Author: Dorothy McLean
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A Six Week Challenge
On Tuesday I found myself admiring an X-ray of my right knee. I apparently have a frayed meniscus (fibrocartilage in knees that acts as a shock absorber), but my leg bones themselves look mighty solid. Perhaps it is from eating lots of salmon, yogurt and broccoli. But I like to think it’s because I have…
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St. Louis in Edinburgh
Traditional Catholic social dancing is a worldwide movement, and we in Scotland hear of exciting lessons at the American “Newman Guide Colleges” and at formal balls in, for example, St. Louis, Missouri. Last May, a visiting American student introduced me over email to the chief promoter of traditional Catholic social dancing in St. Louis, Anna…
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Dinner parties
When I first arrived in Scotland, I was invited to a munchie box of dinner parties. These combined elegance with heavy drinking and generally followed a common plan: drinks and nibbles in a sitting-room, then soup or fancy salad in the dining-room, next main course(s), then pudding (dessert), then coffee, often with chocolates, and finally…
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The dreaded cardboard box
“I thought marriage would make my life easier,” said my then-colleague, many years ago, in a different country, and at an awful workplace. She had met her husband on vacation, spent a lot of money on his immigration, and helped him to get a job. But after he did, his workmates teased him over his…
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The Depths of the Sea
“What do women want?” I demanded of a wise man after hosting yet another dance party with 10 men and only 4 women. “If I could answer that, I’d be rich,” said the wise man and munched a biscuit. It’s Just A Coffee Classic Man is simple and straightforward; Classic Woman is not. Therefore, I…
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Pretty/Handsome, Kind-hearted, Etc.
This is the third article in my Auntie Seraphic Comeback series about love stuff. I’m going to continue doling out advice to TLM-loving Catholic women, but don’t worry: I have many things to say to Trad Cat men, too. (For example, we all think your pipes are stupid.) Part One here. Part Two there. To…
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Men are who they are…
…and not who you want them to be. (Part One is here.) Pity the bookish girl, for the contrast between boys in fiction and boys in life is stark. Our bookish girl spends her happiest childhood hours with Frodo and Sam, Peter and Edmund, Frank and Joe Hardy, and perhaps the Famous Five. On Monday…
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The Caffeine in the Cappuccino of Life
I was once famous among women on Catholic campuses (like Notre Dame, Indiana) as “Auntie Seraphic”. The source of my notoriety was my blog “Seraphic Singles” where I wrote whatever I believed about men and dating in an unbridled fashion. (N.B. My book on Catholic single life was published in three countries.) One fan could…
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The Children’s Ceilidh
“Come for the [TLM], stay for the dance,” said one of my adverts for yesterday’s event. It was our second ceilidh designed for the under-12s and their parents. This time we attracted fewer out-of-town families, but we still had a big enough crowd to make the Dashing White Sergeant work properly and have a satisfactory…
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Collegiate Tobacco
Edinburgh rejoices in at least three swing-dancing societies and perhaps a dozen teachers. The different dances on offer include Lindy Hop, Balboa, Blues, and–less frequently–Collegiate Shag. As previously discussed, this last dance has an unfortunate name when it comes to British English, rather like the infamous placard pinned up by stern American priests, “Ladies must…