Our Polish Resistance impression at WWII Weekend, Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg (and Kateri climbing around inside a tank destroyer)
Outside my window - The weather is cooling off and has been delightful the last few days. The afternoon September light is so lovely and makes everything look pretty, in spite of the weedy garden. The goldenrod, boneset, butterfly bush and Michaelmas daisies keep the yard blooming and buzzing despite my neglect.
Listening to - I hear distant accordion music from folks walking around the block.
Thankful for- We were so blessed to attend a concert given by the Seminary Choir of Blessed Theodore Romzha Theological Academy in Uzhorod, Ukraine. The joy, hope and Faith expressed through the overwhelming beauty of their singing was so edifying. As a friend tried to articulate after the concert, it was down to earth music that just grabbed your soul and lifted your heart straight to God. The seminarians are on a three week concert tour, singing and traveling through the region. But as they sat around in the social hall afterwards they still kept breaking out into spontaneous song in their native tongue, making it obvious that their love of singing is the real deal. We were also blessed to hear them sing for Divine Liturgy the next morning. You can watch a video of one of their recent concerts here.
I admit I did not previously know anything about Blessed Theodore Romzha. He was Bishop of Mukachevo in the Ukraine during the Soviet persecution of the Byzantine Catholic Church, and eventually martyred for his Faith and beatified by Pope John Paul II. There is an excellent inspiring article about his life here.
This is a beautiful ATC of Blessed Theodore Romzha recently painted by Anna as a farewell gift for transferred Fr. F (sniff).
"Faith is our greatest treasure on this earth. To preserve our faith we must even be ready to lay down our life. If we must die, then let us die as true martyrs, defending our faith. One thing is sure: that we never will abandon our faith nor betray our Church." - Bl. Theodore Romzha
I am reading - I just finished reading The Moffats, one of those favorite books oft-read by my children but which I hadn't ever actually read. They have good taste. It's delightfully entertaining in that classic vintage simple life back in the day way.
I am thinking - This chore board for my littlest girls is working out well. Inspired by Ginny's system over at Small Things, I asked Josiah to make this for me. I don't have any wall space in my kitchen and sun room areas (open floor plan!) thus I needed something to sit on the counter. I really like (and my old brain needs) the ability to see at a glance what tasks have been completed and what remains to be done. Eliza is on one side and Kateri on the other. I use the tags a little differently than Ginny does: I have the tasks written on both sides of each tag, with pretty washi tape added to one side only. The plain tags hang on the board every morning, and the girls get to turn them over to the pretty side when each task is done. That way I have a full visual of done/not done at a glance.
From the kitchen- Lydia is a jamming fiend these days. She has been making small batches of Cornelian cherry jam every few days. Cornelian cherries are trees/bushes in the Dogwood family, and after waiting years for them to bear fruit our jam attempts last year were quite the failure. We think they weren't exactly ripe enough then, but Lydia has nailed it this year. The Cornelian cherries smell dreadfully like corn while they are cooking, but then the jam tastes rather delicious (and entirely unlike corn) when it's all done. She also gets slightly itchy from standing in the middle of the bushes while picking them. I'm not sure if she likes the general weirdness of it all or the fun of writing marmalad ‘eh zoghal akhteh on every label or just the unique yumminess of the jam, but she has a grand time and we get jars of jam so it's all good. The Cornelian cherries are starting to dwindle, but we're still getting raspberries so she might switch over her jamming enterprise soon.
Lifestyle of Learning - This time of year is so great for nature study, when interesting insects of all sorts abound. This charming creature snuck in through an open window the other day: a Giant Eastern Crane Fly. It has coolest wings and curious body markings. I think the smallest of God's creatures tend to amaze me the most. I can spend a long time just watching the spiders weave their webs, and then feeding them stink bugs so we can watch them do their amazing quick-rolling acrobatic tricks (all the while whispering She always needs to feeeeed in our best Gollum voices, of course).
Other current popular learning topics include music of the Civil War, language study in Polish, German and Spanish (via Duolingo), Byzantine chant, how to jump rope and how to Czárdás.
We are creating - When she isn't painting Lydia is getting a jump start on rosary rose orders, Kateri is sewing doll clothes, Josiah is making winter wool cloaks. I've just finished up a whirlwind sewing project and am not quite ready to start anything else just yet.
I am hoping - This beautiful, pleasant weather continues.
Around the house- It rather looks like we had a busy weekend and need to catch up on the housework a bit. Eek.
A few plans for the rest of the week- A harp gig for the girls, regular school and music lessons, maybe a little fall cleanup outdoors.
Picture thoughts-
September Sunday afternoons are perfect for playing croquet.
Hope your weekend was restorative and your week gets off to a good start!