I've Been Tagged

A. Lynch tagged me for this meme. What fun!

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

"Of which he was the patron. I was there
From college visiting the son- the son
A Walter too with others of our set,"

(From Poems of Tennyson the poem is The Princess; A Medley)

I Tag:

All of the ChesterTeens.

D.C. March for Life Trip

I've been trying to think of a nice well-written opening to this post and, having utterly failed, I shall proceed to make my point in as few words as possible....

I'm in D.C.! Having no internet access readily available, I shall confine myself to a fairly short post, however, when I get back home I will try to write a long (or several) and probably boring post. So for now, I'm merely checking in and providing a brief list of our activities.

Scenery in Maryland and Virginia
Although I unfortunately have no pictures of the scenery through which we drove on the first couple of days, it was gorgeous. Thanks to the audio book "Mount Vernon Love Story", my mind was already in a revolutionary war mentality and the forests, hills and fields that surrounded us, under the light of a setting sun, made a perfect backdrop for imagining scenes from that time. It was incredibly easy to see a band of revolutionary soldiers walking through that field, or hiding in that wood, fighting on that hill. Unfortunately my writing skills are such that you can have no idea of how cool is was, unless you have gone there yourself.

Mt. Vernon


The Franciscan Monastery (in D.C.)

Bus Tour of the City

For an hour-long bus tour of the city, we joined our Pro-Life Wisconsin Group. Among other things, we saw the Iwo Jima statue and the Lincoln Memorial (we got to get off the bus and walk around at both places). Also, we saw the Ford Theatre (in passing) and the National Air Force Memorial.

Pro-Life Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Funny Story...

While ordering breakfast at a restaurant this morning, we ran into my mom's roommate from college! Surprisingly, she recognized ME because I look like my mom and she's probably seen me in Christmas photos. Wow!

The March for Life itself

It was cold, but it was also cool. We began with walking to a preparatory rally at which a number of people (including presidential candidate Ron Paul) gave brief speeches. Unfortunately, due to our distance from the stage and the many distractions by which we were surrounded, I was not able to listen properly to the speeches. Luckily, EWTN offers post-march replays of the rally, so I hope to see it later. Before many of the speeches were over, our group (Pro-Life Wisconsin) departed in order to get an early place in the march. After standing on the sidewalk for about an hour, the march finally began. During that time, we prayed the rosary and my cousin sang a lot of ridiculous songs. There were a lot of groups around us and our group was standing with Rock for Life (with which we have been doing many activities).

Many people chanted: "Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Roe v. Wade has got to go!"

The number of people was astoundingly large. I've heard several different numbers on how many - somebody said half a million, somebody said a quarter of a million, somebody said 200,000, so I don't know, there were a lot! It was a somewhat squishy day in D.C. :)

The vast majority of them were young people - all very enthusiastic - smiling, jumping, chanting. It was fun being part of the group. I found it inspiring and hopeful, to put it mildly. Once we reached the Supreme Court, many people gathered around to hear testimonies of women and men (belonging to the group "Silent No More") who had had an abortion and since greatly regretted it. The stories were sad and bittersweet.

After that we went back to our motel room and rested. We were outside and on our feet for about five hours.

More details to be added later. I'm off to dinner...

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.


Happy Birthday Tolkien!

December in Pictures

(unfortunately I have no pics of Midnight Mass at Holy Hill which was absolutely incredible)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone."

"The hands that made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of cattle."

“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

"Rejoice! For unto us a Child is born! Unto us a Son is given! And the government shall be upon His shoulders and His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace!"

From Art Class

Free Rice

Ameliorate your vocabulary, and donate rice to the poor, without leaving your seat or spending a nickel, click here.

Thanksgiving

Well in case you didn't guess from the title, or from my recent neglect of the blogsphere, I have been rather busy lately. Thanksgiving week in particular was rather hectic, and absolutely wonderful. Beginning on tuesday with Library Tree set-up and our second performance of Alice in Wonderland, the week was off to a great start. This performance far surpassed our earlier production, especially in clarity of speach. Yet, the marvelous events of the day did rather retard our ability for quick packing.

Thus by late Wednesday morning, our estimated time of departure was rapidly progressing later and later in the day. This, however, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for we were better equipped for picking up my cousin and her boyfriend at the mn. airport from a late flight. Naturally our arrival at our destination was slightly later then was planned, 2:30 AM to be precise. However, we survived, and I, for one, greatly enjoyed the experience, having at my disposal a small flashlight and the books Waking Rose and Jane Eyre (the latter I mostly read while there was still natural light, for that book had smaller print, the former I devoured once sundown made necessary artificial light), and the lateness of the hour made for a quiet car. Needless to say, our sleeping schedules were slightly thrown off.

For the rest of the weekend we enjoyed:

my uncle's incredible cooking (gourmet on paper plates, with a few china plates mixed in),

three games of Monopoly, three of Ticket to Ride, two of Settlers of Cataan,

Jane Eyre and Waking Rose

and the company of cousins and friends, from whom we are normally seperated by large distances.

To my great joy, the company included my cousin, mystical_rose84, whose residence being many hundreds of miles away, lessens frequent communication.

What a wonderful week!

Alice In Wonderland

During this past fall, a number of my friends and I have been getting together weekly, organizing, practicing and perfecting our presentation of Alice In Wonderland. On this past thursday evening, the fifteen of us put on our first performance at a local nursing home. So far so good! This is one of my favorite pics from the evening, but there are a few more here for any who are interested.

My Shoes- Frank and Kate