New BLOG
My new blog for my fiction writing is up, bare bones and I will add meat and muscles as I go along. One of my faithful readers said to me, I am still waiting. So here it is in it nakedness.
By any other name
Thanks for reading.

Maintaining the Identity of Caitriona
Upon further thought, I will create a new blog to accommodate my fictional musings and maintain the pilgrim journey here at Caitriona. I realize that I didn't really give any warning to my readers. We have moved into the house pictured here in Sutton, MA, a little town just outside of Worcester. Acquiring a third Massachusetts address may seem like we are circling the wagon and that is exactly what it feels like. At this point we are looking to resettle here in the Commonwealth, the home of our fathers.
Look for a link in the future for my fictional writing.

Not to be taken for Granted

Brilliant, breath-taking, crisp, is one way to start describing an autumn day in New England. The colors are alive here in Sutton and my personal favorite is the mix of orange and red, a very different type of eye candy. Some times this mix of the two colors looks very much like the color of my daughter Katie's copper red hair.
Today as I was driving home with my kids in a sea of color, I noted that there were some years when I took it all for granted. Honestly, I didn't bother to take note of the Father's captivating handiwork. The trees were made this way on purpose. Soon they will be bare. What a way to die! Full of lively color! It's that the way we ought to live.
May the Lord grant me the willingness to continue to live life for all it is worth until my last breath. As long as my spirit is renewed day by day, I will gladly continue to walk the path laid before me, though the body may grow old, I will purpose to be a child of the King, dancing in His garden, enjoying crunching leaves (one of the best noises in New England) and resisting the urge to give up when I face the hills of difficulty.

Home Again......
We are making our home again in MA for the 3rd time this year. Not sure if I have talked about it on my blog here, but the Mullaney Pilgrims are looking to settle down. At this point it looks like it will be the greater Worcester area but we will see how things play out over the next few weeks.
And those that we know and love from long ago are saying welcome home. Truth be told, I would like to make my home here again. From a political and cost of living stand point it is probably not one of the best places to live. However, from a personal level it is one of the best places to live on this side of the Atlantic. The five of us were all born here so in a human from the dust of the ground sense this is our mother land.
This has been our 16th move in 5 and 1/2 years. People say, "How do you do it?" Pack up, clean up and go.....by faith. The last 2 moves although fairly close together have been really different. It is as if we are in a holding pattern waiting on the tower to let us know it is OK to land. So for now we are circling and looking forward to settling down somewhere in the future.
PAX,
CM

The Craft

During my senior year of high school (yes, I can remember that far back), Pat Stewart was my English teacher. In all my years of public education I can probably count on one hand the teachers that inspired me, Pat was one of them. The only reason that I got to have Miss Stewart for English was because I almost flunked out of the honors English program my junior year and so I was not allowed to advanced in the honors program in English. I am so grateful for it.


A large part of our grade in Miss Stewart's class was our personal journal that we were required to write during every class. The content was of our own choosing: fact or fiction the point was to write daily while in her classroom. My journal may still be in my mother's possession, now that is a frightening thought, because I am pretty sure that you might describe the contents as "bleeding all over the page" or "verbal diarrhea." However, the point is it was raw, unedited attempt to communicate in writing, a dangerous activity, which is essential to personal and business relationships throughout our lives.


Recently, I have quoted from The Christian Imagination and it was while reading it this morning that I thought of Miss Stewart. Writing is a craft worth cultivating just like acting, sculpting, playing a musical instrument, architecture, and the list goes on. "Beautifully written" "Well said" "a storyteller in the making" "this should be made into a movie" or as Luci Shaw said in her article from The Christian Imagination, "my soul crying out to your soul," all comments on writing. Miss Stewart believed that every student in her senior class had the ability to write. Learning to express ourselves through the written word is essential to a well educated individual.


God created us in His Image and He is the great Creator! We were made for creating, that includes writing. He is, after all, the Author of Life. In fact, one of the names of God is "The Word." It is natural for us to be creative in some way. There is no such thing as a non-creative person.



If you subscribe to this blog then you know that I missed writing yesterday and I missed it. Friday's post was to explain that I am writing fiction, since my blog is written in the first person, one of my readers expressed concern that someone may think I have picked up smoking again or that you just might be scratching your head trying to figure out where I am going with this blog. Well, I will be writing the way I always have coupled with the raw piece of fiction which is a work in progress, a creative outlet.

With iMaGiNaTIoN
(I'll get there)
By Harry Connick Jr./McLean

I've travelled many a mile
And I haven't found a home
I've travelled many a mile
And one seed's unsown
I'll travel another mile
"Til I finally find my own
With Imagination
I'll get there

I started with a dream
But came to a decision
I started with a dream
But now I have a mission
I have a goal
To see beyond my vision
With imagination
I'll get there

I've got to be strong
TO CLIMB THE NEXT HILL
I've got to be strong
MY FATE TO FULFILL
And from a strength
STRONGER THAN MY WILL
WITH IMAGINATION
I'LL GET THERE

In my father's house
No harsh words are spoken
In my father's house
No vows are broken
In a holy place
My soul like beams oaken
With Imagination
I'll get there

When weary is your world
Go and spin another
When weary is your world
There's heaven to discover
Here on earth
We're sister and brother
With imagination
We'll get there

And if I stand alone
To my cause I'm loyal
If I stand alone
Either common or royal
I'm not afraid
To cross their see of toil
With Imagination
I'll get there
With Imagination
I'll get there