Monday, April 30, 2012

NY Times interview Wendell Berry

From this NY Times interview , April 24, 2012 :






In Washington this past Monday, Wendell delivered the 2012 Jefferson Lecture, the highest honor the federal government has for “distinguished intellectual achievement” in the humanities. He titled the talk “It All Turns on Affection.” 

( I must listen to that Lecture!)

Friday, April 27, 2012

from an essay..........



I just linked to this article called Means of Grace at Art House America. (Charlie Peacock and Andi Ashworth)


A friend of mine once said of Flannery O’Connor, “Writing is the way God gave her to experience His grace.” Since she first uttered this nonchalant, world-altering observation, I have not been able to get it out of my head. Writing itself is grace. What does that mean exactly? Is that true? Can it be? Surely scripture is a means of grace, prayer is a means of grace, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, wise counsel, teaching, devotional books — all of this feels familiar and plenty gracious. Yet when I think of poor, weary, peacock-loving Flannery  sitting out on her roasting-hot, ramshackle porch offering up sentence after sentence of worship with her pad and pencil, I, a stalwart non-weeper, could cry out of sheer delight. 

Of course it is true that writing was her grace. Why else would God set such love inside her? Inside us? Why else would I feel like in my moments of greatest love what I long for most deeply is to take out a part of my heart and set a little piece inside someone else so they can see and feel and taste and touch the wonder that I myself am seeing, feeling, tasting, and touching with such awe. And yet that is precisely what God has already done. He has taken His own deep loves and set them inside us — literally — so we can see as He sees and love as He loves, albeit imperfectly. 


This kind of grace changes the way I live.

Don't you love this last sentence.
Kate also has an essay on BOOKS.

Over the past several weeks I have become introspective on this point: Why am I so wholly loyal, wholly devoted to books? Not simply to the act of reading but to actual, tangible, physical books? 


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

Book Club Tea: Schaeffer



Book Club ladies  are celebrating Francis Schaeffer's Centennial with discussion  of his  short book  on The Mark of a Christian today  and  a tea. 



We skype in a dear friend who is in Austria ( with Wycliffe Bible Translators) so the workings of the TIME with the 6 hour time difference is sometimes very hard. This tea is no different! 

I am making cucumber sandwiches and egg salad. Eggs are from a policeman who works with my son and raises hens. 
Bread is from Trader Joe's and Great Harvest Bread. Strawberries in the cucumber sandwiches  are from our trip to the mts. Not sure if there is mint growing in my garden so I may have to tweak that. I do have lemon balm from my sister's garden that I recently planted. Mint grows and grows but I don't think it has come back yet. 


        "...Hallo!  Why all these cups?  Why cucumber sandwiches?  Why such  reckless                 extravagance in one so young?"

-Jack, from Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest


It will be a yummy afternoon. 



Friday, April 20, 2012

A page turner


I haven't been able to put this book down.
I read until my eyes close. Literally.
it is well written . Got the title from Melissa who got it from someone else. Blogging friends who love to read!

Halfway through so don't tell me how it ends.
Yes, Downtown Abbey like.  

The Dorset author's blog is here
 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Word.A.Day


Today's Word.A. Day had a great Thought for the Day that made
me chuckle from  this naturalist:


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree? The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse. -Edward Abbey, naturalist and author (1927-1989)

Monday, April 16, 2012

After a weekend in the mountains


Gorgeous time up in the NC mountains visiting the 
June wedding venues, celebrating the groom's 23rd birthday, and his new job! I am back to work towards the end of the 
school year:


                                   Banner Elk Presbyterian Church

               Taylor House Inn where the reception will be on the grounds. We stayed here. .                     Owned by a lovely European couple. Guess what was on the walls?
                                  Original art by her grandmother and daughter.

                                                                The Real Work

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,

and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.

The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
~ Wendell Berry ~
(Collected Poems)

                          We could hear the mountain stream which is 
                                     alongside the road. It was singing Saturday 
                                                       morning.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Dreamland: wool yarn, rug hooking, and more





I want to get in the car and drive to the country north of us to  Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada to see this store
I've actually been there on the way to P.E.I. 
 
Thank you to my sister for sending me the link . 
She called this Dreamland. 

STITCHING 





   

 Heidi Wulfraat :
Something about me….
I grew up roaming the great expanse that was my father’s photography studio.
His business occupied the basement level of a huge brick building on Monkland Avenue in Montreal. While my father staged backdrops, lighting and composition my mother helped with administrative details in the office. Quite literally, I spent all of my preschool days absorbing the open space, the creative air and the entrepreneurial work ethic that played out in front of me.

Home was on the West Island of Montreal, seemingly far from the fast paced inner core.
The, then rural, edge of suburbia provided the great outdoors, gardens and animals, animals, animals. Cats always, dogs often, a never ending parade of orphaned birds, as well as rabbits, frogs, salamanders and so on.
Textiles were prevalent as well. With a European heritage my brothers, my sister and I were all trained in needle tapestry. All the while my live-in grandmother was occupied in the creation of extraordinary embroidery work, that with which she had once made a living, providing for herself and her children upon arrival in Canada.
This was the formative mix that eventually led to London-Wul Fibre Arts. Fibre production allowed to me to raise animals in a no-kill no-sell environment, fed my appetite for textiles and provided me the opportunity to once again, spend my days in a studio. My studio!



ART







Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Next Wedding


Sometimes when days are being lived, you can't  see closely what is going on.  I do know that TWO of my sons have weddings within 3 months and 13 days  of each other. I do but tonight  it hit me. A big REALLY as the days are coming closer to this June wedding. 

We are heading up to see the wedding places which are  tucked up in the NC mountains. This is the place where #3 son met his fiance and finished college last May. Here are some photos from a recent bridal shower for that bride to be:

                 My sister always does these fun and personal cards.
                      I always do a photo card of my son when he was young. 


  Bridesmaids in June ..... Bride in the middle and my Emma on the right
                   
                                                             Bride and her mom


                             My sister-in-law, niece  and Emma
                                              The engaged couple

                              

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Monday, April 9, 2012

Time on the internet

Steve Jobs certainly changed the world. 

Now I am pinning on Pinterest, thinking  about what to write on my blog, my students have a blog ,  catching up on Facebook, favorites on twitter, and then emails. 

I did read two books over Spring Break: 







Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Tears of Christ







From John 11 ~~ Jesus Wept. 


Makoto Fujimura's The Tears of Christ and a short 
article by the artist here.  


He is risen. 
Hallelujah~

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Artist



Silent movie , almost.
Second time viewing it today
Makes your brain work. 
Not very many quotes ~~ aha.





 

Monday, April 2, 2012

Zipping off gratitude


This afternoon, #3 son calls while he is on the road back to Knoxville. ( we went to a lovely Bridal Shower Saturday for his June wedding ~ this Year of Weddings). Last week,  He had had an interview with a really good company.  That company called this morning trying to verify his May 2011 college graduation. I scan in his diploma, he stops at Starbucks, gets it and zips it to HR. Then he texts me:  

 You're the best. This may get me a job!


Gratitude. 
Joy.
Ann is giving away books this week,  so post. 
I did and was glad to share . I had been walking around starting to Spring Clean,praising God that I was home, had the diploma and  amazing technology.  He is on I-40!

Spring Break almost


When you homeschool and takes classes outside of the house,  Breaks do not fall at the same time except at Christmas. So 
Emma is finishing up a test for her teacher.  You can see Emma
in class which is Beth's kitchen. I only imagine learning biology that way. I might have fallen in love with it. No, don't think so but I do know that if I had read biographies and living books I would have 
enjoyed it more. Emma does. 

Cow's eyes here.  

And from her blog ( hope it's ok to copy this Beth!!?)

In biology class lately, we have dissected flowers ...



and a sheep uterus.  You might not have wanted to know about that last one.  Despite their initial apprehension, my students found this one really fascinating.