House Art Journal

Because we know we'll be banging them up a lot during finish work, our contractor built us a set of temporary steps out of thick pine boards and plywood. And since I suddenly have access to the second floor of our addition, I've started moving things into the new space -- particularly the storage boxes that have been stacked in our bedrooms ever since our move nearly two years ago. That's what's kept me occupied -- moving boxes and the inevitable sorting and re-sorting. Hence the blogging hiatus. (Well, it doesn't make sense to neglect one's house in order to maintain a blog on house beauty, does it? At least, that's what I keep telling myself...) Quite some time ago, a blog reader asked me how to store things in small spaces, and I felt I simply had to share about the Storage Box System our family uses. I didn't create it: a dear friend introduced me to it, and I believe she got it from Sandra Felton , founder of Messies Anonymous and a real inspiratio...

Part of the reason that I haven't been blogging much this week is that the happy coincidence of time and good weather meant I have been doing a lot of painting. This week we were aiming to finish siding and trim. Fake shutters -- meaning those vinyl plastic ones that are only decorative and don't open and shut -- are one of my pet peeves, because I have this constant desire to want things to be REAL. I would like to have real shutters on my house -- the sort that you can open and close -- but they are expensive, and not really necessary for us, since we don't live in a windy area where windows breaking in a storm would be a concern But fake shutters serve an important function: they outline and emphasize the windows of a house. Without some kind of emphasis, windows are reduced to bland square holes-in-the-wall (to see the difference, compare the rear windows of a standard suburban development house with the front windows of the same house, which generally are outfitted wit...

I couldn't resist taking some photos of Doran's collection of antique books, with their gilded covers and heavy, clearly-printed text. My brother-in-law, who has librarian training, once explained to me that books printed after 1910 (or thereabouts) tend to be printed on wood pulp paper, which deteriorates. But books printed before 1910 are usually printed on paper with a rag or cotton content, which preserves beautifully. Usually you can tell the difference just by picking up an old book: cotton-page books are weightier. He started me on a passion for beautifully printed books, and I've collected a small handfull of old poetry and novels. But I was blown away by Doran's family collection. This is one case where the photos definitely don't do it justice, since the joy of old books is in the smell and smooth paper as well as in the delightful covers.

Be still and know that I am God." God asks us to rest one day a week, and at times that's difficult to do. But sometimes, when you've been working hard, and suddenly stop, stillness and silence flood inside you with such power that you can't move, can't do anything but sit and listen... listen to the silence. We experienced that on Saturday, after a hard day's work, when while finishing up some outside work, my husband and I both sat down and stopped. Beauty and silence. What would we do without a good healthy dose of that in our lives? I know it's Monday, and we're all rushing ahead on the work week. But if you haven't had a few minutes of silence to yourself to rest in God, do so. Soon. We all need it.

Last Christmas, Rose got a birdhouse kit . I lost sight of it after the unwrapping, and then, a few days later, I looked out of the girls' bedroom window and was surprised to find the birdhouse, fully painted and hanging from a branch, awaiting a bird. But sadly, a storm blew it down a few months ago. I finally got around to repairing it for Rose, and then I lost sight of it again. But a few days ago, walking out to the pasture, I looked up and saw it -- in a new tree, happily aloft and waiting expectantly for a bird. Hopefully this spring it will find an inhabitant!

I know a family who builds and sells custom homes. When I was visiting their red-sided house the other day, which they are putting on the market, I asked if I could share their home with my blog readers. Doran and her husband designed and built the house themselves, using salvaged materials and antique doors to add character whenever they could. And since they have a large family, they omitted cathedral ceilings in favor of ... more bedrooms! In a day and age where larger homes (this is a massive four-bedroom on nearly five country acres) aspire to mansionhood, I appreciated the honesty and simple beauty of this family home. You can't see it in the pictures, but one detail that caught my eye was that all the doors have black hinges and knobs. It's amazing how that little detail made such a difference. Doran admitted that she did it herself, to age the home and give it simplicity. Though of course few of us have the chance to build our own homes, it's interesting how that s...

Wooden boats for the bathtub are something I'm always on the lookout for. Through the years, I've found them at handcrafts stores and flea markets, like the brown and red tug boats, above. But I'm happy to report that you can buy the red sailboat, on the left, above, including a cloth sail, from Nova Natural for a very reasonable price. I like that it's waterproof, sturdy, and big enough for passengers, like the duck and frog above. Ours went sailing in the stream this past weekend. I took this photo of the crafts and their pilots after the races were over.

On Good Friday, a fellow parishioner was handing out bunches of nine thin beeswax candles (homemade) for praying the Divine Mercy Novena. What a treat! We drilled holes in a log to make a candleholder, and each day we've lit a new candle before we pray the novena prayers. Tonight we lit the last one in the middle. It was so lovely I'm saving the log for our Pentecost novena. It occurred to me that this might be a wonderful fundraiser or craft for a youth or parish group to do for promoting devotion to the Divine Mercy: make candles and log holders, and sell them with a Divine Mercy booklet to encourage folks to do the novena. At least, our family loved it! I'm already wondering how I can get more candles for next year.

As a follow up to my previous post about the "Lenten Clothing Fast," I wanted to share how much fun it was to finally wear spring colors on Easter in celebration of the Lord's Resurrection joy! Being a former girl, I love pink, and I usually wear pink and white on Easter. Since this year was chilly, a cotton sweater in drive-me-crazy green was in order over the pink silk blouse and white skirt I'd chosen. The jewelry is vintage, from my late grandmother, but my mom gave me the watch for Christmas. And my aunt, who is always helping me stay fashionable, brought me the little-girl-beribboned tote, which I promptly claimed as this year's Easter purse. It's fun to change colors along with the Church at the changing of the seasons!

Guardian angels make the best personal shoppers. My spiritual journey has taught me over and over again that material possessions are easy for God to provide -- that whole "lilies of the field" verse in the Bible is really, honestly true. It's things like conversions, healing of addictions, etc. that take years and years of agonized prayer to accomplish. But material possessions? Simple. No problem. If you really need it today, God will provide it for you. Then too, we are in America, a country awash with material possessions. If you're in the right place at the right time, people might even pay you to take things away. So, trusting in that, during the times when money is scarce at our house, I've come to ask my guardian angel to find things for me -- you know, those little relatively unimportant things that sometimes come to play such a huge role in the heart of a housewife -- new curtains, a fashion accessory, the perfect gift for a child or friend... The shee...

In my husband's family, after their renewal in the Catholic faith, there was no Easter bunny to bring candy in their house: the Easter Angel came instead. (Makes much more sense.) So when my oldest daughter created an Easter egg hunt for the other children on Easter morning, she dressed up as -- the Easter Angel. With a little help from a pair of homemade fairy wings. I caught her on camera as she flew by on her joyful errand. Blessed Easter to you!

This is probably the moment to confess I am an ardent Philosemite. I love the Jewish people, Judaism, and anything remotely Jewish. I don't know why -- I just get excited whenever I encounter Jews or Judaism. I've never lost my childhood delight in Jewishness, and I am perpetually in mourning for only being a "spiritual Semite," not a genuine one. While I was growing up, my parents always held a Pascal Meal, a Catholic version of the Jewish Seder meal, during Holy Week. This is one tradition that we've been happy to pass on to our children. On Wednesday night, we gather with other families and hold the Passover service. The prayers we use are a version I admit I compiled myself, using several different Passover services and melding together the elements I liked best (all the while feeling a holy fear of being so cavalier with ancient tradition) and drawing out the Catholic foreshadowing in the Jewish prayers. Following Doman tradition, our family prays the Passove...

Yesterday evening I was sitting in the corner of our fence at the back of our pasture, and looking to the right, I saw that our perfectly straight new board fence -- wasn't perfectly straight at all. But it was beautiful, in its own erratic way. Are we sort of the same, in our attempts to walk the straight and narrow? Imperfect, but still managing to get where we're trying to go? I hope so. A blessed Holy Week.