Which sci-fi character am I?
Yoda!
A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.
Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.
Feast Day: January 15th
The shrine of Our Lady of the Poor, near the city of Liège in the Flemish village of Banneux. Devotion to Mary began as a result of an apparition to a poor twelve-year-old Belgian child in the garden of her home on January 16, 1933. Our Lady told her that she had come to relieve the ills and sufferings of the poor of all nations. A painting on the wall of the village's chapel made according to the child's description shows Mary robed in white with a blue sash and with a rosary over her right arm. On January 18, 1933, the child's father, an avowed atheist, accompanied his daughter to the garden, and although he did not see the Virgin he was instantly converted, overwhelmed in the presence of an unseen power. After years of investigation, the Holy See authorized public devotion to Our Lady of Banneux, patroness of the poor, in 1942. Formal approval was given by the Bishop of Liège in 1949, and a statue of that title was solemnly crowned in 1956. Pilgrims from many countries came to worship at the shrine. Over one hundred shrines throughout the world are dedicated to Our Lady of Banneux. (Fr. John A. Hardon)
Resources:Feast Day: September 13th
This website set up to chronicle the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Austria for the 850th anniversary of the shrine of Mariazell in September 2007 has detailed information and many pictures. I particularly liked this one of the monk Marcus arriving at Mariazell:
The most famous place of pilgrimage to Mary in Central Europe, high in the Austrian Alps. Its origins go back to 1154, when Magnus, a Benedictine monk, retired from the abbey at Lambrecht to live a more contemplative life. He carried with him a twenty-two-inch simple statue of Mary and her infant Son. He lost his way in the woods near Graatz, and night found him facing a high rock that he could neither climb nor go around. He placed the statue on a log while he prayed to Our Lady for direction. The high black rock suddenly split in two and light shone forth from its severed edges. He realized that Mary had led him there and wanted to be honored in that place. He built a small hermitage with a tree stump for a pedestal to hold the statue. About a century later a neighboring prince and his wife were seriously ill. Being told in a dream to go to the hermitage and pray, they were cured. In gratitude they built a church on the spot. The statue of Our Lady of Mariazell, though over eight hundred years old, has never shown any sign of wear or decay. The Madonna is seated, her dress is white, with a blue mantle. The Infant holds an apple in his hand. Mary is holding a pear. The first church replacing the small chapel was built in 1200. In 1340 the King of Hungary erected a larger church to accommodate the pilgrims. In the seventeenth century the present Baroque edifice was built. The Austro-Hungarian rulers considered it their most cherished shrine. Veneration to Mary and her Son continued under all vicissitudes until grave war dangers forced a temporary concealment of the treasured statue. This shrine has maintained its Austrian character though it has been a haven to people from many nations. In 1975 Cardinal Mindszenty was buried at Mariazell, his personally designated final resting place.(Fr. John A. Hardon)
“ Holy Mary, Mother of God, you have given the world its true light, Jesus, your Son – the Son of God. You abandoned yourself completely to God's call and thus became a wellspring of the goodness which flows forth from him. Show us Jesus. Lead us to him. Teach us to know and love him, so that we too can become capable of true love and be fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world”.The website for the Basilica of Mariazell includes an extensive panoramic tour. Click on the green circles for a 360 degree view from that spot. The site also has pictures and details of other holy places at Mariazell.
Prayer to Our Lady of Mariazell
O Mary, we call upon you.
You are the Great Mother of Austria,
the Mother of the Slavic peoples.
You offer a safe haven for the exiled;
you bring freedom and consolation to prisoners.
We ask you holiest of all virgins, to guard innocence and purity.
Help us in all our needs, assist us in danger when we call upon you.
O Mary, guardian of the German Lands,
we pray that you may banish the scourges of war and bring peace to all believers. Through your powerful intercession, console the disillusioned, bring back the erring, comfort the sick, and give hope to sinners.
Great Mother Mary, Our Lady of Mariazell,
bless and protect the people who honor you.
Amen
Feast Day: May 8th
More detail is given at Hispanic Online and in this article by Zsolt Aradi at Catholic Culture.
Argentine shrine, forty miles west of Buenos Aires. Its main object of devotion is a small doll-like statue of the Blessed Virgin; her head is surrounded by a golden aureole and is crowned with hundreds of diamonds and other precious stones. The Basilica of Our Lady of Luján is the most important pilgrimage center in Argentina. According to legend, in 1639 a peasant from Cordova, wishing to revive his neighbors' "belief in their early faith," ordered two statues from Brazil, one of the Immaculate Conception, the other the Blessed Virgin and her Son. When the caravan delivering them reached a small ranch on the outskirts of Luján, the driver could not urge the horses on until the statue of the Immaculate Conception was removed, indicating Mary's own choice of where her shrine should be. The treasured statue went through many housing vicissitudes. One Negro grew from boyhood to old age guarding her first in a small chapel, then in a church, then in a larger edifice. As the number of miracles grew, the crowds also grew larger. In 1910 an impressive cathedral was completed and today it is one of the world's famous shrines to Mary honored by papal coronation. Since 1930 the cathedral has been raised to the rank of a basilica. Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay now all claim The Lady of Luján as their official protectress. (Fr. John A. Hardon)
Picture: Hispanic OnlineFeast Day: April 30th
Our Lady of Africa: Ancient shrine at Algiers, dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. It was originally a small statue of the Madonna, set in a frame of shells at a spot often visited by Barbary robbers. Fishermen came there to pray for safe voyages. In time, the grotto became a chapel and eventually a large church. A great miracle made the revered chapel even better known. Archbishop Lavigerie of Algiers was on his way to Rome accompanied by seven hundred soldiers, priests, and a Trappist abbot when their ship was caught in a violent storm. The crew despaired of the ship's safety. The archbishop had promised the Mother of God a pilgrimage to the shrine of "Our Lady of Africa" if she would save them. The ship was saved and the promise was kept. In 1872 an impressive cathedral was consecrated and now houses the crowned statue of Mary. Pope Pius IX donated the golden diadem with precious stones that Mary, "Consolation of the Afflicted," now wears. At the shrine there are as many Moslem pilgrims as Christian. To the faithful Moslem she is "Lala Meriem," who bestows her favors. The Holy See has entrusted the care of the sanctuary to the congregation of White Sisters of Africa. (Fr. John A. Hardon)
And you, too, my last-minute friend, who would not have known what you were doing; yes, for you too I say this thank-you and this a-diar--to commend you to the God in whose face I see yours. And may he grant to us to find each other, happy thieves, in Paradise, if it please God, the Father of us both. Amen! Inshallah!"This site gives a brief history of the Church in Algeria - the modern country includes Carthage, the city of St. Augustine.
Our Lady of Africa, Mother of us all,
be specially mindful of the peoples of Africa.
Gather together all those who follow Jesus Christ.
May they be one in the Church of your Son.
May all those who have not yet recognized Jesus
as the Son of the Father be drawn by his Light.
May all those who have been seized by Christ
proclaim the Good News by their whole life.
You who were present with the Apostles
at the beginning of the Church,
support the apostles of today
that they may boldly proclaim the Word of God.
(from White Fathers website)
... of vacuum cleaners. After my painful decapitation of Henry last year in a vain attempt to fix his on/off switch, I replaced him with a cheap and cheerful upright hoover.
Last night I did it again. I can't pretend I didn't see the strap of Star's school bag dangling over the floor. I just thought I could nudge round it rather than making the effort to move it. I caught the edge.
Slurp!
Gulp!
Distressed, shrieking hoover death-wail.
Acrid burning smell and smoke.
So that would be that then. Another vacuum cleaner bites the dust. It was a very cheap one, so whatever I have blown out (the motor, I presume) would certainly cost more to fix than the hoover was worth.
But every cloud - or hoover explosion - has a silver lining. I missed him. His replacement was bland and unfriendly. It never smiled at me. It was dull and characterless.
Henry II is on his way ...
As I googled my way around the world, I found a few sites that might whet your appetite for this journey:
If you would like a preview, I have posted images for each title of Our Lady at First Heralds, together with some very short and simple snippets of information about each one. There are a series of separate posts, to which you can find links here.
A note on copyright
Religious images on the web rarely carry any indication of copyright restrictions, or attribution to any source. Often the same image, or very similar versions, will occur in multiple locations. I am assuming that such images are in the public domain, and have tried to use these where possible. A few images appear more individual, and for these I will add a link underneath to show the internet source. All the images I will be posting are readily available elsewhere on the internet, none are taken from commercial sites, and they are being collected here only for convenience and for personal use.
I promised a series of posts on Our Lady around the world for May and have been busy this week doing my homework (it became addictive!). To whet your appetite, here is a list of the thirty countries I will be visiting and the titles of Our Lady I will be exploring. May 31st is the Feast of the Visitation, so I will not do a post for that day.
Somewhat behind the times I finally got round to reading Pope Benedict's address to the Jewish community on his recent visit to America. His respect for and understanding of the Jewish Passover shone through ... but there was also honest recognition of the differences in the Christian and Jewish perspectives, which makes his acknowledgment of what we have in common more powerful. I know I have a few readers with an interest in things Jewish, so I thought I would share part of his message:
You can read the rest here.
To the Jewish community on the Feast of Pesah
My visit to the United States offers me the occasion to extend a warm and heartfelt greeting to my Jewish brothers and sisters in this country and throughout the world. A greeting that is all the more spiritually intense because the great feast of Pesah is approaching. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever” (Exodus 12: 14). While the Christian celebration of Easter differs in many ways from your celebration of Pesah, we understand and experience it in continuation with the biblical narrative of the mighty works which the Lord accomplished for his people.
At this time of your most solemn celebration, I feel particularly close, precisely because of what Nostra Aetate calls Christians to remember always: that the Church “received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people with whom God in His inexpressible mercy concluded the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles” (Nostra Aetate, 4). In addressing myself to you I wish to re-affirm the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on Catholic-Jewish relations and reiterate the Church’s commitment to the dialogue that in the past forty years has fundamentally changed our relationship for the better.
Because of that growth in trust and friendship, Christians and Jews can rejoice together in the deep spiritual ethos of the Passover, a memorial (zikkarôn) of freedom and redemption. Each year, when we listen to the Passover story we return to that blessed night of liberation. This holy time of the year should be a call to both our communities to pursue justice, mercy, solidarity with the stranger in the land, with the widow and orphan, as Moses commanded: “But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this” (Deuteronomy 24: 18).
Down memory lane ... thirteen things from my childhood that my children have never known.
I tried this with various blog and non-blog family names. Here is the winner of my private competition:
| Your Slogan Should Be |
 Tevye: What You'd Eat if You Lived on Mars |
We had a busy weekend with two seder meals. Why two seders? Due to the difficulty of knowing exactly when the new moon would occur in Israel, Jews in the diaspora (outside Israel) traditionally added an extra day to Passover and celebrated two seders to ensure they had the right day covered. Nowadays the correct date for the beginning of Passover can be calculated more accurately, but the double seder tradition stuck.
Saturday's Seder
Small scale, with just the five of us. We downloaded this Family Haggadah (seder order of service) a couple of years ago and it works well for our mix of ages. It has all the essential elements of a traditional seder, clear text, abbreviated versions of favourite songs transliterated into the western alphabet, and is short enough for the girls to stay focused (mostly!).
Cherub was intrigued by the whole thing. Particularly by her very small "wine" glass, which she stuffed with a mixture of parsley (our "karpas" vegetable), charoset (apple, nuts, wine and sugar mixture to represent the mortar used by the Israelites in Egypt), matzoh and hard boiled egg. Nice.
Nobody spilled any wine. Unheard of.
Mercifully no unpleasant surprises during the preparation, unlike some people. Commiserations to Faith over the dead chipmunk.
Sunday's Seder
A larger scale at my SIL's, with fifteen people altogether (three families, plus an elderly gentleman from their synagogue, and a young Spanish Jew living in the UK to learn more about Judaism). Our girls were the only children ... the other "kids" are now all young adults. This was a full scale seder, following the Orthodox Haggadah and using a mix of Hebrew and English. Everyone there apart from myself and the girls are actually Reform Jews, but the Reform Synagogue organisation here doesn't have its own Haggadah so they stick to the traditional one. A traditional seder is long. We started at seven and finished at eleven, but only because the later section was fast-tracked as people needed to leave. Otherwise it would have been nearer midnight. It is also hard to follow, as the translation is grim. Old-fashioned language at its worst - pompous, wordy and obscure.
Cherub spent the entire time before the seder meal (an hour or more) sitting at the table happily arranging Playmobil people and furniture. After the meal she played a bit with Angel and Star, and with a box of sticklebricks. She is clearly a party animal. No way was she going to let herself fall asleep while there was a party going on. At one point she sat on Angel's lap and nodded off ... but managed to force herself back awake, hopped down and tried to walk. She was so close to asleep on her feet she looked like a little robot.
Lengthy negotiations over the afikomen (a piece of matzoh hidden by the children, which later becomes necessary for the continuation of the seder ... the children then hold it to ransom). My BIL is a lawyer. It shows. It took a while to establish that (a) yes, he was a person prepared to use cash to buy himself out of a difficulty, and (b) no, the girls would not consider Euros a better deal than sterling. All were eventually satisfied with the end result of the negotiations.
Two entirely random overheard comments:
"Pescatarianism sounds worse than cannibalism to me." (Huh?)
"I was at a Sephardi seder last night and at this point everyone hits each other over the head with a spring onion (scallion)."
Cousin L spilled her wine.
Passover starts tonight, which means a long "to do" list in this Catholic-Jewish household ...
I am mortified.
As I watched Little Cherub play yesterday, I realised that whenever she bent down to pick up a toy, or got up from the floor, she groaned like a stiff old middle aged lady with aching joints.
I wonder where she could possibly have got that from?
I knew mid-life motherhood would have its hazards. I was geared up to being mistaken for her grandmother (hasn't happened yet!). But a creaking, groaning toddler?
Ouch!
I had an idea ... and it grew!
It started with the idea of making a May Basket for Little Cherub. I wanted to print out some pictures of Mary to laminate and put in the basket and started googling for images. As I did so I found a few from different parts of the world and decided to make a set of little cards with a "round the world" theme. Then I thought, why not make one for each day of May? And why not turn it into a blog project?
So, for Mary's month of May, I will be posting a series of "Our Lady Around the World" posts, taking one image and title of Our Lady daily, each from a different country. I have spent Little Cherub's nap time over the last couple of days researching, and I am finding it fascinating. I am learning tons! I will also be posting a series of images of Mary at First Heralds over the next week or so. These will give you a sneak preview of what to expect.
The town council has just invested a substantial amount in refitting several local playgrounds, so Little Cherub and I have been having fun testing them out. We are impressed! She is particularly impressed with the new slides. If anybody mentions the word "slide" in her hearing, a little voice pipes up with "wheeee!!!!!"
You would think that as I am in photographic mode I would have thought to take pictures, but no. Fortunately, K-next-door did.
I liked the shape of this ash tree, still looking rather wintry against the grey .
On Saturday mornings we often take Little Cherub to the canal to feed the ducks. I managed to get a good close up of this mallard.
Little Cherub has discovered counting. She can now "count" up to ten, though she skips seven because it is a tricky word - if you can't say it, just miss it out, is her theory. We have a long way to go before she gets the idea of one to one correspondence, though.
"Cherub, how many feet do you have?"
[Points randomly in the direction of her feet]
"On ... doo ... pee ... [triumphantly] POUR!!!!"
It may lack mathematical accuracy, but it's very cute.
I didn't manage to get out with the camera yesterday or today, so here are a couple of pictures taken when we were on holiday in Dorset - a group of teasels silhouetted against the sky and the Fleet, and a close up of a single teasel. (Old camera again, so not so much clarity.)
One of my new year's resolutions was to take up knitting again, and it is one I have kept with enthusiasm. Here are thirteen good reasons for knitting.
Knitting is:
I tried to take a close-up of a couple of daisies and failed miserably, so here to fill the gap is a photo taken a while ago at a homeschool group field trip to Ashridge. The education team there provide various nature based activities for groups. On this trip the children first had to make "colour palettes" by sticking small samples of different coloured leaves, grass, flowers, bark and so on onto cards with a strip of double-side tape. Then they had to collect materials to make a large-scale picture before viewing (and photographing) the end result from the top of this monument. The girls' group made this flower.
It was taken with my old 3 megapixel camera so the details aren't clear, but the yellow petals were heaps of leaves, the stem was quite large branches, and the flower and leaves were outlined with twigs.
Because you have asked me, my brother John, most dear to me in Christ, how to set about acquiring the treasure of knowledge, this is the advice I pass on to you: That you should choose to enter by the small rivers, and not go right away into the sea, because you should move from easy things to difficult things. (from Letter of St.Thomas Aquinas on how to study)HT: Northampton Seminarian
These horse chestnut buds are just about to burst into leaf. The camera's "simple" (idiot-proof!) setting has an option for backlit shots, which works beautifully to get a clear picture of the subject. It may be a little light - unless I just have my monitor set too bright.
Taking this series of photos has reminded me just how pleased I am with this camera. I checked, and it is a Panasonic DMC LS60. For a cheap, entry-level digital camera, being operated by an unskilled photographer, I think it does an excellent job. This is the review that convinced me to buy it (I was originally looking at a Kodak which got less than stellar comments).
Yesterday I took a gaggle of girls - my three and J-next-door - on a shopping expedition to a nearby town. Walking back to the train station afterwards I lagged behind the three older girls, pushing Little Cherub and a heap of bags. Watching them trotting along, animated and chatty, I thought about the miracle that is J, The Girl Who Lived.
Like The Boy Who Lived (apologies for the allusion if you are not a fan of Harry), J bears an scar. On her chest, put there by surgeons. Like Harry, protected by his mother's love, The Girl Who Lived did so because of the courage and love of her parents.
J was diagnosed in utero with a catastrophic heart malformation, which the doctors predicted would make life outside the womb impossible. If she survived long enough to be born, her first breaths would lead only to suffocation as the blood flooding through her severely enlarged arteries compressed her lungs. Terminate the pregnancy, said the doctors. It would be the best thing. The kindest thing. She can't survive.
I can hardly begin to imagine the courage it takes to struggle through the long, heavy months of pregnancy carrying a baby you know will die at birth. But, thank God, J's parents had the faith and courage to carry that burden. When the time came for the birth to be induced, they simply asked that it should not be on the same day as her brother's birthday - to celebrate the birth of one child and mourn the death of another on the same day would be too painful. And so two days later than originally planned, The Girl Who Would Die was born. And lived.
The doctors were right. J had exactly the heart defects they predicted. But against all the odds her little body fought back. The baby who should have been blue, silent and gasping for breath, was pink, crying and breathing. The doctors were able to wait until she was five months old before carrying out corrective surgery.
And now? J is a happy, active and sporty teenager; she performs lead roles with the local children's theatre group; she has a busy social life and many friends. She cooks. She shops (clothes!!!). Now and then she yells at her Mum. She would lose her head if it wasn't screwed on. She is Angel's very best friend. She lives!
Life? Life is precious. Even the tiniest, most hopeless of lives is precious. Love? Love means having the courage to nurture even the smallest flicker of life, to risk the pain of loss. And sometimes love of that magnitude can be rewarded with a miracle.
I know that.
I know The Girl Who Lived.
... for Maria of Pixilated School Notes, who is undergoing tests following the discovery of a nodule on one of her lungs. Please pray that all will be well.
These brown lumps are some sort of fungus growing on the hedge surrounding our back garden. I rather like the way this photo captured the mossy green tinge of the branches. I tried taking it using both the "ordinary" and "flower" settings (you can tell I'm a technical whizz with a camera. Not.) The general setting came out clearer.
The properties-of-elements experiment with spectacle frames continues. The results now stand at:
Non-titanium frames - two successes for Little Cherub
Titanium frames - one failure for Little Cherub
Fortunately Star was due for a new pair anyway. Her old ones are well and truly snapped.
Titanium.
Why, you ask?
Put it this way ... have you ever had a pair of glasses with cheap metal frames fall into the clutches of a toddler who thinks it is fun to see how much she can bend them? And have you ever had the same happen to a pair with titanium frames?
I'm pleased to report that despite having to force one arm back from a 210 degree angle, jammed over the front of the lens, the titanium frames are as good as new. That would be the titanium frames I bought (on sale! yay!) after she destroyed the last pair by doing the exact same thing.
And while I am on the subject of elements, how cool is this ... and this. Out of my price range, unfortunately.
Another daffodils photo. Yesterday's rain turned to snow, though it is thawing like Narnia after Aslan's arrival.
Tevye and I had a kind of random conversation last night about what we could choose if we could pick a small thing that could be done magically - instantly and without any effort on our part. No great life or world-changing wishes, just a little touch of magic. These were our choices.
Me: To be whisked from the sofa to my bed. When I'm tired I want to go to bed now. I don't want to have to go through the whole nightly routine of undressing, throwing clothes in the laundry, putting on pyjamas, washing, tooth cleaning, using inhalers, and general faffing around before I can get into bed. A little wave of a magic wand and ... pouff! sofa to bed! Bliss!
Tevye: Instant unpacking and sorting out when we return from a holiday. Unloading of car, unpacking of bags, washing, ironing and putting away of clothes, checking and answering email backlog, dealing with post, catching up on anything else that has gone undone ... all sorted!
Now I think his is a poor idea as we only go away once or twice a year, whereas I would benefit from mine every night. He thinks getting from sofa to bed is such a small and insignificant process it is a waste of a good magical wish.
What would you choose?
I'm getting inspired by Jennifer and other April Shower participants to think more about what I want to achieve with a photo. Today I decided I wanted to try and capture the rain that had stopped a few minutes earlier. Some of my efforts might charitably have been described as "interesting"; a few were just plain pathetic. I liked this one, with the raindrop on the flower in the centre and the cloudy sky behind. Thank goodness for ImageWell, which allows me to cut out the messy bits round the edge (I could do it in iPhoto, but find ImageWell easier). Is that cheating?
Some of the rare flowers in our garden ... rare not in the sense of unusual, but because it takes true tenacity to survive my black thumbs and Tevye's conviction that anything that grows must be a weed.
My camera has a "flower" setting. At least, there is a picture of a flower on the dial and it appears to take close ups of flowers when the arrow points at that picture!
Overheard in the back of the car, Star to friend:
"My Mum was really old when she had Little Cherub. Now she is very old!"
Jennifer of S/V Mari-Hal-o-Jen put out a challenge for this month:
If you would like to join me in a month of photos, please drop a comment into the comment box and I'll collect all our info into my seriously outdated sidebar. Set your own goals for the month or focus on a theme that interests you (Spring Flowers, macro photos, portraits, or perhaps the color green?) or simply have uploading one photo a day as your goal! Goodness knows that's all I'll get done some April days!Photography is not my strong point but I'm going to give it a go, even though it is pushing me right out of my comfort zone. I think I will need a focus to avoid sinking into a paralysed, photo-less confusion, so I'm going to go with a "nature" theme. I only have an pocket-sized entry-level Panasonic digital camera. It takes better photos than the old Kodak I was using until it died last year, but a professional piece of kit it most definitely is not.
I hope to make April's Shower of Photos a little Loveliness to look forward to each day, won't you join me?
My organic fruit and veg box includes a weekly newsletter from the farm owner. Mostly his news is information about current crops and growing conditions. This week it was a more general piece about food and healthy eating, triggered by a newly imposed requirement to use computer generated nutrition analysis to establish whether school meals cooked by his company are "healthy".
First he quoted four guidelines from Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food, which sound eminently sensible to me:
Even today there is just too much that we do not know. Nothing illustrates this better than the thirty year vilification of butter only to find that the miserable, meal ruining transfats (margarine etc) that have displaced it are in all probability more damaging.This was his conclusion:
Traditionally cooked whole foods have been elbowed aside in favour of highly processed functional foods designed, manufactured and marketed to solve the problems associated with a Western diet. They don’t seem to be working. Science will not solve a cultural problem; namely a collapse in the willingness, confidence and skills needed to cook and enjoy real food. There is no one healthy diet or silver bullet that can better the knowledge accumulated over generations of how to use predominantly locally sourced ingredients to sustain us through happy and healthy lives. Pollan’s advice is that unless you suffer from a specific dietary illness like diabetes, the best thing to do with a nutritionist’s advice is to ignore it.You can read the whole newsletter here.
My planning mania struck again before Easter. My train of thought landed on Little Cherub's future schooling, and I found myself starting a list of topics I wanted to cover with her in the early years. I began scribbling down all sorts of great ideas for setting up Montessori-style trays, subject baskets, main lesson books ... then I wondered if I really needed to reinvent the wheel. I took a look at the Preparatory Level of Mater Amabilis and the introductory notes I wrote jumped out and hit me. Time to listen to my own advice!
IF IN DOUBT - DO LESS. Trying to do too much with a young child is worse than doing too little. It is better to start from scratch with a six year old than to find yourself dealing with one who doesn't want to do schoolwork any more. Be sensitive to your child's needs and readiness. If he or she isn't ready, then holding off for a year or so is fine.Then this from a Parents' Union School Preparatory Class Programme:
Children of five still need plenty of quiet growing-time and as much out-of-door life as possible. Daily lessons should be regular but informal and the time-table regarded only as a flexible guide to a well-assorted arrangement of free play occupations, activities and quiet story times.From there I took another look at the notes I made on gentle learning for the early years (still a work in progress), and went right back to the drawing board.
I know I have a few readers who are Mac users, so I thought I'd pass on a recommendation for some image editing software I have been using: ImageWell. The basic software is free, with the option to pay for an upgraded version with extra features.
I haven't tried any other image editing software, so I can't make any comparisons, and all I use it for is prettying up pictures for my blog, but it does that very nicely. My header pictures here and at First Heralds, and the Tolkien quote in my sidebar were all done using ImageWell. I got a bit carried away with electronic doodling, and have already made a rather nifty header picture for May. The software will easily adjust the size of pictures and makes it possible to superimpose text. Other options include cropping, making pictures opaque and adding coloured borders. There may be more but that is as far as I have got with my experiments.
ImageWell has also solved a minor technical issue that bugged me. For some reason photos taken with my camera held vertical come out sideways on this blog, even though they appear the right way up in iPhoto. Dropping them into ImageWell and saving them there solves the problem.
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