Saturday, August 30, 2008

Hebrews 12:2



Looking away from all the earth

unto Jesus.
Great translation.
Fix your eyes on Jesus
is another.

Amy Carmichael quotes Wescott:
" Not only at the first moment,
but constantly through the whole
struggle...Christ is always near and
in sight." I like those last two words.
In Sight.




Thursday, August 28, 2008

Working on ...


The Fall Semester Syllabus
for my high school literature
class. We start with Pride and
Prejudice! I don't like to assign
pages to read , you know, just read
and read. But it doesn't work that
way when you have some who are
learning to read this kind of literature.
So the type A in me rises out of
slumber when I have to organize
and plan. Thus was this week!
I love ideas though. So ideas are
popping about the syllabus!

Chawton, Jane's home

Window



There have been or will
be 7 birthdays of friends or
family, this week and last week.
None being any of my
children. None born in the fall.
Although the oldest missed
Christmas by a day! So I've
been making cards and thinking
of gifts. Type A is asleep when I'm
like this. I have to have my Type B
rise up and fly. Francis Schaeffer
said in Art and the Bible:

"The Christian is one whose imagination
should fly beyond the stars."

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Soaked


The creeks are running after
last night's rain. There are two
long narrow boards from my
neighbor's campfire pit that
were moved into our yard.
Evidence that the creek over-
flowed last night. The ground
is squishy too. Checked the
garden and it's drenched. No
new plants planted so the old
ones from summer may bear a
bit more fruit. Thankful for the
rain. Very.


Columbus Avenue, Rainy Day
1885
Childe Hassam

The image “http://www.classicartrepro.com/data/large/Hassam/Hassam_Columbus_Ave_Rainy_Day_1885.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A Gentle Rain


We've had a gentle rain most
of the day, giving it an English
atmosphere! Tonight is an Evening
Reading of The Merchant of
Venice. It is how my students
get to know each other!!!
Their first Recitation and
to honor the day of rain:

Portia:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes
.
..........

Monday, August 25, 2008

"Q"




Just had to post this
gorgeous old book
so that I can see it again.
For booklovers:

http://www.davidbrassrarebooks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-shopping-cart/books_img/00152/main.jpg

Lewis


"We live, in fact, in a world starved
for solitude, silence, and private:
and therefore starved for meditation
and true friendship."

--The Weight of Glory

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Anonymous Quote



Found this quote while
decluttering yesterday on
a 4 by 6 card in my hand
writing:

Pragmatism and an industrial-
sized busyness denigrate every-
thing that can't squeeze out of a
calculator. The first thing to die
under such circumstances is
a passion for beauty.

School starts in a week for us.
The busyness gears back up
but I've tried to keep empty
space in my days. It gets dark
earlier now. We all were a bit
sad tonight
as Autumn approaches
and summer says THE END.


The First Lesson, Carl Larsson


The First Lesson, 1903 Giclee Print by Carl Larsson

Friday, August 22, 2008

Three Houses



Angela Thurkell writes in
her autobiography about
her first three houses. Her
grandfather is Pre-Raphaelite
painter Edward Burne-Jones.
She writes:

" In this studio there was a very high
set of steps with a higher and lower
platform on which the artist
worked at the upper portions of
his picture. I remember sitting on
these steps , my head wrapped
in a many coloured piece of silk
and bound with a coronet, while
my grandfather made studies of
crown and drapery for one of the
mourning queens in the great
unfinished picture of Arthur of
Avalon which is now in the Tate
Gallery."

Second house is in London too.
North End House. Nephew of her
grandmother lives across the
street. Rudyard Kipling and his
family. That's where I am in the
book today.


Burne-Jones's studio, The Grange, Fulham, London


click for a full screen image

Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR
Reference Number: DD54/00139


http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/kinga/avalon.jpg



Thursday, August 21, 2008

Good day at the library



I love going to the library
to pick up my books on
hold. I had a stack. I came
home reading and will tonight!
Here's a bit:

book cover of   Three Houses   by  Angela Thirkell


Several books by A.L. Rowse, author of 100 books. I got

A Cornish Childhood
A Cornishman at Oxford


He was encouraged in his pursuit of an academic career by fellow Cornish man of letters Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944) who recognised his ability from an early age.

Still reading Tarte Tatin. Love
being in Normandy , France
as Susan Loomis begins her
cooking school in the 300 year
old convent they turned into
their home! I'm ready to go.



Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Ahhh..........


Victoria Magazine came today!
I read it in two sittings.
What comes over me is a
wave of beauty and I go to
places I long to see. I feel
better!


http://www.victoriamag.com/

In front of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac, Quebec City

In front of Fairmont Le Château

Frontenac, Quebec City

The Mercy of God ...Ps. 52:8


Bathing in the words of
Spurgeon from August 17th
"Morning":

There is nothing little in God;
His mercy is like himself ~~~
it is infinite.

It is rich mercy. ...this mercy is
a cordial to your drooping spirits,
a golden ointment to your bleeding
wounds, a heavenly bandage to your
broken bones, a royal chariot for
your weary feet, a bosom of love for
your trembling heart.

It is manifold mercy. As Bunyan
says, "All the flowers in God's garden
are double." There is no single mercy.

It is unfailing. It will never leave thee.

AMEN. Shakespeare wrote in
The Merchant of Venice:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth as the gentle rain from
heaven
Upon the place beneath:
it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives
and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest....

It is an attribute to God himself..


Strong words. Strengthening
the soul.


Monday, August 18, 2008

This came in the Mail today



Tarte Tatin



Book Two continuing at the
300 year old convent that
Michael and Susan Loomis
bought in Normandy , France.
Read the first chapter in the after-
noon sun. It's the start of her
cooking school. She always has
recipes at the end of each chapter.
The first one had an Olive cookie
and Orange Wine. Oh my.....!

Packing up


Our third son is packing
up to go back to the mountains
tomorrow as college begins.
Moving into a house with 3 other
guys. We've been back to the
eye glasses store for the 4th time
with glasses that pinch his nose
after he lost his on a jet ski!
Ah~~~ Lord , help them to work
this time! Never know why such
little things happen and cause
such real frustration, but they
were really nice at the store.
That helps! That really helps.
He needed a 19 in the bridge.
No wonder the 15 didn't work.


Tommy Hilfiger TH3043

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Growth



Grandam, one night as we did sit
at supper,
My uncle talked how I did grow,
more than my brothers,
"Ay" quoth my uncle Gloucester,
"Small herbs have grace;
great weeds do grow apace."
And since me thinks I would not
grow so fast
Because sweet flowers are slow
and weeds make haste."

King Richard III , Shakespeare

Humbled



Learning that you probably
used a NOUN as a VERB at
times is humbling. Part of
this morning's sermon :
Disciple is a noun. Yes, I knew
that. Then why have I said
" to disciple someone!"
It is not a verb. Everyone under-
stood me and noone has corrected
me. Today I stand corrected!

Matthew 9:9-13 ~ His disciples



Jan Sanders van Hemessen. Jesus Summons Matthew - 16th Century, Flemish Renaissance Painter

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Rainy English Day


Cool and the earth was
replenished! Last day of
our Bible Study and one
friend brought British
"biscuits" ~~ Lemon Curd
Biscuits from Hampton
Court Palace , a gift from
English friends visiting
last weekend. Butter and
lemons . Since I don't know
much about this Palace , this
is some of what I found:

Famous maze in the gardens



6 acres of building

Hampton Court Palace

Henry VIII lived there.
Shakespeare performed there.
King James Bible is commisioned there.
Christopher Wren built part of it.

Hampton Court Palace, west front


The Chapel Royal where Archbishop
Cranmer issued a letter to Henry VIII
with accusations against his wife Catherine.
( unchaste behaviour before marraige)
She was executed in the Tower of London.

The Chapel Royal

http://www.bargeladycruises.com/filebin/images/maps/England_Map_V8.jpg

Hope you've learned some-
thing and yearn to visit
on this English sort of day!
And a biscuit is a cookie
in England!


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Scrapbooking afternoon


Plunging into the photos
today as Emma scrapbooked
with two dear friends. Funny
how I had made a photo card
near the end!
I look at myself and wonder
why I always have to make
cards! This one was a winter
scene,then we had a lovely
cup of carmel roobis tea!
I will be sad to have summer
end and the long days it gives
us. There is always refreshing
extra quiet in summer that my
body and soul needs. I feel like
Ann Lindbergh in Gifts from the
Sea seeking the secret to bringing
back the timelessness of the beach
and island to her daily life.

In my childhood the summer days
seemed like eternity. Long days
outside playing and playing.
Today's play took us down
my children's childhood.
Good for the soul.
And it was almost 5:00 when
we had tea!


Five O’Clock Tea, Mary Cassatt

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/paintings-by-mary-cassatt-2.jpg

Monday, August 11, 2008

The blessings of being spontaneous



A very good friend is moving
next week. TO Denver. That
state where my husband was
born. That state with those
gorgeous mountains that
have lakes up on elevations!
I was very close to her house
tonight near 9:00 and called
to stop by! I got to hug her kids
and her home once more. She
plays the cello so they are driving
it to Colorado with the dog!
Here's a haiku she sent me
recently:


haikus are easy
but sometimes they don't make sense
refrigerator.

Maybe when we have lunch
later this week at a bookstore
where many lunches have been,
it won't be so hard to say
Goodbye! I don't think so.
Not when friendship is deep
and dear and spontaneous
like tonight.



Sunday, August 10, 2008

One more week


well, maybe two...
until my college sons start
back. I finished Larry Woiwode's
newest memoir. It has this
part of a poem in the front:


Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
T.S. Eliot

I feel that way tonight.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

MOMA


He made it to MOMA.
My son who loves Salvador Dali's
paintings and Van Gogh.
ONLY it closes in an hour!
Still goodness and blessings in
that hour. Time will multiply!
I always say an hour in a museum
is just enough!



Starry, Starry Night is on loan to Yale for the
summer. Cousin lives in New Haven!
BUT that's not in the plans for the this summer.

Vincent van Gogh. The Olive Trees. Saint Rémy, June-July 1889

Vincent van Gogh. (Dutch, 1853-1890). The Olive Trees. Saint Rémy,

June-July 1889. Oil on canvas, 28 5/8 x 36" (72.6 x 91.4 cm).
Mrs. John Hay Whitney Bequest


Andrew Wyeth. Christina's World. 1948

Andrew Wyeth. (American, born 1917). Christina's World. 1948. Tempera on gessoed panel, 32 1/4 x 47 3/4" (81.9 x 121.3 cm). Purchase



My husband's favorite painting in the whole wide world.
We saw it years and years ago in college!

Paul Cézanne. Milk Can and Apples. 1879-80

Paul Cézanne. (French, 1839-1906). Milk Can and Apples. 1879-80. Oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 24" (50.2 x 61 cm). The William S. Paley Collection



Pablo Picasso. Fruit Dish. Paris, winter 1908-09

Pablo Picasso. (Spanish, 1881-1973). Fruit Dish. Paris, winter 1908-09. Oil on canvas, 29 1/4 x 24" (74.3 x 61 cm). Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. © 2008 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York


Marc Chagall. I and the Village. 1911

Marc Chagall. (French, born Belarus. 1887-1985). I and the Village. 1911. Oil on canvas, 6' 3 5/8" x 59 5/8" (192.1 x 151.4 cm). Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Claude Monet. Agapanthus. 1918-26

Claude Monet. (French, 1840-1926). Agapanthus. 1918-26. Oil on canvas, 6' 6" x 70 1/4" (198.2 x 178.4 cm). Gift of Sylvia Slifka in memory of Joseph Slifka. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris



Georgia O'Keeffe. An Orchid. (1941)

Georgia O'Keeffe. (American, 1887-1986). An Orchid. (1941). Pastel on paper mounted on board, 27 5/8 x 21 3/4" (70.2 x 55.2 cm). Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe. © 2008 The Museum of Modern Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York




Wild Green Soup


The Swiss Chard Soup was
very green! It turned out good,
not excellent like at Sweet
Basil ( restaurant), but good.
Hubby and I had a late cup
and a plate of cheese and bread.
Not too hot out for soup either.



from Just Hungry.com
Isn't that a great name!

The image “http://www.justhungry.com/images/swiss_chard.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Early Swiss Chard




The stems were so pretty at
the Farmer's Market this
morning! I had to buy them.
You don't even eat those!
So I've got the leaves simmering
in onions and potato with some
spinach that I have , waiting
as it gathers it's juices to be
pureed. Recipe by Susan Loomis.
Maybe the cool morning made
me think of soup.



Front Cover


Thursday, August 7, 2008

The Children of Green Knowes



Sitting in a doctor's office
this morning I read the beginning:

" A little boy was sitting in the corner
of a railway carriage looking out at
the rain, which was splashing against
the windows and blotching downward
in an ugly , dirty way. He was not the
only person in the carriage, but the
others were strangers to him. ...
There were two women opposite him,
a fat one and a thin one, and they
talked without stopping, smacking
their lips in between sentences and
seeming to enjoy what they said as
much as if it were something to eat.
They were KNITTING all the time,
and whenever the train stopped
the CLICK-CLACK of their needles
was loud and clear like two clocks."

...."I wish it were THE Flood," thought
the boy, and that I was going in the
ark.............What must it have sounded
like , coming along the tide? And
did Mrs. Noah just knit , knit and
take no notice."

Can't put this one down either!


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51B6JXXQAAL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

A Walk Across.......



My son visiting NYC just
called and after going to
Central Park, the Met,
Chinatown, they went home
walking across the Brooklyn
Bridge. His feet are tired!
Shades of "Kate and
Leopold!"

My friend said to say HELLO
to Brooklyn Bridge for her
at church yesterday.
Surely he has.

http://brooklyn-bridge.visit-new-york-city.com/Brooklyn-Bridge-1.jpg


http://wirednewyork.com/bridges/brooklyn_bridge/images/brooklyn_bridge_dover_28june03.jpg

Details

Length of river span: 1595.5 feet
Total length of bridge: 5989 feet
Wdith of bridge floor: 85 feet
Suspension cables: four, each 15.75 inches in diameter and 3578.5 feet long, containing 5434 wires each, for a total length of 3515 miles of wire per cable
Foundation depth below high water, Brooklyn: 44 feet 6 inches
Foundation depth below high water, Manhattan: 78 feet 6 inches
Tower height above high water: 276 feet 6 inches
Roadway height above high water: 119 feet (at towers)
Total weight, not including masonry: 14,680 tons

A Good Day in the Mail



Two letter writing friends
( both at my church but they
don't know each other) wrote
me today. Both used a similar
phrase:

"It all adds a pleasant aroma
to life!"

" I pray that I can be that
'sweet aroma' in the office
where God has placed me..."



2 Corinthians 2:14-16
But thanks be to God, who always leads
us in triumphal procession in Christ and
through us spreads everywhere the
fragrance of the knowledge of him.
For we are to God the aroma of Christ
among those who are being saved and
those who are perishing.




Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter
at an Open Window
1658



And Larry Woiwode , who is
in North Dakota is 30 miles
from Kathleen Norris of
Quotidian Mysteries. She's
in Lemmon, SD ~~ up in the
northwest corner. They knew
each other in NYC. By the way,
third son is in Brooklyn for the
week . Long travel day on Amrak
yesterday!

+

Can't Put It Down


I'm taken with L. Woiwode's
new book. I love memoirs and
especially of writers. This one
loves poetry too. There are snippets
of poems that say exactly what he's
trying to write throughout the book.
Books and Culture has a review on
it. I'm glad to hear his voice again
in a new book.

He ends What I Think I Did with an echo
of John 1:16 ("For of his fullness we have
all received, and grace upon grace"):
"It has all been gravy, … and, better,
grace and gracious people put in my
way, and yet more grace."

From A Step from Death:
( I think this one sentence
is profound about each calling
of our lives , gifts and talents)

"The words wouldn't spring from
their sentences with the speed of
light, as it feels when I'm tripped
into the dimension of creative
delirium and glimpse a wink of
eternity, as in 'the seal's wide
spindrift gaze toward paradise'
in the wonderful conclusion to
a Hart Crane poem."

Today's quotidian mysteries :
laundry and vacuuming!
Maybe into the garden. Heat
is coming today, so I'm not sure
that will happen. Indoors cleaning
when the sweat will pour!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Good day at the library


Picking up holds today.
I always look through the
NEW Books and
today I found the newest book
by an author I had recently
wondered WHAT happened to
him? Larry Woiwode. His new
book is a memoir called A Step
From Death. He lives in North
Dakota on an organic farm-ranch.
I read What I'm Going to Do,
I Think ~~ years ago. Great title,
isn't it. This book is delightful
to read as he writes to his son
about his accident on the hay
baler. Severe accident. But then,
this is one of my favorite genres.

"So , dear son, where to begin?
It could be the August morning
I stood on our front steps
wondering whether to go in for
jacket, but first let me step back
as far as I can and say that what
I remember most about my
beginnings , besides the voice of
my mother striding down through
the layer of dark to where I lay
upon the wonder of the unrush
os sleep, is how I felt set apart."

I'm almost to page 50.

"The history of a family begins
with a woman, to condense Cather,
and the pressure of her hand
produces generations behind her..."

Other books on the HOLD shelf
picked up:

In Search of England by H.V. Morton
( gorgeous old book of his travels in
1927 )

The Children Of Green Knowe
by L.M. Boston ( for a read aloud
with Emma, although we usually
read faster by ourselves. It might
happen here and we share the book.)

and an Elizabeth Zimmermann
knitting book.

A good day. Plus lots of
quotidian mysteries : laundry
out on the line.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Update on Beach Reading


Always a wonderful timelessness comes
when you are at the beach. No matter
how short or long a time. That's what
Ann Lindbergh wanted to bring back.
Delicious food and we're eating shrimp
tonight that we brought back ,
fresh from the boat! Also flounder and
scallops going into the freezer for a day
when we need a reminder of the goodness of
the summer!

Got through Flannery O'Connor's Wise
Blood. Not sure what I thought of it yet.
Very depressing , but when the main
character is the head of the Church Without
Christ, it has to be. Not sure I saw any
redemption because of that. Modern ART
by Rookmaacker is so good. I took notes
to teach Aesthetics in the fall. Halfway
through Gilead. Yes, Beth ~~~ good
quotes from it so far. The style is interesting
but I know the last half is the best , at least
from what I've heard. Sir Walter Scott demands
attention. Not reading before bed, so I'm not
sure how Charlotte Mason read Scott then.
He's an author I want to know. I've read his
journal and a biography by John Buchan on
this Scotsman!

Maso -Dixon Knitting
was excellent! Might
have to get that one. I never was drawn to it
because of the cover. It needs one of those
wonderful rugs or blankets on the cover. I
found myself wanting to converse with the
authors.Thank you Amber for mentioning
the book and where your log cabin blanket
came from!

from their blog:

hammock.jpg