The Age of Aquarium: A Warm-Weather Clothes Story (Only Partly True)

Part One: First Try

No, she's not an oceanographer or a photographer. She just happens to love art glass, like millefiori paperweights, and particularly pieces shaped like turtles. 

So when this purse decorated with mosaic-patterned sea turtles appeared at the thrift store, she snapped it up. (Turtle joke.)

Bflairs PU leather purse

She's read that there's an amazing glass paperweight collection at the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass in Neenah, Wisconsin. And, coincidentally, she sees on their website that they will be having a Glass Festival this August. So she talks her two best friends, who happen to be her parents, into driving to Wisconsin with her. 

But first she has to pull out her box of summer clothes; and if she needs to think out a travelling wardrobe, she might as well stretch it out for the rest of the warm weather. 

Read the rest of the page here.

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Turtles all the way down

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond (click the graphic) to add your link to the party.

1. What's something you wish you had spent more time doing when you were younger? Explain. 

Oh, a lot of things.

Learning how to drive.

Talking to the older people in the family and asking them questions that I will never get the answers to now.

2. Who inspires you to be better? Tell us how. 

To be a better person all-round, or just to be better at something or other? I could say some of my friends who are much better at very serious reading (like actually finishing the books) than I am, but that would be making comparisons.

3. Share a money saving tip with us. 

Don't stew for a week about a purse you saw at the thrift store with turtles on it, that might still be there if you took the trouble to go back and hunt for it. Because you absolutely do not need a purse with turtles on it.

4. It's National Garlic Day...are you a fan? Your favorite dish that includes garlic? 

Garlic's good. Around here we are very fond of store-brand canned stewed tomatoes with onion and garlic. They're very useful for making both spaghetti sauce and chicken paprikash..

5. Would you describe yourself as decisive or indecisive. Elaborate. 

You're asking someone who couldn't decide about a purse with turtles on it?

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Purses with turtles.

UPDATE:

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

Five Things I've Learned Recently

That 1960's maternity wards didn't want to see babies leaving without a name, so they suggested a few defaults. Darlene, Dawn, Debra, Jenny...yep, sounds like my 1970's class list. (We won't even discuss what they did to my name.)

  

That William Morris disapproved of Wagner's turning the Northern Epics into opera--he thought that was entirely too flippant.

"Many thanks for your letter and the translation of Wagner : I have not had time to read it yet : nor to say the truth am I much interested in anything Wagner does, as his theories on musical matters seem to me as an artist and non-musical man perfectly abhominable :  besides I look upon it as nothing short of desecration to bring such a tremendous and world-wide subject: under the gaslights of an opera : the most rococo and degraded of all forms of art the idea of a sandy-haired German tenor tweedledeeing over the unspeakable woes of Sigurd, which even the simplest words are not typical enough to express ! Excuse my heat : but I wish to see Wagner uprooted, however clever he may be, and I don't doubt he is : but he is anti-artistic, don't doubt it."

That you can make Cream of Wheat in the microwave. The directions are on the package. Not that that makes Cream of Wheat taste any better, because it doesn't, but at least you don't have to clean the pot afterwards.

That Charlotte Mason didn't hate Herbart's methods and musings as much as we would like to give her credit for; in fact, she practically pushed them as far as they would go within her educational reality, leaving them behind only when it came to something Herbart never had the chance to hear about, the physiology of habit. One might imagine a leisurely afterlife conversation between them, with Miss Mason explaining to Herbart that he had only known the "baptism of John" in these matters.

That belts are measured from the point where the strap meets the buckle to the middle hole of the belt. Or, if you want to know your belt size, generally add two inches to your waist measurement or pants waistband size. So I feel better about passing up a great 38" purple and teal belt.

And now you know these things too.

In Which I Am Determined to Complete a Wednesday Hodgepodge

Because of various distractions, I keep starting to answer Wednesday Hodgepodges and then not finishing them. I literally have several weeks' worth sitting in my draft file.

Sometimes the questions themselves have hit too close to home. No fault of the Hodgepodge.

But today I'm determined to get through this one and post it before the morning is done.

1. What puts a spring in your step these days? 

Warm weather...lessening of those things that have made life difficult the past two years...homemade pizza...my new book...and new finds from the antiques market and the thrift store.

2. April 2nd was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Did you celebrate? Do you like PB and J? If so how do you like yours? What's your favorite kind of jelly? 

I had no idea, honestly.

Just jelly, not jam? Um...grape, I guess. 

3. What's a memory you associate with spring flowers?

Planting a garden in the back yard.

4. Three things on your spring bucket list? Do you have a spring bucket list? If not pretend you do. 

1. Completing a Wednesday Hodgepodge.

2. Going to the outdoor flea market when it starts up at the end of this month.

3. Taking walks on the trails around this neighbourhood. They've been too icy/muddy/whatever for the last while. Or it's just been too freaking cold to want to. But I want to go out and find some trilliums to take pictures of.

5. One place you will travel this spring? (It might be Europe or it might be the grocery store)

No specific plans, beyond the grocery store. Maybe the southern end of Lake Huron, for a day or two.

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

Spring Stripes (Still Doing Project 333)

It's still cold out, but she's done with turtlenecks...

The online auction ad said "silk scarf, purple and grey stripes." Which didn't sound all that spring-like. But she decided to take a chance on it anyway. (OK, technically it's her birthday present, but she found it.)

And she waited a bit...

Finally it arrived.

How did they miss mentioning the cranberry stripes that go with the plum-coloured dress she just found? 

Read the rest of the page here.

A Tribute to the DHM

2005, in my world, was the Year of the Blog.

Several of my friends and educational cronies began family blogs, all under assumed names, because that was what you did then. And because we were trying to keep a bit of privacy about what we did off-blog (like run the AmblesideOnline Curriculum), we blogged about everything and anything else. Books. Food. Faith. Kids (and, later, grandkids and assorted others). Good and bad things. And the Deputy Headmistress (DHM) did all that better than anyone. Rants and Raves. Sunday Hymn Posts. 4 Moms. News and Views. Random Updates.

"Quinoa and Amaranth Crockpot Breakfast:  This was ridiculously simple. It made more than enough to feed 5 people with leftovers (because two of the 8 people here are teenaged boys who rummaged for leftover pizza)." (The Common Room, 2013)

"No Time to Read: Tips for frazzled and busy young mothers: Keep a book stand and a hymnal over the kitchen sink and sing hymns while washing dishes. Or print out a hymn and tape it to the window or wall behind the sink.  If you’re not into hymns, try folk songs." (The Common Room, 2012)

"Random: The dread pirate grinned at me delightfully and said, “I yuv Gran-ma” and it made my heart go all rainbows, heart shaped clouds and unicorns leaving skittle droppings, even if it was totally just because he wanted the dried raspberry in my hand, which, of course, I gave him.  " (The Common Room, 2011) 

We took turns hosting the Festival of Frugality, the Carnival of Homeschooling, and the Charlotte Mason carnival. Some of us took on political and social issues that hit close to home.

"Well, not just the HG [Head Girl, oldest of the Common Room Progeny]. I know others will be interested, too. But this post  over at the Paragraph Farmer is just plum full of things the HG and I have been talking about recently, things that have come up in her civics class. It’s a meaty read on the corruptive influence of abortion, the Supreme Court, activist judges (and why they can’t be conservative), and Justice Thesaurus." (The Common Room, 2005)

I also blogged, often on her coattails, about the things that got our mutual hackles up. Mistreatment of homeschoolers in Europe, and homeschool-haters in general. Ridiculous rulings banning old books (not because of their content, but because children might somehow lick the lead-containing illustrations). During that particular crisis, I wrote an affectionate parody of Miss Suzy, starring the DHM.

"Of all the reasons for or against homeschooling, the supposed "real costs" or "missed-opportunity costs"  argument has to be about the second-oldest after the socialization question, and it's just as misleading. The Deputy Headmistress of The Common Room has posted her current thoughts on this, here and here.  It's also worthwhile to go back to her 2005 post here, because the comments are so interesting.  I originally posted a response to that one here.  (The DHM and I have been friends a long time.)" (Dewey's Treehouse, 2012)

After a few years, the various reasons for closely-guarded blog identities diminished, and we started sharing more freely about the other work we were doing, and places we hung out online.

"I’m tickled to be able to share some exciting Charlotte Mason related news here for the first time as well- that is, that the AO Advisory has at long last opened up a blog to the public.  You can visit the Advisory blog here. You may also spot the Advisory occasionally roaming unchecked about the AO Forums, where you can find hundreds of other very knowledgeable, helpful, people homeschooling CM style and helping each other along the way." (The Common Room, 2013) 

As many people had figured out by that time, the DHM, also called Heartkeeper, was Wendi Capehart, one of the AmblesideOnline Advisory. Wendi and I originally connected on an email list in, I think, 1998, when she and her family were living in the Pacific Northwest. (We found out early on that we had a few things in common:  for one thing, Wendi lived in Canada for part of her childhood.) By the first Year of the Blog, their family had made the move to the Midwest, where they built their real-life Common Room. Wendi wrote most of her original blog from there, and hosted...I was going to say, the AO Advisory and Auxiliary on two occasions, but let's just say everybody. Or at least an awful lot of people, big and small, from many places.

Wendi kept blogging, a few years later, from the Philippines. And, eventually, from back in the Common Room house, only by that time it was just her, her Cherub, and the books. Lots and lots of books. 

And now both Wendi and her daughter are gone. We are all still reeling. I am not a loud or overt reeler. Most of my reeling stays in my own head, with occasional treks down to my heart (which, apparently, does contain its own "little brain"). But I am hurting a great deal for one who befriended me even before the blogs, who taught me in so many different ways that life goes on, that snowstorms end and wildflowers come back in the spring, but that when it's too cold to deal with that, there are always songs and books and forgotten bottles of olives in the fridge.

For some reason, the "Mrs. DHM and the Bad Squirrels" post kept popping up recently in my own most-read posts. I don't know why old posts suddenly appear there, sometimes it's a spam thing, or maybe I had sent it to someone and forgotten. Miss Suzy is an old book I had when I was younger, and something about the squirrel's love of coziness and her hospitality to the toy soldiers reminded me of Wendi. But much more recently, I came across another title from the same publisher, Miss Twiggley's Tree. I hadn't seen a copy of that in years, and I bought it simply out of nostalgia for my own childhood.

When I read through it, my reeling was joined by a barrage of recognition-induced room-rocking. Miss Twiggley lives quite contentedly alone (although she does have a best friend and errand-runner who happens to be a dog, and she regularly plays host to bears). She lives in a treehouse, and is rumoured to sleep in her hat, because, why not. The mayor's wife thinks she's a nuisance and wants somebody to do something about that nonconformist. But when the big storm comes...the whole town climbs up to her house, and they are warmed and fed. Miss Twiggley muses that "When emergencies come, / You don't think about you. / You help all you can. / And you never ask why. / Then the first thing you know / You forget to be shy."

That is what I learned from  the DHM, who knew how to welcome and care for a wet friend or two, or forty; in person, online, or just through a Scripture verse on a postcard.

Godspeed, my friend. Being Mama Squirrel to your DHM was about the most fun I've ever had.

"Bread and milk are plain fare, peasant food, but anybody who has ever baked bread also knows that the humble loaf of bread is a beautiful symbol of hearth and home, a work of patience and attention, a hands on process requiring some attention and feel for when the dough is ‘just right.’ Milk, too, is both an ordinary food, and one of two foods God used to describe the promised land, one flowing with milk and honey. The Proverbs 31 woman is to have the law of kindness on her tongue, and we speak metaphorically of a kind and generous soul as one flowing with the milk of human kindness. Bread is a metaphor, too. It’s a metaphor for our Lord, who is the Bread of Life. He gives us life, and we give it back to Him. Think about that today as you go about your daily tasks and duties. Your praise and your days may be plain as bread and milk, but you, too, can be a preserver of truth and beauty." ("Praise as Plain as Bread and Milk," The Common Room, 2017)

Tennessee, April 2019

Winter Blues (A Wardrobe Sequel)

 

Here's the [somewhat hypothetical] tale to go with this wardrobe.

They just found out that they're moving.  Across town. Again. In the dead of winter. With lots of things restricted and problematic and in short supply. She sighs very deeply.

Plus, she's very mad at herself because she's lost an earring somewhere in the house. She's sure it did not disappear when she was out. But she can't find it.

So she figures that what she's going to be wearing most in the next few weeks is...her winter coat and snow boots. And in that case, who cares what's underneath?

Well, she does. But it had better be practical and stand up to hauling boxes in and out of a parking garage.

Crocheted beanie, handmade. Gloves, gifted some time back.

This painting popped up on an Instagram art account she follows. David Milne was a Canadian painter whose work has been exhibited worldwide. Some people don't like his minimalist approach. Others find it  refreshing...something they are happy to keep looking at. She puts herself into the second category.

David Milne, Gray Hills, 1915-16

You can read the rest of the story here.

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Fringe Benefits

1. Share one happy moment/memory from the holiday season. 

Mr. Fixit and I had a rare night away, at a hotel where we had the swimming pool all to ourselves.

What, you were expecting something actually Christmas-related?

2. Let's be reasonable with our expectations going into this new year, k? What is one thing you'd like to accomplish/improve/complete/do in 2022? 

Oh, there are some huge things.

But let's keep it simple.

I hope to be able to remember my library PIN code this year, when I have to sign in to renew books. Because I don't, usually.

3. Every January 1st (since 1976) Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words are chosen). Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2022-

wait, what?-no worries-at the end of the day-that being said-asking for a friend-circle back-deep dive-a new normal-you're on mute-supply chain

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add? 

I don't see much wrong with "asking for a friend" or "wait, what?" (maybe I missed something?); but some of the others can deep dive right into the dumpster.

Wait, what, was I on mute? Sorry.

4. Best thing you ate in the month of December? 

That I made, or that somebody else made? That's always a tricky one.

Well, I thought the brown sugar button cookies turned out pretty well.

5. January 5th is National Bird Day. Are you a bird lover? What's your favorite bird to see in the wild? Choose a phrase from the list that follows and tell us how it relates to your life currently...eat like a bird, bird's eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, a little bird told me, or kill two birds with one stone.

We like watching and trying to identify birds, but bird-feeders are discouraged here due to rodent issues, so (other than robins, who nest enthusiastically under our deck or anywhere else we let them, and the tiny little birds who try to squeeze through any possible holes in the siding) we don't get many birds out back. Most of our birding activities take place on walks, or sometimes in the car when a flock of something swoops by. I like seeing any particularly colourful ones, as many of the birds we see (or don't see) around here are more into camouflage.

I occasionally often do bird-brained things. But I try to make up for it.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We went thrifting yesterday, and for under ten dollars I came home with five Brother Cadfael mysteries, two bags of file folders, and a floral scarf with ugly fringe made of embroidery floss knotted at intervals along the hem. I snipped off every clump of fringe, and poked out the little thread ends that were stuck in the hem, and now I have a very nice scarf.

So I guess you could call that Beyond the Fringe?

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

Mama Squirrel's Reading List: Books Read in 2021

These are the titles that Goodreads says I read to the end this year. A number of them, especially the mysteries and other fiction, were rereads. There are also books that I haven't officially completed...they'll have to go on next year's list.

As always, just because a book's on the list doesn't mean I recommend it, but only that I got through it.

What were my top five new-to-me books for 2021?

1. Reading Buechner: Exploring the Work of a Master Memoirist, Novelist, Theologian, and Preacher

Munroe, Jeffrey

2. Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

Esolen, Anthony

3. How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds

Jacobs, Alan

4. Why French Women Wear Vintage: And other secrets of sustainable style

Guinut, Alois

5. The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done

Adachi, Kendra 

Faith, Thought, and Education

The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks With Charlotte Mason

Bestvater, Laurie

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child

Esolen, Anthony

Seeking the Kingdom: Devotions for the Daily Journey of Faith

Foster, Richard J.

How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds

Jacobs, Alan

Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis

Lindvall, Terry

Book of Hymns

Manser, Martin

School Education, and other volumes

Mason, Charlotte

Reading Buechner: Exploring the Work of a Master Memoirist, Novelist, Theologian, and Preacher

Munroe, Jeffrey

Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman

Ortlund, Anne

You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

Smith, James K.A. 

Poetry

The Griffin Poetry Prize 2013 Anthology

Buffam, Suzanne

The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems

Collins, Billy

The Book of Marvels: A Compendium of Everyday Things

Crozier, Lorna

The Victorian Triumph and Other Poems

Rogerson, Isabella Whiteford

Poems

Rogerson, Isabella Whiteford

Laurentian Lyrics and Other Poems

Bourinot, Arthur Stanley

Pattering Feet

Bourinot, Arthur Stanley

Among the Millet and Other Poems

Lampman, Archibald

Lyrics of Earth

Lampman, Archibald

Lifestyle, Simplicity, Finance, Organizing

The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done

Adachi, Kendra 

Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More

Boyle, Erin

Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really is So Much More

Carver, Courtney 

The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good

Cline, Elizabeth L.

The Joy of Missing Out: Live More by Doing Less

Dalton, Tonya 

Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life

Kondo, Marie 

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up

Kondo, Marie 

Living with Less: How to Downsize to 100 Personal Possessions

Lambert, Mary

The Ultimate Guide to Frugal Living: Save Money, Plan Ahead, Pay Off Debt & Live Well

Luther, Daisy 

An Edited Life: Simple Steps to Streamlining Your Life, at Work and at Home

Newton, Anna 

What to Do with Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide

Singletary, Michelle

Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff

White, Dana K.

Clothes, Style, Home Decorating, Sewing, Crafts

Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon

Apfel, Iris

Wearing Vintage

Bardey, Catherine

New from Old: How to Transform and Customize Your Clothes

Emerson, Jayne

The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart

García, Nina

Why French Women Wear Vintage: And other secrets of sustainable style

Guinut, Alois

Love the House You're In: 40 Ways to Improve Your Home and Change Your Life

Rien, Paige

Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching

Ross, Heather

Small Space Living: Expert Tips and Techniques on Using Closets, Corners, and Every Other Space in Your Home

Sandenbergh, Roberta

William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Home

Todd, Pamela

The Arts and Crafts Home

Turgeon, Kitty

Mysteries

The Crime at Black Dudley (Albert Campion Mystery, #1)

Allingham, Margery

Mystery Mile (Albert Campion Mystery, #2)

Allingham, Margery

Police at the Funeral (Albert Campion Mystery, #4)

Allingham, Margery

Flowers for the Judge (Albert Campion Mystery, #7)

Allingham, Margery

The China Governess (Albert Campion Mystery, #17)

Allingham, Margery

4:50 from Paddington (Miss Marple, #7)

Christie, Agatha

The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1)

Christie, Agatha

Murder Under the Christmas Tree: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season

Gayford, Cecily

Law & Disorder (Camilla MacPhee #6)

Maffini, Mary Jane

The Dead Don't Get Out Much (Camilla MacPhee #5)

Maffini, Mary Jane

Little Boy Blues (Camilla MacPhee #3)

Maffini, Mary Jane

The Devil's in the Details (Camilla MacPhee #4)

Maffini, Mary Jane

The Virgin in the Ice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #6)

Peters, Ellis

The Devil's Novice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #8)

Peters, Ellis

The Pilgrim of Hate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #10)

Peters, Ellis

An Excellent Mystery (The Cadfael Chronicles, #11)

Peters, Ellis

The Raven in the Foregate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #12)

Peters, Ellis

The Holy Thief (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #19)

Peters, Ellis

Brother Cadfael's Penance (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #20)

Peters, Ellis

Unnatural Death (Lord Peter Wimsey, #3)

Sayers, Dorothy L.

Fer-de-Lance (Nero Wolfe, #1)

Stout, Rex

The Man in the Queue (Inspector Alan Grant, #1)

Tey, Josephine

The Singing Sands (Inspector Alan Grant, #6)

Tey, Josephine

Children’s Books

A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

Park, Linda Sue

Chagall: My Sad and Joyous Village (Art for Children)

Loumaye, Jacqueline

The Long Way Home

Benary-Isbert, Margot

Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep

Farjeon, Eleanor

Fiction, General

The Tryst

Hill, Grace Livingston

Re-Creations

Hill, Grace Livingston

At Home in Mitford (Mitford Years, #1)

Karon, Jan

A Light in the Window (Mitford Years, #2)

Karon, Jan

These High, Green Hills (Mitford Years, #3)

Karon, Jan

Out to Canaan (Mitford Years, #4)

Karon, Jan

A Common Life: The Wedding Story (Mitford Years, #6)

Karon, Jan

 

In This Mountain (Mitford Years, #7)

Karon, Jan

To Be Where You Are (Mitford Years, #14)

Karon, Jan

The Dean's Watch

Goudge, Elizabeth

A City of Bells (Torminster, #1)

Goudge, Elizabeth

The Sister of the Angels (Torminster, #2)

Goudge, Elizabeth

Perelandra (The Space Trilogy, #2)

Lewis, C.S.

Sarah's Cottage (Sarah Morris Book 2)

Stevenson, D.E.

Vi

Thúy, Kim

Reunion

Uhlman, Fred

To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel #2)

Willis, Connie

Books I wrote or worked on (because those count too)

Canadian Companion to the AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology: Arthur S. Bourinot, Isabella Whiteford Rogerson, Archibald Lampman

AmblesideOnline Educational Foundation 

AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume One: Beginnings (AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology, #1)

AmblesideOnline Educational Foundation 

AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume Two: Walter de la Mare, Eugene Field, James Whitcomb Riley, Christina Rossetti (AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology, #2)

AmblesideOnline Educational Foundation 

AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume Three

AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume Four: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth (AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology, #4)

AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume Five

AmblesideOnline Educational Foundation 

AmblesideOnline Poetry Anthology Volume Six

 AmblesideOnline Educational Foundation 

Minds More Awake (Revised): The Vision of Charlotte Mason

White, Anne E. 

Ideas Freely Sown: The Matter and Method of Charlotte Mason

White, Anne E. 

Everything Else

Zen in The Art of Writing

Bradbury, Ray

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future

Carroll, Ryder

Serious Creativity: How to be creative under pressure and turn ideas into action

de Bono, Edward

How to Have Creative Ideas: 62 Games to Develop the Mind

de Bono, Edward

Stranger Planet (Strange Planet, #2)

Pyle, Nathan W.

Do What You Are : Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type

Tieger, Paul D.

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Smile, Darn Ya

 

1. How young is young? In the past, according to various organizations who decide these things, age 60 was the 'border age' to old. The World Health Organization has done new research recently and divided up the categories as-0-17 (underage), 18-65 (youth or young people), 66-79 (middle-aged), 80-99 (elderly senior), 100+ (long-lived elderly). Your thoughts on this particular breakdown, and also your thoughts as to where you land?

Well, it's nice to be called "youth," when I occasionally get asked now if I want the seniors' discount.

Is there really a point to making a separate category for those over a hundred, when we have high schoolers lumped in with retirees? It sounds a bit like the pirates in Muppets' Treasure Island: Old Tom, Real Old Tom...

2. TIME magazine has declared Elon Musk person of the year in 2021. What say you? If you want to know more about how they choose you'll find that info in the link here. If you were choosing, who would be your person of the year? 

I'm staying away from that one!

3. I read here ten habits of extremely likable people which include-they greet the world with a smile on their face, they ask questions, they're consistent, they put the phone away, they remember names and use them, they keep an open mind and don't pass judgement, they're authentic, they're kind and generous, accountable for their mistakes, and they send thank you notes.  

So, are you likable-lol? Which one of these habits could use some further developing in your own life? What is one habit/quality you'd add to the list? 

I know some extremely likable people who reserve their grins, who don't ask too many questions, and (yes) who can't always remember names. I happen to be one of the last group, and it's deeply embarrassing, I want to be one of those legendary people who "never forget a name," "never forget a face," but the reality is that I can't always put the two together, so I hope you won't find me too much less likeable if I need a quick kickstart. After that I'll probably also remember the name of your dog, what class we had together in high school, or where you used to sit in church.

4. One non-holiday related task/job/goal/dream on your to-do list that you hope/plan to make happen before the new year rolls in? 

Finish a writing task that got postponed several times and is now dragging out, even though it's not such a big job--it's just gotten shelved so many times that now it feels bigger than it is. Like cleaning out a room that isn't really that big a deal, but that makes you shudder and procrastinate before you jump in and do it.

5. Share with us some of your holiday plans. 

Mostly at home. But that's not so bad.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

How about a random I-wish-I-could-travel wardrobe? This week's Treehouse post.

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

Winter Travelling Wardrobe: A Little at a Time

We don't go travelling much in the winter, but the opportunity might present itself. And of course there are the times you don't expect to have to go anywhere, but suddenly you do.

A recent Vivienne Files story showed how one might build a travel wardrobe as necessity requires and time permits, starting with a travel outfit of a heavy Fair Isle-patterned sweater, turtleneck, and black cords. (We will assume that the person would also be wearing an outdoor coat, hat, and gloves, and that if the snow or slush were anything much, that she'd switch the short boots for something more durable.)

Crocheted beanie, handmade. Gloves, gifted some time back.

I don't have a Fair Isle sweater, but I do have this Arnold Palmer pullover. (I found it in the men's section at the thrift store.)

And here it is having its Vivienne Files moment, with a turtleneck and pants. All my cords were worn out by the end of last winter, but I do have some grey pinstriped jeans that would work. Also in the photo (as in the original story): short boots and a smallish purse.

Read the rest of the story here.

Wednesday Hodgepodge: The Imaginative Sense of Christmas

Welcome to this week'sWednesday Hodgepodge. Click the graphic to join the rest of the Hodgepodgers at From This Side of the Pond.

1. 'Tis the season to be jolly....so are you? 

I'm working on it.

2. Do you trim a tree this time of year, and if so is yours all done? What's something in your home-closet-life that needs to be trimmed in the new year? 

We did that yesterday.

Our tree skirt is a thrifted tablecloth. Other years we've used an afghan.

3. Are you 'dreaming of a white Christmas'? Is that a possibility where you'll be celebrating?

Almost for certain.

 According to this site the top ten places in the US you can count on for a white Christmas are- North Pole Alaska, Crater Lake Oregon, Yellowstone National Park, Winthrop Washington, Aspen Colorado, Ketchum Idaho, Mt. Washington New Hampshire, Whitefish Montana, Duluth Minnesota, and the Lake Tahoe town of Truckee California

Of the snowy spots listed which would you most like to visit? 

None, thank you. I like warm weather.

4. December 8th is National Brownie Day...will you be celebrating? How do you like your brownies-chewy or cake-like, frosted or plain, nuts or no nuts, a piece from the middle or give me the corner? As a child were you a member of a brownie troop? 

Last question: yes. 'Nuff said.

I like brownies, but cinnamon rolls are good too.

5. Share a favorite line or two from a Christmas carol.

Let all mortal flesh keep silence

And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly-minded,
For with blessing in his hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I was reading something about how we understand poetry, especially poetry that has a lot of literary allusions or seems generally difficult or obscure. Is it enough just to say that if it sounds good, then it is good even if it's essentially meaningless, because poetry isn't supposed to have "meaning?"  In poetry, are we limited to either something like Anne Shirley's "I'd just feeeeel a prayer", or Marilla's "learn your catechism?" At Christmas, should we settle for wall decorations and throw pillows that bleat a vague "Believe?"

George S. Williamson, who wrote a book on T.S. Eliot's poetry many years ago, put a plug in for a third option, saying that "Neither an emotional nor a musical effect, if it is really such, can be founded on incoherence. This study assumes that poetry as meaning is neither plain sense nor nonsense, but a form of imaginative sense... Indeed, we can speak of the meaning of a poem as its mode of apprehension or as a synthetic principle controlling the elements in which its feelings take shape. On a lower level it is no more and no less than the metrical syntax of the poem. Without it a poem will function at random; without its consideration any discussion must be aimless, at best peripheral. Without it a poem cannot have an apprehensible being." (A Reader's Guide to T.S. Eliot, by George S. Williamson)

Poetry must certainly have meaning; just a different sort. It's not nonsense, it's imaginative sense.

Just like mystery and angels and the Incarnation don't have to be fully understood or brought down to everyday terms to be real.

Wishing you all a considered and coherent Christmas.

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

Thinking Ahead: Books On My Reading List for 2022

(Last updated December 30, 2021)

Some of these are carryovers that didn't get located or started or finished this past year (or the one before that). But there's always hope.

Adler, Mortimer J., How to Think about the Great Ideas: From the Great Books of Western Civilization 

Collingwood, R.G., The Principles of Art 

Desai, Anita, Clear Light of Day 

Dreher, Rod, Live Not by Lies 

Earley, Justin Whitmel, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction  

Eliot, T.S., Complete Poems and Plays 

Froese, Paul, On Purpose: How We Create the Meaning of Life 

Frye, Northrop, Anatomy of Criticism 

Frye, Northrop, The Great Code 

Frye, Northrop, Northrop Frye on Shakespeare 

Fujimura, Makoto, Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture (2009) 

Fujimura, Makoto, Art and Faith (2021) 

Gardner, Howard, Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet 

Gill, Shira, Minimalista

Guite, Malcolm, Lifting the Veil: Imagination and the Kingdom of God 

Highet, Gilbert, The Art of Teaching 

Jacobs, Alan, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind 

Jauss, David, Words Overflown by Stars: Creative Writing Instruction and Insight from the Vermont College MFA Program 

L'Engle, Madeleine, Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life 

Levitin, Daniel J., The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload

Lewis, C.S., The Signature Classics (seven books in a bindup) 

MacDonald, Thoreau, Notebooks

Nicolson, Adam, The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and Their Year of Marvels 

Peterson, Andrew, Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making  

Peterson, Andrew, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom 

 Peterson, Jordan B, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life 

Ramsey, Russ, Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith 

Shakespeare, William, Selected plays 

Toews, Miriam, All My Puny Sorrows 

White, Dana K., Organizing for the Rest of Us

Wood, Michael, Shakespeare