What is an Amateur?

    What is an amateur? Is it someone new at an activity?  Someone inept and inexperienced? Can an amateur be an expert at their activity?

    I have always been a huge fan of the Nancy Drew books.  When I was younger, it was for the adventure and the mystery.  Now that I'm older, I still enjoy them as a good way to just relax, plus I find it fascinating how they were created, and how they have changed over the years.  Nancy Drew is the classic amateur detective.  But after solving 56 mysteries in the original series alone, one can hardly call her inept or inexperienced.  No, her "amateur" standing comes from the fact that she doesn't solve mysteries because she is paid to do it, or because she has been professionally trained  - she does it because she loves to do it.

  G. K. Chesterton once wrote: "The word amateur has come by the thousand oddities of language to convey an idea of tepidity; whereas the word itself has the meaning of passion. Now is this peculiarity confined to the mere form of the word; the actual characteristic of these nameless dilettanti is a genuine fire and reality. A man must love a thing very much if he not only practices it without any hope of fame or money, but even practices it without any hope of doing it well.  Such a man must love the toils of the work more than any other man can love the rewards of it."  The word amateur is from the french, meaning "one who loves." An amateur may indeed be quite good her craft, but she needn't be.  She need only love it.

   I am an amateur.  I do many many things,  simply because I love to do them, or occasionally because I love the one I do them for.  I say I am the rambling amateur both because I have a tendency to be long winded when I write, and also because I have so many different hobbies that I rarely stay with just one for long.  And I'm always eager to learn something new, whether it is in one of my current interests or in the pursuit of a new one.  If I am an expert in anything, it is in being an amateur.

   It has been a long time since I have posted on this blog, and many things have changed in the last four years.  But now I return, as I so often return to my hobbies.  I come back with new knowledge and new ideas, and I am eager to learn more.  I have more focus now, on what this blog is.  It is the blog of a Rambling Amateur, to share what I learn and discover, and how I discovered it.  

Butchering day...

Always a fun day, I must admit. Butchering day. This year we had 125 chickens to do, and I think it went pretty well. I shall spare you the bloody details, and instead treat you to a poem I wrote on the subject. Enjoy, if you can! ;) (Warning, this poem is not for the faint of heart.  It is a poem on the butchering of chickens.  This is a necessary activity, for those who eat meat.  If you are a vegetarian, please do not yell at me.  I completely disagree with your views, although you are free to hold them.  Our chickens led happy lives, eating and running around on fresh green grass.  Although many chickens died, none suffered. Thank you.)


Bloody Good Fun

The morning dew still shines on the grass
The roar of water filling steel basins
Still fills the air.
It is a day two months in the making.
Bloody good fun.

Our small pleasures For this day are ready.
Spirited coffee,
Dino, King George, and AJ
Crooning in the background.
Bloody good fun.

Iʼm good at what I do, and I enjoy it,
This once a year event.
Bloody good fun.

But now, as I sleep, it continues.
Ears strain for the sound of the choppers
Come to deny our rest.
Feet sore from the cold cement floor.
Nose still filled with the stench.
 Eyes weary from the endless focus;
One wrong cut and bitter green poison breaks
Or worse -- my own blood mixes with that on the table.
Bloody good fun.

My hands feel the most.
Their memory wakes me
As I drift off to sleep.
The feeling wonʼt leave,
The motion continues.
The scrape
The twist
The pull
The warm, oily, softness.
Iʼm good at what I do, and I enjoy it.
Bloody good fun.

A friend having her own "Bloody Good Fun"

Home again, home again, jiggity jog...

Wow, what a week!  So much for a nice, quiet, summer!  It's been a fun one, though.  Last week, I had the privilege of chaperoning for the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Girl's Youth Camp in Wisconsin.  It was wonderful - and exhausting.
I went into this experience entirely unsure of what to expect.  Also, I might add, everything my siblings told me to expect was wrong.  I was told (by my siblings) that chaperones got to sleep in the house.  Not true.  I was also told that the mothers and legal-age chaperones got wine after hours.  Also not true.  Actually, the disappointment of the truth in these matters was greatly lessoned by the fact that the chaperones were allowed to use the indoor bathrooms, unlike the poor campers who had to use porta-pottys.  Ah, the simple things in life!
As I said, it was a wonderful week.  Things were a little different this year, or so I understand.  The group of 90 girls was divided into 8 teams, and each team had its own chaperone.  I got the green team, which was pretty much an awesome group of girls.  My biggest regret is that I wasn't able to get to know them all better, as we were very busy with things like olympics and silly olympics and talks, and drying out our tents.
Yes, we got rained on Monday night and Tuesday morning.  Actually, it was more like poured on.  I don't think there was a single dry tent in the place.  I was lucky - only my blankets got wet.  Many girls had there bags soaked, as well as sleeping bags and pillows.  I didn't hear any complaints, though - other than those tempered with laughter.  A couple of wonderful volunteers spend the day Tuesday drying everyone's things out, enabling dry beds by Tuesday night.
Activities of the week included Olympics, with competitions like a soccer relay and tug of war (green won the tug of war!) Silly Olympics, with a sack race,  horseback riding, and a cooking contest.  I did get to help with the cooking contest, and had a blast.  Iron Chef, here I come!  My team, as I said before, was awesome.  We didn't win the cooking contest, but everyone made a good effort.  Next time we'll get it!
The best part of the week was the talks.  Everyday we had Mass in the morning, with a homily, and there was a formation talk after breakfast.  We were constantly reminded of the dignity and importance of women, and how much we can teach the world.  We are all called to be mothers, sometimes spiritually, sometimes physically.
One of the talks was on Our Lady of Guadeloupe.  There is so much symbolism in the image that I never knew about!  For example, did you know that the color of her veil was a color reserved for the Emperor, under pain of death?  Or that the angel below her was one of the Aztec gods?  I would go over all of it, but I think it may be better kept for another blog post :)
One of the greatest gifts of the week, I hope received by all, was the gift of good, true, friendships.  I made new friends, got to see some "old" friends (who I met last month at the Sursum Corda camp,) and was blessed to be able to reconnect with a very old friend, whom I had not seen in about six years.  I made some young friends, and some older friends, and the best part is knowing that these are people who will pray for me, (and who I will pray for,) and who I will hopefully meet again - if not here, than in heaven.
This is a prayer that one of my fellow chaperones shared:

Morning Prayer

Grant, O Lord, that none may love Thee less this day because of me;

That never one word or act of mine may turn one soul from Thee;

And ever daring yet one more grace would I implore: 

That many souls this day, because of me, may love Thee more. Amen

Sursum Corda Young Adults Camp - Part One

Yes, I survived the weekend - even the driving.  It was glorious.  We even had perfect weather.
Between my sister and I, we took LOTS of pictures - 1161, to be exact.  Of course, not all of them turned out, but I'm sure I can find a few to post ;).

Our journey started with a trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, just outside of Green Bay, WI.  It is the site of a Marian apparition in 1859, which has been recently approved by the Church - the only approved site in the United States.

Mary asked Adele to teach the children "their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments." Adele started a school and a chapel. 

  The candles were in the crypt below the chapel, built on the site of the apparitions.

There was also this beautiful pieta statue.  If you look closely, you can see crutches in the background, from those who have had favors granted.











As promised, I lit a candle for my family, friends, and readers.

We happened to be visiting on the feast day of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, making these statues in the main chapel even more meaningful...and a bit of a surprise!

The main alter has a beautiful statue of Mary and the Child Jesus.  On one side of the chapel there is a display with a statue given to Sr. Adele for processions (and still used today!) and two reliquaries.  One (center) contains wood from the trees Mary appeared on, and the other (right) a piece of the Blessed Virgin's veil.

Outside, they have a field with the Stations of the Cross in the center, and the mysteries of the rosary around the outside.  I really liked the way they did the rosary.  There were five banners, and on one side would be the first mysteries (for example,) and the other side had the fifth, so it didn't matter which side you started on.  Between the mysteries there were a couple of shrines and benches to stop and pray, such as this small grotto.

Another beautiful little spot was this Fatima shrine.  The statues are just gorgeous!

So concludes the first stop on our journey.  We had to drive a few hours south to our hotel, and we did a little shopping for some lavender lotion.  The mosquitos were very healthy - and hungry - in Wisconsin!  I also bought some awesome sandals :)

On Education

This is my last full official week in my pursuit of higher education.  Next Tuesday, I graduate with an Individualized Studies Associates Degree in Small Business Entrepreneurship.  In other words, I shall be FREE to actually learn again ;).  I have enjoyed most of my classes, and will miss many of my instructors.
I considered not posting anything this week, due to the two portfolios, two projects, and two final exams I still have to have done by Tuesday, not to mention the third final due Thursday. And then there is my mind which is ready to explode or go on strike, and keeps wanting to speculate what the future will bring.  In other words,  I am insanely busy at the moment.  BUT I didn't want to neglect my readers, so here are some of my favorite quotes by G.K. Chesterton on Education:

“No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete.”


"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.”


“Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”


“Education is the period during which you are being instructed by somebody you do not know, about something you do not want to know.”