One Catholic Life Blog

4th of July Parade #2

Family / Travel

Independence Day in Small Town America

Celebrating the 4th of July in a small town is a cornucopia of Cowboys, corndogs, and carousels. This year we spent Independence Day with my wife’s family in Idaho, taking in as much Americana as we could. We began yesterday by catching candy thrown from the floats at the Grangeville Border Days parade, then stuffed ourselves on shaved ice, grilled burgers and corndogs. The kids had fun spinning around on carnival rides and winning prizes from the carnies. In the evening we enjoyed a rodeo, complete with barrel...

Spider sculpture

Photos

What would Peter Jackson think?

This bizarre statue was in a park across the street from where my son’s pickup was disabled. I wonder if Peter Jackson could use it as inspiration for the monster spiders in The Hobbit.

American Goldfinch

Audio

Backyards Birds at Breakfast

Audio of a few birds in my backyard. Recorded with my iPhone this morning. http://www.nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/backyards-birds-at-breakfast.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Moody Blues

Music

Moody Blues in Concert

I’ve been experimenting with the Posterous iPhone app, and I thought I’d check to see how Posterous integrated with my blog. Please pardon me if this post disappears. This is video from a Moody Blues concert I attended a few weeks ago. Great concert. I never thought I’d have a chance to see these guys perform live. http://www.nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/moodyblues.m4vPodcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Oregon Sunset

Spirituality

55 Ways to Start the New Year

Three years ago for Lent, Orthodox priest Fr. Tom Hopko wrote a list of “things that a believer would do if he were really a believer.” As 2011 begins, this is going to be the list I use for my spiritual development. Here are his 55 maxims (If you’re interested in a fuller explanation of the maxims, be sure to listen to this episode of Fr. Tom’s podcast, “Speaking the Truth in Love”): Be always with Christ and trust God in everything Pray as you can, not as...

Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything

Books and Reading

The 10 Best Books I Read in 2010

These are the best ten books I read this year in rough order of how enriching and enjoyable they were: The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by Fr. James Martin, SJ The Road by Cormac McCarthy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing by Peter Kreeft Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird The Children of Hurín by J.R.R. Tolkien Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer by Fr. Thomas Dubay A Travel Guide to...

Books and Reading / Teaching

Mortimer Adler: The Forgotten Educational Reformer

I firmly believe that Mortimer Adler is one of the most misunderstood and neglected thinkers of the last one hundred years. Often labeled elitist and Eurocentric, people often confuse his views on education with people like Allen Bloom and Ed Hirsch, who advocate a kind of cultural literacy as a key component of education. On the contrary, I believe Adler’s views on educational reform are deeply democratic and innovative. He was recommending changes to the educational system decades before other more trendy names were found for them. The...