DHM is sponsoring a Worthwhile Reading Challenge and I’m taking her up on it because I have several books I’ve started but not finished in the last few years, or have been planning on reading but simply haven’t for one reason or another. I’m also including a few not-too-hard-but-still-worthwhile books in the list because this looks likes it’s going to be a busier-than-usual year for me.
Not listed in any particular order, except for the first one, which I’m reading right now.
1: The Story of French by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow; Christmas gift; interesting reading on a subject that’s completely new to me — the life and times of the French language
2: Poetic Knowledge: The Recovery of Education by James Taylor; recommended by Cindy
3: Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David Hicks; ditto
4: The Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century by RH Tawney; mentioned by Alan Carlson in Third Ways
5: Liturgy and Personality: The Healing Power of Formal Prayer by Dietrich Von Hildebrand; I think this one was recommended in Chronicles magazine; birthday present
6: Southern Tradition at Bay: A History of Postbellum Thought by Richard Weaver, author of Ideas Have Consequences; I’ve started this book two or three times at least and never gotten farther than the first couple of chapters
7: Religion and the Rise of Western Culture by Christopher Dawson; ditto
8: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman; another Cindy recommendation, another started and not finished
9: Parents and Children, book two of Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series — I read the first book, Home Education, last year and learned a lot from it; wish I’d read it fifteen years ago!
10: My Antonia by Willa Cather; Eldest Daughter received this for Christmas but I’ve never read it before
11: Descent into Hell, a Novel by Charles Williams, one of CS Lewis’s cronies
12: All Flesh Is Grass by Gene Logsdon; raising animals on pasture
As you can see — only two of these are novels and that’s because I mostly read novels. This year I read all of Jane Austen and all of Dorothy Sayers (except for the short stories), plus about a dozen Agatha Christies, Lewis’s Space Trilogy, some Wendell Berry, and I don’t remember what else. I lost the notebook with my list early in the year and never started another one, so I can’t even use my booklog to remind me!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Excellent post-election thoughts
from John Rabe: The Morning After.
Be sure to read the whole thing.
I woke up feeling great today. Not because the election went my way, but rather because, in a sense, all elections go my way. The reason for this is that my God is an un-elected God, and He does not change with the winds of public opinions. He sits above all earthly rulers and authorities, and indeed He is their very creator. He builds up and He tears down. He raises up empires and overthrows them. He installs presidents and he removes them. In the words of the great Westminster Confession of Faith, “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.”
Be sure to read the whole thing.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Have I mentioned lately how much I love Chesterton?
Not since last week, eh? Well, let me remedy that oversight. I’m reading his What’s Wrong with the World? and came across this gem, appropriately enough, just a couple days before we went off of Daylight Saving Time:
The freedom to restore. Love it.
If I am to discuss what is wrong, one of the first things that are wrong is this: the deep and silent modern assumption that past things have become impossible. There is one metaphor of which the moderns are very fond; they are always saying, “You can’t put back the clock.” The simple and obvious answer is, “You can.” A clock, being a piece of human construction, can be restored by the human finger to any figure or hour. In the same way society, being a piece of human construction, can be reconstructed upon any plan that has ever existed.
There is another proverb, “As you have made your bed, so you must lie on it”; which again is simply a lie. If I have made my bed uncomfortable, please God I will make it again. We could restore the Heptarchy or the stage coaches if we chose. It might take some time to do, and it might be very inadvisable to do it; but certainly it is not impossible as bringing back last Friday is impossible. This is, as I say, the first freedom that I claim: the freedom to restore.
The freedom to restore. Love it.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Alfred the Great
Yesterday was Alfred’s feast day, and as has been our custom for lo these two years, we’re reading from my beloved G.K. Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse each night after supper. Tonight we read Book IV: The Woman in the Forest, the part about how Alfred was tending the cakes on the hearth of a poor woman in exchange for a meal. He, musing, pitying her, absent-mindedly let one of the cakes fall into the fire, whereupon the old woman, now knowing who was her guest, picked up the burnt cake and smacked Alfred on the forehead with it. He towered up in his rage, but
May we all learn that lesson.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Other posts on Alfred the Great:
Alfred the Great post from the 26th of October, 2005; history, prayers, and lots of cool links; don’t miss it!
And three selections from this year’s Poetry Month:
The Way of the Cross
The Great Gaels of Ireland
The King’s Laughter (includes today’s passage plus three more stanzas)
Then Alfred laughed out suddenly,
Like thunder in the spring,
Till shook aloud the lintel-beams,
And the squirrels stirred in dusty dreams,
And the startled birds went up in streams,
For the laughter of the King.
And the beasts of the earth and the birds looked down,
In a wild solemnity,
On a stranger sight than a sylph or elf,
On one man laughing at himself
Under the greenwood tree –
May we all learn that lesson.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Other posts on Alfred the Great:
Alfred the Great post from the 26th of October, 2005; history, prayers, and lots of cool links; don’t miss it!
And three selections from this year’s Poetry Month:
The Way of the Cross
The Great Gaels of Ireland
The King’s Laughter (includes today’s passage plus three more stanzas)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Next money question
We have a collection of Canadian coins that have been given to us over the years as change from MacBurger’s, the Stuff Mart, yard sales, and various other places. Being the honest citizens we are, when we notice we have them we put them away rather than try to use them in hopes no one else will notice getting them any more than we did at the time. Now, I’m not really interested in collecting Canadian money, but the only legitimate way I know of to get rid of them, besides giving them away or selling them to a collector, is to go to Canada and buy something with them. And that’s not going to happen, so I’m stuck with useless Canadian money.
I understand that something similar happens on the international scene — if we buy a million dollars worth of stuff from China, then China has a million US dollars that they have to do something with, and ultimately this money comes back to us in the form of someone somewhere buying American goods or services.
This would make sense if we were dealing with hard currency, but I’m pretty sure it’s virtual money.
Here’s how I imagine it happens: When Stuff Mart buys a shipload of Chinese doodads to put on the shelves in its stores, there isn’t really a guy with $1 million in Federal Reserve Notes handing it over to a guy at the Chinese factory. No, Stuff Mart’s bank debits one million credits, converts it to yen, and then those credits are applied to the factory’s bank account.
So this is a mechanical question — how does this really work?
There’s a philosophical question underlying it, but I’ll get to that later.
I understand that something similar happens on the international scene — if we buy a million dollars worth of stuff from China, then China has a million US dollars that they have to do something with, and ultimately this money comes back to us in the form of someone somewhere buying American goods or services.
This would make sense if we were dealing with hard currency, but I’m pretty sure it’s virtual money.
Here’s how I imagine it happens: When Stuff Mart buys a shipload of Chinese doodads to put on the shelves in its stores, there isn’t really a guy with $1 million in Federal Reserve Notes handing it over to a guy at the Chinese factory. No, Stuff Mart’s bank debits one million credits, converts it to yen, and then those credits are applied to the factory’s bank account.
So this is a mechanical question — how does this really work?
There’s a philosophical question underlying it, but I’ll get to that later.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Money questions
Yesterday while reading Plutarch’s biography of Poplicola (d. 503 BC), we came across this interesting tidbit:
My Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (fifth edition, don’t know what year, but the population information in the back is taken from the 1940 census) lists the first definition of the word peculiar as “belonging to an individual; privately owned; not common.” This dictionary also lists the word peculium, saying that it’s a term from Roman law and means “The private property of a wife, child, or slave.” Our word pecuniary, “relating to money,” comes from the same root.
The word capital comes from the Latin caput for “head.” Caput is also the root of the word cattle, from which we get our word chattel, and as Plutarch points out, our ancient ancestors measured their wealth in cattle.
This all makes sense to me. My question is, “How did we get from land and cattle to money?”
I’ve read a few accounts of how it happened, including RC Sproul, Jr’s in his Biblical Economics, all of which posit a kind of evolution from barter to tally sticks to pretty shells to hunks of gold to gold coins minted by a governing body. But none of these accounts offers historical evidence for this narrative so I’m wondering if that’s the way it actually happened.
Yesterday, after looking up the roots of the word peculiar, the kids and I looked up money. We had speculated that it would have something to do with manus, “hand,” meaning it’s wealth you can carry about in your hand. Boy, were we wrong! Money comes from the Latin word Moneta, one of Juno’s names. It was at the temple of Juno Moneta that money was coined, or minted.
This of course raises the question of what the money was for. Why were coins needed such that they were made at the temple of a Roman goddess?
Whatever the answer to that is, Juno’s money wasn’t the first. The temple of Juno Moneta was built in the year 344 BC, but money is first mentioned in the Bible during Abraham’s lifetime, more than 700 years earlier.
[T]he use of money was then infrequent amongst the Romans, but their wealth in cattle great; even now pieces of property are called peculia from pecus, cattle; and they had stamped upon thier most ancient money an ox, a sheep, or a hog…
My Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (fifth edition, don’t know what year, but the population information in the back is taken from the 1940 census) lists the first definition of the word peculiar as “belonging to an individual; privately owned; not common.” This dictionary also lists the word peculium, saying that it’s a term from Roman law and means “The private property of a wife, child, or slave.” Our word pecuniary, “relating to money,” comes from the same root.
The word capital comes from the Latin caput for “head.” Caput is also the root of the word cattle, from which we get our word chattel, and as Plutarch points out, our ancient ancestors measured their wealth in cattle.
This all makes sense to me. My question is, “How did we get from land and cattle to money?”
I’ve read a few accounts of how it happened, including RC Sproul, Jr’s in his Biblical Economics, all of which posit a kind of evolution from barter to tally sticks to pretty shells to hunks of gold to gold coins minted by a governing body. But none of these accounts offers historical evidence for this narrative so I’m wondering if that’s the way it actually happened.
Yesterday, after looking up the roots of the word peculiar, the kids and I looked up money. We had speculated that it would have something to do with manus, “hand,” meaning it’s wealth you can carry about in your hand. Boy, were we wrong! Money comes from the Latin word Moneta, one of Juno’s names. It was at the temple of Juno Moneta that money was coined, or minted.
This of course raises the question of what the money was for. Why were coins needed such that they were made at the temple of a Roman goddess?
Whatever the answer to that is, Juno’s money wasn’t the first. The temple of Juno Moneta was built in the year 344 BC, but money is first mentioned in the Bible during Abraham’s lifetime, more than 700 years earlier.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Summer is officially over
when I have to wear socks in the house to keep my feet warm!
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I suppose I should update the blog’s colors and stuff like I usually do to keep pace with the seasons, but life has been awfully busy lately. And my camera broke right after joining the 100 Species Challenge, so that’s why I haven’t done anything more on it. We bought a cheap one to make do with a couple of weeks ago, so maybe there’s hope yet. :-p
We’re still getting a tomato or two every few days from the garden, but everything else is done. We didn’t plant much this year, not wanting to repeat last year’s major loss on account of the drought.
In the flower beds, the Autumn Joy sedum is turning a beautiful red-burgundy and we have some late roses. We don’t have much fall color here — something I wish I’d remedied before now. I think asters would look really nice. What else blooms this time of year?
The maple trees are just starting to show yellow-orange.
It was drizzly yesterday and we’ve had a light shower today — such a blessing! This spring was wetter than I’ve ever seen it since we’ve been here, but old-timers tell us it was almost a normal spring. Summer was drier than usual, again. I haven’t heard whether last year’s officially declared drought is over or if it’s still in effect — I don’t know how that works.
My nineteen year old daughter has taken on some of the teaching of the younger set which is freeing me up for some extra responsibilities that have come my way in the last couple of months. A grown daughter at home is such a delight, and not just for helping me in my work. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have another woman to talk to every day!
Life is good.
:-)
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I suppose I should update the blog’s colors and stuff like I usually do to keep pace with the seasons, but life has been awfully busy lately. And my camera broke right after joining the 100 Species Challenge, so that’s why I haven’t done anything more on it. We bought a cheap one to make do with a couple of weeks ago, so maybe there’s hope yet. :-p
We’re still getting a tomato or two every few days from the garden, but everything else is done. We didn’t plant much this year, not wanting to repeat last year’s major loss on account of the drought.
In the flower beds, the Autumn Joy sedum is turning a beautiful red-burgundy and we have some late roses. We don’t have much fall color here — something I wish I’d remedied before now. I think asters would look really nice. What else blooms this time of year?
The maple trees are just starting to show yellow-orange.
It was drizzly yesterday and we’ve had a light shower today — such a blessing! This spring was wetter than I’ve ever seen it since we’ve been here, but old-timers tell us it was almost a normal spring. Summer was drier than usual, again. I haven’t heard whether last year’s officially declared drought is over or if it’s still in effect — I don’t know how that works.
My nineteen year old daughter has taken on some of the teaching of the younger set which is freeing me up for some extra responsibilities that have come my way in the last couple of months. A grown daughter at home is such a delight, and not just for helping me in my work. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have another woman to talk to every day!
Life is good.
:-)
Friday, August 22, 2008
Favorite summer salad
Chop one medium tomato into chunks and put into bowl.
Add an equivalent amount of black olives and one or two ounces of crumbled feta cheese.
Sprinkle on a tablespoon or two or minced onions and some basil, then drizzle on a little cold-pressed flaxseed oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Toss and enjoy! Makes one main dish serving.
Add an equivalent amount of black olives and one or two ounces of crumbled feta cheese.
Sprinkle on a tablespoon or two or minced onions and some basil, then drizzle on a little cold-pressed flaxseed oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Toss and enjoy! Makes one main dish serving.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Clothesline meditations
Using the clothesline is one of my favorite activities in the whole week. I love clothesline season — even when it’s hot, sweaty work… which is really weird. I hate being hot and damp, but somehow it fits, and I enjoy it when it’s part of accomplishing good work.
I love the way the animals mosey up to me when I’m at the clothesline. Paisley swirls herself around my ankles. Chanticleer and his favorite hens suddenly realize that the bugs in that part of the yard are tastier. The goats wander over and nibble on the stuff growing along the fenceline nearest where I’m working. Apparantly they enjoy my company, and I’m glad because I enjoy theirs.
I love August in Virginia. When I’m hanging the first load out after breakfast, the air is cool and fresh and the crickets are still chirping. By the time I take the second load out, the crickets have gone to sleep but the cicadas are buzzing. There’s a family of funny fat green bugs that is very industrious — they’re busy with their saws and ratchets in the treetops. The heat is so heavy that everything seems slow and far away — even the traffic noises sound dull. The only birdsong I hear is the gentle crooning of a mourning dove.
I love the peacefulness of this work. It gives me time to notice things. When I first come out I think that nothing’s happening besides those noisy bugs and the mourning dove singing itself to sleep, but then I notice the butterflies flitting energetically among the cabbage and lettuce blossoms. After awhile I hear an occasional “chit” or “twit” from some unseen bird. A hawk circles lazily high up. Paisley’s kittens tumble and wrestle madly, then stop for a little wash, then dash into the shrubs for a climb…. So many details where I thought nothing was happening!
I love this late-summer feeling. The mad rush of growth in the spring and early summer is over. The apples are so heavy that the branches drag their fingertips in the grass. The summer thunderstorms are over and the fall ones haven’t begun yet. The days are shortening and evenings are full of heat-lightening. The whole world seems to be holding its breath in anticipation of the fall harvest and the rush into winter. It’s like the pause at the top of a swinging child’s arc before reversing and swinging back again.
It seems like this is the season of life I’m in — no longer the mad rush of early marriage with babies coming every year or two and no one old enough to help out around the house. But not yet the mad rush of children marrying and grandbabies aborning.
I love this life.
I love the way the animals mosey up to me when I’m at the clothesline. Paisley swirls herself around my ankles. Chanticleer and his favorite hens suddenly realize that the bugs in that part of the yard are tastier. The goats wander over and nibble on the stuff growing along the fenceline nearest where I’m working. Apparantly they enjoy my company, and I’m glad because I enjoy theirs.
I love August in Virginia. When I’m hanging the first load out after breakfast, the air is cool and fresh and the crickets are still chirping. By the time I take the second load out, the crickets have gone to sleep but the cicadas are buzzing. There’s a family of funny fat green bugs that is very industrious — they’re busy with their saws and ratchets in the treetops. The heat is so heavy that everything seems slow and far away — even the traffic noises sound dull. The only birdsong I hear is the gentle crooning of a mourning dove.
I love the peacefulness of this work. It gives me time to notice things. When I first come out I think that nothing’s happening besides those noisy bugs and the mourning dove singing itself to sleep, but then I notice the butterflies flitting energetically among the cabbage and lettuce blossoms. After awhile I hear an occasional “chit” or “twit” from some unseen bird. A hawk circles lazily high up. Paisley’s kittens tumble and wrestle madly, then stop for a little wash, then dash into the shrubs for a climb…. So many details where I thought nothing was happening!
I love this late-summer feeling. The mad rush of growth in the spring and early summer is over. The apples are so heavy that the branches drag their fingertips in the grass. The summer thunderstorms are over and the fall ones haven’t begun yet. The days are shortening and evenings are full of heat-lightening. The whole world seems to be holding its breath in anticipation of the fall harvest and the rush into winter. It’s like the pause at the top of a swinging child’s arc before reversing and swinging back again.
It seems like this is the season of life I’m in — no longer the mad rush of early marriage with babies coming every year or two and no one old enough to help out around the house. But not yet the mad rush of children marrying and grandbabies aborning.
I love this life.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Thankful Thursday
Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. Psalm 147:1
For all the rain we had this spring
For bringing my children home safely after all the travelling back and forth to visit the grandparents
For the sounds of music and laughter that fill my house with all the children are home
For all these things and more, I thank you, Lord.
For all the rain we had this spring
For bringing my children home safely after all the travelling back and forth to visit the grandparents
For the sounds of music and laughter that fill my house with all the children are home
For all these things and more, I thank you, Lord.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
On love and mortality
Since our 20th anniversary in February I’m starting to feel like the years are going by too fast. Even if we make it to fifty years it won’t have been long enough.
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Memory is a funny thing
Sunday night, Mosey came to me humming a tune and wanted to know what it was. I told her it was “Rise up, oh men of God,” and she went to look it up in the Trinity (Presbyterian) hymnal so she could play it on the piano.
It wasn’t in that hymnal, which I thought was odd — I know I’ve played it a lot in the last few years, and that’s the hymnal I use most often — but I told her to check the Baptist hymnal, the one I grew up with. Sure enough it was there. St. Thomas is the tune’s name, so I looked it up in the Trinity. “I love thy kingdom, Lord” is one of the two hymns sung to St. Thomas in the Trinity. It’s also the hymn we had sung before the Gospel reading that very morning.
As if that weren’t bad enough, not only am I the one who picked out that hymn, but I’m the one who played it during the service! And yet, the words that came to me when I heard the tune by itself were the ones I grew up with.
It wasn’t in that hymnal, which I thought was odd — I know I’ve played it a lot in the last few years, and that’s the hymnal I use most often — but I told her to check the Baptist hymnal, the one I grew up with. Sure enough it was there. St. Thomas is the tune’s name, so I looked it up in the Trinity. “I love thy kingdom, Lord” is one of the two hymns sung to St. Thomas in the Trinity. It’s also the hymn we had sung before the Gospel reading that very morning.
As if that weren’t bad enough, not only am I the one who picked out that hymn, but I’m the one who played it during the service! And yet, the words that came to me when I heard the tune by itself were the ones I grew up with.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
That's muh boy
Yesterday while we were turning the calendar page over, I mentioned to my little man that his 8th birthday is next month. And that’s when it struck me… he won’t be home for it. My mom and I spent at least an hour on the phone together Saturday going over our upcoming commitments (and they are legion) and planning how to get all the kids out to her house, half-way across the country, for their regular summer visit. We’ll be doing it in two batches, the boys one time and the girls next.
So I told him, “You’ll be at Grandma’s on your birthday this year.”
It fell out this way two years ago too, and I would have thought he’d prefer it that way. But he said, “I’d rather be with you on my birthday… When I’m with you I get tools, but when I’m at Grandma’s I only get toys.”
:-D
So I told him, “You’ll be at Grandma’s on your birthday this year.”
It fell out this way two years ago too, and I would have thought he’d prefer it that way. But he said, “I’d rather be with you on my birthday… When I’m with you I get tools, but when I’m at Grandma’s I only get toys.”
:-D
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Silver
[This is one I'd hoped to use back in April, but couldn't work it in.]
Silver, by Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon:
This way, and that, she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
Silver, by Walter de la Mare (1873-1956)
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon:
This way, and that, she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Comparisons are odious
My oldest children participate in a community chorus that focuses on the great music of the Church, historical and contemporary, putting on a concert twice each year. Every spring the director has the graduating seniors sing a special song together, and she includes a brief bio on each in the program.
Well, the spring concert was last night and Elaienar was included in the “graduating senior” group even though if I had to get technical about it I’d say she finished 12th grade last year. I didn’t think about mentioning it to the director back then since Elai was busy with other things that spring and high school graduation would be, for us, a rather artificial way of marking our children’s milestones. But we had no objection to her being part of the graduating group, since this is the last year she’ll be singing with the group as a student. If she continues to sing with them, it will be as a mentor.
Unfortunately, we’d forgotten about the bio, so when Elai was asked to write one up at the last moment, she wrote one that was short on facts but long on wit. I thought it portrayed her personality in a way that a list of facts wouldn’t do.
But the dear director, bless her heart and we do love her to pieces, doesn’t share Elai’s quirky sense of humor, so the bio that was written up in the program was nothing like what she had written. It was sweet and affectionate, but it looked so dull next to everyone else’s lists of accomplishments and awards and honors and scholarships and where they’re all going to college. If I’d known it was going to be rewritten I’d’ve had her supply more facts to pad it.
You may not believe this, but I actually woke up this morning with a sick tummy because it was bothering me so.
When I’m at home doing what we’ve set out to do, I’m reasonably happy with what we’re doing and I like the way things are working out. It’s just when these occasions where it’s impossible not to make a comparison occur that I doubt and second-guess the Lord’s leading. And I don’t like being different – it’s so uncomfortable. Really, I just want to fit in… I want everyone else to like me and approve of me. Elai says I have an inferiority complex – she’s not worried about the bio at all because she honestly doesn’t care what other people think about her and her abilities.
Blech.
See, I should make this into a post that encourages other people to trust the Lord.
Something spiritual.
Like my favorite bloggers would do.
:-p
Well, the spring concert was last night and Elaienar was included in the “graduating senior” group even though if I had to get technical about it I’d say she finished 12th grade last year. I didn’t think about mentioning it to the director back then since Elai was busy with other things that spring and high school graduation would be, for us, a rather artificial way of marking our children’s milestones. But we had no objection to her being part of the graduating group, since this is the last year she’ll be singing with the group as a student. If she continues to sing with them, it will be as a mentor.
Unfortunately, we’d forgotten about the bio, so when Elai was asked to write one up at the last moment, she wrote one that was short on facts but long on wit. I thought it portrayed her personality in a way that a list of facts wouldn’t do.
But the dear director, bless her heart and we do love her to pieces, doesn’t share Elai’s quirky sense of humor, so the bio that was written up in the program was nothing like what she had written. It was sweet and affectionate, but it looked so dull next to everyone else’s lists of accomplishments and awards and honors and scholarships and where they’re all going to college. If I’d known it was going to be rewritten I’d’ve had her supply more facts to pad it.
You may not believe this, but I actually woke up this morning with a sick tummy because it was bothering me so.
When I’m at home doing what we’ve set out to do, I’m reasonably happy with what we’re doing and I like the way things are working out. It’s just when these occasions where it’s impossible not to make a comparison occur that I doubt and second-guess the Lord’s leading. And I don’t like being different – it’s so uncomfortable. Really, I just want to fit in… I want everyone else to like me and approve of me. Elai says I have an inferiority complex – she’s not worried about the bio at all because she honestly doesn’t care what other people think about her and her abilities.
Blech.
See, I should make this into a post that encourages other people to trust the Lord.
Something spiritual.
Like my favorite bloggers would do.
:-p
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Spring
~ John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950)
At the first hour, it was as if one said, “Arise.”
At the second hour, it was as if one said, “Go forth.”
And the winter constellations that are like patient ox-eyes
Sank below the white horizon at the north.
At the third hour, it was as if one said, “I thirst”;
At the fourth hour, all the earth was still:
Then the clouds suddenly swung over, stooped, and burst;
And the rain flooded valley, plain and hill.
At the fifth hour, darkness took the throne;
At the sixth hour, the earth shook and the wind cried;
At the seventh hour, the hidden seed was sown;
At the eighth hour, it gave up the ghost and died.
At the ninth hour, they sealed up the tomb;
And the earth was then silent for the space of three hours.
But at the twelfth hour, a single lily from the gloom
Shot forth, and was followed by a whole host of flowers.
At the first hour, it was as if one said, “Arise.”
At the second hour, it was as if one said, “Go forth.”
And the winter constellations that are like patient ox-eyes
Sank below the white horizon at the north.
At the third hour, it was as if one said, “I thirst”;
At the fourth hour, all the earth was still:
Then the clouds suddenly swung over, stooped, and burst;
And the rain flooded valley, plain and hill.
At the fifth hour, darkness took the throne;
At the sixth hour, the earth shook and the wind cried;
At the seventh hour, the hidden seed was sown;
At the eighth hour, it gave up the ghost and died.
At the ninth hour, they sealed up the tomb;
And the earth was then silent for the space of three hours.
But at the twelfth hour, a single lily from the gloom
Shot forth, and was followed by a whole host of flowers.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Laughing Song
~ William Blake (1757—1827)
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing ‘Ha, ha he!’
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of ‘Ha, ha, he!’
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing ‘Ha, ha he!’
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of ‘Ha, ha, he!’
Sunday, April 27, 2008
The King's Laughter
from Ballad of the White Horse
~ GK Chesterton (1874–1936)
And the earth shook and the King stood still
Under the greenwood bough,
And the smoking cake lay at his feet
And the blow was on his brow.
Then Alfred laughed out suddenly,
Like thunder in the spring,
Till shook aloud the lintel-beams,
And the squirrels stirred in dusty dreams,
And the startled birds went up in streams,
For the laughter of the King.
And the beasts of the earth and the birds looked down,
In a wild solemnity,
On a stranger sight than a sylph or elf,
On one man laughing at himself
Under the greenwood tree–
The giant laughter of Christian men
That roars through a thousand tales,
Where greed is an ape and pride is an ass,
And Jack’s away with his master’s lass,
And the miser is banged with all his brass,
The farmer with all his flails;
Tales that tumble and tales that trick,
Yet end not all in scorning–
Of kings and clowns in a merry plight,
And the clock gone wrong and the world gone right,
That the mummers sing upon Christmas night
And Christmas Day in the morning.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
[For context: The story is told of how, weary from a lost battle, Alfred, wandering alone, is mistaken by a poor old woman for a beggar. She offers him some food if he will tend it and not let it burn while she milks her cow. Unfortunately, Alfred becomes lost in thought while tending the cakes and lets them burn. In Chesterton’s version, Alfred, thankful for the poor woman’s pity on him, also pities her and her condition and muses on the incongruities of life — how the Sovereign of the Universe makes himself a servant to his people. When the supper is burned, the old woman takes up a cake in her anger and strikes Alfred on the temple, leaving a painful mark. At first Alfred stands up in fury, ready to return the blow, but the very incongruity of his former pity with current desire for vengeance, his thoughts of the servant-Saviour, cause him to break into hearty laughter instead.]
~ GK Chesterton (1874–1936)
And the earth shook and the King stood still
Under the greenwood bough,
And the smoking cake lay at his feet
And the blow was on his brow.
Then Alfred laughed out suddenly,
Like thunder in the spring,
Till shook aloud the lintel-beams,
And the squirrels stirred in dusty dreams,
And the startled birds went up in streams,
For the laughter of the King.
And the beasts of the earth and the birds looked down,
In a wild solemnity,
On a stranger sight than a sylph or elf,
On one man laughing at himself
Under the greenwood tree–
The giant laughter of Christian men
That roars through a thousand tales,
Where greed is an ape and pride is an ass,
And Jack’s away with his master’s lass,
And the miser is banged with all his brass,
The farmer with all his flails;
Tales that tumble and tales that trick,
Yet end not all in scorning–
Of kings and clowns in a merry plight,
And the clock gone wrong and the world gone right,
That the mummers sing upon Christmas night
And Christmas Day in the morning.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
[For context: The story is told of how, weary from a lost battle, Alfred, wandering alone, is mistaken by a poor old woman for a beggar. She offers him some food if he will tend it and not let it burn while she milks her cow. Unfortunately, Alfred becomes lost in thought while tending the cakes and lets them burn. In Chesterton’s version, Alfred, thankful for the poor woman’s pity on him, also pities her and her condition and muses on the incongruities of life — how the Sovereign of the Universe makes himself a servant to his people. When the supper is burned, the old woman takes up a cake in her anger and strikes Alfred on the temple, leaving a painful mark. At first Alfred stands up in fury, ready to return the blow, but the very incongruity of his former pity with current desire for vengeance, his thoughts of the servant-Saviour, cause him to break into hearty laughter instead.]
Saturday, April 26, 2008
O Jesus, crowned with all renown
~ Edward W. Benson (1829-1896)
O Jesus, crowned with all renown,
Since Thou the earth hast trod,
Thou reignest, and by Thee come down
Henceforth the gifts of God.
Thine is the health and Thine the wealth
That in our halls abound,
And Thine the beauty and the joy
With which the years are crowned.
Lord, in their change, let frost and heat,
And winds and dews be giv’n;
All fostering power, all influence sweet,
Breathe from the bounteous Heav’n.
Attemper fair with gentle air
The sunshine and the rain,
That kindly earth with timely birth
May yield her fruits again.
That we may feed the poor aright,
And gathering round Thy throne,
Here, in the holy angels’ sight,
Repay Thee of Thine own:
That we may praise Thee all our days,
And with the Father’s Name,
And with the Holy Spirit’s gifts,
The Savior’s love proclaim.
Sung to Kingsfold, traditional English melody, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Today is Rogation Sunday, which is the Sunday preceding the three rogation days — the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day. “Rogation” comes from the Latin rogare and means “to ask.” The traditional Scripture readings for this Sunday include John 16, where Jesus says to his followers, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,” and James one where we are told that “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…”
On this day, in the midst of rejoicing with our Saviour’s triumph over sin and death, remembering his Ascension and rule over the earth, and looking forward to our own resurrection and ascension, we ask him to bless the land and crops, the people and the work of their hands as we fulfill the Gospel, living for his glory.
O Jesus, crowned with all renown,
Since Thou the earth hast trod,
Thou reignest, and by Thee come down
Henceforth the gifts of God.
Thine is the health and Thine the wealth
That in our halls abound,
And Thine the beauty and the joy
With which the years are crowned.
Lord, in their change, let frost and heat,
And winds and dews be giv’n;
All fostering power, all influence sweet,
Breathe from the bounteous Heav’n.
Attemper fair with gentle air
The sunshine and the rain,
That kindly earth with timely birth
May yield her fruits again.
That we may feed the poor aright,
And gathering round Thy throne,
Here, in the holy angels’ sight,
Repay Thee of Thine own:
That we may praise Thee all our days,
And with the Father’s Name,
And with the Holy Spirit’s gifts,
The Savior’s love proclaim.
Sung to Kingsfold, traditional English melody, arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Today is Rogation Sunday, which is the Sunday preceding the three rogation days — the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day. “Rogation” comes from the Latin rogare and means “to ask.” The traditional Scripture readings for this Sunday include John 16, where Jesus says to his followers, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you,” and James one where we are told that “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…”
On this day, in the midst of rejoicing with our Saviour’s triumph over sin and death, remembering his Ascension and rule over the earth, and looking forward to our own resurrection and ascension, we ask him to bless the land and crops, the people and the work of their hands as we fulfill the Gospel, living for his glory.
Friday, April 25, 2008
In Time of "The Breaking of Nations"*
~ Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk,
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.
Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch grass:
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.
Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by;
War’s annals will fade into night
Ere their story die.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
* Jeremiah 51:20
Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk,
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.
Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch grass:
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.
Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by;
War’s annals will fade into night
Ere their story die.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
* Jeremiah 51:20
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Faramir
[While not poetry, this speech of noble Faramir’s is so poetically beautiful that I felt it right to include it here.]
From The Two Towers
~ JRR Tolkien
‘For myself,’ said Faramir, ‘I would see the White Tree in flower again in the courts of the kings, and the Silver Crown return, and Minas Tirith in peace: Minas Anor again as of old, full of light, high and fair, beautiful as a queen among other queens: not a msitress of many slaves, nay, not even a kind mistress of willing slaves. War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor; and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom. Not feared, save as men may fear the dignity of a man, old and wise.’
From The Two Towers
~ JRR Tolkien
‘For myself,’ said Faramir, ‘I would see the White Tree in flower again in the courts of the kings, and the Silver Crown return, and Minas Tirith in peace: Minas Anor again as of old, full of light, high and fair, beautiful as a queen among other queens: not a msitress of many slaves, nay, not even a kind mistress of willing slaves. War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor; and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom. Not feared, save as men may fear the dignity of a man, old and wise.’
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
To Lucasta, going to the Wars
~ Richard Lovelace (1618–1659)
Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.
True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As thou too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.
Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.
True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As thou too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Fairest Una
In honor of Saint George, whose feast day is today
From The Fairy Queen, Book I, Canto XII
~ Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599)
[George has killed the dragon after a three days’ battle, and now the King presents his kingdom and his daughter to the victor…]
Then forth he calléd that his daughter fair,
The fairest Una his only daughter dear,
His only daughter, and his only heir;
Who forth proceeding with sad sober cheer,
As bright as doth the morning star appear
Out of the East, with flaming locks bedight,
To tell that dawning day is drawing near,
And to the world does bring long wishéd light;
So fair and fresh that Lady showed herself in sight.
So fair and fresh, as freshest flower in May;
For she had laid her mournful stole aside,
And widowlike sad wimple thrown away,
Wherewith her heavenly beauty she did hide,
Whiles on her weary journey she did ride;
And on her now a garment she did wear,
All lily white, withoutten spot, or pride,
That seemed like silk and silver woven near,
But neither silk nor silver therein did appear.
[…]
So fairly dight, when she in presence came,
She to her Sire made humble reverence,
And bowed low, that her right well became,
And added grace unto her excellence…
From The Fairy Queen, Book I, Canto XII
~ Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599)
[George has killed the dragon after a three days’ battle, and now the King presents his kingdom and his daughter to the victor…]
Then forth he calléd that his daughter fair,
The fairest Una his only daughter dear,
His only daughter, and his only heir;
Who forth proceeding with sad sober cheer,
As bright as doth the morning star appear
Out of the East, with flaming locks bedight,
To tell that dawning day is drawing near,
And to the world does bring long wishéd light;
So fair and fresh that Lady showed herself in sight.
So fair and fresh, as freshest flower in May;
For she had laid her mournful stole aside,
And widowlike sad wimple thrown away,
Wherewith her heavenly beauty she did hide,
Whiles on her weary journey she did ride;
And on her now a garment she did wear,
All lily white, withoutten spot, or pride,
That seemed like silk and silver woven near,
But neither silk nor silver therein did appear.
[…]
So fairly dight, when she in presence came,
She to her Sire made humble reverence,
And bowed low, that her right well became,
And added grace unto her excellence…
Monday, April 21, 2008
Merry Margaret
~ John Skelton (c.1460-1529)
Merry Margaret,
As midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower;
With solace and gladness,
Much mirth and no madness,
All good and no badness,
So joyously,
So maidenly,
So womanly
Her demeaning
In every thing,
Far, far passing
That I can indite
Or suffice to write
Of merry Margaret,
As midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.
As patient and as still
And as full of good will
As fair Isyphill,
Coriander,
Sweet pomander,
Good Cassander;
Steadfast of thought,
Well made, well wrought ;
Far may be sought
Erst that ye can find
So courteous, so kind
As merry Margaret,
This midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.
Merry Margaret,
As midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower;
With solace and gladness,
Much mirth and no madness,
All good and no badness,
So joyously,
So maidenly,
So womanly
Her demeaning
In every thing,
Far, far passing
That I can indite
Or suffice to write
Of merry Margaret,
As midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.
As patient and as still
And as full of good will
As fair Isyphill,
Coriander,
Sweet pomander,
Good Cassander;
Steadfast of thought,
Well made, well wrought ;
Far may be sought
Erst that ye can find
So courteous, so kind
As merry Margaret,
This midsummer flower,
Gentle as falcon
Or hawk of the tower.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Sunne Rising
~ John Donne (1572-1631)
Busie olde foole, unruly Sunne,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windowes, and through curtaines call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?
Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide
Late schoole boyes, and sowre prentices,
Goe tell Court-huntsmen, that the King will ride,
Call countrey ants to harvest offices;
Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clyme,
Nor houres, dayes, moneths, which are the rags of time.
Thy beames, so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou thinke?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke,
But that I would not lose her sight so long:
If her eyes have not blinded thine
Looke, and tomorrow late, tell mee,
Whether both the’India’s of spice and Myne
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with mee.
Aske for those Kings whom thou saw’st yesterday,
And thou shalt heare, All here in one bed lay.
She’is all States, and all Princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes doe but play us, compar’d to this,
All honor’s mimique; All wealth alchimie,
Thou sunne art halfe as happy’as wee,
In that the world’s contracted thus;
Thine age askes ease, and since thy duties bee
To warme the world, that’s done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art every where;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy spheare.
Busie olde foole, unruly Sunne,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windowes, and through curtaines call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers seasons run?
Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide
Late schoole boyes, and sowre prentices,
Goe tell Court-huntsmen, that the King will ride,
Call countrey ants to harvest offices;
Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clyme,
Nor houres, dayes, moneths, which are the rags of time.
Thy beames, so reverend, and strong
Why shouldst thou thinke?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke,
But that I would not lose her sight so long:
If her eyes have not blinded thine
Looke, and tomorrow late, tell mee,
Whether both the’India’s of spice and Myne
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with mee.
Aske for those Kings whom thou saw’st yesterday,
And thou shalt heare, All here in one bed lay.
She’is all States, and all Princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes doe but play us, compar’d to this,
All honor’s mimique; All wealth alchimie,
Thou sunne art halfe as happy’as wee,
In that the world’s contracted thus;
Thine age askes ease, and since thy duties bee
To warme the world, that’s done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art every where;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy spheare.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Caeli enarrant
~ Psalm 19
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me:
then shall I be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth,
and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD,
my strength, and my redeemer.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me:
then shall I be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth,
and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD,
my strength, and my redeemer.
Time to Rise
~ Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon my window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
“Ain’t you ’shamed, you sleepy-head!”
.
.
.
.
Sorry today’s entry is so late — usually I write it up a day or two before and set the timestamp so it will post just after midnight on the appropriate day — but I’m just now getting up and about. And no, I’m not ashamed. I took three of my kids to a rather late (7:40) showing of Expelled last night, which was the only one we would be able to manage this weekend. The rest of the family are out of town visiting a great-grandmother, so I slept in this morning.
:-)
By the way, go see Expelled!
A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon my window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
“Ain’t you ’shamed, you sleepy-head!”
.
.
.
.
Sorry today’s entry is so late — usually I write it up a day or two before and set the timestamp so it will post just after midnight on the appropriate day — but I’m just now getting up and about. And no, I’m not ashamed. I took three of my kids to a rather late (7:40) showing of Expelled last night, which was the only one we would be able to manage this weekend. The rest of the family are out of town visiting a great-grandmother, so I slept in this morning.
:-)
By the way, go see Expelled!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Let the King Reign
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
(from Idylls of the King)
Then while they paced a city all on fire
With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew,
And Arthur’s knighthood sang before the King:–
‘Blow, trumpet, for the world is white with May;
Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away!
Blow through the living world– “Let the King reign.”
‘Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur’s realm?
Flash brand and lance, fall battleaxe upon helm,
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard
That God hath told the King a secret word.
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Blow trumpet! he will lift us from the dust.
Blow trumpet! live the strength and die the lust!
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Strike for the King and die! and if thou diest,
The King is King, and ever wills the highest.
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May!
Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day!
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.
‘The King will follow Christ, and we the King
In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing.
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.’
(from Idylls of the King)
Then while they paced a city all on fire
With sun and cloth of gold, the trumpets blew,
And Arthur’s knighthood sang before the King:–
‘Blow, trumpet, for the world is white with May;
Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolled away!
Blow through the living world– “Let the King reign.”
‘Shall Rome or Heathen rule in Arthur’s realm?
Flash brand and lance, fall battleaxe upon helm,
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Strike for the King and live! his knights have heard
That God hath told the King a secret word.
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Blow trumpet! he will lift us from the dust.
Blow trumpet! live the strength and die the lust!
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Strike for the King and die! and if thou diest,
The King is King, and ever wills the highest.
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.
‘Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May!
Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day!
Clang battleaxe, and clash brand! Let the King reign.
‘The King will follow Christ, and we the King
In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing.
Fall battleaxe, and flash brand! Let the King reign.’
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Goblin Feet
~ J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973)
I am off down the road
Where the fairy lanterns glowed
And the little pretty flitter-mice are flying:
A slender band of gray
It runs creepily away
And the hedges and the grasses are a-sighing.
The air is full of wings,
And of blundery beetle-things
That warn you with their whirring and their humming.
O! I hear the tiny horns
Of enchanted leprechauns
And the padded feet of many gnomes a-coming!
O! the lights! O! the gleams! O! the little tinkly sounds!
O! the rustle of their noiseless little robes!
O! the echo of their feet—of their happy little feet!
O! their swinging lamps in little starlit globes.
I must follow in their train
Down the crooked fairy lane
Where the coney-rabbits long ago have gone,
And where silvery they sing
In a moving moonlit ring
All a-twinkle with the jewels they have on.
They are fading round the turn
Where the glow-worms palely burn
And the echo of their padding feet is dying!
O! it’s knocking at my heart—
Let me go! O! let me start!
For the little magic hours are all a-flying.
O! the warmth! O! the hum! O! the colours in the dark!
O! the gauzy wings of golden honey-flies!
O! the music of their feet—of their dancing goblin feet!
O! the magic! O! the sorrow when it dies.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Written on 27-28 April 1915, shortly before leaving for the War, for his future wife who “loved tales of ’spring and flowers and trees, and little elfin people.’”
Obviously this is nothing like his portrayal of elves and goblins that fans of The Lord of the Rings are familiar with and Tolkien himself later tried to distance himself from this very Victorian painting of the little people — in 1971 when he was asked permission to include “Goblin Feet” in an anthology, he said, “I wish the unhappy little thing, representing all that I came (so soon after) to fervently dislike, could be buried for ever.”
(Information and quotes found at the Tolkien Library.)
I am off down the road
Where the fairy lanterns glowed
And the little pretty flitter-mice are flying:
A slender band of gray
It runs creepily away
And the hedges and the grasses are a-sighing.
The air is full of wings,
And of blundery beetle-things
That warn you with their whirring and their humming.
O! I hear the tiny horns
Of enchanted leprechauns
And the padded feet of many gnomes a-coming!
O! the lights! O! the gleams! O! the little tinkly sounds!
O! the rustle of their noiseless little robes!
O! the echo of their feet—of their happy little feet!
O! their swinging lamps in little starlit globes.
I must follow in their train
Down the crooked fairy lane
Where the coney-rabbits long ago have gone,
And where silvery they sing
In a moving moonlit ring
All a-twinkle with the jewels they have on.
They are fading round the turn
Where the glow-worms palely burn
And the echo of their padding feet is dying!
O! it’s knocking at my heart—
Let me go! O! let me start!
For the little magic hours are all a-flying.
O! the warmth! O! the hum! O! the colours in the dark!
O! the gauzy wings of golden honey-flies!
O! the music of their feet—of their dancing goblin feet!
O! the magic! O! the sorrow when it dies.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Written on 27-28 April 1915, shortly before leaving for the War, for his future wife who “loved tales of ’spring and flowers and trees, and little elfin people.’”
Obviously this is nothing like his portrayal of elves and goblins that fans of The Lord of the Rings are familiar with and Tolkien himself later tried to distance himself from this very Victorian painting of the little people — in 1971 when he was asked permission to include “Goblin Feet” in an anthology, he said, “I wish the unhappy little thing, representing all that I came (so soon after) to fervently dislike, could be buried for ever.”
Tolkien’s first encounter with fighting was in France, in the Battle of the Somme, which is remembered as the bloodiest battle ever fought in history. On the first day of the battle nineteen weeks before Tolkien arrived, nineteen thousand British troops were killed. By the time the battle was over more than eight hundred thousand of the British had been killed.
[…]
Tolkien never forgot the brutality and horror of the battle. Many years later he drew on these memories to create his own lands. The blackened landscape of Mordor, and the Battle of Helm’s Deep were both based on The Battle of Somme.
(Information and quotes found at the Tolkien Library.)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Fairy Bread
~ Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
Come up here, O dusty feet!
Here is fairy bread to eat.
Here in my retiring room,
Children, you may dine
On the golden smell of broom
And the shade of pine;
And when you have eaten well,
Fairy stories hear and tell.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Yesterday’s was my favorite RLS, this is my little ones’ favorite — though it’s hard to pick just one, and it may be Tasha Tudor’s delightful illustration as much as the words.
I’m using Ambleside Online Year 1 with the four younger ones this year, so we spent the first few months of this school year reading one a day from A Child’s Garden of Verse, sometimes three or four a day, and nearly every day rereading something from the previous days because everyone wanted to hear it again.
Come up here, O dusty feet!
Here is fairy bread to eat.
Here in my retiring room,
Children, you may dine
On the golden smell of broom
And the shade of pine;
And when you have eaten well,
Fairy stories hear and tell.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Yesterday’s was my favorite RLS, this is my little ones’ favorite — though it’s hard to pick just one, and it may be Tasha Tudor’s delightful illustration as much as the words.
I’m using Ambleside Online Year 1 with the four younger ones this year, so we spent the first few months of this school year reading one a day from A Child’s Garden of Verse, sometimes three or four a day, and nearly every day rereading something from the previous days because everyone wanted to hear it again.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Escape at Bedtime
~ Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne’er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.
The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.
The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,
There were thousands of millions of stars.
There ne’er were such thousands of leaves on a tree,
Nor of people in church or the Park,
As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.
The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,
These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.
They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries,
And they soon had me packed into bed;
But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes,
And the stars going round in my head.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
It's all relative
On my choir director’s t-shirt at a recent rehearsal:
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Recently discovered limerick:
There was a young lady named Bright
Who traveled much faster than light
She started one day
In the relative way
And returned on the previous night.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Recently discovered limerick:
There was a young lady named Bright
Who traveled much faster than light
She started one day
In the relative way
And returned on the previous night.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Nissi dominus
~ Psalm 127
Except the LORD build the house,
they labour in vain that build it:
except the LORD keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
to sit up late,
to eat the bread of sorrows:
for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man
that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Hebrew poetry is my favorite — I love the parallelism.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Interesting architectural and historical note — the first verse of this Psalm (in Latin) is written in stone lettering, forming the parapet of Castle Ashby, which has been the possession of the same family since the 1500s.
(Click picture for larger image, which you can then zoom in on by clicking again. [N.B. I've just reposted this from my old dead blog where it was originally posted, and I can't figure out how to get the zoomable picture, so those instructions won't work until I come up with something. Kelly. 21 August 2011])
Architecture is my favorite art form, and this is my favorite building. Well, favorite house. Favorite big house.
:-p
Except the LORD build the house,
they labour in vain that build it:
except the LORD keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early,
to sit up late,
to eat the bread of sorrows:
for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man
that hath his quiver full of them:
they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Hebrew poetry is my favorite — I love the parallelism.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Interesting architectural and historical note — the first verse of this Psalm (in Latin) is written in stone lettering, forming the parapet of Castle Ashby, which has been the possession of the same family since the 1500s.
(Click picture for larger image, which you can then zoom in on by clicking again. [N.B. I've just reposted this from my old dead blog where it was originally posted, and I can't figure out how to get the zoomable picture, so those instructions won't work until I come up with something. Kelly. 21 August 2011])
Architecture is my favorite art form, and this is my favorite building. Well, favorite house. Favorite big house.
:-p
Friday, April 11, 2008
The Windhover
~ Gerard Manley Hopkins
To Christ our Lord
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Edit:
I meant to add this link to an essay on The Windhover. Very helpful to me as I’m learning poetry, and learning how to talk about it with my children.
To Christ our Lord
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of; the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermillion.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Edit:
I meant to add this link to an essay on The Windhover. Very helpful to me as I’m learning poetry, and learning how to talk about it with my children.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Pied Beauty
~ Gerard Manley Hopkins
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Some of our dappled things — a new batch of mail-order chicks that arrived Tuesday afternoon:
Most of these are layers, Silver-Spangled Hamburgs (the striped ones with the grey heads), and Blue Andalusians (the black/grey/cream and the grey/cream ones). The golden ones are Buff Orpingtons, a dual-purpose breed which we bought as a “straight run” meaning that we didn’t order a particular sex, they just gave them to us as they hatched out. Statistically this means that they should be half male (which will mostly be butchered) and half female (which we’ll keep for layers). The light yellow ones are a straight run batch of Jumbo X Rocks, a heavy meat bird.
This little chickie is my favorite:
(pictures taken Wednesday)
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Some of our dappled things — a new batch of mail-order chicks that arrived Tuesday afternoon:
Most of these are layers, Silver-Spangled Hamburgs (the striped ones with the grey heads), and Blue Andalusians (the black/grey/cream and the grey/cream ones). The golden ones are Buff Orpingtons, a dual-purpose breed which we bought as a “straight run” meaning that we didn’t order a particular sex, they just gave them to us as they hatched out. Statistically this means that they should be half male (which will mostly be butchered) and half female (which we’ll keep for layers). The light yellow ones are a straight run batch of Jumbo X Rocks, a heavy meat bird.
This little chickie is my favorite:
(pictures taken Wednesday)
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The Postmodern
~ D. A. Carson
At last we know all truth is gray: no more
Faith’s raucous rhetoric, this blinding trap
Of absolutes, this brightly colored map
Of good and bad: our ocean has no shore.
Dogmatic truth is chimera: deplore
All arrogance: the massive gray will sap
The sparkling hues of bigotry, and cap
The rainbow, mask the sun, make dullness soar.
Yet tiny, fleeting hesitations lurk
Behind the storied billows of the cloud
Like sparkling, prism’d glory in the murk:
The freedom of the gray becomes a shroud.
Where nothing can be false, truth must away-
Not least the truth that all my world is gray.
Copyright (c) 1999 First Things (May 1999)
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
HT: Carmon
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I like the way Carson contrasts the grey of postmodernity, not with the black and white of modernity, but with the many colors our Trinitarian God actually used in the creation.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
More spring color here — pinkbuds and violets:
At last we know all truth is gray: no more
Faith’s raucous rhetoric, this blinding trap
Of absolutes, this brightly colored map
Of good and bad: our ocean has no shore.
Dogmatic truth is chimera: deplore
All arrogance: the massive gray will sap
The sparkling hues of bigotry, and cap
The rainbow, mask the sun, make dullness soar.
Yet tiny, fleeting hesitations lurk
Behind the storied billows of the cloud
Like sparkling, prism’d glory in the murk:
The freedom of the gray becomes a shroud.
Where nothing can be false, truth must away-
Not least the truth that all my world is gray.
Copyright (c) 1999 First Things (May 1999)
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
HT: Carmon
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I like the way Carson contrasts the grey of postmodernity, not with the black and white of modernity, but with the many colors our Trinitarian God actually used in the creation.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
More spring color here — pinkbuds and violets:
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The great Gaels of Ireland
from Ballad of the White Horse, by G.K. Chesterton
[Alfred is gathering the chiefs for war and comes to Colan of Caerleon]
Last of a race in ruin–
He spoke the speech of the Gaels;
His kin were in holy Ireland,
Or up in the crags of Wales.
But his soul stood with his mother’s folk,
That were of the rain-wrapped isle,
Where Patrick and Brandan westerly
Looked out at last on a landless sea
And the sun’s last smile.
His harp was carved and cunning,
As the Celtic craftsman makes,
Graven all over with twisting shapes
Like many headless snakes.
His harp was carved and cunning,
His sword prompt and sharp,
And he was gay when he held the sword,
Sad when he held the harp.
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
[Alfred is gathering the chiefs for war and comes to Colan of Caerleon]
Last of a race in ruin–
He spoke the speech of the Gaels;
His kin were in holy Ireland,
Or up in the crags of Wales.
But his soul stood with his mother’s folk,
That were of the rain-wrapped isle,
Where Patrick and Brandan westerly
Looked out at last on a landless sea
And the sun’s last smile.
His harp was carved and cunning,
As the Celtic craftsman makes,
Graven all over with twisting shapes
Like many headless snakes.
His harp was carved and cunning,
His sword prompt and sharp,
And he was gay when he held the sword,
Sad when he held the harp.
For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
Agrarian children at play
Yesterday being a wet dreary day, my two youngest (7yos & 5yod) were engaging in a bit of imaginative play with two bags of dried beans. Each bag represented a chicken, the male and his female. The conversation between these two wandered over various topics, but eventually the hen made an astonishing annoucement regarding her future offspring.
Hen: “I have a hundred and twenty eggs.
Rooster: “A hundred and twenty? How’d you do that?
Hen: “Ya mate me too long!”
I dunno people. I grew up in the city. Should I be concerned about this?
Hen: “I have a hundred and twenty eggs.
Rooster: “A hundred and twenty? How’d you do that?
Hen: “Ya mate me too long!”
I dunno people. I grew up in the city. Should I be concerned about this?
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Way of the Cross
from The Ballad of the White Horse by G.K. Chesterton
[King Alfred, discouraged in trying to rid his land of the heathen invaders, has a vision of the Virgin Mary and asks her whether he will ever succeed.]
“Mother of God,” the wanderer said,
“I am but a common king,
Nor will I ask what saints may ask,
To see a secret thing.
“The gates of heaven are fearful gates
Worse than the gates of hell;
Not I would break the splendours barred
Or seek to know the thing they guard,
Which is too good to tell.
“But for this earth most pitiful,
This little land I know,
If that which is for ever is,
Or if our hearts shall break with bliss,
Seeing the stranger go?
“When our last bow is broken, Queen,
And our last javelin cast,
Under some sad, green evening sky,
Holding a ruined cross on high,
Under warm westland grass to lie,
Shall we come home at last?”
And a voice came human but high up,
Like a cottage climbed among
The clouds; or a serf of hut and croft
That sits by his hovel fire as oft,
But hears on his old bare roof aloft
A belfry burst in song.
“The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gain,
The heaviest hind may easily
Come silently and suddenly
Upon me in a lane.
[…]
“The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gold,
Men may uproot where worlds begin,
Or read the name of the nameless sin;
But if he fail or if he win
To no good man is told.
“The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.”
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I love that image of the godly man setting his face like a flint to do what is right because it is Right, and not because he’s sure of success. May we ever “go gaily in the dark.”
[King Alfred, discouraged in trying to rid his land of the heathen invaders, has a vision of the Virgin Mary and asks her whether he will ever succeed.]
“Mother of God,” the wanderer said,
“I am but a common king,
Nor will I ask what saints may ask,
To see a secret thing.
“The gates of heaven are fearful gates
Worse than the gates of hell;
Not I would break the splendours barred
Or seek to know the thing they guard,
Which is too good to tell.
“But for this earth most pitiful,
This little land I know,
If that which is for ever is,
Or if our hearts shall break with bliss,
Seeing the stranger go?
“When our last bow is broken, Queen,
And our last javelin cast,
Under some sad, green evening sky,
Holding a ruined cross on high,
Under warm westland grass to lie,
Shall we come home at last?”
And a voice came human but high up,
Like a cottage climbed among
The clouds; or a serf of hut and croft
That sits by his hovel fire as oft,
But hears on his old bare roof aloft
A belfry burst in song.
“The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gain,
The heaviest hind may easily
Come silently and suddenly
Upon me in a lane.
[…]
“The gates of heaven are lightly locked,
We do not guard our gold,
Men may uproot where worlds begin,
Or read the name of the nameless sin;
But if he fail or if he win
To no good man is told.
“The men of the East may spell the stars,
And times and triumphs mark,
But the men signed of the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark.”
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I love that image of the godly man setting his face like a flint to do what is right because it is Right, and not because he’s sure of success. May we ever “go gaily in the dark.”
Sunday, April 6, 2008
a thrown a
~ E.E. Cummings *
a thrown a
-way It
with some-
thing sil
-very
;bright,&mys(
a thrown a-
way
X
-mas)ter-
i
-ous wisp A of glo-
ry.pr
-ettily
cl(tr)in(ee)gi-
ng
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Okay, I love Cummings’ fun poems like yesterday’s and “anyone lived in a pretty how town” but when I see things like this I usually wonder what went wrong in the poet’s childhood. So I was very happy when earlier this year Ben posted a link to Remy’s explanation of this purely visual poem — and it’s very good. You should go read it. Unless, of course, you’re the sort of person who understands this kind of thing intuitively.
:-p
P.S.
I’ve only seen this online so I don’t know if it’s really supposed to be centered the way I have, but I think it looks better that way, and it is a chiasm, after all.
-way It
with some-
thing sil
-very
;bright,&mys(
a thrown a-
way
X
-mas)ter-
i
-ous wisp A of glo-
ry.pr
-ettily
cl(tr)in(ee)gi-
ng
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Okay, I love Cummings’ fun poems like yesterday’s and “anyone lived in a pretty how town” but when I see things like this I usually wonder what went wrong in the poet’s childhood. So I was very happy when earlier this year Ben posted a link to Remy’s explanation of this purely visual poem — and it’s very good. You should go read it. Unless, of course, you’re the sort of person who understands this kind of thing intuitively.
:-p
P.S.
I’ve only seen this online so I don’t know if it’s really supposed to be centered the way I have, but I think it looks better that way, and it is a chiasm, after all.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
i thank you God for most this amazing
~ E.E. Cummings *
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
Friday, April 4, 2008
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
~ A.E. Housman
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Sonnet LXXIII
~ William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Astrophel and Stella: Sonnet XXXI
~ Sir Philip Sidney
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skies !
How silently, and with how wan a face !
What, may it be that even in heavenly place
That busy archer his sharp arrows tries?
Sure, if that long with love-acquainted eyes
Can judge of love, thou feel’st a lover’s case;
I read it in thy looks; thy languisht grace
To me that feel the like, thy state descries.
Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,
Is constant love deemed there but want of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be loved, and yet
Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?
Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
The picture was taken by my daddy at midnight on December 5, 1953, when he was 17 years old, using a telescope that he and his cousin made themselves. Cool, huh?
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb’st the skies !
How silently, and with how wan a face !
What, may it be that even in heavenly place
That busy archer his sharp arrows tries?
Sure, if that long with love-acquainted eyes
Can judge of love, thou feel’st a lover’s case;
I read it in thy looks; thy languisht grace
To me that feel the like, thy state descries.
Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,
Is constant love deemed there but want of wit?
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be loved, and yet
Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?
Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?
The picture was taken by my daddy at midnight on December 5, 1953, when he was 17 years old, using a telescope that he and his cousin made themselves. Cool, huh?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The Wind and the Moon
~ George MacDonald (1824-1905)
Said the Wind to the Moon, “I will blow you out.
You stare
In the air
Like a ghost in a chair,
Always looking what I am about;
I hate to be watched — I’ll blow you out.”
The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.
So deep,
On a heap
Of clouds, to sleep,
Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon –
Muttering low, “I’ve done for that Moon.”
He turned in his bed; she was there again!
On high
In the sky
With her one ghost eye,
The Moon shone white and alive and plain.
Said the Wind — “I will blow you out again.”
The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.
“With my sledge
And my wedge
I have knocked off her edge!
If only I blow right fierce and grim,
The creature will soon be dimmer than dim.”
He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.
“One puff
More’s enough
To blow her to snuff!
One good puff more where the last was bred,
And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread!”
He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone;
In the air
Nowhere
Was a moonbeam bare;
Far off and harmless the shy stars shone;
Sure and certain the Moon was gone.
The Wind, he took to his revels once more;
On down
In town,
Like a merry-mad clown,
He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar,
“What’s that?” The glimmering thread once more!
He flew in a rage — he danced and blew;
But in vain
Was the pain
Of his bursting brain;
For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew,
The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.
Slowly she grew — till she filled the night,
And shone
On her throne
In the sky alone,
A matchless, wonderful, silvery light,
Radiant and lovely, the Queen of the night.
Said the Wind — “What a marvel of power am I!
With my breath,
Good faith!
I blew her to death–
First blew her away right out of the sky–
Then blew her in; what strength have I!”
But the Moon, she knew nothing about the affair,
For high
In the sky,
With her one white eye,
Motionless, miles above the air,
She had never heard the great Wind blare.
Said the Wind to the Moon, “I will blow you out.
You stare
In the air
Like a ghost in a chair,
Always looking what I am about;
I hate to be watched — I’ll blow you out.”
The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.
So deep,
On a heap
Of clouds, to sleep,
Down lay the Wind, and slumbered soon –
Muttering low, “I’ve done for that Moon.”
He turned in his bed; she was there again!
On high
In the sky
With her one ghost eye,
The Moon shone white and alive and plain.
Said the Wind — “I will blow you out again.”
The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.
“With my sledge
And my wedge
I have knocked off her edge!
If only I blow right fierce and grim,
The creature will soon be dimmer than dim.”
He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.
“One puff
More’s enough
To blow her to snuff!
One good puff more where the last was bred,
And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread!”
He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone;
In the air
Nowhere
Was a moonbeam bare;
Far off and harmless the shy stars shone;
Sure and certain the Moon was gone.
The Wind, he took to his revels once more;
On down
In town,
Like a merry-mad clown,
He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar,
“What’s that?” The glimmering thread once more!
He flew in a rage — he danced and blew;
But in vain
Was the pain
Of his bursting brain;
For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew,
The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.
Slowly she grew — till she filled the night,
And shone
On her throne
In the sky alone,
A matchless, wonderful, silvery light,
Radiant and lovely, the Queen of the night.
Said the Wind — “What a marvel of power am I!
With my breath,
Good faith!
I blew her to death–
First blew her away right out of the sky–
Then blew her in; what strength have I!”
But the Moon, she knew nothing about the affair,
For high
In the sky,
With her one white eye,
Motionless, miles above the air,
She had never heard the great Wind blare.
Spring Cleaning
Today — the living room
finished
•washed slipcovers, hung on line
•washed windows, inside and out, including screens
•vacuumed pictures on walls
•washed three walls and their baseboards
•gave plants a shower
•took all the books off of two bookcases, washed shelves, vacuumed books, washed china, replaced
•opened up sleeper-sofa to vacuum — disposed of abandoned mouse-nest (ick!)
•vacuumed whole room
•started to clean carpet but didn’t have enough Resolve
•arranged furniture into summertime configuration
•turned off gas to stove; cleaned stove and hearth
•took down broken ceiling fat
•vacuumed lampshades, washed lamps
•brought in slipcovers, put back on couches
•rehung wall calendar; I’ve never likes its position on the wall between the living room and breakfast room
needs to be done
•third bookcase — wash shelves, dust books as above
•buy more Resolve
•clean carpet
•replace plants — some need fresh potting soil
•wash fourth wall and its baseboard
•wash small blue shelf and its knick knacks
•dust clock
•vacuum shade over large window
•take curtain over glass door to cleaners
noticed
•every surface in this room needs to be repainted
•we have way too many magazines
•our mousekeeper is not doing a very good job; it’s so hard to get good help these days
;-)
•I’m glad I have so many children — they did at least 3/4 of the work
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I’m tired. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed early.
finished
•washed slipcovers, hung on line
•washed windows, inside and out, including screens
•vacuumed pictures on walls
•washed three walls and their baseboards
•gave plants a shower
•took all the books off of two bookcases, washed shelves, vacuumed books, washed china, replaced
•opened up sleeper-sofa to vacuum — disposed of abandoned mouse-nest (ick!)
•vacuumed whole room
•started to clean carpet but didn’t have enough Resolve
•arranged furniture into summertime configuration
•turned off gas to stove; cleaned stove and hearth
•took down broken ceiling fat
•vacuumed lampshades, washed lamps
•brought in slipcovers, put back on couches
•rehung wall calendar; I’ve never likes its position on the wall between the living room and breakfast room
needs to be done
•third bookcase — wash shelves, dust books as above
•buy more Resolve
•clean carpet
•replace plants — some need fresh potting soil
•wash fourth wall and its baseboard
•wash small blue shelf and its knick knacks
•dust clock
•vacuum shade over large window
•take curtain over glass door to cleaners
noticed
•every surface in this room needs to be repainted
•we have way too many magazines
•our mousekeeper is not doing a very good job; it’s so hard to get good help these days
;-)
•I’m glad I have so many children — they did at least 3/4 of the work
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
I’m tired. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed early.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Daffodowndilly
~ A.A. Milne
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
“Winter is dead.”
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
“Winter is dead.”
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Palm Sunday Princess
After church Palm Sunday, this little one started making herself a crown of flowers… I stuck bobby pins in place to hold them, but the artwork is all her own.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Alleluia! Christ is risen
CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness:
But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more:
Death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once:
But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin:
But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
CHRIST is risen from the dead:
And become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death:
By man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die:
Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:
And to the holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
World without end. Amen.
Therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness:
But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more:
Death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once:
But in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin:
But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
CHRIST is risen from the dead:
And become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death:
By man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die:
Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:
And to the holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
World without end. Amen.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.
Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.
For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Words: Johann Heerman, Herzliebster Jesu, 1630; translated from German to English by Robert S. Bridges, 1899.
Music: Herzliebster Jesu, Johann Crüger, 1640. Bach used this music as the basis for part of his St. Matthew Passion.
That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,
O most afflicted.
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee.
’Twas I, Lord, Jesus, I it was denied Thee!
I crucified Thee.
Lo, the Good Shepherd for the sheep is offered;
The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered;
For man’s atonement, while he nothing heedeth,
God intercedeth.
For me, kind Jesus, was Thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and Thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and Thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee,
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee,
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving,
Not my deserving.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Words: Johann Heerman, Herzliebster Jesu, 1630; translated from German to English by Robert S. Bridges, 1899.
Music: Herzliebster Jesu, Johann Crüger, 1640. Bach used this music as the basis for part of his St. Matthew Passion.
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