This week I pulled the garlic! 100 heads here, and one more that was not in the rows. You know how it goes — you find a little shoot somewhere and pop it in a random bed…
Last year I planted around 80, and that lasted me all year. I still have some! So this coming year I won't be conservative in my use. Lots of roasted garlic in our future! And these heads are giant!
I am hopeful about the rest of my harvest, but other than the cucumbers and the early abundant lettuce that is now over, it's very slow in coming.
I wanted to share with you a new book from my son-in-law John Folley. The drawings are so charming and appealing! It's called The Handsome Little Cygnet. (affiliate link)
This sweet story includes little hidden visual gems to appeal to older children's sense of curiosity. The illustrations are lush and rewarding. So many contemporary books for children are ugly — their whole conception and execution is ugly. Why do we subject our impressionable young ones to these images?
John's illustrations put ugliness in perspective, helping the uncertain reader make just judgments and reassuring child and parent of the rightness of beauty and order.
If you are up for it, maybe we can do a giveaway in a bit!
bits & pieces
- For my reading list on the Pope's recent Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, restricting the Traditional Latin Mass, go to Happy Despite Them.
- A little late for Father's Day, but to be fair I was not very connected starting then… but do read this inspiring and uplifting account of the incredible Venerable Aloysius Schwartz.
- Wrong presuppositions skew reality: A response to Eve Tushnet. As time goes by and gender ideology, by dint of sheer repetition, wears down righteous resistance, it's important to make some space for the truth.Gayness isn't in God's plan and knowing the truth can set a person free, even from mental illness and emotional trauma.
The “alternate to ‘conversion therapy’ is a slippery slope. It appears to accommodate not only disorder but sin. ‘Gay’ celibacy and ‘gay’ friendships are still unchaste. The Church must be clear. Jesus came to break the back of any and all moral disorder in our lives. Leave space for the Cross, and don’t crucify Jesus’ members who champion its power.”
- Comma Queen: To Whom It May Concern: Does civilization depend on the proper use of “who” and “whom”?
- Why do you think we started homeschooling in the late 80s or early 90s or whenever it was back in the mists of time? Because these ideologies were already firmly in place in the classroom, and make no mistake, they pushed out something of great value, namely, an actual education. This is not about a possible threat; it is about waking up to what already exists and has existed for a long time: Yes, critical race theory is being taught in public schools
- With the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that children — even the vaccinated — continue to be masked, I think it's important to know that this is a bad idea — primarily for reasons not about health, but for reasons about health too: New study suggests mask mandates for kids should be scrapped: CO2 levels five times higher for children wearing masks, even for short periods of time, new study finds.
liturgical living
from the archives
- Turning away from the two-income trap, having the wife return to the heart of the home makes for some interesting skill acquisitions. You find yourself doing things you didn't think you knew how to do! Gardening, housekeeping, cooking from scratch, and mending… and there's a real satisfaction to this life. Yes, even something as little as repairing a hole…
- Some summer food in this post — including a link to the perennial fave, Eggplant Obsession!
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Melisa says
The new children’s book looks beautiful! It makes me think a little of Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. Oh please do a giveaway!
Melisa
MamaB says
I say this as a friend of Marco’s (the author of the article vs Eve Tushnet): while I absolutely agree that human nature is immutable and given by God, I do think Marco doesn’t take Eve’s article in the right spirit (and understandably so, as he sees it as a personal attack—which is reasonable). I think Eve is trying to point out the delicacy of approach needed in helping those with same sex attraction. Just because someone is gay, and therefore who has a wound in their human nature (as we all do due to original sin), does not mean that the effects or tendencies of that wound will ever be fully healed in this life. Sometimes acceptance of the cross (rather than seeking for healing or change in ones sexual inclinations) is the best approach. I don’t think it’s a one size fits all either. Healing is so important! But I think it can be misinterpreted into “now this problem is solved or ought to be solved” instead of “now I’ve found peace and joy in this Cross.” And there’s a moment in that article where I think Eve is also trying to show us that the cross of being gay is not without its own specific redemptive joy and value—God can bring good out of everything, and He can bring a specific good (sensitivity to others, for example) out of this specific cross.
All this I’m trying to say while still absolutely agreeing about the fundamental assumption/corrective of Marco’s article: that God has given us a specific nature, and that homosexual attraction goes against that nature, because in it sexual acts are not ordered to the procreation of children within marriage.
Emily says
And the mask wearing inhibits lip reading for hard of hearing students, and those with any sort of breathing issue–for me, wearing a mask is like someone putting a hand over my mouth. It’s awful. When is this going to stop?
I can’t wait to read The Little Cygnet and send it to my goddaughter!
Melissa says
I’m hard of hearing in one ear and didn’t realize how much I rely on lip reading until masks were mandated. It’s really hard. Poor kids!
Vicky says
The study you linked regarding carbon dioxide and children wearing masks was retracted by the journal in which it was published (JAMA).
“The Research Letter, “Experimental Assessment of Carbon Dioxide Content in Inhaled Air With or Without Face Masks in Healthy Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” by Harald Walach, PhD, and colleagues published online in JAMA Pediatrics on June 30, 2021,1 is hereby retracted. Following publication, numerous scientific issues were raised regarding the study methodology, including concerns about the applicability of the device used for assessment of carbon dioxide levels in this study setting, and whether the measurements obtained accurately represented carbon dioxide content in inhaled air, as well as issues related to the validity of the study conclusions. In their invited responses to these and other concerns, the authors did not provide sufficiently convincing evidence to resolve these issues, as determined by editorial evaluation and additional scientific review. Given fundamental concerns about the study methodology, uncertainty regarding the validity of the findings and conclusions, and the potential public health implications, the editors have retracted this Research Letter.”
Leila says
That’s true, it was retracted. I had not realized that.
Here is an interview with Harald Walach: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3977883/posts
“Given fundamental concerns about the study methodology, uncertainty regarding the validity of the findings and conclusions, and the potential public health implications, the editors have retracted this Research Letter,” they added.
But Walach, who holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Basel, Switzerland, told Just The News in an emailed statement that JAMA did not specify how he failed “to provide sufficiently convincing evidence” to back his conclusions.
“I would actually also like to see how those conclusions were reached, but I am afraid that there was no solid conclusion,” he told the outlet. Walach pointed to “potential public health implications” as a “key phrase” in the retraction notice that, to him, suggests “the retraction was political, because some people did not like our data.”
Walach’s study has, thus far, drawn 21 official comments, most of which are critical. In a written response to the comments (docx), Walach and colleagues defended their research.
“Facts are not constituted by single studies, but by multiple replications and discourse,” they wrote. “This is the first peer-reviewed study of carbon dioxide content under face masks in children in a short measurement set-up. The measurements, we contend, are valid and were conducted by individuals with high content expertise.”
“If someone doubts our results, the way to go is not to claim they are wrong without proof, but to produce better and different results,” they added.
Leila says
The article I linked to is a peer-reviewed study on *short-term* effects of mask wearing in children, but it is by no means the only study on the subject.
This article has a good round-up of the literature:
https://www.aier.org/article/masking-children-tragic-unscientific-and-damaging/
Donna L. says
Your garlic looks amazing! May I ask what type you planted, please?
Leila says
Thank you, Donna! The garlic is Chesnok Red. I bought it in 2018 from High Mowing, and since then I have planted it using cloves from the harvest. I try to use the biggest cloves for planting. I like this variety fine! It comes up every year, even though I second-guess my planting timing, depth, and proper coverage/fertilizing/composting. Every year I think I’ve done it wrong, and every year it all comes up!
Tiffany Weathers says
I really appreciated the article you posted for Father’s Day. I have been moved in part by your blog… in part by some spry 70+ farmer’s daughters who became farmers’ wives and possibly farmers’ mothers… to commit to not be lazy. Your Father’s Day article was good for that.
Sue W says
Just using this space to ask a question..I remember reading on your blog (or was it your Happy Despite Them blog) about how ALL FOUR vaccines are in some way tied to abortion. I seem to remember that you listed a link for each vaccine, explaining how each one was either derived from abortion, or used aborted cell lines in some way during its development.
Can you point me to this? Or just tell me I’m losing my mind and it’s not on your blog. 🙂 Thank you!!!
Leila says
Sue, the site cogforlife.org has all the information.