Beauty in the ordinary

Overhearing my brother lead grace for his family, in Latin!

My adopted sister singing songs from her time in a Catholic school choir, including “Libera Nos Domine,” after a family dinner.

Even late fall is richly beautiful here. Today, stopped for roadwork, I admired a tree with yellow leaves standing in the center of a thick carpet of yellow leaves.

Around the house

We’re being incorporated into the city sewer system. We’ve had a lot of work done on our street for that in these past few weeks.

Cooking. . . I made a new recipe, a skillet meal with peppers, onions, kielbasa and potatoes that came out well. But it took a long time to cut everything up and to cook six large potatoes on the stovetop. Tomorrow I’ll be making spiced cider for a St. Martin lantern walk.

A favorite lunch these days is spaghetti with chopped up sundried tomatoes (and a little oil from the jar). And parmesan cheese (I prefer the shredded kind).

Praying

Mmm. Praying for priests and the needs of the Church. For my father-in-law with cancer. For the souls in purgatory in this month of November.

Reading

Can I just put what I want to be reading? I’m reading St. Teresa of Avila (Letters and The Way of Perfection). I’ve dipped into St. Catherine of Siena’s letters as well. Matthew, Isaiah, Song of Solomon.

I want to read: El Cid, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, True Grit, In Sunlight and in Shadow, Bread in the Wilderness. And the rest of Doctor Zhivago!

We read some Tomas Transtromer poems in September. We never picked an October poet. And now it’s getting to be mid-November (the month we were going to read Borges).

Grateful for

The sacraments and especially the tremendous joy of monthly Tridentine Mass.

The wonderful new friends we are making and friendships that are rekindling/lasting.

I’m always grateful for my family, the ones I live with, the ones I miss. If I start listing people I’m particularly grateful for at this moment, I’ll feel like I’m playing favorites. But I had a beautiful talk with my brother’s wife the other day. And there’s my rich long distance friendship with my husband’s older sister. And the sister nearest to me in age is made of gold!

A winter coat for my daughter and the fun shopping trip with my mom to look for it.

All the little misplaced things St. Anthony is always helping me find.

Oh and I wrote a poem. First time in a long time.