Liebster Part Two

Having failed to fully complete the requirements of my Liebster Award I hope to bring matters up to date with the set of questions posed by Ches of
The Sensible Bond.

Here they are:-


What inspired the title of your blog?

I was looking for a title that embraced meaning as well as being memorable. When I stumbled across Linen on the Hedgerow (a reference to the signal used in Ireland, in times of persecution of the Faith, to indicate that Mass would be celebrated at the house that hung its washing on the hedges to dry) I knew that I had found one that fitted my needs like a glove.


Why should people read your blog?

They shouldn't. They should avoid reading it at all costs (it's very bad for one's charismatic side)


What is your personal favourite post on your blog?

The man in the Vatican who never sleeps (but I don't really know why)


What has been the most popular (most viewed) post on your blog?

The one that I wrote concerning the devil, you may see it HERE. Apparently anything featuring the devil, mantillas, Ed Stourton or reception kneeling and by mouth receives great attention.


Which post on your blog has attracted most comments?

Really not sure. But this blog is blest with some very kind and charitable commentators - I value those contacts immensely.


What other hobbies or interests (beyond blogging) are you prepared to admit to?

My family, fishing, any country pursuits and Japanese food.

What are your hopes for the new pontificate?

That Pope Francis will celebrate the EF Mass in public; and that he will give most of the bishops of England and Wales a good spiritual kicking.

Where is your favourite place of pilgrimage, and why?

Lourdes is my favourite although, in May we plan to go to Fatima. Of course, being in Wales, I have a great affinity with the National Shrine of Our Lady of Cardigan but the diocese refuses to give our Mother a decent shrine so she has to make do with a 1970s hotel lobby. I love Lourdes because I feel truly at home there.

Who is your favourite spiritual author, and why?

Is Tolkien allowed? Pity. I think that it would then have to be Archbishop Fulton Sheen who should be canonised as a priority.


Which of these questions did you find it most difficult to answer?

Why should people read my blog? I can't really answer it sensibly.

Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party?

That is a most personal question and I refuse to answer it Comrade Ches.

A Liebster Award - are you sure you want to read this?

My thanks go to Ches at The Sensible Bond for nominating me for a Liebster Award.



I now have a number of hoops to jump through to qualify for this honour, and the first set of hoops involves me in coming clean with eleven personal facts.

Are you sure you want to read this? Are you able to sift the fact from the fiction?

Leave a comment if you think you can identify the fictional points.

Here goes (deep breath):


Part 1

1. I am a cradle Catholic

2. I am 28 years old

3. My wife and my children are my greatest joy and I really do not deserve them

4. I like a glass of malt whisky, Paddy whiskey, red wine and Rev James bitter but not at the same time. (I also have a liking for Manhattans but now I am beginning to sound like a dypsomaniac)

5. I am a fervent admirer of Ed Stourton and Clifford Longley and read The Tablet avidly

6. Liturgical dances are a wonderful accompaniment to the Ordinary Form of Mass

7. Having voted Conservative all my life I have vowed never to give this party my support again. The same applies to Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP. Help!

8. For nearly 20 years I worshipped each Sunday in a chapel within our home mainly without a priest present

9. My household is dogless but, every time I see a whippet or lurcher in the street I have a strong desire to break the seventh commandment

10. Japanese food is my weakness, eaten accompanied to the strains of a Chinese Orchestra

11. My ambition is to live on the Island of Ithica but only if there is an orthodox Catholic priest also residing there, plus my family, of course

A lobster award?

No, it's a Liebster Award

- and many thanks to Tony Layne of Outside the Asylum who nominated this blog for one; I am honoured and humbled.

But now I have to nominate five other blogs, whom I admire and who all have less than 200 followers.

So here goes....

1. Kissing the Leper - crept in at the end of Tony's list but deserves a full place in her own right. Apart from interesting posts, the title is a good and memorable one.

2. Streets of Gold, Olivia has a good way with words and her blog is never, ever, snarky, unlike mine.

3. An uncanny experience in Mass that closely mirrored my own when serving recently, the Licensed Fool, blog name On With the Motley recounts his own "Mertonesque" moment. A great blog.

4. Hah! the luck of the Irish (or should I say Providence).
 St Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association, (SCCHA for short) scrapes in with just 199 followers.
Again, this blog focuses on the good things in the faith and we need a few blogs like that to counteract the curmudgeonly among us.

5. Through Vocation is a blog run by a seminarian called Daniel (I'll pass on his surname). Apart from running a good blog, Daniel would be a worthy recipient of our prayers - we value our seminarians beyond all imagination, God bless them all!

So now, dear friends, the lobster  Liebster passes to you and, for your part, please find five blogs you admire, ask them to feature the award logo and...well you know what to do dammit!

An award - but not a big one

I do not say that in any disappointed or ungrateful fashion, I am always eternally grateful for any act of kindness.

In this case it's Michael (or, as I have discovered, Father Michael) at Pray-Lium who has nominated me as one of his awardees for the Liebster Awards.
Thank you Father M, much appreciated.

But now, under the terms of the deal award, I have to respond by nominating five of my favourite blogs. But, (there is always a but) the blogs that I nominate must have less than 200 followers.

So, here goes......

Number 1. This goes to Patrick Button for Button's Blog Why do I nominate Patrick? - because, apart from having interesting posts that are brief and succint, he also wages war on squirrels and that is another common bond (grey squirrels, that is, not the BP red types).

Number 2. Is for Mac at Mulier Fortis; her blog keeps me going and I can enjoy a liturgical drool over her pictures of the plethora of EF Masses that are available in her parish.

Number 3. Clare writes Battlement of Rubies but she does not post half often enough (a busy Mother, you see). But she does have an enviable ability to make a case for the faith under difficult circumstances. I find it hard to keep the red mist from appearing when faced with crass anti Catholic arguments but Clare sails through like a naval cutter - with all guns blazing!

Number 4. This just has to be Mundabor although, I quiver a little in fear at this as he is such an accomplished blogger that, I am sure he is above such things as awards. Nevertheless, if you want uncompromising views and facts about the faith - look no further, Mundie's your man.

Number 5. The Jarrow Scriptorium - Michael lives in the North East of England where men are men and drink a strong, sweet ale called, Newcastle Brown, which is a clear statement as to what it is and where it comes from.
Michael is a prolific blogger and constantly reminds me of feast days that I have forgotten, thank you Michael.


The only thing is.....I'm a bit uncertain about the 200 followers bit.
I think that all of my nominees must be close to the top of that figure if not greatly in excess of it, but, only a few publish their follower numbers, modest souls that they are.