Friday, March 29, 2013

Good Friday


                                     Christ Carrying the Cross , Martin Schongauer
                                                              1475-80
                         

                               
                                              Rembrandt's The Three Crosses



A friend turns 60 today. A friend may be a grandmother today again.  A company sent my son gas $ for interviewing for a summer internship. ( which he took another offer) I waited for Hot Cross Buns fresh from Great Harvest Bread. Great hope filling this day as we look to the cross. 

 All my married sons will be sharing Easter with their brides families.That leaves two here and a smaller Easter in many years. Have a very , very wonderfulworship on Sunday : Resurrection Day.  Christ is Risen!   Alleluia !

We sang The Power of the Cross last night for Maundy Thursday during communion.. My heart 
lifted up so powerfully. May yours this Easter: 

                                                       Keith and Kristyn Getty



Tuesday, March 26, 2013

hearthside


It is the end of March and here in the South I sit in front of  a fire in the hearth.
Hearthside. 

I am on Spring Break from teaching , although a stack of thesis papers awaits my pen. 
Hearthside slows me down today. It is warm by the fire.

When you have a week off you think about getting
things done. We have done some:  



- saw the musical Wicked
- watched Lincoln
- watched The Hobbit
- celebrated my #2 son's 27th birthday twice
- listened to St John's Passion by  Bach, sung by my church choir ( husband is a tenor)
- reading my stack of books


Kristin Chenoweth's last performance of FOR GOOD:



highlights from her last show: really funny



Saturday, March 23, 2013

Book Review






I love books of prayers. This one is  for the morning and evening  through the liturigal calendar. The authors range from all faiths. Old prayers are especially rich and poignant.  Each prayer is shortened to 50 -150 words for a quiet daily rhythm.   It is a nice size even with almost 400 pages. Each season has gorgeous etchings.  Here is for Epiphany by Albrecht Durer: 







 You can take a peek here. David Gushee , the editor, has this prayer for January 16:

Oh God,
I ask today that you
prepare my spirit for this day's temptations,
which may come in forms not easily recognized.
The temptation to pride-- to envy -- to anger;
the temptation to doubt -- to cynicism -- to hopelessness;
the temptation to a faith merely of words not deeds.
May my every free choice today
express my lifetime decision
to submit my will to Yours.
For you are not just "Lord"--
You are my Lord.
I am Yours.
Amen.

Review for Thomas Nelson Publishers: Book Sneeze ( free books for bloggers)


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Stepping into Ireland



Four days after St. Patrick's Day, I find Kristyn Getty's father's blog ( Keith and Kristyn Getty)
of photo's of Ireland. Stunnng photos.





Wednesday, March 20, 2013

He said it was closed



My son returned from England Sunday. One fun comment: " We almost went to  that Downtown place : Highclere  Castle but it was closed."  Emma and I said together: " That is because they are filming Season
4 ." 



Wednesday, March 13, 2013

To Be in Bath


Wish I had been able to tuck myself in my son's suitcase on Saturday. 
 He is on Spring Break with his Honors King Arthur Literature class in England. 
Sigh. 
He can email. Just short ones to keep his mom happy. 
I gave him a list of anything English to bring back. I was in England 
in my college days but now I am more well read. He is more read than I was too!
Today was Winchester Cathedral. My husband kept singing the tune today. 
If you know him , my husband  sings when he talks. Yea, just sings his sentences into tunes. 
We are very used to hearing answers in some sort of tune! I told my husband to join the church choir. 
He did. Easter is St John's Passion by Bach. 




and King Arthur's Round Table is here:


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Midwinter Spring



Will it last?
I am sitting outside watching the birds, reading, and writing.
Spring warmth on this very long day of sunlight as we lost an hour but gained an hour of sunlight. 

Quote from my reading in Les Miserable: ( Jean Valjean as he struggles with what to do when another Jean Valjean is caught by the police)

"One can no more prevent the mind from returning to an idea than the sea, returning to the shore.
In the case of the sailor, this is called the tide; in the case of the guilty , it is called remorse.
God upheaves the soul as well as the ocean."

" For the first time in eight years, the unhappy man had just tasted the bitter flavor of a wicked
thought and a wicked action.  He spit it out with disgust."

" Diamonds are found only in the dark placed of the earth; truths are found only in the depths of thought. It seemed to him that after having descended in to the depths, after having groped long in the blackest of this darkness, he had at least found one of the truths, and that he held it in his hand;
and it blinded him to look at it."

The actor who played the Bishop in the movie is Jean Valjean here:





Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Needing handwork


Creativity  can help when your mind is full. 

Here are two new blogs I just posted  on the side blog listings:

Mister Finch from Leeds , England



Drawntostitch from Cheshire, England


Saturday, March 2, 2013

It snowed



It was a flurry for maybe an hour? Isn't it wonderful to feel joy!





                                                          Her autobiography







Next day the snow began to fall, large slow flakes drifting on a light wind. The sky was leaden and the earth crouched beneath it drained of beauty. All the light and loveliness were in the snow itself, in the movement and glimmer of the flakes large as wild white roses, in the tide of whiteness flowing slowly over the dark earth, like moonlight or the surf of a soundless sea......Mary moved through the day entranced, for this was not only her first snow at Appleshaw but her first country snow.....When Mary at last reluctantly drew the curtains she shut herself in with a silence so living that she moved about the house or sat by the fire as attentive to it as though she were listening to John talking, or cousin Mary, or to some other music still just beyond human hearing. Or for some arrival. Who’s coming? She wondered. There was expectancy in her listening but no impatience.
(Scent of Water Elizabeth Goudge 1963)


If you like letters, here are some  by Elizabeth Goudge.  She  comments on the changes of Christmas as it becomes more focused on Materialism.