Cottage Blessings

A chaplet

The other day I was praying before Mass and thinking about all the things that are weighing on me. I had my rosary beads in my hand started praying a little chaplet made up on the spot. On the Our Father beads “Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all,” three times, and on the Hail Mary beads, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Somewhere in this house, I have a prayer card that once belonged to my grandfather and was passed along to my father. It is yellowed with age and shows a line drawing of Our Lord with the crown of thorns and the words “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner.” These words from the blind Bartimaeus brought forth a miracle from Our Lord. While all around him told him to keep quiet, Bartimaeus just kept shouting all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Son of David, have pity on me!”

Our Lord asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”

”Lord, I want to see.”

”Go your way, your faith has saved you.” 

I think the next time I pray this chaplet, which hopefully will be today by the Blessed Sacrament before Mass, I will add a final prayer at the end. Three times:

”Lord, I want to see!”

”Lord, I want to see!”

”Lord, I want to see!”

 

Today was a good day

Today was a good day. I slipped downstairs first thing and made two huge pots of chicken soup, enough for dinner tonight and a couple of lunches besides. Marie told me my chicken soup is her favorite food without even a close rival. I baked a loaf of crusty, brown rye bread dusted with caraway seeds. Rye bread is one of those things that makes me feel successful when I make it. If there is one thing I mastered during the past year, it is bread baking. I don’t want to say “the art of bread baking,” because there isn’t much art to it. Just good, wholesome, simple loaves of warm, crusty goodness.

 

Today was a good day. I brought the younger children to a requiem Mass for the three-year anniversary of a girl gone too soon. My younger boy served on the altar, and I prayed for everyone I knew. Honestly, if you are reading this, I may well have been praying for you specifically. Names and faces kept flooding to my mind, and as they did, I would say, “Please dear Lord, help [names], their family and all their troubles.” Everyone has troubles. We must always remember this. Everyone has troubles.

 

Today was a good day. My husband lighted the fire, and we sat by its light, listening to it crackle. We laughed and talked and broke up squabbles. We said all the same old things to the children: “If you two can’t get along, why don’t you stop sitting practically on top of each other?”; “If you were truly hungry, you would eat a banana”; “Why don’t you go play outside before it gets dark?” The same old comfortable things we have been saying for decades and that I no doubt will babble in my sleep as I doze off in the nursing home. 

 

Today was a good day. I kept up my new year’s resolutions: Mass and rosary and novena and a passage from the Bible every day. I am on day nine and praying to succeed again on day ten. I started another resolution: Bring back Cottage Blessings. Today is day one, and I am praying to be back again for day two. Let’s hope the next post after this one isn’t dated 2024. And if it is, ah well.

 

Today was a good day. Whatever else happens, whatever is troubling or worrying or disappointing me, I am truly grateful for all that is good. I am not the woman I was when I started this blog, but I do love that girl so much and hope to find the little well inside of me where bubbles her good cheer.

 

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Gardening

The weeds sprang up again last night. I closed my eyes for a few hours sleep and there they were, everywhere in the garden, choking out flowers and cloaking all that was beautiful. I looked about and set to work, while all about me slept. I was all alone and pulling weeds. No field guide was necessary to identify them, for I knew them all too well—some half-filled notebooks, children’s drawings, a glue gun hot and dripping (dangerously left plugged in overnight), sneakers, jackets, cups of tea, some shimmery bits of paper, a Polaroid from last Thanksgiving, a loose metal retainer, a Secret Agent kit, a telescope. One by one, I pulled each weed and set it right. I propped each pillow, put away each cup, shelved each book, and now my garden is fresh and blooming again, ready to meet the day.

Safe Harbor

So I am hoping to get away from Facebook, that place of strife and selective censorship. Praying that this will mean a return to Cottage Blessings, my little port in a raging storm. If by some miracle you are reading this, you are welcome to dock your boat here.

Spring snow

Convalescence

St. Lucy's Day

St. Lucy's Day began with baking before dawn.

We made Swedish almond cakes for ourselves and for our friends. 

In the evening we had a candlelit procession, going from room to room and up and down the stairs singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel and remembering the long years the people in darkness waited for the One who would bring light to the world.

St. Lucy's Day is the day we officially light our Christmas lights. The children (and their darling friends) went from room to room lighting first the Christmas tree, then the other indoor Christmas lights and wreaths and finally the lights outside. 

We celebrated afterward with hot chocolate and pastries.

There are few things more cozy than a candlelit tea by the light of the Advent wreath.

Candlelight, cakes and girls in white dresses--Happy St. Lucy's Day, everyone!

Pumpkins

Marie had spent a good part of the afternoon working on her college applications and needed a bit of a break. One of the younger girls had been asking to carve a pumpkin that afternoon, so Marie stopped by the farm stand to get one. She looked so Autumnal in her orange pullover, that I had to snap a photo.

Something tugged at my heart as I watched her--a feeling of deep remembrance. Where had a seen this scene before?

When we returned home, I checked the archives of this blog and found a photo from 2006:

It was yesterday, truly just yesterday.

A Woodland Walk

We almost always have a big family dinner on Sundays, often with a theme to keep it interesting: "Italian Night," "Irish Night," "German Night," "Steakhouse Night," "Cowboy Night"--well, you get the idea. This was the third or fourth year in a row we have had a "Woodland Walk" dinner, with a menu inspired by a walk in the woods. Just like the "Sugar Spring" dinner in March, the Woodland Walk has become a family tradition, with college students rearranging their schedules to come home and all the children brimming with excitement.

I started dinner, while Daddy brought the five youngest out for a walk in the woods, gathering items for a centerpiece on the way.

The day was made to order, sunny and crisp.

Meanwhile, back at home, stew was simmering--beef and mushroom with a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

I took some time to decorate:

The walkers returned and added decorations of their own:

They made a collage for the table with some of their woodland finds:

We had French baguette, still warm, from the farm down the road--

--and a salad of spring greens, chopped apples, walnuts and vinaigrette.

These metal mice seem to appreciate the children's haul of chestnuts:

They weren't the only ones looking pleased:

We had lingonberries, my favorite condiment. (I'm hoping they grow in the woods of Sweden):

Mixed berries and raspberry sherbet floated in the punch bowl:

Asparagus added a touch of green:

Dessert was our own invention--"The Woodland Walk Sundae"--blackberry ice cream, peach ice cream, raspberry sorbet, hot fudge, cream, and oak and acorn butter cookies.

But the best was yet to come. Note the mysterious bag on the mantel:

It held an even more mysterious basket:

You see before you an optimist:

There is nothing like meeting new friends:

A cardinal, a bear, a mouse, an owl and, what is that, a racoon? A badger? I'm not even sure.

But I do know one thing--October is off to a good start!

*******

Woodland Walk Menu

Mixed green salad with walnuts and apples

Beef and mushroom stew

Mashed potatoes

Roasted asparagus

Lingonberries

French baguette

Mixed berry punch

"Woodland Walk" sundaes

Banana Splits

Late August dessert ingredients ready.