+JMJ+

In a few hours, 2024 will be dawning. 

It's hard to wrap up an entire year in one blog post. But I'm going to attempt it now. Here we go! 

A General Update 

2023 was a roller coaster for me. My biggest life change was changing from working part-time at night to working full time in the early part of the day in the beginning of the year. Practically overnight, my schedule flipped upside-down and it was very difficult to get it settled again. 

Because of my schedule, I had to let go a lot of my volunteering. I slowly backed off of my involvement in my professional organization, with my roles ending completely in the fall. I also changed my role with my YAG, stepping back from communications to a regional chair/mentorship role. I even stepped away from choir for nearly six months to allow myself time to get my schedule clear. 

This major change also changed how I allocate my time for leisure and writing. Using a screen at work and heavy information overload has negatively affected my muse's willingness to work. Early nights also has not allowed for long writing sessions, nor even for projects such as the garden. Therefore, I've been focusing on my crafting projects.  

Goals for 2023

Last year, I created a short list of goals that were supposed to hit various aspects of my life. My biggest accomplishment this year has been the procurement and restoration of a spinning wheel. This was a pipe dream that I had no clue was going to come true this year. The restoration especially was surprisingly easy and was much faster than I had anticipated.

But how did I do with the rest of the goals? 

2023 Spiritual Goals

- Daily spiritual reading, er, podcast. I started listening to the Mystical City of God in a Year podcast in the beginning of 2023. I was really good about listening to it every day for the first half of the year. Then the podcast stopped updating for a few weeks because Father Looney experienced some ill health and I dropped the habit. Since I do better with visual stimulation than auditory, maybe next year, I'll do some ACTUAL spiritual reading, lol. 

- Divine Office. I have been really good about keeping up with praying Prime and Compline. I've switched to doing the traditional version for both for consistency. I have not added on any hours like Terce or Vespers. 

2023 Food Goals

- Making Bread once a week. I made this goal with the idea that I would be employed in part-time work for more time than I anticipated. Within a month of 2023, I was employed full-time, which left me no time or energy to make bread as I used to. So I gave up the goal within the first month. 

- Use old seeds for the garden. This was meant as a de-stash of the family seed collection. While we didn't use all of them for the family garden this year, we were able to use some! 

2023 Practice Goals

- Practice French. Again, this was a good goal for the first half of the year. My record was a 161-day streak of practicing my French. However, Duolingo and I increasingly grew at odds and I finally deleted my account around Thanksgiving. I haven't found another practice tool to use yet, but I hope to find one at some point. 

- Practice music, both dulcimer and choir. Neither goal was attained. Once I got my full-time job, I had little time to devote to music. I actually dropped out of choir for several months because it was just too much to handle with work.  

2023 Crafting Goals

- Mums Afghan. I've been working slowly but steadily on it. I've currently got two and a half rows of the afghan completed. I've had to make a few color changes because of my yarn supply. I was recently gifted some more purple yarn, which I'm excited to incorporate into the design. I plan to continue working on this in 2024, so we'll see what progress I make then! 

- Scrappy quilt. I successfully completed this goal in the spring of this year! I wrote a post documenting the journey HERE. 

While it has been disappointing to see many of these goals either scrapped or little progress, I'm not too upset. As we all know, having set plans doesn't mean that they will be followed to the letter. 

Goals for 2024

Unlike last year, I decided not to pursue any hard goals relating to my spiritual life, food, garden, or practicing this year. With my job situation being so volatile, I need a little more flexibility. Crafting goals seem to work out the best, so here's what I'm hoping to accomplish next year: 

- finish processing my gray wool

- make a set of scrappy placemats (a destash project) 

- continue working on mums afghan and floral wreath embroidery projects

- completely reorganize my crafting spaces

I'll re-evaluate these goals in about six months, adding or taking away goals if I need to. 

In other news, I have a new page specifically devoted to my craft projects!! Similar to a WIPs page on a writing blog, this page will feature progress updates and some visuals relating to the projects that I've been working on. It's now live, under the About tab. 

And I think that wraps up 2023! I hope and heartily wish that you all have a blessed New Year! 

God bless, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

It has been seven years since I started to blog. (Glory to God!) 

It has been a crazy ride sharing my recipes, my crafting projects, and my observations about Catholicism and femininity with you all. 

I know I speak a lot about my handicrafts and other feminine interests on this blog. But I would be lying if I said that this was the entirety of my interests. 

So today, in honor of this 7th blogoversary, I want to share 7 things that I am interested in that may surprise you! 

1. Engineering

My love of engineering was born when the reality TV show Design Squad aired on PBS. I was right about the age of the contestants and the projects they did on the show looked absolutely awesome. I loved the problem-solving aspects and seeing how forces interacted with each other. The main thing that stopped me from becoming an engineer in real life was...I can't math to save my life, lol. 

Nowadays, I still have a strong interest in learning about historical engineering. NOVA and Smithsonian documentaries are some of my favorites. Doubt it will go beyond that, but it's still cool!

2. Hunting/Fishing

Many times people will poo-poo hunting and fishing as masculine pursuits. In some ways, I can see why - mainly because killing something and harvesting it for food goes against the feminine nurturing spirit. 

But I am a country girl, and out here, the outdoor sports are life-bloods to us. I have fished before, though I haven't done it in over a decade. I'm not particularly good at casting, not gonna lie. May have accidentally hooked a person or two in my time (ooops). But I haven't hunted yet, and I wouldn't mind trying it once. 

3. Guns/Weapons

Again, this happened because of my obsession with reality TV. In this case, it was Top Shot and Forged in Fire by the History Channel. Both gave me a strong appreciation for marksmanship and weapons creation. 

I learned to shoot when I was a teenager. I do still like to shoot, but I do have a slight fear of shooting guns - I have a bad startle reflex when the gun kicks in my hand. Granted, what I probably need is a lot more practice, especially with an instructor. I've also shot a bow, and while I really like it, my shoulder doesn't do well under the repeated strain. Haven't done much axe or knife throwing yet, lol. 

4. Classic Cars

This one's because of my family. My mom is a big classic car fan and so are some of my brothers. Therefore, when we see an old roadster, there is a collective "Oooh!". 

I'm primarily interested in the aesthetics and the restoration processes. I'm not much of a mechanic, lol. I can't even drive half of those vehicles because I don't know how to drive a manual transmission. 

5. Skeletons/Mummies/Incorruptibles

If you knew me before 2017, you would have known that I had a morbid fear and horror of dead bodies. I still feel a little queasy if I see war casualties or murder victims (which is why I typically can't watch murder shows). 

However, skeletons in an archeological or lab setting? I'm okay with that. More than okay, I'm actually interested in those. (Though I will admit that the documentary I watched the other night on the St. Bee's Man kinda grossed me out a little.) Ancient Egyptian mummies and bog bodies are also (morbidly) fascinating to look at because of the souls connected to them. 

I think what helped me over the hump was learning about the "incorruptibles". For those who don't know what those are, they are bodies (or body parts) of saints that didn't follow the natural decaying process. Realizing that not all dead bodies are dehumanized freaks of horror (as depicted in many police and murder shows) was a big step in dealing with that phobia. 

6. Disaster Stories

As someone who tends to avoid murder shows and heavy dramatics, this may come as a surprise to some people. It started with weather disaster shows when I was a kid. Then it moved to plane and boat disasters. I had a whole obsession with Titanic during the 100th anniversary of that sinking. 

Again, I can't *usually* stand watching these for a long time. The dramatics get to me. 

But what hooks me is the "How and why did they happen" (or if people survived, lol).  Again, the problem-solving thing. This seems to be a complex, lol. 

7. Space/Astronomy

I'm sure many of you guessed that history was my favorite subject. Science was a very close second, however. As much as I loved biology, zoology, botany, and other sciences of living things, I had a very persistent interest in space and astronomy. 

Growing up in the space shuttle era was fun, y'all. I watched so many shuttle launches as a kid, and I watched the ISS fly over our house once. I learned how to identify planets and some constellations such as the Big Dipper and Orion the Hunter. I did have a telescope that we used to look at the moon a few times, but the lenses were bad. Since I am in a semi-rural area, I can still observe the stars whenever I'm out. Nothing is more beautiful to me than a clear night sky (unless it's a sunrise, lol). 

-----------

And there you have it! 7 unusual areas of interest for 7 years of blogging. I do miss the ability to spend hours in front of a computer screen, pouring my heart into this space. As I begin to recover, I'm beginning to feel the words coming back and I hope I can devote more time to some of those deeper posts that I used to write. 

As always, I want to thank all of my loyal readers for sticking by me these past seven years - especially Lia, who is the person responsible for dragging me into this. If you would like to keep up with all of my adventures, I highly recommend that you sign up for my monthly newsletter, which is located in the sidebar. In the meantime, stay warm and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

In corde Mariae, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

Please note: This is is a repost of a post I did for the Maidens for Mary blog several years ago, and has been updated.

Now why in the world would I bring up such an unpleasant subject as this?

 +JMJ+

I had to leave them at my brother's house temporarily, since they didn't fit in my car, lol. When I came up again the next day, I took a full evaluation of them. I did discover that in the move, some of the pieces of the two wheels had been accidently switched, so I fixed those. 

At the same time, I discovered that both wheels were missing parts, including flyers (which hold the fiber being spun) and footmen (the connection between the treadle and the wheel). Undaunted, I started to research how to fix them. Surely other spinsters had restored similar wheels to working condition. 

I got both wheels home safely and continued researching. I discovered then that while the footman would be a simple fix, the flyer was another matter entirely. It would seem that flyers of antique wheels were custom-made to the wheel itself and that wheels without flyers were doomed to being decorative pieces. Maybe this was naïve of me, but I found that to be a little ridiculous. 

At this time, I decided to focus on only one of the wheels because it would have been much harder to create leather bearings for the second pair of maidens. Not only did they not match, they didn't have the holes drilled into them (my guess is that they were replacements for decorative purposes). 

While poking around, I discovered one day that one of the parts I had was a quill spindle. Since it was an older form of collecting the thread than the flyer, I thought I could use it for one wheel and got excited. For an experiment, I tied a string to one of the footmen and tied a temporary drive band around the wheel and the quill whorl to see if it could work. I had to hold the spindle with my hand because of the lack of leather bearing on the other maiden, but it was exhilarating to see it turn! 

While I was attempting to figure out the quill/flyer conundrum, I started creating the new footmen. One of the wheels had a degraded leather footman, so I used it as a guide. I ordered a roll of leather strap from Amazon, cut the holes with an awl and knitting needles and tied them to both wheels. I had to jerry-rig them with string between the wheel itself, but they worked like champs on both wheels. I also bought some narrow strapping to help repair some of the wooden pieces and make a temporary bearing for the back maiden, and shimmed one of the wheel supports that had come loose in the repair process.  

After I finished the footmen, I turned back to the flyer/spindle problem. I discovered that the quill spindle was meant for a walking wheel, and not the Saxony style (which is what I have). The original bearing was also indeed meant for a flyer, and would not be able to hold the quill properly. So it was back to the drawing board with even more measurements being taken. 

This all happened in the space of about a month. For the rest of the summer, I was in a rut trying to find a flyer that could fit the wheel. I discovered that modern flyers for spinning wheels were simply too big, and many vintage ones were too degraded to safely use. When buying one didn't seem to be an option, I looked for resources for making one. I soon found that while there were some craftsman and plans available, I was in over my head. So I abandoned that idea and decided to keep looking online. 

Fast forward to late September. 

I found a listing for a vintage flyer on Etsy, estimated to be about 1910s. One cool thing was that while the seller was from Wales, the flyer was originally from Sweden. The measurements looked about right and the condition looked decent, so I took a chance and ordered it. Once it arrived, I did a fit test and it was just about right! 

On closer examination, the orifice and the hooks had a little more rust than I had anticipated. In order to safely use it, that had to come off. Using vinegar, WD-40, some steel wool, and a lot of elbow grease, the majority of the rust was able to come off. As of right now, it still needs a tad bit more work, but it will be ready soon! 

Meantime, I made a more permanent bearing for the back maiden, and found a string that I can use for a permanent drive band. All I need now is to buy some oil, finish the last bit of cleaning, and then I can...take it for a spin. Sorry, I couldn't help making that pun. 

All in all, I really enjoyed stretching my brain to figure out how to make this spinning wheel work again. In spite of the sometimes discouraging setbacks, I'm really blessed that this $5 find turned out to be fairly easy to get back into shape. I'm really excited to get to spin my wool on there - I've been carding like crazy over the summer so I have enough to play with! 

Have you ever restored something? What was that like, and was it successful? Tell me down in the comments below! 

God bless, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

Hello my dear friends! 

It has been such a long time since I came on here. Part of that reason is the new job, of course, but mostly it's because I've been digging into my workbasket again. And one of those projects was...a scrappy quilt! 

Back in the fall, I talked about potentially making a scrappy quilt on my newsletter. I had inherited a lot more scraps from my mom as we were cleaning out the basement...and they were taking up way too much space in my room! While I loved the previous quilt I had done during the pandemic, I wanted to experiment with a new quilt design. 

After some looking, I decided on a design featuring whirlwind blocks. However, I discovered that this style of block took much bigger scraps than I had available, and the test blocks didn't turn out very well. So I abandoned my original design. 

Later, I found another block design on Pinterest that featured much shorter horizontal stripes and nine patches, which I really liked. After sorting my scraps by color, a great color scheme of reds, yellows, pinks and blues started to form. 

The quilt top came together pretty well, except the vertical stripes. I stretched them a little to make them fit and it warped the design. It's a little noticable upon looking at it, but it became a huge problem when quilting it. 

I nixed the idea of batting at this stage, as the knit fabric I had chosen was a pain enough. It took several tries for me to center and pin the quilt top to the backing without puckering, and the fact that the backing barely puckered at all while quilting was a sheer miracle!

I hand-quilted this one, as my machine would have chewed the backing to ribbons. My handstitching leaves much to be desired. But with the rest of the problems I had with this quilt, it was a minor thing. It took several weeks to finish, and the pins kept dropping out of it (which really annoyed the dickens out of me). I edged it with red binding tape as red was one of the main colors of the quilt. 

So you probably have been asking yourself, why did I choose a knit fabric for the backing?

The answer is that, at the time, this is what I had. It had been stashed for years, and was slated to be some kind of blanket anyway (it was terrible for clothing). 

It turned out well, but I will NEVER use a knit fabric as a backing fabric ever again!! 

All in all, the Cantankerous Crosses Quilt definitely earned it's moniker. But it's not a bad looking quilt, in retrospect. 

What sort of projects have you all been working on? Tell me in the comments below!

God bless, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

What is a woman's role in Mass?

+JMJ+

Ahem. This post has been promised here for months, and it turns out that it was only waiting for a silly graphic. *facepalm*

Welp, it's being published now! Enjoy! 

------

A year ago...I wanted a new knitting project. A different knitting project. A historical knitting project. 

Hey, my creative muse gets a funny turn every once in a while. 

I wanted something along the sweater line, but I'm not good with gauge. I was thinking along the shawl lines, but I didn't have enough yarn to do that. And so I decided to in the middle road with a garment called a "sontag" 

What is said "sontag"? 

Well, to put it simply, it's a type of shawl. A "bosom-friend" kind of shawl. No, not making that up, that's it's nickname. It was called a bosom-friend because it covered the shoulders, back and chest, leaving the arms free. It was popular in the 1860s supposedly because an opera singer named Henrietta Sontag promoted it. 

As a former historical reenactor who has tried working with a shawl wrapped around myself...I wanna know why these garments were only popular for a short period of time. Because I would wear the heck out of mine if I ever got one. 

Hence why I made one. 

The start of it.

For this, I used some blue wool yarn that I had stashed. I believe I got it at a Salvation Army sale. I used size 8 needles, which were *ironically* red. You'll see why later. 

I followed the original Godey's Lady's Pattern, which you can find here, with some slight modifications. Firstly, I kept increasing up the back past where it said (like wayyyyy past) so that my shoulders could be covered a lot better. 

Secondly, I shortened the actual "arms" (?) to only reach my waist. I was dreadfully afraid of running out of blue yarn before I could finish it. I ended up with plenty left over, much to my embarrassment. I made up for it in the ties though, lol. I wasn't 100% satisfied with the shape at first, but I grew to like it after I added on the ties. 

After I finished the "blue" part, it was time to add on the border. The original pattern called for a knitted border, but the blog I got it from also said crochet was acceptable. Since I wasn't comfortable knitting on border, I did the crochet one instead. 

The question was....what design to do? 

I had a couple of choices. Since the project was started on Independence Day Weekend 2021 and finished Independence Day Weekend 2022 (hence why the red knitting needles were so ironic), I narrowed down the color choices to blue, red or white. 

And boy did I have a terrible time deciding. My poor Instagram followers were besieged with polls as to what I should do. 

And in the end...I did something that was off the polls entirely. *sigh*

For the border, I crocheted on a white shell border! I used some natural white wool that I had in my stash. It was a heavier weight than the body of the shawl and that made it curl a little bit. The effect isn't too terribly noticeable, and I very much doubt I could have avoided curling entirely because the other colored yarns I had were heavier than the blue. 

I am really glad I went with the white because it sets off the blue a lot nicer than I think the red would have. 

The Sontag was started on Independence Day Weekend 2021 and the blue part was finished Independence Day Weekend 2022. The edging was a couple of weeks after that. So it took a full year, working on and off of it, to finish. Not a bad timeline! 

But now my knitting bag is empty again...a dreadful tragedy indeed. 

Maybe I should try mittens next winter? 

Old-fashionably yours, 

Catherine

+JMJ+

Blessings! 

I hope your Lent is going well! I found this old post that I had published in Maidens for Mary several years back while I was finishing up my post on Byzantine fasts. So since we're in Lent, I thought I would share it with you all! 

During this season of Lent, I wanted to write a post about abstinence and some ways that people can observe it. I know that there are several myths about it, but there is one that I wish to address today: the myth that abstinence equals boring food. And that is simply not true!

         I have just started to perfect the art of omelet making. You'll have to skip the meat, of course, but there are plenty of cheese and veggie omelets to make! 

Italian Fare

1. Spaghetti
       It may seem weird without the meatballs, but I use it as a side dish to a lot of different meals. Just don't forget to use either a traditional mariana, or a 3 cheese sauce!

2. Pizza
      No sausage, pepperoni or meatlovers pizzas allowed, but there is always green pepper, veggie pizzas as well as the old standby: cheese pizza.

3. Other Pasta dishes
       One of my families mainstay Friday meals is baked ziti, with riccotta and mozzerella cheese. There is also fetticine alfredo, cheesy or veggie lasagnas (I highly recommend Stouffers Veggie Lasagna!), tortelini, mac and cheese, stuffed shells, ravioli, and so much more!

My first Tuna Chowder Copyright: Catherine Hawthorn

Meatless Soups

1. Fish Soups
          This usually takes the form of either seafood gumbos, or chowders such as clam or tuna chowder. I highly recommend the latter, especially Life Currents' version of it, which you can find HERE.

2. Veggie Soups
          While this immediately brings to mind various tomato based veggie soups, there are others. Corn chowder is really excellent (although you will miss the bacon), and I've even made a vegetarian chili that I really like.

So, people may be wondering....how do you get such a variety in your meals?

I must admit, it is with lots of practice. Like most Traditional Catholics, I abstain from meat on almost all Fridays.

Why do I do this? Wasn't that practice removed at Vatican II?
Indeed, the penalty of sin was removed. Lent is the only time in which abstinence is still mandatory.

In reality, Canon Law still states that we must observe some form of penance on all Fridays of the year. In most cases, this takes the form of extra prayers or personal penances. The USCCB even goes as far as to call Friday a "mini Lent". For more information, I would recommend The Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, which you can find HERE.

Is abstaining from meat on all Fridays an extraordinary penance? The modern Church seems to think so, because meat is so commonplace (USCCB). Yet, wouldn't it be more of a pleasing penance if we observed this "mini Lent" by giving up an ordinary thing that gives us pleasure? I certainly am more likely to forget say an extra chaplet or pray the Seven Sorrows devotion. Whereas, the abstaining from meat is a visible sign of penance and one that is most likely to be remembered.

And, abstinence is one of those great works in which demonic activity can be eliminated. If we are serious about our Faith and the preservation of our souls, we need to be soldiers or shields of Christ.

So I challenge you, my fellow Catholics, to use Lent as a jump-start to further your journey to successful abstinence and to even start keeping the "mini-Lents". Your sacrifices to God are never in vain, so do not be discouraged!

In corde Mariae, 

+JMJ+ 

The season of fasting is upon us once again! 

I must admit, fasting and abstinence was hard for me in the first couple of years I practiced my Faith. I was borderline hypoglycemic for much of my teens and early 20s. Plus, Fridays were often were marked by those nasty fishsticks, or other rather boring substitutes for meat. 

Once I went out to college, I began to experiment with my own food choices. When looking for resources, I found this blog called Finer Femininity. I highly encourage you Catholic ladies to check that blog out. The author, Mrs. VanPutten, often publishes excerpts of books dealing with the spiritual life and Catholic culture. It is through her that I truly met Maria von Trapp. 

When I first read an excerpt about traditional Lenten practices from her on Finer Femininity, I was floored. (for those who wish to find it, Mrs. VanPutten republishes it every year at the start of Lent, under "From Septuagesima to Ash Wednesday - Maria von Trapp"). I couldn't believe that people gave up so much for Lent! Even more so when I discovered that Byzantine Catholics still follow those ancient standards! 

What are these standards exactly, you might ask? 

What is not allowed: animal products (meat, animal fats, dairy, eggs), wine and oil (weekdays only)

What is allowed: fruits, grains, nuts, veggies, plant-based food. 

Basically, it's veganism. Just without the ideological trappings. 

Sounds very penitential, no? I certainly thought so. 

Admittedly, I was curious. I love a challenge. I thought, if they could do it, why can't I? 

Then one day, I asked myself  NO, the Holy Spirit asked me - why don't I experiment with doing a Byzantine style fast for Lent one year? 

Obviously, I was not going to do be able to do this for the entirety of Lent. For one, I was going to get bored and sick of the foods that were allowed. Two, I was afraid of losing weight (I was already skinny, I didn't need anorexia). And besides, wise priests have always said to break fasting in slowly. So I decided to try doing Byzantine style fasts on one or two of the two canonical fast days - Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. 

The first Lent I tried it was 2019. For my main meal, I had plain quinoa, a salad with no dressing, and a grapefruit. To say that it was unpalatable was an understatement. Why I didn't give it up after that is one of life's greatest mysteries.  

The second was 2020, in which I made a sweet potato quinoa chili. I had had before at Lia's house but this was my first time making it myself. While I really liked how it turned out, my family wasn't a huge fan of it. I also made salads and bread that year.  

I believe I skipped 2021, for reasons that I honestly do not remember. Most likely, I ended up missing my night to cook because I was waitressing, and hence ate whatever my mom made. 

For 2022, I decided to do Veggie Quesadillas. Obviously, with me skipping the cheese. Which was probably just as well, because I had horrendous stomach pains the night before from something I ate. I used breadcrumbs as a binder, which was a smart move in hindsight. Salsa and fajita seasoning are spicy and the breadcrumbs mitigated just enough that I didn't have to reach for the ranch. However, I wouldn't chalk it up as a total success - quesadillas definitely need cheese in order for them to work. 

I ended up missing Ash Wednesday this year because I was stuck buying food instead of making it. But this doesn't mean that I'm giving up on this practice entirely, far from it! However, I have still been struggling with finding food that still tastes decent and is culinarily sound....and something that all of my family will eat.

Between 2022 and 2023, I have been slowly gathering up recipes that could be used for Byzantine fasts. This has led to some rather questionable search results - apparently Pinterest thinks I'm vegan now, lol. The main problem has been that many vegan staples such as chickpeas, mushrooms, lentils, etc. are foods that my family doesn't touch. I suppose many of these experiments will have to wait until I get my own kitchen, lol. 

That being said, there are a couple of resources that I have either found helpful or I will be checking out in the near future. 

The first is the YouTube channel Eastern Hospitality, which is co-hosted by a Byzantine monk and nun. It's a pity that this channel didn't last long because their recipes look really awesome and they had some great insights on Byzantine traditions! 

The second is the book The Joy of Fasting which is co-written by Scott Hahn. This Lenten cookbook features several recipes that can be adapted to fit in the Byzantine requirements. 

The third is the cookbook The ByziMom's Guide to Great Fast Meals. This is the one that I haven't checked out yet, but I really want to! The story behind this book is amazing. This woman and her family have basically moved to observing the Byzantine fast 365 days a year because of a serious health condition. Obviously, they had a lot of time for trial and error, so they must know what they are doing! 

This journey is definitely not over. I think this will be a long journey, but it will be a very satisfying one. And I encourage you all to join me in it! 

What sort of Lenten meals do you do? Do you have any traditional favorites? I'd love to hear them! 

And, if you need inspiration for Lenten meals, I have another post coming this week! 

God bless,

Catherine