Pinewood Castle

Now I am Six

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

~ A. A. Milne

Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

My father's name was Paul and his birthday fell on this day, the 29th of June. This little carved wooden statue of his patron saint is the only possession I have that was his. If he had lived he would have been 76 today. Instead, he died of throat cancer at the age of 55. I was still 17 and had just graduated from high school. Although we were never very close during his life, I was at his side during his hour of death, lying beside him in the night, holding his hand.

I have many memories of my father in specific places and situations but the only words I remember him saying directly to me were at the airport the summer my parents divorced. I was sent to live with my sister for a month while he moved out and before my flight departed he gave me another piece of baggage I have spent the rest of my life unpacking:

"When you get back, your father won't be here but his love for you will be."

At the time I must have taken it all in stride. Melancholic that I am I have slowly digested these words throughout my life, gradually realizing the impact his choices made on me, my mother and my siblings. His choice of words left me at a distance too - did he really love me all that much? Why did he refer to himself in third person? How is he supposed to love me when he's not there?

If fathers give us our first and lasting image of God, I admit that I have struggled with the frustration with trying to feel close to my heavenly Father without having experienced the benefit of a loving, loyal and affectionate earthly one.

Maybe this is why I have not given much thought or prayer to  "The Year of St. Paul". I have kept St. Paul at a distance, even resisting the thought of naming our son "Paul".  Today I am taking a step towards knowing Paul better by using this very last day to meditate over this article I found over at American Catholic.org. The passage in red is what speaks to me the most.

Pope Benedict announced the church's Pauline year marking the 2,000th anniversary of the saint's birth last June 28, the eve of the feast of SS. Peter and Paul. The pontiff said the year, marked by liturgies and events in Rome, should also be celebrated in dioceses around the world.

In his pastoral letter, Bishop Saltarelli noted St. Paul's role as an accomplice in the martyrdom of St. Stephen and Paul's subsequent conversion experience on the road to Damascus. "St. Paul understood how sin works in human nature and how the Holy Spirit can completely transform habits of corruption," the bishop wrote. "St. Paul also understood how to influence non-Christian and anti-Christian mind-sets with charity so as to be able to be an instrument of another mind's enlightenment.

"The best way that we can celebrate the Year of St. Paul is to go to the risen Lord and ask him about what deep and intimate conversion of life he is calling us to," he said. The Year of St. Paul offers a chance for Catholics to focus more attention on the Bible, the bishop said. "Any investment in understanding and praying the Scriptures more deeply is at the same time an investment in a fuller, more active and conscious participation in our Catholic Mass and sacramental liturgies," he said.

Quoting St. Jerome, Bishop Saltarelli noted, "The Word of God, drawn from the knowledge of the Scriptures, is real food and real drink" and suggested the Year of St. Paul is a good time "to rediscover the Roman Catholic Church's contemporary biblical scholarship." Recent novels and films, the bishop wrote, are a wake-up call to the church to promote "biblical literacy" and daily Bible reading.

"The cross of Jesus Christ is at the center of all that Paul does," Bishop Saltarelli writes. "He teaches us how to deal with the hardships and grief of life. Paul experienced it all: rejection, calumny, indifference, shipwrecks, imprisonment and ultimately martyrdom, symbolized in art by Paul holding a sword." Paul's ability to put the cross of Christ above temptations to egoism and pride is the "true source of his effectiveness," the bishop wrote. Paradoxically, Paul's "interior struggles offer us encouragement and strength to continue fighting in regard to our own character and temperament struggles," he added.

Love of the Eucharist and the church are key elements in celebrating St. Paul, who often used the image of the body of Christ to show "how the church is a communion of individuals with specific charisms and talents which build up of the body," the bishop said in his pastoral. "Our reverent reception of the Eucharist is the great spark of missionary activity that leads us like St. Paul to the ends of the earth," he said.

St. Paul's proclamation in his First Letter to the Corinthians, "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel," reflects what Bishop Saltarelli said he believes is one of Pope Benedict's goals for the Year of St. Paul: "to have every Roman Catholic hold up a mirror to their life and to ask: Am I as determined and as energetic about spreading the Catholic faith as St. Paul was?"

What Happened

It was the Zicam post - the one about the recall due to people reporting a loss of smell that attracted some riff-raff to my blog.

While I do not want to give this situation undue attention I thought it might be helpful to share a little about what I have learned from this experience.

First, I apologize for being so thin-skinned and reactionary. I see myself in my kids when they get upset when things don't go their way. Unfortunately I am both immature and inexperienced with blog troubles. I might still be lacking in maturity but at least I feel a bit more experienced after this.

My main concern before starting this blog was wondering how I would handle inevitable hecklers. In case you are are thinking of blogging, here's what showed up in my com box:

The first was from "Joe Shmoe"

this is the typical "big brother" trying to get rid of something that actually works...it works too good that is the problem so they can't sell their crap cold medicine....it's so typical

I wasn't too happy about this one and his use of the "c" word but the next one from "Think About It" bothered me more:

COME ON! Do you have a brain? If so, USE IT! THINK! 130 cases in 10 years, out of how many milllion doses? Think about it! It's just the FDA trying to kill another great product because they can't find a way to leech $$$ from it. The FDA is NOT in the business of protecting us, it is in the business of killing us! For example, they stall or deny drugs that help cancer patients, which have been proven safe and are used in other countries with incredible success! Yet the FDA won't allow it here because in the big picture, they'll lose $$$ from the other drug companies they leech off of since those drugs are far less successful and will stop being used because we'll all vote with our $$$. Beware of the FDA! Once again, they are using scare tactics to kill a very GOOD and successful product they will lose $$$ over. Don't get caught up in the hype, do the research, use your brain, think. Logic and rational thought is your fri end, FDA scare tactics is not.

That's it. Just two. I know many of you have endured MUCH worse!!!

Chances are, these folks have never before visited my blog and never will again. But still. I will be making some changes:

1. My DH showed me how people search for blog posts linking to major news articles - so I will refrain from linking to major news articles from now on!
2. One wise blogger friend suggested to just "block and delete" the weirdos - easy enough!
3. And yet another blogging veteran suggested turning off comments - I will try this for a while. Comments are nice when they come, but they are not my main motivation for blogging.
4. Topics involving natural health care options have attracted the most "off" comments. I would love to write more posts on the topic but will think twice before I do.

So I hope you have my email address if you want to be in touch. Feel free to use it and I will do my best to reply!

Signing Off

I have received some unsettling comments recently from readers who are unknown to me. This takes the fun out of blogging for me and makes me wonder who my readers are and if these commenters are regular readers or people who search out specific topics to badger people about.

Hosting a personal blog is a little like having an open house but not being there to see who walks through. Some are friends, some relatives, some are honest and supportive readers and the others - I have no idea. The Traffic Meter sometimes shows some exotic locations but does not tell me exactly who is coming by.

I know we cannot expect the web to be a safe haven and have to be on guard. So far my blog has been a relatively safe place for this little spot of my own but today I feel . . . like I have some unwelcome and uncharitable guests.

I may resume after a time but for now I think a break is best. Have a lovely summer!

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a . . .

This is an example of the kind of thoughts Sunshine has in the van on the way to Mass:

"Mommy, what phone number will I be when I grow up?"

And I just have to add another:

Wild Strawberry was having a toddler episode and Dino with a big sigh observed,

"Babies always need what they want!"

(but they don't always want what they need!)

Nature Notes

The path across the street has not been the best place for wildflower study this spring and summer. The weather has been dry and many oaks that provided shade have been removed due to oak wilt. Our favorite crab apple tree fell victim to the chainsaw as well.  Mostly we see poison ivy and tent caterpillars.

To offset this loss we headed out one Sunday to the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. The challenge of finding small flowers amid lush greenery is a task the children seem to enjoy as much as we do. Here are a few pics of what we found:

Wild Columbine

Jack in the Pulpit

Yellow Lady Slipper

Not sure, I'd have to look it up!

Wild Geranium

Forget Me Not

Dame's Rocket?

These ferns grow into a cone shape

Another worthwhile excursion was this National Wildlife Refuge.

My favorite lupine field was about done.

Did you know that lupines are legumes? When they go to seed they look like this:

 

Hazelnuts forming

Lots of poison ivy

Eagle's nest

The best finale of the day - a turtle laying eggs by the roadside!

Wordless Wednesday

Late Spring Layers of Bliss - A Cumulative Song

I have been enjoying . . .

Afternoons outside by the big twin oaks.

Afternoons outside by the big twin oaks while the toddler plays happily in the sandbox.

Afternoons outside by the big twin oaks weeding the lilies of the valley while the toddler plays happily in the sandbox.

Afternoons outside by the big twin oaks hearing the children sing "White Coral Bells" in a two part round, weeding the lilies of the valley while the toddler plays happily in the sandbox.

Afternoons outside by the big twin oaks hearing the well tuned scale of our new wind chimes as well as the children singing "White Coral Bells", weeding the lilies of the valley while the toddler plays happily in the sandbox.

Afternoons outside by the big twin oaks creating a new fairy house while hearing the well tuned scale of our new wind chimes and the children singing "White Coral Bells", weeding the lilies of the valley while the toddler plays happily in the sandbox.

Coming Events . . .

At Heppner's Legacy

Tuesday, June 16th - Credits Before College (~ 2½ hour workshop)

Cheri Frame (Be sure to check out Cheri's Bio on her website www.CreditsBeforeCollege.com)
Non-refundable registration fee: $35.00 (includes same-night $5 store credit plus an extensive Resource Packet)
Are you resigned to the fact that attending college is expensive?  Most of us hope for the best: scholarships and financial aid, yet try to prepare for the worst: how to repay huge student loans.  There is another way.  Since many introductory college courses are a repeat of those studied in high school, your student can earn college credits for those courses while in high school--and you can cut your college costs in half!
This workshop includes:
Thinking outside of the box--options to consider
Credit by Exam--a very inexpensive and efficient way to achieve college credit through testing programs such as CLEP and Dante
Middle/High school--how to combine earning college credits with your homeschool courses.
Scheduling and studying for exams--effective techniques and free resources including free exams.
PSEO and the MN Transfer Curriculum--combine these options with CBE and open up many more future options.
The Gap Years: Graduating early. . . now what?
Regional Accreditation --How to "bank" and transfer credits to the college of your choice.
Setting a course--earn a year of credits before 11th grade, or simply save hundreds of dollars by passing just one exam--and where to begin.
Degree for $6,000--take the independent-study approach all the way through and have a college diploma in hand by age 18!

Tuesday, July 21st - Where Do I Begin?; A workshop for new & potential homeschoolers

• Nancy Bjorkman
  Non-refundable registration fee: $10.00 (includes same-night $5 store credit)

  Considering homeschooling? Not sure where to begin? This workshop will help define several different learning and teaching styles found in homeschooling families. We will then explore resources and curriculum to fit your family’s particular style. We’ll cover some common roadblocks and misconceptions about "what school should look like" and also discuss many of the stages that homeschool families experience as they walk through the years. There will be a time for interaction and questions.

As seating is limited, pre-registration with a non-refundable reservation fee is required for each attendee on a first-come, first-served basis. Workshop attendees will be given a $5 credit toward any purchase made the evening of the workshop. All workshops will begin at promptly at 7:00 p.m. and will last 1½ - 2 hours (except as noted below). Call today to register! 763-241-HOME (4663)

Universal Language

A keen observation by one of my children (can't remember exactly who) that many parents, especially Suzuki parents, will appreciate:

"I think that Twinkle Twinkle is the main song of the world."