A Quote for Monday: Betsy Was a Junior

"Our lives can hold just so much.  If they're filled with one thing, they can't be filled with another.  We ought to do a lot of thinking about what we want to fill them with."


Julia makes this statement in the middle of Betsy Was a Junior, and it prompts Betsy to muse about how she's been spending her time during her junior year of high school, and what she might do differently.

As part of the Maud Hart Lovelace reading challenge hosted by A Library is a Hospital for the Mind, this month's Monday quotes are from Maud Hart Lovelace books.  I am so enjoying re-reading the high school Betsy-Tacy books.

A Quote for Monday: Betsy Was a Junior

"I never knew, until I went away from home, how nice we all are!" Julia sobbed.


All this month, my Monday quotes are from Betsy-Tacy books in honor of the Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge, sponsored by Sarah at A Library is a Hospital for the Mind.

Julia, Betsy's older sister, surprises the Rays with a visit home from the "U" midway through this wonderful book.    She is somewhat homesick, and her family misses her, so the visit is especially emotional.  There's something so delightful about this quote, about being part of a loving family and only realizing it when you are away.

My Marathon

Yes, this is my totally "all about me" post about finishing my first marathon.  Those who would be bored to hear all about my thinking, my training and my actual marathon are free to move along to much more interesting stuff elsewhere around the Internet.  I'm just glad to get this down so I can remember it, and to share with family and friends.  (Note: I can't get photos to upload at the moment so my race recap will be in another post, sometime in the future).

I had a goal of running four half-marathons this year, but schedules and life this year left only one "official" one:  the Oak Brook Half Marathon in September.  This summer, I looked around for some other fall half-marathon to do nearby, so when I found the Des Plaines Trail Races, I suggested it as a late fall trip for our family to Chicagoland.  I also began thinking privately about signing up for the marathon in this series.  After a few weeks training and some longer runs, I felt that I could probably finish the race, so I signed up for it.  In the meantime husband's work travel schedule and other events around home helped us decide that I would go up by myself for the weekend--my birthday is close so it would be a birthday present for me--I could enjoy some time away for reading, running and just relaxing.

Here was the weird thing for me:  I didn't tell anyone I was training for or going to attempt a marathon.  I don't know why I was shy about telling people, as I've been telling all my friends and family for years I want to do a marathon before or when I turn 50 (still several years away, so I'm glad to have that checked off "the list").  I have love, truly loved, cheering people on as they accomplish their marathons and halfs and such on blogs or Facebook.   I didn't think I wouldn't finish, but for some reason I just wanted to prepare on my own.

I finally told my husband the week before the marathon as I didn't want to have a secret from him, even a nice one like this, and I was getting more excited about it.  He was super excited for me, and so supportive.

Meanwhile, in the months after I signed up for the marathon, marathon news kept popping up, especially in the last few weeks:

*This season, every contestant on the Bigger Loser, my favorite and only reality show guilty pleasure watch, will get to participate in the BL marathon (and I'm so glad they brought the marathon back, incidentally).

*The "marathon mom" completed the Chicago marathon, then gave birth just hours later.  I put on Facebook that at first I got kind of sad that she finished in 6:25, because that's about what my time would be in a marathon, but then I saw she was only 27.  Since I'm more than 2 decades older than her, that about evens things up.

*Just last weekend, a 100-year-old man finished the Toronto Marathon, and his time was more than 8 hours.  By this time, I had told my husband, and so I joked with him that my goal was to finish in a time between the marathon mom and the 100-year-old man, and hopefully closer to the mom.  He smiled.

So, how did I train for a marathon?  I kept with my regular workout schedule, and then added increasingly long runs, of 15, 17, 18 and 20 miles, in the weeks before the marathon. Saturday mornings, my usual long run day, have been taken up with soccer, puppy class and other things, so I traded my long run day to Friday.  Surprisingly, I really like that change and will stick with it.  The day I ran my longest run, 20 miles, I thought it would just be goofy to be running the vast majority of the time my kids were in school (I wanted some recovery time), so I asked my husband to get the kids up and off to school, and I started my run at 5:30 a.m.  That worked great as I had plenty of time for running, getting cleaned up and recovering before kids got home.  Keep in mind this was before I told him about the marathon.  But he didn't ask how long my "long run" was, and our puppy, Tacy, who saw me come home for several water/banana/bathroom breaks and finally finish more than 5 hours later, wasn't talking.  She's a good puppy.

My taper started two weeks before the marathon, and it was pretty steep, as I had some writing deadlines, appointments and sick kids off and on.   I just wanted to make sure I kept my body moving, but that didn't happen on too many days before the marathon--less than half of those days, and my runs were really shortened, like 2 or 3 miles, with one 6 mile "long run."

Okay, I'm having some weird glitch with either iPhoto or Blogger because I can't seem to locate any of the photos from the weekend, even though they are right there in iPhoto.    This is probably good, as I should save the race recap for another post.

The short version is that I didn't really enjoy the marathon as much as I thought.  I finished in just over 6 hours, besting the times of both the Marathon Mom and the 100-year-old man :-) , but even if I hadn't, the important thing is that I finished.  The race was well-organized and staffed, the weather was beautiful, but I don't know about this distance for me.  I can do a half-marathon, and while it is difficult and long, I'm not completely wiped out afterwards or the next day.

Today, the day after the marathon, I'm really sore (even with Aleve) as well as just exhausted.  It is taking me longer to do anything (even write this--I couldn't even think about writing last night).  I think I would like to do another marathon or a even few just to be sure, but I'm pretty sure I will eventually be happy to stick with a couple of half-marathons a year for fun, fitness and travel goals.  But no matter what, I've run a marathon!  In a few days I won't be so tired and I'm sure I will enjoy the accomplishment more.

I've wanted to run a marathon since the 1970s, I was 13 or 14 years old, and our family saw the finish of the Boston Marathon outside our hotel (where my Dad was attending a medical conference).  Dad bought us all running shoes when we got home, and we all vowed we'd run the Boston Marathon the next year.  Or not, as it turns out...  I'm the first one in my family to complete a marathon, and this is 30 some years later.  But most of my family has enjoyed running off and on over the years, including my Dad, who completed a lot of local races and was very much a slow runner like me, until Parkinson's Disease forced him to make the switch to walking with my Mom.

I so wish I could share this marathon accomplishment with him, and of course with Mom, because they were both so supportive and encouraging of whatever we wanted to do.  They are both gone now, so I can't.  I know they would be proud of me, and I am proud of me.  I'm so glad for the e-mail and phone call kudos and kind words from my family (both my siblings and my nuclear family).   And I can't wait to be home later today for some hugs from them.

A Quote for Monday: Betsy & Tacy Go Over the Big Hill

"There was a crowd of people, and teasing could be very hard.  But this was serious.  If it was against the law to write to kings and they were going to be sent to jail, their mothers might as well know it.  Their fathers would have to get them out."

I just love this quote from near the end of Betsy & Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, when the girls receive a letter back from the young King of Spain after writing to him and offering Tib as his bride.  The girls, 10-year-olds, are worried that perhaps they broke the law by writing to him.  So dear!

All this month, I'm doing quotes from Betsy-Tacy books during The Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge, sponsored by Sarah at A Library is a Hospital for the Mind.

A Quote for Monday: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill

"You have two numbers in your age when you are ten. It's the beginning of growing up."

Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill.


As part of the Maud Hart Lovelace reading challenge hosted by A Library is a Hospital for the Mind, this month's quotes for Monday will be henceforth from her books.

I love this quote from the third in the Betsy-Tacy series, which opens with Betsy turning 10 and being the subject of a surprise party.  How great to turn 10 and have a party like Betsy's, as well as all the adventures she, Tacy and Tib have

To Do With a Book: participate in the Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge

I am so eager to participate this year in the Maud Hart Lovelace reading challenge, hosted by A Library is a Hospital for the Mind.  I jumped in very late last year but I hope to be part of all the fun this time around.

What do I plan to read for the challenge?  Well, we have been reading some different Maud Hart Lovelace books recently, and listening to the great audiobook of Betsy and Tacy.  I wish there had been more in that series.  What I plan to do is start with Heaven to Betsy, which is the start of the high school books, and see if I can finish that and maybe one other this month.  Thanks for hosting this great challenge, Sarah!

A Quote for Monday: Pride & Prejudice

This might be the beginning of "great first lines of novels," but here goes:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want a wife.


--Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice.

To Do With a Book: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Island of the Blue Dolphins is Scott O'Dell's classic tale of Karana, a girl who lives alone for many years.  It's based on a true story about a girl who had lived off the coast of California.  Island of the Blue Dolphins won O'Dell the Newberry Medal in 1961.  When the girls book group read Island of the Blue Dolphins, it inspired lots of interesting discussions. Most of the girls really enjoyed it, and a few loved it and have read it multiple times.  (A few girls later confided they did not like it.  It is that kind of book!)

In just looking around a little, I found this wonderful story from fellow acclaimed author Lois Lowry about first meeting him.  You might have to scroll down a bit to get to the story, but it is quite worthwhile.

The most interesting discussion was wondering whether or not we would like (both girls and moms) to be on an island alone for any length of time, and what would be hardest.  Some girls would want to be there for a short while, others just during the day.

Most girls wanted to be able to see or to make a cormorant skirt, or an otter cape, as Karana makes for herself during her many years.  I was struck by how Karana still makes things of beauty .  We had to content ourselves with beading some pretty (for Karana, "win-tai") bracelets from dark-colored beads and shells.

One of the moms brought and expertly prepared seared scallops for the girls, so they could taste what Karana's mostly-fish diet was like.  Most had not had them before, and some even pronounced them "sweet."

Of course, American Girl dolls just ask to be dressed up as characters, and so here is Karana (with a vaccum attachment representing her hunting knife), Rantu & Rantu-Aru, and Tu-ok.  There could be lots more to do with Island of the Blue Dolphins.   Any other ideas?

A Quote for Monday: The Last Catholic in America

I recently discovered Loyola Press Catholic Classics series.  These were reprints started in 2005 of several dozen classic novels from the 20th century, from great authors like Rumer Godden (In This House of Brede), Edwin O'Connor (The Edge of Sadness) and A.J. Cronin (The Keys of the Kingdom).  There are also books I don't like as much, such as Mr. Blue by Myles Connolly, but lots of people I love and respect like that one, so there is something for everyone in the series.  A new discovery for me was John R. Powers' The Last Catholic in America.  This is a very bittersweet novel, a young man, a "fallen-away Catholic," as the novel reveals slowly, travels back to the south side of Chicago to revisit his parish neighborhood, and reminisces about growing up in pre-Vatican II Catholic America.  At one point, the narrator recounts his first confession and one soon after as a 2nd grader when he thinks he has committed a mortal sin, and a later confession:

What a fantastic feeling!  To come back from the spiritually dead.  To be free from sin! free from sin! free from sin!  As I walked through the neighborhood, brown igloos of raked leaves smoldered lazily, scening the air with their familiar fall fragrance.  The world fit so comfortably around me that everything I saw and heard seemed as if it had just been given, as I had, a brand-new shot at life.....

And I remember the last one.  Kneeling in a confessional in some city's cathedral.  When the priest asked me if I was sorry for my sins, in a moment of indifference, I gave him an honest answer.  He shouted.  I left.  By then, there was more than a darkened window separating us.

Down the steps of the cathedral knowing, no, hoping in my mind that I was right, yet realizing I was never again to feel that resurgence of faith in my own and the world's immortality.  Never again to experience the exhilaration of rising from the spiritually dead.  Never again to be free from sin, free from sin, free from sin.

Favorite Things Friday: New Puppies

Here is ours, Tacy.  She's named after Tacy in the Besty-Tacy books.

Favorite Things Friday: Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church

I have so many ideas for favorite things, and all of them were part of our Labor Day weekend.   And since last week was too busy for me to post a favorite thing, I can now get several weeks ahead if I work at it.

This week's favorite thing is Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glen, IL.  Our family tries to attend liturgy there a few times a year or more, whenever business or leisure brings us to the Chicagoland area.  On Labor Day weekend, it was both.    My photos aren't that great, just being snapped by my phone, but I hope the beauty of the church shines through.  Icons are everywhere, and even the mailbox is decorated.  Father Thomas Loya, the dynamic pastor, has "written" or painted, all of the icons throughout the church, and even outside the church (as on the mailbox).  It's beautiful, and so is the liturgy.   Well worth a drive for those who live anywhere nearby.

Because my 8-year-old was wearing an orange fleeece, he had to demonstrate St. John's wings shown in this icon.

Yes, even the mailbox is decorated.

Father Loya.

Father Loya's dog.  I think it is a Hungarian dog, and I cannot remember the name at the moment.  I'm pretty sure it's something Greek.  I will update when I remember.

A Quote for Monday: Blessed John Paul II (and St. Catherine of Siena)

If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!


--Blessed John Paul II

This quote is actually from St. Catherine of Siena, but I first saw it in Colleen Swaim excellent new book: Ablaze: Stories of Daring Teen Saints.  I reviewed the book in my July Catholic Post column, and interviewed Colleen about the book here.

Here's the original quote from St. Catherine of Siena:  

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." 

— St. Catherine of Siena

To Do With a Book: Betsy-Tacy

Oh how I love the Betsy-Tacy books!  There are so many fun things to do with this wonderful series of books written in the 1940s and 50s by Maud Hart Lovelace about her early 20th century childhood in Mankato, Minnesota (Deep Valley in the books).

Five or six years ago, when I first started thinking about starting a girls book group for my then two young daughters, I hosted a half-dozen gatherings one summer with a small group of girls and my oldest daughter.  And of course one of the books was Betsy-Tacy, first in the series.  We talked about friendship and fun, and we made fudge, just like Betsy and her classmates do in later books.  I have a photo somewhere of the group of little girls with the fudge, but can't locate it easily.   Later, in 2009, when our very established girls book group read Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, we made fudge again, and the girls were old enough to do most of the boiling sugar work (a little dangerous for younger kids) themselves:

Also that girls book group meeting, in honor of Betsy, Tacy & Tib making it over the Big Hill to Little Syria, one of the moms brought a host of Lebanese treats, including fig preserves that were very interesting on fresh pita bread from a local Lebanese bakery. Here's the snack spread:

The fudge was delicious; I used my mom's recipe, which she always called "Mamie Eisenhower fudge."  I call it "Norma's Famous Fudge" after my mom.  Clearly it dates after the 1908 time period of the first Betsy-Tacy book (Betsy-Tacy), but it's extra delicious and from mid-20th century, when Maud Hart Lovelace was writing the books.

Betsy-Tacy Fudge (Norma’s Famous Fudge)

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter
3/4 cup evaporated milk
3 cups sugar

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2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (equal to a 12oz. package)
7 oz. jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp. vanilla

Put chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, and vanilla in a large bowl, and set aside.

Meanwhile, combine milk, butter and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Boil for 6 minutes.

Pour hot mixture (careful!) over chocolate, etc., and stir until smooth.  Put into a 9X 13 pan (or large pie pan--this makes for thicker pieces) and cut when cool.

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For a good summary of the series, I want to share what I wrote to the girls (and parents) in 2009 for the girls book group:

The Betsy-Tacy books are nicely divided into the four "younger" books.  These are the ones I would most highly recommend for all ages of the book group:
Betsy-Tacy
Betsy, Tacy and Tib
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill (our book group read this month)
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown  


If you haven't read all the of the Betsy-Tacy earliest books, you should!  The first book is available on unabridged audio CD; we had it several years ago from the library and it was an excellent production.
The Betsy high school books, perhaps more appropriate for the older girls, are:

Heaven to Betsy
Betsy in Spite of Herself
Betsy was a Junior
Betsy and Joe
There are two books about Betsy (almost) grown up:
Betsy and the Great World
Betsy's Wedding

Another book from those days is Emily of Deep Valley, probably my favorite, and Carney's House Party.


I have several comments about the "older Betsy" books.  In Heaven to Betsy there is a Ouija board used several times.  When I first read the book, I was really concerned for it, and I still don't like that part of it.  What I found is that it allowed me to have a great discussion with my oldest about the reason it's bad and discuss how culturally it was a different time circa 1900 and there was not as much understanding about it; it was a "parlor game."  We referred back to the section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on offenses against the first commandment, specifically CCC 2115-2117.  The Vatican website has the CCC online here..

Melissa Wiley has a terrific introduction and list of the Betsy-Tacy books and similar Maud Hart Lovelace titles; she writes favorably here about Emily of Deep Valley.  I am only sad that I missed Betsy-Tacy convert week when the "older Betsy" books were re-issued in September.
She also wrote about Heaven to Betsy here, and Betsy and Tacy Go over the Big Hill here.
Here is a link to the Betsy-Tacy Society website.  Makes me want to head to Mankato, Minnesota to see the Betsy, Tacy and Tib houses!  Field trip, girls?

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I'm sure no one else is asking, "Hey, Nancy, what else can I do with the Betsy-Tacy books?" but just in case you might be looking for one more thing, perhaps you might be getting a puppy, perhaps even an English Shepherd puppy.  Your family is trying out different names for the new addition, and your husband finds in an older dog book that two-syllable names ending in a vowel sound are the best bet for dogs.  Your family might be trying out a lot of different names, including Greek letters like Zeta and Theta, and then the breeder comments that the puppy is very shy and reserved.  So maybe, after meeting the puppy a few days before you pick her up (and indeed, she is sable-haired and shy, but oh, so sweet), you mention that Tacy might be a good name.  And when you pick her up one holiday Monday, that is her name, and the name really fits.

Do you enjoy the Betsy-Tacy books?  What are some of your favorites?

A Quote for Monday: Lucy Maud Montgomery

"There's plenty of time for you to be grown up, Rilla. Don't wish your youth away. It goes too quickly. You'll begin to taste life soon enough."


"Taste life! I want to eat it," cried Rilla, laughing. "I want everything­, everything a girl can have. I'll be fifteen in another month, and then nobody can say I'm a child any longer. I heard someone say once that the years from fifteen to nineteen are the best years in a girl's life. I'm going to make them perfectly splendid--­just fill them with fun."


This is the high-spirited title heroine of Lucy Maud Montgomery's wonderful Rilla of Ingleside.  I dearly love Rilla, even more than her mother, Ann of Green Gables.  The book is not just a great story, but great historical fiction, written soon after the events, of World War I's devastating impact on North American families who sent young men to the war.


Of course, she's wrong that 15-19 is the best time in a girl's life.  It just keeps getting better!  I just can't help but share another quote from Rilla of Ingleside:


"Everything, it seems to me, has to be purchased by self-sacrifice. Our race has marked every step of its painful ascent with blood. And now torrents of it must flow again. No, Mrs. Crawford, I don't think the war has been sent as a punishment for sin. I think it is the price humanity must pay for some blessing - some advance great enough to be worth the price - which we may not live to see but which our children's children will inherit." 

Favorite Things Friday: Surprise Lilies

Surprise lilies are those wonderful lilies that come out in late summer .  Darn it if every year they don't come back and surprise us!  

I promise you, at our house, each and every year, we all comment how we won't see surprise lilies this year.  We seem to miss their green phase, and then one of will comment, oh, the surprise lilies must have gotten mowed over.  I didn't see them come up, even in their green phase.  Neither did I.That just looks completely dead, I think they must have a certain life span and ours have just lived out their number of perennial years.  Blah, blah, blah.  And then one day last week, we started out on a bike ride:

This is the start of the surprise lilies.  Of course we all cheered and were thrilled, and I had to take a photo.  Then of course we saw them all over our small town in various places.

In a day or so they bloom even more fantastically:  

I see on Wikipedia that surprise lilies are also called "resurrection lilies" and that they come from Japan.  

Are you always surprised by surprise lilies?

A Quote for Monday: The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum

"Straightaway the mariners took to the oars, then hoisted their sails, and the ship sped on like a strong sea bird. Odysseus slept. And lightly the ship sped on, bearing the man who had suffered so much sorrow of heart in passing through wars of men and through troublous seas--the ship sped on, and he slept, and he was forgetful of all he had passed through."


--Padraic Colum, The Children's Homer.


My 8-year-old son and I have been reading aloud from this book recently.   I think I got the version of the book we are reading when our family was in England last year, but I see it is available on Kindle inexpensively. 


Wow, what an amazing version of the story of Odysseus!  We have read lots of Greek and Roman myths through Usborne books and various picture books, and I had downloaded an App with the text of the Odyssey, but couldn't really get myself into the rhythm of reading the poetry.  This is an excellent introduction of these fantastic classic stories that everyone should know.  Colum's skill with the English language (in I'm sure echoing & translating the original poetry) is just beautiful, as the above quote shows.


After we finish this, we will move on to more Padraic Colum:  The Golden Fleece: Heroes Before Achilles and The Children of Odin.

Favorite Things Friday: Surf Shelf

I feel a wee bit embarrassed to be admitting this, but I truly "heart" my SurfShelf.

Surf Shelf is a little plastic shelf that attaches via sturdy velcro strips to the front of the treadmill.  It essentially turns any treadmill into a treadmill desk, a concept developed in recent years to help workers who spend most of their time writing or on the phone to be active at the same time.

I first learned about treadmill desks a number of years back when I saw on the news (CNN maybe) a story about a Mayo Clinic doctor who used them and recommended them for weight loss and just general fitness.  I thought it sounded like such a cool idea.  Here's a NY Times article describing the trend and the physician, Dr. Joe Levine.  But professional treadmill desks are hugely expensive, and take up a ton of space.  At that time we didn't even have a treadmill, and several of our children were babies, making it way less than practical.  I just thought it sounded like a cool concept.  My dear husband, though I love him dearly, thought it was a goofy concept (and I'm pretty sure he still does), especially in a work setting.

But about a year ago, we finally got a treadmill, and it's actually gotten quite a bit of use at our house from everyone, not just me running on icy days.  A few months later I discovered the Surf Shelf.  I was a little skeptical, but I thought that $40 was worth a shot.  I ordered my Surfshelf  from Amazon since I have a Prime membership (another one of my favorite things), so it shipped free.

The Surf Shelf takes up just a little space in front of the treadmill.  It was a little tricky to figure out the way to attach it to our treadmill (a NordicTrack from Sears), and I don't have it attached exactly the way they describe, but it works fine for me.  When someone wants to walk or run on the treadmill, we can easily slip the shelf out of its plastic holder to provide more room on the treadmill.

Yes, I'm actually walking at a super slow speed on my treadmill as I write this.   I tend to keep it at a 1.5 or 2 mph speed, though many people recommend keeping it at a 1.  I just find I can do 1.5 the same as 1, so why not log more miles while I am working.  I don't usually get sweaty at all, and I just wear whatever I'm wearing and my older pair of running shoes.

I go in cycles of using the SurfShelf and and not using it.  I tend not to use it on days when I run, or just when I'm checking email.   In the summer I barely used it as all as we were pretty busy, but now that the kids are back in school I plan to begin to use it again.   I don't use it for all my writing, and I also usually check my columns for the Catholic Post after printing them out and reading them through.  That must seem terribly 20th century, but it truly is the best way to edit.  Sometimes about those red marks.

For me, running and exercise are essential to keeping healthy both physically and emotionally, as well as sharp mentally.   One of the people quoted in the NY Times article said she found working on a treadmill desk actually improved her concentration "taking care of the ADD thing" and I found that to be true as well. When I want to focus, the walking actually helps me a little bit, so I probably have some ADD.  I also find that when I need to quite a bit of writing, staying on the treadmill keeps me rooted, instead of getting up to do laundry or putz around the house.  Now, if the SurfShelf could only do something about the lure of checking Facebook...

Do you think turning your desk into a treadmill sounds goofy or cool?

To Do with a Book: Homer Price and Centerburg Tales by Homer Price

If you need a good laugh and have not yet discovered the chapter books by Robert McCloskey, please do yourself a favor and acquire Homer Price and its sequel, Centerburg Tales.


McCloskey is better known for his wonderful picture books such as Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal, but Homer Price is one that will have you chuckling along and wishing you could go back and grow up in small-town mid-20th century Ohio, as McCloskey did and recounted in such rich and delightfully warped detail.    Homer Price and sequel Centerburg Tales are a series of great story/vignettes, many with a ridiculous twist.

I especially enjoy the Greek names many characters have--Homer, Uncle Ulysses, Uncle Telemachus, and the like--as well as how some of the stories are Greek myth retellings, such as the story "Mystery Yarn," a backwards but cute version of the story of Hippomones besting Atalanta in a race with the golden apples.

What reminded me of these wonderful books was a recent garden "issue" at our house that brought to mind the Centerburg Tales; the story "Experiment 13."  In the story, Dulcy Dooner inherits from his scientist uncle a batch of seeds labeled "experiment 13."  Thinking they might be valuable, Dulcy plants and nurtures all summer several of the precious seeds.  When they turn out to be a giant version of ragweed, the fun of the story begins--how  10-year-old Homer helps to solve the issue is one I won't give it away.

At our house, earlier this summer the gardening duo at our house, my husband and 10-year-old daughter, discovered several small bush-like plants growing. They brought a small cutting to the local nursery, and a worker told them it was "probably mums."  He directed them to cut the "mums" back later in the summer, and they should bloom in the fall.

Well, the "mums" just kept getting bigger and bigger, even after the gardeners cut them back.  When they started to get the beginning of a seed head (nothing like a mum), we started to get suspicious.  We actually talked about Centerburg Tales at the dinner table, wondering if we had in fact giant ragweed on our hands.  After a quick check of Google, we discovered, in fact, we did.  And here's the photo to prove it.   We cut them all down and disposed of them right away, sparing the neighborhood and our family many sniffles, we hope.

Let me clarify here that, what I recommend "to do" with a book like Homer Price and Centerburg Tales is not growing giant ragweed, either on purpose or by accident.

Much better, and more delicious, is making some form of doughnuts, as an homage to the Homer Price story "The Doughnuts," in which the doughnut machine Uncle Ulysses buys for efficiency at his lunchroom won't stop making doughnuts.

When our Girls Book Group read Homer Price several years back, a mom with a fryer supervised making a giant batch of funnel cakes for the girls to enjoy.  Here are just a few of them:

We also had old-fashioned sodas, as you can see in the foreground of this photo, and the funnel cakes were a big hit, as you can see from the girls sampling them:

Have you read Homer Price? What is your favorite of the stories?

A Quote for Monday: Jeremiah 29:11-14

Yes, I know what plans I have in mind for you, the Lord declares, plans for peace, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  When you call to me and come and pray to me, I shall listen to you.  When you search for me, you will find me; when you search wholeheartedly for me, I shall let you find me.

 

I took this from the New Jerusalem bible translation, but I also like the translation from the New American Bible:

For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope.  When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you.  When you look for me, you will find me.  Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord.

I could spend more time looking up different translations but I'd rather work on memorizing this quote.

 

Favorite Things Friday: Wholly Guacamole 100-Calorie Packs

I love avocados, but for much time I didn't buy them because of price or availability.    I would usually save my time for getting avocados when we would go out to eat, and I could get it on a salad or burger.

But some time back, I decided that I really, really like avocados on my lunch sandwich, and this fruit is really nutritious.  So I started buying individual avocados occasionally. Sometimes it worked beautifully because the ripeness of the avocado was perfect when I cut it, and I could save some of the avocado for the next day's sandwich. (I don't really mind how it goes brown, but I also could have drizzled some lemon juice on it if I did). But sometimes it didn't work out, as the avocado would be too ripe or not ripe enough.

Several times I saw a bag of them at Sam's Club, and they were usually high quality and a good ripeness. I would use one and maybe make guacamole with several others, saving the rest in the fridge for future sandwiches, but I could never get to all of them and there would be waste. My husband would eat some guacamole if I made Mexican food, but the kids didn't and the waste (or me having to eat guacamole day after day) became annoying, too.

So I once again abandoned buying avocados. And then, one day, I was (woefully) passing the beautiful bag of avocados at Sam's Club, I happened to see in just the next aisle over, Wholly Guacamole 100-calorie packs. Wow! I thought. Here's a way to have individual servings for me that don't go to waste. They are freezable, so even if I buy the Sam's Club version, I can save any that are nearing the sell-by date and take them out individually. Joy!

I see at the Wholly Guacamole website that they also have individual packs of salsa, though I haven't seen those available in our local grocery stores.  I don't see individual packs of their queso dip, but that could be fun.

My only request to the Wholly Guacamole people is to make a 100-calorie pack of just avocados, without the guacamole spices.  Sometimes I just want that clean creamy avocado flavor without the guacamole/salsa spice.

Do you like avocados?  What's your favorite way to use them?

Back to Blogging Here

After a very long hiatus, I've decided to start blogging again here at "Let Mercy Lead."  I often have great ideas for sharing things that wouldn't really fit into the blog I write for the Catholic Post, the Catholic Post Book Group.  It always seems like my official writing should take precedence, and so ideas I might have had usually go by the wayside.  In addition, Facebook (and Twitter) has really become the place people gather on the Internet to share ideas and thoughts, but I occasionally find myself writing a status update that is too long for Facebook (and certainly Twitter), and want a way to share.

However, I've had terrible trouble writing and blogging in the last few months.  I'm not going to spend a lot of time writing about that, since it should be obvious that writing is hard work, but for me it's always been enjoyable and satisfying along with being hard work.  That's hasn't been the case recently, even when I write well.  After thinking and talking and praying about how to jump-start things and make writing a little more joyful, I decided that more writing, not less, is in order, but about a different range of things.  I hope it will make me more prolific and better in my "official" writing, as well as just happier all around.  I also hope to find out about more great things from others in the categories I plan to write about. And yet I still need a structure.

So the plan is to blog three-ish times a week.  On Fridays, I want to share "Favorite Things"--random things like food, clothing, places, etc.  On Wednesdays, I plan to share "What You Can Do with a Book," which is really sharing ideas we have used in our family and with the many, many book groups that I've run over the years.  I will enjoy sharing those ideas, and perhaps others will find the ideas fun to use. On Mondays, I plan to share a quote.  Since I was about 10 years old, I've collected quotes, but never been careful about keeping them.  I hope the blog will be a place to keep the quotes.

Later today will be the first "Favorite Things Friday" and over time I will work on re-design of the blog here.

I invite your feedback!

Testing Out Live Blogging

I'm testing out live blogging from the Cathedral of St. Mary in Peoria.

Stay tuned for updates through the afternoon and evening.