Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Loving what I do



Literature engenders wild and independent thought. It prepares the mind—as prayer cultivates the heart—for epiphany. Epiphany is the chief enemy of intellectual orthodoxy, and reductionism, and rote procedure.

From Image

 

Monday, February 27, 2012

James...


Our groom says the funniest thing these days, besides being nervous about dancing at the reception, 
that they will miss the First Lady and James Taylor by one night at the hotel they are spending their Wedding Night! ( in town to raise funds for the DNC in Sept)They are missing  them  by one night but the hotel should still be buzzing from it. 


Here is James  Taylor with his son, Ben, (mother is Carly Simon) in Raleigh last March. Missed that concert! We saw James Taylor in his early days in Chapel Hill. ( the 70's)









Saturday, February 25, 2012

One more week!



Preparing for next Saturday's wedding with:

audio: ( while in the car this week)



 Reading: ( thanks Nancy)

 My library copy's cover:



The wedding frenzy is almost over: Emma's bridesmaid's strappy black sandals arrived today!

Guys having the Bachelor Party  tonight down in the city!






Friday, February 24, 2012

Poetry Writing


Assignment: Write a poem in Dactyl Hexameter about a Greek Myth or hero or historical event.  Make a Greek mask for your Recitation.


Beauty's Rising

Sing to me of the sea, Muse, the sea that gave us our dear Aphrodite.
The charmed beauty that rose, from the deep water’s sandy floor, came forth.
Shining sun, glistening skin, she came up floating white foaming beneath.
West wind blows her in the early morning rising dawn brings her to the shore.

Sing to me of the sea, Muse, the sea that gave us our dear Aphrodite.
Three graces near, goddesses of love , jewels they bring to lavish her with.
Dressed in jewels, she awaits for her chariot  drawn by doves  to arrive.
Crowds gathered in silence , in love struck awe as the doves fly her home at last.

Sing to me of the sea, Muse, the sea that gave us our dear Aphrodite.
At Olympia, she found her  father Zeus, god of the  sky above.
Zeus decreed Hephaestus, the god of fire, the mighty blacksmith, she was wed.
Sing to me of the sea, Muse, the sea that gave us our dear Aphrodite. 

by Emma ( age 14)

Tuesday , she will recite this in class wearing her Greek mask. It is in progress on the kitchen table. 


 

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wedding poem by Luci Shaw

 **Epithalamion
for Greg and Andrea

As God, creating, lifted from Adam

the archetypal rib, now, Greg, because you were alone,
he gives to you Andrea, telling you,
“Here. This is your woman, bone of your bone.”

And Andrea, longing for your loving to come true,

remember how the Lord God spoke,
so that a curving, warm bone woke
into a woman--vital, beautiful, and you !

Lord, let now your word leap down again, restore

Eden, and innocence, and say once more
Good! Will you, who made one like yourself,
and from that one made two,
join them in one again?


By Luci Shaw



 
**A lyric ode in honor of a bride and bridegroom.
a poem or song written to celebrate a marriage; nuptial ode

  from Latin, from Greek epithalamion  marriage song, from thalamos  bridal chamber

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Plus this was on the lawn




Tetsunori Kawana: renowned bamboo artist and Ikebana master





Winter Break.!


 I am on Winter Break but it is not vacation except Emma and I did get to see the  Coco Chanel Exhibit at The Mint Museum here in Charlotte. This is a Cocktail Suit with ruffles peeking out and rhinestones. It makes me want to dress up! Soon  we will at the Weddings!






Friday, February 17, 2012

A Heart on the Door

A friend of mine decorated her front door when her sons got married. Tuile and bows and a wreath or heart.  So yesterday I found a beautiful heart half off because Valentine's Day was past. 

It is donning my front door. 
Photo to come.  Just use your imagination!
It is similar to these from Bird Nest on the Ground.


Winter Break from teaching. 
Needed break. 
Wedding in 2 weeks ~~~ 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Haircuts


Today : Wedding haircuts. Yesterday :  my husband.
Yesterday: #3 son who also had a job interview today. Good reason!  Groom got his earlier last  week ~~ it should be a good length by the time he stands to meet his bride. ( super short for his profession.)


 Odysseus went on  his adventures in The Odyssey everywhere  I went today, even  to the hair salon. Our hairdresser ( Korean)  told Emma and me  about her mother back in Korea and her childhood. As she cut Emma's hair, she  saw me reading but didn't ask WHAT book, then  went on to say ALL  about her two favorite childhood books: Heidi and  "that red head girl" (Anne of Green Gables...which I told her about seeing Anne's house  on P.E.I.). I could sort of picture a little Korean girl reading about Heidi and Anne being swept into the same things we  were. She was there in the Alps and on Prince Edward Island. I remember one of my sons saying Heidi was his favorite book. He always did that whenever a book tickled his soul and he lived within it.......... He has many, many favorite books!!



Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Gerhard Groote.... ever heard of him?


                ( the beginning of The Book of Hours by Gerhard Groote)


He's Dutch and lived in the 14th century.
At such a tumulous time ( Black Plaque and the Hundred Year's War ), he started the Brethren of the 
Common Life movement that started schools and translations of the Bible and strong biblical preaching.

He had a multigenerational plan. He understood that it had taken a very long time for Western civilization to get into the mess that it was in and that no man or movement, no matter how potent or effective, would be able to turn things around overnight. That was why the heart and soul of his plan was to disseminate the Scriptures and build schools. His covenantal theology had led him to have a generational vision, one that enabled him to invest in a future he would likely never see on this earth.

Who went to these schools?
Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Melancthon, Bucer, and Beza.

Read more here at Tabletalk.

Happy Valentine's Day!
 

Monday, February 13, 2012

Gratitude............again and again



Thinking about Gratitude as I read Ann's A Holy Experience today and now ,again, I think about  how I am not a list person. Gratitude just came upon me this afternoon as I read an email from the oldest son saying: "Here's my work number if you need to get a hold of me." ( mind you, it is almost 5:00 , the end of the day)

I replied ," What happened to your cell?"


"Died. Going to get a new one tonight."


You know how something just hits you and you can see clearer. 

I just THANKED God for a son who at 28, married and still thinks " what if they had to get a hold of me. " Very thoughtful and conscientious.


That was my Mom. That was how she trained 8 children always to stay in touch with her, to think beyond themselves , especially if we were going out of town. 

The gratitude went  back two generations in my mind and heart, flew up to the Lord in Praise, and now  I am comforted by thinking about my Mom ( deceased)  right before Valentine's Day!


Gratitude, 
again and again.

( Bryan on his birthday a year ago)










 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Letters to Home



It is a lost art: Letter Writing. It costs more to mail a handmade and  handwritten Valentine or letter. Postage went up 1 cent but somehow that may be a tipping point. Definitely fast and cheaper to email or FB message or get a response.
BUT......

Look what took my fancy today. It costs $25.00,  if you are interested in supporting the ARTS and love to write letters, this is for you!
Even after a March 3rd wedding, I am already inspired. I will post my entry come mid-March. 


10x10_ribbon
 

Letters To Home

What would you say to your childhood home?
It's been awhile, and the house you grew up in is starting to wonder about you... If your childhood home could hear you, what would you say? It might have been...














Monday, February 6, 2012

Downtown Abbey Live Chats


I just happened to be home these past two Mondays for the LIVE CHATS with two Downtown Abbey cast members. Today was Edith~~ Laura Carmichael. 

Here is the word she used when asked about getting the part:

I was gobsmacked to find it was a principle character. It was a very exciting time.

gobsmacked [ˈgɒbˌsmækt]adj Brit slang astounded; astonished

You might hear it come out of my mouth.

By the way, snow in England!



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Poetry and Spring


Up in the low 70's here today.
The daffodils are out early, peeking out and holding up their yellow bonnets. I love the winter sunsets that a peek through bare trees. The light is different.Winter light.  Poets capture that light in words and make us see the light. 

I am teaching my students one of the hardest poetry structures: Dactyl Hexameter.  It is the language structure of Homer in The Odyssey. They are writing a poem on a Greek myth or hero plus will wear a mask that they design to wear at  the recitation.


Today we went to a living poet: Wendell Berry to be inspired. They wrote what each stanza meant in their journals. 

How To Be a Poet
by Wendell Berry

(to remind myself)


i

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.


ii

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.


iii

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.


The first stanza:  "patience joins time to eternity." My daughter said , " that is like when we go to the beach and it is timeless. We have to find that in where we write and how we write."

The second stanza: " there are no unsacred places..." New thought for some.
"Stay away from screens... 3-D dimensioned life..."
Can they do that? This is not a 3-D movie. Real life.
   
The third stanza: " out of the silence....like prayers..."
One student drew this. I was silent by the beauty of her drawing. 




Wednesday, February 1, 2012

When you haven't finished a book........


 and it is DUE at the library and it has 175 holds. 
NO brainer.
Buy it.

We did.


Death Comes to Pemberley
 
I still haven't found out WHO DID IT.
Good , good writing, P.D. James. 

A Life in Writing: PD James  from the Guardian.