Our Hearts Are Restless

In search for inspiration for this blog, I ran across one or two writers using the alphabet as a blogging theme; in particular,  Cara Strickland , a new discovery for me, has some beautiful posts on her site.  At the moment, my brain is split between trying to keep this blog functioning, and planning and writing posts for the new website that is under construction.  (Spoiler alert: Isaiah 58:11 )  In the hopes of managing both creative challenges, this alphabet bandwagon sounds like a good writing goal. Happily, it is also the Easter season, and Carolyn Astfalk is hosting a joyful  "Bonnets, Baskets and Bunnies"  linkup over at My Scribbler's Heart. Therefore, and because the last forty-ish days have been dreadfully lacking in the A-word, I want to shout it out loud: Alleluia!!! Can I say it a few more times for good measure?  Honestly, it's just such an happy word!  Those four syllables (or five if you're particularly enunciating t...

I have an announcement - an announcement! - and I want you all to be the first to know.* *Points to whoever correctly identifies that quote. My roommate and I are getting KITTENS!!!  {insert high-pitched squealing here} Ecce : This is the momma, and attached to her are eight little palm-sized fluffballs with tiny rat tails.  Momma is part Maine Coon, complete with ear tufts and poofy tail.  One of the three little calico babies will be mine!  I'm open to naming suggestions, preferably classical or literary.  At the moment, the two front-runners are "Agent" and "Portia". In other recent news, I had a delightful visit with my ex-roommate, thesis partner, and honorary sister Lindsay, who is expecting a little one this summer.  After eight months of only Skype and texting, we had a few hours of much-needed girl time before her baby shower. Notice the adorable baby bump! Lindsay's family's dog apparently decided over the weekend that I was...

Photo credit - CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay

Over the last few years, I have developed an interesting relationship with St. Joseph.  In all honesty, I pester him about everything from guys to freelancing to "help me get everything done that I need to get done today."  He's the patron saint of pretty much everything that's relevant for single young adult Catholics.  And having a spiritual father in addition to my earthly father equals the best masculine support system I could ask for. Our friendship started during senior-year chaos, grew through a summer of panicked job hunting, and solidified during my transition to independence.  I figure he could handle it, but I still feel a bit guilty about throwing all the difficult bits of my life at him. Recently, I realized just how well St. Joseph understands me.  Before Christmas, God threw the inspiration for a major writing project at me.  We're talking the kind of God-curve-ball that feels like a ton of bricks dropping on your head.  My respo...

Photo credit CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay , Fancy stuff by moi via PicMonkey .

Best part of being independent?  The freedom to grab my roommate and hop down to The Ark for a High Kings concert!  These guys are spectacular musicians first and foremost, and just all-round fun people who made a lovely effort to connect to their audience. Photo credits all courtesy of my lovely roomie . We were so close to the stage -  The Ark  is a lovely little venue, very comfortable and intimate, and we were just three rows back from the guys.  I may, possibly, have been fangirling just a bit...and maybe slap-happy and a bit hyper...but hey!  It's not often I get to enjoy an evening of blood-pumping, dance-worthy Irish music from one of my all-time favorite bands.  Just hoping none of them noticed me gazing up at them in a slightly idiotic fashion. Stunning accordion skills, lovely harmonies, tinwhistle talent that makes me want to either go practice or throw mine out of the window in despair, bodhran playing that made my wrist...

Welcome to another installment of Music Mondays at Our Hearts are Restless!  In honor of St. Patrick's Day this month, (can you believe it's March already?) I thought I'd bring a couple of my favorite songs to your attention.  Two of my favorite Celtic groups are Scythian , an Irish/Ukrainian band started by a handful of good Catholic boys from Steubenville, and The High Kings , a set of four brilliant Celtic musicians with a knack for lovely harmonies. Scythian's seven-album discography is packed with quirky original pieces, classic Celtic tunes, and lively Eastern Europe-inspired melodies.  Recently, I discovered that a song of theirs, which had quickly captured my attention on Spotify, was actually a setting of a seventeenth century poem by the English poet Edmund Waller.  The poem speaks to a rose, while giving a lecture to a maiden on the value of her beauty: to be enjoyed by herself and others, but ultimately ended by death.  Scythian's setting of the...

If there's one thing I love, it's talking about books.  Most of my friends can't get me to shut up about literature, and I'm notorious for having many, many "all-time favorite authors".  Happiness and joy, Catholic novelist Carolyn Astfalk is starting a new linkup for those who share my addiction! This Lent, I made the decision to give up my tablet as a penance.  It was so delightfully easy to check out new fiction reads from the library, or download old classics from Project Gutenberg !  For the next few weeks, though, instead of being constantly entertained by the internet, games, and ebooks, I'm satiating my need for a good story by working through a giant stack of real, live, paper books. This week, I went on a Gene Stratton-Porter binge.  A late 19th/early 20th century Hoosier author, her books are beautifully gentle and romantic in many senses of the word.  Set sometimes in the context of the botanical paradise of the Limberlost Swamp, ...

Photo credit public domain, CC0, Pixabay