The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter
This was my back hall last week, in preparation for my parish's celebration of Corpus Christi:
Four hundred and fifty carnations to water, air, trim, and take to the church for everyone to carry for the procession! Do you have a custom of bringing flowers to lay before the altar or monstrance at the end of your procession? Or some other way of using flowers in your procession? I'd be interested to hear. We've been working on enhancing the procession at our beloved parish and I was encouraged that this year's was an improvement over last year's.
And the blossoms that were broken or popped off their stems ended up gracing our little oratory:
Enjoying the start of summer by visiting a local farm to pick strawberries with our Manchester St. Gregory's Pocket… and checking out the interesting animals! The kids could not get enough of the peacocks. Honestly, I too could have stared all day at those colors! (Did you know that peacocks make noise with their feathers when their tails are all fanned out? I didn't! It sounds like a rattlesnake!)
And this is our mode these days. Full-on little monkey of a 2yo boy:
This week's links!
- As a heads up: if you were considering purchasing the MuTu Program, which I recommend, note that there will be a big sale on it coming up on the 6th of July so that will be the day to buy it (and I'll be grateful if you do so here through my link)!
I'm doing it again, post-Chickapea. On week 5 and feeling good. I've noticed that more readers have been buying it recently. It's so interesting to me to see that the demand is there; I think it really is difficult for women in our culture (especially child-bearing ones!) to take proper care of our core and posture, and I'm grateful to have found a tool that helps me so much in this struggle.
- If you're looking for a daily dose of beautiful painting inspiration on Instagram, I recommend the new account (which I may or may not be managing – not that I'm biased) for the Rat Scullery!
- Do you know about St. Therese's sister Leonie? An inspiring story of a difficult child who just may have been a saint as well: The Unmentioned Martin.
- Our friend, the composer Paul Jernberg, passed along this deep and delicate meditation on beauty from Father Richard G. Cipolla: “Beauty must not be divorced from truth.” Father contemplates the necessity of remembering and returning to the truth that motivates our search for beauty: “It is chant in the deepest sense that is the music of the Roman rite. As much as we love polyphony that is sung almost every Sunday at this Mass, the origins and roots of polyphony are in that austere beauty of chant that like the severe façade of the Gesù, like the earlier tower at Chartres, like the early iconic art of the Church, point in the deepest way to the beauty that is ever ancient and ever new, and that is that beauty that points to the God who has and who is and who will save the world.”
- Sometimes you just need that little toddler confined and busy in one place:
From the Archives:
- Making a shawl; thinking about things. I'm sharing this post along with some advice to any new readers: my mom has a habit of strewing her pearls of wisdom along with random chit-chat and the minutia of this blog — which is what gives it the “kitchen sink philosophy” feel — and this means that you mustn't overlook even the smallest posts nor think that just because a post is about, say, a particular knitting project (and you may not be a knitter), that it doesn't contain some insight for you! Read it all, people!
- Remember that time that Suki had baby Freddie? And started the big baby trend in our family?
In the Liturgical Year:
- As you've heard mentioned in a recent post, today is the solemnity of the birth of St. John the Baptist! And the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (my fifth anniversary in a sense; The Artist and I were wed on this feast day!)!
~We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).~
Amy says
Is your procession outside? All the children who received their first Communion in the past year dress up in their first Communion clothes and process together and drop rose petals on the ground. Would probably not want to do that inside though as it would involve some definite clean up.
Deirdre says
Yes, we did go outside! I was hoping to get the First Communicants involved, but that didn’t pan out. And then I learned that in our parish, they *rent* polyester robes to wear over their clothes at their First Communion, and those robes are returned by Corpus Christi. So they wouldn’t have all had pretty white dresses and handsome suits, anyway! Isn’t that sad? So now I’m trying to think about how we could address that…
Clara says
We do a Corpus Christi procession outside, around the grounds with stops at 4 altars. It is beautiful! Additionally, we make Infiorata (painting images with flower petals) for the priest and the Blessed Sacrament to walk on as they exit the church.
The women in our parish get together Saturday morning to make the Infiorata on pieces of plywood. A few years ago, one artistic parishioner drew the images on a white background. It is always enjoyable to get together to make the Infiorata.
And there is something about peacocks- so beautiful to look at. That is fun to learn they “rattle”.
NY Mom says
Clara, I looked up pictures of infiorata online and was blown away. (I also googled how to even pronounce it – 🙂
Can you share a bit more about the technique the women in your church use? I imagine it gets pretty much trampled as the priest walks over it? How do you manage that? (I’m kinda bursting with curiosity here…)
Deirdre says
That’s awesome, Clara! Where is your parish? Sounds inspiring!!
Mary says
We do a procession starting from the church, with young children dropping flower petals before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament; the procession continues to the main street of our town while we are praying the rosary (permit to take up one lane of traffic is obtained ahead of time& some of the men set up safety cones). Half way through the procession we stop and have Benediction at an altar (portable) that is set up ahead of time at a friendly business’ parking lot. The procession continues on back to the church. Hymns are sung after the rosary. The procession lasts about 20-30 min. This is all if weather permits of course.
Deirdre says
That sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Peggy says
We, too, decorate the ground, in addition to first communicants dropping rose petals. Instead of flowers for the ground though, we use dyed pine bedding (available at local farm stores). We all gather a day that week and, using many basins of water and dye, color many many bags of wood chips. Then we gather on the feast day to decorate and process after evening Mass. I wish I could upload a picture. It is so so beautiful. Friends of ours brought the tradition to our city after a pilgrimage to Rome. It is such a beautiful way to honor Our Lord.
Deirdre says
Wow! I’m impressed to hear about all of this! And excited that at least some Americans are good at this sort of thing – I’ve only ever known of it happening abroad. 🙂
MackenzieH says
Hi there! This question is a little bit off topic, but I was wondering if any of you LMLD ladies have done a post on getting ready for baby? I’m expecting baby 5 just after Thanksgiving, so I feel like I should know what I’m doing….but I don’t lol My first three were very “main stream” in terms of running down Those Lists and getting everything, which is of course too much and not enough of the practical things, then after nearly 5 years baby 4 came along and while I did “better” (more thriftier clothes, mostly staples etc) I didn’t make notes and felt sort of hairied the entire time. With baby five fast approaching I was wondering what you ladies consider essential baby prep, both in the actual baby items, and for the family. I’m aware of how busy that time of year is, so I’m trying to be intentional with my planning so I can rest. I’m working on implementing menus and a reasonably tidy house/laundry system, and so far so good! What next? 🙂 Thank you so much in advance!
Leila says
Mackenzie, we keep getting this question! We will try to answer it! Good for you to work on the basics 🙂
Stephanie says
My kids and I can’t believe the work of our Creator sometimes…like the peacock…why did you make it like that Lord? And He says “I thought it was beautiful and that you would enjoy it!”
Deirdre says
I know. I couldn’t help but think that that bird was a fairly eloquent argument in favor of Intelligent Design…!