{A good stack of cute mittens whipped up in no time with chunky yarn, including hacking one pair when I of course ran out of yarn. Not pictured: the pair I made, having conquered two-at-a-time Magic Loop, only to find at the veeeeerrrrrryyyy end that I cast on different numbers of stitches at the start. And I'm not crazy about the yarn, to the extent that I'm not sure I can face making two more; although I did buy — and wind into a ball — extra so I wouldn't run out. SIGH.}
This spring, probably in May, the Chief and I are going to go to Europe! Some of our dear readers over the years who live in Europe have asked me to let them know if this ever happens, and it's happening. Bridget is studying abroad this semester (in the Rome program of The Thomas More College, which is an amazing opportunity — if you have a child headed to college, do check it out) and we would like to visit her and do some traveling of our own.
Do you live in France, Italy, England, Ireland, or somewhere in that neck of the woods? Would you be interested in meeting up with me and the Chief?
Send me a message at leilamarielawler at gmail dot com — don't worry, we'll just see what's up, no commitments, no pressure — and we will see what we can do!
This week's links:
- The Incredible Thing We Do During Conversations. “When you take into account the complexity of what’s going into these short turns, you start to realize that this is an elite behavior,” says Levinson. “Dolphins can swim amazingly fast, and eagles can fly as high as a jet, but this is our trick.”
- Habou alerted me to amazing churches that are built from the top down.
- If you have 4 minutes, you can watch lace-makers at work in Italy, young and old. A friend passed this along with the comment that “it's a nice short video, showing the passing down of beauty and gracious living; the music is pleasant too.”
- If we had had the mental wherewithal to post a {bits & pieces} during the Christmas season, I would have made sure you read this great post then. However, for this, the Vigil of the Baptism of the Lord, perhaps it is still appropriate — perhaps it will encourage you as you look back over the season and wonder if your efforts to keep the feast were worthwhile. Be sure to read right to the end. In fact, it's one to read aloud to the family as I did, without knowing where it was going: Old Earl's Christmas.
- Are you studying the Norman Conquest? Our dear friend Cathy sent this link our way: An animation of part of the Bayeux Tapestry. My mind immediately turned to working with a history timeline with the children. You could show them this video, which would help them to learn to “read” such a “document.” It really brings the tapestry to life without overdoing the didacticism. I think this animation would help with the timeline work and make it more enjoyable and creative — imagine what children could do with trying to copy the artwork in their own way.
- I love that you all want to talk about organization stuff like using sticky notes for the To-Do list — me too! In this post about making your own notebooks, I mentioned binder rings. Here is a nice post (not mine): mini books using binder rings. Soooo appealing to me…
- The next best thing to reading our favorite authors (C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, etc.), as I always say, is reading about them. This article called Beyond Romance of Jane Austen's Work is a promising start to what seems like a good series. It's especially nice to read a clear argument about happiness. Man is made for happiness, and even those who are bad still seek happiness and think they are obtaining it, only to be disappointed.
- Your long read for this week — but very much worth it: Awakening the Moral Imagination by Vigen Guroian. Especially if you consider yourself “more about facts.” It's not enough to know morality as a sort of science, or teach it by precept (except for really fundamental things like learning the Ten Commandments, which is different and far from what contemporary teachers are thinking of); far less are “values” substitutes for virtues. This essay succeeds in discussing fairy tales and Nietzsche and Chesterton — so you can see why it's a bit longer! I addressed the issue of how to teach a child character more briefly, with no overt mention of modernist philosophers, in this post: Just Say No to “Books That Build Character.”
From the archives:
- I just updated this post about a super frugal dinner, Boston Baked Beans, to add the information about just how cheap it is. That's because a reader challenged me about running the oven all day. Dear Margo in the comments mentioned baking something slow along with the beans (like rice pudding!) and of course there's always getting that butternut squash cooked the right way (I still have some from the harvest, even with stashing a bunch!) and doing the pot roast for Sunday — all of which would make it almost paying you to bake your beans.
- Self control and where to get it: Musings on teaching children self control (and why) as well as thoughts on where our impatience with them really comes from — maybe something to throw into your resolution mix in this new year.
- Standards and Solidarity: 10 Ways to Give Your Children the Gift of Purity — it's all remote preparation. Don't panic.
Tomorrow is the Baptism of the Lord. If you have a chance, do view this movie called The Star of Bethlehem. It brings a whole new meaning to the psalm about how “the heavens proclaim your glory, O Lord.” (Psalm 19) Happy last of the Epiphany!
Carol Kennedy says
The Star of Bethlehem movie is an annual event for Advent/Christmas in our house. We have watched it at least 5 times! Fascinating!
Laura Jeanne says
Thank you! I enjoyed both videos, and the article about Jane Austen was fascinating – I hope you’ll be able to let us know when there are more posts in this series. 🙂
Dixie says
While reading fairy tales to my kids the other day, I wondered to myself how many children of their generation will grow up knowing Jack and the Beanstalk, Mother Goose, etc. Will adults in twenty years ever make or understand references to a good-quality common stories anymore? Or will it only be what Disney has given us (not to knock Disney — but it is, of course, only the tiniest portion of what is available in terms of such stories and rhymes!)?
Upon what will they base their common sense and moral feeling? Personal preference? Fads? Nothing?
Scary.
Ashley says
I’ll have to look into that movie.
Have you made anything delicious lately? 🙂 I always enjoy reading your posts with recipes/cooking tips.
Leila says
Thanks, Ashley. I will have to think about what to post about. I’ve been cooking up a storm and that leaves no time for blogging about it. 🙂 Do you follow me on Instagram? I do often post about my cooking on the fly there…
Donna Randall says
I really enjoyed the article about conversation and the millisecond pause. I am sure all of that is true as I know that it resonated with me. However, I wanted to leave my comment that as Christian Catholics we should use this to learn to humble ourselves and slow our speech. We can listen with just as much insight but maybe not to talk about ourselves but to question the other talker about what he/she is talking about. I am always looking for ways to compare my own life with the conversation, and my husband is always trying to teach me the true art of conversation which is to get the other person to talk about their life. He has hundreds of strangers who spill their lives to him merely because of the right questions which evoke more conversation. Then they are always thanking him for being such a good listener. My husband says we have the best listener ourselves in the Holy Spirit, Jesus and Mary and any other of the saints. We don’t have to be always taking up our side of the conversation with our own life. Does that make sense? How do you feel about that?
Leila says
Donna, yes, I think that good people want to listen and aren’t solely thinking of what their response will be as the other person speaks. It’s interesting to me that this is the way people converse, and I’m sure that there is room for doing it well or ill.
Then there are those who would really rather listen than speak — for them, it’s easier. Maybe they need to try to exert themselves!
priest's wife (@byzcathwife) says
…”NORMAN” Conquest…right? 😉
Leila says
haha — fixed. On the other hand, do study the Normal Conquest some time. Things were okay. It worked out fine.
Stephanie says
Happy New Year, Auntie Leila, and thank you for continuing to share your ways and your wisdom with us!
Rereading your post on the four cardinal virtues, I’m wondering whether you (and/or any other LMLD contributors and/or fellow readers) have any thoughts or advice on daily habits, practices, or actions that you have found especially helpful in continuing to cultivate these virtues in oneself.
(I’m not entirely sure how to word this question – I feel like I sound as though I’m asking for a “quick fix,” which is not the case – but I’m interested in hearing what sorts of “daily life” things you or others have found contribute to the development of these virtues – in addition to larger prayer, reflection, study, and so forth. I hope that makes sense!)
Thanks! And best wishes to Bridget as she prepares for her study abroad, and to your family as you prepare to go visit her! Look forward to hearing about your travels and experiences there! 🙂
Leila says
Stephanie, interesting that you should bring this up now. I have been thinking about it, actually.
I don’t know if I’m ready to write about it, but for now I’ll say that it’s very helpful to read about the virtues — you can read short articles here and there (there’s one on the newadvent.org site) and see what you think. I highly recommend Josef Pieper’s book on the subject: http://amzn.to/1JDUfBW
Once you start thinking about virtue, you realize that you don’t see yourself very objectively. And then you wonder how you will ever get better.
The answer is in the liturgy. The Church’s year, and the Divine Office, take us through everything — every thing — and especially the virtues as well. Grace and the desire to see things as God sees them makes it possible, and the liturgy opens it up for us. If you go by God’s plan of prayer, which is the Divine Office — even just a little part of it, whatever you can do (try at least paying more attention to the Antiphons and other Propers of each Mass) — you will gain the habits you need.
When we pray about virtue, God helps us see where to start and how to proceed. He shows us where our particular need is — and a good spiritual director, a good priest — can help with this.
Pieper explains that the Queen of the virtues, prudence, is seeing things as they are. And how will we ever get anywhere if we don’t see things just as they are — ourselves and others and our situation? So we can begin by praying for prudence. “Let me see things as You see them, Lord.”
You will see. As you study and pray, it will become clear to you where the work is needed. And you will grow in virtue and in your love of God who helps us when we stumble — because warning: the more you know, the more convinced you are that you aren’t doing very well! That’s okay. Just keep on…
Jaime says
Leila,
Can you recommend Fairy Tale books/stories that would be appropriate for children 12 and under? Thank you and God Bless.
Leila says
Hi Jaime, did you see this page? http://www.likemotherlikedaughter.org/indispensable-book-lists/
It links to a post by me with a lot of recommendations. See if this helps!
Jaime says
Thank you to both of you!
Becky g says
Hi Jamie, I recently bought the Bernadette Watts collection of stories and fairy tales and am beyond thrilled with the quality of illustrations that accompany the stories (30-40 of them). Adaptations are quite faithful to the original Grimms/Anderson, with a few fables and other stories thrown in. It is a Big Book, and we have loved working our way through it.
Sara says
I followed your directions for baked beans yesterday, but sort of southern-ified with a couple of chunks of smoked pork jowl and sorghum syrup (but the accompanying cornbread was Yankee-style – you can take the girl out of the north but she still prefers sweet cornbread). Tasty and frugal! The baby couldn’t get enough!