A couple thousand miles later ....

We aren't quite home yet, but we will be any minute. Or any hour. Or something. (And, hey, any thieving sorts who are considering robbing our house? Let me assure you of the following ... everything of value that we own is with us. Piled high in the van each day, and dutifully hauled into new hotels each night. Atticus, Chief Hauler for the last 10 days, can attest to that. Given the amount of luggage we have with us, there couldn't possibly be anything left at home.)

We've seen Falling Water, Gettysburg, the wonderful group of women (and men!) who attended the fabulous Family Centered Learning Conference. Alice kindly rounded up a number of posts, and I'm stealing the links from her. Thank you, Alice!

Please see:
Michele Quigley
Margaret in Minnesota
Kimberlee of Pondered in My Heart
Mary Ellen Barrett
Heather of Doodle Acres
and Michelle Joy Waters of Living Waters

We followed up the conference with a bit of sightseeing in Washington D.C., as well as a joyful reunion with some old friends there.

Today, Atticus forced us to suggested that we push it hard and drive all day long and well into the evening. I think he's ready to see Nebraska again. I am, too, but it's been a marvelous trip and I can't wait to tell you more.

As soon as we're home.

Are we there yet?

Memoria Press and Instincts

Do you get this catalog?

Memoria Press's catalog, The Classical Teacher, always has great articles, making me feel that this is yet another magazine subscription that I should cancel in my ongoing effort to trim the budget. Then I remember that it's a free catalog, not a pricey magazine, and I settle in with a cup of coffee and some compelling reading.

The latest issue has a wonderful article by Cheryl Lowe entitled, "History is Not Chronological."

I nodded my head in agreement throughout, especially at the portions in which she recommends covering American History and Bible stories for first graders (as opposed to covering history in chronological order from the earliest grades on.) She discussed exactly what I was already planning to do with Ramona next year, which is to use whole, living books (Little House is calling our names) and Bible stories, and do plenty of fun activities such as making butter, and corncob dolls and doing other related crafts.

I've always thought that we need not study all the periods of history in chronological order, but rather that, for the early years in particular, we should study what's relevant to us, what makes sense when you're six, and what will stick. That's the way I started when Anne-with-an-e was in first grade -- it was the year of All Things Little House, Many Things American Girl, and The Beginning of the Timeline. And, for our history studies, this auspicious beginning has served us well. We seem to have raised kids who love history, as evidenced today in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As we toured the tremendous museum here, the girls snapped pictures and moved from one fascinating exhibit to another. They stood in stark contrast to the surly boy who, when his father pointed out an amazing artifact with the exclamation, "Imagine! They've preserved that!" responded with, "So?"

I felt so bad for that poor dad.

Now, Ramona, on the other hand, was pretty bored at the Gettysburg Museum. She's just not old enough yet. And that's why, in the fall, we'll be diving into All Things Little House.

It just makes sense. Thanks, Memoria, for the affirmation. I often feel that my individual, anecdotal "evidence" of how well something works just isn't enough. It's so nice, sometimes, to see in print the respected opinions of others that demonstrate that my instincts and anecdotal evidence are more universal than I think they are.

One Word Meme

Got this from: Everyone
Tagging: Everyone

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? Atticus
3. Your hair? Brown
4. Your mother? Reader
5. Your father? Writer
6. Your favorite thing? God
7. Your dream last night? Pleasant
8. Your favorite drink? Coffee
9. Your dream/goal? Heaven
10. The room you’re in? Hotel
11. Your church? Catholic!
12. Your fear? Coffee-less
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Sameness
14. Where were you last night? South Bend, IN
15. What you’re not? Welder
16. Muffins? Raspberry
17. One of your wish list items? MacBook
18. Where you grew up? Everywhere
19. The last thing you did? Laugh-with-Betsy
20. What are you wearing? Capris
21. Your TV? Avoiding
22. Your pets? Mr.Putter
23. Your computer? Loved
24. Your life? Delightful
25. Your mood? Anticipatory
26. Missing someone? Yes
27. Your car? Dead
28. Something you’re not wearing? Muu-muu
29. Favorite store? Barnes-and-Noble
30. Your summer? Quick
31. Love someone? Loads
32. Your favorite color? Green
33. Last time you laughed? Now
34. Last time you cried? Recently
35. Who will re -post this? Dunno

Poetry Friday: I Hear America Singing

When we head to Pennsylvania for the Family Centered Learning Conference, we'll be seeing a good bit of America.

Aptly, then, a little Walt Whitman:



I Hear America Singing
by Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.



Kelly Fineman has the roundup today, at Writing and Ruminating.

Live, at Faith and Family ... It's "Faith and Family Live!"

Head over to see the new group blog at Faith and Family Live!

Full of great stuff, as Faith and Family always is, and manned by a team of terrific bloggers.

What are you waiting for? There's even a Grand Opening Giveaway!

What's Kept Me from the Blog

1. Ramona's birthday party!

Can this child be six years old? She can. She is. We celebrated. The cake was chocolate. It's been an excellent six years.

2. Unexpected doctor appointments.

Turns out I'm fine, but I don't really want to do that stress-echo treadmill test again anytime soon. Whoosh. I need to work out more. (Don't even think about mentioning that chocolate cake.)

3. Planning ahead.

It's almost here.

July 26th, in Lancaster, PA.
The Family Centered Learning Conference.
I'll see you there!

So can I. Pass the wine.

We watched The Next Food Network Star again tonight.

Aaron talked about how hard it can be to talk and cook at the same time (though, I have to say, I do this all the time when we have people over to dinner. I'm always still cooking when people arrive, so I chat and chop or talk and tear lettuce ... I am totally in the running for the next FN star. Except for the actual cooking part.)

As Aaron explained why he stopped cooking in order to talk, Ramona piped up.

"I can listen and drink at the same time."

Like mother, like daughter.

I'm listening.

Sweet Dads

This is a really sweet song sung by a sweet dad (posted by a sweet dad whose romance with his daughters reminds me of the sweet dad in this house.)

Go here to listen to Daughter.

(On a completely different subject, the same dad posted this, which made me laugh out loud.)

Links from the CERC

Some interesting reads, gathered together in convenient linkage.

CRS warns of worldwide food crisis

Archbishop Burke will head the Vatican high court

The Encyclical that caused an explosion of dissent -- Humanae Vitae, 40 years later

A list of famous people who have converted to Catholicism

The Pope does not wear Prada (but then, I'd already guessed that about him.) The article says:

The Osservatore Romano emphasized that Benedict was not a man who fusses over fashion.

"These rumours do not tally with the simple and sober man who, on the day of his election to the papacy, address the faithful and the whole world with the sleeves of his modest black sweater showing."

It concluded: "The Pope does not wear Prada, but Christ. His worries are not about accessories, but the essential."

Bea or Betty?

Saturday Morning Update: You were all very kind to me. Thank you! My stylist (her name is me)thanks you, too. I now plan to stop thinking about my hair, because I hate to think about hair and clothes. And don't get me started on skin care, because I'll just say, "You know that baby soap that's 99 cents a bottle?"



The haircut.

You decide. Be nice. And feel free to offer a third choice. Not Estelle Getty.

I'm thinking of cutting it all off.

Or, of getting a feather boa.

(Cast your vote quickly, as the post may come down soon ... I don't like having my face first up on the blog ....)

That does not compute

Ramona: Mommy, may I get on your lap .... (something, something ... I wasn't really listening)

Me: Uh-huh, sure (holding out my arms so my sweetie could climb up and snuggle)

Ramona: (walking away)

Me: Where are you going? I thought you wanted to sit on my lap?

Ramona: (turning around, looking at me as if I'm insane) : No! I said, "May I get on your laptop?"

Sigh.

Other posts about Ramona and the computer are here, here and here.

Poetry Friday: Sending you to Jama and Paul and Art and Sara

As much as I love Poetry Friday, sometimes it's just too big for me. I can't make it to every fabulous blog and every great poem, so, occasionally, I just want to point you to someone else's blog and say, "Look! Look!"

I'm doing that this week with a couple of my favorite Poetry Friday places to visit.

When I was in my twenties (or was it my thirties? or both?) I used to tell Atticus that, rather than "all-news-all-the-time" radio stations, the world needed a Simon and Garfunkel radio station. All Simon and Garfunkel, all the time. I mean, really. Who doesn't need that?

So it was with delight that I read Jama Rattigan's Poetry Friday post this morning. She has a delightful poem by Kevin McFadden about my own personal dynamic duo. And, check out her past post on Mother and Child reunion, which includes a great recipe (as so many of Jama's posts do.)

Food, books and poetry, and Paul and Art. Jama's got it all.

**********

I never fail, on a Poetry Friday, to find something interesting at Read, Write, Believe. (Okay, okay, except this week. She's not there. She's on vacation. But you can stop in and wish her a happy blogversary anyway.) Sara Lewis Holmes is the author of Letters from Rapunzel, which inspired my Anne-with-an-e to start writing some epistolary stories (and don't you love the way that simply reading, reading, reading leads to kids learning such terms?)

Sara's Poetry Friday posts are original, fun and funny, and full of good links, but my favorites are always her original poems. Here's an example of a spare and beautiful poem about a miscarriage. Decidedly not funny. Decidedly poignant. Decidedly poetry.

**********
Lisa Chellman, at Under the Covers, has the round up today.

And, to find out more about Poetry Friday, see this post.

Mary Moments

Please visit Heidi Hess Saxton, Kate Wicker and Sarah Reinhard at Behold Your Mother for details on an upcoming "Mary Moments" Carnival.


The deadline for submissions is August 10th and the carnival will run August 15th. Use the online submission form, or feel free to contact Sarah at peerybingle-at-gmail-dot-com

"Behold Your Mother" tells us:

This carnival is open to all those who love (or are learning to love) the Blessed Mother. You need not be Catholic to participate! This first edition of "Mary Moments" will feature posts about favorite Mary books and resources. Feel free to join in!

It promises to be a beautiful collection of posts!

(Painting: The Annunciation, Caravaggio, c. 1608)

Thank you for being a friend (not)

Me: I really don't like my new haircut.

Atticus: Why not?

Me: It looks old lady-ish. I'm afraid it makes me look like Bea Arthur.

Atticus: Nah ....

Me: (smiling smugly, snuggling up to my sweet husband, awaiting the next loving thing he'll say about the wife he adores ....)


Atticus: More like Betty White.

If only someone would do a blog giveaway for this

Join Mike Aquilina, Dr. Scott and Kimberly Hahn, and Steve and Janet Ray in the Holy Land.

Oh, if only.

The only trouble with feed readers is

that they list my favorite blogs in alphabetical order, and that means I am always reading the A's (Hi, AS Cozy as Spring!) and am constantly behind on W, X, Y and Z.

Sigh.

I know, I know, read in reverse order now and again.

I'll try to remember that.

A blog giveaway for tote lovers

I love blog giveaways.
I love tote bags.
All my tote bags are boring.

I would love to win this tote bag, which will be given away on Thursday, July 10.

You have until Wednesday at midnight (central time) to enter.

Details are here, at Sew Gracious.

And, thanks to Cheryl, at Time Really Does Fly, who also makes gorgeous stuff, for the alert.

Whooo is it? Or, why I love my husband and kids

At about midnight, just as Atticus and I were getting ready for bed, we heard the soft hooting of an owl from somewhere nearby. We don't usually get to hear owls in our yard. I wasn't sure if the girls had ever actually heard one, so my first reaction was, "We should wake them up so they can hear this!"

Then, I heard them (my girls, not the owls) still talking and laughing in their room. I told them to get up, come and listen. We lined up at the window in my bedroom, listening, whispering, watching fireflies, feeling the cool breeze and wondering where our hooting visitor was hiding. He sounded exactly like this.

We didn't have to say much, really. It was just a lovely moment together when we all felt the magic of nighttime and nature and being a family. None of us had to say it, but we all knew that lined up at the window in my bedroom was the perfect place to be.

Poetry Friday: A Cranky Haiku

My original haiku for America's birthday:

Independence Day --
Far too many explosions.
I'm really no fun.

For a much longer and wittier look at fireworks, go see Jen at Et Tu.

For the Poetry Friday round-up, visit In Search of Giants.

What is Christian Art?

By way of Alicia, from Love2Learn, by way Suchi, who wrote this great book, comes this great quote from Dorothy Sayers on work and art:

The only Christian work is good work done well. Let the Church see to it that the workers are Christian people and do their work well, as to God: then all the work will be Christian work, whether it is Church embroidery, or sewage-farming. As Jacques Maritain says: 'If you want to produce Christian work, be a Christian, and try to make a work of beauty into which you have put your heart; do not adopt a Christian pose.'

He is right. And let the Church remember that the beauty of the work will be judged by its own, and not by ecclesiastical standards. Let me give you an illustration of what I mean.

When my play The Zeal of Thy House was produced in London, a dear old pious lady was much struck by the beauty of the four great archangels who stood throughout the play in their heavy, gold robes, eleven feet high from wing-tip to sandal-tip. She asked with great innocence 'whether I selected the actors who played the angels for the excellence of their moral character?'

I replied that the angels were selected, to begin with, not by me but by the producer, who had the technical qualifications for selecting suitable actors - for that was part of his vocation. And that he selected, in the first place, young men who were six feet tall, so that they would match properly together. Secondly, angels had to be of good physique, so as to be able to stand stiff on the stage for two and a half hours, carrying the weight of their wings and costumes, without wobbling, or fidgeting, or fainting. Thirdly, they must be able speak verse well, in an agreeable voice and audibly. Fourthly, they must be reasonably good actors.

When all these technical conditions were fulfilled, we might come to the moral qualities, of which the first would be the ability to arrive on the stage punctually and in a sober condition, since the curtain must go up on time, and a drunken angel would indecorous. After that, and only after that, one might take character into consideration, but that - provided his behaviour was not so scandalous as to cause dissension among the company - the right kind of actor with no morals would give a far more reverent and seemly performance than a saintly actor with the wrong technical qualifications.

The worst religious films I ever saw were produced by a company which chose its staff exclusively for their piety. Bad photography, bad acting, and bad dialogue produced a result so grotesquely irreverent that the pictures could not have been shown in churches without bringing Christianity into contempt.

God is not served by technical incompetence; and incompetence and untruth always result when the secular vocation is treated as a thing alien to religion.

And if, perchance, you've never read Sayers' essay, The Lost Tools of Learning, well -- quick, quick -- go read it.

Go tell Jenn why you love her and win that fabulous bag

Visit As Cozy as Spring to see what I mean.

Like mother, like daughter?

Anne-with-an-e has been writing a lot lately. She's been spotted regularly, hunched over the keyboard, tapping out a new story. A couple of us around here have observed that, lately, she looks a lot like me.

Today, Betsy saw her pour a cup of coffee, and walk away with it.

"Ummm .... Anne?" Betsy said, a worried look on her face, a meaningful glance at the coffee cup.

"Don't worry," Anne told Betsy. "It's for Mom. I'm just delivering it."