many books in the stack

         
                    This lovely book is to review , thanks to Melissa for sending me the information
                                                             to do this...

Cold here. 
How about where you are?

beautiful artwork

My sister and I pass blogs back and forth to look at beauty.
She sent me this one yesterday:

Arteriole

Watercolor and ink-
Wedding certificates-
Loving fonts and calligraphy-

Makes me want to take up my pen!




She has an Etsy shop here. 

shhhh.... silence

.." the great silence behind speech ,
 the ways in which all language acts
emerge from and return 
to silence that is full,
not empty,
and persists in creative tension
with the breeches of utterance. 
The language of prayer , 
in particular, 
enters into this silence 
as into a sacred space ,
seeking not to break the silence."

Caring for Word in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

( almost done reading this excellent book with my students)

student storytelling

Post-Halloween: Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories

I assigned to retell in a dramatic storytelling one of Edgar Allan Poe's 
short stories. Today we did half of the class and ALL , yes all, dazzled
and frightened us and bursts of laughter erupted.  Poe's writing is macabre 
and horror reigned. I am most impressed with resourcefulness, imaginations, 
and creativity. Fabulous dialects, costumes ( just putting on a cloak 
changes everything) , and props ( even an ipad showing different animals)---


 My daughter and another student ( the one in the post below)
did the same story:  THE BLACK CAT. 

student writing

What delight when a teacher gives a short essay test and several 
students say  "thank you" and " that was fun." This happened to me yesterday 
and I nodded in my thoughts: "Charlotte Mason was right."
 ( from In  Memoriam:  At the end of every term we used to go up to say "Good-bye" to her, and she would ask us whether we had liked the exams, and if we thought we had done well, and what we were going to do in the holidays, and many other such questions.)

  I took this PNEU question for Jane Austen and turned to Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter:

PNEU exam question: Mention any biographical touches in Emma, and show wherein the
                                      strength, b) the weakness of character of the heroine.

 My Exam: Describe each character, then show wherein lay the strength and weakness of
                  character.
                  a) Hester Prynne
                  b) Arthur Dimmesdale
                  c) Roger Chillingworth
                  d) Pearl


( from the Murmuring Cottage)


Then  , one of my student's journal writing grabbed  hold of me and made 
me laugh and be tickled. She loves CATS. She loves people too and has 
never met a stranger as the saying goes. Here is a taste of her writing ( she is 16):

" I know that being still and silent is important for the soul. I know that at times 
it is very necessary to be quiet , still and simply wait. And that challenges me."

About one of her favorite books ( from a chapter in Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre) : " When I think about Peter and the Starcatchers , I feel 
as if my soul is floating. When I think back to the book, I am there. I can see flying camels,
feel the rocking of the ship, and hear the squeaking of rats, and fat women saying 
'Pardon my French.'I feel the misty London air at midnight and I can see Tinkerbell
flying over the dusty grey chimneys." 

From the chapter on Translations in Caring for Words: " In Zambia , I meet 
a woman named " Gracious " and a woman named " Memory."

For the chapter from Caring for Words on Good Conversations , she wrote what a good conversation would  sound like by asking herself questions and here are some of her answers:

1. Who are you? 
2. What is it like living your particular life? (It is very odd. I am often as jubilant as a 
hummingbird appears to be, but I also get very sad for long periods of time for almost
no reason..... I realize that life and time are moving slowly, and that it is very rare, so 
boring moments are to be appreciated.) 
3 .How do you cope with suffering ?
4. How do you feel about the challenges you encounter in the world you are 
inheriting?
5. Why have you made the particular choices you have made so far?
6. What delights you? ( Kittens. Puppies that are asleep and therefore do not move. Lemon tarts....Thinking back to a good book. Talking to old friends as if you never stopped.
Knowing all the words to a fast song. )
7. What makes you afraid? ( being alone in a crowd of people I don't know)
8. What may we offer one another at this stage of our journey? ( to someone younger, 
wisdom and to someone older, listen and  respect. )

AND ONE MORE THING:

My daughter's writing at the end of this blog on Poetry: here

good post over here today

Rebecca Reynolds at The Rabbit Room
Here is a bit:

I determined to make every single decision based on what was best for him, it didn’t matter how difficult those choices were. From diet, to sleep schedules, to early education, I committed to hard, good things. I gave up money, relationships, rest hours, I bowed my dreams, my ambitions, my body down to this enormous task of maternity.

Sometimes I got so tired I didn’t think I could do any more, but whenever I was tempted to waver, I remembered that miscarriage. I remembered how fast it could all be over, and I recommitted to doing my part, even if it killed me. Besides, my son was a wonder. He was bright, funny, strong, deep, wise beyond his years. He shone like the sun. What could I want more than his good?

AND further down:

In my imagination, there is a room in some transcendent realm where mothers of teenagers pray. The walls are open through arches, and there are thin white curtains hanging down, and the breeze snaps them. A collection of tired mothers kneels together in this room, scared, tired, palms up, asking for what we finally realize that we don’t have. And the prayer we pray is also a sort of repentance, which is odd, after all we have worked to do that felt like goodness but was never quite.

That prayer goes something like this: “Oh, Lord. I see now. I see that all my work was small. I see now that I was proud to think my strength was enough on its own. My striving, my sustenance wasn’t ever what kept these children alive. You were here all along. You were chasing them. You were loving them even more than I did. My everything was too much like Eve’s everything, I was trying to be like You. At times, I was trying to even fight You for them. Forgive me. Forgive me for talking about faith while living in fear. Please heal any wounds this mistake has damaged. Show me how to take a few steps in faith. See how still I am now. Here is my resignation. As my children carry their questions now into the clash and clatter of the cities, please do what I could not for all I tried. Please meet them in their listening.”

Band on the Run

LYNN HEY/News & Record

Last city on Paul McCartney's tour was added in the early summer : Greensboro, NC.
Three of my sons had seen him a few years ago here in Charlotte but we were at the beach. Actually , they were too, but drove back. We had hope McCartney   would come around again and he did last Thursday night! Here are some of my texts to and fro TO my sister who was also going but we did not sit together. We were sitting high up and  across for the show at  the Coliseum. I never saw her. We started texting early in the day and all day until it started. 

G= my sister
B= me

G: Yesterday, all my troubles were so far away..... excited about the concert!!

B: me too--- blackbird singing in the ...

G: Take these broken wings and learn to fly...

B: Do you want to know a secret--do, da, do..

G: Michelle ma belle

B: silly love songs...

G: Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs... what's wrong with that? I need to know . SO here I go again....I love you...

B: She loves you , ya ya ya 

G: There are places I remember , in my life, though some have changed..

B: Getting ready to leave--- a hard's day's night coming up!

G: On our way... band on the run

later...

G: Not quite to Asheboro... guess we can't eat together.... cuz... we all live in a yellow submarine..

B: Eating at Wendy's : all the lonely people

G: Oh my gosh... just passed Rocky Racoon by the side of the road!!

B: we did earlier--- Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds ( wonder if he will end with Hey Jude)

G: The trees r gorgeous... Good Day Sunshine

B: HELP , I need somebody

G: Hope you don't  feel like you're BACK In the USSR!

later in the Coliseum:

G: Where r u? 

B: Row Y :  so near the top

G: almost. Row W . Guess who is sitting next to me? Eleonor Rigby!

B: We just saw Lovely Rita Meter Maid!

G: Good seats. Across the Universe!

B: hard to see you but IT's getting better all the time...

G: Video in hand ... but gotta admit it's getting better all the time!

B: I'm fixin' a hole where the rain gets in.

B: SHOW IS GEARING UP!


Here is the concert playlist: opening with Magical Mystery tour and ending
with THE END. ( 39 songs and two encores)

Live and Let Die was explosive! Literally: 

This is for John Lennon:

Good closeup at the END:

... and in the end , the love you take is equal to the love you make