Yarn Along: March 2nd edition

Well, since my two-week hiatus from the internet, I've missed a couple of yarn-alongs.  My last one was February 9th ... and I mentioned reading Sweater Quest as I'd heard good things about it.  Don't waste your time -- she's got great info about fair-isle knitting, but it's random and rude, the language is a bit much (she swears alot in her writing!) and she jumps on the "dissing Alice Starmore" bandwagon.  Carmen, you were right ... I guess I should listen to you more, huh?  I hate when books let me down.

At least I was able to post the design for Victoria's Tee that I'd been working on for numerous yarn-alongs during the hiatus!

 This week finds me working away at a Snow on the Mountains vest in cashmere (a commission project).  This raspberry cashmere is almost idential in color to the "Victoria's Tee" ... must be the new popular color. 

The kids and I are reading Eion Colfer's Airman ... now this is a great read!  Set in Ireland in the early 1900s, it's a bit of Man in the Iron Mask but with great early aviation tidbits.  All of us are really enjoying it.  I'm in the middle of Linking Your Beads: the Rosary's History, Mystery and Prayers which is really well-done.  I'm learning tons about the rosary -- something that wasn't taught in my years of Catholic-school education (since I was in school during the post-Vatican 2, enlightened period in San Francisco!).  I'm also working my way through St. Louis Marie deMontfort's Total Consecration so that I can do my consecration to Jesus thru Mary on my wedding anniversary: March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation!).

So how is your knitting and reading week going?  Check out Ginny's yarn-along post and add your own link.  Don't forget to check out all the lovely ladies doing the same ... it's great fun and you'll get great ideas for books to read (or read-aloud!).

Feast: Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas)

Initially called the "festival of lights", inspired by the words of Simeon, this feast led to the custom of blessing candles, giving the feast its popular name of Candlemas.  This feast also concludes the birth cleebrations and begins the route toward Easter with the offering by the Virign Mother of her firstborn and the prophecy of Simeon. [excerpted from Rosa Giorgi's Saints: A Year in Faith and Art ... a book we used daily!]

May we always be "a light to the Gentiles", too!

 

Feast Day: St. Pio of Pietrelcina

Maybe better known as Padre Pio, St. Pio is a modern saint.  An Italian of humble origin, Pio grew up during the turbulent times of world wars and domestic uprisings.  He received the stigmata for a short time in 1910 at the age of 23, one month after his ordination as a priest in the Capuchins.  In 1918, the visible signs of the stigmata, including the transverberation (wounding of the heart, a sign of complete union of love with God), were to remain with him for the next 50 years.

Padre Pio was an amazing priest, confessor and spiritual director.  His story is wonderfully told in the docudrama, Padre Pio: the Miracle Man ... a DVD in Italian with subtitles (but don't let that scare you away as you get so caught up in the story, you  forget they're not speaking English!).  Pio is amazingly acted by Sergio Castelitto (Miraz in Prince Caspian).  Another excellent movie, and well worth the time to watch is Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth -- this was an Italian made-for-TV movie that drew ana amazing 12 million Italian viewers when it aired.

A short but excellent book to read about this Capuchin is Padre Pio by Fabrizio Contessa written just after his beatification in 1999.  JptheGreat declared him a saint in 2002.

[NOTE: Please be aware that the movies and book linked above are quite graphic when portraying the stigmata -- bleeding hands and feet -- and the battles Pio fought with the Devil.  These images may not be suitable for young children. ]

A final word from St. Pio of Pietrelcina:

"Always humble yourself lovingly before God and man, because God speaks to those who are truly humble of heart, and enriches them with His gifts."

For his feast day, we are baking Traditional Tuscan Biscotti a la Padre Pio ... a batch of cookies we'll bring to social after morning Mass today and save one or two for dad for this evening!  Here's the recipe:

Traditional Tuscan Biscotti a la Padre Pio

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups whole unblanched almonds
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a mixing bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Add almonds and chocolate chips. In another small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla; add the cooled melted butter. Fold egg mixture into the dry ingredient mixture. Stir until dough is stiff. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and split in two. Roll each piece into a log around the same length as your baking sheet.

Place the logs on the baking sheet and flatten slightly. Make sure to leave plenty of room between them. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven, and let cool. Using a sharp chopping knife, slice each log into 1/3" slices diagonally (a little messy around the almonds!). Place (cut side down) on the baking sheet. Bake for another 15-20 minutes at 350, until crispy.

These are amazing with a cup of strong Italian coffee!

 

Feast Day: St. Augustine of Canterbury

St. Augustine of Canterbury (not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Monica's son) was prior of the monastery from whence came Pope Gregory the Great.  When Pope Gregory decided to send a missionary group to evangelize the pagans, he immediately thought of his former prior.  Augustine, along with 30 companions, made the dangerous trip into the unknown area we now know as England.  Christians had gone before to evangelize but the Saxon victory over the lands drove those Christians into hiding -- St. Augustine's mission was to bring them the Gospel, help the Christians come out of hiding, and convert the other inhabitants.  St. Augustine worked with all the peoples of England for eight years before his death.

For a wonderful living book about Augustine and his travails, Augustine Came to Kent is an excellent resource (and makes a wonderful family read-aloud).

St. Augustine, you went forth into unknown and unfriendly lands to bring Christ to the peoples, help us always to be willing to go where God wills.  St. Augustine, pray for us!

 

Nature Study for the Neophyte

Neophyte ... [nee-uh-fahyt]–noun 1. a beginner or novice: He's a neophyte at chess.

Yep, that's the right term for me and nature study ... I'm definitely a beginner, novice, schlep who doesn't know diddly about nature but is trying so hard.  Nature and science in general usually falls to my poor dh who has a PhD in biological sciences.  My degrees are more arts than science for the very good reason that what I was taught when I was younger was so boring, I don't remember any of it.  I am trying to avoid this with my own kiddoes.

So, back to the point of this post ... nature study and how it can be done by even this science-flunky: living books.  Yep, that's the way to START learning about nature.  At some point you actually have to go OUTSIDE and DO, but on a cold winter day, books really help.

Here are some of the best we've found:


These four books by Maryjo Koch are a treasure trove of nature study info ... from great sketches (the kind I'd love to draw in my own nature journal) to interesting facts, these books beautifully translate nature to the page.  HT: Mary M for recommending them a few years back ... we are using these all the time!


Thornton Burgess is a master story-teller for nature books!  His characters and descriptions are simple enough for the kindergartener but interesting enough to pique the older student's interst.  Today, we started reading The Burgess Flower Book to kick-off a study of plants and flowers ... did you know the first harbinger of spring in swampy areas is the Skunk Cabbage?  My kids do now!

We also love the Clara Dillingham Pierson "among the ..." books.  We spent the fall and winter reading about the meadow people, the forest people, the farmyard people and the night people.  Quite fun and interesting.  We kept a scrapbook of all the animals we discovered and interesting facts about them.

All three kids enjoyed the stories and have "favorites" now and argue about who has the better "people"!

Finally, one of our favorite resources for nature information is just about any book from the pen of Jim Arnosky (sometimes with the narrator-character of "Crinkleroot") ... these books are fun to read and the illustrations are easy to understand and copy into private nature journals.  He's got a whole slew of species-specific picture books (raccoons, wild ponies, etc) but we particularly like his more journal-like books.  Sadly, most of these are OOP, but you can find them at library booksales and used bookstores -- definitely worth the hunt! 
Some of our favorites include:













Well that should give you an idea of how this neophyte naturalist does things ... I'll post more as we head into spring, a great time to go DO after all our indoor studying.