Things on My Mind...

Today is the first Feast of Blessed Solanus Casey, Detroit's new saint. Thanks be to God.

My post on the beatification of this holy Capuchin can be found on Catholicmom.com HERE.
What an amazing, holy man he was. Blessed Solanus Casey, pray for us. And, in the words of this saint, "We thank God ahead of time."

On a completely different note, my family was able to welcome probably well over a hundred good neighbors to our home yesterday. So many were curious about what on Earth we were constructing throughout the winter that we decided to show them. It was an Open House for three hours. We were able to talk to neighbors we have known for decades, meet new neighbors and discuss our united opposition to a nearby proposed apartment complex. It was very heartwarming to spend time with people with whom we share such a close geographic proximity. There's really no excuse for not doing it more often. We are neighbors!

And on an even more completely different note, I was alarmed by a Wall Street Journal article today entitled "Red Tide Killing Florida's Sea Turtles.

I have to confess that I never really thought much about sea turtles and the warnings on Florida beaches about disturbing them...until my family had the awe inspiring experience of seeing one six years ago. I described that experience in a blog post linked HERE. I will never forget it. It was an amazing creature and I was ashamed to remember the times I had read the warnings about them and responded with a yeah, yeah attitude, if you know what I mean. I had dismissed them as unimportant and maybe even silly. I was dead wrong. These are absolutely amazing creatures and we are responsible for protecting them as apart of God's creation. To be fair, we are responsible for protecting ALL of God's creation, right?

The following is not my video, but it gives you an idea of what a sea turtle looks like returning to the ocean, after laying eggs.

The red tide is an algae bloom that produces toxic chemicals that affect the central nervous systems of the sea turtles. In four Florida counties "since the start of the year, 287 turtles--dead, sick or injured--have been stranded on the beach. That number is double the five year average for the same period."

Good heavens. Let's do all we can to help these creatures and all endangered species in God's creation. It is our responsibility.

God bless your day...

Finally it's raining here! We haven't had a good rain in so long. Since I planted my flowers, I don't think a day has gone by where I felt that they had been sufficiently watered by nature. So the rain is very welcome. Uh oh. Now the power bumps. My daughter has lost power.

Now it's hailing!!!

OK. It has stopped. As usual, it was a very brief shower, but substantial nonetheless. Finally a day that the flowers have been well watered.

We've had lovely weather here all summer. Lovely for picnics or bike rides, that is. For gardening, not so much. I must be careful to not complain though. One cannot have everything.

#feelinggratefulfortherain

Jordan Peterson calmly dismantles feminism infront of two feminists

Saint Bridget of Sweden-- Today's Memorial

Today is the memorial of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Saint and mystic, St. Bridget had visions of Jesus from the time she was a little girl. Bridget married and became the mother to eight children, one of whom also became a saint, Saint Catherine of Sweden. After her husband died, Bridget formed the Order of the Most Holy Savior, or the Bridgettines.

Jesus revealed to St. Bridget the Twelve Year Prayers with their amazing promises. Learn more about the Twelve Year novena from my previous post at THIS LINK.

Bridget was also given the Seven Sorrows  devotion by Our Blessed Mother. Learn more about those prayers at THIS LINK.

On July 30, we will celebrate the first ever Feast of Blessed Solanus Casey.

The Solanus Casey Center started a novena today that will end the day before the feast day.

Should you like to join the novena you can download the prayers from this link.

If you would like to know more about the life and beatification of Blessed Solanus Casey you can check out my latest article at catholicmom.com from this link.

After the Art Show!

We went to St. Louis for the opening reception of my sister's art show. But we were also able to spend a few days visiting afterwards...

All of us out to dinner.

And there was time spent at the park.

Baby Jude enjoying the swings..

Even Baby Jude enjoyed the climb on toys. (With the Baby Whisperer, of course. :-)

My nephew Matt was very good to his two young cousins and seemed to really enjoy them (as much as they enjoyed him...) Matt pointed out that he is no longer the youngest in our family, as he was for 20 years or so.

Doesn't seem to bother him much to have lost the youngest status. Little cousins are fun!

Of course, we had to spend some time at The Magic House, Kirkwood's outstanding children's museum!!!

Blaise pushing buttons to make train sounds...

And what a rare opportunity to spend some time with Great Aunt Maryanne!!

We took two days to make the drive home which was easier on everybody...

Blaise enjoying the hotel room. Yes, moving is much better than sitting in the car...

Then there had to be the requisite trip to the hotel pool...

...while Grandpa enjoyed little Jude..

And who could mind a long car ride when you can turn around and see these precious faces!!!

It was a fabulous five days. God is good.

My Sister's Art Show!!

This past week I traveled to Kirkwood, Missouri with my husband, my daughter, and two grandsons to see the opening reception of my sister's art show.

Her paintings were fantastic. Shall I brag about my sister? She has an MBA, an MSW, a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she's a devoted mother to two adult sons after having spent several decades as an outstanding stay-at-home mom, AND she's an amazing artist. I started crying when I walked in to the show. So much for the water resistant mascara.

It was in the historic Kirkwood train station, a charming 125 year old building in beautiful downtown Kirkwood. The setting was just lovely!

Here are some of my favorites of her paintings. My photography does not do them justice.

 I love this one!!!! (OK. I loved them all, truth be told.)

The reception was well attended, with many friends also coming by...

 OK. This is my grandson...

 My sister and her friends provided delicious refreshments.

 So pretty!

 My sister is on the far left in the beautiful coral color and the handsome young man next to her is my nephew Matt, named for his saintly great Uncle Matt, since he was born on the day of my dear uncle's passing to eternal life, many years before.

 Matt with my husband, oldest daughter and two sweet grandsons.

It was a lovely venue with beautiful paintings, great food, and fun times. So happy I was able to go.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these paintings email me and I will get you my sister's contact information. Three sold during the show!

Grandpa's Taking Us to the Zoo....

My husband and I had the opportunity recently to take one of our grandsons to the zoo. What a fun day.

Watching the otters swimming underwater was of great interest to this little guy.

Here Grandpa is no doubt explaining things to the child who, I'm quite sure, thinks Grandpa knows everything.

And then the comments about the gorillas.

I thought we might have a photo-op with the giant tortoise statue, but Joey would have none of it.

 He finally did pose, sort of, next to the tortoise's head but you can see he is not pleased..

As we were leaving, we crossed a bridge that overlooked an island of monkeys, surrounded by a big pond. We pulled the stroller toward the railing so Joey could see the monkeys. Then Mike and I both heard a little plop. We looked quickly over the railing to see Joey's sippy cup floating in the monkey pond. Whoops! There was no way we could get to it.

I wonder if any of the little monkeys decided to give it a try. Wouldn't that be a crowd pleaser-- a baby monkey using a little human sippy cup of water.

Thanks to Amazon Prime we had that sippy cup replaced and in Joey's hands in 48 hours. (How does Amazon do that???) We were very grateful. It was an easy resolution to a tiny problem at the end of a very fun day.

God is good.

Grandpa, The Baby Whisperer....

My husband has many gifts. But, in this stage of our lives, one of the most impressive is the ability to calm and entertain babies. The babies I refer to, of course, are our grandchildren. This little grandson loves his Noah's ark set. It's a lovely wooden set, with a number of animal pairs, all painted beautifully. I had played with them with Joey, matching the animal pairs and marching them into the ark.

I was surprised, then, to hear true belly laughs coming from the other room as Grandpa helped play with Noah's ark. I went out to see what was so funny, only to find that my husband was having the animals all fight each other! What?! The animals on Noah's ark are fighting?? My daughter-in-law kindly jumped in and said, "Well, I'm sure they did fight. They were all animals, you know." True. And my toddler grandson found it hilarious.

But what is most impressive is how Grandpa can calm the little ones. He just has a way of talking to them in a quiet, gentle tone of voice about pretty much anything and they just start to settle. He says he just talks about what's around them. 

And they listen. Quite attentively. He tells them things that maybe they don't know. Maybe they are mesmerized by the gentle cadence of his voice. Maybe they are thinking.

But, when they are tired, this is what usually happens. They're out like lights. I don't know how he does it. That's why I've dubbed him the baby whisperer.

He has become a favorite of all three grandsons. It helps that he has endless patience and is always gentle and kind...even when they are throwing books on him in the morning as he tries to sleep a little longer on a fold out couch.

 He doesn't care. He will just roll over and give them his warm grandpa smile. He has that knack of whispering what they love to hear.

That's why he's the Baby Whisperer...except, of course, when he's inciting riots on Noah's Ark!!! LOL