Ok *gulp* here goes...

Hello! This is my first posting for Little Dorrit's Diary! I am pretty excited to be a contributor although I will admit I am not fond of people reading what I write...Yes, I was one of those people in college that never, ever, ever let anyone read my papers before or after they were handed in or graded. So here it goes...My first musing of 2011. Enjoy!

Truth, Conversion, Death, Life

As a melancholic I have decided that it would be appropriate to write my first post on this blog about death. Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that I just attended a beautiful funeral this week (yes, beautiful can describe a funeral). Don’t worry, this post is not going to be a depressing one; on the contrary, death gives way to new life when you spend your entire life in pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. And this is exactly what Dr. Warren Carroll did. He gave every ounce of his being and every moment of his life in pursuit of Truth. In an age of chaos, confusion, and cultural upheaval (i.e. the 20^th century) this man was as optimistic as they come. Anyone who was privileged to have known him, either in person or through his writings knew exactly why; because “Truth exists. The Incarnation happened!”

Truth and Conversion

Sometimes I wonder whether, if I had not been born into a Catholic family, I would have been brave enough to seek the Truth. Would I have stared it in the face and asked, “Quid est veritas?” or would I have recognized Truth and followed with all my heart? Shortly after his marriage, Dr. Carroll came into the Church because he sought the Truth in its fullness. He saw the face of Christ in the Eucharist and declared with every action of his life that Christ IS Truth. Truth is alive in the world and, as creatures of God, we are made to glorify Him and participate in the Beatific Vision. This is what we are created for. So even though in 1968 when the world was still being torn apart by communism, atheism, and the sexual revolution, Dr. Carroll came home to the Church and to the Truth. The world is indeed a dark place. But there is no darkness that can extinguish the Light of Truth. If we want Truth badly enough we’ll find it no matter how hopeless the world may seem to be.

Death and Life

Several months ago I was teaching my Fourth Grade class about Original Sin and its consequences. Man, I told them, was not originally supposed to die. In fact, death is a very unnatural thing. I was chuckling to myself as I looked out at the 24 pair of eyes staring at me in complete disbelief. “Wait a second”, they say, “Everybody says that death is natural, a part of life, everyone has to go through it.” Yes, that’s true in a certain sense but God didn’t intend for our lives to end. The Baltimore Catechism tells us that, “He created us to know, love and serve Him and to happy with Him in Heaven.” I don’t see the words, “And die and go to heaven.” Nope. Death is a result of sin. It is something that signifies decay and an end of life. Thank you Adam and Eve. However, there is twist in the story. Enter Christ and His redemptive mission. God’s love is so strong that there is nothing that can keep it from giving life. Even our sinful behavior and our unfaithfulness to our Creator does not stop God from loving us and giving us another chance at Heaven. Christ sanctified death by submitting Himself willingly to it for our sake. So death instead gives way to a new, eternal life.

Dr. Carroll, as I said already, proved in a myriad of ways, his absolute dedication to the Truth. Wherever he saw problem in the world he found a remedy. American education in the 70s? Yeah, not too many institutions of higher education were paying attention to the truth. Dr. Carroll’s solution: found a Catholic college with a mission to “restore all things in Christ.” Modern history? Hmm, pretty sure “they” are trying to erase redemptive history from the books. Ask any public school kid today what A.D. means and they will stare at you blankly. According to history books today it’s called CE or the Common Era. Dr. Carroll’s solution: write a 5 volume history of Christendom (ahh, yes, Christ is back in the center of history). Of course we are not all called to found a college or write a massive series of books, but imagine what we are capable of if one man can do so much for Christ in a lifetime.

Pope Benedict XVI said in January of 2006 that, “Man’s unique grandeur is ultimately based on his capacity to know the truth…[And truth] cannot be attained without profound consequences for the way we live our lives.” It is often difficult to live a Christian life because the culture around us is so anti-God and anti-Truth. If we want the Truth we are going to have to suffer for it. But even though the world is crumbling around us and things look a tad bleak, God blesses us with heroic men like Dr. Carroll who show us how to concretely live a truly radical Catholic life.

Blue and Grey Ball

My sister and her boyfriend

In celebration of  the sesquicentennial of the First Battle of Manassas a "Blue and Grey Ball"  was held tonight in Old Towne Manassas. It was a spectacular sight! I will post more about it tomorrow.

Line dancing!

Ahh, Poetry... (part 2)

Sonnet 75
(Edmund Spencer)

One day I wrote her name upon the strand, 

But came the waves and washed it away:

Again I wrote it with a second hand,

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. 

Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay 

A mortal thing so to immortalize,

For I myself shall like to this decay,

And eek my name be wiped out likewise. 

Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise 

To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:

My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,

And in the heavens write your glorious name.

 Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue, 

Out love shall live, and later life renew. 

So, basically, this poem is about a lover who out of affection for his wife/girlfriend, writes her name in the sand. But then, as is wont to happen to anything made out of sand, the tide comes in, and it is washed away. The lover writes his loved one's name again, and the same thing happens. At this point, the loved one points out that it is silly for the lover to try to keep writing her name over and over. She then directs the conversation to a more somber theme when she points out that just as her name is washed away, so too will her mortal body grow old and die. The lover responds by saying that he will write a poem about her which will eternize their love (which of course he does, although ironically enough we still don't know the woman's name). 


For several years now, I have enjoyed this poem, but it wasn't until recently that it became more dear to me.  It happened that I had (miraculously) arrived early for mass and was preparing in the chapel when this poem came to mind. It struck me then that it is a reflection of Christ's love for us (albeit an insufficient one). 


The whole premise of the poem starts out with a lover showing affection for his loved one. He is there figuring out a way to show his love for her that will stand the test of time and eternity. Christ is that Lover proving his boundless love for the Church. He, the Word, writes his eternal love for us through his death on the cross. This verse, written by the Word of God, will live on throughout all time and eternity for all generations to see ( My verse your virtues rare shall eternize And in the heavens write your glorious name. Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue, Out love shall live, and later life renew). Whereas the sonnet became the monument of  a lover's affection for his wife; the cross, formerly a symbol of death, now becomes a monument and reminder of the Lover's affection for his bride the Church.

Ahh, Poetry... ( Part I )

I have never been one for poetry. 

Do not get me wrong, I do enjoy it, but I am not one of those people who takes up a book of poems in his or her free time just for the sake relishing some poet's use (or misuse☺) of poetic license. That said, I have thoroughly enjoyed that which I have taken the time to study in a classroom setting. Basically, I have enjoyed nearly all of the poetry I have read (which is not much), but I still have not taken the time to study it outside of the classroom.

 Several years ago, though, I studied the following poem in an British Literature course. Its imagery struck me and since then it has become one of my favorite poems. (You can probably tell from the premise of this post that the lists of  "poems that I've read" and "my favorite poems" are almost identical, so "favorite" probably does not mean much!)  Anyhow, tell me what you think!

This was taken last year early one morning at Onslow Beach, NC. It's rather an appropriate backdrop for the poem, don't you agree?

 Sonnet 75 by Edmund Spencer

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

But came the waves and washed it away:

Again I wrote it with a second hand,

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay

A mortal thing so to immortalize,

For I myself shall like to this decay,

And eek my name be wiped out likewise.

Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise

To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:

My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,

And in the heavens write your glorious name.

Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,

Out love shall live, and later life renew.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

(Check out Like Mother, Like Daughter for other amazing posts!)

~Pretty~

Fishing along Fear River in Fort Fisher, NC 

(That's quite a mouthful!)

 ~Happy~

  

For the Fourth, a friend and I made this "red, green?!, and blue" watermelon salad. We got the original idea from watermelon.org, but adapted it ourselves adding fruit necklaces and bracelets. It was such a joy to make and was a big hit at the party.

(note the key!)

~Funny~

I am part of a Catholic young adult frisbee group which meets several times a week. This Tuesday I brought along my camera and was rewarded with some awesome shots. These photos were not taken during a game, but jump-dives like it are not uncommon.

 (As a side note, from Saturday through Tuesday, the group played at least 11 games of ultimate--which, I must say, is a bit much. What is neat, though, is that although we play in the Manassas/Centerville area we get players all the way from Front Royal and Arlington, VA. The group has really been a blessing!)

~Real~

Yesterday was my sister's 26th birthday, and she requested that we have a nice family dinner to celebrate. Her boyfriend (who is an amazing cook) volunteered to make steak while my other sister offered to make all the side dishes. Thus, I was left in charge of the cake. 

As my sister is partial to ice cream cakes, I decided to make the cake with two layers of ice cream sandwiched between three layers of deep dark chocolate cake. The bottom layer of ice cream was Wegmans' cappuccino chip and the top layer was homemade chocolate sherbet (probably the easiest and healthiest ice cream that I've ever made!). I frosted the cake with whipped cream folded into ganache. Here are a few photos:

 
The dinner was really amazing. 

Pre-frosting

Hello! I will be out of town much of this week, so there will be a bit of an interim before I can get back to the computer (which is probably a good thing!). Hopefully I will be able to post again by Friday or Saturday. At any rate, have a wonderful week!

A Hop, Skip, and a Jump Away

The following pictures as a whole seem to be pretty, happy, funny and real. Enjoy! (Then head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter for more {P, H, F, R}!)

(If you would like to see the pictures enlarged, just click on them!)

A baby robin was hopping around our backyard this morning...

It heard the beep of my camera and came towards me...

...Leaping...

...and bounding...

...until it was close enough for comfort.

Then momma called.

Little Dorrit Party

This past Saturday, my friend S and I hosted a "Victorian Gala" during which we watched the movie  Little Dorrit. 

Let me just say, I have never sat in front of a TV for that many hours at one time. The BBC version of Little Dorrit is a timeless classic.....but it is also 7.5 hours long. Yes, you read that correctly. Seven and a half hours. But, despite its length, it really is worth watching*. As I have now seen it all at once as well as in parts, I would recommend the latter, but it is great either way.

Since I have a propensity for giving away details of the plot, I will not write much about the plot. Let me just say, it is a fun fulfilling story, which is full of surprising plot twists and unique characters. In terms of the film, the acting was superb and genuinely made one empathize with the characters. The plot is fairly close to the book with mostly minor changes here and there. All in all, good triumphs and evil is torn apart. 

That said, here are several pictures from the party: 

A watermelon teapot which S and I carved out! (Note the tulips that S carved into the front!) On the right side of the picture, you can also see a pitcher of homemade lemonade as well as some crackers from Great Britain. After all, if you are going to have a Victorian Gala, you must serve something from Great Britain.

Here is the cake we made!  It was a triple layer deep dark chocolate cake filled with cherry pie filling and kirsch ganache. The frosting itself was a simple ganache which was then folded with whipped cream for decorating. We barely finished preparing the cake before the guests arrived! 

The cake was sweet, but sweetest of all were the guests! 

*Please note: Little Dorrit is definitely not a kids movie as the plot definitely has its downs (as well as its ups), but teenagers should be able to handle it. It should be noted as well that there is a little bit of an iffy scene at one point which is not necessary and is used to show how despicable one of the characters is. It is fairly obvious when to fast forward, but I wanted to let you know. Some might not have an issue with it as it is not explicit.  Personally, I would rather safeguard my purity especially since the scene is not integral to the plot.

Prayer Request

Please keep Leila (from Like Mother, Like Daughter) and her family in your prayers today as her daughter will be undergoing surgery. 

Surgery is never a joy-ride, especially when one is a teenager. After undergoing a three hour surgery on my leg a several years ago, I can only imagine the anxiety leading up to a four hour brain surgery. (Bridget is probably much more courageous than I was, but nevertheless it would be very nerve-racking. I am sure that she would appreciate prayers!) May God grant her a trouble-free operation and an extraordinarily swift recovery.

Time to stretch out my fingers and begin blogging again!

I apologize for taking so very long to post! It has been very busy lately, but I really cannot use that as an excuse. Still, I've keep wondering how other people keep posting despite the sudden onset of many exciting, though hectic, events. What is their secret? 

One of the exciting events in my life lately has been my cousin L's wedding. My family and her family are especially close as we have all grown up less than half a mile away from each other. (As kids we used to joke that we were all "genetic half-siblings" because our mothers are identical twins). L is the first of the girls to get married, so we were all very excited! 

The past couple weeks have been filled with feverish preparation for the wedding.  Despite all the preparation, everything was especially delightful because L was not at all a "bridezilla."

For me, the highlight of the preparation was when the bridal party got together to prepare  all of the flowers. Interestingly enough, a family friend used to work in a florist shop, so she taught all of us how to arrange them. It was a fun and amazing learning/bonding experience (not to mention the fact that it was very cost effective!). 

Here are a couple pictures from the preparations/wedding:

My aunt's kitchen at 10 A.M., the day before the wedding....

....A few hours later: it looked like a florist shop!

The wedding party

Just to prove that I really was there, here is a picture of me....

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

~Pretty~

A robin's nest...

...in our backyard!

...So fragile!

~Happy~

Just recently our mixer broke after twenty-one years of service (no, that is not "happy"). But, this meant that all our homemade bread had to be kneaded by hand.

 AND, there is nothing that makes me happy like kneading dough by hand! It's so delightful! (I suppose if I had to make it the "old fashioned way" all the time I probably would not like it as much, but who knows?!) 

We usually make eight loaves at a time, but in this case, the first loaf was gobbled up as soon as it came out of the oven! 

~Funny~

 This is a picture from Easter, but it is all part of the story. So in other words, you will have to bear with me. :)

In a zealous effort to create an awesome Easter egg hunt, my sister replaced all the raw eggs with candy filled ones. She placed those she removed in a bowl towards the back of the refrigerator.... 


Let me just say, I believe our fridge is as committed to keeping things cold as my sister had been in creating a fantastic Easter Egg hunt. Therefore, when reaching for a nice fresh egg the other day, I was greeted with a nice frozen egg. See below:

It is actually neat to be able to say that I have held a peeled raw egg without it having slipped everywhere. (Not that that would be something that I would necessarily flaunt on a blog *ahem* around.) The eggs were beautiful, but the irony of the whole story gave my whole family a good laugh. (Unfortunately, if eggs are frozen within their shells they are not supposed to be eaten. They did not go entirely to waste, though, as the dogs sure enjoyed their icy snack.)

 ~Real~

 Really easy and quick cherry pie. (Really delicious too!) 


(I will post the recipe if anyone is interested.)

Stella Maris

As it is Mother Mary's month, here's a video I made some time ago as a sort of meditation. The song is "You're Here" by Francesca Battistelli. Although it is technically a Christmas song, I like to listen to it throughout the entire year. 







Here are two beautiful quotes about Our Blessed Mother by St. Josemaria Escriva:

"I like to go back in my imagination to the years Jesus spent close to his Mother, years which span almost the whole of his life on earth. I like to picture him as a little child, cared for by Mary who kisses him and plays with him. I like to see him growing up before the loving eyes of his Mother and of Joseph, his father on earth. What tenderness and care Mary and the Holy Patriarch must have shown towards Jesus, as they looked after him during his childhood, all the while, silently, learning so much from him. Their souls would become more and more like the soul of that Son, who was both Man and God. This is why his Mother, and after her St Joseph, understand better than anyone the feelings of the Heart of Christ; and the two of them are thus the best way, I would say the only way, to reach the Savior."

"My Mother! Mothers on earth look with greater love upon the weakest of their children, the one with the worst health, or who is least intelligent, or is a poor cripple. Sweet Lady, I know that you are more of a Mother than all other mothers put together. And, since I am your son, since I am weak, and ill, and crippled, and ugly ..." (The Forge, 234) 

As a side note: I will be heading out of town Friday, but I hope to post at least once between now and then. I will keep you updated! 

Back on track!

Hello! I feel like I need to reintroduce myself as it has been so long since I last posted! Life has been going well though. Finals are finished for now, and all I have left for the summer are History and English. I am extremely excited about English as it is a class on Shakespeare. It should be fascinating!


Today, my mother, sister and I travelled to Front Royal for a little outing. It was absolutely gorgeous! We ended up hiking for two hours in Shenandoah National Park. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera, but I will have to next time! One of the highlights of the hike was the fact that we saw a wild orchid. We think it actually might be a phalaenopsis but who knows! The park was spectacular though, and I hope to go again soon! (The picture below is from a previous trip, but it'll have to do!)

In other news: the other day we discovered that much of our milk had soured. That afternoon, the kitchen was a flurry of motion as we tried to find ways to use it up. We made muffins, pancakes, "buttermilk" syrup, and "buttermilk" pie. Since then we have made many more pancakes, but we still have about half a gallon left. Do you have any ideas/recipes to help us use it up? Thanks!

Image courtesy of the NYPL digital database.

Sorry about the paucity of posts lately! Last week most of my family was gone for Easter vacation, so I had to "batten down the hatches" at home. This week and next week I have finals, so posts may be sparse until midweek next week. I promise I'll get back on track soon! 

Here's a picture from Easter:

We celebrated Easter Sunday with family and friends at Washington's Birthplace.
It was so gorgeous! 

Lord, Have Mercy on Me a Sinner

 "On the tree of the cross 

the Heart of Jesus, 

our beloved, 

beheld your heart 

and loved it.  

By the love he bore it 

he obtained every good 

that you shall ever have."

- St. Francis de Sales

 (Image from the 1880's, courtesy of the NYPL Digital Database)

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real - Holy Week Edition

~Pretty~

I must confess, I did not actually take this photo this week. But, because Comb Jellies are so gorgeous, I could not resist posting it. (Also, I was rather at a loss for finding a good photo for "pretty" anyways!) As the comb jelly's splendidness cannot really be captured in a photo, I have posted a short video as well.

~Happy~

We were all pretty happy that night: dinner was underway, there would be leftovers for the morning and, well, who doesn't love pancakes?

 ~Funny~

My little sister loves music. When I showed her a short video of someone playing a harp, she ran over to the stairs and called out, "Hey! Look! I'm playing a harp!" 

~Real~

(This photo was taken by someone else several years ago, but it will have to do! I was present, though!;) )

What or rather Who is more real than the Eucharist? Thank God for his blessed gift to us! Have a blessed Easter Triduum!