Outside my window: It’s a gray day, and I can’t help but think “storm hangover” as I look. There’s a nice breeze, and I opened our windows early. It’s a welcome break from the heat of the week.

Rambling thoughts: Ah, I need to write book reviews. But somehow, in the midst of a couple of other projects I have, my brain has locked out the words. Any of you writer types ever had that happen? I think I need to just sit down and DO it. Maybe even with a pen and paper.

In thanksgiving: For the gift of emails that encourage me, completely unexpectedly. For the Virtual Abbey‘s morning prayer tweets (which I receive as texts). For a summer of weekends to work on much needed house projects (sigh).

Kitchen meanderings: There is no meandering in the kitchen, at least not with cooking. I need to invite the Catholic Foodie clan to come stay with me and get me on track.

Nose inserted: I just started A Century Turns, by William Bennett. I know why I’ve put this off so long: I’m in the mood for fiction, and this is NOT fiction. I’m a little delighted to find it’s pretty entertaining, though I know there will be no whipping through it.

Recent reads: The list is long, but my favorite (and most recent) reads were manuscripts of two of Michelle Buckman‘s latest books. Oh, I can’t wait to share them with you!

In my ears: I’ve been really enjoying catching up on The Riddle of the Sands, thanks to Forgotten Classics. I’ve also been listening to Peter Kreeft lectures and the Tolkien Professor.

A favorite thing: Standing at the clothesline, folding the dry clothes as the kids play in the backyard. (As opposed to saying colorful things to the dog while I rescue things from the piles she’s made of them on the ground.)

Food for thought: “God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need. Then the rest of the day can take its course, under the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace. And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the rasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him. Then you will be able to rest in Him — really rest — and start the next day as a new life.” – Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)