Category Archives: church

November and All

church, family, home, nature, poetry, travel

Today I burned a candle on the dining table at dinner, for the first time since Winter brightened into Spring many moons ago. Now our world is dimming once more, and a little extra light strengthens the heart, reminding us of Him Who is The Light of the World.

I wore my new wool tweed jacket for the first half of dance class, the hall was so chilly. And tomorrow I drive north again, where it’s even colder, at nearly 4,000 ft elevation, too.

Baby Daughter is with us for a few days, which is why we are journeying there, so she can greet Seventh Grandson, her Seventh Nephew. For the drive, we’ll take our umbrellas for forays out of the car, and poetry for hope and vision of the warm home awaiting us up the road.

The Mist and All

by Dixie Wilson

I like the fall,
The mist and all.
I like the night owl’s
Lonely call–
And wailing sound
Of wind around.

I like the gray
November day,
And bare, dead boughs
That coldly sway
Against my pane.
I like the rain.

I like to sit
And laugh at it–
And tend my cozy fire a bit.
I like the fall–
The mist and all.


Categories of First Lines

books, church, quotes, the language

Many of my favorite books do not have particularly memorable first lines. Some books that I will never read have clever, captivating, even brilliant openers, and among those are quite a few that are well known. If you want to test your knowledge of famous first lines, you can do so here. Thanks to my friend E. for that link.

In 2002 Jay Nordlinger on National Review‘s website mentioned a couple of his favorite first lines–not necessarily from favorite books–which led readers to send in nominations for Great First Lines. Many of those were also Famous, overlapping with a few in the quiz linked above, but often they were obscure. Warning to nit-pickers: Some of these are actually more than one sentence.

What makes a first line “great”?  Does it have to hint at what the whole book is about, or only hook you in? For me, I do like a good sentence (and I liked this article exploring the field), and if the first one in a book is well-crafted, it would make me want to keep reading, for pleasure. If it is curiosity-piquing as well, all the better.

One boring or poor opening sentence would not discourage me from reading on, but if the whole first paragraph or page is confusing or muddy I might lose patience. I am getting too old to fool around with the gazillions of pages by authors who need to practice more.

Whether one can search the archives of NR for Nordlinger’s blog posts I don’t have to know, because back then I saved all of the nominations in a document. Unlike much of my document collection, I am making use of this one, to bring a number of good first lines into this small light. Whether they are Great, I won’t judge; I will just give you a few that I liked. These are from books that aren’t my favorites, so I won’t be tempted to put them into the next List of Five. And I hope I haven’t put too many below and spoiled it for a blogger who wanted to use one of these in her own quiz-list.

Nordlinger includes this fact out front: “We have already decided — we, the great collective ‘we’: my readers and I — that ‘In the beginning . . .’ is the all-time champion. Everything else is competing for second place.” I’m glad they got that straight.

Now, a few of the competitors:

“As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.” — Orwell, “England Your England” (an essay)

“‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.” — Charlotte’s Web

“For forty years my act consisted of one joke. And then she died.” — George Burns, Gracie: A Love Story

“I am a sick man. . . . I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I believe my liver is diseased.” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground

“A sky as pure as water bathed the stars and brought them out.” — Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Southern Mail

“She stood on the fox until it died.” — Mitchell Smith, Due North

A good sentence is a thing of beauty. This afternoon Mr. Glad and I started taking books off the shelves, turning pages to the first line, perusing those words we had long neglected, but not wanted to get rid of. (“Get rid of” suddenly sounds so crude and unfitting.) So many good phrases and clauses, and some excellent ones.

This is not the end of the matter; what is a blog, after all, but words and sentences, and the will to keep spitting them out? Annie Dillard wrote in The Writing Life, “It is no less difficult to write sentences in a recipe than sentences in Moby-Dick. So you might as well write Moby-Dick.”

The way I see it, I might as well write sentences in a recipe.


Costumes of a Cloud of Witnesses

church, crafts, family, history, , ,

This month of Halloween, I’ve heard on the blogosphere many comments about how much fun it is to dress up, and when do you ever get to do that, if not on Halloween?

I want to show by some pictures that you can make plenty of opportunities for costume-making and wearing, while pretty much ignoring Halloween.

You can have a costume party, plain and simple, as a young woman I know does yearly. One year several pirates attended.

We had at least one birthday party that was a costume party. I asked the parents not to send the children in Halloween themes, and one came as a witch anyway, but it didn’t detract from the fun the other children had impersonating a bunny or Bo-Peep. The cowgirl was the guest of honor.

Along with a few other homeschooling families, we used to organize International Meals periodically, where each parent and child attending would not only bring a typical dish of his chosen nation, and give a brief report on that country, but would dress in an often makeshift costume.

< This brother and sister were representing Scotland.

Our most inspiring costume event, though, was the yearly Cloud of Witnesses Day. This was my invention that expanded on Reformation Day festivities held by some fellow homeschoolers. October 31st happens to be the date that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Wittenburg door, so dressing up as Reformation characters was a very appropriate and educational activity.

Even then I didn’t take to the idea of narrowing our study of our forefathers and mothers in the faith to that particular era and group of Christians, so I devised a celebration of the “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in the Book of Hebrews.

The guests, often other homeschooling families, including the adults, would come in costume of someone from the past, even recent past, who had lived a life of faith. They might be in the Bible or in more modern history. (This is Joseph in his “coat of many colors,” a.k.a. his father’s childhood bathrobe.)                                                                          >

We enjoyed a simple meal of soup and bread together, while remembering those in prison for their faith. Reports were given on the characters each had chosen. Miriam, pictured here, was able to say, “I am Miriam. I take care of my baby brother Moses.” Joseph was excused from having to give a report.

Over the years we had re-enactments of Bible stories in which each member of one family would take a character, as in “The Macedonian call” story. Once a couple of parents took on the characters of Martin and Katharine Luther; Martin expounded on his theology and Katharine on the more practical aspects of their married life. One boy made a wig with cotton balls so he could look more like Johann Sebastian Bach.

I worked symbolism into all the evening’s activities, such as milk and honey to remind us of the sweetness of Christ. Justin Martyr, at left, had tea with his cookies instead, at the end of the program.

Everyone held candles ( an unusual treat for our Protestant children) while we sang hymns and songs about the Church and how our lights and strength combined are brighter and more powerful than alone.

It’s obvious in hindsight that in all my talk of the theoretical “universal” church, and wanting us to see ourselves as part of the historic family of faith, I was longing for the Orthodox Church and didn’t know it. Even so, everyone had a great time learning a little better what the Church is, by having this costume fun together.

What I Will Miss

animals, church, family, home, nature, travel


I’m driving home tomorrow, and look forward to seeing my
dear husband, and cat, and garden. Also joyfully anticipate going to church!

 

 

 

 

 

But I will miss:
1) The quiet and understanding presence of my daughter.

 

 

 

 


2) The soft cheeks of Baby C., the sweet smell of his head, and milk on his breath.

3) The calm and contented feeling that comes when Baby falls asleep in my arms.

4) The deer grazing and ruminating on the lawn front and back. It’s their home, and the fawns even take naps out the back door.

5) The forest.

6) Three cats who are different “people” from my cat. The one pictured here is Hannah, who lost an eye to an infection as a shelter kitten.

7) The whistle of the train as it passes several times a day.
Right now I’m just very grateful for the past twelve days. Glory to God for all things!