Trousseau For Carmel - What To Bring - Suggestions Welcome!

[Lisa]

Here are some crank ones: [url="http://www.google.com/#q=crank+flashlight&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=jBGfTta4F8jt0gH3ucz3Dw&sqi=2&ved=0CJIBEK0E&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=3fef7adf3901cf7e&biw=1094&bih=805"]http://www.google.com/#q=crank+flashlight&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=jBGfTta4F8jt0gH3ucz3Dw&sqi=2&ved=0CJIBEK0E&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=3fef7adf3901cf7e&biw=1094&bih=805[/url]

and here are some shake ones:
[url="http://www.google.com/#ds=pr&pq=crank+flashlight&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=5&gs_id=z&xhr=t&q=shake+flashlight&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&tbm=shop&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=shake+flashlight&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=3fef7adf3901cf7e&biw=1094&bih=805"]http://www.google.com/#ds=pr&pq=crank+flashlight&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=5&gs_id=z&xhr=t&q=shake+flashlight&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&tbm=shop&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=shake+flashlight&aq=0&aqi=g1&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=3fef7adf3901cf7e&biw=1094&bih=805[/url]

I personally prefer the crank ones. The shake ones are a little harder on your joints

[MarysLittleFlower]

[quote name='Aya Sophia' timestamp='1319047144' post='2323779'] .

FutureSis2009 - interesting ques about pics of family/friends - I didn't bring any last time because I assumed* I ought not but then, during "license" week, during the Christmas and Easter Octaves, when we schedule visits in eachother's cells (two Sisters visit a third in her cell) this is exactly what the Sisters share! So, this time I will bring some (pulling together an approp assortment is still on my "not yet done" list).[/quote]

oh that is interesting! I've wondered about this.. I didn't know that sisters could bring photographs.

[quote]*Actually, I assumed quite a lot, trying to be "mortified" and not ask too many questions or make requests of various kinds in advance of entering. In theory, I still prefer doing it this way, just taking whatever comes and accepting/embracing the whole of Carmel but (as my own experience tells me) this is not always possible.
[/quote]

I like that idea though

I also didn't know that you could bring books to be added to the monastery library. (good Catholic spiritual books of course).

[faithcecelia]

[quote name='MarysLittleFlower' timestamp='1319048396' post='2323789']



I also didn't know that you could bring books to be added to the monastery library. (good Catholic spiritual books of course).
[/quote]

Not only spiritual books. We had a lot (in fact a whole seperate library) of light reading, from childrens classics like What Katy Did through to the better end of 'chick lit'. Everyone needs some downtime and easy reading can help - more than once I found a children's book left on the stool outside my cell as a hint I needed to relax.

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='faithcecelia' timestamp='1319048695' post='2323791']

Not only spiritual books. We had a lot (in fact a whole seperate library) of light reading, from childrens classics like What Katy Did through to the better end of 'chick lit'. Everyone needs some downtime and easy reading can help - [b]more than once I found a children's book left on the stool outside my cell as a hint I needed to relax[/b].
[/quote]

Aw, I like that idea. Everyone needs to relax and laugh now and then. Childhood was such a simpler time anyway.

[TIWW]

Did anyone have a "list" sent by their community of what to bring? What not to bring?
When I was very young, I had entered an active community, and we got a list from the Postulant Director of very specific items.
We had a habit. In the Spring of my Senior year of High School, after I was accepted, I got a letter, with an appointment, to come over to the convent, to be measured for my habit. ( black dress with 6 pleats front and back, kept in place with a belt, a waist length cape, and a veil. ( Think Julie Andrews)
Our list consisted of underwear, so many bras, undies, sox etc & how many, PJ's, so many pairs of black sox, white sox ( for tennies) and black cotton tights. Low, heeled, quiet shoes, and nuns' granny type heels, which were quite expensive in those days. ( I absolutely loved mine)Also winter items, rosary, personal hygiene items and other things my mind has long forgotten. In every piece of clothing we had sewn in out name tags. We also brought a trunk, in which we put all this stuff, and a small black suit case. I believe we could bring some photos of our families. Shopping over the summer before entrance day was quite an experience. I look back on it now with very fond and loving memories. I went to an all girl Catholic boarding school, with a graduating class of 120. There were 43 Postulants in my entrance class, 22 of whom were graduates of the school. A very " Trouble with Angels" experience.

Edited October 19, 2011 by TIWW

[mme_hardy]

Are you sure you need the cookbook? Will you be eating separately when you're a postulant? If not, I suspect the nuns have very firm ideas about how to cook the meals.

[Antigonos]

As an avid knitter, crocheter, embroiderer, and seamstress, I think I would ask whether I could bring my craft supplies, for use in recreation, or for the good of the community. It would be really penitential if I couldn't do any handwork at all! [If the Carmel had a full complement of sisters, that would be 21 scarves and/or 21 pairs of bedroom slippers, which would take a fair amount of time to complete, without thinking about altar cloths, etc.]

[Lisa]

[quote] Do any communities have a list? [/quote] TIWW, yes, several communities I know of provide a list. Some of them are very, very specific (# pairs of socks/pantyhose... very specific types of footwear), and others are a little bit looser (whatever you'll need in terms of stationary).

Edited October 19, 2011 by Lisa

[Aya Sophia]

No formal list from this Carmel - just sorting out in email conversations what to bring.

[quote name='mme_hardy' timestamp='1319052267' post='2323824']
Are you sure you need the cookbook? Will you be eating separately when you're a postulant? If not, I suspect the nuns have very firm ideas about how to cook the meals.
[/quote]
This might be one of those items which won't pass inspection! No, not eating separately. Just a favorite, very easy to use cookbook and a security blanket for when I get thrown into the kitchen, which I soon will be - frankly, I don't even own a copy of it anymore, having given it away previously. I would have to buy one online secondhand in order to bring it. I guess you can see what chance this item really has of actually making it over there....

[quote name='Antigonos' timestamp='1319052552' post='2323825']
As an avid knitter, crocheter, embroiderer, and seamstress, I think I would ask whether I could bring my craft supplies, for use in recreation, or for the good of the community. It would be really penitential if I couldn't do any handwork at all! [If the Carmel had a full complement of sisters, that would be 21 scarves and/or 21 pairs of bedroom slippers, which would take a fair amount of time to complete, without thinking about altar cloths, etc.]
[/quote]

Oh, dear - knitting. Sr. Anne tried to teach me, Sr. Anne who's wizard at knitting, practically blind and learned to knit as a child from a "mentally challenged" girl down the lane - Um, that's how EASY knitting is [i]supposed [/i]to be (and probably is for anyone but yt). I suppose the offer will still stand to teach me again - gosh, the saintly patience some of these Sisters have.

[brandelynmarie]

I would like to bring a small cookbook of personal tried & true recipes for such occasions as getting kitchen duty & trying to use a familar way to cook whatever is in the pantry! If not, there's gonna be alot of frittatas! Also, I have some specialties that I may get a chance to share someday on a feast day. But again, we'll see what happens

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='brandelynmarie' timestamp='1319056492' post='2323873']
I would like to bring a small cookbook of personal tried & true recipes for such occasions as getting kitchen duty & trying to use a familar way to cook whatever is in the pantry! If not, there's gonna be alot of frittatas! Also, I have some specialties that I may get a chance to share someday on a feast day. But again, we'll see what happens
[/quote]

I'd have to take my mother's gumbo recipe... I could never make it without it!

[brandelynmarie]

I'm thinking if we put the recipes on the back of holy cards...

[marigold]

Aya, either I am way ahead of schedule for February or you are doing this all very last-minute because this is exactly what I've started doing too! Your list looks pretty good. The things I FORGOT on my live-in which were real killers were nail clippers and hairbrush (I know). So make sure you have those And why do you need your own weeder?!

I'm surprised you're taking so (relatively) many 'personal hygiene' type things: I was told 'Comb and toothbrush - soap is provided!' Maybe you'll only have these for postulancy though...

I hadn't thought about creative things like pencils... My list reads:

- Winter boots
- Winter coat
- Sandals
- Waistcoat
- Hooded sweater
- 2x dresses
- 2x long-sleeved tops
- 4x thermal bottoms
- 4x thermal tops
- jammies
- 4x underwear

.... still in progress though. The (dreadful) little black scarf I will get on entrance. It's blessed, which I appreciate And a little notebook with family/friends' addresses, bank account details etc.

[Aya Sophia]

Marigold, the shortness of your list is very inspiring. I guess I'm not being terribly mortified this time around. I do hope my long list isn't disedifying to the phorum.... !

In theory, I don't need to bring [i]any[/i] personal hygiene items - the monastery supplies "everything" (meaning, soap, toothbrush & toothpaste). They allow those entering to use up what they're currently using in the world, I think, as a small mercy in the transition to a life that is terribly austere. For me it was very wonderful and significant (pitiful, I know!) that I could continue to use a bar of soap with a lovely scent, diminishing in size every day until a few weeks later...it was gone, for ex.

When I first entered religious life years ago I brought practically nothing with me but the life I was entering was not at all materially austere - one did not have a sense of loss, on the material level, the way one can upon entering an austere Carmel. Am I making excuses? Maybe so. If so...pls ignore!

Edited October 19, 2011 by Aya Sophia

[mme_hardy]

[quote name='Aya Sophia' timestamp='1319054850' post='2323852']
Just a favorite, very easy to use cookbook and a security blanket for when I get thrown into the kitchen, which I soon will be -
[/quote]

We've got actual past (and soon-to-be-present) Carmelites here who can address this better than I can. From an outside POV, given that Carmelites have such a strong witness of poverty, worldly recipes are probably not going to be helpful. It takes new ways of learning to cook in order not to waste a single scrap, and to feed 21 (ish) people from what you have available. I think I've read people here or elsewhere talking about how they had to be carefully taught in the kitchen how to slice, peel, and so on not to waste a single scrap, and how one of the harder conversion of manners things was re-learning to cook in the Carmelite way.

Trust your own judgment and bring whatever you think the convent will need of you; they'll help you with that.

Edited October 20, 2011 by mme_hardy