just another day of Catholic pondering

It’s been a nice, quiet week since I’ve been “out of the blogfice.” A big thank you to Kate Wicker for visiting this week and sharing her wisdom.

It’s amazing how my online time changes when I’m not (a) getting on my blog or thinking about what to blog, (b) reading blogs (or printing them out to read later), or (c) interacting on Facebook or Twitter (though I did still post updates from Ping this week).

I actually had time to read a novel — for fun! — one morning this week, before we had to leave or start school!  That was a treat.  (And what a novel!  I can’t wait to review it, along with the first in the series…the library is getting them all in in the wrong order, but these are so going to be gifts for my nieces and myself!!!)  Usually, my reading time is tacked on at the end of the day.

I’ve also had some time to consider this online time.  No, I’m not going anywhere.  But it’s nice to have a break from a screen.  Sometimes, there’s nothing like a fast to make you appreciate the feast (which must be the appeal of Lent, among other things).

In other places this week:

• My column at Today’s Catholic Woman didn’t go live until yesterday, because of the floods in Georgia (you know, if I’d been reading blogs this week, I would have known about that!).  In it, you’ll get some observations about my time being stuck at the train tracks and how that relates to Mary in her title as Our Lady of Mercy (aka Our Lady of Ransom).

• This week’s Catholic Moments is more of what you’d expect — and no, I’m not talking about my segment.  :)  Peggy Bowes is a former Air Force pilot who left the military to raise and homeschool her two children.  Peggy’s lifelong enthusiasm for fitness led her to bocome certified as an aerobics instructor, personal trainer and Lifestyle and Weight Management consultant.  Her devotion to our Blessed Mother and her great prayer, the Rosary, inspired Peggy to create the Rosary Workout and to share this devotion with others.  Deacon Tom‘s reflection invites us to consider Thomas More as we head towards Respect Life Sunday.  I challenge you to think of Mary as a blankie, and you’ll get some history of Our Lady of Walsingham too!  (Note: much of this material originally appeared in my column on Our Lady of Walsingham at Today’s Catholic Woman.)

• Over at CatholicMom.com, my latest column discusses my prayer in the kitchen and the story of my kitchen table.  I think I wrote this piece for me, really.  When my mother-in-law told me the story of my long kitchen table, the home to my morning prayers and so many important discussions in my life, quite a few of the things I thought I had known were shattered.  Here I thought it was a historical family piece — and it is, just not the way I thought it was.

Photo from algo