Spring migration...

I've been enjoying the increased level of bird activity lately in our neighborhood. Over the winter, we will continue to see Northern Cardinals, House Sparrows, and we also get Dark Eyed Juncos here that winter in this region from their summer home in the arctic. Come spring though, suddenly our community becomes alive with American Robins, Common Grackles, Black Capped Chickadees, and Blue Jays. I've always liked robins, despite the fact that they are fairly commonplace throughout the country. They just look so confident, no? They have a very cute stance. And children love them, including Hank, because they are so distinguishable with their bright red breasts. I love childrens' sweet and innocent take on birding:

"Mommy, wook, a WOBIN!! Why is he hopping away, Mommy? I wanted to hold him."

Everyone is nesting right now. Here on campus, we have a number of resident Red Tailed Hawks, and these are beautiful birds. They had a nest stationed on a light post on the practice track, and this winter it was taken down for fear of it falling and hurting someone. These are *big* birds, and as you might imagine, they make *big* nests for *big* babies. Thus, this year, the mated pair is hard at work assembling a brand new nest right in the exact same spot. These are routine-oriented birds. I think this is why I like them so much - we relate to each other well.

At any rate, every time I walk out to my car, I spot a hawk flying by with a twig in its mouth. And the funny thing is, all of the smaller birds are afraid of them, because, well, the hawk could eat them for a mid-afternoon snack in the blink of an eye. But right now, the hawks aren't so much focused on munching on pigeons; rather, they are in clear NEST-BUILDING MODE. This is very reminiscent of your Catholic Librarian in the months leading up to Henry's birth. I was a woman on fire.

So anyway, amusing little scenes inevitably result. A gigantic red-tailed hawk is busily gathering small branches in its beak, halo perched firmly on head. Meanwhile, a nearby robin or blue jay nearly has a heart attack sending out an alarm cry to alert every other bird on campus. Robins, in particular, just won't let it go if a hawk is within a mile of it. They're going to be hoarse by the end of the season.

In a few months, the new little ducklings will start to come out with their parents. We have Canada Geese here, and Mallards. They're adorable. Unfortunately, they are very prone to being hawk food :( I worry for them quite a bit. In my mind, the hawk's instinct to protect its own young should prevent it from eating anybody elses. This makes perfect sense to me, but the birds don't seem to agree.

Easter is in the air...

Easter is in the air, and I'm very excited. Mike, Henry and I are leaving Saturday to drive to my older sister Rhonda's home in New Jersey. We're optimistic that Henry is old enough now that our car ride won't be an absolute debacle, but there's still a bit of prayer involved on that one. At my instigation, we bought a portable DVD player to make the 6 hour ride more bearable for Henry. I had to use my feminine charms on my husband in order to convince him to see my point of view on this one, but I think he's going to be glad that I was successful. Because, when we hit hour 4, and instead of whining and/or sobbing, Henry will be happily watching Scooby Doo, and I think that we're all going to wing up a prayer of thanksgiving for the wonders of technology.

I'm also busily knitting and crocheting away, making Easter gifts for everyone. I have a new favorite place to obtain patterns - e-Patterns Central. These are not free patterns, you purchase them, but there are patterns for sale there for as little as $1.99. My newest obsession is kitchen and dining items - dish cloths, towels, and placemats. There are free patterns out there for all of those things, definitely, but I found some stupendous ones at e-Patterns Central. I just paid less than $11, and I was able to buy 14 patterns for gorgeous crocheted dishcloths and pot holders. One of my finds was 2-Hour Dishcloths - ooohhhh, aaaahhhh. They'll make excellent gifts. I'm super excited. All the patterns are available as immediate downloads, so you can set right to work :)

The exciting night life of the Catholic Librarian, and the Easter Bunny Complex...

This was a busy weekend for me. And I'm different from most (normal) people in that I actively avoid having busy weekends. One would think that having weekend plans was a good thing. But your Catholic Librarian is such a classic introvert. Choice: (a) go out for dinner and dancing with friends, or (b) stay home and knit dish cloths. The fact that I longed to do (b) on Friday means that I'm some sort of freak.

At any rate, I did go out and I did have a good time, despite my dish cloth intentions. I went to a local Arab cultural association event with my bellydance troupe for dinner, live Middle Eastern music, and dancing. It was super fun, and I was glad that I went. It's not easy for me to spontaneously dance in public, but I do what I can.

Saturday we awoke early and readied to take Henry to visit the Easter Bunny. We met up with some friends there, and their young son, Jude. We arrived first, and since the bunny was already set up and waiting, I hustled Hank right in line. Quickly, a theme became apparent.

A woman ahead of us was there with two small children - a little boy who looked to be around 15 months or so, and a little girl in the 3 year old contingent. The mother was combing their hair and trying to psych them up for a cheerful trip to the bunny's lap so that a good photo might be obtained. Each child was to receive one free photo with the bunny, and it is printed on the spot- a pretty good deal nowadays considering our shopping mall Santa wanted a minimum package purchase of $20 and no external cameras allowed.

So, the turn of the children ahead of us arrives. The mother grabbed the little boy out of his stroller and popped him onto the bunny's lap. Immediately, he burst into uncontrollable sobs and attempted an ill advised leap right off the bunny's knee. The bunny hung tight, but the little boy was not havin' it. Despite much cajoling from his mom and the picture taker, he would not be soothed. A picture was taken anyway, but I can't imagine that one's a keeper.

Finally, the mother wrenches him from the bunny and pushes his sister over. Before even coming into contact with the bunny, she screams, bursts into tears, and refuses to sit on his lap. I think the bunny was exhausted by time he got to Hank. Luckily, Hank hopped up, smiled for a picture, and hopped down to hurry over to the candy distribution area. His picture came out cute. As we were waiting for it to be printed, and for Jude to arrive, I kept glancing over to what was quickly becoming The Lap of Doom. Every time I looked, a sobbing child was being dragged over and pleaded with to please just take one nice picture with bunny.

And he was a cute bunny! No scary face to be had. Mike still talks about this picture of my nephew Nathaniel with the Easter Bunny when he was a baby. Nathaniel is beaming adorably on the lap of the most frightening looking Easter Bunny of all time. He looks as though he's still mulling over precisely how many Cadbury Eggs he's going to demand in exchange for the return of the baby, unharmed.

When Jude arrived, things didn't improve for our Easter Bunny. Jude was fine as well until he approached the bunny and then began screaming for intervention. I think the bunny likely needed a drink to soothe his hurt feelings by the end of the afternoon.

Crazy day, and family musings...

I started the day off at the dentist. That's never the way you want to start a day, no? Just a routine cleaning, but I find "going to the dentist" right up there on my list of "things I'd like to put off as long as possible."

And, to top it off, on my way there, I experienced a problem that is notorious in all cold winter weather climates - the spring/summer road construction season. UGH. It's a limited window of weather that is warm enough to accommodate such work, and thus it begins in earnest near April and goes non-stop until October, when we're all weary from detours and beaten into single lane submission. Not pleasant. As well, when I reached for my planner - where I have my dentist's phone number written down, since I feared I may be late - I realized, for at least the 4th time since yesterday late afternoon, that I left my planner at work and that such an action is a huge mistake. Sigh.

But it went fine, and my pulled wisdom tooth seems to have healed nicely. I then drove into work (on a different route) while I called my sister Shauna'h on my cell phone and insisted that she talk to and entertain me until I arrived on campus. I get lonely in the car; it brightened my day :)

While I was talking to her, I asked her about something that has been occupying my mind recently: our family geneaology. My paternal grandmother passed away just last summer; my dad's father passed away about about 13 years ago. I've been thinking about them both a lot lately. My grandfather was a Native American, a Six Nations Mohawk. Given my recent interest in crafts, I was thinking back to when I was a little girl. I remember my mom taking me once to a friend of my dad's family who introduced me to Native beading art with a loom. I loved it. I always wish that I had followed up on that. Maybe I still will, 30 years later.

My grandmother, I wasn't as sure on her lineage, so this is what I was asking Shauna'h about. I always recall her background being described as Pennsylvania German, or Pennsylvania Dutch. I'm suddenly very intrigued by this - could this explain my obsession with Amish fiction? :) I'm going to see my dad this weekend, and I'm going to ask him about it. It's entirely possible that her family was Anabaptist at some point. Both of my paternal grandparents were converts to Catholicism from a variety of mainline Protestant denominations. (Side anecdote - a number of my dad's relatives, including him and my grandparents, converted to Catholicism via a parish near us that was located on the Tuscarora Reservation - the only such parish on a Native American reservation in the entire state. My dad and grandfather both chose Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha as their patron at confirmation).

A year after my first Amish fiction post, I remain quite entranced with the Amish. And not in some "isn't it so quaint?!" kind of way. In a genuine admiration of their faith and way of life. I'm not looking to convert, granted :), as I don't agree with some of their beliefs about the sin of pride. But overall, I see them as shining beacons of Christian faith and living, and I would be honored to have that as part of my lineage.

Not to be forgotten, my mom's wonderful family is 100% Italian. My mom is only two generations removed from their original journey to America. They were all originally Catholic, as was most of the population of this area at that time. Today, my immediate family are the only Catholics left, although my other relatives are still very devoted Christians, just of the non-Catholic variety. It's all very interesting, from the perspective of a religious person. I feel very lucky to have the family that I do - lots of love and support, all based on faith in our God. It's good stuff.

Spring has sprung...

What does this mean?

I love my bellydance teacher, Claire's, take on it:

"Spring has sprung. Let's work on our lower belly. Bathing suit season will soon be upon us."

And then there's Hank, who noticed the "First Day of Spring" magnet on his Melissa and Doug magnetic calendar for this past Saturday:

"It's spwing, Mommy. I want to pwant flowos. And when can I see the baby birds?"

Yes, my dumpling, who is also suddenly very concerned with human anatomy. Warning: adult body part language forthcoming.

"MOMMY." *concerned eyebrow knit* "You no have a penis?"

"No, honey, girls don't have penises."

We've always tried to be matter of fact with Hank about bodies. Not graphic, mind you, but simply truthful about what things are called. Although, I'm going to admit right now that I'm so relieved that I have a boy and don't have to use the word 'vagina' with any regularity. I'm much more comfortable with peni than with vaginas, apparently.

"Ok, so, Mommy." *Hank pulls down his pants and exposes himself.* "You don't have this?" *points* "What about the other stuff?"

"No, honey."

"But where does the pee pee come out?"

A very perceptive question.

"Well honey, girls don't have penises, but the pee pee still comes out from there. Girls have different body parts than boys do."

*WIDE EYES* "Can I see?"

"No, honey. There's really nothing to see. Boys' parts are on the outside, but girls' parts are on the inside. You can't see them."

O mouth. "Wow."

Sigh. I hope that's all the questions for now, but somehow I doubt it.

At any rate, Lent will soon be coming to an end, and it really seemed to fly this year. Easter will soon be upon us, a time of year that I desperately love. I've been enjoying my meat-free, headcovering at Mass living this Lent, but I have to say it's gone so smoothly that it doesn't seem like a particularly dramatic Lent. Whatever that means. I suppose that's a good thing. After Easter, I will write a full post on my headcovering experience.

In the mean time, I have been noticing that I haven't been praying as much as I should outside of Mass. I don't feel distant from God, but I feel like I haven't been putting in as much effort into talking to Him as I should be. It's sort of like a marriage where you're happy, but you're on autopilot; you're starting to notice that while eating dinner you're each watching tv or reading separately instead of talking, and at night you have a lot of 'headaches.'

This morning, I picked up my Living Faith, and I found the passage very relevant.

"Being Mindful of God...

The truth is we have to cooperate with the little opportunities we are given each day to slow down, become quiet and notice how the Holy One is speaking to us. After receiving some news recently that will mean major changes for our family, I prayed for the ability to recognize God's presence in the midst of turmoil. While walking that evening and admiring a neighbor's flower garden, I was deeply moved by the beauty of creation. It didn't alter the situation, but the presence of so much beauty reminded me of God's faithfulness and changed my attitude."

I've been trying to work on my spontaneous prayer since I noticed my neglect. I tend to feel like I need to put together a full rosary or something when something is on my mind. I need to remember that I can simply stop what I'm doing, and ask God to help me. It doesn't need to be complicated. It's the little things that matter.

A yarntime bonanza...

Sorry for not posting for a few days. I had intended to yesterday, but my computer was behaving *very* badly and needed to be smacked into submission. This makes it sound so quick and simple. In fact, this was a Malwarebytes version of a full body cavity search and it consumed my entire afternoon. Hence, no post.

And I was *dying* to post because, as I mentioned, I took Friday afternoon off to head to JoAnn's to stock up on yarn for future projects, and BOY did I have a fabulous time. So, bear with me as I go into WAY too much detail about yarn.

So, first, I was on the lookout for some good old Red Heart SuperSaver yarn for a large afghan I want to make for mine and Mike's bedroom. The pattern is really pretty and different. It's a square afghan crocheted in the round, and it uses a bunch of different stripes in purples, green, and variegated coordinates. I ended up choosing Medium Purple, Lilac, Tea Leaf, Sea Grass, Monet Print, and Artist's Print:

Really excited about this one. After that, I did branch out into our friends, the natural fibers. I bought a beautiful pattern online for a jellybean runner for our dining room buffet, and I ended up selecting Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn for that in Yellow and Over the Rainbow:

It feels very summery to me. I also picked up 4 balls of one of my favorite yarns, Lion Brand Cotton Ease. This stuff is awesome. It's 50% cotton, 50% acrylic, and it feels fabulous. I'm going to be making a free pattern with it, the Lion Brand Zig Zag Wrap, so I bought the yarn in the recommended colors of Almond, Lime, Maize, and Stone:

Finally, I splurged a bit ($4.99 a skein is more than I like to spend :) but I had coupons...) and bought some of the new Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe yarn. Another free pattern for the Taffy Pull Scarf, and I bought the yarn in the recommended colors of Lipstick, Snapdragon, Sprout, and Geranium:

I left the store aglow, especially since I was also able to snag the beautiful lavender print tote bag I had had my eye on (regular price $14.99) on clearance for $4.99. Score!

I've also finished up a few other projects lately. I made a shawl for myself (pattern is free at Lion Brand as "Afternoon Breeze Shawl") out of some beautiful (and cheap!) yarn - TLC Essentials in Falling Leaves:

I also made a lacy shawl out of some leftover bulky yarn that I had in a burgundy color. I think it'll be good for dress-up occasions, like weddings:

You've already seen my spring placemats, but they're all blocked now (assisted by Henry :) and I also picked up some artificial sprays at AC Moore in spring colors that I *love* (and they were only $2.29 each!):

A very happy crafty girl results.

Ready for the weekend, and some musings on yarn...

So very glad that it's Friday today, and that I'm going to have a relaxing weekend. I have a 2 hour reference shift, and then I'm taking a half day of comp time for myself. *bliss* I've used up a bunch of yarn in my stash lately, and so I'm bound for the craft stores, coupons in hand, to pick up some yarn, and I couldn't possibly be more excited. Time to browse yarn and pattern books, all without the interruptions of an adorable 4 year old voice. *super bliss*

I am, what you would call the anti-yarn snob. Even though I very much appreciate finer, more expensive yarn, and will use it for small projects, for the most part I buy my 100% acrylic yarn at the large craft stores. I have used inexpensive wool blends and I adore cotton (but that is extremely cheap, actually), but for the most part I do crochet with acrylic. I love to crochet (and knit) but we're on a budget, so it's Red Hear Super Saver (and the like) for me, and I'm thrilled to have it. Debbie Stoller has a new line of reasonably priced yarn out, in natural fibers, and JoAnn's carries, it, so I'll be checking that out. I may be premiering my first bamboo shawl :)

In non-craft news, Henry has been SUCH a big boy about staying in his bed for the whole night all of a sudden. He has been *so good* lately, it's like he matured overnight. 4 seems to be a magic age for him. Our only problem with the new sleeping arrangement (and isn't there always one?) is that he has no idea what time it is, so when he wakes up, he stays up and hangs out until we come to tell him it's morning. And he doesn't always make enough noise to wake us and let us know that he's awake. So, case in point, Mike gets up at 4 am to use the bathroom, and there's Henry, sitting up patiently in bed, awaiting a morning greeting. We're not quite sure what to do about this. I think we're going to get him a digital clock, so that we can tell him that if the first number is not a 6, he needs to go back to sleep. A week or so ago, I heard his little feet hit the ground and him start talking to Teddy, so I rolled over and looked at our clock: 3:45 am. Sigh. We'll get there.

Books, books, books...

As we continue our Lenten journey, I thought I'd mention a few more books. One is a favorite of mine that I own and re-read every couple of years. The other is a library book that I read recently and have mixed feelings on; but it provides an excellent discussion piece, so let us begin!

So, Lenten things first. One of my Desert Island reads (this is what romance readers call their absolute favorite books that, if they were to be stranded on a desert island, they'd *love* to have with them) is Brian Murphy's The New Men: Inside the Vatican's Elite School for Catholic Priests. As you know, I love personal stories. This book is a collection of (I believe) 6 men studying for the priesthood. Each was selected by his diocese for the special honor of studying at the prestigious North American College in Rome. So...lots of pressure. Your diocese has forked over a considerable amount of money to sponsor you to go to Italy, and they expect you to come back a finely honed priest machine. The book starts out on their first day in Rome, and we meet each man and learn a bit about his background. Also, right away, we find out that the rector of the North American College at this point in time was none other than Timothy Dolan, current archbishop of New York.

I was drawn into this book right away. Archbishop Dolan is a wonderful beacon of the faith, and his role in guiding the men through the initial stages of their priestly vocation provides a gripping narrative. We spend an academic year following each man through his struggles and joys, and the reader comes to care about them, and root for them to find contentment in their vocation. At the end of the book, we find out that one of the men discerns that the priesthood is not for him, and that he should follow a different path. But...which one is it? This is *good* stuff.

This book went out of print, and it's a bit harder to come by. But you can still find some copies on Amazon, just click on the link above. Although this was not published by a Catholic press, the viewpoint is extremely orthodox; we don't hear any of the typical objections to the Catholic priesthood: "But isn't celibacy totally unrealistic?!" The struggle of real men to live out their vocation, yes, but no off-hand anti-Catholic remarks to be had.

The other book I wanted to discuss is a brand new book that I checked out of my local public library. It is Ed Dobson's The Year of Living Like Jesus: My Journey of Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do.

I love books like this. First off, I love spiritual memoirs, but in addition to that, I love this current trend of "a year of doing something." The journal-like quality of those stories really grabs me. So, I had high hopes for this book. That being said, I didn't like this book as much as I'd hoped.

From the title, I thought that the author, a Christian and a former pastor, would be spending a year of trying to methodically live out Jesus's message and teachings. Certainly, we all should be doing that, but his title and introduction seemed to imply that he wanted to spend a WWJD year, real structured-like. As well, in the introduction, he contrasts his book with another recent title, A.J. Jacob's The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest To Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. I've read Jacobs' book as well, and that one I really liked. A.J. is Jewish, and so he spent a year growing a beard, eating kosher, wearing tassels, and not combining cotton with linen. It was an engaging and humorous memoir.

Dobson's book, on the other hand, I thought would be focused on the New Testament, but yet we start out once again mired in Jewish dietary minutiae and tassels. I was baffled; I thought Dobson's book would be a Christian perspective on Jesus's complete message, yet he was determined to live like a first century Jewish man. It just wasn't at all what I expected.

The book starts out in journal form, and eventually switches over to a topical arrangement. I didn't like this either, as it felt choppy. Towards the end, he spends a lot of time talking about why he chose to vote for President Obama, and this just wasn't something I was interested in. Also, Dobson, while a good writer, just isn't as engaging as Jacobs.

That all being said, let me mention what I *did* like, and those things are significant. One of the things that Dobson explored was the use of prayer beads and ropes, including the rosary and the Orthodox chotki. *Loved* this. Now, in the Amazon reviews, a ton of people said things along the line of, "what on earth does the rosary have to do with living like Jesus? Jesus didn't pray the rosary. Jesus didn't pray to Mary."

Ah ha. Dobson actually goes into this in the book a bit. He came from a prejudiced view of the rosary, ("it's unbiblical to pray to anyone other than Jesus,") and subsequently realized that the rosary, via the spoken mysteries, is actually praying the scriptures and the life of Jesus. As well, he spoke to a priest, and came to understand that Catholics do not pray *to* Mary, but pray *with* her and ask for her intercession. Also, very importantly, Paul instructed us to "pray without ceasing." I think the rosary and using the chotki to pray the Jesus prayer silently are excellent mechanisms for carrying that out. Dobson's dawning of understanding on this issue is a beautiful witness.

In addition to that, through the book, I learned that the author, Ed Dobson, has progressive ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. I thought that reading this book provides a wonderful opportunity for me (and all of you!) to pray for him as he battles this cripping terminal illness. Above everything, what was clear to me from this book is that the author is a sincere, genuine Christian man, and I pray for his health and healing.

Our Lenten journey continues, fun times at the home of Mom and Dad CatholicLibrarian, and baby hats abound...

This past weekend was the fourth Sunday of Lent, and this continues to be an interesting one. I wore my black velvet headband headcovering, and I definitely prefer the coverings that tie in the back. They stay put very nicely. After Lent, I'd love to pick up a few more. I'll keep you posted :) At any rate, Hank went up for Children's Liturgy of the Word like a big boy, despite being one of only 4 kids that went up (Father Jay looked down at them and said, "we seem to be missing some of the little children today..." :) All went well.

Later that day, the 3 of us traveled to my parents' house to celebrate my dad's birthday. We're arriving slightly later than originally planned because my parents had a wake to go to immediately prior to our visit. We arrive to find my mom fluttering about the house anxiously. Does this sound familiar? Yes, it's true. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We are ushered inside, and my mom announces:

"The lasagna is still frozen."

I'll pause the story at this point to mention that I absolutely adore my mother and we get along famously. As well, we're very much like each other in many ways. She never fails though, to provide many an amusing anecdote with some of her idiosyncrasies. And for whatever reason, food takes FOREVER to cook in her house. Originally, I assumed it was because of the sheer denseness of some of the dishes she makes (cue the lasagna...), but now I'm beginning to believe it has to be her oven.

"The lasagna has been thawing since yesterday, and it's been in the oven for 5 hours!"

"Ok. Well, mom? Maybe you need a new oven? You've had this one a really long time, and..."

"Well!" *huffy sigh* "Ovens aren't cheap, you know!"

"Yes, I know. But you can get one for well under $500."

"Not with a ceramic top!"

*sighs* My mom doesn't like change.

"Well yes, but isn't it more important to have an oven that cooks the food in a reasonable amount of time?"

Her glower seems to imply that she does not agree with me. So I drop it. The lasagna is snappily placed back into the oven. Meanwhile, Henry has begun to whine, and I pacify him as best I can.

An hour passes. The lasagna is re-checked, and is still frozen in the center. I find it prudent to hold my tongue and simply attempt to set the table amongst the piles of unexplained paperwork and small appliances that litter the kitchen. I am who I am about de-cluttering my house because of my mom: she hordes more stuff than anyone in the free world. I still have nightmares about helping her clean out the basement as a teenager.

I'm starting to get a tad anxious because it's getting late and Henry is becoming tired and cranky. I posit the idea of slicing off individual pieces along the edges of the pan and microwaving them if need be. My mom isn't too thrilled about this plan, but she complies. We find that the slices along the sides are cooked just fine. I spoon out salad and everyone sits down to eat. We're all happily munching lasagna noodles when the next bomb is dropped:

"OH NO. The ice cream cake!"

So, here we have the opposite problem of the lasagna. Food takes an eternity to get hot in my parent's house, yet the freezer manages to keep things somewhere in the range of zero kelvin. My parent's have this mammoth Amana deep freeze in their basement that you can only hold open for seconds at a time lest your very extremities succomb to frostbite. My sisters and I all know that the deep freeze is the death knell for having ice cream anytime in this century - you take a quart of ice cream out of that baby and you could crush someone's skull with it.

After my mom's proclamation, we all freeze in horror; Henry has been promised ice cream cake, and if we do not deliver, we will have one unhappy 4 year old on our hands. My dad immediately
jumps up:

"I'll get it!" The cake is henceforth rescued from the dreaded deep freeze. As we eat, my mom continues to comment,

"It's going to be a LONG TIME before the cake is ready to be cut. A LONG TIME."

Sigh.

We finish our lasagna and clean up. My dad is dispatched to wield the cleaver that is necessary to cut through the ice cream cake. He manages to hack off enough slices to accommodate each of us. Following that, Henry is quickly stuffed into his jacket and Spider Man sneakers for an immediate trip home and usherance to his bed... And there you have a typical visit to the home of the Catholic Librarian's parents. Fun times.


Ok, finally, my craft update (for those that care :) Here is my latest baby hat creation:



It's *much* better than the last one I made. On this one, the brim doesn't roll up, plus the colored swatches on the lower rows "puff out" in purl stitch, instead of laying flat like the last one. Here are the 2 hats together:



The newer one is on the right. I'm now starting a pink hat for a baby girl...

Book Club Monday...

I've really been enjoying the book club that I joined at work. I've always wanted to belong to one, and I'd never found one that worked with my schedule. This one meets once per month during the lunch hour, so it's ideal. At first, I shied away from joining because I feared that I wouldn't always finish the books prior to the meetings. I do love to read, and I always have a litany of books in a "to be read" pile, so squeezing in another that I perhaps wouldn't have chosen on my own unless it was for the book club sounded a bit overwhelming.

I finally decided to give it a go last fall when I heard that the club was going to be reading the interesting sounding Loving Frank. Well. You may remember how that went. I hated the book, but I couldn't wait to go to the meeting so that I could see what everyone else thought and discuss it. Since then, I've been a devoted member.

I haven't always liked the books that we've read, but the process is still so very worth it. I did *love* Carol Goodman's The Night Villa, and in fact have read some of her other books as a result and enjoyed those too. On the other hand, I did not particularly enjoy The Princess Bride, or Margaret Atwood's Moral Disorder (which I didn't even blog about, a bad sign right there). But what I truly appreciate is that I'm finding authors that I wouldn't have tried on my own, and for a bookworm on a budget, this is totally awesome. If I can find additional popular authors, I can check the books out from the public library, and my book budget is suddenly $0. That's right, 99% of what I read now is totally free. The hearts of all my bookworm readers soar in delight.

Our book club tends to vary the selections each month so that we read books in all sorts of different genres. This month it's urban fantasy. Ok. I read Catholic fiction and non-fiction, spiritual memoirs, romantic fiction, and Amish fiction. That's pretty much it right there. I like feel good stuff. Urban fantasy is totally out of my realm, but I was excited to give it a try since it's SO completely different from what I favor.

Well. I was *extremely* pleasantly surprised. We read Charles de Lint's The Blue Girl, and let me tell you, this is a GOOD book. It's geared toward a young adult audience, but it's one of those books that is so well written that adults can enjoy it quite easily. The only caveat I have is that if you are a person that does not enjoy fantasy from a non-Christian perspective this is not necessarily for you. It's fiction, so that doesn't bother me at all, but just throwing that out there.

So, the plot. We have a very engaging main character cutely named Imogene. (Conversation between and Mike in bed as we read: "If we had a girl...What do you think of the name Imogene?" An arched eyebrow ensued). She comes from a divorced family and her parents are both a bit flower child flaky. She had gotten involved in a rough crowd in her previous school, and since she moved with her mom and brother, she's trying to not attract the wrong element. She befriends a girl named Maxine that she sees as a bit of a loner so that she does not have to socialize with too many people. Their mutual desire to "not fit in" yet remain under the radar of the "beautiful people in-crowd" makes for an interesting backstory.

As our story unfolds, we find that Imogene's new school has a resident ghost, Adrian, that she and Maxine can see. Adrian develops a large crush on Imogene and introduces her to another supernatural crowd, the fairies. These fairies, however, are not all cuteness and light. They have a distinctive mean streak, and cause Imogene to come under scrutiny from an evil element that lurks in the shadows. These dark evil guys apparently eat your soul and cause you to simply cease existing - no hope of an afterlife for their poor victims. We find out a bit more about Adrian, as well as about a good creature that Imogene always thought was her childhood 'imaginary friend' but that has manifested physically to come to her aid.

This book did actually touch on spiritual themes a bit. Angels appear in the book, and although the author puts an interesting spin on them, they decidedly are trying to assist Adrian to move on to a better place than skulking around the high school all the time. Also, the soul is a central theme. Imogene and Maxine, non-religious characters, both come to realize that people do have souls and can lose them. Also, they find out a few strategies to ward off the mean fairies that bring in Catholic elements - the use of a crucifix, for instance.

One thing I really liked about this book is that the author really brought in a positive message - Imogene and Maxine both mature in this book, and both come to appreciate their parents in a new light after understanding their motives a bit more. Both also come to make decisions that are based on sacrificing their own health and happiness for the good of another that they love.

I don't usually read fantasy, but I *really* liked this book. Check it out at your local public library. Apparently this author writes a whole series of books that take place in this same town that Imogene moves to. I may read another!