My Scribbler’s Heart

Top 10 Tuesday: 10 Reasons I Love My Kindle

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When my husband surprised me with a Kindle for Christmas four years ago, I wasn’t sure that I’d like it. I enjoy holding a book in my hands, examining the color cover, and feeling the pages glide between my fingers. But, grateful for his thoughtful gift, I tested it out. And I became hooked. Here’s what I love about my Kindle.

  1. The dictionary feature. I love the ability to look up a word with a single tap. I don’t need to set my book down and go for the dictionary–either in hardcover or online. It’s  undoubtedly helped expand my vocabulary and enabled me to grasp the precise meaning of words.
  2. The ability to prop it on a window sill. I carefully prop my Kindle on the window sill above the kitchen sink, which allows me to read while washing dishes. With six people, no automatic dishwasher, and  meals cooked from scratch, I often have a double sink filled with dishes. Reading makes the task more pleasant.reader with bookends

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Nature’s Calling. Are You Listening?

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Man has endured work since Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden:

To the man he said: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You shall not eat from it,
Cursed is the ground because of you!
In toil you shall eat its yield
all the days of your life. (Gen 3:17)

Yet “work is for man, not man for work.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2428) So, this Labor Day and throughout the year, what can you do bring a bit of genuine leisure to your life? To cultivate a sabbath or respite?

One of the simplest, most beneficial, FREE things you can do is get out into nature. In the weeks before school began, I crammed in some last-minute opportunities to get myself and my children outside. We visited a grotto, gardens, nature trails, and a nature sanctuary.

Wildwood Park1

Wildwood Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

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What’s For Supper?

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I thought I’d give Simcha Fisher’s new linkup a whirl. Here’s what made it to the dinner table this week:

Saturday

Using polenta from Trader Joe’s, I made this Sautéed Polenta with Marinara Sauce. It was quick and easy. I fried up some eggplant slices from our CSA share and served them with the marinara sauce as well. Frozen spinach rounded out the meal.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/111886371969774685/

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

Lovin’ Our CSA Share Edition

(Also known as my slow descent into hippiedom.)

For the past decade at least (I’ve lost count of the years), we’ve purchased a share in a local CSA – Community Supported Agriculture. From April through November, I visit a local pickup site each week and bring home a bounty of locally-grown organic produce. (We receive our produce from Spiral Path Farm.)

These are seven ways in which it’s been good for our family.

–1–

Color and Beauty

In late summer especially, you can’t look at this harvest and not simply admire its beauty. God gives us a feast for the eyes as well as for the stomach.

Peppers

Color and beauty. Add some blueberries, and you’ve got a rainbow.

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How Do You Celebrate the Lives of Those You Love?

/ CAstfalk / 6 Comments

September brings with it an end of summer, a start of another school year, and in our family, two birthdays: mine and my youngest daughter’s. (There’s also the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8), which provides yet another excuse for us to devour birthday cake!)

In a culture that devalues life, celebrating a birthday says, “I’m glad you were born.  I’m blessed to know you. I enjoy spending time with you.”

My parents welcomed me in their mid-to-late forties, more than a decade after the younger of my two brothers. My brothers welcomed me as well, despite the fact it meant that eventually they had to share a room. I say eventually, because I think I slept in a crib in my parents’ room until I was five. (Maybe that’s the subconscious reason I’ve never used a crib with our kids.  Hmmm . . . )

Jeremiah 1:5

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#5Faves: Contemporary Catholic Fiction-Writers Edition

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Five Favorites

Here are five of my favorite contemporary Catholic authors, listed in the order in which I “discovered” them. (I’ve left off big-name authors such as Dean Koontz since it’s doubtful he needs a promotional boost from my humble blog.)

 

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Regina Doman

Regina Doman

Regina Doman

Regina Doman is known for her series of fairy tale novels, which I  found at my local library when I was thirsting for contemporary fiction by Catholic authors. My favorite in the series is Waking Rose, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. You can check out her other books and those she publishes at Chesterton Press.

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Do You Make Room for Spontaneity?

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A couple of years ago, I started a list of things I wanted to do with the kids on summer vacation: places to visit, fun things to do, memorizing a psalm and a poem, Mass and doughnuts midweek. For two consecutive summers, I believe the sum total of things accomplished on that list was a big, fat zero.

Zero

Big, fat zero.

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Small Success Thursday

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Small Success Thursday

Why small success? Because that’s the only kind I know! Even the big ones come in small steps. Here’s my paltry offering for the week:

 

  1. School Uniforms Ready – School starts for my kids in less than two weeks , so I sorted through all the old stuff, had them try it on, and made a list of what was needed. The school uniform exchange was a disappointment as we went in with a bag of outgrown clothes and walked out with one blouse. On to the uniform store, where I dropped a bundle of money. Luckily the young lady who helped us (and gently tried to up-sell us) moved us through quickly so that the little ones didn’t do too much damage as, for reasons unknown to me, is their wont in that particular store.

    School Uniforms

    Some of our take from the uniform store.

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