Seven Quick Takes--bits and pieces AND FOOD

-1-

So I made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen his week. If you’re like me, you want to eat more veggies but you don’t want to make “salad” or, when it’s this hot, roast vegetables. So this one is perfect! It’s a great side and it literally takes about 10 minutes to prep. I did get sumac from the store in a tiny container—I’ve seen other recipes that use it but that’s fairly rare. But, since I like this recipe, I might have to invest in a larger container of sumac!

I also made chicken gyro salad for lunch yesterday. This is another way to eat more veggies and healthy things and it’s easy. I don’t have a grill, so I prepped the chicken the night before, and then set my oven to 350 and cooked the chicken for 30 minutes. I also used plain ol’ chicken breasts instead of the thighs the recipe called for and didn’t use pitas, but I used pita chips to serve with the tzatziki (which is one of my favorite summer snacks and so good for you!)

(If you’re bored, click the Surprise Me! button on the smitten kitchen website [at the top] and see what fun things pop up!)

-2-

Since St. Martha’s feast day was on Wednesday, I give you: St. Martha and the Dragons

(Really, St. Martha needs more love!)

Vermeer, Christ in the house of Mary and Martha

-3-

As you’re reading this, I might be receiving sacraments! A good friend of mine is a Dominican friar and while he’s home for vacation, he offered to bring me the Eucharist and hear my confession, and also give me anointing of the sick (because why not?). So I was insanely grateful because I have not had any sacraments since March, which is the longest I’ve gone without them in my life. (Yes, lots of italics, sorry not sorry.) So I am very, very thankful for his offer! Right now, the diocese is “still working” on how to bring sacraments to people like me….apparently it’s hard? (I know we want to be safe vis-a-vis the virus, but….it’s also very hard to go without the sacraments!)

Here in Ohio the requirement to attend Mass is still abrogated until September (not sure of the date, I think it’s mid-September?). I do want to go back and I keep thinking about it. What I might do is go every other week, to start? Or once a month? Not sure. Or maybe every three weeks. I like every two weeks better, honestly… and with social distancing and mask wearing and no sign of peace, this is actually safer for me probably than a normal Mass!

-4-

Next week in the Yarn Along there will be a cardigan update! Yay! And also details on this guy…

Isn’t she pretty?

-5-

I’m also re-doing the watercolor class I took a few years ago. Since I have all this time, I might as well use it, right? Fortunately I have a lot of paints here (So I don’t have to go out to top up my palette!) and a sketchbook that’s mostly free—I don’t buy tons of sketchbooks at a time, so I generally only have the one I’m currently using. It’s also a nice way to deepen my watercolor and sketching skills. I’d also like to take the teacher’s foundational sketching class, but I gotta save up for that.

-6-

Reading: working on Pride and Prejudice. I haven’t been reading much lately which is a total BOO EMILY moment! I’m thinking Friday night will be a Pride and Prejudice read night. I did read Sense and Sensibility earlier this month, and Mansfield Park will be next up after P&P.

-7-

HOCKEY IS BACK!!!!! The Pens had an exhibition game on Tuesday—which they lost, but I don’t care because hockey is back— and they play the Canadiens in a best of five series starting Saturday. The Blue Jackets play Boston in an exhibition tonight, and they play Montreal starting Sunday. Basically, the NHL is gonna be like March Madness, and it’s gonna be glorious.

via GIPHY

Seven Quick Takes--Trust Verses

-1-

A slightly different 7QT than usual….

First, what I wrote this week:

“Comparisons are Odious”

A Wednesday Notebook on a Monday!

-2-

Botticelli, “Madonna of the Book”

OK so the first piece—on comparisons—is sort of what inspired this entry. There’s a lot of stress going around. A Lot of worry. And I know about worry and stress. BUT I am also a big believer in the fact that we need to trust in God and His good provision and plan for us.

So this week I want to give you some Bible verses on Trust. Some of these I will make up into pretty things you can download! But I have a doctor appt. .today that I have to get ready for, so for right now, you’re getting the verses and that’s that. :)

Some of these are also hope-tinged—the relationship of trust and hope is a tight one.

-3-

This first one is my favorite, and what really inspired me to begin having wholehearted trust in God:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

—Romans 15:13, NIV

-4-

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?…No, in all those things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, not powers, not heights, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-Romans 8:35, 37-39

-5-

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

-Proverbs 3:5-6

-6-

 This I know, that God is for me.
 In God, whose word I praise,
    in the Lord, whose word I praise,
 in God I trust; I am not afraid.
    What can a mere mortal do to me?

Psalm 56:9-11

-7-

 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.  When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah 29: 11-14

And bonus tip on something I’ve learned? That when we pray, pray for God’s will to be done. Because as we see here, his plan is better than anything we can come up with. Even if we want something good, it might not be in God’s plan for us to have it.

I hope these verses give you some restored trust and hope during this crazy time!

"Comparisons are odious"

“Smelling a rose”, Waterhouse

Have you read Madeleine L’Engle’s Austin family series? If not, get to it.

One of the things the characters say to each other frequently is, “Comparisons are odious.”

And they are.

I remember before my transplant how I used to talk to my therapist and say things like, “Oh, all my friends are going off to get their masters or going to law school and getting apartments and I’m just stuck at my parents’!”

I felt so stuck. I was angry that I was stuck waiting. I wasn’t happy about it.

But.

In hindsight, I have seen that things worked out the best way they could. The best way possible, really. I have no college debt. I have my own place now that I love. As usual, God knew what He was about, but I, er usual, didn’t, because I can’t see what He sees.

One of the things I am glad has not happened to me is that I have not become bitter. We can “rage against the dying of the light”, but bitterness is poison that ruins your life. Comparison is a great way to let bitterness into your veins.

Your life is your life. It’s not anyone else’s. You have no idea what God is going to do with your life. There have been many times when I have been frustrated or angry, but those moments pass, and I realize that God knows the plan, even if I don’t. (Sometimes it takes a LONG TIME for those moments to pass!)

I wanted very much to be married and to have my own children. That has not happened, and I will never be able to have children. At least, biologically. This has been a cross. I talk about it in my book.

But if I allowed this to become bitterness and envy, that would poison me. It would make me less Christ-like and a worse Christian.

There are losses we have that should be grieved. There are things that happen that we cannot change, and we wish we could. It’s healthy to say, I wanted this, and it is good, and it will not happen.

BUT

To look at other people’s lives and say, I want what THEY have….is looking a book you know nothing about and not reading it. You don’t know what their marriage is like, what their kids are like, what their finances are like, etc. You only see the outside.

And you also have no idea what God has planned for either of you.

We will all suffer losses. We will all suffer pain. It’s life.

But God created you, and your circumstances, particularly to fulfill a special place on this planet. No one else can do what you can uniquely do.

I have seen a lot of bitter CF folk. They hate CF. They curse it. They wish their lives were different.

But to have a different life is….to not be you.

And I would never wish myself out of existence.

Even in the hard places, your life was created by God to do something specific in His plan.

As Galadriel said in Lord of the Rings, “This task was appointed to you, Frodo of the Shire. And if you do not find a way, no one will.”

In a vision, Galadriel helps Frodo while in Shelob’s cave.

Your tasks are appointed to you. No one else.

It’s fine to be angry and upset—but only for awhile. Otherwise, bitterness will eat away at you and poison you and those around you.

Envy is a deadly sin for a reason.

Remember that you can’t see everything. When I’m knitting and I start on a pattern, I don’t see the end. When I’ve been working on my cardigan there are times I’ve gone, this cannot be right.

But as the pieces come together, I see. I see what the designer saw.

Why do we trust knitwear designers more than God?

If there’s one thing I want people to get out of reading my book, it’s that darkness does not last, and even in it, Jesus is with you.

Don’t give in to darkness, to envy, to despair.

Have courage. And remember St. Thomas More, who wrote this to his daughter Meg shortly before he was beheaded on Tower Green:

Bits and Pieces for Monday (A Wednesday Notebook on a Monday)

I didn’t do my normal 7QT post because I’m doing a ‘staycation’ and I didn’t really have anything to write about, so I thought I’d check in on Monday and give you more of a bits and pieces/notebook on a Monday.

(Staycation-staying in my house….but doing things I enjoy along with things that need done, and mostly staying off SM!)

• I love Vermeer, so this story which goes in-depth into the painter’s “View of Delft” was a fun read for me. Scientists figuring out exactly where Vermeer painted the scene from, how cool!

• I took a short break from the Cardigan Project to knit up a really quick shawl, featuring yarn I’d gotten over Memorial Day weekend. It’s very easy —just basic KFB at the beginning of every other row, and all garter stitch. The yarn I’m using, from Frabjous Fibers, is insanely fun and delightful. Ravelry notes here. (Sorry, no picture, but soon!)

• Unlike some folks, I am a huge Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, probably because the first musical I fell in love with was The Phantom of the Opera. So I signed up for the Broadway HD channel on Prime Video, and I finally saw Cats—which, OK, really does not have more than the barest plot, so I was a bit….confused….when I first saw it. Second viewing was better. (And seriously, as a child of the 80s, “Memory” holds a big place in my musical psyche. My grandparents had the sheet music and I remember playing it on their piano many times.)
  
  I also watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (with Donny Osmond, very cute, why don’t more community theaters do this, it’s FABULOUSSS).
  
  I haven’t seen Jesus Christ Superstar onstage (Or in a stadium, as ALW intended), so that’s up next. The channel isn’t all “movie” versions—a lot of them look to be recorded live version or recorded theater versions without an audience (like Cats—this is not the 2019 one!).
  
  And yes, I love the music for Jesus Christ Superstar—I actually first heard it on my parents’ two album recording—all four sides, baby! I dimly remember seeing the film version at my friend Anne’s house when we were freshmen in high school, and since I don’t remember much of it I must not have thought it was that great! But I do love the music.
  
  

• It’s been so hot that cooking has defeated me, but then I remembered a recipe from Magnolia Table Volume 2……Greek Pasta salad. The only think you have to cook is the pasta and it’s served COLD. Heavenly delights! And so good it’s well worth the cost of the book. Farfalle pasta, rice vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, basil….I change the recipe by adding cherry tomatoes cut in half as opposed to the recommended stewed tomatoes, and I add 6 oz of feta, not 4, because in my world more feta is better. It’s SO GOOD. And it serves so many, you can eat it for lunch for a week if you’re a singleton like me (not even kidding.).
  
  

• From my sketchbook….I saw the Canticle of Zechariah antiphon for the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and then had to sketch it. This is one of the view times I’d done direct watercolor and I really like how it turned out!

And congratulations, Princess Beatrice!

Her dress is a vintage Norman Hartnell from the queen’s collection, and the tiara is the Queen Mary Fringe tiara, also on loan from the queen. Only married women can wear tiaras, so that’s one reason for the excitement surrounding the first time a royal bride wears one. That, and seeing all the goodies from the queen’s vault!

More photos here—you can see the dress better in these photos. It’s one the queen wore to the opening of parliament back in the day, and Beatrice has had the Anne of Green Gables-ish puff sleeves added to it. The tiara that she’s wearing is the same one Queen Elizabeth wore on her own wedding day!

(And seriously, why don’t more of the queen’s granddaughters raid her closets?! She must have so many gorgeous vintage dresses in there!)

Seven Quick Takes--Fifteen years, and a signed book sale!

-1-

On the blog this week:

COVID and lung function!

-2-

The big news is that it’s my fifteenth transplant anniversary!

via GIPHY

Fifteen years, folks!

As I write this, 15 years ago it was my last day with my “old” (or factory original?) model lungs. It was a long, hot, HOT day. (Hot like this summer has been hot) I woke up feeling very, very, tired and very beat. I ended the day feeling….well, mixed feelings.

It’s always mixed feelings, right? Because for me to live, Suzanne—my donor—died. She died of a brain aneurysm and her brother gave the OK for her organs to be donated, and she saved my life.

I will repeat the call I repeat every year. If you are not an organ donor, please, be one? Every major religion supports organ donation. (Yes, including the Catholic Church….) If you have any questions, here are some FAQs.

-3-

Here’s a list of what’s happened in fifteen years:

Both my siblings got married

My parents celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary, and my grandma turned 90!

My godson graduated from college

I have a new goddaughter!

I wrote a book…..(more on a special sale a bit further down)

I’ve been able to do some pretty awesome theater

I’ve made new friends and traveled to new places

I did that Jeopardy thing

I’ve traveled to lots of states—traveling was so hard pre-transplant!

I became a Lay Dominican

I wrote an ebook

I’ve spent time with people—family, friends, new family and new friends!

And really, time is the important thing. That’s the gift.

Winning trivia night

My first hockey playoff game!!! (And they won!)

Me and Di at Christmas

Visiting Williamsburg has definitely been one of my favorite things. And learning to knit with the wool of these sheep!

Mel and I on the beach on Galveston

-4-

OK, so not 7 today, four but we’ll end with: SIGNED BOOK SALE!

Until Sunday at midnight EST (7/12/20), I’m selling SIGNED copies of Living Memento Mori for $15! That’s $5 off the regular price. You get shipping, inscription of your choice (as in I’ll dedicate it to someone or to you!), and a specially designed prayer card and bookmark!

Want one? Email me!

Have a great weekend everyone!

COVID and Lung Function (ie, you can recover lung function!)

One of the things I keep seeing about COVID is that people recover but have a loss of lung function. And every time I see this, I roll my eyes.

Here’s why.

(For new folks: I have CF, I had a double lung transplant 15 years ago. Pulmonary issues are my bag.)

So, let’s talk about lung funciton.

There are actually different types of lung function, but the type most people are probably talk about it spirometry, which is how much air your lungs can hold, and how much you can blow out in a second. It diagnoses various things and it can tell how much function you have—ie, how many liters of air you can get in your lungs, ie, a percentage.

So, right now, my lung function is about 54%. For me, this is good. This is where I’ve been pretty much since transplant.

Lungs are essentially really strong balloons. If you have normal lungs (ie, not CF lungs), then when you get sick with something like pneumonia, you do lose some lung function. For example, when I had pneumonia a few years ago, my lung function dropped to about 30%. Now, it’s not at 30%—it’s at 54%. Your lungs do recover, just like any other cells in your body. Damaged cells out, new cells in.

As you get older, obviously, this process slows down, and if you’re a smoker, you’re ruining your lungs all the time, STOP IT.

For something like COVID, yes, you will lose lung function initially. We don’t know enough about it to see if this lasts permanently, but my guess is that it doesn’t. Lungs do take awhile to recover. They just do. It’s part of their charm. (Not.) But unless you have CF, which impedes the lungs from healing, then you’re going to be fine, eventually. And even my old, crappy CF lungs recovered to an extent, even after I’d been in a medically induced coma, on a ventilator, for two weeks.

So, if my old crappy lungs could do that, yours can too!

Losing lung function is not the end of the world. Even with 21% lung function, I was in college, I double majored, I had an internship. You can live on it. The problem for a lot of you will be that you’re used to having really good lung function and suddenly it’s gone.

It will—most likely—come back. You have to be patient with the process.

So when I see people freaking about losing lung function, I want to tell them to relax. It will come back. The fact that you’re alive is a miracle, to quote Hamilton. You can get lung function back. It does happen—pretty much all the time, folks. There are also things like pulmonary rehab, which can help you gain back lung function via exercise. There are ways!

So, if you get COVID and you recover, your lungs will recover too. Give them time.

Seven Quick Takes--Welcome July!!!!! (And a baby!!!)

-1-

Welcome, July!!!!

Fireworks at Colonial Williamburg

Gosh, I’m so glad we’re in July. Yayyyy July!

So much to talk about today!!!

-2-

OK first, WELCOME TO MY NEW GODDAUGHTER!

Patricia Mary

6/30/20

7 lbs 15 oz.

She’s my cousin’s daughter, and my first goddaughter! She was born on our grandma’s 90th birthday, and, coincidentially, has the same name as our Grandmother—full name, I mean. The Patricia was for my grandmother, but the Mary is also our grandmother’s middle name!! So how nice is that? Grandma got a pretty awesome present!

You can’t tell in the photos, but she’s a ginger, like her mom!

So she’s been in the hospital for a few days because they had to make sure she tested negative for COVID after a few tests. She’s passing with flying colors though so yay! My cousin can nurse her but she has to gown up because she actually tested positive for COVID—even though she has no symptoms. BIZARRE.

Anyway, I hope by the time this is live, they’re able to go home!

She’s the fifth child in my cousin’s family. They have two daughters—Susie and Bridget—and two boys—Frankie and Johnny. Bridget, in particular, is very happy to have another sister!

So, yes, as her godmother, I am going to spam you all with photos of her because that is my job as godmother.

(And to spoil her rotten….)

-3-

(OK she’s ADORABLE, RIGHT?!?!!?)

I already have a godson, who will be 23 this year. So I’m really happy to have another godbaby, and my first goddaughter. It’s so fun to spoil the littles. Not that I couldn’t spoil my godson, but it’s harder since he’s all grown up and I can’t pay him $1 to see if he knows his prayers anymore. :) He recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh (A semester early!), so yes, I am insanely proud of him too. :)

-4-

So it’s Fourth of July Weekend! I recommend watching Gettysburg, John Adams, and 1776! (SIT DOWN, JOHN!)

via GIPHY

Also reading John Adams, The Killer Angels, and 1776 are great reads for July, especially the latter. For kids, the Felicty series from American Girl is great for learning about colonial history, and I also really like the Revolutionary War series from Laurie Halse Anderson, told from the perspective of a young slave girl, Isabel, and her friend, Curzon. This is fabulous trilogy: Chains, Forge, and Ashes. (and these are also great books for adults, too! Anderson is a great writer.) Learning history is so important and fiction is a great way to spark interest and learn things!

-5-

Also, reading the Declaration of Independence is a good idea….

-6-

I’ve never been a huge fireworks person, but I did top this with a picture of the CW fireworks because….awesome, right?

-7-

And finally, if you missed the posts from this week, here they are:

There are sleeves on the cardigan!

Glorious Scars

A New Review of Living Memento Mori!

Yarn Along #99: Emily Knits A Cardigan--Sleeves!

Previous posts in this series:

The Back is Done

Update!

Emily Knits A Cardigan

My notes on ravelry

June has been busy in cardigan land! I managed to knit both front pieces and learned how to M1L, which was not a lot of fun but now I’ve got it and I am proud. They lay sort of oddly so it’s hard to see here how they fit, but you can see the place where the sleeves will go. All around the cardigan border will be a garter stitch collar.

Above you can see the three pieces together; they’re not lined up appropriately yet, so it’s a rough estimate of what it looks like! (especially the front on the right, just go with it! )

So now I have begun the sleeves! YAY SLEEVES! These have a nice garter stitch cuff detail that I like.

Garter stitch cuff

So the sleeves increase every six rows, on both sides, gradually getting bigger, and then I shape the raglan and it gradually gets smaller, to fit in with the pieces you see above.

After both sleeves are done, then it’s time to SEAM!!!!

I am actually really excited about this, can you tell?

As to what I’m reading….

I got The Ten Thousand Doors of January after Christmas, because it was on sale at B&N (see the sticker? :) ), and yes , I’m just now reading it. Quarantine (which for me is going on and on and on, like the Journey song) is giving me time to read all the books I have stockpiled! This book starts off….oddly. I’m hoping it sort of evens out and we get into a groove, because right now it’s the main character, January, reading a book about someone else who discovered these doors (portals?)…so yeah. It’s sort of weird but I’m hopeful! (really, it’s that gorgeous cover that sucked me in. Well that, and 50% off.)