Summer Book Club 2021 Part 4: Of conversion and chaos...

Hello and happy Friday everybody! We're set to discuss Part 3 of Set All Afire today, and wowza, that was the longest section so far, I barely made it before today's deadline, lol! But we're now nearly finished, as the last two sections look much shorter, and according to my Kindle, I'm over 70% of the way through the book. So it's (ironically, hee hee!) smooth sailing from here!

OK, I'm going to be honest and say that I'm definitely having a difficult time following along with this book. In this part, we encounter Francis in Goa (which I needed to look up, appararently a spot near India that was occupied by the Portuguese at the time) and he changes lots of hearts there amongst Catholics that weren't practicing their faith. Couples are married, babies are baptized. When he continues on to India, his challenge then becomes attracting non-Christians to his Catholic faith. As one can imagine, there are lots of cultural and emotional obstacles along the way. We do find out that Mansilhas is finally ordained (horray!,), and the order officially becomes recognized as the Jesuits with Ignatius as it's leader. At the end of this section, Francis is on the move again, and encounters a terrible group of men on horseback that are marauding about killing innocent people, and he is injured as he tries to intervene and aid those in need. 

So, I feel like I got some of the major points out of this section, but otherwise, I'm struggling to keep track of what is going on. I really want to like this book more, LOL! In a book club, it's important to keep it real, and I'm honestly a bit relieved that we're nearly done with this one. I would LOVE to get some additional thoughts on this book! Are you liking this one or not loving it? Please do leave all thoughts in the comments!

"Watch out for the hole behind you!" Summer adventures in dancing, crafts, and also some novenas!

Hello friends and happy Friday! I've had a lovely week, and I'm definitely feeling perkier and perkier as the summer progresses. I hope for the same for you. *hugging* I'm back to performing, and that has made everything right with my emotional world again. I've had two gigs in the past two weeks, both family parties, and danced with my troupe at a small outdoor festival for the first time in nearly two years. It is just balm to my soul. And butterflies in my stomach. :-0 But it's all so, so wonderful. The troupe performances are always my favorite because of the hijinks that are almost certain to ensue with a group of us dancing in inevitably challenging environs:

"Be careful when you turn around, there's a large sinkhole behind you."

"What's that on the bottom of my shoe? Oh. Goose poo."

(wearing our costume coverups) "Are you all fortune tellers?"

"Oh dear, these hair flipping turns are a bit tricky on an incline, aren't they?"

But I tell you, I wouldn't trade it for the world. We have a few more outdoor performance possibilities in August, and then an actual hafla/showcase in mid-September! It's an amazing feeling to be back to doing this thing that I love.

I've also been praying my July novenas, and am getting closed to the end of Sts. Anne & Joachim. St. Dominic begins July 30th, if you're interested in joining in that one. And I also added in something on the fly: our very own community member Sam is trying to sell her house, so I signed up to start praying the St. Joseph novena for her! Did you know that you can sign up with Pray More Novenas to pray any novena that they have over there at any time on your own schedule? I did not know that! I thought their email reminders only worked for novenas prayed during their traditional date range. So I started St. Joseph today and will for the next eight days. If you'd like to add Sam's house sale into your prayer intentions, I would be most grateful! 🤗

Summer crafting is still ongoing, and has been so lovely lately. I finished a very summery pair of socks for myself!

I'm calling these the Summer Lemonade Socks

I also started a summery cotton top for myself. I just love this pattern, I made one for my mother-in-law last summer in red:

Pattern is the Kelda Tee

Here is the red version from last summer:

I've also been keeping up with the 2021 National Parks Hats collection. June's is based on Denali:

Denali pattern

Hard to see in the light, but there are cute mountain peaks in the design! I'm catching up a bit, as I already have the yarn and pattern for the July hat, but I'm getting there!

Next week, we'll be discussing Part 4 of our Summer Book Club for Set All Afire. We're halfway there! How is everything going for you this summer? Would love to hear about it in the comments!

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 3: Some seafaring adventures...

Hello friends, and welcome to the third edition of our Summer Book Club for 2021! This was a longer segment, but I have to say I was able to follow it more easily, all the way up until the end when I got a bit confused again. But still! I followed along much better in this regard. And I found our roiling seafaring adventures much more engaging, if a bit hard to read at times. 🤮 Let's do a quick chronicling of where we're at:

We start again with Francis in Portugal. They can't sail for India for 9 months due to weather; monsoons are mentioned, eeks! We meet another Francis (whom they call Mansilhas) working in the hospital caring for patients, a lay man who had longed to be a priest but was turned down multiple times because he had difficulty mastering Latin. Francis sees his potential, and wants to bring him with him to India to minister. This was all quite endearing.

The parts where I get confused all involve Portugal, lol! We have the King of Portugal, who is very gracious to our Francis, but there is this wealthy Conde (?) who is extremely confused by their simple lifestyle. I'm not quite sure how he fits in here, any insight is much appreciated! 

As soon as is possible in the spring, they board a ship for India. One of Francis's colleagues stays behind to minister to students in Portugal, and he and Mansilhas (and one other brother) set out for India. Trouble on the ship begins immediately, with the shady ship doctor implying that the months will be arduous and that behavior will be poor. His prediction is soon proven true, with a terrible storm and everyone getting sick or injured, including Francis. And then that horrible period where there's no wind at all and they just sit there baking in the extreme sun for weeks on end, oh my! The descriptions of what happens to their food supply during all of this...

🤮

My, this was quite the life threatening situation, to make a journey like this at that point in time, I did not realize that!

Eventually, when they get moving again, they stop over in Mozambique, and turns out this will extend from August to April (!) when the weather is favorable again. 😳 Wowza! Whole 'nother world, sea faring is. Francis continues to minister to the sick here, and to share the Gospel where he can, to a Muslim population. The ways that some of the Christians described their Muslim brothers and sisters is pretty uncharitable and disappointing, certainly a product of the time. Francis works to combat this attitude a bit.

We are back in Portugal at the end of this segment, and this is where I get confused again, somebody fill me in please, ha ha!

OK, thoughts on Part 3? I did enjoy journeying on the sea with the men, despite how terrible it sounded to actually endure! I love Francis's gentle way with others, including those who are not Christians, both physically and spiritually. I also adore the addition of sweet Mansilhas and his heart for aiding the sick and dying. Leave your thoughts in the comments, if you please. :-)

Christmas movies in July, and more summertime crafting...

Hello, and happy Friday everyone! I'm feeling pretty perky this early week of July. And I have to admit, although I don't normally get caught up in the Christmas in July movie marathon bonanza over at Hallmark Channel, last night I had the TV to myself for 15 minutes while Anne made some tea for us, and I found myself following along quite riveted to a story about a woman who gets in a car accident just before Christmas, develops amnesia, and is rescued in the swirling snow storm by a single dad and his 3 adorable children. :-0 When Anne came back with the tea, I was sad to have to turn it off, as I was wondering who the woman was and how it would affect her old life when she eventually figured out who she was. 😁 So I set the DVR to record the rest, and am quite excited about picking it back up. 😎 It is called "A Christmas to Remember" in case you'd like to look it up for possible replays in your local area. ;-) I'm now actively back on the Hallmark Channel app plotting out a few other interesting-looking viewings in the coming week. I'm actually enjoying watching these more now than I do in the actual holiday season, interestingly! I guess because now, with the warm weather and long hours of daylight, although I'm enjoying both of those things, Christmas movies get me excited for what is to come later in the year. 

I've also been knitting, and I now officially have 1 summer lemonade sock complete! *virtual high five!*

I've cast on the second sock (no Second Sock Syndrome here!) and am nearly done with the cuff. Hoping to have these done in about a week. I also need to cast on the June National Parks hat, and start a summer top for myself. Excited for all the crafting that is to come!

I've also been dancing more, and the return to in person gigs and shows is here. I could not be more thrilled about it! To celebrate, I bought a new silk veil. ;-) This gorgeous summery one just arrived:

Silks by Celestina

These are hand dyed by a talented woman over at Silks by Celestina on Facebook, @silksbycelestina on Instagram! You can pm her about any of her in stock veils, or about a custom color!

Next week we discuss Section 3 in Set All Afire, our Summer Book Club for 2021! How is your July going so far? Do you like watching Christmas movies at this time of year? ;-)

Summer Book Club 2021 Part 2: Ministering in Rome...

Happy Friday everyone, and welcome to the second of six installments in our Summer 2021 Book Club! These sections are shorter than our Lenten book club selection, which is definitely helping me to get through them in a timely manner. Shall we start?

As we begin Part Two, Ignatius, Francis and company are in Rome, and very much into thire lifestyle of poverty and relying totally on God. They work among the population, sharing the Good News and helping those in physical need, especially those with difficult medical conditions that others are unwilling to assist. They officially apply with the pope to become an order, and St. Ignatius doesn't want it named after him, hence how they became the Jesuits, Society of Jesus (I didn't know this!). 

Part of our time this section is spent addressing another priest in the area who is spreading heretical ideas, but who is charismatic and draws in many followers. I can never remember anybody's name besides the main characters (so sorry!) but I'm betting you all know who I am referring to. Ultimately, the Jesuits prevail and the heretical priest is sent away from Rome.

We also have the re-introduction (I'm pretty sure?) of a nemesis back from the university days who resented Francis joining this group, and he joins them now, with unknown motives. I'm very easily confused, so I'm 99% that this is the same guy, but one never knows, LOL! And he immediately causes some trouble. He refers a rich lady who expresses an interest in Francis to a private confession with him. Francis is on to both of them lickety split and lets them know what he thinks of their ideas.

At the end of this section, Francis is bound for India to continue to share the Gospel, and has a premonition that he will never see Ignatius alive again. I'm definitely intrigued to see what he will encounter on his travels.

If I'm being honest though, I'm having a difficult time following who is who with the Itallian names, and keeping up with all of the activity. I know that I'm missing a bunch of details above that totally escape me now as I'm trying to re-remember what I read. Although I had a hard time keeping track of names in the St. Catherine of Siena book we read for Lent, I definitely enjoyed it more than I'm enjoying this book. Thoughts? Definitely leave them in the comments!