Trousseau For Carmel - What To Bring - Suggestions Welcome!

[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

[faithcecelia]

I took a number of cooking and nutrition books (I had recently done a diploma in nutrition) and would actually say that a good 'sturdy' recipie book is priceless if you find yourself thrown in the deep end. By sturdy I mean things where ingredients are easily substituted - one I took actually said in the intorduction 'Use whichever units of measurements you please, and mix and match at will - I think life is too short for overly sensitive recipies' which I loved! Yes, there will be set ways of doing things, and my biggest humiliation was being told I was cooking frozen peas wrong, but if you are cooking its always nice to have something slightly different for a change.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='TIWW' timestamp='1319051895' post='2323817']
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.
[/quote]
My sister had such a list (more of a book, really) when she was preparing to enter the Nashville Dominicans. I would think such a list would be more necessary when there are more people entering regularly, because that keeps things somewhat standardized, and they don't forget to tell some poor girl to bring something! Although, I am pretty sure that there were several Sisters who did not have everything with them when they entered, because they had been accepted so close to the entrance date (one Sister just the week before!), so I'm not sure if they just brought money and shopped there, or if their families sent the rest of what they needed. I do remember my sister being very worried that she didn't have anything, because she couldn't find any long underwear in the middle of the summer, and my mother dismissed her worries, saying they'd send it when they found some. She finally asked me if I could buy her some online, and she would pay me back (she didn't have a credit card so she couldn't buy it online herself), but in the end one of her superiors told her it was okay to have things sent later, so she was more relaxed about that.

[quote name='faithcecelia' timestamp='1319126543' post='2324216']
I took a number of cooking and nutrition books (I had recently done a diploma in nutrition) and would actually say that a good 'sturdy' recipie book is priceless if you find yourself thrown in the deep end. By sturdy I mean things where ingredients are easily substituted - one I took actually said in the intorduction 'Use whichever units of measurements you please, and mix and match at will - I think life is too short for overly sensitive recipies' which I loved! Yes, there will be set ways of doing things, and my biggest humiliation was being told I was cooking frozen peas wrong, but if you are cooking its always nice to have something slightly different for a change.
[/quote]
I didn't realize there was a way to cook frozen peas wrong! What were you doing to them!?

[faithcecelia]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1319128077' post='2324218']



I didn't realize there was a way to cook frozen peas wrong! What were you doing to them!?
[/quote]


Neither did I!!! I was putting them in boiling water until they were hot, like my mother always had and like the packet said to do!

[MarieLynn]

TIWW What a blast from the past!

We too looked like Julie Andrews, - dress, elbow length cape and net veil. Our list was very specific, no jamies, but convent nightdresses - 3 white cotton long sleeved full length monstrosities, 12 mens size handkerchiefs, 3 pair 'nuns' shoes, 6 pairs black lisle stockings, black cardigan, dressing gown (robe) of a sober colour, black slippers --the list was endless. We had to have a St Andrews Missal, a black bead Rosary and a notebook and black pencil for our Spiritual items, the rest were supplied. The 'underwear ' list had to be seen to be believed - suspender belts, bloomers and bras, and two black calico petticoats. That list is indelibly printed on my mind!!! Now I look back I think that list must have been a throw-back to postulants of the 1920's, instead of girls in the mid 60's, but back then I was a 17 yr old, who did as she was told!!!!!! LOL Oh how times have changed - and thank goodness too.

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

A small, nunny wallet that you can keep in your pocket with your id card, insurance, etc. etc. for when you go to the dr, IF they have you drive yourself, sun glasses, (equally nunny), a pocket knife, a flash drive stick.

Our novices have all suggested I add those to the list. They each keep their papers, photos, or what not on their flash drive instead of on the common computer.

Pocket knives are great for cutting down boxes, a flower in the garden, when you need a screw driver, etc. etc.

[faithcecelia]

[quote name='Sr. Mary Catharine' timestamp='1319133409' post='2324264']

Pocket knives are great for cutting down boxes, a flower in the garden, when you need a screw driver, etc. etc.
[/quote]

Goodness yes! I had never thought of it before entering but was given permission to ask my parents for one for Christmas and it was amazingly useful.

[MissScripture]

Now I'm picturing a whole array of stern-looking, pocket-knife wielding nuns!

[juchu]

I do not know how it is with your specific carmelite convent, but I am definetly taking a wrist watch! (Though not to the carmelites ) The last ten years I did not wear one, because I always have my cell phone with me... And since I am not taking that one... But I actually got one for my first life in. It is really useful, if one works back in the garden and does not hear the bells or if one goes for a walk in the woods, etc. ...

And I second the pocket knife and the flash drive! (If you use computers..) We also will share one computer in the noviciate and each one has her own personal things on a flash drive.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

[quote name='Antigonos' timestamp='1319034844' post='2323651']

They are really fleece-lined, not fur-lined, and the lining is removable for laundering. I would certainly think that two pair, black, one lined, and one not, would be extremely useful, indoors and out.

As to the wind-up torch, I think you would find it at any DIY or hardware store; possibly even at Boots [drugstore chain for non-Brits] that has a housewares section; I've even seen them in supermarkets.
[/quote]

If you can't find a wind-up torch (flashlight) somewhere near you, LL Bean sells them. I have managed to lose mine, so I will have to get another.

Related to a wind-up torch, I don't know if this would be needed by a individual postulant, but might be a good present for a monastery if they don't already have one. I also have a wind-up gizmo (also from LL Bean) that has several radio and TV channels (just sound), plus the official US weather report for the area. It also has an emergency flasher and siren, a plug-in that can be used to recharge your cell phone, a DC adapter, an earphone plug and what meant EVERYTHING to me last night when the power went out about 8 pm--a flashlight!!!!. (I have several flashlights, but my favorite small one with a strong light (another thing to buy from LL Bean) broke recently, and the fairies that steal the socks from my dryer, along with stealing my wonderful wind-up flashlight, have stolen my other (cheap) flashlights and have put my large strong flashlights out of service. BTW--You can also put batteries on my wind-up gizmo so that you don't have to keep winding. Best gizmo ever invented--well, last night I thought it was. (For those of you in the UK, I assume there is something similar, but adapted for the UK)

Back to the point--wind-up flashlights/torches are wonderful!!!!!! And, from a poverty standpoint, if you can have someone give it to you as a pre-convent gift (they aren't expensive, but cost more than a cheap flashlight), in the long run the wind-up flashlight should be much cheaper than a regular one. (BTW--You don't have to wind it very long to have a useful light that lasts awhile, and you can control how strong the light is if you only want/need a dim light to guide you to the bathroom at night that won't bother others.)

Also, my wind-up flashlight is quite compact, and fits easily into a pocket.

End of story--Since my power was out, really the only thing left to do was just to go to bed. My power came back on at 3 am--it woke me up when the lights came back on, but I slept much better afterwards knowing my power was back.

[marigold]

[quote name='juchu' timestamp='1319133812' post='2324271']
I do not know how it is with your specific carmelite convent, but I am definetly taking a wrist watch! (Though not to the carmelites ) The last ten years I did not wear one, because I always have my cell phone with me... And since I am not taking that one... But I actually got one for my first life in. It is really useful, if one works back in the garden and does not hear the bells or if one goes for a walk in the woods, etc. ...

And I second the pocket knife and the flash drive! (If you use computers..) We also will share one computer in the noviciate and each one has her own personal things on a flash drive.
[/quote]


Yes! A watch is unexpectedly necessary - thanks for reminding me. Digital or battery though? I've only ever had battery watches, but don't know that there is a watchmaker in driving distance to change batteries for me. What happens when a digital watch 'runs out'? Do they even run out? Can you recharge them? (Solar?)