Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lost Pendant and Found…Thanks to St. Anthony

Pendant

About a month ago our daughter got this key pendant from an arts and craft fair in Maine. As it turns out, she really likes it. She wears it every so often. A few Sundays ago, she wore it as usual. Went to service and had a great time. All was well, until she got home and realized the pendant was missing. The chain was intact…but no pendant.

I was torn between consoling her and explaining to her that an earthly thing should not cause her such distress and between trying to help her find it. The mom chimed along as we made the trek back to church hoping it fell off onto the pew we had sat. We also meticulously looked for it on the way to church with no luck. On getting to church, we had no luck either…it was nowhere to be found.

As we left church, I made a suggestion to her; “You should ask St. Anthony of Padua to help you find it!”

“I think we should ask Jesus on this one!” She exclaimed feeling desperate.

“Just ask St. Anthony…He will do it” I replied confidently and made my way back home. I asked St. Anthony to help me find it. After all, he is the patron saint to lost objects. You will not believe my joy for about halfway to our house, i looked down and found the pendant. Trust me…even I was surprised…. we all three had walked up this way looking for it and not found it…and here it was right in front of my eyes! Thanks to St. Anthony.

I told them we could go home. I had found it…and the disbelieve in her eyes said it all. When she inquired how, I said…St. Anthony did it…He’s a wonderful and swift saint. I took the pendant and double ringed it on her chain to avoid such a situation again.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Kitchen Garden

Among the many activities we love to do as a family is to plant a small kitchen garden every Spring. It does not take much to have a garden going. For those who like raised beds, it is easy to purchase them from the garden section of most hardware stores. We grew up tilling the land and planting directly into the tilled ground.

Preparing a garden directly onto the ground does take a little bit of time…but the interaction with nature and soil is such a relaxing, healing experience. (especially if you don’t mind getting your hands and feet dirty). One can always use gardening gloves and boots if need be. The tools to the do the job, the options are many…we use a “fork Jembe” imported from our home.

We like to plant a variety of vegetables as well as fruits and flowers. This season we got a lot of produce…from kale, Zucchini, butternut, cantaloupe, scallions, cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes, corn, and so much more. What is different this year is that the Spring was kind dry but July-August has been rainy. This has had a wonderful effect on the tomatoes and kale… the garden looks and ‘feels’ happy.

One aspect I have to mention; Gardening also does have its challenges. The biggest challenge, animals…from groundhogs that love the kales and cabbage to deers that will eat almost anything green. Well, a fence can keep some of these animals out of your garden but ultimately…you may have to share with them. When it comes to nutrients, to stay truly organic, use animal manure and not fertilizers. Pest control is another topic but the less chemicals you use, the better…after all this is one of the purposes for our kitchen garden…eat fresh and organic.

Now for the best part, thanks to a friend, I got a nice recipe for the zucchini…zucchini cake. Love it…so delicious and healthy. Even the mention of it makes my mouth water. Just reach out for a quick and easy recipe. The kale, tomatoes and more have made dinners a ‘garden to table’ experience. We have had so much produce that we have friends come over and pick what they want. We can only be grateful to God for his Providence. It is fun to garden…try it!