Summer Book Club 2021 Part 6: Beauty in faith and death...

Hi friends, and welcome to the final edition of our Summer Book Club for 2021! I always enjoy doing these, even when I don't end up loving the book, sort of like how this one turned out, HA! That being said, I *did* really end up enjoying this 6th and final section of the book, so we end on a high note! I'll do a brief summary of the details I enjoyed most:

When we start out Section 6, Francis is in Japan. I loved the anecdote of Francis baptizing the Japanese woman and how much she loved the rosary he gave her. In this section, I noted how the author inserted mentions of how these particular people, like this woman, who had been touched by Francis's life, then went on to touch the lives of other people. This lady cherished her faith and shared it with other for the rest of her days, and was buried with the rosary Francis gave her. I found the story of how Francis baptized the abandoned and dying baby girl heartbreaking, but was so touched by how he considered his entire trip to China worth it if only to do this one thing. *heart*

Francis then wanted to go to China, as he was convinced that if he could persuade the leader of China to convert to Christianity, the people would follow him, and that only then would Japan follow suit. He was on the ship to China when he fell ill for the last time. He remembered his sister Magdalena, the nun, who must be praying for him up in heaven. His final word was "Jesus." I found the tidbit that Francis apparently did not decompose after death, even after being exhumed 5 months later for his body to be moved to Goa, to be quite fascinating!

So I ended up liking the last part of the book, which makes me feel much better! The middle got so mired for me, and as I talked about earlier in our book club, the beginning just felt too rushed to me. But it wrapped up nicely. I so enjoyed the St. Catherine of Siena book by this author, but this one was definitely a less enjoyable read for me. I guess in the future I'd be willing to give these saint fiction books another try for volumes that are highly recommended by others! What are your thoughts on how this book finished up?

I'll be back with you next week to chat about fall crafts and some September novena plans!

Of new additions, and fall baby crafting...

Hello all, and happy Friday! I don't know about you, but I'm soaking up every one of these August days like there is no tomorrow. We have been enjoying so much lovely family time at home, and I truly do not want it to come to an end. I know we'll all adjust, but these halcyon days of summer have been such a blessing this year. 

And then we have this guy adding to our blessings!

This is Barney, and we adopted him about a week and a half ago. 😍 He's settling in so nicely, and everybody just adores him, especially the kids. We felt the time was finally right to add a furry friend to our family, and we are so glad that we finally took this step. We're still working out the kinks with getting on a walking schedule for our eager hound, but we're really getting there. 

In other news, I've been crafting away for some fall little ones, and Barney also shares my love of yarn. :-0 I need to keep my yarn project bin covered now! And he also tried to make off with one of my knitted gnomes the other day. 😂 I am in LOVE with this pattern that I used for my cutie pie next door neighbor:

Candy Corn Hat pattern is available for free!

Multiple size options are availaboe for that one, too. I chose the medium for a sweet toddler! I also made a pumpkin set for a baby in my dance troupe who is due in mid-October!

Pattern is Baby Sweater and is available for free! 

I adapted the green edging for the pumpkin theme, and the magnificent pumpkin button is from Black Sheep Studios MA on Etsy! I highly recommend her buttons. I also got a set of moose and plaid evergreen trees for Christmas projects. 😎

And of course, no October baby can go without a pumpkin hat:

Pattern is Berry Baby Hat, and is free!

This is one of my favorite free patterns of all time. I've made blueberry and strawberry versions, and of course this pumpkin version many times, there are so many possibilities. It doesn't fit Barney as well as it will the baby, but no matter. ;-)

OK, Next week is the final week in our Summer Book Club, and I will talk to you then! How is your summer going, working on any fall projects? 

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 5: Conversions of heart...

Hi all! Well, last Friday I somehow managed to forget to put up a post :-0 so it's been two weeks since we last spoke! There's been a lot of exciting things going on in the home of the Catholic Librarian, and sometimes when that happens, my brain gets overloaded and I forget basic things like packing my lunch, or making the coffee in the morning. Apparently, "write weekly blog post" can now be added to this list. ;-) So I'll update you on all of that next week!

In the meantime, we're nearing the end of our Summer Book Club with Set All Afire, and I wanted to be sure to stay on track with that! Today is our day to chat about Section 5, the second to last section. :)

In this segment of the book, we see Francis traveling to and fro, visiting back with his friends and new Catholics in Goa. He has such a way with people, our Francis, and really brings out the best in others and their desire to do good. That is the main takeaway that I got from this section. Once again, we encounter lots of names that I have difficulty keeping track of, ha! And we definitely encounter outdated assumptions about people based upon where they are from. 

Friends, I have to be honest: I really don't like this book. :-0 I'm struggling to keep track of where Francis is, and who the characters are. Sometimes the author gives helpful hints, like "the former ship doctor who had started out the journey drinking excessively" and that rings a bell in my mind of who that is, and I'm more likely to remember his actual name the next time. But besides that, it is a real challenge. I love St. Francis, but his character development from impassive academic to friar that lives on the streets felt very rushed to me at the beginning of the book, and now we're encountering all of these spontaneous situations with him in which he's willing to give his life for his faith, when we never really saw his conversion fully play out in the material we've been given. For me personally, I would much rather have seen a full account of Francis's original conversion of heart and mind, and THEN a few adventures as he sets off with the Jesuits to convert others to Christ and His Church. I feel like a deeper understanding within the reader of Francis's motivations would have aided in following along easier with the rest of the narrative. 

Those are my thoughts coming off of Section 5. What are yours? In two weeks, we'll have our final installment of this book club, and I'm a little relieved, ha ha! Next week will be a lifey update!

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 4: Of conversion and chaos...

Hello and happy Friday everybody! We're set to discuss Part 3 of Set All Afire today, and wowza, that was the longest section so far, I barely made it before today's deadline, lol! But we're now nearly finished, as the last two sections look much shorter, and according to my Kindle, I'm over 70% of the way through the book. So it's (ironically, hee hee!) smooth sailing from here!

OK, I'm going to be honest and say that I'm definitely having a difficult time following along with this book. In this part, we encounter Francis in Goa (which I needed to look up, appararently a spot near India that was occupied by the Portuguese at the time) and he changes lots of hearts there amongst Catholics that weren't practicing their faith. Couples are married, babies are baptized. When he continues on to India, his challenge then becomes attracting non-Christians to his Catholic faith. As one can imagine, there are lots of cultural and emotional obstacles along the way. We do find out that Mansilhas is finally ordained (horray!,), and the order officially becomes recognized as the Jesuits with Ignatius as it's leader. At the end of this section, Francis is on the move again, and encounters a terrible group of men on horseback that are marauding about killing innocent people, and he is injured as he tries to intervene and aid those in need. 

So, I feel like I got some of the major points out of this section, but otherwise, I'm struggling to keep track of what is going on. I really want to like this book more, LOL! In a book club, it's important to keep it real, and I'm honestly a bit relieved that we're nearly done with this one. I would LOVE to get some additional thoughts on this book! Are you liking this one or not loving it? Please do leave all thoughts in the comments!

"Watch out for the hole behind you!" Summer adventures in dancing, crafts, and also some novenas!

Hello friends and happy Friday! I've had a lovely week, and I'm definitely feeling perkier and perkier as the summer progresses. I hope for the same for you. *hugging* I'm back to performing, and that has made everything right with my emotional world again. I've had two gigs in the past two weeks, both family parties, and danced with my troupe at a small outdoor festival for the first time in nearly two years. It is just balm to my soul. And butterflies in my stomach. :-0 But it's all so, so wonderful. The troupe performances are always my favorite because of the hijinks that are almost certain to ensue with a group of us dancing in inevitably challenging environs:

"Be careful when you turn around, there's a large sinkhole behind you."

"What's that on the bottom of my shoe? Oh. Goose poo."

(wearing our costume coverups) "Are you all fortune tellers?"

"Oh dear, these hair flipping turns are a bit tricky on an incline, aren't they?"

But I tell you, I wouldn't trade it for the world. We have a few more outdoor performance possibilities in August, and then an actual hafla/showcase in mid-September! It's an amazing feeling to be back to doing this thing that I love.

I've also been praying my July novenas, and am getting closed to the end of Sts. Anne & Joachim. St. Dominic begins July 30th, if you're interested in joining in that one. And I also added in something on the fly: our very own community member Sam is trying to sell her house, so I signed up to start praying the St. Joseph novena for her! Did you know that you can sign up with Pray More Novenas to pray any novena that they have over there at any time on your own schedule? I did not know that! I thought their email reminders only worked for novenas prayed during their traditional date range. So I started St. Joseph today and will for the next eight days. If you'd like to add Sam's house sale into your prayer intentions, I would be most grateful! 🤗

Summer crafting is still ongoing, and has been so lovely lately. I finished a very summery pair of socks for myself!

I'm calling these the Summer Lemonade Socks

I also started a summery cotton top for myself. I just love this pattern, I made one for my mother-in-law last summer in red:

Pattern is the Kelda Tee

Here is the red version from last summer:

I've also been keeping up with the 2021 National Parks Hats collection. June's is based on Denali:

Denali pattern

Hard to see in the light, but there are cute mountain peaks in the design! I'm catching up a bit, as I already have the yarn and pattern for the July hat, but I'm getting there!

Next week, we'll be discussing Part 4 of our Summer Book Club for Set All Afire. We're halfway there! How is everything going for you this summer? Would love to hear about it in the comments!

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 3: Some seafaring adventures...

Hello friends, and welcome to the third edition of our Summer Book Club for 2021! This was a longer segment, but I have to say I was able to follow it more easily, all the way up until the end when I got a bit confused again. But still! I followed along much better in this regard. And I found our roiling seafaring adventures much more engaging, if a bit hard to read at times. 🤮 Let's do a quick chronicling of where we're at:

We start again with Francis in Portugal. They can't sail for India for 9 months due to weather; monsoons are mentioned, eeks! We meet another Francis (whom they call Mansilhas) working in the hospital caring for patients, a lay man who had longed to be a priest but was turned down multiple times because he had difficulty mastering Latin. Francis sees his potential, and wants to bring him with him to India to minister. This was all quite endearing.

The parts where I get confused all involve Portugal, lol! We have the King of Portugal, who is very gracious to our Francis, but there is this wealthy Conde (?) who is extremely confused by their simple lifestyle. I'm not quite sure how he fits in here, any insight is much appreciated! 

As soon as is possible in the spring, they board a ship for India. One of Francis's colleagues stays behind to minister to students in Portugal, and he and Mansilhas (and one other brother) set out for India. Trouble on the ship begins immediately, with the shady ship doctor implying that the months will be arduous and that behavior will be poor. His prediction is soon proven true, with a terrible storm and everyone getting sick or injured, including Francis. And then that horrible period where there's no wind at all and they just sit there baking in the extreme sun for weeks on end, oh my! The descriptions of what happens to their food supply during all of this...

🤮

My, this was quite the life threatening situation, to make a journey like this at that point in time, I did not realize that!

Eventually, when they get moving again, they stop over in Mozambique, and turns out this will extend from August to April (!) when the weather is favorable again. 😳 Wowza! Whole 'nother world, sea faring is. Francis continues to minister to the sick here, and to share the Gospel where he can, to a Muslim population. The ways that some of the Christians described their Muslim brothers and sisters is pretty uncharitable and disappointing, certainly a product of the time. Francis works to combat this attitude a bit.

We are back in Portugal at the end of this segment, and this is where I get confused again, somebody fill me in please, ha ha!

OK, thoughts on Part 3? I did enjoy journeying on the sea with the men, despite how terrible it sounded to actually endure! I love Francis's gentle way with others, including those who are not Christians, both physically and spiritually. I also adore the addition of sweet Mansilhas and his heart for aiding the sick and dying. Leave your thoughts in the comments, if you please. :-)

Christmas movies in July, and more summertime crafting...

Hello, and happy Friday everyone! I'm feeling pretty perky this early week of July. And I have to admit, although I don't normally get caught up in the Christmas in July movie marathon bonanza over at Hallmark Channel, last night I had the TV to myself for 15 minutes while Anne made some tea for us, and I found myself following along quite riveted to a story about a woman who gets in a car accident just before Christmas, develops amnesia, and is rescued in the swirling snow storm by a single dad and his 3 adorable children. :-0 When Anne came back with the tea, I was sad to have to turn it off, as I was wondering who the woman was and how it would affect her old life when she eventually figured out who she was. 😁 So I set the DVR to record the rest, and am quite excited about picking it back up. 😎 It is called "A Christmas to Remember" in case you'd like to look it up for possible replays in your local area. ;-) I'm now actively back on the Hallmark Channel app plotting out a few other interesting-looking viewings in the coming week. I'm actually enjoying watching these more now than I do in the actual holiday season, interestingly! I guess because now, with the warm weather and long hours of daylight, although I'm enjoying both of those things, Christmas movies get me excited for what is to come later in the year. 

I've also been knitting, and I now officially have 1 summer lemonade sock complete! *virtual high five!*

I've cast on the second sock (no Second Sock Syndrome here!) and am nearly done with the cuff. Hoping to have these done in about a week. I also need to cast on the June National Parks hat, and start a summer top for myself. Excited for all the crafting that is to come!

I've also been dancing more, and the return to in person gigs and shows is here. I could not be more thrilled about it! To celebrate, I bought a new silk veil. ;-) This gorgeous summery one just arrived:

Silks by Celestina

These are hand dyed by a talented woman over at Silks by Celestina on Facebook, @silksbycelestina on Instagram! You can pm her about any of her in stock veils, or about a custom color!

Next week we discuss Section 3 in Set All Afire, our Summer Book Club for 2021! How is your July going so far? Do you like watching Christmas movies at this time of year? ;-)

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 2: Ministering in Rome...

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to the second of six installments in our Summer 2021 Book Club! These sections are shorter than our Lenten book club selection, which is definitely helping me to get through them in a timely manner. Shall we start?

As we begin Part Two, Ignatius, Francis and company are in Rome, and very much into thire lifestyle of poverty and relying totally on God. They work among the population, sharing the Good News and helping those in physical need, especially those with difficult medical conditions that others are unwilling to assist. They officially apply with the pope to become an order, and St. Ignatius doesn't want it named after him, hence how they became the Jesuits, Society of Jesus (I didn't know this!). 

Part of our time this section is spent addressing another priest in the area who is spreading heretical ideas, but who is charismatic and draws in many followers. I can never remember anybody's name besides the main characters (so sorry!) but I'm betting you all know who I am referring to. Ultimately, the Jesuits prevail and the heretical priest is sent away from Rome.

We also have the re-introduction (I'm pretty sure?) of a nemesis back from the university days who resented Francis joining this group, and he joins them now, with unknown motives. I'm very easily confused, so I'm 99% that this is the same guy, but one never knows, LOL! And he immediately causes some trouble. He refers a rich lady who expresses an interest in Francis to a private confession with him. Francis is on to both of them lickety split and lets them know what he thinks of their ideas.

At the end of this section, Francis is bound for India to continue to share the Gospel, and has a premonition that he will never see Ignatius alive again. I'm definitely intrigued to see what he will encounter on his travels.

If I'm being honest though, I'm having a difficult time following who is who with the Itallian names, and keeping up with all of the activity. I know that I'm missing a bunch of details above that totally escape me now as I'm trying to re-remember what I read. Although I had a hard time keeping track of names in the St. Catherine of Siena book we read for Lent, I definitely enjoyed it more than I'm enjoying this book. Thoughts? Definitely leave them in the comments! 

Henry's confirmation weekend, and some summer socks...

Hello everybody, and what a spectacular June day it is! 😎 I have had such a splendid June over here, and I hope you have as well! Since June is somehow nearly over, I'll be putting up a page soon with the July novenas that I'm planning to pray in case you'd like to join along! 

So we had a big sacramental weekend over here in the home of the Catholic Librarian. One of my babies made his confirmation. 🔥😭I can hardly believe how the time has flown. It was an absolutely beautiful confirmation Mass, and Henry chose my dad as his sponsor (and the confirmation was on Father's Day!) so it was all quite special. 💗

I felt so grateful that things went so smoothly, and that the ceremony was so beautiful. Henry chose St. Maximillian Kolbe as his confirmation saint, and can you even believe these absolutely perfect socks I got for him from Sock Religious?!

They were the sock of the month for June, I mean, obviously this was divine intervention. ;-) I highly recommend their comfy and delightful socks! I just got my reminder email that the July socks will be shipping soon, and I can hardly wait to see who it is!

My sister got Henry this gorgeous St. Joseph themed home altar for his desk, and Henry's Godfather gifted him this beautiful wood rosary blessed by the pope:

He also received some St. Maximillian books. 😍 And he got the exact cake that he wanted, and we're all still enjoying it nearly one week later, hee hee!

It's so precious to have these memories. Last year was much more difficult with Anne's First Communion because of the pandemic, and I'm relieved that things are going so much better now.

In crafty news, I've been working steadily on a pair of summer lemonade themed socks:

Currently on the heel flap. They're going a bit slow, but they're the perfect project for upcoming family summer movie nights, and so I'm glad to have them by my side! This week I also received a small order that I placed with Bumblebee Acres, a skein of robin's egg blue sock yarn that I've been admiring for ages, and an outstanding plaid project bag!

Summer is good. The kids are both finished with school for the academic year, and it just feels nice to relax and have things move slower for a bit. :)

OK, that's what has been happening with me! How is your summer going so far? Any sacraments or crafts happening in your part of the world this early summer? I would love to hear about it in the comments! Also, don't forget that we'll be discussing Part 2 of our Summer Book Club novel on the life of St. Francis Xavier right here next Friday! :-0

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 1: Giving away everything...

Happy Friday friends, and welcome to the first part of our Summer Book Club for 2021!

*streamers!*

I hope that you enjoy reading more in the summertime as much as I do! We're taking our time this year, aiming for one segment (Louis de Wohl divides them into "books") every two weeks. Today we're discussing Book 1, so let's dive in!

So, Book 1 gives us a bunch of set-up of Francis's university life and of his family, and we also meet the future St. Ignatius of Loyola, who is known for leading a group of pious men that rely upon begging for their food and other needs. We see that Francis has a devout mom, a few brothers, and also a sister who is Abbess of a local community of Poor Clares. As the story begins, Francis is pretty into his university life and studies, and views the beggers with the same curiosity and suspicion as many of his peers.

To be honest with you, I had a difficult time following who was who (especially amongst anyone who wasn't related to Francis) and getting into the story at this point. As the section started to come to an end, things picked up for me a bit. In a dramatic turn of events, Francis has a conversion of heart, becomes a follower of Ignatius, and decides to join them. I enjoyed the details of what he decided to keep when he gave away all of his belongings, which if I'm remembering correctly, was a rosary, a Bible, and his breviary. Very touching! So now I'm definitely curious to see what will happen next as they set off on their journey!

What did you all think of this beginning of the book? I know that there are a lot of other details in here that I'm glossing over because I didn't fully absorb them, I'm not sure if it was me or the book! I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Discussion of Book 2 will go up on Friday July 2nd. :)