I'm Back! ft. July Wrap-Up + Quirk

Peoples! Hello! I am returned! I finished my internship the second-to-last week of July, and I am highly enjoying being an Unattached Personage again. (As you may have noticed, I've taken the opportunity given by Much Free Time to revamp the blog's design. I've done a bit with it this week, and there may be more to come. We'll have to see. I'm excited to fix some issues and spruce things up a bit!) 

As almost always happens, being on hiatus has given me a wealth of post ideas, including an idea for a new series which I'm quite excited about, if I can pull it off! I actually have post ideas for 50-75% of my posts until January? Which is kind of weird. XD But I'm looking forward to sharing all of these things that have sparked my interest with you in the months to come. 

As it is indeed the last week of July, I thought it would be meet to restart my monthly wrap-ups! 

Oh, but before I jump in: I just wanted to mention that I had an article (a modified version of this blog post) published by Ablaze Family Ministries, which is an organization that is dedicated to putting together resources to help Catholic families grow in their faith. Which I think is a pretty worthy cause. :) Here's the link, if you'd like to check it out!

The hayloft was a nice perch for reading Unfinished Tales and watching the goats. :)

1. The July term of my internship passed much as the June part did, with most days looking like my day in the life post, although I did also learn how to bottle the milk, which was really fun. (There were also some interesting personnel happenings, too, like someone almost getting run over, and a pair of religious fanatics who snuck away after a couple of weeks of work without giving notice, but with a nasty text message to the owner of the farm, who did not deserve any of what they said. So that was interesting. XD) By the second week of July, I was starting to feel like I'd learned what I'd come to learn in the month and three quarters I'd been there already, and I was ready to spend the rest of the summer working on things like excessive numbers of blog posts and getting my life a bit more together before going back to college, so it was a relief to work my last week last week, although I will miss many of the people--and the goats, of course!

Photo credit: The Times of Israel, strangely enough

2. One of the most memorable (and perhaps most favorite) books I read this month was Heretics by G. K. Chesterton. Given that it's been two (or maybe three?) years since I read Orthodoxy for the first time...it was about time! (I think this also means I've read all the major nonfiction books by my favorite Catholic apologist? Heretics, Orthodoxy, and Everlasting Man? Correct me if I'm wrong.) I highly enjoyed the format, each chapter attacking a heresy or heretic/heretical thinker of his time, as well as the various hints of themes that he develops later in Orthodoxy--wonder, the role of love in making things what they should be, pessimism & optimism, &c. I think my favorite chapters were that one devoted the opposition of Kipling and the one about wine & the Prohibition. Chesterton is also, as always, brilliant, and brilliant at being brilliant--I wrote down scads of quotes. Some favorites:

"The strong cannot be brave. Only the weak can be brave."

"Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable."

"Posting a letter and getting married are among the few things left that are entirely romantic; for to be entirely romantic, a thing must be irrevocable."

"When Thomas Aquinas asserted the spiritual liberty of man, he created all the bad novels in the circulating libraries."

"Once men sang together round a table in chorus; now one man sings alone, for the absurd reason that he can sing better."

"The men of the clan live together because they all wear the same tartan or are all descended from the same sacred cow; but in their souls, by the divine luck of things, there will always be more colours than in any tartan. But the men of the clique live together because they have the same kind of soul, and their narrowness is the narrowness of spiritual coherence and contentment, like that which exists in hell."

"Ideas are dangerous, but the man to whom they are most dangerous is the man of no ideas."

Photo credit: my uncle

3. My siblings and dad and I, along with our cousins Gimli and Pippin and their dad got to go backpacking the weekend after I finished my job! It was a 3.8-mile hike to a campground on a lake with a beautiful view of a gorgeous mountain, which was perfect because a) it was Gandalf's first backpacking trip and the hike wasn't difficult, b) we all love scenery, and c) we ALSO all love to swim, especially Galadriel, who might swim better than I do, despite just having begun to learn this February. At one point during the hike in, we realized that there were nine of us, and assigned each other the names of the Nine Walkers (with almost no respect for my blog naming, lol, but which meant that I ended up as Aragorn, which I'm NOT complaining about), which was great fun.
Other highlights:
-Building a one-match fire for the first time, and then burning it all the way to coals with no half-charred pieces of wood left (as one should!)
-Pushing each other off the dock into the lake over and over
-Sitting up late singing songs around the fire, ending with "Misty Mountains" right as the fire died and we adjourned for the night
-Napping in a backpacker hammock

4. Some sibling quotes from this month: 

Me: Galadriel, are you excited for [thing I was excited for]?
Galadriel: Do I have to be honest?

[on the backpacking trip]
Dad: [to Galadriel] Look, it's going downhill!
Galadriel: You're going downhill.

Gandalf's birthday card for Mom: "Favorite earthly mother, you are almost closer to 90 than birth."

Legolas: What's more important, marriage or gelato?
Galadriel: Gelato! The choice is clear.

Eomer: I'd write a hundred essays for five hundred dollars!

Dad: I'll remind you of that when it's time to apply for scholarships.

(As you may be able to tell, Galadriel has developed QUITE the dry sense of humor since I've been at school, which is honestly a delight--and the occasion of much hilarity.)

I got to lay out two pairs of vestments for the sacramental extravaganza, which you'd better believe I enjoyed!  

5. I think I've mentioned that I had a part-time job this summer as a Wedding Liturgy Assistant (basically a wedding coordinator) at my parish. I had several nice weddings in May and June, but since a) I was still trying to get my feet under me and b) I had one wedding with a bridezilla and a priestzillo (if that's even a thing...NOT one of our priests, of course) on the same day as another wedding, those were not the most relaxing months of weddings. On the other hand, in July I had two weddings, both of which were for couples I knew slightly and who were committed Catholics who knew what getting married in the Church meant, and who had planned beautiful and reverent Nuptial Masses, one of which also involved the bride getting Confirmed and receiving her First Communion. Both of the Masses involved altar servers, which was also fun, and one of them involved a visiting Dominican celebrant, which meant I got to meet a new Dominican, so I count that as a win. All in all, those two weddings were an absolute joy to plan and execute, and I really enjoyed the weekends I spent on each. They made me look forward to taking on more WLA duties in the future, which was a tad in doubt after June.

 

6. In the annals of books-which-weren't-great-but-highly-enjoyable, I picked up Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jessie Q. Sutanto on a whim at the library one day (this may or may not have been in the thick of the two weddings & rehearsals thereof), and while it's 
1. A sequel whose first book I haven't read
2. Suffering from I-just-want-more-of-these-characters syndrome, i.e. a bit lacking in the plot department
3. A bit marred by the inclusion of some Language
it's also the funniest book I've read certainly this year, and possibly in the entire life. I was absolutely rolling The Entire Time--I read the whole thing in one afternoon, and I'm not sure I've ever laughed more in a two-hour window. The amount of misunderstanding, well-meaning sabotage, comedy of errors, and overall mayhem that can be wreaked by four aunties is not to be believed--except that it's completely *believable*. 
So, if you're feeling down in the dumps at any point, I'd highly recommend this book as a pick-me-up. (And also, besides the language, it's very clean! (Although there is one scene that's *implied* fade to black (not even explicitly fade to black)))

7. After a couple of months off, I'm really happy to be back to participating in Jem's Quirks! Here's the link if you'd like to join in, and I hope you enjoy my take on the prompt! 

The veiled statue doesn't move, but the threat radiates from her obscured face. I purse my lips. It's unfortunate that my parents' innocent cottage (as was) should contain such a malicious piece of art. It's unfortunate that such a malicious piece of art should even exist.

"Why do you even have her around, Matt?" I ask, without looking behind me. 

"Sarah liked her," he answers, with a fake off-handedness. 

Ah. If my sister-in-law, who the whole family secretly suspected of being one of the Banned Folk, had brought this statue into my brother's house, there was no way he was ever getting rid of it. Even though the rest of the family privately thought that we were lucky to be rid of her, he had sincerely mourned her death. Or apparent death, I thought to myself, as I surveyed the statue. I'm pretty sure there was nothing quite this...malevolent...in my brother's cottage before her "death". 

I turn to glance at my brother, who's tidying up one of the side tables and pretending not to pay attention at me. The fragrance of roses drifts in through the open windows. Sarah's addition to the house. I think it was fine without them, and so did my mother, rest her soul, but Matt loved them. He bustles out of the room, carrying the tea tray from our modest repast. 

As I turn back towards the statue, I catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. Giving it my full attention once more, I find that one of the hands has moved, quite a bit closer to my neck. 

I put a hand on my hip. "I assume I deserve this," I say. (Of course, I assume nothing of the sort, but politeness is always a good policy when interacting with one of the Banned Folk, or really anyone for that matter.) "But," I continue, "can you tell me why you want to kill me this time? Or rather, why you're trying to kill me this time? I assume the reason is the same." This alleged assumption is true. I'm pretty sure she wants to kill me because I'm the person who accused her of being a Banned One to my brother's face. He didn't listen, but it was worth a try. And asking if she can tell me why she's trying to kill me is a legitimate question. I'm not entirely sure of the capabilities of evidently sentient statues.

The statue doesn't reply, putting on an excellent pretense of being just a statue. 

"Were you talking to someone?" Matt asks, re-entering the room, empty handed. 

"This statue," I reply. "When did Sarah acquire her, if I may ask?"

"The week before she--" he breaks off.

"I'm sorry," I say quickly. And I am. I don't want to cause my only brother grief, even if I have good reason to suspect that my sister-in-law was a bona fide murder harpy. And continues to be one, for that matter. As if I didn't have enough problems.

When I turn back to the statue, it's not a moment too soon. One hand is reaching towards my throat, claw-like, ready to grasp and squeeze. "Matt?" I say, experimentally, not taking my eyes off the statue, "would you look at this?"

He turns toward me and gasps in a breath. "Sarah!" he breathes. "She's still alive!"

"She's trying to kill me!" I protest. "Can't you see she's evil? We need to smash the statue!" 

But he doesn't listen. "My darling!" he cries and flings himself across the room towards the sculpture. 

"No--stop!" I try to forestall him, but it's too late.

He takes the statue in his arms and kisses it right where the lips would be behind the veil that covers the face. And, slowly, as he holds the pale statue, color creeps across it, turning the hard stone into living flesh again, and my sister-in-law, still regrettably alive, melts into his arms, sweeps the veil off of her face with one hand, and enthusiastically returns his kiss. Disgusting.

I huff a sigh and brace myself. Now I'm in for it.

"Darling!" says Matt. "I thought you were dead! What happened?"

"Your sister happened," she says.

I roll my eyes. I should have known this would be the first thing she'd do.

"My...sister?" Matt asks, confused. I'll give him this--he's at least a little loyal to the last living member of his family. "Why would she turn you into a statue?"

"Because she was jealous of me, my love. And because I came across her book of Banned spells."

Matt turns to me, hurt and betrayal on his face. "Banned spells? Is that true? Lily, did you do this?"

I jut my chin to try to keep it from quivering. "Maybe I did. And maybe I regret nothing. You didn't ever have any time for me after you married Sarah. I was lonely." I try and fail to stop my voice cracking on the last word.

"Lily, I--" Matt starts forward, but I don't give him a chance to try to minimize, or reason with me, or (horrors) hug me. I run out of the cottage, slamming the door behind me. If he can't appreciate the sister he has without his wife intruding, there's no reason for me to stay. 

What did you think??? Were you expecting the twist? Because I sure wasn't! It came to me when I was halfway through writing the story, and I was blown away by my own mind's duplicitousness. I've never done an unreliable narrator before, and I really enjoyed my first foray into that technique. :)

And with that, m'dears, I'm done for today! I'll see you next Friday!

How has your summer been so far? Have you ever written anything with an unreliable narrator? Do you ever read books just because they're funny, not because they're Amazing?