A Week of Good-Byes: Death Comes to Us All!

It's been a time of good-byes for celebrities this past week or so. Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and yesterday Gloria Steinem. Many will relate immediately to country music icon Dolly and actor Tim Curry, but I wonder how many even remember who Gloria Steinem was. Do you?

If I went out to do a man-in-the-street interview (using "man" in the generic sense), and asked, "How do you feel about the death of Gloria Steinem?" I would expect a puzzled look and a "Who's Gloria Steinem?" from most people. She got her fifteen minutes of fame during the era of feminism, but that era is fading. Feminism has been in its death throes for a long time. Babies and stay-at-home moms are making a comeback as the White House Baby Boom illustrates.

Celebrate Life in the Work of Hungarian Painter, Mihaly Munkascy!

The other day I illustrated my post on "The Case Against Pope Francis" with a painting of Jesus before Pilate. One of my readers asked about the artist so I did a little research to identify him and look at his other work. I was unfamiliar with Mihaly Munkascy and am glad to remedy that deficiency. Judging from his body of work, he loved children.  They are prominently featured in many of his paintings.

Monday Morning This and That

Bee inspection with two 
little prospective beekeepers.

Life is filled with unexpected situations. Last week we lost one of our two beehives. There were only a few dead bees on the bottom board so it's pretty clear that they absconded. Why? Who knows? There are lots of reasons that could have caused it. We think they just couldn't find enough food and took off for greener pastures. The drought this summer has certainly affected the nectar flow. But we're sorry we didn't start feeding them early on. All was well only a week ago. So things can go South in a hurry. We immediately began to feed our remaining hive and they are emptying the sugar syrup bags as quickly as we put them in. Today I'll purchase another twenty pounds of sugar for the girls. We love beekeeping and hope to keep at it as long as we're able. We have another hive inside a wall around the pool, but decided to let them winter over there and remove them in the Spring. Hopefully they will survive. So far there are still bees going in and out the little knothole that's their entrance.

We All Live in a Soap Opera! What's Happening in Today's Episode?

I've been reading Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance. It accompanied me as my beach book last week when my husband and I were on vacation with our daughter and her family. I heartily recommend it with the warning that it is liberally peppered with obscenities -- the common language of some of Vance's family members. The book shines light on life in Appalachia: the white working poor, the non-working welfare dependents, the difficulty of rising above family circumstances, the devastating impact of alcohol and drug addiction. I kept closing the book and reflecting on thoughts raised by the sad, but often funny, descriptions of the colorful characters in Vance's life. There were a number of takeaways:

Eleven Children and On Her Own

Read more here.

There are a lot of fathers who will be in boiling water on Judgment Day! And the father of this family is one of them. So please pray for the mom and kids, but also for the dad of these wonderful children who have pulled together to help their mom keep the family going. Could your family of  (how many) survive on $1200 a month? Why not try it and see. I think I'll order a saint doll.

A Million March in Paris to Affirm the Natural Family

...and oppose same-sex "marriage." And here is my message to the people of France:
 Nous vous remercions pour avoir défendu la famille nucléaire.

Beach Interlude

My favorite beach is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It's very much a family community. If you want honky-tonk glitz head to Atlantic City, NJ. You won't find it on the Outer Banks. We used to go almost every year when our kids were little, camping until we got hit by a hurricane, renting a cottage after that. Unfortunately we don't go so often now. In fact, we hadn't been to any beach for three years. I only realized how much I missed the sound of the surf and the sea breezes when our youngest asked if we would go to the Outer Banks with her family.

What a beautiful week! We had continuous sunny days and mostly clear nights and almost always a refreshing breeze off the ocean. A wildfire on the mainland which is only 80% controlled because of burning peat in the bogs, only made its presence known a few times when the wind blew from the land. We delayed a trip to the sand dunes at Jockey Ridge one night because the smoke was eye-stingingly unpleasant and who wants to inhale all that smoke, especially when one of your party is pregnant?

Larry and I rented bikes and rode to morning Mass since the church in Kitty Hawk was only a mile and a half from our cottage. Speaking of the cottage, it was only a short walk to the beach and since it was early season the shared cost per night was about the same as staying at a cheap motel. We drank our morning coffee sitting on the front porch swing with a little almost-three-year-old chirping between us. And speaking of chirping, our morning entertainment was a mother cardinal who kept trying to chase away her rival in the car's side mirror. The birds were a pleasure all week -- a great blue heron along our bay bike ride, mocking birds shouting the news from the highest tree tops and a little finch who sat on the telephone pole every morning warbling so loud we could hardly believe so much music could come from such a tiny body.

Sitting on the beach and watching the waves is one of the most conducive atmospheres for meditation. "Come away with me to a quiet place," Jesus said to his disciples. I felt that personal invitation as we walked or sat on the beach praying our rosary. I brought a book to read, but often just sat quietly watching and listening to the waves saying with Samuel, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."

Too often we let the busyness of life at home distract us from what's important -- living for heaven. The Outer Banks is a little bit of heaven on earth. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. Fly a kite, visit the Wright Brothers Museum and Jockey's Ridge, eat some wonderful seafood, ride a bike to Duck Doughnuts for a great treat, and praise God for the wonders of His world. Despite so much madness in our world, there is still so much good. You can see it on the Outer Banks.

For more photos of our beach interlude go here.

A sad story about grandparents

When we are out and about I often get into conversations with people. This week, while we were camping at Sherando Lake, I spoke briefly to a grandmother who was pushing a little girl in an umbrella stroller. The child looked like she was about two. She was a serious child. I asked her if she had her grandma wrapped around her finger and she nodded solemnly.

I mentioned to the grandmother how much I enjoy our grandchildren. She replied, "I have one and that's enough." How sad, I thought.

My response was, "How can there be too many flowers in the grandma garden?" And then we walked on. But it was a sad conversation to me. I have no idea what's going on in her family. Maybe she is the primary caregiver for this little girl and resents it. I once met a grandfather in the grocery store carrying an infant. When I admired the little girl, he shared that she was born out of wedlock and maybe it would have been better if she had been aborted. "Oh you don't mean that," I replied gently, "Just look at that beautiful child."

These conversations amaze me - first that people will tell intimate details of their lives to perfect strangers. And secondly, that a grandparent will reflect, again to a stranger, such negative attitudes toward their grandchildren.

Pray for all grandparents, especially those who are spending their golden years parenting their grandchildren when they should be spoiling them. May God give them strength, energy, and, above all, joy in the wonder of childhood.