Sunday, December 1, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
R.I.P. C.S. Lewis 11/22/63. Oh yeah, same day as JFK
Anyway, there are many wonderful biographies about Lewis, if you are interested. Here is one by Joseph Pearce that is actually being re-released soon, so it will be available new in the near future.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Spitfire Footage - WWII
83-year-old fighter pilot sees footage of his crash landing for the first time.
This is a such a beautiful short film and demonstrates what bravery those soldiers had and the bare bones equipment they had to deal with.
This is a such a beautiful short film and demonstrates what bravery those soldiers had and the bare bones equipment they had to deal with.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Teenagers Aren't So Bad
Having teens is such a joy.
I agree with the linked post above wholeheartedly. I have two teens and one just past the teen years. My two boys are great to be around. They are learning so much- not necessarily what the school system says they should learn right now, but what they are interested in learning. Sure, they are doing algebra and English, but my older son who is almost 17, is enjoying recording music. He has bought several software programs for recording, as well as microphones and other paraphernalia that has allowed him to record himself and just had his first paid job as a sound engineer. The beds in his bedroom are incidental amongst all the recording and musical equipment.
The younger son's bed basically becomes a Murphy bed when recording and music practice is going on. He is very flexible about that. Fortunately, my kids are Murphys on their father's side, so it works out well. My younger son is 15 and is taking an art class from a world-renowned artist who converted a barn into a studio. He goes to the class and draws while the teacher points out different techniques and other arty things that I have no clue about because I have no artistic ability whatsoever. The teacher lives off a dirt road - great fun driving there in our Camry that is a low-rider by default, not be design- and one of the students will ride her horse to class. How cool is that!
My daughter is 20, and she has gotten an A.A. degree and is working towards a Bachelor's. She works part-time and lives at home. It is such a joy to spend time with her. All of the kids have a great sense of humor thanks to their dad and I and a wonderful heritage of funny people. They each have a relationship with the Lord and walk it out in their own way. Each is an individual called according to a purpose, and it is my husband's and my job to point them in the right direction. What an awesome (in the true sense of the word) privilege.
All three of them will have ideas that I will immediately see the negatives of, or the inconvenience and impossibility of, and then they and my husband will persuade me to not be quite so reactionary and negative. Once again, pretty much every time, I find that when I step out, it works out well and better than I thought. My children are such a blessing to me. Love them all!
I agree with the linked post above wholeheartedly. I have two teens and one just past the teen years. My two boys are great to be around. They are learning so much- not necessarily what the school system says they should learn right now, but what they are interested in learning. Sure, they are doing algebra and English, but my older son who is almost 17, is enjoying recording music. He has bought several software programs for recording, as well as microphones and other paraphernalia that has allowed him to record himself and just had his first paid job as a sound engineer. The beds in his bedroom are incidental amongst all the recording and musical equipment.
The younger son's bed basically becomes a Murphy bed when recording and music practice is going on. He is very flexible about that. Fortunately, my kids are Murphys on their father's side, so it works out well. My younger son is 15 and is taking an art class from a world-renowned artist who converted a barn into a studio. He goes to the class and draws while the teacher points out different techniques and other arty things that I have no clue about because I have no artistic ability whatsoever. The teacher lives off a dirt road - great fun driving there in our Camry that is a low-rider by default, not be design- and one of the students will ride her horse to class. How cool is that!
My daughter is 20, and she has gotten an A.A. degree and is working towards a Bachelor's. She works part-time and lives at home. It is such a joy to spend time with her. All of the kids have a great sense of humor thanks to their dad and I and a wonderful heritage of funny people. They each have a relationship with the Lord and walk it out in their own way. Each is an individual called according to a purpose, and it is my husband's and my job to point them in the right direction. What an awesome (in the true sense of the word) privilege.
All three of them will have ideas that I will immediately see the negatives of, or the inconvenience and impossibility of, and then they and my husband will persuade me to not be quite so reactionary and negative. Once again, pretty much every time, I find that when I step out, it works out well and better than I thought. My children are such a blessing to me. Love them all!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Walking a Cat
This was on Facebook thanks to The Crazy Cat Lady Community. It reminds me of this book that my grandmother had in her library:
"The cat from France likes to sing and dance, but my cat likes to hide in boxes." So true! It is kitty law.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Shades of "This is Spinal Tap"
This is great.
I used to listen to WLIR back in the 80's. I also would get alternative music magazines from Europe from the local candy store, and I had a few pen pals through them, two of whom were from Yugoslavia, Jelena and Jasenka. I don't know what happened to them after the unrest in that part of the world in the 90's. One of my pen pals was local and she came to my sweet sixteen party at the Moose Lodge. I don't remember her name because it was probably American.
I miss candy stores. If you needed school supplies, you could go there and get a notebook, loose leaf paper, or some brads. Oh, and poster board for projects you forgot to tell your mom about that were due the next day. Does anyone remember the large rubber band book straps for school? I think I was part of the last generation to use those before luggage-sized backpacks became popular for texts. We also had to cover our books for the school year, and my mom was an expert at turning a Key Food brown paper bag into a perfectly fitting book cover in a matter of minutes. It is amazing to think of the things we made on our own and didn't spend money on, but that suited us just fine because homemade tended to be better.
I used to listen to WLIR back in the 80's. I also would get alternative music magazines from Europe from the local candy store, and I had a few pen pals through them, two of whom were from Yugoslavia, Jelena and Jasenka. I don't know what happened to them after the unrest in that part of the world in the 90's. One of my pen pals was local and she came to my sweet sixteen party at the Moose Lodge. I don't remember her name because it was probably American.
I miss candy stores. If you needed school supplies, you could go there and get a notebook, loose leaf paper, or some brads. Oh, and poster board for projects you forgot to tell your mom about that were due the next day. Does anyone remember the large rubber band book straps for school? I think I was part of the last generation to use those before luggage-sized backpacks became popular for texts. We also had to cover our books for the school year, and my mom was an expert at turning a Key Food brown paper bag into a perfectly fitting book cover in a matter of minutes. It is amazing to think of the things we made on our own and didn't spend money on, but that suited us just fine because homemade tended to be better.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Salmon Cakes and a wonderful blog
The Aspiring Homemaker no longer posts, but I love her blog
She is from a self-sufficient, homeschooling family in rural Georgia, and they participate in reenactments at several locations.
I make the salmon cake recipe in the above link on a regular basis but substitute dried potato flakes for the cornmeal. It reminds me of the fish cakes my mom would buy from Joe's Seafood Market in Woodside, Queens. We are talking Depression era food here - inexpensive and yummy. My mom would serve the fish cakes with Franco-American canned spaghetti. My husband got to enjoy this canned spaghetti once when he was my fiance. I promised I would never make canned pasta when we got married. LOL. I grew up with it and never questioned it.
Anyway, the Aspiring Homemaker is a lovely young lady with some great recipes and pictures, and I am sad that she has discontinued posting, but you might enjoy perusing her blog too.
By the way, before The King's Speech which I own and is a wonderful movie, we had Bertie and Elizabeth - a BBC production that I own and enjoy very much. Fish cakes come into play in this clip, about a minute in.
She is from a self-sufficient, homeschooling family in rural Georgia, and they participate in reenactments at several locations.
I make the salmon cake recipe in the above link on a regular basis but substitute dried potato flakes for the cornmeal. It reminds me of the fish cakes my mom would buy from Joe's Seafood Market in Woodside, Queens. We are talking Depression era food here - inexpensive and yummy. My mom would serve the fish cakes with Franco-American canned spaghetti. My husband got to enjoy this canned spaghetti once when he was my fiance. I promised I would never make canned pasta when we got married. LOL. I grew up with it and never questioned it.
Anyway, the Aspiring Homemaker is a lovely young lady with some great recipes and pictures, and I am sad that she has discontinued posting, but you might enjoy perusing her blog too.
By the way, before The King's Speech which I own and is a wonderful movie, we had Bertie and Elizabeth - a BBC production that I own and enjoy very much. Fish cakes come into play in this clip, about a minute in.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Gregorian Slant
Yes, I have read Kafka. Metamorphosis, of course. It is the only book the average person has read by him because it was forced upon us in school as being worthy of reading. I can only think of a handful of people who would pick up that story willfully and even fewer who would slog through it to the end. It's really all about the opening line, anyway, which can have two translations:
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin."
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."
Personally, I think it would be a better story if he awoke and found himself transformed in his bed into a gummy bear. But, then his dreams probably were not uneasy in that case. Or were they? Really, I believe he just reverted back to being an angsty teenager.
So, what other items might he have awoken as with these uneasy dreams. Any thoughts?
Rather than Gregor Samsa, I prefer Gregor Mendel who happened to be an Augustinian friar. I think it is amazing that he happened to study Mendelian genetics. What are the odds?!
This brought me to considering Punnett squares and how they could be applied in everyday life in our modern world. I'm thinking that some of the online dating services could make use of these when setting people up.
"You do realize that you have a 75% chance of one of your offspring being a curly-haired brunette with a wicked widow's peak. Is that what you really want?" It's enough to put a wrinkle in Mendel's green and yellow peas.
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin."
"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect."
Personally, I think it would be a better story if he awoke and found himself transformed in his bed into a gummy bear. But, then his dreams probably were not uneasy in that case. Or were they? Really, I believe he just reverted back to being an angsty teenager.
So, what other items might he have awoken as with these uneasy dreams. Any thoughts?
Rather than Gregor Samsa, I prefer Gregor Mendel who happened to be an Augustinian friar. I think it is amazing that he happened to study Mendelian genetics. What are the odds?!
This brought me to considering Punnett squares and how they could be applied in everyday life in our modern world. I'm thinking that some of the online dating services could make use of these when setting people up.
"You do realize that you have a 75% chance of one of your offspring being a curly-haired brunette with a wicked widow's peak. Is that what you really want?" It's enough to put a wrinkle in Mendel's green and yellow peas.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
Welcome to my blog. Autumnal blessings to you all from sunny Florida.
There will be much experimenting in the early days since I have no idea what I am doing.
Topics on Which to Muse
Faith
Homemaking
Homeschooling/Autodidactism
Food
Nostalgia
Eclectic Fun
Movies and TV
Music
What's Going on in the World
There. I did it. This first post has been the most difficult so far.
The title of this blog, by the way, comes from this book, and a shout out to my dad who loved Hagar:
"Say something famous, and your name will go down in history." - Anonymous
I crack up every time I think of it.
There will be much experimenting in the early days since I have no idea what I am doing.
Topics on Which to Muse
Faith
Homemaking
Homeschooling/Autodidactism
Food
Nostalgia
Eclectic Fun
Movies and TV
Music
What's Going on in the World
There. I did it. This first post has been the most difficult so far.
The title of this blog, by the way, comes from this book, and a shout out to my dad who loved Hagar:
"Say something famous, and your name will go down in history." - Anonymous
I crack up every time I think of it.
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