Category: From the Vault

The Mom Weekly, Volume 103: July 29, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Notes:

This week, with 30 “American Children’s Literature” selections, brings us to 75 of the 100 First Lines for 100 Volumes. I keep finding more and more books to add to this, and I confess I’m having a lot of fun!

Remember how much I love you (and children’s literature!),

Mom

First Lines, American Children’s Literature Edition

When this story begins, Elizabeth Ann, who is the heroine of it, was a little girl of nine, who lived with her Great-Aunt Harriet in a medium-size State in the middle of this country; and that’s all you need to know about the place, for it’s not the important thing in the story; and anyhow you know all about it because it was probably very much like the place you live in yourself.”

—Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Understood Betsy 

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

— Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” Said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

— E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse.

— EB White, Stuart Little

“Well, thank goodness there aren’t going to be any more children here anyway!” said Randy crossly. She spoke crossly because she was sad and she preferred sounding cross to. Sounding sorrowful, even though there was no one in the room except herself.

—Elizabeth Enright, The Four-Story Mistake

About two miles outside of Centerburg where route 56 meets route 56A there lives a boy named Homer.

— Robert McCloskey, Homer Price

In every town there is a best place to do everything.

—Robert McCloskey, Centerburg Tales

Mr. Maxwell looked at the long checklist, and then looked at the calendar, and then he shook his head.

—Andrew Clements, A Week in the Woods

When Portia Blake and her brother Foster set out for Creston that summer, it was different from all the other summers.

—Elizabeth Enright, Gone-Away Lake

Walking back to camp through the swamp, Sam wondered whether to tell his father what he had seen.

—E.B. White, The Trumpet of the Swan

It began one day in summer about thirty years ago, and it happened to four children.

—Edward Eager, Half Magic

Susan had a beautiful new notebook open before her. On the cover she had printed in red ink:

PRIVATE DIARY—Susan Ridgeway

Everyone else keep out!!!

— Carol Ryrie Brink, Family Sabbatical

It was an afternoon in late September. In the pleasant little city of Stillwater, Mr. Popper, the house painter, was going home from work.

— Richard and Florence Atwater, Mr. Popper’s Penguins

Would Gracie-the-cat be jealous if the Pyes got another pet—a dog?

—Eleanor Estes, Ginger Pye

Alvin Fernald had a warm, tingly feeling smack in the middle of his stomach.

—Clifford B. Hicks, Alvin’s Secret Code

On the night of September twentieth the S.S. Orminta , two weeks outward bound from San Francisco to Australia, was struck by a storm and badly disabled.

— Carol Ryrie Brink, Baby Island

“That slowpoke Sarah! Henny cried. “She’s making us late!”

Mama’s girls were going to the library, and Henny was impatient.

—Sydney Taylor, All-of-a-Kind Family

It was difficult, later, to think of a time when Betsy and Tacy had not been friends.

—Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy-Tacy

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib were nine years old, and they were very anxious to be ten. “You have two numbers in your age when you are ten. It’s the beginning of growing up,” Betsy would say.

—Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill

“It’s the last day of high school … ever,” Annette said.

—Maud Hart Lovelace, Emily of Deep Valley

Nancy Drew, an attractive girl of eighteen, was driving home along a country road in her new, dark-blue convertible. She had just delivered some legal papers for her father.

— Carolyn Keene, The Secret of the Old Clock

One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.

—Gertrude Chandler Warner, The Boxcar Children

If you asked the kids and the teachers at Lincoln Elementary School to make three lists—all the really bad kids, all the really smart kids, and all the really good kids—Nick Allen would not be on any of them. Nick deserved a list all his own, and everyone knew it.

—Andrew Clements, Frindle

Miss Polly Harrington entered her kitchen a little hurriedly this June morning.

— Eleanor Porter, Pollyanna

For a long time after that summer, the four Penderwick sisters still talked of Arundel.

—Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks

There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself—not just sometimes, but always.

—Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, former Baron of Gorlan in the Kingdom of Araluen, looked out over his bleak, rainswept domain and, for perhaps the thousandth time, cursed.

—John Flanagan, The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1)

Today, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat.

—Eleanor Estes, The Hundred Dresses

“It would have to rain today,” said Rush, lying flat on his back in front of the fire. “On a Saturday. Certainly, Of course. Naturally.”

—Elizabeth Enright, The Saturdays

I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here.

—Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain

Interesting/Notable: The Quilters (Documentary)

This short Netflix documentary—it’s just 33 minutes long — follows a group of men in a maximum security prison, who volunteer to make quilts for foster children. 

I was concerned the content could be kind of heavy, but it was really well done, and poignant. No super-strong content here.

It is very much worth a watch!

r strong content here.

It is very much worth a watch!

An Action Item: Go to a Farmers Market

This action item, like many others, is a reminder for me as much as anyone else.

I haven’t been to any of the local farmers markets here this summer, and I need to remedy that, ASAP! Last year we got the yummiest light green squash that is apparently Lebanese, and this is about the time for it.

The Mom Weekly Volume 102: July 22, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Notes:

Here is another installment of 100 First Lines for Volume 100. I’ll try to finish all 100 in the next few weeks. This week is the “Picture Book Edition.” And there are 30 selections. I could have done many more! This brings us to 40 first lines out of 100!

I hope this inspires some good memories of us reading these books together. Maybe you’ll even take some of them out of the library, or read them the next time you are home.

Remember how much I love you,

Mom

(Funny aside: As I was formatting this, my editing software (ProWritingAid) tried to autocorrect /replace “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” with “The Starving Caterpillar” Obviously, I had to override it. LOL)

First Lines, Picture Book Edition

When I was young in the mountains, Grandfather came home in the evening covered with the black dust of a coal mine.

—Cynthia Rylant, When I Was Young in the Mountains

In the beginning, I was. I was for a long time. Then things began to happen.

—Regina Doman, Angel in the Waters

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made magic of one kind

and another

his mother called him “WILD THING!” And Max said, “I’LL EAT YOU UP!” and he was sent to bed without eating anything.

—Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

Once there was a peddler who sold caps.

—Esphyr Slobodkina, Caps for Sale

Once there was a triangle that was—as most triangles are—always busy. 

The triangle spent its time holding up roofs, supporting bridges, 

making music in a symphony orchestra, 

catching the wind for sailboats,

being slices of pie and halves of sandwiches,

and much, much, more.

—Marilyn Burns, The Greedy Triangle

On Monday, Farmer Greenstalk dropped his watch down the well.

—John Himmelman, Chickens to the Rescue

In the great green room

There was a telephone

And a red balloon

And a picture of—

The cow jumping over the moon

—Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.

—Margaret Wise Brown, The Runaway Bunny

Once upon a time, there was a yellow cat with black spots in his fur. His name was Pickles.

—Esther Averill, Fire Cat

In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.

—Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A little boy planted a carrot seed.

—Ruth Krauss, The Carrot Seed

Pinkerton was pink, plump, and pushy.

—Helen Lester, Me First

One winter morning Peter woke up and looked out the window. Snow had fallen during the night.

—Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day

Early in the morning the farmer feeds and milks his cows.

—Jan Pfloog, The Farm Book

Go to sleep, Max, said Max’s sister Ruby.

—Rosemary Wells, Max’s Bedtime

How are you Feeling?

—Saxton Freymannn and Jooste Elffers, How Are You Peeling? Food with Moods

Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled over the tracks.

—Watty Piper, The Little Engine that Could

It was a pleasant summer morning, so Frances took her bat and her ball and some chocolate sandwich cookies and went outside.

— Russell and Lillian Hoban, Best Friends for Frances

It was a quiet evening. Father was reading his newspaper. Mother was feeding Gloria, the new baby. Frances was sitting under the kitchen sink.

—Russell and Lillian Hoban, A Baby Sister for Frances

The day Helen gave Martha dog her alphabet soup, something unusual happened.

—Susan Meddaugh, Martha Speaks

Once there was a miller’s daughter who got into a heap of trouble.

—Diane Stanley, Rumplestiltskin’s Daughter

Every year at springtime, Rebecca Estelle planted just enough seeds in her garden to grown vegetables for the long winter.

—Linda White, Too Many Pumpkins

The important thing about a spoon is that you eat with it.

—Margaret Wise Brown, The Important Book

Anna dreamed she was bird. But when she woke up, she wasn’t.

—Kady MacDonald Denton, Would They Love a Lion?

A mother bird sat on her egg.

—P.D. Eastman, Are You My Mother?

In an old house in Paris

that was covered with vines

Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.

—Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline

On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool, In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool, He was splashing … enjoying the jungles great joys … When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.

—Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who

Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel. Her name was Mary Ann.

—Virginia Lee Burton, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel

Now the Star-Belly Sneetches

Had bellies with stars.

The Plain-Belly Sneetches

Had none upon thars.

Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave

Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?

Dr. Seuss, Too Many Daves

Interesting/Notable:

What I Went Through to Meet My Daughter 

Please read, or at least skim this article, to the end. It had me in tears, happy tears. Even though I subscribe to The Free Press, I hadn’t come across this article until Dr. Naomi Whitaker—a national treasure — shared it on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/napro_fertility_surgeon/). 

You may remember that I shared the PBS documentary “Below the Belt” nearly two years ago. As I wrote then:

“(This) documentary is about endometriosis and how misunderstood it is, how little it is treated, and how that should change. One of my biggest takeaways was that people–especially women– need to be advocates for their own health, and to persist even when not getting answers.”

I am so grateful for the work done by these careful and skilled surgeons to help women in this way, when others dismiss their symptoms and propose band-aid solutions that can often make these conditions like endometriosis worse. 

The Mom Weekly Volume 100: July 8, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

100 First Lines for Volume 100

You may have noticed that this week is Volume 100 of The Mom Weekly. There may be a few misnumbered ones in the early days, so there may be a few more (or less) than 100, but I am impressed with myself!

In honor of 100 volumes of The Mom Weekly, I was trying to think about things to do. 100 pieces of advice? 100 recipes? 100 photos?

And then I thought about something that is “on-brand” for me. How about first lines of 100 books that I love, or that our family loves? 

At first I was unsure that I could come up with 100 first lines easily or quickly enough. While it did take a fair bit of time, it was a fun exercise and trip down memory lane. Our family has read and enjoyed a lot of great books!

Unfortunately, 100 first lines would make “one” Mom Weekly far too long, so it will be broken up into groups of 10, shared over the next few months, off and on. This week features “Classic British Literature,” and so it will be Jane Austen-rich.

Remember how much I love you,

Mom 

First Lines—A Sample of Classic British Literature

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. —Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest patents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed.

Jane Austen, Persuasion

No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy would have supposed her born to be an heroine.

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her.

Jane Austen, Emma

The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex.

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

About thirty years ago Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income. — Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

No one, probably, ever felt himself to be more alone in the world than our old friend, the Duke of Omnium, when the Duchess died.

Anthony Trollope, The Duke’s Children

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.

George Eliot, Middlemarch

“Edith!” said Margaret, gently, “Edith!” But as Margaret half suspected, Edith had fallen asleep. She lay curled up on the sofa in the back drawing-room in Harley Street looking very lovely in her white muslin and blue ribbons. If Titania had ever been dressed in white muslin and blue ribbons, and had fallen asleep on a crimson damask sofa in a back drawing-room, Edith might have been taken for her. 

Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

Interesting/Notable: 

When Everything is Chaos, Who Cares Which Fork You Use? This Guy—WSJ gift article

This is a very fun to read and also useful article.

But he insists that tips on proper decorum are mainly about sharing space as peaceably as possible.   In a moment when “many people in high office aren’t leading by example,” he argues it’s incumbent on the rest of us to compensate with kindness and respect. “And I do think we’ll have the last laugh,” he says. “I think the nice people will win.”

An Action Item: Clean out your microwave

I was just doing this the other day, and I thought it would make a great “action item” because it takes just a few minutes, and it is very satisfying to accomplish it!

Here’s the best way that I have found to do it.

One: Put a cup or so of water in a pyrex (I usually use the 1-cup or 2-cup version), then sprinkle in some baking soda. Put this pyrex in the microwave, and before you start it, pour in a little vinegar. This will make the water mixture foam, but that’s fine.

Two: Now run the microwave for about five to six minutes. When the cycle completes, leave the pyrex in there for a few more minutes.

Three: When it has cooled a little, carefully take it out of the microwave and pour the water down the sink. Bonus: It can help to deodorize the drain somewhat.

Four: You’ll notice that there is probably quite a bit of condensation on the walls of the microwave. Take a small rag or several paper towels and wipe down the wallls- anything stuck on will come right up.

Five: You’ll probably need to hand wash the rotating dish that circulates in the microwave. It comes up very easily, and in the sink, you can spray it with a little detergent, wash it off, and dry it before putting it back.

Six: Now take the damp paper towels from wiping the microwave inside with to clean the front of and around the microwave.

Congratulations! You now have a clean microwave. Repeat as needed — if you cover things in the microwave, you only need to do this every so often.

The Mom Weekly Volume 95: June 3, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Notes:

I am queuing up several “From the Vault” selections due to travel going on right now!!!

I actually teared up reading this post, and remembering all the wonderful books we have read together over the years. I wonder if you kids remember some of our family traditions around picture books.

Also: there’s a new occasional feature here called “Mini Book Review” that can sometimes replace the “Interesting/Notable” section. Sometimes I enjoy reading a book so much that I want to share as many takeaways as possible from it.

Good Movies, Bad Movies (From the Vault, October 2009)

I am pretty careful about our movie and tv watching. l consider the DVR great for letting us fast forward through the commercials of any given show, both for time-saving and for getting past icky things. I try to get good recommendations from like-minded friends, and also look around for good sources of unusual media, whether books, movies, shows.

We especially love Netflix for letting our family watch more obscure or foreign films. Netflix suggests films you would like based on films you’ve rated. We’ve watched so many really interesting, and slow moving, foreign films to see a slice of life in other cultures. So when Netflix suggested The Color of Paradise, because we liked Children of Heaven and some other films, I added it to the queue. It was in our house for quite awhile because we haven’t found the time to watch it.

The Netflix description sounded good: “Awash in the sights and sounds of an Iranian summer, this moving family drama stars Mohsen Ramezani as Mohammed, an 8-year-old blind boy whose poor widower father (Hossein Mahjoub) nearly abandons him at a school for blind children. Welcomed home by his grandmother and sisters, the bright boy is eager to immerse himself in the world of the seeing — but his father fears Mohammed may hinder his attempts to remarry into a prosperous family.”

I got the chance to preview the first 45 minutes or so, and it was again very sweet and a little poignant. I thought, fine, so one Saturday afternoon I put it on for the kids, and I was sort of half-watching with them as I was going through some files. I’m thinking to myself, “Now, couldn’t I just have taken 30 seconds to read theWikipedia entry?” This was NOT a film for our family. Ideagirl turned to me at one point when things started going downhill (I think when the Grandmother died) and said firmly, “You did watch this first, didn’t you? DIDN’T YOU?”

We did watch it to the bitter end just because even Wikipedia made it sound hopeful, and I tried to discuss it that way, but I was assured by several of my children they would have bad dreams about it. That didn’t happen because we worked hard to completely forget about it. But I’m still feeling guilty!

I still do feel a bit guilty that I hadn’t done my homework more. I am usually pretty good about that, but I also know that we can all survive a bad media choice and move on. The next in our Netflix queue? A movie we saw a scene of walking through Sam’s Club several weeks back and the kids said, “That looks funny!” So we got it.

What fantastic and creative film did we get and watch and enjoy as a lark? Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Fortunately here, I was able to read the Plugged In online review and know the whole story, any objectionable elements, and let the kids enjoy without worrying. I will say I’m glad we don’t see every random movie that comes out, because for a day or so the kids were singing the song at the end of the movie, and it is now going through my head, “la, la, la, la, la, Chihuahua….”

So good movies, bad movies, cheesy Hollywood movies—all have a place, I guess.

Also on the topic of movies, I am still debating whether we should go see Where the Wild Things Are. I know it is getting great critical reviews, and it looks gorgeous in its cinematography, but I just don’t know.

I consider Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, the children’s book on which the movie is based, a perfect book. Absolutely, 100 percent perfect. Max is named after the character in that book (here, not IRL, but still). I have read that book so many times I can recite it. It’s such a Prodigal Son story, I tear up almost every time I read it.

Each of my children, unprompted, has added in “with his mommy and his daddy” when we read the line, “And Max ….wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.”

This book is just magical at our house, like Margaret Wise Brown’s The Important Book and The Runaway Bunny, and Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel and P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother?

Ideagirl always demanded, truly demanded, from the time she was small, that the child characters in Runaway Bunny and Are You My Mother? be girls, so much so that I have to consciously remember to read the real words when Max and I read them together. Right now many other books are popping into my head. This would be a fun list to make.

So the idea of a movie, supplanting in some way the book by being bigger and more intense (as movies inevitably are), and different, as this one must be, because a movie based on the actual book Where the Wild Things Are would last about 2 minutes. I know that I could preview it first, and then take the kids, as Sir and I did with the first Narnia film, but I don’t even know if I want my imagination of the book replaced by a movie. So I’m still wondering.

Mini Book Review: Custodians of Wonder by Eliot Stein

Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions and the Last People Keeping Them Alive by Eliot Stein

Stein is an editor at BBC Travel, and writes a column there called “Custom Made.” Each chapter of “Custodians of Wonder” profiles a person or persons who is maintaining an old, or even ancient, tradition, and keeping alive a special tradition unique to that culture.

For instance, the chapter titled “Where Bees are Part of the Family” is all about the centuries old tradition of “telling the bees” when family events like weddings or deaths happened. Stein finds it is still going on in England to this day.

I first learned about this charming tradition when we watched “Lark Rise to Candleford” the British costume show set in 19th century rural life. In one episode, the old lady Queenie thought her husband was dead, and she went outside to her beehives to “tell the bees” that he was dead. It turns out he wasn’t, so it was a comic moment, but still.

Another chapter is “The Most Romantic Job in Europe,” and here Stein profiles a retired postal worker who was the longest-serving delivery driver to a tree in a German forest that has become a way for people to seek and find love.

If you’re interested, Stein had previously written a Custom Made article with the same subject; it’s been adapted and expanded in the book.

What I like best about the book is that Stein writes carefully about the history of each tradition in a thorough and respectful way. 

The very last words of the book, at the end of the acknowledgments, are a good sum what Stein was trying to achieve. He writes to his infant son, (to whom he dedicated the book, along with his wife.)

And to Oliver, you may not read this book for many years, but if you ever do, I hope it reminds you that the world can be a wondrous place, and that one of the greatest uses of life is to spend it on something that may outlast it.

The Mom Weekly Volume 93: May 20, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Notes:

As I was crafting this, it turned into a much longer reflection than I expected. And so I decided to break this up into two parts. It’s not a cliff-hanger, not really, but it lends itself to two categories. It will make sense next week, I promise!

Remember how much I love you, 

Mom 

My Monkeys, My Circus (Part the First)

When I was trying to look up the expression, “not my circus, not my monkeys,” I found

1. That it’s an old Polish proverb. It basically is a way for people to say, “I’m not going to engage with whatever drama is being presented to me.”

2. Then I found this recent WSJ opinion piece about how detachment from others is a good skill, and I wholeheartedly agree. It’s important to disengage from the drama of others when necessary, for our own well-being and health. 

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys: How I’ve Learned to Deal with the Addicts in My Life

However, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

You kids know that I got two anonymous letters — actual US postal service mail—when you were tiny and little, from a parish member in our old town? They were badly worded and mean missives instructing me to keep better control of my kids at Mass. That would be you! 

I am actually laughing about this now as I write, because I’m so beyond this. 

But for a long time, I was tender about it. And I actually saved the letters for years; can you believe it? Until one day I was going through a folder of stuff and found them, and thought, why am I saving these? I should only save good positive letters and mementos. So into the trash they went.

The other funny story about this is that when I received the first one, a dear friend and I — who both often attended daily Mass with our kids—were trying to speculate about who could have sent such a letter. And we hit upon the idea of a cranky old lady who wore housecoats and went to daily Mass. I have blessedly forgotten her name, but was something old-fashioned like “Mabel Smith.” And then she died, and I got the second letter, and I thought, “I’m so sorry for thinking bad things about you, Mabel Smith.” LOL.

Because of that experience, I have always been extremely supportive of families at Mass. I go out of my way to talk to families whose kids have been “busy” (which sometimes can be a euphemism for being dreadful) to say that they are doing great to bring them to Mass, and it’s okay to walk in and out of the church as needed, and to do what you need to.

Sometimes, as you have experienced, I will point out one of you adult children and say how “busy” you were, and how even though I don’t feel like I got a lot out of  Mass then, “NOW” you are the ones “shush-ing” me if I whisper something. It’s kind of hilarious.

Dad, God bless him, who is usually pretty easygoing about things, was always extremely firm that we would not punish kids for kid-like behavior at Mass. Not that I ever wanted to! 

But the way he talked about never wanting you to feel shame or bad feelings related to religious things, still brings me to tears, because it makes so much spiritual sense.

Anyway, there’s also the expression “two things can be true at the same time.” Back the, when talking about some of these things to friends, a few had the opinion that maybe I did need to crack down a little more, or find a way to make you behave. (Again, I’m laughing—you kids are all so strong willed—how could I get you to do anything?). 

They would tell stories of how they got their kids to “behave” at Mass, and they were things Dad and I would never do. Now, some of those people I still know, and their now adult children still seem to have an active faith life, even experiencing what I consider harsh punishment when they were young. So every family is different, and lots of different approaches work.  

Now that I am older, I see there are a lot of ways to successfully raise kids, and it’s important to do what works best for your personality, and try to be open to the Holy Spirit nudges for changes or the right thing to say. My circus, my monkeys.

That is a VERY long introduction to what happened to me earlier this month. But I am going to save that for next week.

Interesting/Notable:

First “math pope” reveals unity of faith and reason

Meet the “Stealthy Wealthy” Who Make Their Money the Boring Way

An Action Item: Start Your Summer List

(I’ve posted this in the past, and usually much earlier than this. But it’s still good idea!)

Summer is fast approaching, and it’s time to think ahead about things that you would like to “accomplish” or do. And you can be creative! I haven’t even started mine, but I’m going to use this as a kind of template to begin:

*restaurant to visit (either that you’ve never done so, or not in a long time)

*nearby town to explore 

*hiking trail to re-hike

*new trail to hike 

*savory summer recipe to try

*sweet summer recipe to try

*a goal to visit the farmer’s market monthly or more often; a different one each time?

*museum to visit, especially with an intriguing temporary exhibit

The Mom Weekly Volume 89: April 22, 2025

You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

Shakespeare and Family (From the Vault, 1982)

Shakespeare’s birthday is tomorrow. April 23 is the 461st anniversary of his birth.

I came across the letter I’m going to share some time ago when I was going through my photo library. (See the “Action Item” for today!)

It made me think about how much we have explored Shakespeare over the years. But it’s not just because I was an English major—now you can see that it is a generational thing…

We’ve seen many Shakespeare plays, from here to England, and studied even more. One of my favorite homeschooling memories is working through How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare and memorizing all the passages that we did.

I know a bank

where the wild thyme grows

Where oxlips

And the nodding violet grows …

Or Rosalind from As You Like It?

“For I must tell you friendly in your ear,

Sell when you can;

you are not for all markets.”

And who could forget the St. Crispin’s Day speech from (as we called it) “Henry the Vee? 

Even though we did memorize all those passages, I can only really call to mind bits and pieces of them. But I imagine if I worked on them again, it would be easier to memorize them again.

Anyway, this letter was written to me by my father, your grandfather. The “New Mayfield” he refers to is this. (Sadly, it closed in 1985 and has not been opened since).

This letter is absolutely “on brand” for my dad, and for his love of classic things. I am 90 percent certain he also recited this to me at some point, because I can actually hear his voice saying the lines, and smiling at the same time.

(Note also: he refers to stopping at a local restaurant for their famed “cookie monster,” so of course you know from whom we all inherited our sweet tooth).

He passed on his love of literature to me, and I am pretty sure that I’ve passed it onto you kids. I sincerely hope that you pass it on to your children. It’s a treasure and inheritance, far greater than any material thing.

Remember how much I love you,

Mom

Sunday Eve October 24, 1982

This afternoon Catherine went to the St. Mary’s football game at 3 p.m. Then after a quick supper I took her to the 5:30 p.m. movie at New Mayfield—Laurence Olivier in “King Henry V.” Not one of his (Shakespeare’s) better plays, but a good movie. It was about 8 p.m. and our car somehow wandered over to Norton’s so we were forced to stop and have a cookie monster.

Catherine asked me if there were any familiar quotations from Hamlet because we didn’t really hear any tonight, but she was struck by the familiar phrases in Romeo and Juliet. Well anyhow, among the many famous passages in Hamlet, of course, is Polonius’ advice to his son Laertes as he is about to leave to accompany Hamlet to school (in England?) Every father should, of course, pass on this advice to his son—or daughter—as they leave for school, so here it is, (over)

“…Give thy thoughts no tongue,

nor any unproportioned thought his act.

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them until thy soul with hoops of steel;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

 of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade. Beware

 of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in,

Bear’t that the opposed may be aware of thee.

Give every many thy ear, but few thy voice;

Take each man’s censure but reserve thy judgment.

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy,

For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

This above all: to thine own self be true,

and it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Love,

Dad

Interesting/Notable:

An update from the Holy Land–The Catholic Traveler

Seeing this article about The Catholic Traveler resuming tours in the Holy Land made me want to go there even more, and soon, when it is not very crowded! 

An Action Item: Go Through Your Photos from Today

I first heard this hack/tip years ago, and I cannot remember the source. But I do it from time to time, and it’s a fun exercise.

Here’s what you do: open your Photos app on your laptop. In the search bar in the upper right corner, search for a day. Let’s say, April 3. This will bring up photos that have the words “April 3” in them, but also all the photos that have been taken through the years on April 3. Select “All Items,” and go through them. 

Usually, I find that a large portion of my photos are of dogs, Spot specifically. (Really!) But for April 3, I can see my album has 64 items, including several HILARIOUS 2016 videos of child 2 and child 3 lip-syncing to Owl City songs. It’s worth it just for that. You can usually find find a few, or even a dozen or more, of blurry or “similar” photos that you can delete. 

That’s it! I promise it’s a fun experiment, a good way to (slightly) clean up your photos, and a fun trip down memory lane.