House Art Journal

Santa Claus = St. Nicholas?

2011-12-17T19:39:00.008-05:00

Enjoy this lovely image of St. Nicholas from artist Susan Seals, and purchase a print here. A friend of mine posted on a message board wondering what I've heard many Christians (Protestant and Catholic) wonder: how a person can encourage his or her children to believe in Santa Claus, as opposed to St. Nicholas, the Catholic saint. Are they really the same person?

First, it must be pointed out that Santa Claus IS St. Nick, at least literally. Santa means "Saint" and "Claus" is an abbreviated form of Nicholas (as in Ni-KLAUS). In our house, Baby Jesus gives the gifts (and hence all requests for toys are addressed to him).

We tell our kids the gifts come from Baby Jesus but St. Nicholas delivers them, and St. Nicholas lives in heaven, which is a lot nicer than the North Pole. We let them think what they want about reindeer and elves.

With our own children, we don't really encourage them to watch movies that propose to explain the Saint as a secular phenomenon, whether Miracle on 34th Street or The Santa Clause, so as not to confuse them. Of course there is no Mrs. Claus (Fr. Fasano says it's an easy mistake to make: she's his housekeeper.) And as I've blogged before, we love the book Country Angel Christmas by Tomie de Paola, which features a Santa Claus who lives in heaven (reindeer and all). I think that helps them picture him more clearly.

Our pastor Fr. Jerome Fasano (whom I think is the best homilist in the US) gave us a stern lecture Dec. 6th weekend when he first came to our parish, talking about the terrible scandal of so many Catholics in American accepting heresy, even unwittingly, because of lack of teaching. He said that he was pleased to see how devout and faithful our parish was, but he suspected us of harboring one heresy he found absolutely unacceptable: that there is no Santa Claus. (There was a relieved shout of laughter from the congregation at his words.) Now he gives a similar version of the homily seasonally, telling us the facts about St. Nicholas (for instance, that he was imprisoned for the faith, and that he attended the Council of Nicea, where he distinguished himself by punching Arius the heretic in the nose), and urging us to not deny our children devotion to this wonderful saint.

Some people object, saying that the popular image of St. Nicholas hardly resembles the actual life of the saint. My surmisal is this: if even half the legends about St. Nicholas are true, then I'd think that a man who spent his time on earth rescuing little girls from prostitution and little boys from sadistic butchers would be perfectly contented spending his heaven helping children receive dolls and Legos and basically serving as one of the hallmarks of their childhood innocence.

What is certain is that every since Nicholas went to heaven, he's been wildly popular with the faithful, and the accusation that he's more popular thant Jesus is far from a new one. (See various medieval miracle plays to the saint, in which Our Savior's name is barely mentioned.) Which leads me to think he really was a splendid personality on earth.

Evi Doll Patterns at last!

2011-12-07T15:32:00.007-05:00

Many of you know I'm big fans of the Nova Natural Evi dolls. Two years ago, Nova released their popular all-natural fair-trade dolls in "dressable" form: and I lost no time in buying the "mother" doll (who can pass for a fairy-tale princess in my book!) and outfitting her with a wardrobe. Some of you asked for the patterns I used. It's taken me two years, but at last (Merry Christmas!) I'm posting the patterns I made. If you would like to download the PDF of the pattern book I made of clothes to fit that doll, click here. I believe the clothes would also fit the flower fairy dolls and some of the fairy tale dolls (they would have to go over the existing clothes those dolls wear unless you, like my daughters, cut the clothes off the doll).

The six-page book can be printed onto letter-sized paper in black and white. The patterns presuppose a knowledge of sewing and dress construction. So I didn't really include any directions, just the pattern pieces. But maybe in the future I can do an upgrade. I welcome any feedback you might have, and yes, I would love to see photos of how the clothes turn out!

So here's the Evi Dollhouse Doll Pattern Book. Happy crafting and blessed Christmas!

Flowers in the Snow

2011-11-07T10:12:00.003-05:00

The other day we were surprised by an early snowfall two days before Halloween. Activities were cancelled, electric currents flickered, and the family stayed home by the fire instead of rushing about in a frenzy of fall activity. My herbs and snapdragons, the first I've succesfully gardened, were caught unawares but bloomed bravely on. The unseasonal chill seems to have strengthened them: they are flourishing even more fiercely now.

Looking Up

2011-10-28T13:05:00.004-04:00

I've been so busy in my life for these past few months (as my hiatus from journaling shows) that I feel I'm always looking down - down at my keyboard, down at my checkbook, down at the mess of the house and the chores needing to be done. How often do I look up?

Not very often, I realize. Even when I take a walk, I find myself looking at my feet, anxious not to make a false step and stumble - instead of looking at the beauty all around me.

I found this picture my daughter took, while lying beneath one of the trees in our front yard. She was looking up - and I'm posting this as a reminder to myself. I want to be looking up more - looking up at the sky, at the fall leaves and colors, and at our Heavenly Father looking down at us. He may just be smiling at me, but I'll never know if I don't look up.

Starting a publishing company....

2011-10-27T16:05:00.002-04:00

One reason for my hiatus is that we have decided to make our self-publishing company into a REAL publishing company with our acquisition of the John Paul 2 High Series. It's very exciting but a lot of work. I pulled out an old drawing of Chesterton's White Horse which I did years ago and designed a logo for our company, Chesterton Press (which formerly published only the Fairy Tale Novels). I hope you like it.

So we are hurrying to get the first three new books into print before Christmas, plus redesign or design three websites, and I still must do more sane household things such as going through our sheets and blankets and get rid of things in preparation for the fall...

Please do pray for us in our busy-ness and I look forward to posting about sanity soon.

Blessed Easter!

2011-04-27T11:26:00.002-04:00

He is Risen! Alleluia!

My daughters colored these eggs and created a nest for them of colored paper, two colors of green photocopy paper run through my husband's office shredder. The result was as vibrantly colored as the Easter eggs, a true match and a nice change from the pale pastels such papers usually come in.

Black and White, Lamb and Cat

2011-03-09T20:42:00.004-05:00

One of our sheep gave birth to twin lambs but rejected one. So, much to our children's delight, we have a temporary house pet named Oreo, who drinks from a bottle and wears a diaper at night time (we only allow him on the wood floors). He has gladly adopted us as his flock and baas most disapprovingly when we go away in the car. The other party delighted with the addition of a sheep is our youngest cat, Hotaru, who takes every opportunity to play with him--whether or not the lamb is interested in playing with him.

For me, one of the highlights of owning farm animals is the opportunity to observe their beauty, and Oreo and Hotaru are both rewarding in that respect.

The Refinisher's Two New Best Friends

2011-01-20T12:04:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning for a while to blog about two newer products I've discovered that have made home improvement projects so much easier. If you refinish furniture or do woodworking, you want to check these two concoctions out.

It used to be that stripping paint meant donning heavy-duty gloves, a breathing mask, and seting up shop far away from any inquisitive children. With Safest Stripper from 3M, those days are over. This paint remover looks deceptively like Elmer's glue, and feels just as safe: it causes little or no skin irritation (gloves still recommended, but I speak from experience!). Spread on a thick coat, let it sit according to the directions, and the paint begins to gel and crack, and can be easily scraped up with a plastic or metal putty knife. I've had to search hard to find it: our local Lowes doesn't carry it, but our small-town hardware store was willing to order it for me. It works easiest on latex paint and varnish, but with hard work and plastic wrap (to keep it wet), it even removed six layers of old lead-based paint from our 1890 kitchen. Safest Stripper makes an arduous chore far less so, and I am grateful.

For me, applying polyeurethane always meant sacrificing a paint brush, since I never seemed to be able to get the bristles completely clean, and I seldom remembered to stock up on paint thinner. No more! The water-based revolution continues in paints, and Miniwax's latest offering is water-based wipe-on polyeurethane, which makes adding a final protective coat as easy as wiping a hard surface with a rag--literally! And coats dry extremely rapidly, which is another plus, making the application multiple coats so much easier.

So if you're thinking of beginning a project, keep a look out for these products I've stumbled upon, which do an excellent job. As a mother of small children, I've been particularly happy to discover them. Pass it on!

Pig Butchering and the Art of Sausage Making

2011-01-17T17:52:00.007-05:00

The depths of winter are the poor man's butchering season. For those of us without walk-in freezers in our homes, it is a far easier chore to butcher your own hogs when your garage has acquired the temperature of a cold refridgerator. So these January weekends we are butchering, with lots of help from family and friends. Some aspects of pork butchering are easy to learn: after the men have done the messy work of gutting and hanging, what remains of the pig roughly resembles what one finds in the store. Cutting a ham is simply, if not gracefully, done, and with a pair of sturdy sterilized tree pruners in hand, chops and spare ribs are easily cut.

But sausage making is not such a simple proposition, as we have discovered over the course of two years of pig butchering. Combining cubes of fat and odd bits of meat with an array of spices is truly an art, and not one that can be swiftly mastered. Since sausage remains our family's favorite dish, we are striving hard to be careful and to test our mixes before committing. It means, of course, more time, since raw pork precludes taste testing. Many small patties are fried as samples and everyone gives their opinion.

This year's sausage making was made vastly less arduous by our Christmas-present-to-ourselves of a black KitchenAid mixer with a food grinder and sausage stuffing attachment. And our neighbors offered to double our output by loaning us their red model. So even now we labor far into the evening on what we hope will afford us six months of breakfast sausage, all hands pitching in, as you can see from the above.

Appearances aside, we haven't achieved nearly the level of the Ingalls family of Little House fame: we don't use all of the pig (no roasting of the tail!) and we are scarcely as resourceful as Ma. Yet I will say that butchering our own animals has brought us a degree of community with our friends (for we need their help!) like nothing else.

No Room in the Stable

2011-01-13T13:01:00.002-05:00

During the Christmas season, our cats discovered that the apple-crate stable we were using for our Willow Tree nativity figurines was the perfect napping place. Hotaru, our calico, had no qualms about knocking over St. Joseph and displacing Mary, baby Jesus, and the various stable animals from their shelter in order to take a relaxing sleep. Or perhaps he just wanted to be a part of the scene?

Christmas Brunch 2010

2010-12-27T15:16:00.004-05:00

One of the highlights of every Christmas morning is brunch, cooked by my husband. After returning from Mass, he slices potatoes into tiny chunks and fries them to a delectable golden brown, then serves them with thickly-sliced mushrooms and onions, a dish we term "Narnian Home Fries" because it reminds us of Shasta's breakfast with the dwarves in The Horse and His Boy. Sausage and Portugese salilio bread completed the brunch, along with the necessity of tea. My eldest daughter cooked a Yule log cake and garnished it with meringue mushrooms, a confection she's been perfecting, aided by our family's recent acquisition of a stand-up Kitchen Aid mixer.
My Christmas breakfast duty is setting the table, which I always do the night before. This year I decorated our large wooden lazy susan with boxwood branches, silk white roses, wooden hearts, and red ribbon to make a impromtu Christmas tree as the centerpiece. A stroke of luck gifted us with two red-and-white checked twin sheets which together created a covering for our massive table. A brown runner and a length of ribbon completed the ensemble. Silver serving dishes, plain white plates, and embroidered napkins from my favorite antique store were complemented by our everyday teacups and Sunday silverware. Mixing old and new to create holiday centerpieces is one of my favorite parts of Christmas day, and I confess I look forward to that as much as I look forward to my husband's homefries. May God bless you this Christmas season!

St. Lucy's Day

2010-12-15T14:15:00.002-05:00

Here's the centerpiece my daughter made for this year's St. Lucy's Day celebration. The little doll is from Magic Cabin Dolls, and the little trees I got at clearance at WalMart. Our children love this celebration, which we celebrate with monkey cake, whose little chunks my daughter observed, could look like eyeballs.

Baby Bene!

2010-12-03T11:55:00.004-05:00

I realized that in the scuffle of the past two months, I never posted a photo of our latest one, Benedict (nicknamed Bene). Born on Oct. 21, 2010, a very wonderful baby. God is good indeed!

Bene's Baptism Cake

2010-12-03T11:52:00.001-05:00

My oldest daughter continues to be creative with her cakes. Here is the cake she made and decorated for our newest baby's baptism, complete with blue lollipop on top.

Butchering the Ramb

2010-12-02T17:54:00.005-05:00

This past year, our family began raising American Blackbelly Hair Sheep for meat. A few weeks ago, we butchered our two oldest males, one ram and one who, because of his youth, we dubbed the "ramb." Unlike our pig butchering, where we had experienced help, Andrew and I tackled this task ourselves, armed with the help of the The Homesteader's Handbook to Raising Small Livestock and Cutting Up In the Kitchen. It was much less intimidating than the pig, and we managed to do both in two days. But from the pig butchering, we learned that some unconventional tools such as tree pruning sheers and a reciprocating saw are more useful in some cases than butchering knives and cleavers.

After watching their dad carve up loins and chops, the older children wanted to help. So Andrew set them to work cutting up some of the smaller bits for stew. That evening I tossed some of the chunks with seasoned flour and roasted them 325 degrees in the oven. The family concluded that "ramb nuggets" were a delectable treat, especially on a fall evening!

New Teapot and Cup

2010-12-01T20:23:00.002-05:00

One of the nicest parts of collecting everyday china is that your acquisitions break so frequently that clutter is not a lasting problem, particularly when you have children.

Since our last teapot was chipped on the spout, I purchased this new one at a flea market which looks so appropriate to the fall. Also I wanted to show off my latest addition to my restaurantware collection of red and white: this floral pattern is so unusual! I've claimed it as my morning teacup.

Behold the Table!

2010-09-04T15:30:00.005-04:00

My husband arranged with his brother that he would raise a pig for him in exchange for a new dining room table, and my brother-in-law agreed. The table was delivered today, and what a massive table it is! Made of reclaimed poplar with antique barn beams, it's an original design of my brother-in-law's. Some of you are familiar with his etsy store, Strong Oaks Woodshop, which also makes Waldorf playstands. Since we're expecting our eighth child in October, this large table is a timely addition to our house: we were really starting to crowd one another at the supper table. And my husband, like many men, couldn't stand it when all the dishes "jumped" whenever someone bumped our old table. But this slab-and-beam is truly more to his masculine taste: it won't be so easily shifted.

I don't know what my brother-in-law will name this design, but something along the lines of "A Man's Table" might be appropriate. If you're interested in a table of this style, feel free to contact Strong Oaks for pricing and customization.

Queenship of Mary Procession

2010-08-28T09:54:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, we had two neighbor families over on Sunday afternoon for a little ceremony in honor of Our Lady. Since the Queenship of Mary is my feast day, and it seems that family processions are becoming more regular in our lives, I finally decided to buckle down and make some banners (from Dharmatrading.com) in honor of Our Lady. My children drew large Marian symbols on scrap paper with black permanent marker: a lilly, a crown with stars, the Holy Spirit, the Immaculate Heart. Then I placed each one under a banner and traced the design with silver fabric paint. Next I carefully dropped diluted fabric dye onto the banners, which spreads until (hopefully) it meets the resistance of the paint, creating an almost stained-glass look. We hung our banners on branches for the children to carry. Others carried flowers, and one little girl carried a small crown of flowers on a sofa pillow. Our hymn to the Queen might have been off-key, but the procession was lovely. We trailed our way to our little shrine of statues, crowned our Lady, and prayed a decade of her Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet, then returned to the house for angel-food cake and iced tea for the children, and beer for the adults. Our Lady, pray for us!

Neighbor's Garden

2010-08-17T11:29:00.002-04:00

Our neighbor's house is like ours used to be: a rambling old house with multiple shed additions. It's not in the best shape. But I love their ample garden. It looks to me like the garden Peter Rabbit might have stolen into.

Summer Evening Walk

2010-07-15T19:20:00.003-04:00

We decided to deliver a basket of fresh peaches to our neighbors, the Hatkes, so the little girls got into the jogging stroller, and their older brother chivalrously volunteered to be their chauffer. We live on a relatively quiet gravel road near rarely-used railroad tracks, so it was a peaceful walk. Thank God for the beauty of a quiet evening.

Pruning the Peach Tree

2010-07-13T10:12:00.003-04:00

This past fall my husband pruned the vines encircling one ancient peach tree with only two branches left: and the effort reaped dividends as peaches came forth in abundance these past few weeks! We picked several baskets full.

After the Pigs...

2010-07-12T11:47:00.003-04:00

Earlier in the year, Anna and Ben raised pigs with us, and for about two weeks, they had the two young pigs fenced in a square of their lawn: as pigs do, they rooted and manured the ground, turning it up better than any rototiller for a garden. Here's that same square some six months later, bursting with fertility. Anna carefully planned out her garden in small raised beds with a path round a central bed of herbs. My friend is a good gardener indeed!

Joshua's Anniversary

2010-07-08T13:32:00.001-04:00

Joshua Michael

July 26, 2001-July 8, 2006

Miss him so much.

Anna's Entranceway Garden

2010-07-07T17:32:00.003-04:00

I was charmed when I stopped by my neighbor Anna's house and saw how the flower garden next to her toolshed is flourishing. Since the toolshed is right next to the main entrance to her house, (it's ten feet from the kitchen door) she put some effort into making it welcoming and inviting, arranging rocks salvaged from other places in the yard and planting flowering herbs. An old screen now is entwined with a flowering vine, and in front of it she "planted" a log pillar with a small resin statue of Our Lady and Child. The effect is so endearing I had to share it with you all.

Summer Birthdays

2010-07-02T18:03:00.002-04:00

I couldn't resist posting this picture of a summer ritual in our family: celebrating the birthdays of our boys and their dad. My husband Andrew's birthday, which usually makes a happy conjuction or coincidence with both Father's Day and the Feast of the Sacred Heart, begins the summer for us. One indispensable hallmark of the celebration is strawberry-cheesecake (the BHG recipe), which my eldest daughter concocts with greater skill each year. This year, in absence of graham crackers, she ingeniously substituted a crust of walnuts and chocolate: delicious! I love the red-blue-white-green hues of this photo, and how our youngest is earnestly helping her father blow out the candles, watched by some Hatke child guests. Now that our picnic table has emerged from the garage, I hope for many casual summer evening suppers and celebrations in the twilight.

Healing Sunlight Revisited

2010-07-02T12:34:00.003-04:00

Some of you may remember the photo I took of my newborn daughter Polly lying on her quilt in the sunlight. Well, she is nearly two-and-a-half, but she still sleeps with her "blankie" which I made her. The other day, I caught her napping in a laundry basket in a beam of sunlight, and I thought I would share the image with you. How babies grow so fast!

Homemade Sink Cabinet

2010-05-12T12:26:00.001-04:00

About two weeks ago, we experienced a kitchen crisis: the stainless steel kitchen sink that came with the house rusted apart (the drain literally fell out of the bottom) and the sink cabinet that housed it (a $100 cabinet from Lowes) collapsed. Our kitchen has been badly in need of rennovation ever since we moved here, but this situation made a re-do imperative.

When we moved in, we had re-fitted the kitchen with cabinets salvaged from someone else's rennovation, but almost all of those have now lost their doors or broken their drawers, leading my husband to declare war on the standard kitchen cabinet. And new cabinets and countertops, with their thousand-dollar price tags, remain beyond our budget.

So the solution? Several components came together to help us escape this kitchen debacle, no doubt guided by our guardian angels.

1) A vintage sink. With built-in dishdrains on either side, this cast-iron sink was given to us by an in-law, who had it lying on the ground outside his barn. We had to work to find faucets to fit both the holes and our checkbook, but it's solid and sturdy. Bar Keeper's Friend took the rust spots off the enamel, and it almost looks new.

2) Corian countertops. Once the Cadillac of the countertop world, solid-surface Corian has suffered a downfall in the wake of the granite-and-concrete revolution. A retired contractor bought the contents of a store that dumped its old colors of Corian, and offered them for a bargain price in our local paper. What timing! Andrew and I spent several dusty hours moving huge slabs in his warehouse and finally found three pieces in black and dark green that matched. We talked him down to a price of $120. Sold!

3) Barn wood framing. We've been living with open shelves in the kitchen for years now and we love them. So Andrew decided to try open shelves on our base cabinet. Using salvaged barn wood, Andrew and I built a base of old 4x4s and thick planks we had belt-sanded and stained. (Did you know they now have wipe-on polyeurethane? I wanted to sing for joy as I finished the wood, knowing I wouldn't be ruining yet another brush by failing to clean it properly!) We've yet to build the shelves for holding pots and trays beneath the cabinet: as you can see, we're just storing our tools there in this picture. But there should be room for lots of bulky items that right now are piled in cantankerous piles in the broken-door standard cabinet across from this one.

There's more work to do, but our kitchen is now functioning again, and our family is rejoicing in the spacious new counter space. I'll let you know what happens when we finish building the shelves. But so far, so good: and we are thinking of applying the same design to the stovetop island that makes up the other side of the kitchen: so the adventure continues!

Thank you for your prayers!

2010-05-10T09:51:00.000-04:00

The baby llama has pulled through okay, and is happily skipping around the pasture with her mama and enjoying chasing the sheep! We never did get her to accept any sort of supplement, but she managed to nurse anyhow. I suspect the culprit might have been the heat: she was born on a very hot day, and since then the weather has been considerably more mild. (Being born with a full coat of curly black hair has its disadvantages in Virginia!) But I also believe in the power of prayer, and I am certain that the prayers and good wishes sent its way helpled exceedingly! Thank you!

A New Llama!

2010-05-03T11:55:00.001-04:00

This Sunday we were wonderfully surprised to find that our mama llama had given birth to a beautiful little black baby girl llama! The little one is well-formed, but sadly, she's not nursing well, which doesn't bode well. I need to ask for prayers for this little one, since llama babies, unlike sheep babies, are fragile and need looking after. She's refused a bottle of colostrum, but we have some hope that she managed to nurse in the night. The parent llamas are very proud of their little girl, and though they don't like my husband and I to approach her, they are perfectly fine with our young children coming up to pet the baby, which of course, they love to do.

So I'm asking for prayers that our little "Black Beauty" will nurse well and thrive! She is a delight to our children already, and if she keeps her black color (her father is dark brown with a black face) she will be a rarity in this area. So pray, and I will let you know how she fares.

A Fine Irish Pub in Ohio

2010-04-23T11:19:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, my husband and I attended the Mad Anthony Writer's Conference in Hamilton, Ohio, and were delighted to be introduced to a truly Irish pub in the same town, Ryan's Tavern. Run by the husband of one of the conference organizers, whose family hails on both sides from the Emerald Isle, Ryan's Tavern has the distinction of being a fantastic restaurant as well as a genuine pub. Ensconced in a renovated building crammed with history, Ryan's Tavern features a cherry-wood staircase that makes a grand entrance for any bridal party, extra-large booths (built and carved with Irish knotwork and ivy by Amish craftsmen) to accomodate many friendly dinner parties, and a vast variety of fine Irish beers and spirits.

Coming from an Italian background myself, a family joke was that the Irish can't cook: have you ever heard of an Irish restaurant? Well, after eating twice at Ryan's Tavern, I am happy to be proven wrong. The Shepherd's Pie was simply mouth-wateringly amazing. And their range of appetizers, entrees and desserts is comprehensive - everything from St. Patrick's Pasta (you knew he was of Italian descent, right?) to the Tipperary Portabella appetizer to the passionately delicious Confessional Chimichanga (a wafer of pastry wrapped around softened chocolate served with ice cream: we thought we were too full to try it but we ended up fighting for the right to finish it!). If you happen to have the good fortune to come to Hamilton, Ohio, be sure to stop for a bite and a drink at Ryan's Tavern. Good luck and God's blessings to you!

Easter Vigil and Morning Centerpieces

2010-04-07T14:53:00.000-04:00

Our usual routine on the Easter Vigil is to send our young children to be early, while the rest of us stay up to clean house, fill and hide Easter baskets, and set the table for breakfast after church in the morning. This year, my eldest daughter created centerpieces that were so enchanting I had to share them. She cut flowering branches and planted them in soil-filled clay pots topped with moss, then hung them with tiny wooden ornaments (culled by me from a thrift-store table) and set them on flowered linens from the antique store bin. Taking a cue from my friend Clare, I had purchased wooden peg people which the girls and I painted, then glued on wool hair and gilded wooden wings to make a chorus of Easter angels to welcome our children in the morning.

My daughter again took creative license with my plans when it came to setting the table. A yellow sheet from a giveaway bag was our tablecloth and I bought 50-cent white dishes at thift stores to serve as chargers for my grandmother's Depression glass china, but it was my daughter who made Easter egg nests of pink shredded paper in her collection of tiny clay pots and nestled them in linen napkins, placing one of her very own special silver spoons on each plate to crack the shells with.

The result was pure enchantment for the young ones, an awe that rivaled that of Christmas morning. Though their baskets were hidden away until after Mass and brunch, Easter joy was awaiting them on the table that morning, and even one of our adult guests declared that it was the loveliest table setting she'd ever seen. Many thanks to my daughter's creativity!

Sparkling Elegance from LuShae Jewelry

2010-04-01T12:33:00.000-04:00

Recently I received a free sample from LuShae Jewelry (http://www.jewelryartdesigns.com/) in a splendid dark blue gift box, which brought my attention to this Australian-based company (but they ship from California). I love this simply elegant iridescent pearl, and I highly recommend their jewelry. They have everything from promise rings to beautiful cross pendants to earrings, and don't miss this adorable antique fleur de lis necklace.
If you're searching for Confirmation or graduation gifts this spring, give this site a browse! Their customer service is quite wonderful, and bloggers might want to note that they run a yearly contest to give bloggers the chance to win $5000.

Easter Gifts from Creative Catholic Moms!

2010-03-17T16:33:00.000-04:00

For those of you looking for sweet small handmade gifts for Easter, I highly recommend my friend Clare Marmalejo's Etsy Store, Little Red Whimsy. Clare buys castoff wool sweaters, felts them, and sews them into wee hats and mats for little gnome people she creates. Her store has become quite popular this Easter, but I believe there are still a few gnome sets left: along with fairy furniture, mushroom necklaces, and gnome houses. Clare, who now has two little girls with her husband Nick, still lives in a cottage and still loves creating adorable toys for children!

Another good artistic friend of mine has opened her own store, selling tiny saint dolls just perfect for an Easter basket: St. Anne's Pixies. Jennifer Flippen, mother of four, crafts saint dolls from wire and wool felt, painting their faces and small accessories, such as St. Zita's kitchen table, St. Martha's bread, and St. George's horse! She also sells rosary pouches, Miraculous Medal earrings, and peg people such as the adorable "He is Risen!" princess below.

So as you prepare for Easter, visit the stores of these talented Catholic mothers! And blessings to your Lent.

A Snowy Day and a Lost Sheep

2010-02-06T19:07:00.007-05:00

As I write, a historic snowfall is showering upon our valley in northwestern Virginia. Over two feet of snow covers Shirefeld. My husband and I awoke early, enjoying the childlike happiness of snow, and discussed our plans for the day. Reading books by the fire, perhaps even poetry, after a few chores were done: those were our chief goals. After praying the family rosary around the fire, my husband decided to check on our small flock of six sheep and two llamas. He was thanking God he had picked up a large roll of hay Thursday for their small stable beneath our chicken coop, so they had both shelter and food. To his surprise and concern, none of the black-and-brown hair sheep were near the stable, though the llamas were there, chewing placidly. He saw the sheep in the far reaches of the pasture, and they were stuck in the heavy snow. Quickly he floudered across the heavily-laden field and started driving them back to their stable. They were struggling in the snow as they made their way back to the stable/chicken coop. But then he counted them, and to his dismay, he realized there were only five.

I had come outside to look at the picturesque falling snow and heard his shouts. Soon the family and our two boarders were mobilized and out to look for our lost sheep. I confess my feet froze first so I went back to the house, but my husband, our eldest son, and our boarders continued to slog through the snow, poking at strange-shaped drifts, looking fruitlessly for tell-tale tracks and trying to think of why the sheep might have wandered off. When we realized it was one of the pregnant females, we began to lose heart. Surely her condition had lowered her resistance to the cold weather. Why hadn't the sheep stayed in their stable where they were safe? Why had they chosen to wander instead? I'm sure I wasn't the only one who asked that, as the snow continued to fall and the lost sheep was nowhere to be found. My husband said he kept asking himself why he hadn't checked earlier: why he hadn't moved the sheep to the more sheltered second chicken coop?

My husband, feeling like the worst of shepherds, was despairing, but continued to try to imagine where the lost sheep could be. He set Caleb to poking around one of the pasture lanes nearer the house with a shovel, in case the sheep had tried to find shelter there. Meanwhile, he and our boarder Elizabeth (who fortunately had raised sheep with her family) tried to puzzle over the sheep's disappearance. Though sheep are notoriously lacking in intelligence (no compliment was intended by Our Lord when He called us His sheep), they tend to remain in their flock, and their guard llamas usually carefully keep the herd together. Perhaps, said Elizabeth, the sheep was about to begin lambing, so she went off by herself to give birth in a more secluded spot. She suggested that they search for a sheltered place far from where the rest of the flock had been found - around the pond and the northeast lane furthest from the house and the stable/chicken coop. So she and my husband started wearily trudging across to the other side of our five-acre pasture. On one side of the pasture is a lane where my husband keeps the sheep when he needs to isolate them. It was overshadowed by snow-laden branches. No sooner had he reached the lane and climbed the fence than he spotted -- not one sheep, but two! A newborn lamb was standing at his mother's side.

Great was the rejoicing! Inside, those of us who had lost hope were greeted by a happy child messenger (our eldest son), shouting the good news: "We found the sheep! And there's a baby sheep too!" I rushed outside to greet the spectacle of our boarder, Elizabeth, returning to the house, cradling a newborn lamb in her arms, and my husband wrestling to carry a full-grown snow-covered struggling mama sheep across the pasture. Not as statuesque as the pictorial Good Shepherd, but the image brought to mind a shepherd who had truly laid down his life for his sheep.

The rest of the day was spent converting our garage into a sheep nursery so that we could have mama and baby out of the weather. (We moved the other two pregnant sheep inside, just in case.) And Andrew called our friends who had been praying for the recovery of our lost one, and was delighted to be able to repeat the words of that Scripture that will always have deeper meaning for us now: "Rejoice with me! For the sheep I had lost has been found." - plus one!

Random Moment of Beauty: Putting Away Christmas

2010-02-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

A glorious juxtapostition of my birthday and the clearance sale at Wal-Mart meant that my mother and I brought home armfuls of glass ornaments, tinsel, cranberry wreaths, and colored lights for around $30, and guests at my 40th birthday party spent their time decorating our Christmas tree. We neglected to get ornament hooks, so paper clips were happily pressed into service. And come Epiphany morn, our well-worn Christmas tree was ever more resplendent. I believe we have discovered a new family tradition!

Perhaps envigorated by its new garb, our tree remained fresh and green, barely dropping a handful of needles through Candlemas. We spent the second day of February playing medieval Christmas music at full tilt and taking down decorations. Boxes that had delivered gift pears to my parent's house were repurposed as sturdy boxes for the glass ornaments that had survived the twentysome days of Little Christmas. I seldom buy them, given their price and delicacy, but in the happy coincidence of my birthday with Christmas clearance, I think I have discovered a new way to incarnate the celebration of full Christmas season. Pass it on!

Last Day of Little Christmas 2010

2010-02-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

The plans I had made to post more about Christmas were curtailed by our son Thomas' developing diabetes over New Years. After our time in the hospital, we have spent most of the rest of Little Christmas adjusting to life with a young diabetic. But as per tradition, I wanted to post at least one photo of this year's Nativity scene to thank you all for reading and for your prayers.
Blessings upon your New Year!

What Makes a Fitting Christmas Gift?

2009-12-04T22:53:00.005-05:00

As I work to complete my Christmas shopping, I have been thinking over what makes a good Christmas gift. As I mentioned last year, we do three gifts per child (plus a stocking). And to some extent, I try to do as my friend Montse does: one toy, one book, one piece of clothing. But I give some leeway: I tend to get two toys for the boys instead of clothing, unless it's really cool clothing, like a hobbit cloak. (More on that later...) But beyond these parameters (and readers of this page know how much I delight in parameters), what other qualities transform something from a bargain piece of clothing to a bit of magic in a box known as a Christmas gift? Along with my ruminations, I'll include links to some gifts our family has enjoyed in the past, to share the joy with you.

Weightiness. The first virtue of a gift, for me, is its quality: it must please the eye and hand, and that generally means quality. For some reason, I can't find myself shopping for Christmas gifts at the dollar store, though sometimes I've gathered stocking stuffers there. Real things such as wood and wool satisfy the quality of weightiness. The present must feel substantial, even if the object itself is small. It should have craftsmanship that shows up in being handmade, by myself or by a fairly-paid craftsman. I admit, one reason I buy fewer gifts is to ensure I have enough money to be able to afford to give each child at least one thing that is truly lovely. As you know, Nova Natural is one of the places I turn to for fine craftsmanship. This year I bought my young son their handmade interlocking blocks, and my toddler their rainbow rings. Small packages, but oh so satisfying to wrap. And we love to give good hardcover fairytales with beautiful illustrations, like this one we discovered last year.

Pretty. Listening to the book on CD of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, I realize that this word was once used to apply to everything from horse carriages to books to gloves, without the feminine connotation the word has today. There should be a zest and a bit of a sparkle to a Christmas gift. It can't be simply ordinary: it must be cunning or bright or handsome. These are gifts we tell our children baby Jesus has picked out for them, and surely He would pick something that would shine. The patchwork dresses above were $5 on clearance, but their sweet floral embroidery and matching purses upgraded them to the status of Christmas presents for toddler girls who still get excited about the very idea of pockets. The paint set was a similar bargain at Michael's craft store: what sets it apart is the sheer multitude of colors: every color of the rainbow a dedicated artist could desire (and since we've bought this item in the past, I can swear that these colors don't dissolve like sugar after one or two uses).

Rare. A Christmas gift should also have an element of the rare, the unique. eBay is my favorite trove for unearthing such treasure. I remember well the year I bought my husband a medieval Polish coin from a dealer in Israel, and a handcarved wooden horse from a woodcarver in Poland. Now Etsy showcases unique handwork as well, though without eBay's wonderful atmosphere of an International garage sale. This year I bought quilt squares from Great Britain, and last year I was able to buy embroidered boutique dresses there at half-price as last year's styles were sifted away. Vintage clothing yields some good finds too.

Various. There is a wonderful variety in gold, frankincense, and myrrh. While they are all kingly gifts, their variety isn't predictible. So should it be with a good Christmas gift. With only three gifts, I try to ensure that each gift is a very different sort of gift from the others. For example, suppose you give your child nothing but three books? He has no choice but to read, and somehow this seems too narrow, not spacious and adventurous. It also runs the risk of failing to please the giver. So even if your family member requests nothing but books, or nothing but Legos, try to introduce an element of pleasing variety. Thus I try to give gifts that allow an active child has a choice of activities. He could run outside and play with a new slingshot, or he could curl up and read a book, or he could sit in his room and make paper airplanes.

Surprising. What is our God if not surprising? A babe in a manger was certainly not the sort of King we would have expected, and a fitting Christmas gift should have an element of the unexpected. What fun it is to try to surprise the person with something they wanted, but in a way they didn't expect? (Hopefully better!) I noticed my husband struggling to fit logs into a tiny woodbox, and then found a more accomodating wood rack last Christmas. My son wanted to make his sister a toy barn. We did, but I surprised him by including a set of wonderful wooden farm animals inside the box (which came at a surprisingly reasonable price!).

This is by no means an exhaustive list! I hope you enjoy the links and the reflections, and I wish you well in your hunt for Christmas presents. May it transmit to you some of the joy that God Himeslf felt as He prepared His Christmas gift for the world.

Christmas Presents 2009: Evi Dressable Dolls!

2009-11-24T17:01:00.003-05:00

It is with great pleasure that I announce that my favorite dollhouse dolls in the entire world, Nova Natural's Evi dolls, are now available as dressable dolls!

For years my children have been playing with these dolls, made of wool and cotton by a fair-trade labor cooperative, which are available in various fairy-tale characters, including knights and princesses. But my girls kept trying to change the clothes on the dolls, which are sewn on the bodies. I asked Nova Natural if they would consider carrying dressable dolls, and this Christmas season, they have them at last!

Click here to see pictures of their dollhouse family which come with removeable modern clothing. I ordered the father and mother dolls, and I decided to surprise my middle daughter this Christmas by dressing up these dolls as Paul Fester and Rachel Durham from my Fairy Tale Novel The Midnight Dancers!

(A caveat: The Midnight Dancers is "PG" (parental guidance suggested), but my husband read it aloud to my ten-year old (with judicious edits).) My oldest daughter is in on the secret, and she helped sew some of the clothes. In the photo above, the doll Rachel leaves aside her apron for the glamorous dancing dress she's created, while juggler Paul Fester (played by the father doll) tries to reason with her.

And here we have Paul instructing Rachel's younger sisters Linette and Debbie (played by the Nova Natural boy and girl dollhouse doll) in the fine art of juggling.

Hopefully we'll finish more outfits before Christmas! Now that the Evi dolls are dressable, I see myriads of possibilities: I've started making dress patterns for princess dresses for them. If you buy an Evi Doll and want to have a look at my pattern, email me and let me know!

So if you are looking for a natural and modest alternative to a Barbie doll or Polly Pocket that respects the innocence of children, I highly recommend the new dressable Evi dolls. With a little bit of sewing, you can make them into princes, princesses, fairies, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the saints -- the options are limited only by your imagination. Check them out here!

Music for a Fall Evening

2009-11-11T22:53:00.001-05:00

For excellent fiddling, I highly recommend this CD by our friends, The Woodhouse Band. I've posted about them before: their music has enlivened quite a few of our house parties with the flawlessly executed yet homespun sounds of fiddle, banjo, and guitar. During the chilly days of late fall, set this music spinning on your CD player, and soon your children will be Irish-jigging and twirling around the room! A better cure for winter cabin fever you won't find.

The Woodhouse Band is Michael Randolph and his five children, each of whom are talented string musicians. Michael has carefully crafted this CD over the years, and their first recording is an excellent display of their gifts. Repeated playings hasn't dulled my enthusiasm for this little CD. For a "homemade" Christmas gift from a Catholic home, consider The Woodhouse Band. Available locally in Front Royal or downloadable from CDBaby.

Learning Land Forms

2009-11-03T14:33:00.004-05:00

While I'm sharing about activities that reside on top of my refridgerator, I thought share about another favorite educational activity: clay land forms. Years ago I made a set with clay and disposable plastic containers. But this fall, I acquired this sweet little set from Michael Olaf Montessori: earth-toned waterproof clay and eight little pie pans are matched with cards so that little students can see that an island is land with water all around it, and a lake is land with water all around it. I keep the materials in a storage bin with a washcloth and tiny water pitcher.

The child can mold islands, pennisulas, and isthmuses of any shape she chooses, and then pour a little bit of water into the wee pie pan to see the relationship between land and water. The earth-toned plasticine clay is superior to salt dough in that it sheds water easily and never dries out. And the matched black pie pans are sturdy beneath the pushing and poking of child fists. After years of making do with my own homemade materials, I'm very pleased with this set, which has a modest price tag for its beauty: $22 for pans and clay. The rather comprehensive card set is only $8 additional: it will last beyond the preschool years well into grade school. It's a wonderful preschool introduction to Classical Conversation's geography program.

So if you're looking for an additional activity for your little one, consider this set. It's a simple, straightfoward way to demonstrate what a strait is! (Forgive the triple pun.)

Painless Painting

2009-10-28T14:53:00.000-04:00

Ever since I visited a Montessori classroom, I have been using this method to enable my small children to paint pictures as often as possible with as little trouble for me, and without a permanently messy table or corner. I keep individual colors of watercolor paint, cut-up rectangles of paper, a small brush and a bottle cap on a small tray on top of the refridgerator. When my children need something to do, I take it down and let them paint. The key to low mess is keeping the amounts of paint and water small. Like the Montessori teacher suggested, I cut up plastic strips of watercolors from the store into individual colors so that small children can focus on one task: using the brush correctly. I show them how to 'tickle' the paint gently with the brush with the very end of the bristles in order to make a painting.

Older children can have more colors so that they can experiment with mixing colors (what do yellow and blue make when you put them together?) or with creating their own masterpieces. The tiny bottle cap of water ensures that there's not much mess to clean up, and the small paintings don't take up much space on the table for drying or on the wall for displaying.

Random Moments of Beauty: Friend's Porch

2009-10-28T14:39:00.000-04:00

We just visited a friend on our way home while on a trip, and I couldn't resist capturing this beautiful view of the autumn colors. It strikes me how welcoming it is to have a chair or two on your front porch, inviting friends to sit and talk.

Random Moment of Beauty: Eggs

2009-10-05T14:19:00.001-04:00

Just a few chicken eggs collected by my daughter from our chicken, in a bowl made in pottery class by another daughter. I love the combination of greens and browns with the purity of white, so restful. And I also love how home-grown eggs can be different sizes. Just a snippet of our daily life around Shirefeld.

Flowers for the Resurrection

2009-09-30T20:20:00.000-04:00

Our family was recently saddened by a miscarriage. The baby was only about a month or so along, but of course, it was still sad. Fortunately, we have been supported by so many friends. Today I was amazed to receive this beautiful flower bouquet from a group of friends, so lovely that I had to display it on my dresser and post a picture. The delicate pink roses remind me of the new life so recently lost, but the butterfly on the top brings to mind the eternal life where we will hopefully someday meet again. We christened the little baby Timothy, and it is comforting to think that he is with Joshua and the other baby we miscarried, Ann. Many thanks to all of you who prayed for us and grieved with us. When even a miscarriage is memorialized in such a kind manner, it makes sorrow easier to bear. Thank you.

Girl Dresses out of a Woman's Skirt

2009-09-12T16:01:00.000-04:00

When we were preparing for a family wedding in July, I was doing a lot of sewing for my girls, and came across this pretty rayon-wool one-button-on-the-pocket gathered skirt in a thrift store. I decided to cut it into a skirt for my youngest girl. I cut the gathered waistband off the skirt at the correct length for a little-girl skirt but wasn't sure what to do with the beautifully-patterned bottom of the skirt, so I put it aside.

Next I had to cut the gathered waistband to the correct width for my toddler girl's tummy. I decided to cut it off at the pocket so that she could have a pocket in her skirt. (Note: I wouldn't do this again: the pocket's really too large for her to really use!) When I was finished, I had one width of skirt about 8" across. Not sure what to do with it, I decided to fold it in half to see if I could make a bodice for a dress. Here it is below. Notice that the gathered top is so much more narrow than the full bottom. (Click on any photo to see the details.)

So, taking a gamble, I decided to see if having a narrow front piece and a wide back could make a succesful bodice. I narrowly hemed the sides of the skirt piece and joined them together at the bottom, leaving ample armholes. Then I carefully cut and hemmed a neckline with a keyhole snap closure at the back. It seemed to fit my daughter, so I reattached the lower part of the original skirt to make the bottom of the dress. It worked like a charm.

Though my original project of a toddler skirt: wasn't as successful (the toddler is wearing it in the boat picture in the post below: click on the photo to see it up close), the toddler dress was a dream! Another thrilling episode in the ongoing adventure of converting adult clothing to child-size wearables!

Picnic Table=Boat!

2009-09-10T12:26:00.001-04:00

Autumn breezes swept over our land this morning, scattering leaves from trees and pulling our younger children away from homeschool to the outdoors. And I, trusting nature to be a wise educator of her own, let them go. Among their adventuring, they overturned our picnic table, and we realized (perhaps due to our nightly sojourns with the Horatio Hornblower movies) how much it resembled a boat. In short order I had temporarily erected a wooden pole as a mast, a sail was procured, and the children set sail across a sea of leaf-strewn lawn.

Special Hands Jewelry

2009-09-09T12:10:00.000-04:00

Above is a picture of my new favorite earrings, which I bought from a very neat jewelry-maker, Susan Myers. I met Susan when she lived in Front Royal, Virginia. Despite a birth defect that left her with hands half the size of a normal person's, she creates beautiful jewelry with only five fingers. Recently, Susan began a website to sell her creations online, and I'd like to help her spread the word. As she mentions on her website, she can customize almost any design: I asked her for a pair of these red heart earrings, and she made a pair just for me. Check out www.specialhandsjewelry.webs.com and if you like what you see, pass on the link to your friends!

Little Saints of Summer

2009-09-08T14:44:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Blessed Mother! I thought I would honor her on her birthday by belatedly posting about new saint images by Sophie Cayless. Among the Little Saints of the Summer she has painted are St. Maximiliain Kolbe, who had a great devotion to Our Lady. She also has images of St. Clare, St. Rose of Lima, and St. John Vianney that can be bought as greeting cards or put on t-shirts. Stay tuned for the Little Saints of Fall, which should be coming soon!

Favorite Things: Original Catholic Art

2009-08-21T13:46:00.003-04:00

For many years, one source of despondency for me has been the plethora of shoddy Catholic statues. While prints of the Old Masters are always there to liven my devotional life, it saddens me to pray before a statue of Mary with features more reminiscent of Barbie than Our Lady. And it seems that every Catholic store stocks the same cookie-cutter pieces: even faint originality can only be had for a price over a hundred dollars! As a patron of Catholic artists, I yearn for original beauty in three dimensions: alas, it seems so difficult to find.

It was with wonder and delight that I discovered Fatima Statues and the Duke Tran family at the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show this year. This Vietnamese family has made it their mission to craft hand-carved statues of Christ, Our Lady, and St. Joseph from hardened driftwood. Their craftsmanship is exquisite, and their price is amazingly affordable. I paid a mere $32 for this 8" statue of the Mother and Child. (A similar one is available on their website, #29 on the list.) Larger statues are to be had for a larger price, but even a foot-high piece such as this Holy Family is priced at only $92.00. Since each piece is unique and one of a kind, some are out of stock, yet the photos capture the scope of this family's skill. And I love how the artist uses the curves and beauty of found wood as an inspiration. Truly unique, truly a work of love: a long quest for me has ended with the discovery of a treasure I am happy to share.

Joshua Cake

2009-08-20T09:55:00.000-04:00

I meant to post this picture back in July on Joshua's birthday, but alas, computer problems intervened, which have only now been rectified. On my son's birthday, my friend Anna brought over a bouquet of wildflowers and this lovely cake decorated by her little girl Angelica with strawberries and paper symbols of the Resurrection: eggs and butterflies and birds and a lovely cross. It was a sweet remembrance of my son, and a wonderful way to celebrate his third birthday in Heaven. Thank you so much, Anna!

Many times people are unsure of what to do for a friend who is grieving the loss of a child or loved one. But often a simple gift or card as a token of remembrance on an anniversary or holiday brings so much comfort. Let your friend know that you remember her sorrow, and are grieving with her. A little can do so much.

If you are looking for ways to comfort those who grieve, consider this list of kind things that people did for us after Joshua died, which helped us. Peace to your day.

Joshua Michael, 2001-2006

2009-07-08T07:27:00.000-04:00

Three years ago today, my little son Joshua left this world for the next one. I still miss him so much.

I was moved when my brother and sister mailed me these photos of Joshua's baptism, taken by a relative during a time when I didn't own a camera. It was a gift to remember that day.

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Favorite Things: Red and White China

2009-07-07T13:27:00.000-04:00

My hobby is collecting china, specifically "restaurantware," plates and cups of a sturdier build used to the bang and clatter of daily use in a restaurant. I love these hefty cups: they rarely break, even when dropped, and barely chip. And I love the vintage patterns of red stripe or green stripe. So I was doubly delighted to discover these coffee cups with red chintz patterns on them! They match beautifully with a red and white set of plates and saucers I already owned (this is why I only collect in a few colors!). So I've been enjoying this sprightly addition to my pantry this summer.

June: The Sacred Heart Altar

2009-06-29T14:34:00.001-04:00

Since our May Mary altar turned out so wonderfully, I could not resist making a Sacred Heart altar for June. Although this is not my favorite picture of Our Lord's Sacred Heart, I have a sentimental attachment to it, since it was given to our family by our late former pastor, Father Bill Ruhl, when we first moved to Front Royal and consecrated our family home to the Sacred Heart. It seemed only fitting to have our "family statues" all present on the altar this month, along with mulberry branches and trailing vines. "I am the Vine: you are the branches," He tells us. "Remain in Me and you will bear much fruit, fruit that will last." May God bless you and your family this month!

Rediscovering Ferber

2009-06-25T14:57:00.000-04:00

Ironically, as a novelist, I rarely read fiction any more. I'm not sure why. I know I find it hard to read fiction and write fiction at the same time. Perhaps I'm turning into my father, who has a voracious appetite for books on history, theology, psychology, sociology, and politics, but rarely samples fiction. When I was young, I read every story I could get my hands on. Now my bedside table has a history of the American Revolution, a book of essays on culture, Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI, and other nonfiction. But this summer, it now features the novels of Edna Ferber.

I came to Ferber late towards the end of my fiction-reading period, and I don't rightly know when I first read SoBig. Early in my marriage, I had a copy that looks exactly like this one pictured above: who knows where I found it? I have a taste for old books, regardless of their contents, and I started this one, and was hooked on Ferber's lush writing style and her portraits of humanity, nearly always compassionate ones. Alas, my copy was loaned to a friend and lost, and I quietly mourned it and stopped reading fiction.

Then, this past April, I had the fortune to visit Minnesota for a booksigning for fans of my Fairy Tale Novels, and stayed overnight with two girls who are biliophiles. The bedroom where we stayed was stocked with the most wonderful selection of books, and the next morning, I complimented our hostess on her collection. "I actually have had to thin out my collection, since I'm getting married," she replied, and added, "Would you like to see some books I'm getting rid of?"

Atop the pile was a copy of Sobig, together with Ferber's other noted novels, Cimarron and Big. I seized the first with a cry of joy, and my hostess was delighted to restore to me what had so long been lost, as well as giving me further Ferber treasures to enjoy.

So this past summer I have been partaking of Ferber again, with all the delight of eating fine chocolate. Big took me to the vast ranches of Texas, and in Cimarron I'm experiencing the Oklahoma Land Rush and the hardships of the first settlements. It's been a rare foray back into fiction for me, and, oddly enough, has not yet competed with the new novel I'm writing. Indeed, as I type my story of hotels and computer hackers in Northern Virginia, I can't help thinking that my hero is taking on some aspects of the debonair cowboy Yancey Cravat from Cimarron. But perhaps that's not so terrible after all.

Runner Ducks

2009-05-22T10:38:00.000-04:00

In our ongoing saga of creating Shirefeld Farm, we bought runner ducks earlier this spring in shades of black, brown, blue, and fawn. This is my first close acquaintence with ducks, and I have to admit I never realized quite how funny they are! A flock of ducks has achieved the closest thing to a "mind meld" I have yet seen: the flock acts as one: eating, swimming, marching, running -- and my, see how they run! For days my toddlers liked nothing better than to chase them around and around the play yard where the ducks were ensconced -- no matter how we tried to dissuade the children. The fact is, ducks are funny, and even funnier when they run, quacking, in an orderly mob that scurries and swerves in unison. Now they have found a quieter existence at our pond: where they rule the pool with dictatorial unity. Yet another proof (if we needed it) that God has a sense of humor.

Shrines by Mary Billingsley

2009-05-19T16:34:00.000-04:00

For years I've been a fan of Mary Billingsley's paintings of little shrines, but I only discovered that I could share her art through her website recently. Mary creates shrines in honor of our Lord using materials a child would find: dolls, small toys, flowers from the field, postcards, household odds and ends, found objects. Once she has built and decorated a shrine in her studio, she sits down and paints it in lovely watercolor gouache. Years ago I visited her New England studio and witnessed this loving and reverent work in process. Above is one of my favorite shrines, which I post in honor of Our Lord's Ascension.
I found out that at long last a publisher has agreed to be publishing a collection of her shrines in honor of the Rosary: please consult her site for details. In the meantime, gather your children and visit some very special shrines: perhaps they will be inspired to create some of their own.

May Crowning Procession

2009-05-14T20:26:00.000-04:00

On Mother's Day we celebrated with a family May procession to crown our outdoor statue of Mary. We were blessed to have the Hatkes join us for our annual event. While my son was willing to pose with the crown for a photo, he gladly relegated the carrying of the crown to his younger sister, ceremonially dressed in her favorite white Joan of Arc cape, while he proudly carried the prayer book and holy water. I am so glad our domestic priest, my husband, insists on performing these little acts of love for our Lady in the home.

May Mary Altar

2009-05-12T10:31:00.000-04:00

In honor of the Blessed Mother's month, my husband created a Mary altar just before Mother's Day, and I spent a happy hour layering an end table with vintage linen and arranging Willow Tree children and pottery animals around my favorite picture of our Lady. But the best part was a long sojourn in the fields with my toddler where we gathered handfuls of buttercups and wildflowers and arranged them in vintage glass bottles. Our small efforts produced a loveliness that even the toddlers in the house have respected (thus far!).

The Ring -- A Poem and Song

2009-05-01T20:43:00.000-04:00

I am truly excited to announce that my younger sister Alicia Hernon has finally produced her own solo CD. To read the extensive review/rave on my "updates" blog, click here. But I wanted to share with you the lyrics of the third track on the album, a duet for engaged couples, which Alicia sung with my brother Martin.

This song is based on a poem I wrote of the same name when I was in college, where I spent many hours writing poetry. Shortly after I wrote it, Alicia set my lyrics to music, making it a far more beautiful creation than it was originally, and she sang it for my grandparent's golden jubilee. This is one of the few songs that currently doesn't have a sample track on Alicia's website, but perhaps Alicia will post it soon. Here are the lyrics of the original poem, which don't quite capture the intricate interplay of harmonizing and voices that you will hear on the CD:

The Ring
My sister, I ask you in this hour
Unfolding with the morning flower,
to stand with me and make a vow.
No more shall you be freedom's slave
but since your life you freely gave,
take servanthood in freedom now.
The ring, the round of eternity,
I place on your hand, I give to thee,
a symbol of your love for me.

A promise drawn out through fire and sand
Now gleams in silver on your hand
Eternity that enshrines your finger,
I stand to be yours as life is long:
clasp my hand, and be my singer.
Draw near to me and be my song.
The ring, surpassing old and new,
clings to your hand just as I do:
a symbol of my love for you.
copyright 1991, Regina Doman.

I hope you enjoy this poem. It was a gift that I am happy to share with others, and I'm delighted that Alicia, with her lovely voice and music, is able to share it with so many others.

All profits from Alicia's album will be donated to pro-life causes. To learn more about the album Beloved, click here.

Rota-Tiller

2009-04-06T11:25:00.000-04:00

My husband decided that the recent stock market plunge was an optimum occasion to use the knowledge of farm animals he gained by growing up on a pig farm, and to begin our conversion from "Haus Shirefeld" to "Shirefeld Farm." So we cashed in on what was left of one family savings fund, and, as my husband put it, "sold our stock to invest in livestock." With the money, we bought baby chicks, ducks, and a formidible two-hundred-pound pig, whose ultimate destination will be our deep freezer.

Suburban Girl that I am, I was mostly unaquainted with live pigs (though I am very familiar with my favorite food, sausage), and I was amazed when the first thing our hog did once he came out of the livestock trailer and into his pen was to start rooting up the ground with vigor. Within 48 hours, he had reduced his 16-x16ft grass pen to nicely-tilled soil. Since we had struggled to rotatill a garden on the other side of the property earlier, our kids were quite impressed, and named him "Mr. Tiller."

It didn't take long for my husband to plot out a new, larger garden near Mr. Tiller's pen, and last week, we moved him to a new grassy spot, and he joyously began to till again. I saw echoes of Eden in his energetic activity: of the time when beasts and unfallen man worked together in harmony. It was yet another reminder not to take the food we need to live for granted: being nose-to-snout with the animal we will one day eat forces us to realize we live at the cost of a life-sacrifice, whether that life comes from a farm factory far away, or from our back yard.

May we always be truly grateful.

I Love My Washing Machine!

2009-03-11T11:06:00.000-04:00

I really do! And I love my laundry room, where I retreat almost daily to spot-clean clothes and clean out the lint trap. But until I read this book above, I hadn't realized the spiritual possibilities of making the laundry room a prayer closet. Barbara Curtis, mother of 12 and a recent revert to her childhood Catholic faith, details how to find spiritual solace in the most mundane of chores. On her blog she reflects:

I feel it's part of the rhythm of my life - almost as unchanging and dependable as God. It's a service I render to the people I love, thinking of it as a small reflection of Jesus washing his disciples' feet. more

Her book is wonderful Lenten reading. So it was natural for Barbara to stride into the fray when furor arose when the Vatican newspaper remarked on International Women's Day that the washing machine had done more to liberate women than the birth control pill. She has posted her own comments praising washing machines on her blog, along with some revealing and fun pictures and a poll. Enjoy, and if you agree, consider passing on the poll.

Once when I was rhapsodizing about the joys of the simpler life, a woman friend who had homesteaded for several years without electricity said, "I will never go back to living without a washing machine. It takes all day to do laundry without one." I said, "What did you do, then?" She thought and said simply, "You get used to living with less clean things and more dirt."

So reconsider the beauty of the humble washing machine: I think Mother Church is showing wisdom, as usual. What we take for granted. I pray my children live to see women in every part of the world gain washing machines of their own.

Little Saints of Spring

2009-03-05T19:42:00.000-05:00

For years, I've enjoyed the artwork of my friend Sophie Cayless, a Catholic nature artist with a love for the childlike spirit. I'm pleased to announce that Sophie has turned some of her charming images of Little Saints of Spring into cards and t-shirts: the perfect gift for Easter! Saints thus far included are St. Patrick, St. Bernadette, St. Joseph, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Isidore the Farmer, and St. David. I hope she'll do more! Please check out her gallery at zazzle.com!

House Update: Schoolroom finished!

2009-03-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

Slowly but surely we are starting to finish rooms in the addition of our house. I am delighted to
be able to announce that our school room/meeting room/den is "mostly finished!" We still need to install one more door, and I would like to put curtains on the window (alas, the Briarwood curtains I won on ebay never arrived from England -- the first time an international purchase has gone tragically wrong on me. I keep praying they'll show up unexpectedly, but it's been since August...!) but for now, the room is done!

I am much indebted to the girls who attended the Fairy Tale Novel Fan Gathering 08 at my home. One of them had the idea of transforming the landscapes I had planned to put around the room into vistas of Middle Earth. So now Hobbiton (which I painted) resides over the blackboard...

And Minas Tirith, Edoras, and Orthanc's tower are dimly visible above the armoire. On the very top photo, you can catch a glimpse of Rivendell. Someday I'll have to get a ladder and flash and go around and get better pictures of all of these, for the sake of the girls who painted them. By the way, the matching doors came from our handyman, who scavenged them here and there for us: I can't believe he managed to find *two* doors with large windows in them! The solid door I bought for a song at Habitat for Humanity. And my dear husband created the blackboard for me with trim and paint.

I'm also indebted to our family friend John Robinson, who owns a carpet business and has kept my parents and siblings and I well stocked with carpet extras whenever we need them. I was delighted when he gave me these industrial carpet tiles, leftovers from a grade school library. They were easy to install, and I love their bright patterns. I've been in love with industrial carpet ever since I was a janitor in college and had to vacuum every day: while I might dream of Oriental rugs, I love living with the short, tough tight weave of commercial carpeting. Thanks so much, John!

So at long last I have my meeting room. Two weeks ago, I had a chance to use it to host our John Paul 2 High meeting (Book Two: Trespasses Against Us is coming out at last! Hooray!). It was so nice to have a blackboard and bulletin board to help keep track of plot points. And yes, I've used it for homeschooling (occasionally!) as well. Three rooms down --six to go!

Fasting from Spring Clothes

2009-02-27T14:46:00.001-05:00

I had great intentions of posting this last week as we were preparing for Lent, but alas, life intervened again. I wanted to share one of our Lenten traditions that has become an almost natural part of our lives now: the annual clothing fast. My sister developed this concept in high school, when she would pare herself down to a basic wardrobe during Lent to help detach herself from the fashions she loved. I used to try to do it myself by wearing an all-black or black-and-purple liturgical wardrobe during the penetential season. As fun as this was, it was difficult to maintain, especially as our family grew. But now I've hit on an even simpler way to observe the season: we simply put off changing over into summer clothing until after Easter. Our winter wardrobes are naturally filled with duller colors, and of course we're all tired of wearing them once the weather lightens up. But when we delay, Easter season is commemorated in a real, tangible way for our family. So if you haven't yet pulled out the t-shirts and pastels, consider holding off until after the Resurrection!

Christmas Playstands

2009-02-23T15:14:00.000-05:00

Before Lent takes us further from the Christmas season, I wanted to share this picture of our playroom and extend again a warm "thank you!" to those of you who bought playstands from my brother-in-law Michael Schmiedicke this past Christmas. Mike is still making playstands and other beautiful and durable items from salvaged barn wood. I hope to start a series on some of the unique and clever storage he's made for their small split-level home. If you need a custom storage piece for your shoes, toys, or other items, consider asking Mike to make it for you. Here's the link to his Etsy store again.

New Website: How Do You Mate Socks?

2009-02-13T18:48:00.000-05:00

If you've ever wondered how a big family gets all their socks mated, please check out this new site by the frolicsome and fun Parente family. Liz and Doug and their gang o'kids are friends of ours, and they've decided to share their experience and garner ideas on how large families can save money and time. I read their "50 + ways to save money" and learned some things! Feel free to check out How do you mate socks?

Updated: Our local paper, the Northern Virginia Daily did an interview with the Parentes including wonderful family pictures. I love their laundry room! Click here to read the article.

Photo courtesy of WhitKnits, a cool knitting blog I discovered while looking for sock photos.

Beautiful Order

2009-01-21T11:45:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed this post by new blogger Sarah on "Beautiful Order." After spending a snowy day organizing all her children's toys, she discovered how "transient" such beauty is! But as she writes,

Well, there is a point in organizing our homes, in teaching our children about order and trying to make our homes beautiful. These things teach our children, and remind ourselves, that God created the world and all things in it in an orderly fashion, and He continues to create things of pure beauty all around us. We can honor and glorify Him by creating and ordering in our homes, which He has given us to care for. These lessons give us hope and encouragement during those times when everything is a mess and we slowly begin to bring order out of the chaos. These lessons will bless our children not only now but in their future vocations, whatever they may be. For these lessons will help them grow in understanding and appreciation for God's desire for order and beauty, and their mom's steadfast quest to follow His will.

Be encouraged!

Theology for Infants, Part 1

2009-01-12T13:20:00.001-05:00

A long time ago I promised to post on this and never did: my apologies for the delay.
Ever since I learned about the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, I have been fascinated by the task of teaching very young children about God. I received training in this method to catechize children aged 3-6 some years ago, and although I haven't taught in an Atrium in years, knowing the method continues to illuminate my thinking in this area. I have also thought a lot about pre-catechesis: what I can I do with my own child to prepare them to learn about God?
The most foundational thing I can do is to teach my children about God and His love. The first message must be: God loves you! I start doing this as soon as possible. Whenever we are in church, I whisper in my baby's ear: we're in God's house! He loves you! During the Eucharist, at the moment of consecration, if I am holding my baby, I whisper, Jesus is here: He loves you!
If a child can know that his parent loves him, can't he begin to know that God loves him as well? I think so, for as I told this over and over again to each of my infant children, over time I would see them start to listen and respond: first with just looking, and then slowly, with smiles, almost as though they saw something of God that I myself could not see...
The most important thing to teach my child remains the most important thing of all in the end: for we never get beyond the love of God. For teaching religion is not merely the passing on of doctrine, but an invitation to a relationship: to prayer, to searching, to receiving, to loving. And it all begins and ends with love.

Photo from Jessica Sheguit

Christmas Nativity 2008

2009-01-12T12:29:00.000-05:00

Since I neglected to do this earlier, I wanted to post several pictures of this year's dressertop Nativity, which I think turned out unusually fine. One daughter had painstakingly made tiny snowflakes of paper and sprinkled them with glitter. I used them in the Nativity with old lace, bottlebrush trees, pearls, and vintage cardboard houses, together with topiaries made of dried hydrangeas and Spanish moss. Maybe the topiaries weren't the same scale or season as the evergreens, but both are among my favorite things... On the bookshelf, even my jewelry tree looked festive with bird ornaments and white and silver jewelry. I admit I love little things!

A Blessed Little Christmas season to you!

Magical Christmas

2009-01-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

We decorate our tree on Christmas Eve, which means sometimes decorating is a little haphazard, when done by two tired adults after hours. But this year some friends who joined us on Christmas Eve helped out, and things went more smoothly. Here's the final result, surrounded by presents. Notice the playstands, which some blog readers helped me to acquire by patronizing my brother-in-law's store. My children were delighted to discover them the next morning. Many thanks to all of you for reading. May our Lord bless you during this new year.

Fleece Angels

2008-12-31T10:25:00.001-05:00

On the eve of a new year, I wanted to wish all blog readers a very blessed rest of the Christmas season with this lovely fleece angel from my friend Melissa Yoder Ricks of Wild Hare Fiber Studio. Melissa spins her own wool from all-natural fibers and knits and creates unique and lovely items, everything from hand-dyed yarn (I bought some for knitting friends this Christmas) to luxurious cashmere shawls. In addition, she is a Catholic mom trying to raise a large family in less than ideal circumstances. Feel free to check out her etsy shop, and if you like what you see, add her to your treasury!

Christmas Buffet

2008-12-26T11:57:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderfully relaxed Christmas this year, paradoxically, for it was full of guests, cooking, and good food, and little sleep. But God seemed to direct the schedule, and each thing came in its time. This morning I decided to leave our holiday dishes on the table so that eating could remain spontaneous and easy as the mood strikes a family member. Also because I am loving the way everything looks so nicely laid out. May God bless your family during this Christmas season!

Silk Dyeing Party!

2008-12-10T13:25:00.000-05:00

What an atypical holiday party -- no low lights, no cool clothes, and no food! But what fun we had! Last year some other moms and I held a "silk dyeing party" to make play silks for our children for Christmas, and it was lovely!
I am a big fan of play silks, large squares of silk that children can use as capes, costumes, or drapes for play houses. These silks retail for about $10 each, but a few years ago I discovered that Dharma Trading sells plain white hemmed Habatoi silk scarves for as low as $3.50 each. I made a small investment in getting Procion dyes and the necessary chemicals (Turquoise, Fuchsia Red, and Lemon Yellow will give you all the colors of the rainbow if you mix them) and started vat dyeing my own scarves years ago. Then a friend told me about microwave dyeing, and the idea of having a scarf-dyeing Christmas party was conceived. (Check my blog here for instructions on how to dye in a microwave.)
So last year we held the party, and it was a fun evening that yielded many lovely scarves, including a Great Silk Rainbow made from nine yards of Dharma's 8 mm silk. And I couldn't resist photographing the scarves drying in the dishdrain. After being laundred, the colors were more delicate but still true.
We're holding our second annual party this year, and I'm looking forward to it. For a cost-effective stocking-stuffer that will enhance your young child's imagination, consider dyeing your own silks!

Ave Fit Ex Eva!

2008-12-08T17:41:00.000-05:00

Happy feast of the Immaculate Conception! Today at Mass I had an inspiration to pick up a few little treats to celebrate our Lady's conception. For afternoon snack I served soda clear as water in honor of Mary's purity, oranges for the flames of the Holy Spirit, and yoghurt-covered pretzels that remind us of the Virgin's arms crossed in prayer. Silver and a blue-silk scarf for our statue of our Lady completed the place setting. The medieval song delighted in the palindrome of "Eva" becoming "Ave": Mary's "yes" reversed Eve's "no," just as the Latin "Eva" (Eve) spelled in reverse is "Ave" (Hail, the first word of the Angelic Salutation).

So today we sing with the medievals, "Ave has come out of Eva!" Ave Fit Ex Eva!

Wanted: Bears for Joshua

2008-12-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

As we have done for the past two years, I will be collecting teddy bears to donate to charity in memory of my son Joshua Michael, whose family nickname was "Joshua Bear." Last year, the bears went to Be Not Afraid Ministries, who gave them to parents experiencing a difficult pregnancy. I have emailed them to ask if they'd like more bears: if not, I will be looking for a different charity to send them to. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!

If you'd like to contribute, please mail medium or smaller-size brown or beige teddy bears (please no white or pastel or colored! These are "boy" bears :) ), either new or good-as-new (they can definitely be "played with" and "handled" but they probably shouldn't be in such bad condition that a thrift store would refuse to sell them), that we can use to decorate our tree and then pass on to a good cause after the holiday season.

If you have any bears you'd like to pass on to me, you can mail them to me at:

Regina Doman - Bears for Joshua
P. O. Box 949
Front Royal, VA 22630

If you need a street address for UPS, email me at regina@reginadoman.com and I'll send you one.

So if you come across any extra teddies in your housecleaning, toy downsizing, or Christmas sales, feel free to pass them on to me! Thank you!

Abundance out of Simplicity

2008-12-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

How to create abundance out of simplicity? That is the magic I attempt to create each Christmas. Abundance, because Christmas is about the abundance of God's blessings: symbolized by the diversity and array of the ornaments on the Christmas tree. Simplicity, because we are an American family, and material goods of every description are constantly drawn to us as though by magnetism.

On the one hand, we dread being awash in piles of useless clutter that clogs the rhythmn of our lives and gluts our senses. On the other hand, we both need and desire various material goods, goods which bring a pleasure of their own and which have either a usefulness or a beauty that delights us. Navigating the pulls of both poles is the feat we attempt each holiday season.

How to celebrate poverty with abundance, simplicity with festivity -- that is the paradox of preparation for Christmas.

One time-tested strategy we've adopted is the Rule of Three Gifts: our little Lord Jesus only received three gifts Himself: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, so our children receive the same (plus a stocking). And we warn them to only set their heart on one gift, and be open to what else they might recieve. Thus, they only ask for one, knowing they will only get three.

Last year I wrapped each of the three gifts in a different color paper, stacked them into a pyramid, and tied the stack with thin red ribbon. To create abundance with three gifts, I try to make each a different sort of gift that can be used in a different way: for instance, a fun book, a toy, and a pretty piece of clothing.

This past year our three girls received decorative clog boots from Hanna Andersson that I had miraculously caught on clearance. I packed colored felt, wool, and pipe cleaners into tin boxes for the older girls along with small craft books. My younger daughter was delighted by a Kusi doll from Nova Natural. And is traditional, they each received a fairy tale book from their father and I. Small dolls, accessories, and candy crept their way into the stockings.

My older son received a longer book, computer equipment, and the remote control toy he had his eye on. His younger brother received wooden horses for his knights, a book and CD on knights, and was surprised by a racetrack set from his godfather. (The latter gift did not survive Christmas week, but provided hours of family entertainment while it lasted.)

Gifts beyond three are given to the family at large, or saved for Epiphany. Typically any gift that arrives via mail or visit during the Twelve Days of Christmas is stockpiled for Epiphany. These gifts are the "surplus" that come out of God's blessings, and yes, sometimes there are more gifts on Epiphany than on Christmas! God has His own way of creating abundance.

Day After A Party

2008-11-16T21:34:00.000-05:00

We love having parties. Typically, we try to give an open house around All Saint's Day. This past month, we combined it with hosting the first official Fairy Tale Novel Fan Forum Gathering. All our parties have the same format: we ask everyone to bring a dish, drink, snack, or dessert to share, we clean the house, and we start around noon and go on till whenever. This year we were delighted to have The Miller Sisters come and play a set in our living room (which converted to a "stage" so easily that I had hope we can do it again). It was wonderful to have our house filled with friends old and new enjoying themselves.
But I have to say one of my favorite parts of hosting a party is the morning after, when we group the remnants of the food into breakfast and snacks for the lazy-day-afterwards. I stumbled upon a new way to create a buffet display during this party: I stacked our two benches atop one another and covered them with a fall-colored tablecloth. Leftover wine and hard cider glows on the top level, and the pumpkins and fall flowers still look fresh. And thanks to some thoughtful guests, the floor and room are actually clean! Once again we were thankful to all the friends who helped make our party a success: we look forward to seeing you all again!

Window Fairies

2008-11-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been finding evidence that our home is inhabited by fairies, as this photo proves. If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a crafting girl, don't neglect Fairies: Petal People You Can Make Yourself, a delightful Klutz book that includes a kit of fairy-making material. It was a Three King's Day present last year for one of our girls, and, as floral wire, embroidery floss and wooden beads are inexpensive, and artificial flowers are free for the picking in the ditch bordering a nearby cemetery (where windblown memorial displays routinely come to a dismal end), fairies continue to populate the recesses of our home: sometimes I discover them tattered and adventure-stained in the toybox; sometimes perched on a window, resplendent in newly-created beauty. Witness these four "fairies of the seasons": Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, who currently have taken up residence near the candleholders and flower vases on the buffet near our dining table. And I can say I am happy to be graced with their presence. May you be so blessed!

Drawer Organization

2008-11-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

When it came time to organize that catchall-of-catchalls, the top bureau drawer of my dresser, I longed to have money to buy sleek wire organizers. But being short of cash as usual, I started using old trays and candy boxes, and lo and behold, I liked the result so much better. I just started with a stack of shallow wooden and cardboard boxes and trays. I divided the things that "live" in my top drawer into different piles, then put each pile into a box or box lid corresponding to the proper size. Then I just arranged the boxes and lids in the drawer, adding smaller boxes and trays and favorite things to fill out the space and keep things from sliding around.

So the contents are (from left to right) my fall scarves, my spare eyeglass case, a hand mirror, and a wood cigar box with snack baggies of jewelry (divided up according to style and color: I am becoming my mother!). Polly's baby socks and shoes dwell in a basket and box in the middle of the drawer: below them are special pieces of jewelry in cases and some Catholic keepsakes. Even my inhaler has a home beneath my miniature journals, and all my hair necessities are on a bright red tray at the bottom so I can grab them without fully opening the drawer.

So far the items in the drawer have been fairly-well-behaved even after several months: though the scarves and socks get messy, it's never been easier to find my jewelry!

A Visit to Sylvan Hollow: Magic Rocks

2008-10-13T12:06:00.000-04:00

I was fascinated by this little project Clare did with her daughter: she took a bunch of broken crayons and mixed them in an old baking pan with ordinary pebbles, and put them in the oven. The crayons melted all over the rocks and made these "magic rocks" that Anastasia enjoys playing with in her sandbox. What a fun idea!

October Costumes!

2008-10-09T08:22:00.000-04:00

I had to interrupt this visit to Sylvan Hollow to tell you about some beautiful homemade costumes now available for sale from Our Coat of Many Colors. If you are looking for a saint's costume for All Saints Day, a Halloween costume, a Tolkien reenactment costume, or just a general dress-up outfit for your child, I encourage you to investigate the lovely garb available from this cottage industry company. Our Coat of Many Colors is run by Debbie and Maria, two friends who love costumes. As Debbie has a family member with a serious illness (please pray for him), Maria's been helping out with orders. She invited me to review their costumes, and my daughters had a hard time choosing, but finally settled on the pretty Saint Rose costume. For those of you who know Saint Rose, she ended her years living in a little hovel outside her family home, so our Saint Rose stands at the door of our playhouse. The costume includes a beautifully-trimmed blue dress (with room for a turtleneck or t-shirt beneath), red shawl, and white mantilla.

I have to say my son fell instantly in love with their Saint George costume. It was quite comprehensive: black pants, silver "chain mail" shirt and hood, and plastic "dragon armor" breastplate and helmet to be worn on top. Not to mention the shield and cool silver sword. So if you're on the lookout for a quality costume for All Hallows or a Christmas surprise, please check out the website: they have an amazingly large selection, and they take orders as well!

A Visit to Sylvan Hollow: Small girls' bedroom

2008-10-06T11:40:00.000-04:00

Since I started this post, I've learned that Clare and Nick were blessed with the birth of little Isabel. (Click here for the post!) So it seems fitting to post about the sweet bedroom Clare created for their daughters.

I forget where Clare said she had acquired this cheerful Japanese-inspired picture of white rabbits, but she admits she created the entire bedroom color scheme around this picture: pale robin's egg blue, red, spring green, and white.IKEA provided the foundation, as Clare purchased her curtains, bedroom drapes, rug, and accessories from their children's collection, but added her own homemade touches of pillows and quilt. The changing table provides print-covered storage, and the window features a quintet of paper stained-glass cutouts made by Mommy.

The salvaged bookshelf features different colored shelves and a wallpaper background to provide a happy home for fairytale-themed books and toys, and someday it might grow into a dollhouse apartment building? There's room for expansion indeed in this little girls' room.

A Visit to Sylvan Hollow: Kitchen

2008-10-03T11:11:00.000-04:00

Our family was recently gladdened by the return of an old friend to our area. Nick has been a favorite family friend for years, a juggler-aikido master-tea-loving Catholic with a deeply serious faith (some readers will note his resemblance to my character Paul Fester from The Midnight Dancers: it would be more proper to say that Paul Fester resembles him). Several years ago, Nick moved away, but he recently returned to our area with his bride, Clare, and little girl Anastasia. They have acquired a charming little property near our area, which Nick has appropriately dubbed Sylvan Hollow. We were delighted by a recent visit, and I wanted to share some photographs of their little cottage home, which (like ours) is a work-in-progress.
Clare and Nick were enchanted by the cottage's numerous homey details, such as the shelves over each kitchen window for storing baking good and Nick's teapot collection, which sweetened the realization of how much extensive work the cottage required. One project should come to fruition soon: installing a real woodburning stove in the kitchen chimney.

Though the kitchen cabinets already in the cottage are small, and a little worse for wear, Clare is inclined to keep them simply because of their time-worn charm. Somehow new cabinets off-the-rack from Lowes would not seem as comfortable as these unique handmade ones.

Even I, the perennial plastic-hater, was charmed by these vintage red Tupperware dry goods pins and quirky egg accessories Clare has poised on a window shelf.

PS: If you'd like to visit a little longer at Sylan Cottage and see some adorable handmade toys, be sure to check out Clare's blog.

Cooking with Apples

2008-09-25T20:02:00.000-04:00

Every fall we look forward to the apple harvest: going up to Hartland Orchards and coming home with several bushels of apples. After we went this past Sunday, my husband and daughter couldn't resist plunging right into cooking and baking, even though it was a day of rest. Having said no to buying caramel apples at the orchard, my husband proceeded to create them from scratch when we got home, using sugar cooked slowly on the stove. And I decided to try my hand at apple strudel. Though I cannot make my pastry so thin that newprint can be read through it, as my Czech forebears could, my efforts were crowned with success. So were my husband's. But then again, it's difficult to ruin anything that contains lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, and fresh, tart apples.

A Favorite Baby Distraction

2008-09-22T11:34:00.000-04:00

For a long time, I've wanted to post about this secret distracting toy I use to keep my toddlers occupied, especially during conferences or retreats. When I sat in on a few classes of the truly excellent Act One writing program, I had my baby Thomas in tow. I packed toys to distract him during the five-hour classes, and this is one I always brought along.

It's deceptively simple: eight satin-brocade covered rectangular and square cardboard boxes backed into a square tin: small, light, noiseless, and unbreakable, if not indestructible. (The boxes were sold as a set on Montessori Services. I found the tin on my own.) But for whatever reason, toddlers find them fascinating.

The Montessori exercise, which my two-year-old is performing here, is to take the lids off the boxes, and then try to put the correct lids on each box, matching both the shape and the color of the box. She then puts them back in the box, which is a little tricky as you have to line up the squares and rectangles to get them to fit.

But younger babies find them just as intriguing. They take the lids off, they gnaw on them (which is the one way they can be destroyed, btw, eventually), they stack them like blocks, they throw them, they put them in and out of the tin... I don't know what makes these boxes such good "distractors" during grown-up activities like talks where baby activity is not appreciated. Maybe it's the colors. Maybe it's the fact that they don't make any noise when they're played with. Maybe it's the way they loan themselves to hide-and-seek and surprises (I've put Cheerios and treats inside each one). All I know is, when I'm off to a talk with a toddler in tow, I put this bag inside my tote or briefcase. I've replaced the boxes over the years, and I tend to keep it packed away, so that's it's always a "new toy" when I bring it out.

(Note: I tried to find the boxes at Montessori Services, but they don't seem to be on the site. Perhaps they would know where to find them, though. Blog reader Deeny found a similar item at this link for wedding favors. Let me know if you find any other sites that sell them online and I'll link to it.)

Victoria for a new generation

2008-09-19T13:16:00.000-04:00

I finally happened upon an issue of the revived Victoria magazine, and was delighted. After perusing a copy, I realized that here at last was a woman's magazine I could share with my growing girls. Not only because it was "safe" but because Victoria, as the magazine was originally conceived, gives girls a vision of womanhood worth aspiring to, in an age when so much that is truly feminine is denigrated and mocked.

I remember sadly cancelling my subscription some years ago as the models in its pages began showing clothes that were more exploitational than gracious, and the articles seemed to be chasing after the emptiness of radical feminism and sexual liberation. It is with joy that I have rediscovered the magazine that delighted me as a teenager. I wrote immediately for a subscription, together with a letter expressing my sincere hope that the new staff of Victoria will continue to dedicate themselves to the original vision of beauty and womanhood that enlivened this delicately and mischieviously counter-cultural journal.

Simplify Your Domestic Church!

2008-09-18T10:09:00.000-04:00

In the past month I've made a new friend and become acquainted with a wonderful apostolate: Abby Sasscer and Home as Haven. Abby's mission is to help Catholic homeschooling moms (or any Catholic moms) simplify and organize their lives. Since she lives in my area, I was able to take advantage of her free home assessment (she accepts a donation to cover her costs). Two weeks ago, she came to my house, went over our entire home, and made recommendations tailored to my needs.

Armed with her pep talk about detachment, simplicity, and generousity, I went through all my storage (some of which hadn't been touched since we moved here three years ago) and gave away nearly two dozen garbage bags of clothes, household goods, books, and toys. What a tremendous difference it has made in our home! My husband is more content, even though most of the clutter was out of sight most of the time. I reorganized my laundry room and have even more plans to optimize it.

Although Abby noted that I already had some organization plans in place, one of my problem areas was labeling containers, so that other family members could take advantage of my "systems." (I suppose I'm one of those people who had the system "all in my head" -- but no one else could ever figure out where things went.) So I've been going through the home making labels -- the ones for the children's rooms were hurriedly written on tape, but now I'm making more sophisticated ones for our public areas, such as the kitchen, on our computer printer with Fontcraft demo fonts.

So I'm very grateful to have found Abby's work, and I encourage you to take advantage of her free downloadable book, Simplifying Your Domestic Church. It's wonderful to have a book on home organization that includes Catholic spirituality: don't we all need more motivation to organize and clean?

And since Abby and I have found that we come to many of the same conclusions despite our different viewpoints (she is motivated by achieving order, I by creating beauty), we are talking eagerly about a joint venture: perhaps a book on housekeeping for Catholics that can incorportate both motivators? Stay tuned, and in the meantime, peruse her book and website!

Corner Spot

2008-09-15T11:08:00.001-04:00

This fall we have gotten our homeschool/meeting room to a nearly-finished stage (almost all the drywall is up!) so our homeschool cabinet traveled upstairs at last. And I moved my cedar chest (which I have been refinishing for years) next to our dining room table. Coincidentally, I won an Antibes Shelf from Ballard Designs on Ebay, and it turned out to be the perfect focal point for this little spot.
I moved a few favorite pieces to the area: my husband's wrought-iron lantern I bought him as a gift, a set of nesting flower bowls, an original scratchboard illuminated poem by Canadian artist Sarah Hockin, pottery glasses from our wedding, a silver tray, and my prize "real china teaset with pictures all in blue" that my children and I bought at Christmastime years ago. I spray-painted black the picture frame of an illuminated George Herbert poem by Canadian artist Sarah Hockin, and it fit perfectly. My husband was so charmed by the arrangement he made a special request that I blog it for him. Right now the scheme is green-and-blue (we are still in summer). I expect I'll change some of the pieces as the weather chills and I bring out my reds-and-greens for Christmas. But enjoy!

Humble Homage to Mother Teresa

2008-09-11T16:11:00.000-04:00

My friend Melissa Yoder Ricks has her own fibercraft business, Wildhare Fiber Studio. A Catholic convert and expert knitter and spinner, Melissa creates unique yarns and knittings while raising her large family. I was captivated by these potholders she designed in honor of Mother Teresa and our Lady. On her Etsy store, she writes:

For her habit, Mother Teresa adopted a simple and inexpensive sari like those worn by the low caste Indians that she ministered to. This sari - white, with a vivid blue border - became known throughout the world, and is the inspiration for the first of the two dishclothes in this listing.

The second dishcloth is knit in Trinity Stitch in varigated blue cotton yarn. Blue has traditionally stood for fidelity and purity, and is the color traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary. The nobby texture of the Trinity Stitch makes a good cloth for scrubbing.

Mother Teresa believed that we are all called to service, whatever our station in life, and she embraced hard work and menial chores done with love in the willing service of others. Ideas upon which to reflect while doing the dishes...

Check out Wildhare Fiber Studio, if you're looking for a unique Christmas gift knitted with love. And her blog is http://www.wildharedaily.wordpress.com/ if you share Melissa's love of fiber arts and family.

A Christmas Gift Proposal

2008-09-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

Well, as is my wont, I'm already planning for Christmas (I hate shopping for gifts in December!). And right now I'm talking with my brother-in-law about the very neat playstands he made for his daughters a few Christmases ago.

If you're not familiar with a Waldorf playstand, a playstand is a simple movable wooden shelf that children can use to create houses, have a little store, do a puppet show, or any other kind of imaginative play. Because most children use them to make houses or shelters of some kind, it's become popular to make simple canopy frame that fit over the tops so that older children can play in them as well. Two playstands plus a sheet makes a playhouse: and unlike the traditional playhouse, this one can morph easily into a castle, store, or cave with the addition of a little child imagination!

Now that we have a playroom, I'm hoping to have a set of playstands made for our family for Christmas. My brother-in-law Mike Schmiedicke (his little on-the-side company is Strong Oaks Company) makes them out of antique southern yellow pine reclaimed from an 1800's carriage house/horse barn. I think they're so much more interesting than the pale birch ones you usually find for sale. He made a deal with me: if I can help him sell five playstand sets this Christmas, he'll make me one for free.

Magic Cabin sells their playstand set for $279 + 29.99 shipping. and Nova Natural sells a pair of theirs for $318, plus oversize shipping. Mike will make a set of playstands for just $250 plus shipping (and if you live local to us, you can pick up and save yourself shipping!).

If you have toddlers and don't need or want the canopy frame, you can get just the playstands for $180 ($90 apiece).

Mike's playstands have two shelves and a thick top bar for extra sturdiness. They are finished with an all natural non-toxic honey beeswax and citrus oil finish. Mike says he's open to using a lacquer finish for an additional $40. If you would like to have the stands unfinished, he would take $20 off the price.

So if you're interested, please email me at regina@reginadoman.com for further details! Thanks!

And wish me luck in my quest for Christmas presents!

UPDATE: Mike has a store at Etsy where you can see and order the playstands! Also the approximate dimensions of the playstands are: 42"Wx40"Hx11"D.

Anniversary Picnic Remains

2008-09-09T16:29:00.000-04:00

Funds being what they are after fourteen years of marriage and seven energetic children, we decided to celebrate our anniversary with a grownup picnic rather than a night on the town. But thanks to Trader Joe's, (my new favorite store) we managed a rather elegant one! Brie cheese, crackers, grapes and French bread were paired with cold pre-cooked london broil (for him) and sushi wraps (for me). And you can't go wrong with TJ's famous two-buck chuck: I picked Honey Moon (appropriate title!) for sipping out of our silver wedding champagne glasses.
Silver platters and linen napkins for the food packed just as nicely as paper plates and plastic. And romance was found in a half-dozen red roses and a selection of Trader Joe's gourmet chocolates.
We picnicked at a local winery after hours, toasted one another under the shadow of a mountain peak and a rising moon, and brought home these leftovers and sweet memories.

End of Summer

2008-08-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

My daughter on her adult-sized trike bringing the berries home. As another languid summer comes to an end, I am grateful for yet another year with my family. It is all gift. We are owed nothing.

Random Moment of Beauty: Queen Anne's Lace

2008-08-27T12:38:00.000-04:00

Queen Anne, Queen Anne has washed her lace
(She chose a summer's day)
And hung it in a grassy place
To whiten, if it may.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne has left it there,
And slept the dewy night;
Then waked, to find the sunshine fair,
And all the meadows white.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne is dead and gone
(She died a summer's day)
But left her lace to whiten in
Each weed-entangled way!

by Mary Leslie Newton

For more interesting facts about this lovely flower, click here.

Blackberry Picking

2008-08-26T21:01:00.001-04:00

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.
-- Seamus Heaney

Summer Abundance

2008-08-25T20:06:00.000-04:00

Fruit and flowers, free gifts of the summer days... alas, coming to an end too, too soon.... This August we kept a battered basket in our entryway and made nightly strolls to collect new home decorations and fresh desserts. Even now, my children are still finding the last of the black-hued berries, and the flowers continue their riotous color in the fields.

Delightful Distraction

2008-08-22T22:52:00.001-04:00

Forgive my lapse in posting... we have been picking blackberries. The season has now almost ended, but it was our pasttime for the past weeks of languid summer evenings....

China Cabinet: Summer display

2008-08-12T19:20:00.000-04:00

As blog readers know, I delight in colored glass containers. This is one case in which my photography skills limp pitifully behind the image I wanted to share with you. Next to my desk is an old gun case we converted to a china cabinet/bookshelf. I normally use it for displaying my silver. This summer I thought I would mix in my collection of blue glass mason jars, pink depression glass, a set of green-glass goblets my mother bought me, and my assortment of glass jars and flower vases. I really wish I had glass shelves to set off the colored glass to full advantage, or at least a better flash on my camera. :( However, it looks wonderful in real life, particularly as a mental subsitute for the sumptuous Ventetian glass chandelier I will never own.

Queen Anne's Lace

2008-08-01T08:39:00.000-04:00

Queen Anne's lace makes a wonderful embellishment to a girl's hair. Even a weed has a

moment of grace.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

2008-07-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

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?

Plastic-Elimination Campaign: Spice Rack

2008-07-22T09:57:00.000-04:00

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.