7 Quick Takes, Volume One (Better Late Than Never)

This will be the first time I've participated in this meme, hosted by Jennifer over at Conversion Diary. It's normally for Fridays, but what can I say, lateness seems to be a thing with me. OK, here goes!

1. I am a bookoholic. Here are five books I have purchased in the last two weeks:

My women's Bible study group at church is reading Hail, Holy Queen, and one of the priests from our parish, Father L, is giving a series of talks on the book with our group. Our first meeting was yesterday, and I'm looking forward to reading the book and talking about it with Father L and my church friends.

I saw the author of Fit For Eternal Life on EWTN recently, and he had a lot of interesting things to say about our spiritual and mental health. I started Charity in Truth, but frankly I think I'm going to need a study guide for that one. Maybe I'll ask Father L if he'll be willing to study that one next with our group.

Of course, I also have a plethora of secular books on my shelf that I haven't read yet: The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult, and several books by Barbara Kingsolver and Amy Tan.



2. Meanwhile, I've also been reading Don Quixote since July. In three months, my copy has gone from brand-new to this:

Mind you, I read Anna Karenina in six weeks. That's one heck of a thick book. I still have a long way to go with poor old Don:
I'm hosting a discussion of Don Quixote on Goodreads, with an online group aptly named "The Book Addicts." If you want to check it out or even join in, click here.


3. I've read lots of great books since the summer, and I'm hoping over the next few weeks to tell you about some of them. I won't make any promises though, because it seems that every time I blog about something I want to blog about, I don't get around to blogging about the thing I want to blog about. Stay tuned...


4. Last Monday our parish began a new school year of Religious Education classes. I have a class of three third graders, all boys. This will be the smallest class I've worked with so far. I'm hoping with such a small class I'll be able to cover more material and do more fun things with them than I've been able to in the past. The downside is that we're in a small space in the basement of a house that used to be our parish convent, and it's situated in such a way that people going to their classes in other rooms have to walk right through our classroom space. It's not really a room, really; and the table where the kids work is really a small pool table covered with a piece of plywood. I have found that in the past, the Lord has given me the grace to do the best I can in less-than-perfect circumstances, so I'm not worried! I'm looking forward to a great year.


5. Last weekend our parish had their annual ice-cream social and cakewalk. I brought a coconut cake that I made from a recipe passed down to me by my mother:

There were dozens of cakes to choose from (unfortunately we didn't win one), and my mousy-brown cake looked so plain next to some of the colorful and whimsical entries. Here's a sample:
One family made a cake that was a replica of our parish school, where the event was held. They even made little models of Father R, our pastor, and Sister S, the school principal:

6. If you are looking for a great movie to watch WITHOUT your kids, I highly recommend Gran Torino. Be warned--there is lots of profanity and violence, because gangs and gang violence plays a big part in the movie. It's a powerful story about forgiveness, and sends a strong positive message about the relationships between people of different races and cultures. Unlike many films you see today, it also shows the Catholic Church in a positive light. Clint Eastwood has never made me cry until I watched this film a couple of weekends ago.


7. This Wednesday kicks off the Fall 2009 40 Days For Life campaign. This is a fast-growing grassroots pro-life movement of prayer and fasting to end abortion. The upcoming fall campaign is said to be the largest one yet, with 212 cities participating. If you want to find out about a 40 Days For Life campaign in your area, click here.