Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks

Home for the Holiday

<p><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=600,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/100_2363_2.jpg"><img title="100_2363_2" height="262" alt="100_2363_2" src="https://caygibson.typepad.com/cays_cajun_cottage/images/100_2363_2.jpg" width="350" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a> </p> <p>We didn't go to the beach today, so Oma brought the beach to us.&nbsp; The picture above shows a beach-y platter of cookie flip-flops on crushed cookie sand brought by Oma to <a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=600,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/100_2368.jpg"></a>the 4th of July dinner.&nbsp; <a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=600,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/100_2364_1.jpg"><img title="100_2364_1" height="262" alt="100_2364_1" src="https://caygibson.typepad.com/cays_cajun_cottage/images/100_2364_1.jpg" width="350" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a></p> <p>The storms coming up from Galveston gave us a reprieve today.&nbsp; It was a day&nbsp; <a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=600,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/100_2364.jpg"></a>for having family over for dinner,&nbsp; going swimming at the aquatic center, and---once the rains started again---coming home to make painted fireworks (thanks to <a href="http://ebeth.typepad.com/reallearning/2006/07/independence_da.html">Elizabeth at the Real Learning</a> blog).</p> <p><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=600,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/100_2368_1.jpg"><img title="100_2368_1" height="262" alt="100_2368_1" src="https://caygibson.typepad.com/cays_cajun_cottage/images/100_2368_1.jpg" width="350" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a>&nbsp; </p> <p>The children are outside with Dad now prepping for a real fireworks display.&nbsp; </p> <p>Join us in making <a href="http://www.kidskreate.com/fireworks_from_the_kitchen.htm">Fireworks in the Kitchen</a> too.</p>

Home for the Holiday

We didn't go to the beach today, so Oma brought the beach to us.  The picture above shows a beach-y platter of cookie flip-flops on crushed cookie sand brought by Oma to the 4th of July dinner. 

The storms coming up from Galveston gave us a reprieve today.  It was a day  for having family over for dinner,  going swimming at the aquatic center, and---once the rains started again---coming home to make painted fireworks (thanks to Elizabeth at the Real Learning blog).

 

The children are outside with Dad now prepping for a real fireworks display. 

Join us in making Fireworks in the Kitchen too.

Top O' the Morning to Y'all!

<p><span style="color: #006633;">How's that greeting for combining a whole lota Cajun heritage with a ting of Irish blood? </span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;"><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=400,height=400,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/stpat.jpg"><img title="Stpat" height="100" alt="Stpat" src="https://caygibson.typepad.com/cays_cajun_cottage/images/stpat.jpg" width="100" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a>My offerings today for this momentous Irish day are:</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">Green dye in the tiolet bowls</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">Green milk (HT:&nbsp; Melissa Wiley)</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">Wear <strong>green!</strong></span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">Look for 4-leaf clovers and reexplain the Blessed Trinity with a 3-leaf clover</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">Color this <a href="http://www.chcweb.com/catalog/files/colorpatrick.pdf"><strong><span style="color: #006633;">sheet of St. Patrick</span></strong></a> explaining the Blessed Trinity to the children</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">My </span><a href="http://houseofliterature.blogspot.com/2005/03/st-patricks-day-offering.html"><span style="color: #006633;">blog offering</span></a><span style="color: #006633;"> from last year: </span><a href="http://houseofliterature.blogspot.com/2005/03/st-patricks-day-offering.html"><strong><span style="color: #006633;">St. Patrick's Day Offering</span></strong></a></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">Remembrance of my favorite Irish Poet: </span><a href="http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/obrienj/obrienj.html#poetry"><strong><span style="color: #006633;">John O'Brien</span></strong></a><span style="color: #006633;"> (and my friend Fr. William O'Brien who introduced me to this poet way back during my college days---may he rest in peace!)</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">We'll watch a very young Sean Connery in my very old VHS tape (hoping it still works) of</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001I55SI/houseoflitera-20/"><strong><span style="color: #006633;"> <em>Darby O'Gill and the Little People</em></span></strong></a><span style="color: #006633;">.&nbsp; Perhaps it's time to get the new DVD version.</span></p> <p><span style="color: #006633;">(Icon above found here:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.printeryhouse.org/mall/Icons/Saints/ICB01.asp"><span style="color: #006633;">The</span></a> <a href="http://www.printeryhouse.org/mall/Icons/Saints/ICB01.asp"><span style="color: #006633;">Printery House</span></a>)</span></p>

Top O' the Morning to Y'all!

How's that greeting for combining a whole lota Cajun heritage with a ting of Irish blood?

My offerings today for this momentous Irish day are:

Green dye in the tiolet bowls

Green milk (HT:  Melissa Wiley)

Wear green!

Look for 4-leaf clovers and reexplain the Blessed Trinity with a 3-leaf clover

Color this sheet of St. Patrick explaining the Blessed Trinity to the children

My blog offering from last year: St. Patrick's Day Offering

Remembrance of my favorite Irish Poet: John O'Brien (and my friend Fr. William O'Brien who introduced me to this poet way back during my college days---may he rest in peace!)

We'll watch a very young Sean Connery in my very old VHS tape (hoping it still works) of Darby O'Gill and the Little People.  Perhaps it's time to get the new DVD version.

(Icon above found here:  The Printery House)

What is Love?

<p><a onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=186,height=245,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false" href="http://caygibson.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/kidluv.gif"><img title="Kidluv" height="131" alt="Kidluv" src="https://caygibson.typepad.com/cays_cajun_cottage/images/kidluv.gif" width="100" border="0" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" /></a>&quot;What is love?'</p> <p>&quot;A feeling.&quot;</p> <p>&quot;No,&quot; I said, &quot;a feeling is something love is <em>not.</em>&quot;&nbsp; &nbsp;...</p> <p>&quot;Why not?&quot;</p> <p>I asked her, &quot;You love your parents, don't you?&quot;</p> <p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p> <p>&quot;Aren't there some days when all your feelings about them are bad?&nbsp; When you're furious with them, and all you <em>feel</em> is anger, or that they've been unfair?&quot;</p> <p>&quot;Yes.&quot;</p> <p>&quot;But you still love them, don't you?&quot;</p> <p>&quot;Yes.&quot; ...</p> <p>&quot;Love can't be pinned down by a definition, and it certainly can't be proved, any more than anything else important in life can be proved.&nbsp; Love is people, is a person.&nbsp; A friend of ours, Hugh Bishop of Mirfield, says in one of his books:&nbsp; 'Love is not an emotion.&nbsp; It is a policy.' Those words have often helped me when all my feelings were unlovely.&nbsp; In a summer household as large as ours I often have to act on those words.&nbsp; I am slowly coming to understand with my heart as well as my head that love is not a feeling.&nbsp; It is a person.&quot;</p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062545035/houseoflitera-20/"><strong><span style="color: #cc0000;"><em>A Circle of Quiet </em>by Madeleine L'Engle</span></strong></a> (pg. 45)</p>

What is Love?

"What is love?'

"A feeling."

"No," I said, "a feeling is something love is not."   ...

"Why not?"

I asked her, "You love your parents, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Aren't there some days when all your feelings about them are bad?  When you're furious with them, and all you feel is anger, or that they've been unfair?"

"Yes."

"But you still love them, don't you?"

"Yes." ...

"Love can't be pinned down by a definition, and it certainly can't be proved, any more than anything else important in life can be proved.  Love is people, is a person.  A friend of ours, Hugh Bishop of Mirfield, says in one of his books:  'Love is not an emotion.  It is a policy.' Those words have often helped me when all my feelings were unlovely.  In a summer household as large as ours I often have to act on those words.  I am slowly coming to understand with my heart as well as my head that love is not a feeling.  It is a person."

A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle (pg. 45)