Carl Larsson

Posted on by
5

This is “Sommar” by Carl Larsson.  Don’t you love farming scenes? Especially in watercolor?

Donna at Quiet Life has posted several Larsson pieces and I was immediately taken in.  Thank you, Donna!  I told my SIL Val [that’s our favorite thing to do: share newly discovered treasures], who has been connected to a Swedish Covenant church community for many, many years.  Yes, yes, she knew (and loved) Larsson.  She gave me a lovely Carl Larsson calendar for Christmas.  Thank you, Val!

Maybe we should have a “fine art” month of blogging and post some of our favorite prints. 
Lo! an inspiration!  Fine Art Friday!  Who’s with me?  Doesn’t that sound like fun? There’s always room for more beauty in our lives.

Summer Reading Challenge: Reading Slowly

Posted on by
3

Sometimes reading slowly is beneficial.  The last chapter I read from Temperament gave the ratios (rate of vibration and inversely length of string) of different musical intervals. An octave (Somewhere Over the Rainbow) has a 2:1 ratio.  A perfect fifth is 3:2, a fourth (Here Comes the Bride) is 4:3; While a major third (Kumbayah) is 5:4, a minor third, 6:5, writes Isadcoff, “is associated in romantic  musical works with feelings of melancholy or passion; …Chopin’s achingly sad funeral march in his Sonata in B-flat minor is launched with the leap of a minor third.”

I couldn’t hear the funeral march in my head, so I picked up Chopin and looked through the index.  There it was!  I played it through, well, whittled my way through it – but it was a great diversion and gave me a connection with the text. 

                ~         ~         ~         ~         ~         ~

I flipped through Imitation of Christ and realized that this is not a book I want to sail through.  I plan to read one mediation a day, which will take me into September.  I am thankful to George Grant for stimulating a desire to read this book. Griffin’s notes about translating the Latin are worthy of any Latin teacher’s time, but even more they are just plain fun to read.  Here’s the opening sentences and a quote from today’s reading, which BTW, you can read with the Search Inside feature:

“Whoever shadows my every move won’t lose me in the dark.” At least that’s what Christ says, or what the Evangelist John heard Him say (8:12). He tells us to walk on, through the darkness, with Christ as our only torch.  That way, when morning comes, we mayn’t have gained a step, but we won’t have lost one either.  And on into the day we must pursue with dogged tread the life of Jesus Christ.”

“If you’re not humble, you make the Trinity nervous, and in that wretched state what possible good do you get out of standing up in public and disputing to high heaven about the Trinity as an intellectual entity?”

Walking on,

Carol

Inspiration

Posted on by
2

I knew she was coming, but I barely recognized her when she stepped out of the car. I hadn’t seen her in several years.  My friend Michelle (in the black tee) lost **110** pounds in the last 1 1/4 years. WOW!  Gracious!  She had gastric bypass surgery – her liver was about to give out and it was vital to her health to lose weight.  She has changed her mind along with her habits:  no-soda ever,  yes- avocado a day,  yes- lots of tomatoes, no-white flour and no-sugar, no-hamburgers.  In addition she has morphed into a very, very active person: horse back riding is her passion, extreme (climbing up and down ridges) hiking is a regular activity. What is truly incomprehensible is that she was widowed halfway through the weight loss and kept losing. It’s been so good to have time with her.

                                              ~      ~     ~    ~     ~

Don’t you find other’s successes inspiring? 

These words popped out at me on Sunday, reminding me of the grace available to me to gain victory in this daily battle:

Jesus lives, and by his grace, vict’ry o’er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways, ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust:
Jesus is my hope and trust.

Commencement

Posted on by
5

The following commencement address was given by  Dr. B. at a recent homeschool graduation ceremony.  He graciously gave me permission to post an excerpt here.  It was such a lovely time looking back at the growth of two very special people and celebrating their completion of high school work.


The direction which you take early in life
makes a huge difference in terms of where you end up.  If you know what your target is, you want
that direction to be as straight and true as possible if you want to hit the
mark.  Once a bullet is out of the barrel
its path can easily be altered. Gravity affects it, the wind, a tree limb, a
fence post, school, a scene in a movie, a bad habit, bad company, a brief and
fleeting moment of passion, or any number of things can change the path of that
little projectile.  You are entering your
formative years, the years during which you will be shaped and molded, and the
decisions you make will have a big affect your path.  You see, the earlier you angle 1 or 2
degrees, the further from the target you will land.  You are about to leave the barrel, and I hope
you have had a barrel of fun. But outside the barrel may not always be
fun.

 

A very wise man (not myself) once penned
words something like this:

 

“My children do not forget my
teaching

Write my words upon your
heart

For length of days and years of
life

And peace they will
impart

 

Trust the Lord with all your
heart

And not the wisdom of the
day

In all your ways acknowledge
Him

And your road will be
straight.

 

Search for wisdom and, my
children,

Pursue her every
day.

The fear of God will start you on your
way.”

 

One of my favorite quotes is, “Don’t let
school get in the way of your education!” 
I believe that school can be very helpful, but you must remember to “keep
your eyes on the prize.”  Often we go to
school to learn skills, and we want you to do that.  We are sending you off to become
leaven in this world; we want you to have an influence on it more
than having it influence you.  Much of
our influence comes from qualities we can’t see on the outside.  It’s stuff below the surface.  Probably 90% of our influence is made up from
our character.  Many people make it
through college and neglect their character. 
Your skill may get you to the top-but it is your character that will keep you
there.

Tasty Morsels

Posted on by
3

A new food discovery!!  Yippee!!  The flowers of chives are edible.  I had a delightful time learning from “Baba”, the grandmother of Joanne, a graduating homeschool student.  We were stuffing mushrooms and ran out of the stuffing. 

Ah, the joy of improvisation!!  We poked in the fridge and thought out loud and came up with an herb/cream cheese stuffing that was delightful.  Baba went to the garden and cut fresh herbs and I mashed the cream cheese. We added a little Caesar’s dressing and some garlic. Baba came in with a handful of chive flowers and thought they would be lovely sprinkled on top.  She washed them carefully and separated them into tiny fragments.  With a dubious attitude I tasted one: delicious!

These guys can go in salads, on top of omelets.  Can you think of other uses?  Is this even news to y’all?  I came home and looked at my two chive plants and the flowers are all beyond the beyonds; pretty droopy.  But I’m excited for this new tasty bit of information!

Graves

Posted on by
2

This evening my DH and I went for a walk.  As we ambled by a cemetery, we decided to take some time to explore it.  My throat is still constricted.  Our part of the country was settled during the Oregon Trail migration.  The earliest date of death I found was 1845.  What stories are hiding between those two sets of numbers which identify each occupant? 

There were two small gravestones for two children.  Henry lived four years, one month, and three days (all those words were engraved, quite an expense).  Basil lived four years, one month.  With their similar ages at death, I assumed they were twins.  Then I looked closer: Henry died in 1891 and Basil in 1899.  My heart groaned for the mother who went through two such infernos. 

I find epitaphs interesting.  “Gone but not forgotten” is only true  for a few generations.  I asked my high school students once to name a great-grandparent and I don’t think any could.  My favorite epitaph seen tonight: “Safe in Jesus.”  I would like to return to the cemetery and read the book of Ecclesiastes there.

My friend Edie sent me an email today about Nixon’s grave.  Regardless of how you feel about Nixon, this is such a sad commentary on our culture:

Sometimes, events in life just hit you as “strange.”  Last night, I helped
chaperone the PROM!  That concept, in itself is hard to wrap your mind around
isn’t it?  Anyway, I went because of the location . . . The Nixon Library in
Yorba Linda.  I figured I should know what it looks like, since I live not that
far away from it.  Maybe this summer I will also visit the Reagan Library and I
will be totally up to speed with dead president’s libraries in So CA.  Anyway,
how strange to have the teen-agers stroll in on a red carpet which half way
covered up the presidential seal on the floor of the entry way.  Even stranger
is to have them dance the way they do – which is more like a rehearsal for a
PORN movie – inside the conference area of the library.  Stranger yet was when I
was sitting outside, near where they were taking photos, and I suddenly noticed
in front of my bench were the two gravestones for Richard & Patricia Nixon. 
I was stunned.  Here I sat, in front of a former U.S. president’s grave site,
listening to the outdoor Karoke event, watching students get their photos taken
with their dates, with the original farmhouse that Nixon grew up in on one side
of me and the official grave site in front of me.  I was sitting next to a gal
whom I’ve had in class for 2 years.  She read the inscription on Richard’s
tombstone – it had to do with opening up doors for peace.  I commented that I
thought that was Red China.  She was not aware.  A young male student came
along, talked for awhile with us, and suddenly, he noticed the tombstone for
Richard Nixon.  He was stunned also.  He asked if Nixon was really under the
ground.
 
I thought about how Nixon was disgraced and his legacy, despite the
beautiful grounds, seems to be continuing in a manner that lacks the level of
respect you would deem appropriate for someone who served as a World leader for
many years.

I did a little research this morning.  There was a dispute between the two Nixon
daughters that lasted almost 5 years.  It had to do with HOW the library would
be managed – by the family or by the board.  Older men who had some say have now
died off and finally, the two sisters have come to some agreements, via the
courts, which then freed up 19 million that goes towards the library.  In the
meantime, the library had to be resourceful in bringing in revenues, hence you
can rent the grounds for weddings,  events, etc. 

ANOTHER Meme

Posted on by
Reply

1. Grab the book nearest to you,
Turn to page 18, and find line 4…

” Doni, the true believer, recoiled in horror at the prospect of” from Temperatment, by Stuart Isacoff

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What can you touch?

Pure, clean air.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Nightline: Katie Couric interview of Gracia Burnham, missionary who was taken hostage.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.

10:50 a.m.

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?

12:02 p.m.  Ha!

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

The oven elements heating up. Little noises that you can hear when no one else is home.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

About an hour ago – welcoming my husband and son home from an archery shoot. They’ve left again.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?

Amazon.com

9. What are you wearing?

Olive green shorts and a comfy blue top (sweatshirt material, but not a sweatshirt)

10. Did you dream last night?

No.

11. When did you last laugh?

With my husband a few minutes ago.  I said, “Share? You?”  He said: “Share? Me?” and then as I thought of the French  word cherie and he broke out in song, “Ma Cherie Amour”

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Two beautiful wooden shelves.  Top shef has pitchers and teapots and a decorated pie pan.  Bottom shelf has cookbooks, small framed art and some family photos.

13. Seen anything weird lately?

The night sky last night had a wide swath of light in the middle.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

It’s another meme to prove I don’t make these things up. There all over blogdom.

15. What is the last film you saw?

The Count of Monte Cristo with Joseph Fiennes.  I liked it very much.

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?

Trips, trips, trips.  I’d visit all my family multiple times, go to the British Museum, to Florence, to South Africa and Wales, and Ireland and Scotland. 

17. Tell me something about you that I don’t know.

I eat dry milk powder.  It drives my family crazy.  Only occasionally.  It’s a habit from my strange adolescence but that’s a complicated story.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

Every knee would willingly bow to our triune God.

19. Do you like to dance?

Oh, yes! the Postie’s Jig and the Virginia Reel are my favorites.

20. George Bush:

I really don’t think about him much.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

This question is tailor made for me, who has three boys.  Carmen Rebecca. My second girl would have been Caitlin Rachel. 

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?

No imagination required: Christopher Ryan.  I half wanted to call him Christopher Robin but my husband said no.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?

Scotland, Scotland, Scotland!  Can you EVEN imagine hearing that brogue every day of your life?

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gate?

Come here and give me a hug, my dear one.

25. 3 people who must also do this quiz in THEIR journal:

If it speaks to you, talk!  I’ll listen!

Book Talk

Posted on by
4

Isn’t book talk fun?  When you meet someone new and you have a shared book in common, it’s as if there were a secret language that you both understand.  When I meet someone from a different country  my mind starts searching for memories of authors/books from that country.  In the recent past I met a woman from The Netherlands and we talked about Rien Poortvliet (one of my favorite author/illustrators) and Abraham Kuyper.  Not long after, I met a native of the former Soviet Republic — I think she was from Georgia.  There’s no end of Russian books — we hit the Gulag Archipelago, Anna K, War and Peace, the Brothers K.  Her husband often had to translate English idioms (and it was DELIGHTFUL to hear the Russian Q and A), but it was a wonderful conversation.

Here are some random thoughts about books and/or the Summer Reading Challenge:

Audio books: The pros are that you can convert working time to reading time.  I love to putz alone in the kitchen on a Saturday, baking bread, cleaning the fridge, filling canisters, wiping shelves with a book being read to me.  Since I live in a rural area books on tape are a great way to make those wide open spaces go by when driving.  Cons:  You can’t flip the pages back to be reminded who “Jack” is or why he is important.  There is no time to stop and ponder a turn of phrase or a profound thought.  I was working out and listening to “1776” in a gym this morning.  [David McCullough is rapidly becoming another favorite author] The prose was rich but it felt like all those nuggets fell through a hole in my sifter, that I couldn’t keep the precious bits to enjoy later. 

I want to be like her when I grow up:  I was in a home yesterday before a high school graduation.  The grandmothers arrived with an aunt and great-aunt in tow.  After hugs and initial visits the immediate family were involved with last minute tasks, preparing for a HUGE reception at the house later.  Older ladies assembled in the living room, conversing and trying to stay out of the way the next two hours.  Great Aunt Bonita picked up the  book “The Sign of the Beaver” and read through it.  Her hearing loss prevented her from participating in the lagging conversation, but she was contentedly reading away. Bonita is 83 years old. She genuinely enjoyed the book. I would love to be able to enjoy a good children’s book when I’m 83!

Every Living Thing – I am reminded of why I’ve always loved James Herriot.  The first chapter of this book was too wonderful.  This is a comfortable book and is feeding my thirst to travel to Great Britain.  I’m eager to learn more about Herriot – his son’s biography is added to my list.

1776 –   The writing draws me to this book almost as much or more than the story.  My interest has never flagged.  He doesn’t lionize Washington and writes straightforward account of mistakes that he made.  Nevertheless there is so much to admire in the General.  The quality of the writing of everyday soldiers quoted compel me to believe that there was something right in colonia education.  Washington’s appraisal of John Sullivan: ” a man touched with a tincture of vanity and too great a desire of being popular.”

Temperament – First chapter read (third time!) On a modern keyboard every note is equidistant from the notes before and after it.  It was not always this way.  So on early keyboard instruments a sequence played on one part of the keyboard sounded sweet but on another part, the same sequence was very sour.  What we take for granted: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, was once considered revolutionary and dangerous AND heretical!  It’s difficult to imagine music being other than it is now.  That’s one of the challenges of this book.  I will soldier through, I will, I will!

The BEST Black Bean Salad

Posted on by
3

Dana posted this recipe last week.  It looked good and I decided to make it that day.  As a young girl, I never enjoyed potato salads and bean salads, which just means there are some good things that come with growing up. This is THE MOST festive looking dish with the bright red, green and yellow colors.  And people: it’s healthy! Thank you, Dana!  (Note: I substituted a Walla Walla sweet onion for the purple onion.)  For my local friends, I will be bringing this to Luke and Joanne’s graduation celebration Friday. 

Black Bean Salad

3 cans (15.5oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz corn (I buy frozen and don’t cook it before adding)
1 large red pepper, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 purple onion, diced

Combine black beans, corn, both peppers and onion in large serving
bowl.  Pour dressing over ingredients.  Stir.  Cover and refrigerate
for four hours.
Serves 8 adults.

Dressing:
1/3 C red wine vinegar
1/3 C olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cloves garlic, crushed

This salad gets better with age and when preparing I usually double
it, so that I will have leftovers.  That is, *planned-overs* 🙂

Here’s one way to use this salad, despite the obvious of serving it twice as a side dish.

Use 1/2 C (more or less depending on tastebuds) in a main-dish
salad.  Starting with 2-3 C torn lettuce, I usually add 1/4 C cottage
cheese, some crushed Doritos, plus 1 Tbs Catalina dressing.  Yum!

I have also served the *planned-overs* as a dip.  I recommend using the stronger tortilla chips.

Summer Reading Challenge

Posted on by
7

Amanda started a Summer Reading Challenge.  May 31st is the last day to sign up if you are interested.  The Challenge runs from June 1 – August 31. You decide what you’ll read and then blog about your reading. I loved the idea several participants had of reading books from their own shelves.  

I typically dish up more on my plate than I can/should ingest and that goes for reading too!  I’m doubtful that I can finish all these books in the time allotted.  And I do get sidetracked so easily, so I can only imagine what it will be like reading about all the other books in this challenge.  Here’s what’s on my summer menu:

Temperament, The Idea That Solved Music’s Greatest Riddle by Stuart Isacoff.  I list this first because it is the biggest challenge.  My esteemed friend, Dr. B., lent this to me with the hope that my enthusiasm for the book would help him get through it.  By all accounts I should love it: music and history fascinate me.  Science is my weakest area, for which I try to compensate by reading science history (i.e. Longitude).  There’s enough physics (?) in the intervals and ratios to qualify for my science book of the year.

 Here’s what Andre Watts wrote about this book: “A work of real virtuosity.  An exciting musical tour through Western civilization that reads like a thriller, filled with intrigue, discovery, jealousy, failure, and triumph.  it’s a fabulous exploration of the forces that influenced the wonderful music we hear today.”  I’ve had two false starts–it’s quite technical and if any time lapses between readings I have to go clear back to the beginning.  If I don’t make it through this summer, I’m returning the book unread. (sigh)

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb  This is the other borrowed book on my shelf.  My friend Laura highly recommended it after I told her how much I appreciated The Kite Runner.  “It’s different, but it has the same tone,” was her description.  I know nothing else about it.

The Summer of My Great-Grandmother and The Irrational Season by Madeleine l’Engle.  I read A Circle of Quiet last summer, so I’m eager to keep reading the Crosswicks Journal.  l’Engle frames life’s situations in a wonderful way; she challenges my thinking.  Her prose is plain glorious.  I have three dear friends dealing with older moms: I hope that I might gain some insight to pass along to them.

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, translated by William Griffin. Ever since I heard George Grant talk about Gerard Groote several years back, I have been eager to read this.  Groote started the Brethren of the Common Life communities/schools.  Much of  a Kempis’ work is the transliteration of Groote’s sermons.  Griffin’s shimmering translation makes me drool.  Here’s a random excerpt: “Who cares whether praise or blame is raining on your soul when tranquility is puddling in your heart?”  I will be back to write about this book, oh yeah!

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.   This falls into the category I-should’ve-read-this-before-now, I-don’t-know-why-I-haven’t.    Friends have sung this book’s praises for many years and I read quotes by Dillard often.  It looks promising.  And it’s been on my shelf for several years…

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton.  Here’s the thing: I need to read Chesterton at least once a year.  I enjoy the Father Brown books. I have a partially read copy of Orthodoxy but this shorter book is on my shelf and seems manageable for this summer. 

The Tolkien Reader by J.R.R. Tolkien.  This is a small paperback that has stories, poems and commentaries by Tolkien.  I have a solo plane trip ahead and this seems the perfect book to read on a plane and in an airport.  Again, it’s manageable.

Every Living Thing by James Herriot.  I picked this up at a book sale.  When DH and I were first married we read through the earlier books of this series aloud before we went to sleep.  I remember laughing, crying, giggling, shaking my head as those lovely stories provided a fitting benediction to the day.  A few years back we read through his dog stories with our youngest son.  It was the first year with only one kid at home and the stories were a welcome way to end the day.

What’s missing:  I have several books for homeschooling that I’ll need to read through the summer that aren’t on the list.  They are just a given.  I really like to read a Dickens and an Austen every year, but it looks like that gratification will have to be delayed until the fall.  And a new Mma Romatswe book should be out soon – I will not be able to pass that up.  All in all, I’m pretty excited about the books ahead! 

Do you have a book you’d like to read this summer?