Even the Sparrow

Monday, February 15, 2016

Odds and ends

The other day, Teresa took her littles on a field trip to Merrifield Nursery.

They enjoyed seeing the antique pickup truck:

Soon they were in the cab... quite exciting! ( also, it was amazing how tiny the cab was!)

I think Kateri is looking ahead about 13 years, Mom:

And Sebastian is not too far behind:

From there we visited the many beautiful flowers...

And enjoyed the Free Popcorn....

...very, very much!

We loved examining the flower displays, fairy gardens, fish and statuary.

I asked Kateri to pose like this garden statue:

You know, demurely and all that!

No thanks, granny, I'd rather enjoy this yummy popcorn.

So I did a very inexcusable, ornery thing, especially for a grandmother.....

(I'm sorry Kateri!)

I took.away.the.popcorn.

"Please, Kateri, just pose like that statue and I will give you the popcorn right back! I promise!"

She thought about it....

wanting the popcorn....

not wanting to pose.....

And did NOT like the idea ONE BIT! Here is the moment of conflict:

Look, Kateri, Bash is doing it:

Can you do both hands, please?

Pop corn returned promptly (along with her pretty smiles)

We got home and had a visit with lu and her littles...

And everyone wanted to snuggle with buddy

But no one snuggles as much as bash...

Who truly enjoys the big guy...

Favorite seat in the house

And reading corner.

Later everyone tried out the new bed

Even Jeanne

A few days later Laura and her littles made the trip up to falcons

Aunt Betty aka Mormor aka Belladonna Took (that adventurous lady) suggested to Charlotte a entirely new use for the luggage rack

I think Mormor and Charlotte must be kindred spirits

In other news....

Mid winter, low tide, one day, Johnny:

Not a bad haul!

just odds and ends,

and, as usual, Periwinkle wonders what the 'point' of it all is.... :-)

Wednesday, February 03, 2016

some pictures from Anne Merwin's visit to the book club

This familiar profile portrait of St. Elizabeth Seton was one she never liked...

She and her husband were wearing wigs for the sitting!

I was trying to find a better resolution of this painting of lower Manhattan from Governors Island in the early 1800's.

Can you see the 3 masted boat in the center of the picture?

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lived in a house beyond the right end of the boat,

to the right of the long tan brick building.

The building on the right with the white columns is just to the right of the shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

All of the shipping families lived right along the water's edge at that time.

After leaving NYC, St. Elizabeth went to Baltimore and lived on the grounds of the seminary with her family in this house on Paca Street.

Interestingly, after they moved to Emmitsburg, no other family lived in the house.

Instead, the priests used the house to store food supplies.

The only "upgrade" that has been made to the house since the Setons lived there is a new floor to replace one damaged by forgotten potatoes.

This is the seminary church in Baltimore.

Anne told us the Sulpician Fathers ran out of money before statues could be placed in any of the arches.

The arches remained empty until

a seminarian jumped up one time and posed as a saint.

The picture was brought out again when he was ordained recently. :)

St. Elizabeth made her first vows in the lower chapel of the seminary church,

and here she was called Mother Seton for the first time.

Anne Merwin's love and esteem for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was inspiring!

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Ken took some 'before and after' and some pictures of the snow

as the storm began

and then Sunday morning, 29 inches of snow later!

good thing the mini cooper was in the car garage

The weekend's forecast....

....is mostly knitting:

Colder weather always inspires a person to think about knitting....

and the "little" project i've been working on during this "little" storm has been socks....because...

this is the result

after hours and hours

of knitting 2 socks on the same needles:

yes, these strange creatures are socks!

or perhaps did i forget something?

that at a crucial part of the directions i forgot to add stitches?

are these two

so called identical socks

somehow meant to be worn with sandals?

there are so many ways to go wrong while knitting

and my goal in life seems to be to experience each one!

i am now down to one sock on the needles

because I am quite sure to make enough mistakes with only one sock to think about!

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Contraposto

Jeanne learned the term in art class.....

....how weight shift is illustrated in sculpture......

As in.....

Thank you Jeanne for putting these two side by side!

Monday, January 11, 2016

What bowl happens between the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl?

the bed bowl!

this is what sleep comfort number "0" looks like.

Betty has graciously lent us the air mattress, which Ken has been using, and the bed is not all that uncomfortable.

New bed due to arrive in a couple weeks...!

and in the meantime, my motto is:

Bed bowl and BEYOND!!!!!

Ronda Chervin 100 steps of love

100 days, 100 thoughts...

Would you like to join me in following these steps for ordinary time?

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Morning visitor

Some possum facts from the web:

1. Natural immunity. Opossums are mostly immune to rabies, and in fact, they are eight times less likely to carry rabies compared to wild dogs.

2. Poison control. Opossums have superpowers against snakes. They have partial or total immunity to the venom produced by rattlesnakes, cottonmouths and other pit vipers.

3. Omnivores galore. Their normal diet consists of carrion, rodents, insects, snails, slugs, birds, eggs, frogs, plants, fruits and grains. They also eat human food, table scraps, dog food and cat food. They have an unusually high need for calcium, which incites them to eat the skeletons of rodents and road kill they consume. They're the sanitation workers of the wild.

4. Smart critters. Although many people think opossums are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, there are several areas of intelligence in which they soar. For one, they have a remarkable ability to find food and to remember where it is. When tested for the ability to remember where food is, opossums scored better than rats, rabbits, cats, dogs … but not as well as humans. They also can find their way through a maze more quickly than rats and cats.

5. Pest control. Since their diet allows them to indulge on snails, slugs and beetles, they are a welcome addition to the garden. Opossums also keep rats and cockroaches at bay by competing with them for food. In fact, it’s common for opossums to kill cockroaches and rats if they find them in their territory.

6. All thumbs. The opossum has opposable "thumbs." The opossum's "thumbs" (called halux) are on its rear feet (so, technically they're toes), and abet the opossum’s formidable climbing skills. Primates and opossums are the only mammals with opposable first toes.

7. Impressive tails. They have prehensile tails which are adapted for grasping and wrapping around things like tree limbs. The opossum can hang from its tail for short periods of time, but the creature doesn’t sleep hanging from its tail, as some people think. Opossums have been observed carrying bundles of grasses and other materials by looping their tail around them; this conscious control leads many to consider the tail as a fifth appendage, like a hand.

8. Good pupils. The eyes of the opossum appear black, but what we are seeing are strongly dilated pupil; there is iris around them, it’s just mostly out of sight. The giant pupils are thought to be an adaptation to their nocturnal habits.

9. Smile! The mouth of an opossum holds an impressive 50 teeth.

10. Natural defenses. When threatened, opossums run, growl, belch, urinate and defecate. And when all else fails, they “play ‘possum" and act as if they are dead. It is an involuntary response (like fainting) rather than a conscious act. They roll over, become stiff, close their eyes (or stare off into space) and bare their teeth as saliva foams around the mouth and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from glands. The catatonic state can last for up to four hours, and has proven effective as a deterrent to predators looking for a hot meal

"If I can't see that awful man, he can't see me!"

Our Lady's Smile

found on ronda chervin's blog:

LOURDES, France, SEPT. 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- For those who suffer and are struggling, the strength to carry on can be found within the smile of the Virgin Mary, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today at the homily he gave today, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrow, during the Mass with the sick at Rosary Square at the Marian shrine in Lourdes. Some 70,000 people participated in the Mass.

The Holy Father offered a reflection on the smile of Mary, who he called the “teacher of love.”

He noted that the tears Mary “shed at the foot of the cross have been transformed into a smile which nothing can wipe away.”

“Christians have always sought the smile of Our Lady,” Benedict XVI explained, “this smile which medieval artists were able to represent with such marvelous skill and to show to advantage.”

“This smile of Mary is for all; but it is directed quite particularly to those who suffer, so that they can find comfort and solace therein,” he said. “To seek Mary’s smile is not an act of devotional or outmoded sentimentality, but rather the proper expression of the living and profoundly human relationship which binds us to her whom Christ gave us as our Mother.”

The Pope continued: “To wish to contemplate this smile of the Virgin, does not mean letting oneself be led by an uncontrolled imagination. Scripture itself discloses it to us through the lips of Mary when she sings the Magnificat: 'My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Savior.’

“When the Virgin Mary gives thanks to the Lord, she calls us to witness. Mary shares, as if by anticipation, with us, her future children, the joy that dwells in her heart, so that it can become ours. Every time we recite the Magnificat, we become witnesses of her smile.”

Bernadette

The Holy Father said that St. Bernadette Soubirous “contemplated this smile of Mary in a most particular way” when Our Lady appeared to her.

“It was the first response that the Beautiful Lady gave to the young visionary who wanted to know who she was,” he said. “Before introducing herself, some days later, as 'the Immaculate Conception,’ Mary first taught Bernadette to know her smile, this being the most appropriate point of entry into the revelation of her mystery.”

“In the smile of the most eminent of all creatures, looking down on us, is reflected our dignity as children of God, that dignity which never abandons the sick person,” the Pope said. “ This smile, a true reflection of God’s tenderness, is the source of an invincible hope.”

Benedict XVI continued: “The endurance of suffering can upset life’s most stable equilibrium, it can shake the firmest foundations of confidence, and sometimes even leads people to despair of the meaning and value of life.

“There are struggles that we cannot sustain alone, without the help of divine grace. When speech can no longer find the right words, the need arises for a loving presence: We seek then the closeness not only of those who share the same blood or are linked to us by friendship, but also the closeness of those who are intimately bound to us by faith