Shakespeare Camp Day 3

Another full, fun day. From top left: the murderer of Duncan and Banquo; one of the final scenes; the witches fun dance; a director's laughter with MacBeth and McDuff on stage; still memorizing lines...

Shakespeare Camp Day 2

Another productive day under the belt... from top left: director's notes, Lady Macbeth, the Thane in kilt, and lots of witches' activity.

Shakespeare Camp Day 1

Clockwise from top left: the witches looking un-evilish, a little Juliet peering in, the fascination of a good story, two friends with lines plus shared iPod, first-year Shakespeareans, the witches plus Macbeth looking more evilish, and veteran campers signaling that their lines are fully memorized.

Sewing for Shakespeare Camp, 2

This picture turned out too fun not to post... Number Six has ben my model for many kilts, and the Lady MacDuff skirt pictured.

Kilts for Macbeth

... Shakespeare Camp starts tomorrow... and I am ahead of schedule, sewing ten simple kilts tonight! We are doing Macbeth and Number Five is the First Witch. Let's say we all seem to have memorized her rhyming lines !

I can't wait!

Just posted this on Pope St Nick V...

Join this group if you want to receive books suggestions to suggest to your library for purchase! Read more about this book here.

World Youth Day 2013 set for Rio de Janeiro

I just read about it. May God bless my home country and that this event will bring much good to the the people of Brazil!

Twenty-Five years...

Number Five drew this and we worked at the final composition together. The drawing is based on one made by a Benedictine monk from Bahia on the occasion of my parents's silver wedding anniversary. The house was our Portuguese colonial house on the beach, and there were ten stars for us ten children. This one has our house and acreage trees, and seven stars. Isn't it beautiful?

Remembering Mamae

My sister called, and she was already in my heart from the early morning, and in hers as well.

It would be her birthday today, had God allowed her to stay longer in this vale of tears. I took this picture 25 years ago, shortly after my marriage, and of all photos of hers, this is my favorite. As I wrote a while back, her eyes, as she always would say, were truly the windows into the soul: a soul that never lost a love for learning, for serving, for loving. A soul that was never old or tired in this earthly life.

You will never leave our hearts, most beloved mother, until one day we are rejoined in heaven for eternity. Please pray for us, guide us, and beg Our Lord that we are all reunited one day!

Cleaning Week

We will have a book sale on Friday and we are taking the whole week to clean out not only books... but everything! Number Five and I are the organizers and slave mast... I mean, supervisors. We just may end up with a bit more than just books outside on Friday.

A beautiful lady

My sister Marta sent me this photo of my dearest auntie with a new haircut and her new scarf brought from Poland, and to me she is the most beautiful lady in this world!

Sunday at Falls Park

... with the wonderful and lively Pepino children!

Happy Father's Day

... to two wonderful dads. Yesterday we couldn't pass the opportunity to take this photo... American Gothic South Dakota style.

Garden Update

I took the camera, fresh from Hungary and Romania, to the garden last night. The arugula and lettuce this year have been wonderful, and everything so far is growing well!

From bottom left, clockwise: potatoes, lettuce, onions, broccoli, arugula, zucchini, a helpful scarecrow, and... a sweet, red strawberry found by goddaughter MM!

John Pepino's Reading List

Wow, I wish I were going to this conference with him! Hosted at WCC this summer, the Fides et Ratio conference sends you a box of books ahead of time... fun homework!

Husband's photos from Romania

... he arrived last night after a most adventurous trip to Hungary and Romania, complete with strong storms and power outages in remote agricultural areas, long train rides and a lot of History. I will allow him to kindly write the captions for us.

Sisters' Camp in the newspaper

The link is here.

Sisters' Camp Week!

This week the girls have been enjoying the camp the Dominican Sisters (of Ann Arbor, MI) are running in a local parish. They have mass, playtime and activities everyday. The photo shows the sisters telling them about Blessed Giorgio Frassati yesterday.

Shipwrecked! by Rhoda Blumberg

I am so excited to have found out this fascinating story of the first Japanese citizen ever in American soil... his being stranded in an island at 14, then rescued by a whaling ship... at the same time Melville was going around in a whaler and taking copious notes of that adventurous life, which later became part of his masterwork Moby Dick.

The book describes Manjiro's arrival in Hawaii and Massachusetts after that, his eventual return to Japan,his imprisonment and then his being named a Samurai, and finally his role in the opening of Japan to the rest of the world. A true story with so many incredible chapters! The illustrations are all very interesting as well! This is lenghthy picture book, and excellent!

Using inter-library loan I also borrowed Manjiro by Emily Arnold

McCully which is also excellent if a bit shorter, but brings new facts into the story.

Number Six and Seven's American History Play

The camera is somewhere in Europe, between Hungarian plains Goulash evenings and the mountains of Romania, so I am relying on friends' Drama Camp photos...

It was entitled The Petticoat Revolution and it was a super fun show! While Number Six was Benita Franklin (holding the kite) and very much herself in the role, Number Seven was the evening revelation's with a very funny role as Paulie Revere! Talk about a neat way to wrap our American History studies this year.

Number Five's Play

Number Five played a part very unlike her in real life... a drama queen, fussy and emotinal. She was very funny and I am glad her fainting spells are not part of our real life!

My Cast for The Selfish Giant

I have been sorely missing our daily practices. I had a wonderful group of kids, and a friendly giant as well! In front are Child #1 through #4, and on back the Little Boy, the Tree, and Number Three was a guest appearance as the Selfish Giant. I have grown up listening these wonderful Oscar Wilde tales from my dear aunt... and adapting it for the theater was fun!

First cut roses

... of the season. They come inside to honor the Blessed Mother, portrayed by Raphael in this print I purchased at the MN conference last week.

She leads us to the Christ Child, in her loving maternal care, in her example of faithfulness.

I love You, Dearest Mother, please continue guiding me through the sorrows and joys of this life.

A photo of Number One

... in Chicago, taken by his wonderful girlfriend Alli. I love it!

Two new games

... I picked up at the conference. Number Six and friends played the top one last night and loved it. I was playing Scrabble with C. K. and sharing the table and the laughter over their silly, yet grammatically correct sentences.

Set is our favorite family games ever, so I had to get the "cubed" version. Will report on it once we play!

Drama Camp Week

This is one busy week... for the delight of the girls! This year I have the youngest group, the third graders, and we are working on an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant that Number Six helped me write. Watch for pictures! Friend and seamstress extraordinaire Jannell is working on our special costumes, and the kids are doing an excellent job!

A nice Brazilian blog

While I was looking for information on the Vatican Bloggers meeting, I came across this beautiful blog of one of the three Brazilians invited to the meeting. A Catholic, pro-life blog, ideal to keep me abreast of relevant issues in my home country.

This blogger wrote an excellent summary of the meeting which was translated into English and referenced by American Catholic bloggers.

Enjoy his article:

A sacred work is completed daily by the Spokesman for the Vatican Fr.
Frederico Lombardi, later, after the celebration of the Holy Mass at
7:30 am, with the help of a blogger (author content published in a
blog) friend of his, Father Lombardi updates himself on the issues
treated in the blogosphere, joined with different blogs that the
priest recognizes, they are very important for society and for the
Church.

The revelation was announced by the spokesman for the Vatican on the
afternoon of May 2nd around 150 bloggers of 17 different languages,
invited by the Holy See for an encounter: Vatican Blog Meeting. The
event unedited promoted through the Pontifical Council for Culture and
for Social Communications happened with the participation of four
Brazilian bloggers and was an opportunity of dialogue among the
hierarchy of the Church and the leaders of the digital continent. It
would serve as an example to all the particular Churches to recognize
the contribution of bloggers for developing the public opinion of the
faithful in the Church, something already treated in the conciliar
document on Social Communications, Inter Mirifa (n. 8 and 14)

This conscience is defended by the invitation from Brazil for
participation of the 7th Brazilian Joint Effort of Communication, in
July, Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical
Council par Social Communications. After the Vatican Blog Meeting, he
demonstrated the institutional effort for the spokespeople of the
digital culture affirming to L’Osservatore Romano, the journal of the
Holy See, that the blogs are spaces of authenticity and at the same
time of provocation; they help us to grow. They are new possibilities
of human relations, rich dynamics and lively. The announcement of the
Word, mouth to mouth, heart to heart, this is natural to our faith and
a new form of doing this is through the blogs.

During the meeting, in the Vatican, the participants were invited to
reflect on the missionary meaning of the blogs and called to be in
service of humanity freedom to construct community and not to be in
service of themselves. In relation to the dialog with the Church, the
bloggers were reminded that she is not an enemy of them, but a source
of information that tells them to clarify the discourse in public
opinion, seeking the truth in order to avoid confusion, thus ensuring
freedom.

Thus was spoken of the challenge of a “pastoral 2.0″ that raised the
necessity of formation of “web-agents-pastors” and “web-pastors” able
to dialog with the digital culture to comprehend that the pastoral
activity in the world-wide web of computers is comparable to
construction of a local community. Stimulating once more, the
ecclesial authorities to engage them in the blogging community,
showing thus the desire to evangelize the man immersed in this
culture.

For many bloggers that participated in the Vatican Blog Meeting the
moment was considered an homage to Pope John Paul II beatified one day
before the event and considered as the Pope of Communications. It was
he who opened the Church to dialog with the internet, demonstrating to
understand well the need of cultural mediation before the
technological advances of the media of communication of our time.

In this context of recognition, some bloggers began through the
internet a seeking that their patron to become the Beatified Pope John
Paul II the patron of communicators in general. Until this may be
possible the bloggers meeting in the Vatican hoped to foment a
preference to dialogue with the Episcopal Conference meeting local and
national of bloggers in order that the [Vatican] meeting may multiply
itself and generate many good fruits.

*Wagner Moura is author of the pro-life blog
www.diasimdiatambem.wordpress.com and accounts, with the support of
the Archdiocese of Campinas, on participating in the first bloggers
meeting promoted by the Holy See the 2nd of May. He was invited by
the Vatican.

ARTIGO ORIGINAL EM PORTUGUÊS, AQUI:
http://diasimdiatambem.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/artigo-sobre-o-vatican-blog-meeting/

Conference wrap-up

The Minnesota Catholic Homeschool Conference was wonderful, again. The new rec building as UST is bright, airy and there is lots of space. I enjoyed doing my Bloggers' session, with a small and very nice group of women. The vending was great fun, but the accidental conversations were, as usual, the best of all.

Some highlights:

• Mr. Pudewa's Keynote on the effects of music on human beings was very, very interesting. To sum it up in one thought: if you just have your child learn piano early on, and do nothing else, you are on the right track. :-)
• Mr. Weiss' talk on Chesterton was enchanting. I have attended Jim Weiss' talks for a few years now and dare I say he gets better as he ages...
• My iPad turned out to be the best conference companion. During Mr. Weiss's talk, as he mentioned his favorite non-fiction book by G.K., I was able to purchase it from Amazon into my Kindle app instantly and begin leafing through it. Talk about instant referencing. The book in question is Chesterton's biography of Saint Francis of Assisi.
• Meeting Mr. Martin Cothran of Memoria Press was unforgettable. My friend C. K. and I had a delightful conversation with him about all things, and of course left with arms laden with new books, and minds laden with academic plans.
• What I bought at the conference? I usually find one treasure at the used book sale and this year was no exception: I have never owned a copy of Hillyer's A Child's Geography of the World, and sure enough, there it was, waiting for me, at the table of a mother who was getting rid of her homeschool books... we had a wonderful conversation and I will begin reading that volume aloud soon!
• I also bought some framed art work, and many Bethlehem Books where I spent a great amount of time. BBooks reps at this conference are wonderful people! We both used out iPads to enrich our sharing of information and ideas!
• I bought Dover coloring books and board games, and a few new homeschool materials for next year: All Creatures Great and Small Life Science, Seton Art 7 and Seton Handwriting 5 among them.

Google's Richard Scarry

The kids have grown up with the wonderful Richard Scarry's stories and drawings... I Love the Google Banner today!