House Art Journal

My daughter, the gourmet cook, continues to come up with creative ways to decorate cakes, and I had to show off this picture of her July creation for my son's birthday: using the new Skittles Chocolate Mix , she decorated this chocolate cake. I believe her method was this: she first did a row around the edge of the cake of Skittles ranging them from dark to light over and over again. Then she began a new row inside but shifted every color over one step. "It makes it look like a snail shell," she said. Allow me to gush: isn't she creative?

Not being a gourmet cook like my eleven-year-old, I tend to buy basic spices that come in large 99-cent jars from the dollar store. But of course I can't stand having the jars on my counter. So some time ago I started collecting empty Trader Joe's balsalmic vinegar jars. I love the shape and the cork stoppers. I find they're wonderful for spices: the narrow neck takes the place of a shaker top. I do have a set of shakers for smaller spices I picked up at a flea market. I have them arranged on an IKEA shelf that has been with us since the early days of our marriage. Someday, I will get custom made labels for my spices from one of those custom-made label places, but for now I'm happy with a permanent marker, even though it does wipe off.

I admit, I love silver and I love dishes on pedestals. I was first introduced to the beauty of pedestals at a homey hole-in-the-wall pizzeria, where the pizza was served on pedestals so that even six diners could gather around the restarant's diminuitive tables to eat. I actually own one restaurant pedestal, bought from a diner going-out-of business. I happened upon the other two in separate thrift stores: they cost about $8.00 each. Right now I don't use them very often, but they always stay on my counter. Alas, the glass cake stand I blogged about has met its demise, but its top remains with us, at least as of this blogging, as you can see from the photo above.

I'm glad I managed to finish the purse before the end of the summer! I have to say, I think it turned out pretty well. The bright colors are uplifting to me now, and I have hopes of carrying this purse into the fall. And because to the button-on cover, I can change it again for another look later on. :) Thanks for those of you who were following my little project: it's wonderful to be able to chalk it up as: done!

I have to say I'm becoming very fond of the book series that my friend Ben Hatke is doing with my other friend Neal Lozano . I just received their third book in the mail, and it's gorgeous, with a cover that reminds me of summertime. If you're not familiar with the books, visit the site to see their trilogy of books, Will You Bless Me? and Can God See Me in the Dark? Gently ecumenical in text but thoroughly Catholic in sensibility, these hardcover books with their handsome typesetting would be wonderful gifts for the children in your life. Enjoy!

I had the honor of attending the funeral of Thom and Marc Girard on July 5th, and when I went up, I presented the family with a spiritual bouquet of prayers from the teens on the Fairy Tale Novel Forum (Marc was a member). The night before, I was inspired to create a bouquet card out of paper to present the bouquet. It was fairly simple: I printed out the prayer promises from each of the members (for example, five rosaries and two Masses) in a decorative font in blocks of four to a 8.5x11" sheet of paper. On the reverse side, I printed out images from the comprehensive J.W. Waterhouse site of ladies and girls gathering flowers. I rolled each piece of paper into a cone, and put them into a larger cone I made out of card stock. It took a little bit of fixing to get them to all stay inside nicely (I recommend pushing them down as far as possible) but with some care they made a nice-looking, if fragile, bouquet. I attached a ribbon to the cone with floral wire to finish. Thanks to

I loved that boy so much.

Marc Girard, 18, looked like your ordinary Catholic teenager. But he was not. He had a Facebook page. He was a part of the Fairy Tale Novel Forum (even though, like most guys, he hadn't read the books :) ). He was careless about spelling. He hated having his picture taken. His avatar was a man making funny faces. To his four younger siblings and to most of his friends, I am sure he sometimes seemed very ordinary. Even though he took his Catholic faith seriously, and sometimes challenged his high school friends on different issues. His friend Paul Ethier was surprised when Marc told him that he was planning to join the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate , who had a friary near the Girard home in Griswold, CT. Marc was accepted as a postulant, and was going to join the Maine, NY friary in August. The Girard family had been through a lot. Last year they suffered two hardships in a row: first, their home burned down. The only thing in Marc's room that survived the fire was his pi

If life was a bowl of cherries, it would be sweet indeed. We went cherry picking at Hartland Orchards on Sunday (we managed to hit the last day of cherry picking and the first day of blueberry picking at the same time: what a bonus!). I wish I had bought my camera: I don't think I ever appreciated before how red cherries are: almost too red to be believed. Red cherries filmed by pale green leaves glowing against perfect blue skies was a sight I would have loved to capture. So I am settling for this more prosaic shot of cherries in a bowl, whose subtle variations of red are still enchanting. Also this photo documents my latest conquest: spotting a good price on a set of vintage green Hull pottery! I am happily awash in green bowls these days.