The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
It's a rare sunny day — no time to chat! I need to get out in the garden!
Also, ever hear of Buckeye chickens? Their eggs are brown, so I'd have to get some layers of white eggs as well for Deirdre's pysanky, but suddenly I feel the need to have Buckeye chickens (there is someone who sells chicks not far from me).
Please advise!
This is my make-shift greenhouse. I will try to tell more soon and make a better video than this one (well, it has the virtue of being wicked short).
So far so good! Next year I am getting a solar-powered battery because colored water in jugs didn't heat anything up in an unsurprising development of practice over theory.
Plant all the things! Get all the chicks!
Happy Mother's Day!
On to our links:
- Alice von Hildebrand: Wrong Approaches to Art. This is a long piece and something to ponder. Von Hildebrand makes many valid points that will spark conscience (since beauty is the radiance of truth, we ought to be conscientious about it). Failure to recognize beauty can be a defect in the person, and in our culture we almost insist on ugliness. We see how far we are from being able to see beauty with proposals for rebuilding the Notre Dame cathedral, and our anxiety level rises higher with each wrongheaded idea. I disagree with her overall association of art and beauty only with high culture — to me, this attitude reflects an unconscious enlightenment bias, demonstrated by her acknowledgement that a man can return from viewing the most exalted forms of art to find comfort in his home, yet attributing that to “homeliness” or comfort rather than art. Yet, the medievals saw art as simply “that which is made,” as opposed to nature; or rather, not opposed, but perfecting the raw materials around them by bringing order, through reason, to them. Looked at this way, the home can have a simple, humble kind of true art, the beauty of pattern and order that brings harmony to life, and doesn't have to descend to the kitsch or sentimentality she rightly deplores. I wonder what you make of the essay?
- Two articles about daycare: Does Daycare Harm Rich Kids? and Harvard Study Shows Danger of Early Childhood Education.
- From above and within, how fire hit Notre Dame — the heart of Paris — amazing panoramic view. Note as you scroll down the jarringly ugly modern ambo and altar, now both demolished.
- “… Children’s books have become increasingly squeamish when it comes to addressing genuine human problems, let alone the idea that vice must be painfully overcome through virtue.” I'm not sure I would go all-in on Frog and Toad, but the critique of today's children's books (and shows, I would add), is spot on.
- Who is your doctor? Would you be surprised to find out that it's a hospital administrator?
- The New York Times had an op-ed by Helen Andrews (linked within this post): Here are some reasons why we don't have a Phyllis Schlafly now. I'd add that she was unique and the times were still living on the capital of traditional family life, however much things were about to come crashing down. Before anyone starts rolling their eyes at nostalgia for the 50s, just consider: Marriage rates are staggeringly low compared to the 60s; among blacks, a devastating trend of unwed motherhood obtains.
- I have recommended Leila Miller's book Primal Loss, about the real effects of divorce on children, here before. Not only should you read it, you should give a copy to your pastor! Leila has generously offered a PDF of the book for free and you can get it here.
- Mr. Mehan's Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals, illustrated by our own John Folley (Deirdre's husband), was included in the National Catholic Register's Top 5 Children's Book picks!
- Finding the tomb of St. Peter. “Having actual material evidence of the death of Peter in the way in which tradition told us is extremely important. Likewise, the inscriptions boldly codify in stone the very same beliefs that we have today. They stand as a rebuttal for those who claim that Christianity was an evolving cult or seek to introduce false doctrines.”
From the archives:
Today is the feast of Mary, Queen of Apostles and St. Francis di Girolamo.
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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).
Grace says
I have had close up and personal interaction with Buckeyes…and have received many bruises from them! The roosters can be really really nasty. I have rarely been afraid of a chicken (as a late teen, not a little kid) but the males were unnerving.
Carol Kennedy says
I am excited about the book about the Tomb of the Fisherman!! I was able to visit the necropolis in 2000 and was given a tour by a young Fr. Roger Landry. It was an incredible experience!!! And I blogged about it here: https://ckenhome.blogspot.com/2010/06/just-few-months-ago-our-last-chance-to.html (part 1) and here: http://ckenhome.blogspot.com/2010/06/bones-of-st-peter-part-2.html (part 2). I will be getting the book too!
Mary says
I have a couple of Buckeye hens. They lay well (eggs are a little small), don’t get hysterical like some other breeds I’ve had, and are gentle. Neither hen went broody this year (they’re one year old). I’ve never had a Buckeye rooster, but I’ve had mean and gentle roosters from several different breeds. I have a Welsummer roo currently and he is wonderful-not a mean bone in his body.
Sarah says
Have you thought about Banty chickens? They are small, full of personality, beautiful — and they are known for having great mothering instincts.
Leila says
Sarah, we haven’t thought of banty chickens. I will look into it!
Caitlin says
The Notre Dame article was so fun. The doctor one, with embedded links to child removal over minor medical issues… scary stuff. Ugh.
Ian says
For those interested in reading more about St. Peter’s bones, the best non-scholarly book I’ve read on the subject is The Bones of St. Peter by John Evangelist Walsh (link below). It avoids some of the fluff and extraneous elements in O’Neill’s book.
https://www.amazon.com/Bones-Saint-Peter-Evangelist-Walsh-ebook/dp/B00A3HYPCE/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+bones+of+st.+peter&qid=1557701144&s=gateway&sr=8-2
Molly R. says
I agree with you re. the Alice Von Hildrebrand article. I admit I winced a bit at her tone—it struck me as almost snobbish at points, at least at the first read through. It would be a bit depressing to think that art & beauty can only be found in grand things. If we cannot bring art and beauty into our homes in small ways, how could we possibly recognize them in the grand things? And if we recognize the beauty in grand things, why should we not then be able to bring true beauty into our homes?
MamaB says
I also have only had a chance to do a first reading of the Van Hildebrand article, but my interpretation of her point here was not that homeliness and beauty are necessarily incompatible, but that in practice so often we mistake true beauty for something that is not, merely because we have comfort or nostalgia associated with it. I think of hymns that I grew up singing at mass that I now recognize are objectively speaking not beautiful at all, but because they remind me of the childlike faith I had when I was young, I am reminded of both truth and beauty when I sing them. In that case, though there is no beauty in the hymn itself, the memory that I have is in fact of something beautiful associated with that hymn. But it would be easy to miss that distinction and think that the hymn is in fact beautiful.
But I do agree that I think van Hildebrand is quick to overlook the good found in the association, whether it be of comfort or, in the example of the hymn, of something more profound. Though on the whole I despise the kitsch, I do think that objects can take on meaning that’s not intrinsically in them through our affection and care for them. We have to be careful not to carry this too far, but I think it’s important to have some things in our homes that might in themselves not be beautiful but that have a memory or an association with a person that gives them value. The key is to recognize that it’s the humanizing element rather than an intrinsic beauty that gives them worth. And recognizing that distinction is part of the development of taste and sensibility to art and beauty, which is so important to the development of the human person.
Much food for thought here—thank you, Leila!
Leila says
About homey comforts — my distinction would be different, perhaps, than just to say that those objects familiar to us become imbued with love. It has to do with a broader, less enlightenment-based idea of beauty, and maybe an even MORE objective one. To me, Hildebrand just doesn’t make the case for how to determine what is beautiful, and when she tries, she relates it more to high culture (what Roger Scruton would call the grand gesture of genius — Mozart, Beethoven) than to the medieval/classical idea of working with elements to impose order on them, an order that relates ultimately to the order found in truth and goodness.
So one could return home and find not familiar kitsch but an actually beautiful (i.e. ordered, patterned, though humble) environment, including works of art that don’t claim any genius, yet do radiate something of transcendence. I think of Carl Larsson (perhaps a familiar example to our readers) and his attempts to bring this sort of beauty to his home. To me he succeeds MORE in this effort than in his “cultural” art.
kellymaya says
I love Frog and Toad but also wouldn’t make a statement like author’s opening. The article was good however. After reading it out loud to my husband my kids pulled out one of our Frog and Toad books for me to read to them!
One of the embedded links in the Harvard article about daycare is really interesting. It about a study done on Quebec’s daycare results.