Sally Thomas

At Light on Dark Water, conversation about a luminous novel: Pilgrim’s Inn, by the mid-20th-century English writer Elizabeth Goudge. . . . . Continue Reading »

Over the summer, as you may remember, I posted lists of my household’s reading here and here. Well, now the last sun of summer has set over the gables here at the House of Curiosities. In actual point of fact, the sun set, as it does every day, over the Aspen Street viaduct to the west of us, . . . . Continue Reading »

The other day we visited Saint John the Baptist in Tryon, North Carolina, where renovations gallop apace. Here, today, you may tour — not for the sake of comparison; as we all know, comparisons are odious — my own parish church, inside and out. Now, I love it, but as you can see, this is . . . . Continue Reading »

At best, Brad Gooch’s Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor delivers a mixed cargo of goods. Gooch’s portrait of this major American writer, with its entertaining wealth of “Flannery” anecdotes from people who knew her in various capacities”family, neighbors, literary associates, spiritual advisors, admirers”depicts the kind of character for whom the phrase “an interesting person in her own right” was coined. And yet it’s a fragmented portrait, with a sour aftertaste… Continue Reading »

This is a blog concerned with the material culture of religion, and as a general rule, I don’t write about politics. I do, however, write about weirdness. And there’s something about the saga of my hometown mayor which attains to the level of — well, at least of the voodoo products . . . . Continue Reading »

My computer is moving at the speed of mud this morning. I type a sentence, then I go away and scrub the bathtub while I wait for my words to appear on the screen. This is one way, I suppose, to juggle the demands of work and household; in other circumstances, given the same list of tasks to . . . . Continue Reading »

altar railpair of altar gatesmonstrancebanner18th-century fiddleback chasuble Hurry! stoleor iconThese things need good homes in churches and/or with clergy. Thank you. More to come. . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve spent the evening — well, what was left of it after dinner and baths and stories and the rosary and people wanting to keep their lights on after lights out and other people wanting to take showers upstairs at the same time that the dishes were being washed downstairs, which is . . . . Continue Reading »

We’re back, after an eventful few days. On Friday, you might remember, I was to have driven a group of boys — the Holy Crusaders from our parish — to the U.S. Army Chaplain Museum in Columbia, South Carolina. This plan did not materialize. I had lost my van’s registration . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m out all day both today and tomorrow, first at our Latin-Mass-Holy-Hour-Pa-Looza, and then on a day-long field trip to a military-chaplains’ museum. As I was casting about for some religious idea to leave you with, my eye fell on the dog, who has been stalking flies. He’s not . . . . Continue Reading »