction, Amish novels, and self-help nonfiction.

If any of these four bloggers would like to accept the Liebster Award, please consider this a nomination. You can add this (or any as I understand it) Liebster "badge" to your sidebar.

Thank you again, Laura. And may God bless us, every one!

It's Only Write

I like the fact that this blog is a mixture.  Here, I can share antics of my amazing (you know I'm not biased) grandchildren, Bunny, Linus and Doodlebug.  Here, I've told you about my first day of school, and my first date, and that day when I went swimming and the dog died.  Snippets of my spiritual journey are here to be seen.  I enjoy matching artwork with prayers; my soul soars as I do so.

After two and a half years of doing it, I can honestly say:  I love to blog.  

Now some of my friends are entering a month-long exercise of "blogging the alphabet."  What a fun way to get into a daily habit of writing!  I actually considered taking this up myself.  But then, reality hit.

You know, Reality.  That 'thing' that slaps us square in the face and wakes us up to, well - to Itself.  The fact is, I never know what's going on from one day to the next (just like everyone).  But (and this is the kicker), if something were to slide while my life got busier, that thing just might be - prayer.

Oh, I hate to admit that.

So, I'm not doing the official challenge (whatever it's called) of signing on to blog the alphabet in a month.  After all, how silly would that be for a person who already has two ongoing, very active blogs?!

I have, instead, done something utterly Logical.

I've begun another blog.

Will that one last more than a few weeks?  I don't know.  For now, it will be a place to plop a bit of writing, where I can try blogging the alphabet at a ponderous pace.  Where I won't care if I'm still talking about bananas while everyone else is sharing stories of ladybugs and lunch.  I just might tell about the first thing I remember writing ('Heaven, Hell and Prigatory'), or that handsome boy called Eiknarf who rode the city bus.

In the meantime, this blog will continue with pictures and quotes and the occasional story - as always.  'The Cloistered Heart' will keep looking into what its analogies mean to us who live for God in the midst of the world.

And 'It's Only Write' will become...... whatever it's meant to be.

God willing, I'll be back here tomorrow with something for us all to ponder.  And if you have a minute, stop in at itsonlywrite.blogspot.com .

I am much more curious than you are to see what might happen over there. 

Painting:  Albert Anker Junge Frau einen Brief schreibend 1903

I Changed This Blog, and Look What Happened!

I have been busy.  Changing this blog.  Freshening its appearance.  Making the background entirely white.  Smart.  2014.  Airy.  Fresh!  Fresh!  Fresh!

Not only that, I worked on mechanics.  Took things off the sidebar.  Tried to unclutter.  Made things clean.  Sleek.  Bright.  Trendy, but not ultra.  Youthful, but not childish.  Friendly, but not too. 

And all because I'd read an article, and realized I was doing everything wrong.  EVERY. THING.  Goodness, I don't even have a single sidebar ad.  Nothing shimmers, nothing flashes, nothing moves.  Anyway, I've been looking at some really smart blogs myself lately.  You know, the ones that look like magazines.  Sooo up to date.  And I say that with admiration - I think they look pretty cool (do people still use phrases like "pretty cool?").

(have you left yet?  left me talking to myself while you google "Catholic blogs" to find something much more pretty-cool on which to spend your time?)

At least I had one thing "right" (according to the article).   Whether I'm rambling (as right now) or sharing a quote, the posts here are brief ones.  We can blame that on my own short attention span.  You might be like me, I figure, and may appreciate just a thought, a prayer, a painting.  And I must admit that I love thoughts of saints, I love prayers, I love art.  Combining an appropriate painting with a great quote is downright thrilling to me, and in that I do not exaggerate.  I love this kind of blogging.  It's like digging for treasure, and then being able to share it.

Oh - and that new stark white background?  You might have noticed that you don't see it.  It took me about five minutes to realize that my improvements were no such things. 

Let's face it.  That's a great look for lots of blogs.  But it's not such a good match for one with paintings from the 1800s and quotes from people who wrote four centuries ago.

So here I sit, still comfortable in my same beige surroundings.

And oh, I'm so happy to keep digging for treasure.

Thank you, You, for sharing the discoveries with me.

George Goodwin Kilburne painting, in US public domain due to age

It's a Major Award!

No, this is not an announcement of a win.  Voting for the Sheenazing Award won't close for a few hours yet, and anyway - this new kid on the blogk definitely doesn't consider herself an actual contender.  After all, there sits little breadbox letters among the ranks of the biggie-blogs like... well, you know.  THOSE.

Which is why I consider the nomination itself a major win.  I feel like a starsblogstruck extra finding herself on the set of a movie starring Meryl Streep.

It's enough just to gaze open-mouthed at the amazing Sheenazing work being done in one's presence.  It's also enough to say to whoever nominated this blog:  thank you.  Sometimes a blogger wonders if she's composing (or in my case, often quoting) anything that truly touches anyone "out there."  The person who nominated this blog...  my new BFF... probably knows this, because you're likely to be a blogger yourself.  You know it's nice to, every now and then, get an "attagirl" to help you keep on going.

Thank you to everyone who reads, everyone who comments, everyone who subscribes, everyone who nudges me toward the keyboard.  Because you're here, I'm encouraged to live chunks of my days steeped in:

1)  Scripture

2)  Writings of saints

3)  Magnificent artwork 

4)  Prayer (I pray every time I look for a match up of picture and post; yes, every time)

5)  You, my blog friends

6)  And sharing in The Sheenazing Awards!  I hope to visit, in time, every single nominee.  What a treasure trove of wisdom and inspiration and fun!

I look forward to congratulating the winners in each category.  As for me, I see six things I've listed above and know for certain:  

I have won a major award. 

Once I Had a Secret Blog

This has been a most unusual day..  

First:  with no prior warning, late yesterday I felt drawn to start a new blog.  Probably a secret one, where I could store videos of sacred music and maybe a few holy pictures.  Hopefully things that could inspire me if I clicked in from time to time during the course of a day.  In effect, a secret little "chapel."  I didn't have to tell another soul about it (shhhh...).

Second:  I gave the blog a simple and obvious title, chose a template, and set it up within the space of an hour, perhaps less.  I began to put on a few videos and pages.

Third:  After thinking I'd let others know about this after all, I had a sense (almost a question) of "why not right now?"  Why not, indeed.  I posted about it, and before long I was hearing from a few visitors.  One of whom mentioned a link to an online 24 hour webcam broadcast of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  My heavens, thought I!  I was astonished that such a thing exists.

I had just been thinking that a "chapel" is no such thing without the Blessed Sacrament.  So I put a link to the webcam feed, and then I realized.  

I was doing this in the wee hours of the morning on the feast of St. Clare of Assisi.  

St. Clare is the patroness of television. 

St. Clare was named as such by St. Pius XII in 1958, after he realized that television is Greek for "vision from afar."  It seems that one Christmas Eve, St. Clare was too sick to leave her bed to attend Mass.  She prayed, "See, Lord, I am left here alone."  God granted Clare a miraculous vision in which she was able to see Mass from afar, as it were happening right in her own bedroom. From other accounts I've read this morning, this may have happened for St. Clare more than once.  It was as if she could see the events of Mass "projected" on her wall. 

Obviously our new blog has a patroness. 

I hope to stock the blog, over time, with videos and pictures and prayer-links that will help my frazzled, distracted mind turn to God.  Perhaps these will help someone else as well.  

Twenty-four hours ago I had a secret blog.   Now I invite you to click this line and come visit this new spot on the Internet..   

Looks like my secret blog's no secret anymore.  

I'd Like to Thank the Academy

Thank you to Chris at Campfires and Cleats for this delightful Liebster blog award!  What a beautiful surprise, and from a blog I very much enjoy visiting. 

Now I will pass along some info about this particularly fun award...

What is the "Liebster Award," actually?  The award is given to up and coming bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers.  From what I understand, liebster is German for: "sweetest," "kindest," "nicest," "dearest," "beloved," "valued," "endearing," and "welcoming."

(BLUSH)

Chris' other recipients can be found here, and I have to say that I'm in awe to find myself among them.  And this IS an especially fun award, so...let's just have some merriment! 

Here are the "rules" for The Liebster Award:

1. List 11 things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions that the nominator has posed for you.

3. Nominate 11 up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

4. Create 11 questions to ask the nominees.

5. Go to the page of each nominee and tell her about her award.

Ta da!  Here are 11 totally random things about me.  I'll try to stick to things you don't already know, and I'll say these without thinking.... 

1.  I often say things without thinking.
2.  I live in what some say is a library with a few pieces of furniture in it.  Books are my wallpaper of choice... in every. single. room. 
3. I like humor, good wholesome humor.  Old "Shoe" comics.  Carol Burnett's classic skit "Went With the Wind" (you know the one, where she glides down the staircase wearing a drapery dress complete with rod... "I saw it in the window and just couldn't resist"). 
4. I prefer overcast days to sunny ones, cool weather to warm.  I find gray skies much more "interesting" than blue ones with decorator clouds. 
5. I began college as an Art major.  I wanted to learn to paint like this....



 
.. BUT it happened to be a time when students were being told we needed to "get with the times" and express our "individuality,"
and we had to paint like this....








Which probably gives you some clue as to why I now happily fill blogs with things like this....  
 

 

6.  I love old, ticking clocks.
7.  I used to write poetry.
8.  If I could visit anywhere in the world, I'd head straight for Annecy, France.
9.  I don't like graham crackers.  Not even in S'mores.
10. I can sit beside the ocean for many hours at a time (like, all day), just staring into the waves, doing nothing else.  Even a book is distracting there.
11. One of my favorite sounds is that of a train rumbling in the distance.
12. I'm dreadful at Math, so have I counted correctly to 11?  

And now the fun continues!   Chris has presented 11 questions that I am to answer.  So here goes:

1. Where did you grow up?
     In the middle part of the USA.  Very all-American.  

2. If you could live anywhere, where would that be?
     1st choice:  where I live now.  2nd choice: perhaps Berkshire County, Massachusetts 
3. What is your favorite book?  
     Is it a dreadful cop-out to say "EVERY one that's on my blogger profile?" ?!

4. Favorite movie?
    "To Kill a Mockingbird."  For the story, the acting, the music, and "hey, Boo...."

5. Saint who inspires you?
    Francis de Sales.  Teresa of Avila.  Faustina.  Ignatius.
6. Hobby?

    Photography.

7. Why did you begin your blog?
    To have a more "out in the world" companion/link to the Cloistered Heart blog, which I 
    began at the same time.  But this one soon took on a "life of its own," and I LOVE doing it!

8. What's your fairy tale wedding like?
    Revelation 19:7-9. The REAL happily-ever-after we've all been awaiting!!!
9. If you could have dinner with a-n-y-o-n-e, who would that be?
     Pope Benedict XVI.

10. Louisa May Alcott or Jane Austen? 
      Harper Lee.   

11. Best spot for a relaxing dinner with the family?
      By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...

And now for my own nominees for the Liebster award.  I tried to follow the rules, so generally left out (with maybe two exceptions) blogs for which I couldn't find the number of followers.  I don't know any way to tell except by the Google gadget.  And those sometimes appear and disappear from others' sidebars as well as my own (which is why mine is at the very bottom of my sidebar - 'cause when mine goes, it also takes out everything below it).

Drum roll, please, for these genuinely "sweet," "kind," "nice," "dear," "beloved," "valued," "endearing," and "welcoming" blogs! 

Journal of a Nobody

These Joyful Mysteries

My Desert Heart

The Beautiful Gate 

Beautiful Whispers of Catholicism 

My Cozy Nook

Daily Grace

Contemplative Homeschool

Praying for Grace 

Imprisoned in My Bones

Sue Elvis Writes

And now:  do we have another drum?  Here are the 11 questions I present to the above nominees:

1.  If you won a free trip to anywhere, where would you go?
2.  What is your favorite childhood memory? 
3.  What's your favorite season?
4.  Favorite kind of music?
5.  If you could spend tomorrow with one canonized saint, who would it be?
6.  What is your favorite Scripture?  (either chapter and verse, or a whole book)
7.  If you were dressing up for an elegant evening out, what would you wear?....
8.  .... and where would you like to go?
9.  Who has modeled the Christian life for you, or taught it to you, in an inspiring way?   
10. What is your favorite poem?  (if you don't have one, pick a favorite anything-else!)
11.  How do you like to relax and wind-down? 

And now... I finish this at exactly 11 minutes after one a.m.!  How's THAT for timing.  May anyone stopping in here at this ridiculously late hour have 11 good dreams...

For an Unlimited Time Only!

Taking a cue from the always enjoyable Sue Elvis at her blog "Sue Elvis Writes,"  I've been doing my own version of what she did recently.  Bringing a few archived posts back to life - at least, that is the hope. 

My "has trouble following mechanical directions" brain decided to take off on its own and "intuit" a way to get some old blog pics with links on my sidebar (rather than following Sue's clear directions), and somehow I managed to manage.  I'm, ahem, the person who once sheepishly asked my engineer husband if he would please please please learn to embroider a French knot from the EASY instructions in my guidebook, and then show me in person how to do it.  Ah, now that's a lesson he was thrilled to learn.  But I digress....

Sue's own instructions are quite do-able for anyone who knows the blogging ropes better than I (which is almost everyone), so if you'd like to see how this was done, click here for her guidance.  Most posts, as Sue points out, have no use-by date.  They just slide off into the semi-retired world of "older posts."  Yet I, for one, have been delighted that Sue has pointed out some posts from the days before I found her blog.     

As for me, I've also had fun grabbing a few of my earlier posts, for I did enjoy doing them.  I went for some that were "seasonal" (I expect to change some of these as spring blooms appear), and liked re-visiting snowy thoughts from last winter.   I admit to liking ice encrusted pictures on the blog at this time of year; mostly because I haven't yet slipped on a patch of sidebar ice.

So if you've been staying awake nights wondering why my wedding cake was just plain white (surely that question has plagued you), or about the man I married (with maybe a glimpse into why I chose him), or what main thought gets me through life, you can find the LONG AWAITED ANSWERS under the heading "Selections From the Archives" on the lower sidebar.

Thanks for your inspiration, Sue .. all the way around.  Your ingenuity is a wonder!

Painting: Marie Denise Villers, Young Woman Drawing

A Reader's Prayer

 

'May you be praised, Lord God, for the printed word, bread for our minds, light for our lives.

'We give thanks for the talent and dedication of all who serve the truth in love and for all whose administration and technical skills make possible the production of books, newspapers, magazines, and reviews....

 
'We celebrate the wonder of digital communications, manifesting a new iconography that can link people around the globe in solidarity of faith, hope, love.

 
'May the blind see, the deaf hear, the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them by all who rejoice in their God-given talents and their gift of creativity.  Amen.'   

                                                                            

                                            (Venerable James Alberione) 

Painting: Matthias Stom, Young Man Reading by Candlelight

This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz 

Lumen Christi Award

A heartfelt thank you to Amy at Beautiful Whispers of Catholicism for nominating this blog for the Lumen Christi Award.  I am deeply touched and honored. 

There are three rules if you accept this award: 

(1) Name your favorite saint and why
(2) Name your favorite part of the Mass, and why
(3) Name your favorite thing about being a Catholic

Great questions, aren't they?  I love this opportunity to answer them.

(1)  Oh, how I love the saints!  Such examples of courage they are, often in the midst of great trials, but my favorite would have to be St. Francis de Sales.  You probably saw that one coming, as I quote him often.  But why?  I'll try to boil it down, at least a bit.  Bishop Francis de Sales worked tirelessly to spread solid Catholic truth during a time when such was being sorely challenged.  He wrote and distributed truth-filled documents, and became patron of Catholic writers.  He taught that the devout life is not only for those in monasteries, but also for people living in the world.  This was a rather novel idea in the early 1600s in France.  Francis also wrote warm, human, rich letters of spiritual direction to people from all walks of life.  His love of God was obvious.  He founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, charging the Visitation Sisters to live in "profound humility toward God and great gentleness toward the neighbor" (a call I strive to keep in mind for myself).  Francis de Sales reminds all of us to “Always remember… to retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others.  This mental solitude cannot be violated by the many people who surround you since they are not standing around your heart but only around your body.  Your heart remains alone in the presence of God.” 

(2)  My favorite part of the Mass is the Consecration.  I am speechless in the face of it.  And wordless as I try to write of it.  I think that if we had the merest glimpse of What is really happening in that moment - if the veil were lifted and our eyes of flesh could see Our Lord truly before us - we would fall on our faces and not even know, or care, how we got there.  

(3)  My favorite part of being Catholic is the fact that this is the Church Christ founded.  A look back into church history shows that clearly.  I say this as one who has, in the past, read Protestant as well as Catholic church history.  But I must admit that I have another favorite part of being Catholic: the miracle of the Mass.  And if I may be allowed to pick another (admittedly lesser) part, that would be the communion of saints.  Which brings us, in a way, full circle.... and maybe this is where I get to say "thank you" again....

With this nomination, I also have the privilege of nominating another blogger (or more) if I wish to do so.  That's the hard part, because there are so many great ones that I'd like to name at least twenty!  To make it easier on myself, I have decided to go with one.   

For its support of authentic Catholic femininity in today's (confused and challenging) world, and for enjoyable writing on a variety of topics related to that theme, I nominate:

The Feminine Gift