With the advent of Advent...

...I know, I know, I start things waaaay too early. It's always been our tradition to get the tree and most everything up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I much prefer this to my days in retail, which never afforded me this luxury! Now we're back to work, and it's all done - except for packing the empty boxes back in the attic until "next year". I did recognize the need for better organization - most of the boxes are falling apart, and Christmas decor has absolutely taken over our attic - so maybe some shelving is in order for the big clean-up.

...sit down, don't fall down!

...Paul's big contribution! Well, that, and "crowd control" - all those unruly greyhounds...

The finished product part 1...

...and part 2, shifting right - although Lana is totally embarassed to have a Titans stocking and it may well behoove her not to, given their embarassing performance yesterday. Cortland Finnegan was formerly her #2 favorite behind CJ, and, well, after this the honeymoon is OVER!





Our Nativity scene! We wait in joyful hope for the coming of Jesus! I was on the lookout for another "nicer" Nativity secene, but after making this arrangement this year I kind of like this one after all. It's just "not what I grew up with" (Mother's Nativity scene is sooo pretty!)...
but I guess that's OK!

Even the mailbox is gettin' with the season! I don't know how this will stay. I did it with elastic double-knotted and a hair elastic, of all things - the bows on either side twist-tied together - the magnolia leaves came from the magnolias outside my building at work, the Sisters were so gracious to let me have some for decorating and also for our Advent wreath at church. The mailbox needs a fresh coat of paint - maybe in the spring - I also dream of a mailbox with a tiny space for a planter (like this)... anyone know of a handyman that could help me with it? :)

Here's our china cabinet. I'm kind of proud of how this whole thing turned out. I didn't take down anything that's normally up there, I just put other things in front of it. With the cabinet under the TV, I took everything down - but that area needs a decor facelift, and I need to really think about what I want up there.

...PLUS...drumroll, please... you can see my now complete set of the twelve days of Christmas champagne flutes! They are in the top shelf and not very visible - but I know they're there. Oh, I know they're there :)

...and the table is set! We did our first reading/lighting of the first purple candle in the Advent wreath last night. We used the form found here, and here's the information for the first night if you're interested.


Blessing for the Advent Wreath:
O God, by whose word all things are sanctified,
pour forth thy blessing upon this wreath
and grant that we who use it may prepare our hearts
for the Coming of Christ,
and may receive from thee abundant graces.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Prayer:
Stir up thy power, O Lord, and come,
that by thy protection we may be rescued
from the dangers that beset us through our sins;
and be a Redeemer to deliver us;
Who livest and reignest with God the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
ever one God, world without end. Amen.

O Emmanuel, Jesus Christ,
desire of every nation,
Savior of all peoples,
come and dwell among us.

Scriptures:
Isaiah 11:1-10
Luke 1:26-38
Isaiah 7:10-14
Matthew 1:18-24

Superstar!

Last month, Paul was asked (at the 11th hour!) to speak at the City Cemetery's "Living History" tour. It was a long day and consisted of him missing some key football games (the very close LSU/UT and Georgia/Colorado games chief among them!) but all in all it was a good time for him, and then we forgot about it, more or less.

On Halloween, our neighbors mentioned they saw Paul on TV! We were incredulous, but they were right. The spot made it on local access programming, and here it is on YouTube for your viewing pleasure :) The guy before him is VERY important - but Paul shows up at the 4:00 mark.

Paul's Office

This is a "creepily awesome" picture of the St. Dominic's building, aka the "Little White House", where Paul works. He says it's from 2008, but it just looks so much older. Appropriate since we're still so close to Halloween, I guess!

Thomas Tallis!

One of the greatest ever, and a fantastic blog post over at English Catholic about him.

I know there's no cute dog pics, house pics, flowers, plants, or even all the adorable children's Halloween costumes yet - I further know my husband will harangue me for trying to be a "hip religious blogger" in the vein of Jen Fulwiler - but he can get over it, because Thomas Tallis is my hero and I want to share his music with all of you who may not be familiar.

Not to mention, I dare say it may even be edifying to speak of things holy on the blog from time to time!

Read the article here. Hear Spem in Alium here. As a YouTube commentor says, "This must be what heaven sounds like." As always, when in Nashville you may visit St. Andrew's Parish (we'd love to have you!) and hear our fabulous organist play Tallis some Sundays. It's just so reverent and wonderful and really adds to your understanding of and meditation on Truth.

This, too, (while kind of unrelated) is pretty awesome. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face, then you're hopeless.

Friday fun

Went out to dinner last night - here's my Yelp review of Fish & Co on the bottom floor of the Adelicia condominium. In short, subpar service, but great food, and I manage to turn it into a 5,000 word essay. Some things never change.

As promised, here's some fall pics of the yard Paul took yesterday after work. We need to cut the grass one last time - someone will probably get that honor shortly, preferably before the Vandy/Georgia game at 11:30. I plan to put on a pot of ranch stew and do nothing today. The house is still pretty clean from last week's vacation, so that's nice.

Front of the House...

A closer view of the front - the plants in back (behind the ivy) are begonias that need to go away. I just wish I could think of something to replant with back there. I enjoyed having them so close to the doorway this summer. I guess I just think "too cheerful" is a good thing.

A better view of the flowerboxes. Still haven't decided if I like the creeping jenny yet. I am hoping it will flesh out some more - right now, although it's grown a bit, it's still just kind of hanging awkwardly. Creeping Jenny, violas and pansies - I think the pansies are "wine and cheese" variety. I don't think a plant to "represent" our house has ever been so aptly named (for instance, I don't think "knockout roses" would be acceptable - but we do call Lana our "supertunia" sometimes) (I am such a dork)





And here's Charlotte! Or, Charlotte's sister. These spiders really make their home this time of year in the flowerboxes. They're not hurting anything, although a few weeks ago when I pulled out the petunias to make room for these new plantings I had Paul pull her web down first - I felt bad about it, but she was back the next day.

House Mountain

This past weekend, we went to Lexington, VA for Paul's 10th college reunion at Washington and Lee University. The area is beautiful, of course, but one mountain kind of dominates the scenery from Lexington, and that's House Mountain. We've been up to the saddle (Paul's hiked all the way with some friends), and the saddle alone was punishing enough - so I don't know why this time I let him talk me into the whole thing. It's about 3600' feet up, and I'm surprised we're still not sore.
Here's more information about the hike.


There's acreage (~27) for sale near the parking area of the mountain. For $375K, you can have lots of land and that view - of course, you'd have to build a place to live... but I can think of worse things.

The view from the saddle. What you don't see are the wild apple trees - and luckily, you don't see the absolute swarms of gnats either.

"You sure we're going to go all the way up THERE?"

The "balancing rock" along the top of the mountain. From here, we had to traipse along the ridge until we found the lookout points, and I don't even want to talk about how we fell - I mean FOUND - our way back to the trail. It was harrowing. No really. And without Paul, I would still be up there, probably mumbling to myself and living among the wildlife.


But make it we did!


...and there's the proof.

So often, small moments of reflection can occur to you in the most stressful of situations. This occurred to me fleetingly then, when I was so "over it" - but now that I have had time to remember being there and the moments that were just so beautiful, in amongst the selfishness and whining and just plain "UGH" that comes from a strenuous effort (like a 6 hour hike when you're more than slightly out of shape) - you later may say it was "worth it" - but why? It wasn't because of the workout, let me assure you! What did occur to me was a poem, of all things. It wasn't one I just knew, I was introduced to it by our amazing organist at St. Andrew's who set it to music for our post-communion anthem- it's from George Herbert, a Welsh Anglican priest from the 17th century and it's every bit as breathtaking as the views from the mountain.

A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,

Made of a heart and cemented with tears;

Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;

No workman’s tool hath touch’d the same.

A HEART alone

Is such a stone,

As nothing but

Thy pow’r doth cut.

Wherefore each part

Of my hard heart

Meets in this frame

To praise thy name.

That if I chance to hold my peace,

These stones to praise thee may not cease.

Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,

And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

Grace perfects nature...

And these girls need all the extra they can get!

It's been a while since we've had a gratuitous greyhound shot, so here's once of Bugs being blessed at the St. Francis gathering a couple Sundays ago.

We don't have a comparably good one of Lana receiving a blessing, but here's a cute pic from that day.