From the archives: Charlotte Mason, salvation, and service

First posted December 2014

In a post of January 2013, on Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), chapter 3, I wrote this: "[Charlotte Mason] believed that Christian thought had previously over-emphasized the issue of personal salvation, to the neglect of concern for 'the community, the nation, the race.'"

In Ourselves Book II (Volume 4), Chapter XI "Freewill," she sends that message home loudly and clearly. She has been talking about the need for mature adults (not young children who are still developing "the way of the will") to doeverything deliberately, even if everything just means choosing which habits you acquire. 

She scolds not only those who swallow current "intellectual and moral fallacies," but those who settle for "commonplace respectability which never errs, because every act conforms to the standard of general custom; not by choice of will, but in lazy imitation." 

No risk, no pain, but no gain, and even more, no real giving or serving, no object outside of themselves. Aha. She admits that those entrenched in commonplace respectability are "excellent citizens," but sees that they mostly follow the rules, embrace that conventionality, for their own good.

And for her that wasn't good enough. "Life, circumscribed by self, its interests and advantages, falls under the condemnation,––'He that saveth his life shall lose it.'"

"And this reverence must be paid even to those sinners whose souls seem to be dead, because it is Christ, who is that life of the soul, who is dead in them: they are his tombs, and Christ in the tomb is potentially the risen Christ. For the same reason, no one of use who has fallen into mortal sin himself must ever lose hope..." -- Caryll Houselander, A Rocking Horse Catholic (quoted in Elizabeth Goudge, A Book of Comfort)

"Therefore, Christ ate with publicans and sinners, and pronounced woes against the respectable classes because the sinners might still have a Will which might rise, however weakly, at the impact of a great thought, at the call to a life outside of themselves." -- Charlotte Mason, Ourselves

So much for the sinners: what of the respectable, impeccable ones she was talking about before? She uses the word "unconscious," referring to quick and unthinking decision making vs. using the Will, but "unconscious" can also refer to that state of lifelessness that she saw in those who did not consider themselves sinful. In outright sinfulness, there was at least the potential for repentance; complacency seemed more difficult to fight against.

But this is where is gets deeply theological, and those who have ever questioned Charlotte Mason's commitment to Christianity must have missed this passage. I'm paraphrasing here for the sake of length: if you have to serve somebody, God or man, you might possibly end up serving God somewhat without using the Will IF your personal goal is to help other people. That's possible.  BUT you cannot just "drift into the service of God" (her phrase) if your main interest is yourself, EVEN if that main interest is your own salvation. No two ways about it."Will must have an object outside of itself, whether for good or ill; and, therefore, perhaps there is more hope for some sinners than for certain respectable persons." 

In her theology, salvation was important (vital); but the aim of the Christian life was to serve God.

She concludes by saying that you cannot catch hold of the Will and analyze it, define it, count all its parts; like a leprechaun in a field, trying to trap it will elude you. Is it then something that you have to allow to sneak up on you, perhaps like grace that can catch you unaware? Without getting into Calvinist/Arminian Lutheran/Baptist arguments, yes, you are caught by grace, but that grace, she says, may come in the form of an idea or a call that your Will responds to, "however weakly." So there is an act of choosing, of answering and following, and that choice brings you to life "outside of yourself."

Caught at the window

A friend of Dewey's, doing a Monday morning happy dance.

Saturday yard saling: rummage sale season starts

Winter is a good time for church rummage sales, but there's also a bit of time for them between summer and Christmas bazaars. Today we visited two such annual events, and everyone scored something useful. Lydia found a suitcase to accompany her on an upcoming school trip; Mr. Fixit found a speaker, an 8-track player, and a couple of other fixity items.

I just found books, but a hardcover copy of Gilead and two Madeleine L'Engle memoirs seemed like pretty good rummage sale treasure.

A Borrowed Wednesday Hodgepodge

There is no official Wednesday Hodgepodge today at From This Side of the Pond, but I've borrowed questions from "Volume 236," September 2015.

1. What have you 'fallen for' recently?

Fallen for, as in fallen in love with, or as in been suckered by?

Greek Yogurt baking chips from Bulk Barn. It's been too hot to bake, but that's supposed to end soon, so I'm thinking yogurt chip-cranberry-oatmeal cookies.

2. What's something you're 'squirreling away' for later?

Besides the Greek Yogurt chips? I also squirreled away a package of Happy Cherry candies as a back-to-school treat.

3. How do you like your apples? Sweet? Tart? Crisp? Cooked? Apples are one of the superfoods for fall...how often do you eat an apple either plain or as part of a favorite recipe? What's your favorite variety?

OK, now we're done with the candies...I'll eat pretty much any apple, any way, except for some of the green varieties that taste all fake and waxed. Mr. Fixit eats apples almost every day. We prefer to get fresh local apples, but we don't seem to be able to get enough of them the last few years; good apples have gotten expensive.

Favourite recipes? I'll link back to my post about apple pie, which I haven't made for quite awhile.Or if I had a whole lot of apples, I might make apple butter.

4. According to Fodor's the ten best fall foliage trips in the US of A are-Aspen Colorado, The Catskills New York, The Berkshires Massachusetts, Columbia River Gorge Oregon, Green Mountain Byway Vermont, Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway New Mexico, Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, Upper Peninsula Michigan, Lake of the Ozarks Missouri, and Glacier National Park Montana. Which would you most like to visit this fall and why?

Agawa Canyon photo found here

Actually we have lots of nice places to see autumn leaves right in Ontario, so I probably would just head north towards cottage country, and the really classic way to do it is from a train, especially through the Agawa Canyon.

But if I were going to the U.S., I would pick either the Catskills or Tennessee.

5. The topic of legalizing marijuana was raised in the most recent televised political debate so let's wade in too. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Four states have legalize marijuana for recreational use. Your thoughts?

No opinion, sorry.

6. Are you okay to watch a movie already in progress or do you need to always see it from the beginning? How about jumping into a TV series somewhere in the middle? Is that okay?

OK, that's a different question.

Having not had videos and such options until I was in high school, I grew up being reconciled to the idea that no, you wouldn't always get to see all of everything, because real life happened too. People came over and you turned off the T.V., or you didn't get home from Brownies until halfway through Little House on the Prairie, or whatever. The thing I like these days is that, if you start watching some old movie and you don't know what it is, you can usually get enough clues to look it up online. ("That's Fred Astaire...that's Mrs Kravitz from Bewitched, the first one not the second one...what movie were they both in?" "The Belle of New York, 1952." "Good, now I can sleep tonight.")


(See, you didn't even need to see more than a clip to get the gist of it!)

7. Thursday (September 24) is National Punctuation Day. What rule of punctuation trips you up most often? What rule of punctuation, when broken by someone else, bugs you the most?

I never knew how many places I wasn't using enough commas until I started using the grammar program that comes with Microsoft Word and now it tells me all the places I should be putting them in.

And if you think there should have been some in that last sentence, according to the grammar checker it was fine.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Recently I have been working on a writing project involving Roman tribunes. I never realized there was a difference between military and non-military tribunes, having watched too many religious movies where the Roman soldier is generally addressed as "Tribune." The non-military sort was a watchdog position, a "champion of the people," and he had the job of speaking for them and upholding their rights. It suddenly made me wonder why some newspapers are called The Tribune, so I looked it up and it turns out that's exactly why. The voice of the people. Who knew?

Not linked from anywhere, but the regular Hodgepodge will be back next week.

Learning outside the box

Every adult has particular memories of school, or school supplies. For those of us who started school in the 1970's, it might be Bic Banana pens, or (for the Canadians) packs of Laurentien/Laurentian pencil crayons. Newsprint fliers for Scholastic paperbacks. Library books that had pockets and cards in them. Glue in clear bottles with rubber tips (or, earlier, the ever-discussed white paste in a jar that the bad kids would eat). And of course the also-ever-discussed smell of ditto-machine fluid.

There are times when nostalgia is supplanted by what-were-they-thinking curiosity or even resentment. Times change, and what was thought to be cute or appropriate sometimes takes on a different light. One of the Squirrelings was unimpressed with the Kimmy doll I found recently, because of Kimmy's obviously not-that-authentic Native connections. Yes, Kimmy was a popular Canadian toy fifty years ago, but no, a relaunch of Kimmy wouldn't fly these days.

I've often talked about my "experimental '70's" elementary education. Some parts of that were good, or at least fun; other things we could have done without. The photo above is a 1960 SRA Reading Laboratory (SRA meaning Science Research Associates, which should tell you a lot right there). We used a box like this maybe once a week in the 1970's. I didn't hate it. I liked, somewhat, the challenge of jumping ahead through those coloured levels. Each learning card had a story, which I thought was sort of like reading a Sunday School paper. The activities were a bit like doing word games. And I suppose I thought that it was better than some other things they might have had us doing instead. (This blogger isn't even that charitable, although she does include the fascinating story of where the first "box" came from.)

I found a scanned-in review of this, also from 1960, and this is what it said:

"This is a U.S.A. attempt to individualize reading instruction in a large class with a wide range of reading ability. A triumph of pedagogical ingenuity combined with superb industrial design, it provides, in a container 16 x 8 x 8 inches, sufficient material to keep a class of forty students with a reading range of over six years purposefully busy for at least fifty-four periods...The levels, each of which is identified by a distinctive colour, are very carefully graded and cover a reading range of approximately 7.5-15 years and are designed to interest children from 9 to 12 years. The material, however, is stimulating and so attractively presented that the laboratory would be acceptable to most children up to the age of fourteen years."

Are you excited so far?

"The laboratory consists of:--  150 Power Building Cards, 15 at each of 10 levels, all very attractively illustrated and laid-out, which give carefully planned training in reading for comprehension, word recognition and semantic skills; a Key Card for marking each Power Builder; 150 Rate Builder Cards..."

and so on and so on and so on.

If I told you that the review of the learning kit came from a journal called The Slow Learning Child, would that make a difference?

"I am jealous for the children; every modern educational movement tends to belittle them intellectually; and none more so than a late ingenious attempt to feed normal children with the pap-meat which may (?) be good for the mentally sick..." (Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education)

And that, I think, was what was wrong with this attractively presented triumph of pedagogical ingenuity. It taught us to read reprinted stories on folded cards, answer multiple-choice questions about main idea, and work through lists of antonyms. You might become very good at answering main-idea questions and picking out antonyms, just like you might master the technique of shaking chicken parts in a bag of something that comes out of a package and then putting them in the oven for the required time. It's a programmed skill, but it doesn't make you a chef.

And those cards didn't make us readers.

According to the blog post I linked above, the teacher who first came up with the idea was working with seventh graders and had too limited a budget to get fancy consumable materials, so he cut and pasted some workbooks to make them re-useable. (Shades of some homeschoolers, yes?)  But here's the thing...he could have used books. He could have done what Marva Collins did (without a box). He could have asked the students to narrate, to tell and write about the books they were reading. He could have taken advantage of the natural world around them.  Maybe I have the completely wrong impression, and they spent every afternoon reading classic novels and going out for nature walks. He could have done a lot of things, and maybe he did, I have no idea.

But I think he should have skipped the box.

At any rate, we can. Our boxes these days may look like computer pages instead of shiny cards, but they're no more real or necessary than SRA kits were in my classroom. Don't buy or do the things that make you feel more like a teacher. Do what matters for the students. Do the things that really feed mind-hunger. Nurture the readers and writers, curious human beings, creative spirits, and care-takers of all kinds.

That's my back-to-school post.

Linked from the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival, Fall 2016.

Quote for the day: In the company of the tree

"When we call a tree a tree, we are not isolated among words and facts but are at once in the company of the tree itself and surrounded by ancestral voices calling out to us all that trees have been and meant. This is simply the condition of being human in this world, and there is nothing that art and science can do about it, except get used to it." ~~ Wendell Berry, "The Loss of the University," in Home Economics

Saturday yard saling: transformations

We stopped at just one yard sale this morning--holiday weekends are usually short on sales. This one had a lot of costume jewelry, including two bead necklaces with big floss tassels on them. I bought them for two dollars apiece. Lydia was horrified. "You aren't really going to wear those..."  I wasn't making any promises.

When I got them home and inspected them, the tassels seemed a bit, I don't know, shopworn; they were fluffed out too many ways. And neither of them really seemed to go with their respective necklaces. Having had three daughters who have all had their turn at making bead jewelry,  I'm not at all squeamish about necklace dissections. It turned out that both necklaces were just beads strung on elastic cord, with the tassel findings strung on near the knot in the cord. (I think maybe somebody made them with beads from a craft store.) I knew that when I snipped the cord, I'd lose a few beads from each one, but that was okay; they were a little heavy anyway. I just retied the cords tightly without the tassels.

This is the silver-coloured necklace, without its tassel. (The other one is a mix of glass beads.)

I have a couple of vintage 1980's silver-coloured scarf rings. Here's one of them, clipped to a space between the beads. (This is the one I like best.)

Here's another one, also clipped between the beads. (The advantages of stretchy elastic cord.) Not quite as nice as the rose, but workable.

Finally I fastened a brooch in the same spot.

I don't know if I'd bother clipping anything onto the glass beads; they're enough on their own.

So: one yard sale, minus two ugly necklaces, plus five better ones, for four dollars. By my math that's okay.

Cardinals come calling

Not a great picture, but I had to snap it fast.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Notes from our Hodgepodge Hostess: Okay, here we go...answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow (Wednesday) to add your link to the party.

1.  Are there any men or women in blue on your family tree?

I had to click through to see what that meant; I was thinking maybe air force or the navy! No, no police officers that I know of...oh, I forgot, I did have an uncle who was an Ontario Provincial Police officer years ago. (Like State Troopers, for you Americans.)

Vintage O.P.P. car found here

2. Are you someone who suffers from the Sunday night blues? What helps you get over it?

Just taking the Sunday night blue box to the curb! (Monday is trash day.) I don't mind taking out the garbage, except when it's pouring rain or the driveway's covered with ice.

3. I read the color blue is an appetite suppressant since there are very few naturally blue foods out there. How do you feel about blue cheese? Love it or blech? If you're a fan, what's something you like that's made with blue cheese?

I very rarely get bleu cheese, because my husband is sensitive to penicillin.

How about some blueberries or elderberries instead?

4. We can't head in to the Labor Day weekend without a related question, can we? Complete this thought: I work best when____________________. 

When I can see the end in sight, even if it's a long way off. I find being in the middle of something like an afghan tedious; it's when I'm on the home stretch that I start to pick up steam.

5. 'Everything yields to diligence.' Antiphanes Your thoughts? (on this particular quote or on diligence in general)

Relates to #4: if you don't do the middle part, you never will get done. Or the beginning and end will be great but the middle will fall apart.

6. The National Park Service turned 100 years old on August 25th. Have you been to many of America's National Parks? If so share with us a favorite or two. Which National Park would you most like to visit before the next birthday rolls around?

I haven't even been to most of the Canadian national parks, much less the American ones. But I did go to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, forty years ago.

7.  Bid farewell to August in seven words or less.

I packed a beach bag.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I should be working (after taking yesterday off to go to the beach), but this was more fun.

Tonight we go to the welcome-back barbecue at my daughter's high school. School starts next Tuesday. Is that a reason for the blues? (Maybe just when there's too much homework.)

Linked from The Wednesday Hodgpodge at From This Side of the Pond.

I packed a beach bag

Today we had a "recharge trip" to Lake Huron. I packed some snacks and a new Wendell Berry book. We stopped in town for grilled cheese and homemade fries, before driving down past the marine museum and the giant ship-unloading cranes, to a sandy spot. (It was busier than the photos make it look.)

Cargo ships coming in, people playing volleyball, seagulls stalking across warm sand, and children running back and forth, dumping sand on their daddy's cell phone.

Blue water full of pebbles, and that slimy stuff near the edge that brings back childhood beach days.

If I ever have a holodeck, that's what I'd put in it.

From the archives: Crayons and her books

First posted August, 2006.

Crayons: This is a very fun day.

Mama Squirrel: Uh huh?

Crayons: I have nothing to do but sit back, relax, and read books.

(This said while shivering in a lawn chair on the back porch--this is an August morning, and it starts to get chilly in the mornings now--with a stack of ten picture books beside her. She is trying to get them all read so she can win a book bag in the public library's summer reading program.)

(Mama Squirrel is reading Plutarch's Life of Titus Flamininus beside her, but at least Mama Squirrel realizes that it's cold enough to be wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Mama Squirrel goes and gets a jacket to drape around Crayons so that she doesn't have to interrupt her reading marathon.)

Good reading today at Circe: History all around us

Joshua Gibbs has posted his typical intro to a medieval history class on the Circe Blog. A sample:

"You learn about Pearl Harbor, Charlemagne, the age of Martyrs… the past gets closer and closer to you until you can’t really tell the difference between 1000 BC and yesterday. You learn about Charlemagne, you learn about yourself, your father, your children, the future. History is the human things, the eternal things, the always things, the omnipresent things. Charlemagne isn’t in the past. Charlemagne is in your blood. The study of Charlemagne isn’t the study of a man who was, it’s the study of a man who is. For the Christian, the past is above us, not below us. For the Christian, the past is not without us, the past is within us."

Worth a visit!

From the archives: Coffeemamma, Cruise Night, and Climbing

First posted July, 2006. All the Squirrelings were...well, ten years younger than they are now.

1. Met Coffeemamma and three of the Blue Castle progeny in the park, along with another AmblesideOnline mamma and her family. It was so nice to talk in person after all these years of long-distance chats!

2. All the Squirrels went to the Elora Gorge, and had a good time wandering through the woods, oohing over the precipices, and climbing up and down 59 steps (Ponytails counted them) carved out of the rock.

3. Mr. Fixit, Ponytails and the Apprentice went to Cruise Night with Grandpa Squirrel. Ponytails says, "There were a lot of people, and we met one of our cousin squirrels, and he had some new wheels--it was long and black, one of those cars with no roof, and it had red seats, I think. It was really cool and it made nice smoke."

4. Ponytails made Shrinky Dinks (Shrink Art). Note to Coffeemamma: "thank you so much for the Shrink Art, it's very fun!"

Laugh for the day: big words, like Saxon

From the 2015 Christmas Special episode of Detectorists: Lance (Toby Jones) is being interviewed by a newspaper journalist about his genuinely rare and valuable find.

Journalist:  Remind me... what was it you found?

Lance:  A late-Saxon jewelled aestel.

Journalist:  It has to be in language a ten-year-old could understand.

Lance:  Pardon?

Journalist:  Can't have too many big words. Er... Like Saxon.

Lance:  Oh, er... Well, it's a type of... jewel...

Journalist:  Gold?

Lance:  Yeah.

Journalist:  Diamonds?

Lance:  Garnets and glass.

Journalist:   I'll put diamonds.

[The journalist asks what Lance is going to do with the money from the aestel]

Lance:   I haven't thought about it yet.

Journalist:  Could we say holiday?

Lance:  Um...

Journalist:  Holiday of a lifetime.

Lance:  Oh, OK.

Journalist:  Where?

Lance:  Er... Dorset.

Journalist:  I'll put Australia.

From the archives: Food and the Apprentice

First posted August, 2006. The Apprentice was just about to enter the world of public high school.

A new quiz to do if you're bored. Made up exclusively by me.

What was the best ___ you ever had?

1. Pasta/spaghetti?
Fettucini Alfredo from a little restaurant downtown that's not there anymore.

2. Best chocolate chip cookies?
Neiman-Marcus cookies.

3. Birthday cake?
My hot dog birthday cake, complete with fries. I think the one I linked to is the right one, family members feel free to correct me.

4. Chicken burger?
A certain resturant's Monterey Jack bacon chicken burger *drools*.

5. Hamburger?
Mr. Fixit's. I'm not bad at it either.

6. Pumpkin pie?
If you give her some whipped cream, that Mamasquirrel can make one mean pumpkin pie.

7. What's your favourite food, and who made it?
Cabbage rolls. Preferably made by Mr. Fixit, with the little spice packets from the meat store.

8. Name three people you'd like to join in.
Mamasquirrel. Pippinsqueak. Katelyn.

From the archives: "On the high seas"

First posted August, 2006. Lydia (Crayons) was five years old.

Crayons came in from the back porch (it was gray and windy out there) and said, "I'm on a gallant ship. Like in Little Tim. And you're all on the ship with me."

A Honnie Sweete Wednesday Hodgepodge

Notes from our Hodgepodge Hostess: "Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow and add your link to the party. See you there!"

1. It's National Waffle Day (August 24th)...what decision are you currently 'waffling over'? (or share one you've recently 'waffled over')

That's a rather waffle question, because I can't think of any good answers right now. 

2. It's the middle of August, but I'm already seeing lots of autumn-related posts. Do you think we rush the seasons? If so, does that bother you? I saw (here) an end of summer bucket list that included-

make s'mores, read a new (or favorite) book in the park, eat something delicious and bad for you at a state fair, be a tourist for the day, have a pot luck picnic, book a last minute summer getaway, relax by or in the pool, take a hike to watch the sunset, have a day on the lake, try a new summer recipe

Which activities on the list might you squeeze in before summer officially comes to a close? 

I don't know if I'll get to do any things on that list before the end of August, or even the end of September. I was looking forward to cherry tomatoes but I think the dry season killed them for this year. Mr. Fixit and I have tried a couple of new foods, but they all came in packets at the Euro store, so I don't think that counts as recipes.

It's been an at-home, working summer, more than a vacation; but I'm looking forward to the extra amplfication of voltage that happens in the fall. Some people are trying to be less busy, more peaceful, and I totally get that. Me, I need things that energize and keep things going (coffee doesn't count).

3. Your favorite summertime 'art' found in nature?

Clouds. Sunsets. Birds. A couple of roses that popped out unexpectedly. Bees that pollinate the roses.

4. Stephen R. Covey is quoted as saying 'We judge ourselves by our intentions, and others by their actions.' Agree or no? Do you define yourself based on your intentions, your actions, or something else? 

Another waffle thing to ask, and I'm sorry, I don't know the answer.

5. Are you useful in a crisis? Elaborate. 

I am usually pretty good at keeping calm and thinking of possible ways around a problem. I also have a lot of poems and songs in my head that I draw on. 

6. What's been your go-to dish this summer? Is it something you'll continue making as the seasons change?

Um...asking Mr. Fixit to barbecue things?

7. Adult coloring books are a thing now. Have you jumped on the bandwagon? If not is this something you think you might enjoy?

I adored colouring as a child. If I had a little one around who wanted a colouring buddy, I would do that. But I can't see the enjoyment in colouring for myself. I'd be thinking of other things I should probably be doing. Like finding a go-to dish and pondering Stephen R. Covey.

8.  Insert your own random thought here. 

A quotation I liked from Thomas North's (1579) translation of Plutarch's Life of Phocion (one that I bet even most of the Plutarch-reading homeschoolers haven't read yet):  "For he that correcteth them that offend, seemeth to cast their adversitie in their teeth : and he that telleth them plainly of their faultes, seemeth also to despise them. For like as honnie sweete by nature, applied unto woundes, doth bring both smart and paine : even so, sharpe words, though profitable, doe bite the unfortunate man, if they be not tempered with discretion and curtesie."

Linked from the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

Books I finished reading this year: up to twenty

I have a GoodReads reading challenge this year of 47 books. (Don't ask me why, it just worked out that way.) I've read 20 books (almost halfway there), and some of the books I ended up reading were not the ones I planned; but that's okay. Re-reads aren't on the list, but I do go back; at least three books I spent time with this year "didn't count" because I had read them before.

Fiction

A Place in Time: Twenty Stories of the Port William Membership
Berry, Wendell

The Second Coming
Percy, Walker

The Housekeeper and the Professor
Ogawa, Yōko

Fathers and Children
Turgenev, Ivan

Poetry

Collected Poems 1909-1962
Eliot, T.S.

Four Quartets
Eliot, T.S.

Other Things

Atlas of the Roman World
Cornell, Tim J.

Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale
Buechner, Frederick

The Greek Way
Hamilton, Edith

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter
Cahill, Thomas

MFA in a Box: A Why to Write Book
Rember, John

Eliot and His Age: T. S. Eliot's Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century
Kirk, Russell

The Art of T.S. Eliot
Gardner, Helen Louise

Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author
Wouk, Herman

Twenty Things You Should Read
Edwards, David B.

Scaling Down: Living Large in a Smaller Space
Culbertson, Judi *

Living, Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life
Soukup, Ruth

A Christian View of Hospitality: Expecting Surprises
Hershberger, Michele

The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World
Laney, Marti Olsen

 Let's Play Math: How Families Can Learn Math Together and Enjoy It
Gaskins, Denise *

(I guess what I've read this year in Plutarch counts too?)

Fresh hankies

Eight man-size cotton handkerchiefs, made from two yard-saled pillowcases. (Yes, it took me three months to get around to it. I know. It's awful. But I did have the excuse of having the sewing machine packed away for part of that time.)

Saturday yard saling: baskets and roosters

Today's yard saling finds: a basket divided into sections (maybe good for napkins or towels)...

And a set of three wooden canisters with roosters.

I already have some rooster things: china measuring cups, and a spoon holder. The spoon holder came from my great-grandmother's house.

I put the canisters and a couple of the china pieces on the back of the stove.

One person's excess is another person's rooster collection.

P.S.: I know, stoves, fire safety, all that. I will probably move the canisters somewhere else tomorrow, but for now I just liked the way they lined up.

Oldest and newest?

What's the oldest thing in your closet? What's the newest?

Besides some jewelry, the only remnant of my school years is this scarf, which I hadn't worn for ages (a Woolite bath revived it). It's painted silk, from a street artist who was selling them in Montreal in 1984. I was working at a camp north of there, and between the two halves of camp, some of the staff spent a couple of days in the city. This was my souvenir.  (I'm not making a face on purpose, it's just hard to take selfies and not look the wrong way.)

The newest is a plaid shirt that I found this morning at a consignment store (the same one where I've found several other good things, especially at their end-of-season sales). I was very happy to find it, and even happier that it fit.

How about you?

A Racy Wednesday Hodgepodge on National Thriftshop Day

Notes from our Hodgpodge Hostess:

"Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then race back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there!"

1. I read here four creative activities to try this month. They were-calligraphy, make your own cookbook, dance or learn a new type of dance, and letter writing. Which activity on the list appeals to you most? Will you add it to your August? 

Well, process of elmination would narrow it down to letter writing, and that's definitely something I don't do enough of (if you don't count emails). I will pull out my box of notecards this week and send a couple off.

2. Bertrand Russell is quoted as saying, 'To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.' Agree or disagree? Explain. 

To be without them permanently, or temporarily? I assume he's saying that self-denial teaches us patience. But being repeatedly denied the thing you hoped for can also be demoralizing. I guess it depends which end you're on. As parents, you know it's not good for children to be given everything they want, or to get it too easily, but you hope they'll decide what the important things are and find ways to take hold of them.

3. August 17th is National Thriftshop Day...are you a 'thrifter'? If so, tell us about one of your best or favorite finds. 

Well, you came to the right place. Dyed-in-the-wool, bred in the bone thrifter. You can see my whole Fall Project 333 here (otherwise known as my mostly-thrifted clothes).

4.  On a scale of 1-10 (with 1= almost none and 10=loads) how would you rate your sense of wanderlust? What kicks your wanderlust into high gear? 

Gorgeous pictures of a) Scottish castles, b) turquoise beaches, c) English villages, d) Greek temples. None of which I have ever been to, but maybe someday.

5. Has life felt more like a marathon or sprint so far this month? How so?

No, it was more just chugging along. I have been busy with a writing project most mornings, and it has been either too hot or too rainy to do a lot of other things.

6. What do you need to get a jump on before fall officially arrives? 

It is very hard for me not to buy school supplies. But Lydia knows what she wants herself (she's going into the tenth grade), and as for our household needs, we're still using up years' worth of homeschool stuff. I did buy two packs of door-crasher lined paper at Walmart.

7. What's the last thing you did with friends or family where you lost track of time? 

I can't think of anything much, not because I haven't had a good time, but because it's hard to forget about watching my watch. Even if I'm not wearing one.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

Bald generals and laurel wreaths. That's about as random as you can get.

Linked from the Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

Time for a new Project 333 page

I've posted my fall clothes (thoughts and photos) on this new Project 333 page. There's a link from the top of the blog as well.

(I still like teal.)

When fashionista generals have their say (or, the side benefits of wearing a laurel wreath)

"He was somewhat overnice in the care of his person, being not only carefully trimmed and shaved, but even having superfluous hair plucked out, as some have charged; while his baldness was a disfigurement which troubled him greatly, since he found that it was often the subject of the gibes of his detractors. Because of it he used to comb forward his scanty locks from the crown of his head, and of all the honours voted him by the senate and people there was none which he received or made use of more gladly than the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath at all times."

~~Suetonius, on Julius Caesar

Now I've heard everything

Guinea pigs go on picnics?

Well, if the ladybugs can do it...

Quote for the day: when fashionista ponies have their say

Rarity: Precisely why I questioned the castle guards! They were at their post at the entrance to the hallway all night, except for a small window of time when somepony brought them cake. A cake that was ordered by a girl pony with a raspy voice! Whoever ordered the cake got a chocolate stain on her ivory scarf, and I couldn't help but notice that Wind Rider's scarf is tied in a tight Windsor knot instead of its usual loose slipknot! And why is that? Is it to hide the chocolate stain?!

[Wonderbolts gasping]

Wind Rider: Ah, this is preposterous. Wonderbolts, you don't believe a word of this, right?

Rarity: Just admit it – you're as guilty of framing Rainbow Dash as you are of ruining that ivory scarf!

Wind Rider: Ah, fine! You caught me! I did it!

(My Little Pony, "Rarity Investigates")

Saturday yard sales: Crockpots and Kimmie

Awhile back I posted a photo of Little Mama Squirrel with a 1960's Kimmie doll, sold by Regal Imports. Our Kimmie wore Inuit clothes, but they were also sold wearing other types of Native costume, usually something leather.

Today I found a Kimmie at a yard sale. The seller was about my age, and when I asked about the doll, she said it was hers growing up, and now her own kids were also done playing with Kimmie. A bit of Toy Story so-outgrown-toys happening there?

Anyway, I took her Kimmie home with me. She needs a bit of hair TLC, but otherwise she's in pretty good shape.

I also found an extra Crockpot, with a couple of free recipe books, for five dollars, at another sale. The seller was moving overseas and couldn't take it with her.

A nostalgic and useful yardsale morning.

What's for supper? Roast Beef Ratatouille

Isn't it funny when you can go back five years on your blog and find that you had almost the same fresh and leftover ingredients to use for supper?

Well, okay, not everyone can do that, but I got lucky with the leftovers. We might even have some cherry tomatoes in the garden.

Good reading for today: Teacher or technology?

"Geoff Shullenberger, writing in Dissent magazine, suggests that in promoting Massive Open Online Courses, "We are remaking education around information technology, rather than using information technology as a pedagogical tool. This is a 21st Century version of what Paulo Freire called the 'banking method of education,' a model that Deweyan humanists and practitioners of critical pedagogy have long repudiated as reactionary and disempowering."

"Now in my 56th year of teaching university students, I have seen new technologies come and go, all of them hoping to "radicalize" my classroom, promising more efficient paths to greater academic achievement."

Read the rest of university professor Don Morgenson's column here.

Quote for the day: Simply the news

"The task of the preacher is to hold up life to us; by whatever gifts he or she has of imagination, eloquence, simple candor, to create images of life through which we can somehow see into the wordless truth of our lives. Before the Gospel is good news, it is simply the news that that's the way it is, whatever day it is of whatever year."

~~ Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth

The newest Treehouse rodent

Muffin is Lydia's guinea pig. He's five weeks old.