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What I Read in June

What I Read in June

This has not been the summer I had hoped it would be. It's been busy and stressful instead of relaxing, which is why I only have five books to share for June. Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow I hate to say it but I really did not care for this book. Especially I hated...

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What I Read in May

What I Read in May

May was a mostly easy reading month. We took a trip to the local used book store and I grabbed a few books from my favorite authors. As you may know by now, I enjoy thrillers that I don't want to put down and can read in a day or two. Motive by Jonathan Kellerman...

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What I Read in April

What I Read in April

Oh, dear. How embarrassing. Can you believe I only read THREE books in April? Emma by Jane Austen I'd never read this although Lorelei had been begging me to for years. Then I found out that Haley Stewart was running a Jane Austen book club, so now I will be reading...

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What I Read in March

What I Read in March

As I mentioned in my last post, I am writing this months after I read these books, and I find myself surprised at how well I was keeping to my goal. Probably the fact that Spring Break fell in March accounts for my having had enough time to do that. Feminist Prayers...

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What I Read in February

What I Read in February

It's been (and remains) a very busy year. A lot has fallen by the wayside, especially my blogging. I am currently ensconced in a downtown hotel attempting to catch up. Maybe I will even have time to tell about the year, because I have many thoughts. We'll see. But at...

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By Their Fruits

By Their Fruits

“By their fruits you will know them,” we read in the Gospel.  “ . . .[E]very good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.” Is a faith nurtured primarily by media slanted in one...

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A Tale of Three Evangelists

A Tale of Three Evangelists

I have mentioned before that my favorite Gospel stories involve Peter, my favorite saint. I love Peter because he is relatable. He is human and makes mistakes, some bigger than others. Yet Jesus chose him to lead the Church, because of his great faith. That gives me...

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Hearing God’s Voice

Hearing God’s Voice

In the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Esau and Jacob, Moses and others God was always talking to His people. Right out loud! I was fascinated. Why did God talk to them? I wondered. When did He stop talking to people? And especially, why...

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Hope in the Desert

Hope in the Desert

He tells them he will be leaving, and he says no one can follow him. To those who had left everything to follow him already, and who loved him, those statements would surely have occasioned great distress. And then he adds that not only can they not follow, but rather...

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What I Read in January

What I Read in January

SIXTEEN BOOKS! Is that even possible? What on earth have I NOT been doing so that I could spend that time reading? There was a time in my life where I routinely read a book every day or two. But that's been a long time ago. Granted, January is always a great month for...

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A Cloud of Witnesses

A Cloud of Witnesses

I first encountered St. John Bosco as a second- or third-grader, in one of the old Catholic readers that even then were going out of fashion. We read that he used juggling and acrobatic feats as a way to attract the attention of street children so that he could share...

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What I Read in November

What I Read in November

I am back on track this month with seven books read--though a couple of them were pretty quick reads. I can't wait to dive into all the books I expect to get for Christmas! First up is Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. I picked up this copy at a flea market. It's the very...

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Let Us Go Rejoicing

Let Us Go Rejoicing

Weeks are long and weekends are short. Life is hard and we are so busy, so tired. Catching up on household chores, sleeping in, trying to have a little fun with family or friends—for many of us there is so much we want to do or need to do that a weekend never seems...

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Let’s Talk about Thanksgiving

Let’s Talk about Thanksgiving

You know the story of the first Thanksgiving. You probably acted it out in school--maybe more than once--complete with Pilgrim hats and feathered headdresses. It is immortalized on your serving plates, your seasonal decorations, and your holiday sale catalogs....

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What I Read in October

What I Read in October

Remember how sulky I was last month about having only read three books? Well, I made up for it this month! A major reason for this is that my daughter and I went to a Friends of the Library book sale and I bought so many books at rock bottom prices that I needed a...

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Our Patient Father

Our Patient Father

People love to make fun of the songs we sang at church in the early 1970s, but I was a little girl then and I remember many of them fondly. Today’s Gospel took me back to that time instantly, to the refrain of a  song written by Medical Mission Sister Miriam Therese...

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What I Read in September

What I Read in September

Y'all, I am so late with this post that I missed the linkup! But I'm  posting anyway because I want to remember what books I read and I am sure you were all waiting breathlessly to read about them. 😉 And the reason I am late is SO LAME. My post was erased, and I...

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In the Sight of the Angels

In the Sight of the Angels

I remain a parishioner at the church where I was baptized 55 years ago, meaning I have spent well over 2,000 Sunday mornings there. As a child, my mind and my eyes tended to wander, and the stained glass windows provided both entertainment and enlightenment, as they...

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What I Read in August

What I Read in August

August was NOT a reading month, y'all. Among other things (and aren't there always other things?), Lorelei started her Senior year of high school, William started his fifth semester of college, and we moved my father across town. Lorelei now has a 7 a.m. class (AP...

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Seeking Humility

Seeking Humility

In a world obsessed with social media, many of us judge our worth by how often our posts are liked or shared by others, hoping to go viral, obsessively checking our phones throughout the day when we think we have shared something exceptionally profound or amusing....

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What I Read in July

What I Read in July

I finished my sixth book with just a day to spare and made my six book goal for July. You would think I would have an easier time meeting my goals in the summer but that has not seemed to be the case. Master of Middle-Earth by Paul H. Kocher I picked this up on...

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Potter and Clay

Potter and Clay

Abba, Abba Father. You are the potter; we are the clay, the Work of Your hands . . . That is the beginning of a song I remember singing often at morning Mass when I was an 8th grader in parochial school. You probably recall the hymnal; it was ubiquitous in the early...

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What Are Your Idols?

What Are Your Idols?

We may not be worshipping golden statues or sacrificing people to Baal nowadays, but don’t we let attractive worldly things come between us and God? Perhaps it’s money, or power, or romance, or status, or even being right instead of being kind. You alone know what...

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My Favorite Reads of 2021

My Favorite Reads of 2021

Since I had a reading goal for the entirety of 2021, I thought it would be fun to do a round up post of the top ten books out of the 76 books I finished.  For the most part, I am excluding old favorites which I re-read from the list. The inclusion of a book on this...

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What I Read in April

What I Read in April

Did I meet my reading goal? Yes, I did! Tiny Hot Dogs by Mary Giulani This is a memoir by a Georgetown alumna who wanted to be a star and ended up as caterer to the stars instead. It's a fun read that unexpectedly turns serious near the end, and it's interspersed with...

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Heavenly Treasures

Heavenly Treasures

Basil the Great once said: “When someone steals another’s clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the...

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What I Read in January

What I Read in January

What with Christmas Break and snow days and Covid cancellations and William's semester starting midway through the month, I had another fruitful reading month! The Grey King by Susan Cooper I continued reading this series that I began re-reading in December. This one...

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God’s Mysterious Mercy

God’s Mysterious Mercy

“With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private” (Mark 4:33-34). When I read these words from today’s Gospel, I found myself...

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What I Read in December

What I Read in December

I think the week between Christmas and New Year's is my favorite. I got so many books for Christmas and I've had so much time to read. But I met my goal for the month long before Christmas, believe it or not--mostly because I read almost exclusively fiction! The Death...

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Jesus, Sun of Justice

Jesus, Sun of Justice

We all long for justice. Children are born with this innate desire—they are obsessed with fairness until their parents tell them enough times that the world is not fair.  Well, it is a fallen world so that is unfortunately true. But I have never said this to my own...

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When the Bad Guys Win

When the Bad Guys Win

Today’s First Reading is really satisfying, isn’t it? Imagine King Antiochus, secure in the power of his army, head full of dreams of silver and gold. He is so certain of victory that when things don’t go his way, he is dismayed. In today’s slang, we might say he is...

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What I Read in October

What I Read in October

I made up for last month's failure to meet my five-book-a-month goal by reading eight books this month, thanks to multiple book clubs. Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol This is a perfectly fine book, which I read for one of my Georgetown book clubs. It just...

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Let Your Light Shine

Let Your Light Shine

Today’s Gospel Acclamation exhorts us to let our light shine, and in the Gospel Jesus reminds us not to place that light under a bushel. At the end of their exile, the Israelites could not hide the light of their faith and their appreciation of the good things God had...

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What I Read in August

What I Read in August

I met my goal in August and have some great reads to share. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke I read this for the Fountain of Carrots book club. It's absolutely delightful. I already am wanting to re-read it so I can unpack new layers of meaning. I loved it so much that I...

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What I Read in June

What I Read in June

I did not read as much in June, but I did meet my goal.  Here's the breakdown: Call Down the Hawk is the first of a trilogy that follows the Raven Boys series, which I loved. My adult daughter loves young adult fantasy and I am grateful for the ones she recommends to...

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When Charity and Love Prevail

When Charity and Love Prevail

Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1822). I have a clear memory of myself as a little girl, pondering God and his ways. How could...

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What I Read in May

What I Read in May

Y'all, I read TEN books this month! I kicked it off with Anne's House of Dreams. You know, I never realized before how wildly varying in style the Anne books are. In contrast to the primarily epistolary structure of Anne of Windy Poplars and the episodic structure of...

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When You Became You: A Scientifically Accurate Celebration of Human Beings

When You Became You: A Scientifically Accurate Celebration of Human Beings

I have an article published in the Spring issue of Celebrate Life Magazine. Brooke and Christiane worked with a New York Times best-selling illustrator for four months, providing guidance and ideas for the illustrations. According to Brooke: “The illustrations truly...

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What I Read in April

What I Read in April

April was a month in which I read parts of a lot of books which I will finish and post about NEXT month. I did meet my five book goal for April though! Continuing with my re-read of the Anne of Green Gables series, I read Anne of the Island, in which Anne goes to...

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My Pandemic Year

My Pandemic Year

March 2020. It was the beginning of the pandemic--schools had just been shut down. Everything was strange and I was afraid. I had been walking at the park down the street from my house since the beginning of the year--I'd stop on my way to pick up the kids from school...

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What I Read in February

What I Read in February

I met my five-books-per-month reading goal for February, plus I read parts of lots of others.  It seems weird to think of reading as something I need to schedule, but thinking of between three and five in the afternoon (when I don't have anything pressing going on)...

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A Third Trip to San Francisco

A Third Trip to San Francisco

Exactly one year ago today as I write, I was enjoying my third trip to San Francisco to spend time with my middle son.  In fact, that is also where I was two years ago and three years ago today, give or take a day. This is poignant for more reason than one.  Not only...

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What I Read in January

What I Read in January

I set a goal this year to read five books a month.  In truth, I thought it a modest goal, since I used to read that many every week, give or take.  But it was surprisingly challenging, perhaps partly because I am only counting books I finish each month even though I...

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Let’s Talk about Free Speech

Let’s Talk about Free Speech

I'm seeing a lot of people online whining, frankly, about free speech and censorship and living in a communist country because President Trump got kicked off Twitter and Parler got shut down and now we'll be next and no doubt they are coming for our guns too. So I...

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Word of the Year and Saint of the Year

Word of the Year and Saint of the Year

It's a new year, y'all! And that means the Catholic internet is asking everyone these questions: What is your Word of the Year? Who is your Saint of the Year? If you are new to the concept I know it can sound a little strange--maybe even a little hokey! But over the...

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What I Read in December

What I Read in December

I did not read many books in December because Advent/Christmas.  I will be making it up in January for sure! Just before Advent, I heard about The Reed of God on multiple podcasts.  I took that as a sign to add it to my plans for Advent.  It's perfect for the season,...

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12 in 2020: A Year in Pictures

12 in 2020: A Year in Pictures

And now for a yearly tradition: recapping the year that just ended by sharing one photo per month.  I try to choose some of my best pictures, but sometimes I have to forgo quality in order to pick one that really captures the flavor of the month, as you will see....

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What I Read in November

What I Read in November

Oh, look! Here I am again, being all consistent and posting about what I read in November! Normally our book club reads something scary around Halloween, often something by Stephen King.  The above read (which we discussed outside and distanced around a crackling...

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My Catholic Vote

My Catholic Vote

I love voting on Election Day, but wishing to leave nothing to chance in this crazy year, I took advantage of early voting last week.  I marked my paper ballot for Joe Biden, coloring it in very carefully and staring at it for a long time afterward before I scanned...

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Dear Reluctant Homeschooler

Dear Reluctant Homeschooler

If you are considering homeschooling this coming semester, not with enthusiasm, but with looming dread, this post is for you. Because a lot of people who have never wanted to homeschool, who looked forward to the departure of their kids on Monday morning, whose kids...

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Another Trip to San Francisco

Another Trip to San Francisco

If I can say one thing with certainty about my third trip to San Francisco, it's this: my photography skills have improved since last year's trip. (If I do say so myself--we'll see if y'all agree with me!) THURSDAY We took a second trip to San Francisco to visit Teddy...

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Quote Me: Cast Your Cares on God

Quote Me: Cast Your Cares on God

I'm excited to share that I was recently a guest on a podcast!  Lindsay Schlegel interviewed me for the last episode of the first season of Quote Me, in which guests discuss a favorite quotation and its impact on their lives. My quotation was "Cast all your cares on...

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Merry Christmas Gift Guide

Merry Christmas Gift Guide

Now, I am not one to start Christmasing early.  We celebrate Advent hard and save Christmas for its proper 12 days as much as possible in today's world.  But part of having a peaceful Advent for me is doing my Christmas shopping in November.  If you want to get an...

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Five ObamaCare Facts and a PSA

Five ObamaCare Facts and a PSA

For this year's ObamaCare update, I am sharing five ObamaCare facts. The Affordable Care Act and ObamaCare refer to the same thing. I hope that's obvious to you, but it isn't to everyone--I have seen many a "man on the street" video with folks saying how awful...

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