Liturgical Lifestyle | October Overview

October is Ordinary Time, but my wheels have been running away with me this September, and I need to get to grips with things.  Now that I'm finally still for a good couple of weeks and am awaiting immigration progress, I feel like some orderliness is called for.

The plan: a sort of "fast," a.k.a. go back to eating healthfully like I did midsummer.  Fasts, which are more like abstaining in that I avoid certain foods, have been a regular part of my life since trying to live according to the liturgical year.  I have high aims for monastery soups and herbal teas, but will probably fall back onto my faithful old peanut butter and apples combination.  I want to brush up on my spiritual life as well, and with Afon safe under the care of his daddy and teachers in Wales, I'm more flexible about packing up and off to Mass or services at odd times of the day . . . if I can get the car before someone else does.

I wish I could look forward to curling up next to a wood-burning stove or in a wool sweater, but it's hot as . . . you know . . . out here.  My grandmother is expecting a visit, however, and she might be open to drive north into the mountains.  I was just up at Nashville last weekend to photograph a wedding, and fall is blooming in the foothills.

I'm a jumble of thoughts and disorganization, so . . . anyone want to go in on this diet/fast/spiritual retreat with me?  If I'm real good, I'll even frame my day around a monastery schedule (which I have never been able to execute successfully).

I'm cringing as I imagine two weeks from now looking back on this and seeing I've stuck with approximately none of it!  What do you do to get motivated/stay on task?  What's the month ahead look like for you?