We about flipped

My class ( 16 this year) started Macbeth on Tuesday night after eating together
 SO when my daughter comes in to my bedroom late last night with this news: 
KENNETH BRANAGH is going to be in MACBETH on Broadway
next year and Alex Kingston ( Dr Who fans) as Lady Macbeth................well,
we screamed. THEN , we thought the show was touring before going to NY
but what is  happening is the National Theater Live is broadcasting  the performance from 
Manchester,England filmed live in July to selected  theaters. 

Some theaters. 

One just happens to be near where we live. 
We are going in November. 
It might be coming near you.
 Or another show? 

It will be Branagh and Kingston's debuts on Broadway in June. 
Just hoping. 
Henry V is my absolute favorite , then Much Ado About Nothing.
Almost a tie. 

updating

My book list for my class.
Finishing up some summer reads. 
My 4th son goes to London on Monday. A semester at Kingston College.
Am I jealous ?
Yes.
Am I going to see him?
Yes.
Any great shops or things in the UK for him to see or do from 
travellers?
His dad is going to travel with him for a week before classes start. 
They will be seeing friends of the family in London and MY relatives in Edinburgh. 

I did wake up in the middle of the night and was worried 
and had to confess to the Lord that HE takes care of all. 
All things. Period.

For those who have read much Elizabeth Goudge, I am thinking about one of 
her books where the children are up on a cliff above a mother on the 
shore. Someone asks if those are her children and LOOK where they are. 
Her response is something that has stuck into my soul: the Lord is watching
over them. Exactly. 

heard the buses this morning

Neighborhood kids got on the buses early. 
We didn't. 
We are still in summer except school never really ended with my last one 
here. Alg 2 with her brother. Math seeped into days and days for my dear 
girl who loves Humanities and reading and music and art. She has one more
week, then into an online class for Geometry. She started an online Astronomy
class for one semester. Her dad loves the sky and everything that is in it. She 
has grown up learning from his passion. Geography is another one. 
Ask him where something is and latitude, longitude and he is a walking 
encyclopedia.  A real living book who can tell tales of his travels too. 

The Astronomy  teacher has a great , great sense of humor.
 I would love for my students, even my own kids to say that about me. 
Doubt it. 

Here are Nancy's great quotes for starting. 

Finished this for our class summer reading tonight out on the back deck in the cool
dusk : 

bend the knee

FOR OUR CHILDREN

by Amy Carmichael

FATHER, hear us, we are praying,
Hear the words our hearts are saying,
We are praying for our children.

Keep them from the powers of evil,
From the secret, hidden peril,
From the whirlpool that would suck them,
From the treacherous quicksand, pluck them.

From the worldling's hollow gladness,
From the sting of faithless sadness,
Holy Father, save our children.

Through life's troubled water steer them,
Through life's bitter battle cheer them,
Father, Father, be Thou near them.
Read the language of our longing,
Read the wordless pleadings thronging,
Holy Father, for our children.

And wherever they may bide,
Lead them Home at eventide.

delicious

Peaches this summer. 
Oh so good. 
I still haven't been to my sister's house this summer. 
She lives right near the NC peach orchards. 
The one I ate tonight is from near there but I got the bag 
here at the Farmer's Market. 

Finished this book today. 
New poet for me and his journey with Christ and cancer:

there is no place like home

Dorothy was right. 
Home. 

Lovely few days to the state that touches our state at the top of the 
mountains. 
Lovely time seeing #3 son and his beautiful wife.
Lovely time with friends on the journey and friends where we went.
Lovely time hearing Dr. George Grant.
Lovely time hearing Walter Wangerin. 
Lovely time hearing the Rabbit Room musicians.

Here is a taste of Jason Gray who made my heart fill into my eyes:

The Sabbath

We are traveling tomorrow on the Sabbath. 
Going to hear this author. 
Going to hear this pastor.
Going to see old friends. 
Going to see #3 son and his wife.

Have a good Sabbath. 
May you remember being called by His Name. 

                                           Rembrandt's Simeon, Song of Praise

you know...

How a day can be so full?
You know how a day seems to have more things in it than you ever
thought in the morning as you drink coffee or tea?
I thought about this at 4:00 after an hour on the phone with my husband 
( on speaker ) and  medical benefits to straighten out why I am not on my
 husband's  policy now that he has retired. I thought about how many
people we talked to,even back to my brother's ( PA Orthopaedist) office to take care of a bill. When I got back to them , I  made that lady laugh which tickled me.
We both just laughed and laughed. 
 I also had to talk to another office for my # for this right hip recall. SO I thought also about what people do for a living everyday. 
Problem solving. Just have to laugh. 
All is almost straightened out.
So how was your day?


It felt like the scene in Julie & Julia where Julie is answering calls from 9/11
and she is crying. I almost did today, even though everyone was being helpful.

Son is doing well minus wisdoms..........praying for some to come from 
the "fear of the Lord" and his mouth to heal. He has been eating soup,
soft ice cream, grits, scrambled eggs, soup, mashed potatoes, soup...!

wisdom out....

He did well. All 4 wisdom teeth are out. 
He does not want a photo here or on FB   but maybe on his phone.
Also new and improved: an ice pack that fits under his chin then 
over his head with ice pockets on either side. 

Maybe chipmunk cheeks will puff out soon. 

What is in a day and in a painting...

Today is  getting ready for Autumn as school starts and #4 son gets 
ready to have all 4 wisdom teeth out tomorrow. He's been in and out
all summer . Having a grand one, I would say. He's in now and cleaning
out his room ( I hear the vacuum going) and getting ready to be "loopy"
on drugs while his mouth heals. 

It seems like Summer comes to a end  quicker than when I was a child.
School starts in mid-August here in the South and in the north where I 
grew up , it was after Labor Day. School started in September.  We start 
after Labor Day. 

On to what is in a painting: 

Golden Sea was a necessary reprieve for artist Makoto Fujimura from the
intensely focused Four Holy Gospels illumination project which required
strenuous attention to detail and commenorated the KJV 400th anniversary
in 2011.  He worked on a canvas in the corner of his studio -- a form of 
relaxation from the illumination project. The painting would declare its presence
to visitors. Makoto started to pay more attention to the work, listening and
responding to it.

 " The process of creating renews my spirit, and I find myself 
attuned to the details of life rather than being stressed by being overwhelmed.
I find myself listening rather than shouting into the void."

"I wanted to paint something that was not for any other purpose other than,
perhaps, its own existence." 

" Although my work uses traditional techniques, it doesn't fit into 
any category. Neither Nihonga or Contemporary art, representation 
nor abstraction, secular nor religious, Japanese or American, none of 
these terms is sufficient. I consciously try to bridge the divide I sense 
in my own soul. " ( a noncategory artist)

" The 'secret ingredient' behind the Golden Sea transfer of gold is a Japanese
hand woven silk which is made in a strict traditional manner but is no longer
produced today. Therefore, Golden Sea is an homage to and a lament for
dying traditions, as well as an experession of the sublimity inherent in 
precious materials. "

the words: homage and lament for dying traditions make me think
of A Quartet of Things. 

A Sabbath afternoon with Golden Sea

Makoto Fujimura's GOLDEN SEA came this week. It was part of  a Kickstarter campaign. 
So I spent this afternoon with the book , drinking in the beautiful words, and copies of 
paintings.

" The process of painting then, mirrors my deeper struggle to return the gifts back to the Creator."

Golden Sea was a canvas on the side of his NY studio that he painted after the intensity of 
doing the 400th KJV Illuminated Bible for Crossway.

                                                                      Golden Sea

                                                                   
                                                                Grace Justified

                                                                   Grace Psalm

                                                                   Grace Foretold

                                                                   Grace Hour

                                                                    Tree Grace

                                                              Sacrificial Grace

The hole in the ground

I just heard my husband say to someone on the phone,  "Only the Lord knows."
We have been waiting to put DIRT in the hole where our pool was taken out 
earlier this summer but it has rained and rained. You would think this would be 
an easy thing to order and do. Today was to be another  the day but it was raining much of the early morning.Then tomorrow but"only the Lord knows" because the dirt they are bringing is wet and there is water in the hole. But there seemed to be an echo in my head hearing those  words:
                               "Only the Lord knows" 

 If someone knows something, you ask them  and you need to listen. 
 This is sort of like my son needing to come tonight to teach my daughter
this next part in Alg. 2. She didn't know how to do it and couldn't move forward.
They are out on the porch in this delicious cool summer evening doing math. 
( he loves it : accountant; she doesn't especially love it but is doing better with 
his teaching) 

Our heavenly Father knows all things, even before they happen. 
Sometimes I seem to think He is up to something when there is lots of 
waiting and it is going to be more marvelous. Absolutely. I start looking for 
reasons too. Start asking Him  because He knows. 
 He sees around the corners of time. 


Just finished this book and highly, very highly recommend it , even for learning how to 
live with people , which we all do , even singles:

Short Vimeo of Tim and Kathy here. 
LONGER Vimeo from The Gospel Coalition here. 

Blog forgotten

My daughter and I spent just a bit at Barnes & Noble looking at magazines.
Looking and drinking a frappacino together. 

Found some blogs I haven't been to in a while in all those wonderful magazines
that cost as much as a book and only can find this  one. 

A Bird in  the Hand

Collette  was in Somerset HOME

My contribution:

this is stuck in my head

This duet lifts my heart and grabs it. 
Today, while driving, I kept this one going over and over again. 
Do you have a favorite? There is a tender fragility in their voices. 
Eponine dies.... love  this  line: If I could close your wounds with words of love.
I can listen to that over and over again: I'm here. That's all I need to know. 

We are going to my 40th High School Reunion tomorrow. 
The number makes me feel old!!