Monday, June 30, 2008

Blue Remembered Hills


That is the title of Rosemary
Sutcliff's autobiography that I
finally got. I haven't figured out
the title yet. She attributes Kipling's
Puck of Pook's Hill for her passion
on the subject of Roman Britain. Her
books cover that time well.

A late 70 year old is her friend , when
she is young! Probably about 12
"She belongs mainly to
the summer time and sea front....Mrs.
Wayne and I became bosom friends."
"Mrs. Wayne was a woman of her hands,
and therein lay her chief fascination, for
I was already beginning to be a woman
of mine.
...But I remember the comfortable companion-
ship , and the things she made....Chiefly they
were tea cozies and straw hats. "
"The tea-cozies were always of the 'cottage'
variety , and I have never since seen a
cottage tea-cozy to equal them. They had
thatched roofs of golden-brown raffia couched
down in the traditional patterns of thatcher's art.
Their walls of rough cream linen were richly
and lovingly embroidered with green front doors,
and windows with green shutters, and a riot of
flowers in the bed that ran around the bottom.
Climbing roses rambled up the walls , and
generally a cat sat on a doorstep
or windowsill. They were thickly padded , and
gave a wonderful impression of home and shelter.
I would have loved to live in one of Mrs. Wayne's
tea-cozies."

Would you like to live in this one:



Tea Cosy, Small Orchard Cottage


Book Club tomorrow night:
Quotidian Mysteries:
Laundry, Liturgy and Women's
Work by Kathleen Norris.

Friday, June 27, 2008

The Quality of Mercy is not strain'd



It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bles
t...

Portia's words came back to me after
going into Chick-Fil-A to get a free chicken
salad sandwich and use a free coupon. Free
lunch. My dear friend Barb, had just given
me what to say ( customer appreciation day
and if you said " I am a raving CFA fanatic
at the Arboretum", you got a free sandwich).
It wasn't in our plans to eat out but Emma
and I thought "FREE" and crossed the parking
lot. When we left , I was blessed to see a young
Mom and her 3 children who is moving away.
I thought IF I hadn't come over and Barb
hadn't given us the FREE coupons and saying
then I would have missed her. Twice blessed,
so the above came to my mind. God's plans
for my day.....!


It is an attribute to God himself......

( The Merchant of Venice)
excellent for recitation!



While they were there



















We were here. Great lunch
of avocado, tom. moz., basil on
focaccia and Zuchinni soup.
Homemade pizza for Emma.

Amazing business. Only serves
lunch and there's a 30 minute
wait. A bit of Mitford in the court-
yard as people see one another!
Even I spoke to someone and I

don't live there. Great conversation!
Of course, my sister knew her.
That helped!



Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wyeth in the midwest














Couldn't believe NC Wyeth's paintings
were at Wall Drug in the Badlands, SD.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Good Dinner

Ken and Gordan in Chicago O'Hare Airport
at breakfast on the way to Sioux Falls, SD

That was my son's words tonight
as we ate ~~ exactly , well almost,
what Emma and I had with my
sister on Monday night. The boys
are back and a good homecooked
dinner was in store for their palate.
I made fresh corn on the cob,
pita bread chips ( yes, homemade
and so easy to do) a layered zuchinni
casserole ( veg, green pepper and onion
slices, moz. cheese, keep layering) over
whole -wheat and reg. angel hair. It
was good, even twice this week.

Back From There

Ken and the two middle boys are back
from South Dakota . A father-son trip
to see Ken's childhood homes in Rapid
City , family and the landscape. They
flew to Sioux Falls and went to De Smet
because their little sister would want
to hear about Laura Ingall 's Wilder's
home: ( tshirt was a surprise for her)

Evan taking photos


at Laura's homestead in De Smet





Gordan approaching the Badlands





Add Image On top of the Badlands




At Mt. Rushmore.....cool green sneakers!


Friday, June 20, 2008

A Smile


I got Dodie Smith's next book from
the library before heading to the
Childlight Conference last week. Just
barely got started. Today I see my
blogging friend has started it too.
"The New Moon with the Old."
I'm encouraged by her thoughts
already to pick it up this weekend
while I'm here.
We'll pick blueberries and keep on
with the scrapbook we barely started
two years ago in honor of my Mom.
It spurred us onto a wonderful geneology
path to find those still alive to answer that
great question: WHO is that in the photo?!
Doing this while my husband and two sons are
out seeing where Ken's childhood was
spent. They flew out yesterday and were
pressured ( by me) to go to De Smet. Laura's
Ingall's Wilder's home before she got married
and after. I think The Long Winter and The
Little Town on the Prairie and The Golden
Happy Years and Silver Lake and the First
Four Years...five of her books were lived
there.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Tasha Tudor died

Obit
Tasha Tudor, the noted illustrator and watercolorist, has died at her home in Marlboro, Vermont, Wednesday June 18, 2008. She was born in Boston, August 28, 1915, the daughter of William Starling Burgess and Rosamund Tudor Burgess.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Hooked Rugs




This is my friend's rug who
taught me how to hook.
That is the cutter that
cuts the wool into strips.







And my rug started. It's got more done now:

Photobucket







Back from Childlight Conference


So much fun to be with educators
who are on the same page. They
come every year so there's a relation-
ship growing. Community developing
all around Charlotte Mason. You
can read more here.
I had a homeschooler tell me how
she put into practice Poetry from my
workshop last year. Poetry in the Park
and then they added Nature Study. This
year they will add Mom's meetings! She
wanted to let me know God had planted
the seed in the workshop and it is blooming!

A taste of one Plenary that was on Aesthetics:

Looking for effects of the Fall and Redemption
in these from Lori Lawing:

Dominico Ghirlandaio
An Old Man and His Grandson
1490

http://www.dominican.edu/academics/facultypages/leeannbartolini/ghirlandaio_old_man.jpg


Music Study:
Modest Mussorgsky
Pictures of an Exhibition
( orch. by Ravel)

Poetry Recitation:

From A Country Dairy of an Edwardian
Lady:
"Lessons From The Gorse"
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Mountain gorses, ever-golden,
Cankered not the whole year long!
Do ye teach us to be strong,
Howsoever pricked and holden,
Like your thorny blooms, and so
Trodden on by rain and snow,
Up the hill-side of this life, as bleak
as where ye grow?

Mountain blossoms, shining blossoms,
Do ye teach us to be glad
When no summer can be had,
Blooming in our inward bosoms?
Ye whom God preserveth still,
Set as lights upon a hill,
Tokens to the wintry earth that
Beauty liveth still!

Mountain gorses, do ye teach us
From that academic chair
Canopied with azure air,
That the wisest word man reaches
Is the humblest he can speak?
Ye, who live on mountain peak,
Yet live low along the ground, beside the grasses meek!

Mountain gorses, since Linnaeus
Knelt beside you on the sod,
For your beauty thanking God, -
For your teaching, ye should see us
Bowing in prostration new!
Whence arisen, - if one or two
Drops be on our cheeks - O world,
they are not tears but dew.


http://www.ukstudentlife.com/Travel/Tours/NorthernIreland/Antrim/Gorse.jpg






Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Good GKC Quote



We make our friends;
We make our enemies;
but God makes our next-door
neighbor.


Heretics by
Chesterton

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Favorite Read Alouds



Giving a workshop at this
Charlotte Mason conference
on Thursday. Any ones that you
have loved and had to read over
and over again?

Thanks!


Front Cover


"We don't think much when we don't
know much. But we can wonder!
From now until tomorrow morning
when you come to school again, will
you do that? Will you wonder why and
wonder why? Will you wonder why
storks don't come to Shora to build their
nests on the roofs, the way they do in the
villages around? For sometimes when
we wonder , we can make things begin
to happen."

"If you'll do that -- then school is out right
now!"

Last paragraphs to first chapter of
The Wheel on the School by Meindert
DeJong

Friday, June 6, 2008

Ransom Fellowship



Just got Toad Hall in the mail
yesterday. Good news from
Margie Haack. She has a blog!
She writes:

: We discussed blogging for a
long time before I finally entered
the sphere for conversation. I think
if we recognize its limits, it doesn't
have to be shallow or completely
self-absorbed. Or full of lunatic
ravings. ( which, okay, I'm prone to)
Blogs have a voice that speaks grace
into life. I feel challenged and
inadequate for this , but what on earth
doesn't extract a toll from us? Pray for
the opportunities we have to connect
with and to love the younger
generation with the gospel."

Her blog is here.
Margie will bring you delight and
some laughter. There are some
blogs from Calvin's Writer's of the
Faith that she attended in April.

One of my favorite paintings


I have lots , but this is
AT THE FLORIST, by
Childe Hassam. We took
a side trip one summer to
go see it in Norfolk, VA at
the Chrysler Museum. Worth
the whole trip!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I Capture the Castle



This is where I was last night,
discussing this wonderful book.
My dear friend , whose blog I just
sent you to, takes photos. She had
the camera. Another dear friend
found "castle" mugs! My , what
a fun time at a coffee shop! What
was amazing is how fast those girls
read the book and then we met. Do
you know how hard it is to get
people together? And this just happened
within two weeks!



from the book:

"I don't intend to let myself become
the kind of author who can only work
in seclusion--- after all, Jane Austen wrote
in the sitting room and merely covered up
her work when a visitor called( but I bet
she thought a thing or two)-- but I am not
Jane Austen yet and there are limits to
what I can stand."

Thank you for my dear friend Dorene
who gave me the book years ago and it
is still being read! That is what makes a
good story. A story that opens the heart.


Monday, June 2, 2008

These are a few of my favorite things



photo of English Rose Tea Room



















To Do! That's what the 50th
birthday celebration in Chattanooga
was. Jeannette, the birthday girl,
had the days and food
all planned out. Saturday: used book
store, English Tea Room in the early
afternoon, walk to the Hunter Museum
back to freshen up and a glass of wine ,
then dinner at St. John's Meeting Place.
I had quail.
Quail on a bed of gouda grits. Quail
stuffed with mushrooms, zucchini and
wrapped in bacon. It was the Supper of
the Lamb for sure! A feast.


I only knew Jeannette. We stayed eating
from 6:30 until almost 10:00 eating
that night. The banquet: God's people ]
and God's food! Her other 3 friends were
a feast too!



Quite interesting mixture of modern
and traditional at the Hunter Museum.
The walk over the street traffic was
a bit scary to those
who don't like heights! Me! It is clear
in the daytime.


You've never had an art experience like this.

Perched on an 80-foot bluff on the edge of the Tennessee River, the Hunter Museum of American Art offers stunning views of the river and the surrounding mountains. This panorama is equaled only by the exceptional collection of American art inside recognized as one of the country's finest.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The Hunter Museum



Turned into a room in the colonial
house museum and walked around
to find this painting that I love and
had on my headline but was too big.
There was "Girl on a Swing" by Winslow
Homer, a pencil drawing above it and
the watercolor below ~~ not very big.
Not very big but OH SO beautiful.
He captures extraordinary moments
of beauty. Just a little girl enjoying the
sunshine on a summer day. I love her
legs crossed and her shoes and that hat!



Winslow Homer - Girl on a Swing - Art Prints and Posters