Surprised by Joy; the Shape of my Early Life by C.S. Lewis is his spiritual memoir of his journey to Christianity. I have been listening to a Great Courses lecture series on C.S. Lewis and was inspired to try to actually read Lewis again. I actually haven't read that much by him. When I was a child I read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but frankly it wasn't my favorite book! Later in life I tried to read The Screwtape Letters and couldn't get through it either. After I got married someone recommended Mere Christianity and again I only got half way. I really thought something was the matter with me because everyone else seemed to rave about him. I didn't understand why he didn't click with me. I don't know why but usually I connect better with Lewis if someone is doing the interpreting of Lewis for me. I can listen to lectures about him. I read a really interesting book by Joseph Pearce about C.S. Lewis and the Catholic Church. It wasn't until I read Til We Have Faces that I appreciated Lewis' genius. That book knocked me off my feet! Then I read The Great Divorce. Absolutely brilliant! I read his Reflections on Psalms and I felt like I was too stupid to really take in what he was saying - I read it in a group and it was wonderful listening to other people talk about Lewis' ideas. Again, I needed someone else to interpret. I read the Four Loves and frankly I was a little bit rankled by Lewis' take on things. I've been steeped in JPII's Theology of the Body for so long that Lewis' take struck me as a bit crude almost. I've since read a couple more Narnia books and frankly I think The Magician's Nephew and Prince Caspian are better than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The last Lewis book I read I also thought was absolutely brilliant - The Abolition of Man. So I am becoming more acclimated to him, but it is a hit or miss deal for me.
My reaction to Lewis is similar to my reaction to Augustine. I don't know if I'd actually like them in person. They seem to be almost cold in their intellectual capabilities. They are brilliant and they try very hard to connect with us unbrilliant types and sometimes they do so with great impact. But other times they seem to me priggish and almost sneering - even as they talk about trying not to be priggish. Lewis does this in Surprised by Joy.
I had not realized how many quotes from this book I have read over the course of my life. People love to quote Lewis. I'd be reading along learning new things about him and then suddenly there'd be a short or long passage that I"d recognize. Sometimes the quote would be something I had remembered slightly differently or the context in which it was quoted changed the meaning slightly. For instance, recently I read the passage that talks about Lewis' ideal work day. But the quote is really from when he was studying under a tutor, Kirk. It is an idealized memory of how he liked to study. But it was quoted in the context of how brilliant people organized their days. Well, when Kirk was his tutor, he was preparing for Oxford so he was a teenager studying full time. And even in the book, Lewis admits this was an idealized recounting of how he wished all his days would go.
Lewis is weirdly honest and yet elusive in the way he recounts his spiritual growth. He keeps referring to things as erotic in an oblique, almost stuffy way. After a while I thought, what the heck is he talking about? He details his academic life from the beginning - first his mother taught him at home in Latin and French (made me think of Tolkien, and also it occurred to me that women must have been encouraged to study languages back in the olden days. I remember in the book North and South, Margaret translates Dante's Inferno from Italian into English as a hobby! So it must have been one intellectual field that women were allowed to pursue). Then Lewis gets sent to school in England. It is a terrible place, pretty Dickensian. He is there for a couple years until the school closes due to lack of students. For one semester he goes to a day school nearby in Ireland, but then he gets transferred to another school in England. He gives it the fictional name Chartres and he really thrives there. But he isn't there for long. He gets admitted to a place he calls Wyvern; a 'college' which really means high school. He hates it there. He talks about the fagging system, where older boys cruelly treat the younger ones, including demanding sexual favors from them. The society is divided into Bloods (the ones who rule, usually because they are wealthy and athletic) and the Tarts, the younger ones who have to do what the Bloods say. Lewis says he was a big rather hulking boy so no one tried pederasty on him, but it went on all around him. He was very philosophical about it, saying that all the boys who were abusing the younger boys wound up dying in WWI so he can't stay angry at them. Later on he comments that he could never tolerate male physical acts of affection. Hmm. Wonder why? He really couldn't stand the fagging system and the emphasis on sports. He had no talent for athletics. Every minute of the day was either studying (under not inspiring teachers for the most part), being oppressed by the older boys or being forced to participate in sports. He just wanted to be left alone. He says that during that time he became so sleepy. All he wanted to do is sleep. He sounded depressed as all get out to me. His brother who had also gone to the same school had apparently really enjoyed it - maybe he was more of a sports person. Lewis had been very close to his brother so this was a sticking point. But I think what saved Lewis was he got sick and sent home. Then his father decided not to send him back to the school, but instead to have him go live with this remarkable tutor, Kirk.
Lewis' mother died when he was young. It was a great tragedy and to exacerbate the pain of abandonment, Lewis never got along with his father, even though he loved him. His father was a very difficult person that Lewis found it almost impossible to communicate with. Lewis and his older brother Warren were extremely close. They were alone together a lot and both had wonderful imaginations. They created an imaginary world. Lewis's was called Animal-land and Warren's was India. They combined them together into Boxen. It reminded me of the Bronte family and their make believe land of Glass town.
Lewis grew up in a largely non-practicing, nominally Christian home. He gradually lost any rudimentary faith he may have had. He was an intellectual who read ravenously and was very influenced by the Ancient myths, Wagner and philosophers of the time. Kirk, his great tutor was also an atheist. Lewis was accepted to Oxford but WWI which had been going on for quite a while now, always looming over Lewis' future, now became very real. Lewis was drafted and sent to France. He had good and horrible times there. He doesn't go into it much at all. But he was wounded in a blast that killed another man near him. He was sent away to recover and then the war finally ended. He was one of the lucky ones who had survived. He went back to Oxford where he made great friends with many influential people who eventually helped him convert to Christianity. He mentions Owen Barfield and Tolkien among many others. But really the whole journey to faith began as a child when he discovered 'joy' the otherworldly feeling that would come to him only occasionally and which he called 'aesthetic experience' when he was an atheist. He kept seeking that thrill only to discover in the end that it was a signpost to something greater. His conversion was a highly intellectual process. I couldn't always follow it!
Something that made the story even harder to follow was the really terrible edition I was reading. I bought this book on my Kindle for $7.91. There were so many typos in it that at times I simply couldn't figure out what a sentence was saying. It was so bad that I wrote a review at Amazon. Wow, it is really shockingly shoddy. I understand that formatting sometimes is off on Kindle editions so occasionally words will run together but this was misspelling after misspelling: fife for life or five for live; the word horkon for horizon, or vike for vile; chivakrous instead of chivalrous. Desire was rendered deske. So all the typos generally had something to do with 'l' and 'k'. It went on and on. Terrible, terrible, terrible. While I do think Surprised by Joy is a worthwhile read, don't read it on the Kindle edition!
Lastly, I kept wondering about the title Surprised by Joy. Wasn't Lewis' wife's named Joy? It was, and he wrote this book while either in love or married to her. I think he did that intentionally, even though he doesn't ever mention anything about it.
A very interesting book. I wish I was smarter and could appreciate him on a more immediate level. I will keep chugging along though in exploring his works. Lewis is definitely worth the effort.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Friday, August 29, 2014
Relaxed Phonics
1) The very first thing to do, to teach your child to read, is to read to them a lot. Back in the olden days they read the Bible, but now we've got lots of picture books as well. If you can't afford to buy a lot, make sure you go to the library every week or two. One of the major indicators for academic success is the number of books in the home. Start reading to them when they are babies. Make it a cozy, snuggly, happy time. Don't worry if they don't pay too much attention or try to eat the book! It will be a lovely introduction. Give books as birthday and Christmas gifts. Make books a big, happy deal.
Read alphabet books out loud to your child. Repetition is key here! Some of our favorites:
Dr. Seuss's ABC
Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
The Alphabet Book by P.D. Eastman
A is for Annabelle by Tasha Tudor
Richard Scarry's ABC Book
A Was Once an Apple Pie by Edward Lear
I Spy: an Alphabet in Art
Plus there are many, many others out there.
2) Read nursery rhymes and books with lots of rhythm and rhyme. Dr. Seuss, Sendak, etc If you read these a lot, your children will memorize them and will start to 'read' them on their own.
3) Surround your child with the written word - magnetic letters on the fridge, foam letters in the bath - you spell words for him or her on paper, blackboard or whiteboard. Start with their name!
4) Let them play with pencil or crayon and paper or on a blackboard or whiteboard (but watch those markers!)
5) Write them notes. Let them dictate to you as you write for them; a story, a poem, a letter to grandma, a joke for daddy.
6) Get them early learning workbooks like Kumon, etc. Make these into treats. Leave them someplace so they can gravitate to them on their own. Don't push them though.
7) Buy some alphabet flashcards - each day or each week take one card out, look at it, talk about it and then put it into a photo album. Do this with each letter of the alphabet one day or week at a time until you are done. Keep the album where the child can easily take it out on their own and look at it - like the coffee table or their room. This is something you can make part of your bedtime ritual for 26 days or weeks.
8) Get some really easy readers like the Bob books or books that have lots of simple rhyming words like Hop on Pop, Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You? Books like that. Work through them at your child's own pace, when the child is open to it. No forcing anything!
9) Make word wheels - like this These are neat!
10) If you are shaky on your phonics rules - get this one resource in all: Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes. This book can take you from preschool to high school. You can use it to teach your child basic phonics rules and as a resource for spelling later. You can sit on the couch together and spend 2 to 10 minutes looking at a lesson and chatting about it and trying out the words. Do this casually, over the course of weeks and months. No rush!
If your child is getting to be older (7, 8, 9 or 10) and they still haven't picked up reading, you might want to check out a vision therapist to see if there is anything physically wrong. Your child can have 20/20 vision but have trouble with focus, tracking and muscle fatigue. If you sense or notice anything amiss, get your child checked out. However, getting a dyslexic diagnosis is pretty useless! It just means they recommend intensive phonics which may or may not work! You can teach phonics intensively on your own. My very, very favorite phonics program for people of all ages who want to become literate is:
Mary Pecci's At Last, a Reading Method for Every Child. I used her system before she had written her own readers. We used the Pathway Readers* (not related at all to Phonics Pathways) along with her TM and scripted lessons that she provided. Once you get the hang of her methods though, you don't need the script. Anyway, she has a website on line. She has taught everyone from young children to adults in prison how to read. She knows what she is doing. She's not trendy! She has a system that includes both phonics and sight words and she uses basal readers for plenty of practice.
Learning to read takes time! It is developmental and should not be rushed. Your kid will not be smarter if he is reading earlier. There is a natural age spectrum when it comes to learning to read. In the long run it does not make a difference. In fact there is an argument to be made that kids can skip a lot of poorly written twaddle which has sprung up in the kids book-marketing world. My father, born in 1919, learned to read at 7 and somehow was reading Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott's books at age 12. Nowadays kids are reading earlier but reading junk and no where near capable of reading Kidnapped or Ivanhoe at twelve. Well maybe some are! But most kids are burnt out and have years of dumbed downed pop stuff shoved at them that have turned them off to real reading.
*My kids only needed the Primer, 1st and 2nd grade books and then they were good to read entirely independently. The titles we used: First Steps, Days Go By, More Days Go By and Busy Times. That was all we needed. We never used the workbooks - just the readers.
Read alphabet books out loud to your child. Repetition is key here! Some of our favorites:
Dr. Seuss's ABC
Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin
The Alphabet Book by P.D. Eastman
A is for Annabelle by Tasha Tudor
Richard Scarry's ABC Book
A Was Once an Apple Pie by Edward Lear
I Spy: an Alphabet in Art
Plus there are many, many others out there.
2) Read nursery rhymes and books with lots of rhythm and rhyme. Dr. Seuss, Sendak, etc If you read these a lot, your children will memorize them and will start to 'read' them on their own.
3) Surround your child with the written word - magnetic letters on the fridge, foam letters in the bath - you spell words for him or her on paper, blackboard or whiteboard. Start with their name!
4) Let them play with pencil or crayon and paper or on a blackboard or whiteboard (but watch those markers!)
5) Write them notes. Let them dictate to you as you write for them; a story, a poem, a letter to grandma, a joke for daddy.
6) Get them early learning workbooks like Kumon, etc. Make these into treats. Leave them someplace so they can gravitate to them on their own. Don't push them though.
7) Buy some alphabet flashcards - each day or each week take one card out, look at it, talk about it and then put it into a photo album. Do this with each letter of the alphabet one day or week at a time until you are done. Keep the album where the child can easily take it out on their own and look at it - like the coffee table or their room. This is something you can make part of your bedtime ritual for 26 days or weeks.
8) Get some really easy readers like the Bob books or books that have lots of simple rhyming words like Hop on Pop, Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You? Books like that. Work through them at your child's own pace, when the child is open to it. No forcing anything!
9) Make word wheels - like this These are neat!
10) If you are shaky on your phonics rules - get this one resource in all: Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes. This book can take you from preschool to high school. You can use it to teach your child basic phonics rules and as a resource for spelling later. You can sit on the couch together and spend 2 to 10 minutes looking at a lesson and chatting about it and trying out the words. Do this casually, over the course of weeks and months. No rush!
If your child is getting to be older (7, 8, 9 or 10) and they still haven't picked up reading, you might want to check out a vision therapist to see if there is anything physically wrong. Your child can have 20/20 vision but have trouble with focus, tracking and muscle fatigue. If you sense or notice anything amiss, get your child checked out. However, getting a dyslexic diagnosis is pretty useless! It just means they recommend intensive phonics which may or may not work! You can teach phonics intensively on your own. My very, very favorite phonics program for people of all ages who want to become literate is:
Mary Pecci's At Last, a Reading Method for Every Child. I used her system before she had written her own readers. We used the Pathway Readers* (not related at all to Phonics Pathways) along with her TM and scripted lessons that she provided. Once you get the hang of her methods though, you don't need the script. Anyway, she has a website on line. She has taught everyone from young children to adults in prison how to read. She knows what she is doing. She's not trendy! She has a system that includes both phonics and sight words and she uses basal readers for plenty of practice.
Learning to read takes time! It is developmental and should not be rushed. Your kid will not be smarter if he is reading earlier. There is a natural age spectrum when it comes to learning to read. In the long run it does not make a difference. In fact there is an argument to be made that kids can skip a lot of poorly written twaddle which has sprung up in the kids book-marketing world. My father, born in 1919, learned to read at 7 and somehow was reading Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott's books at age 12. Nowadays kids are reading earlier but reading junk and no where near capable of reading Kidnapped or Ivanhoe at twelve. Well maybe some are! But most kids are burnt out and have years of dumbed downed pop stuff shoved at them that have turned them off to real reading.
*My kids only needed the Primer, 1st and 2nd grade books and then they were good to read entirely independently. The titles we used: First Steps, Days Go By, More Days Go By and Busy Times. That was all we needed. We never used the workbooks - just the readers.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Or maybe Boston in May?
I am such a dumb mother. My son is graduating from college in May up in Boston. He mentioned that and wondered if we were all going to come up for it like we did when we went to Dallas for Hannah's graduation. I had completely forgotten that he was graduating! So here I am planning this elaborate trip for October. . . . I guess we'll just postpone it until May 2015.
But geez. What is with me? He's only the second! By the time Becky's graduation rolls around I'll be off on another planet!
But geez. What is with me? He's only the second! By the time Becky's graduation rolls around I'll be off on another planet!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
A Poor Wise Man - Book 36
A Poor Wise Man is another winner by Mary Roberts Rhinehart. It was published in 1920. This one isn't a mystery though. It doesn't have the suspenseful, rollicking quality of her mysteries like The Bat. This one is a really interesting serious novel about an upper class family in the years immediately following World War I who are dealing with the turbulent mood of their workers. The unions have been infiltrated by Bolsheviks. The book is also a romance between Lily Cardew and the three different men who want to marry her.
It begins when Lily is returning home after spending a year working for an army hospital during World War I. She is now 20 years old. It is hard coming home again. She had lived a privileged, wealthy and sheltered life but now she has been exposed to the tragedies and sordidness in life through her work with the soldiers home from the war. While at the camp, she befriended William Wallace Cameron, who also worked there. He wasn't able to join the army due to a bad limp but he is a a man of integrity with a lively mind and he's in love with Lily. But she is out of his league. And Lily doesn't know her own mind so she doesn't realize he's the one for her.
Lily's grandfather, Anthony Cardew (he's a very successful steel mill owner of Scottish blood and he made me think of Andrew Carnegie). runs his home with an iron fist. He's a widower who has beaten his son and daughter in law into submission. He's never forgive that daughter in law for not giving him a grandson. He also managed to drive his own daughter, Elinor, away. She rebelled against him and married his enemy, a violent radical who hates capitalists! And unfortunately, Lily seems to be going the way of her aunt.
The story is really interesting in the way it presents the unrest and the political machinations of both the rich business owners and the plotting Bolsheviks. The plot twists and turns and becomes a love triangle or maybe rectangle would be a better description. At one point Samuel Gompers is mentioned as one of the good guys who tries to keep the Bolsheviks out of the unions. This novel is pretty conservative. It is rather sympathetic to the business owners, but at the same time Rhinehart shows why Lily's idealism, sense of justice and desire to be independent makes radicalism so appealing to her. She slowly get lured in. One odd thing: there is a line in the novel that mentions the KKK in what might be an admiring way, but I actually couldn't tell! It might be that the author simply thought of them as well organized. In talking about the radicals who infiltrated the unions there are many references to them being foreigners; German, Polish and Russians radicals are often spoken of. But at the same time the author distinguishes between the foreigners who come to America and love her and those who come to cause unrest.
I found the mood of the story fascinating: the political atmosphere, the way women thought of themselves, how immoral behavior is presented, the depiction of labor conflicts and how frightening the prospect of a Bolshevik revolution must have been and how it was really thought possible at one time here in the U.S. The whole plot builds slowly towards a great strike which Elinor's husband, the evil ringleader, is planning to turn into an armed revolution. The book has an intelligent and high moral tone. All the characters are well developed. It was just a very absorbing read. Rhinehart has yet to disappoint me.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
It begins when Lily is returning home after spending a year working for an army hospital during World War I. She is now 20 years old. It is hard coming home again. She had lived a privileged, wealthy and sheltered life but now she has been exposed to the tragedies and sordidness in life through her work with the soldiers home from the war. While at the camp, she befriended William Wallace Cameron, who also worked there. He wasn't able to join the army due to a bad limp but he is a a man of integrity with a lively mind and he's in love with Lily. But she is out of his league. And Lily doesn't know her own mind so she doesn't realize he's the one for her.
Lily's grandfather, Anthony Cardew (he's a very successful steel mill owner of Scottish blood and he made me think of Andrew Carnegie). runs his home with an iron fist. He's a widower who has beaten his son and daughter in law into submission. He's never forgive that daughter in law for not giving him a grandson. He also managed to drive his own daughter, Elinor, away. She rebelled against him and married his enemy, a violent radical who hates capitalists! And unfortunately, Lily seems to be going the way of her aunt.
The story is really interesting in the way it presents the unrest and the political machinations of both the rich business owners and the plotting Bolsheviks. The plot twists and turns and becomes a love triangle or maybe rectangle would be a better description. At one point Samuel Gompers is mentioned as one of the good guys who tries to keep the Bolsheviks out of the unions. This novel is pretty conservative. It is rather sympathetic to the business owners, but at the same time Rhinehart shows why Lily's idealism, sense of justice and desire to be independent makes radicalism so appealing to her. She slowly get lured in. One odd thing: there is a line in the novel that mentions the KKK in what might be an admiring way, but I actually couldn't tell! It might be that the author simply thought of them as well organized. In talking about the radicals who infiltrated the unions there are many references to them being foreigners; German, Polish and Russians radicals are often spoken of. But at the same time the author distinguishes between the foreigners who come to America and love her and those who come to cause unrest.
I found the mood of the story fascinating: the political atmosphere, the way women thought of themselves, how immoral behavior is presented, the depiction of labor conflicts and how frightening the prospect of a Bolshevik revolution must have been and how it was really thought possible at one time here in the U.S. The whole plot builds slowly towards a great strike which Elinor's husband, the evil ringleader, is planning to turn into an armed revolution. The book has an intelligent and high moral tone. All the characters are well developed. It was just a very absorbing read. Rhinehart has yet to disappoint me.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
33 Days to Morning Glory - Book 35
On Friday, I consecrated myself to Jesus through Mary. It was the culmination of a six week 'retreat' taken with this book by Father Michael Gaitley, MIC. I read and did the retreat with a local parish group. It was really lovely, thought-provoking and moving.
This book is a very well-written, accessible book about Marian Consecration. Father Gaitley writes in a conservational and humorous style, but at the same time he conveys profound ideas in a concise and understandable way. Really, he is pretty brilliant about how he lays it all out. It is very deep stuff here. I kept having glimpses of comprehension and I would thrill with some of the ideas expressed but because this can be a little difficult to take in, and I think it just takes time to digest it all and make it your own, the book raises a lot of questions too.
Anyway, I highly recommend it if you want to give your spiritual life a little jumpstart! I am really excited about my new understanding of the role that Mary played and is playing in salvation. I have a new reliance upon her and there is a new richness to my prayer life that is like a breath of fresh air. I can't even convey how profound this all is. It is too new and I simply don't have the eloquence.
I highly, highly recommend this! Not just as a book, but as a spiritual help.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
This book is a very well-written, accessible book about Marian Consecration. Father Gaitley writes in a conservational and humorous style, but at the same time he conveys profound ideas in a concise and understandable way. Really, he is pretty brilliant about how he lays it all out. It is very deep stuff here. I kept having glimpses of comprehension and I would thrill with some of the ideas expressed but because this can be a little difficult to take in, and I think it just takes time to digest it all and make it your own, the book raises a lot of questions too.
Anyway, I highly recommend it if you want to give your spiritual life a little jumpstart! I am really excited about my new understanding of the role that Mary played and is playing in salvation. I have a new reliance upon her and there is a new richness to my prayer life that is like a breath of fresh air. I can't even convey how profound this all is. It is too new and I simply don't have the eloquence.
I highly, highly recommend this! Not just as a book, but as a spiritual help.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Boston in the Fall?
So for some reason I am fixating on what we are going to do AFTER the wedding. We didn't take a vacation this summer because Hannah was going to school and prepping for the wedding and wanted to work as much as possible to, you know, get as much money as possible. Josh found a steady full time summer job and Will was up in Boston most of the time taking summer classes. So instead we decided we'd go somewhere the week after the wedding while Hannah and Peter were off on their honeymoon. At first we thought we'd just go to the Williamsburg area, but someone mentioned Boston. And we thought, hey, we could follow Will back up there. Boston would be pretty then.
But I am pretty sure people like to go to New England in the early fall, so I am thinking we should plan something now. That got my wheels turning. Here's what I've come up with:
Friday - Rehearsal night dinner
Saturday - WEDDING!
Sunday - recuperate, Mass and pack
Monday - take a.m. flight to Boston, stay in Cambridge (where Will will be living); take tour of Harvard. Maybe see Longfellow's house (don't know if it will still be open).
Tuesday - go to Concord (only 30 minutes from Cambridge) and have a literary tour of Louisa May Alcott's home, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Emerson and Thoreau. See the cemetery where they are buried. See Walden Pond. Also see Revolutionary War stuff.
Wednesday - go to Old Sturbridge Village (an hour outside Boston) and hang out there for the day, spend the night in that area.
Thursday - Drive to Amherst (half hour?) and see Emily Dickinson's house. Then drive on to Stockbridge. See the Divine Mercy Shrine and Norman Rockwell museum.
Friday - maybe just relax and visit a park, wander around quaint New England town in the fall.
Saturday - drive back to Boston, maybe see the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. Maybe take a fun tour of Boston.
Sunday - maybe go to Mass with Will and then fly home, or just fly home and then go to Mass in the evening.
Do you think I'll be too tired for this? Right now it sounds really fun and interesting.
But I am pretty sure people like to go to New England in the early fall, so I am thinking we should plan something now. That got my wheels turning. Here's what I've come up with:
Friday - Rehearsal night dinner
Saturday - WEDDING!
Sunday - recuperate, Mass and pack
Monday - take a.m. flight to Boston, stay in Cambridge (where Will will be living); take tour of Harvard. Maybe see Longfellow's house (don't know if it will still be open).
Tuesday - go to Concord (only 30 minutes from Cambridge) and have a literary tour of Louisa May Alcott's home, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Emerson and Thoreau. See the cemetery where they are buried. See Walden Pond. Also see Revolutionary War stuff.
Wednesday - go to Old Sturbridge Village (an hour outside Boston) and hang out there for the day, spend the night in that area.
Thursday - Drive to Amherst (half hour?) and see Emily Dickinson's house. Then drive on to Stockbridge. See the Divine Mercy Shrine and Norman Rockwell museum.
Friday - maybe just relax and visit a park, wander around quaint New England town in the fall.
Saturday - drive back to Boston, maybe see the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. Maybe take a fun tour of Boston.
Sunday - maybe go to Mass with Will and then fly home, or just fly home and then go to Mass in the evening.
Do you think I'll be too tired for this? Right now it sounds really fun and interesting.
Friday, August 22, 2014
I have suddenly been struck upside the head.
It just dawned on me in a flash of cold reality that my daughter is getting married six weeks from tomorrow!
OH MY GOD!
OH MY GOD!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Curriculum Vitae - Book 34
I couldn't help comparing Curriculum Vitae, Muriel Spark's memoirs to the two memoirs I recently read by Beverly Cleary. They both grew up impoverished during the Depression and WWII. They both were intelligent young women who became beloved authors. Of course Cleary was American who only wrote lowly children's books while Spark, from Scotland wrote such touted novels as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Far Cry from Kensington and others. I loved Cleary when I was a little kid and in my mid 20s I went through a Spark jag where I read several of her books. If I had a choice of who would be my neighbor I'd pick Cleary hands down.
Spark (nee Camberg) was born into a rather humble but loving family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her memories of her childhood and school days are quite captivating. She loved the all girls school she attended up through 12th grade. It provided a deep education for the girls in spite of the Depression and hard times. She did indeed have a very dynamic teacher who inspired the character of Jean Brodie (but who wasn't the tragic figure the book created). She had warm friendships and won many poetry contests. She was a great student in whom everyone saw great potential. Alas, in spite of a loving family life and her intellectual and literary capabilities she did not determine to go on with her education. Instead, she most stupidly, at the age of 19, married a man much older than she who took her off to Rhodesia where he soon dissolved into mental illness.
The early childhood era is well told, especially with great detail as to how things were done or arranged. She gives great and I thought, fascinating, detail about her grandmother's clothing for instance. If you want to know about Victorian underwear (which actually I found interesting!) this is in here! Spark does have the novelist's eye for detail in the ordinary things which give such flavor to her novels. But, the memoir, which initially has a few mentions of why-Spark-is-great becomes slowly more egotistical until towards the end it has devolved into minute detail about Spark's correspondence and business dealings because she is sure you are as fascinated with her as she is with herself.
This is where the natural comparison with Cleary came in. Cleary also couldn't afford a college education, but she struggled with great determination and resourcefulness and managed to achieve her goal. She shows great fortitude but without coming off as egotistical at all. She candidly recounts her own failures, her strained relationship with her mother, all the ups and downs of her life. Spark has a filter going on and the filter always makes her look good or like her problems weren't of her own making. And yet she had one disastrous relationship after another. She has a child with her husband, whom she leaves in Africa in a boarding school to go home to England smack dab in the middle of WWII where there is danger her ship could be torpedoed. When she is finally reunited with her son, after a year and half, she decides to park him with her parents so she can go pursue her writing life in London.
For some mysterious reason, which Spark never lets on about, she converts to Catholicism. But Spark doesn't elaborate on this at all in her memoir. She'd much rather tell you the addresses of the various bedsits in London she lived in as she struggled to get her writing career off the ground.
To me this memoir illustrates the dangers of reading about someone whose work you've enjoyed. It disappointed me. I had the same feeling when I read Gilda Radner's book. I always thought Gilda Radner was so cute and funny and then, alas, I read her book. Same here. I always though Muriel Spark's books were penetrating and well crafted novels (and they are) but knowing more about the author actually diminished my affection for her work. But maybe I am being unfair. I should try to reread one or two to see what I think of them now.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Spark (nee Camberg) was born into a rather humble but loving family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her memories of her childhood and school days are quite captivating. She loved the all girls school she attended up through 12th grade. It provided a deep education for the girls in spite of the Depression and hard times. She did indeed have a very dynamic teacher who inspired the character of Jean Brodie (but who wasn't the tragic figure the book created). She had warm friendships and won many poetry contests. She was a great student in whom everyone saw great potential. Alas, in spite of a loving family life and her intellectual and literary capabilities she did not determine to go on with her education. Instead, she most stupidly, at the age of 19, married a man much older than she who took her off to Rhodesia where he soon dissolved into mental illness.
The early childhood era is well told, especially with great detail as to how things were done or arranged. She gives great and I thought, fascinating, detail about her grandmother's clothing for instance. If you want to know about Victorian underwear (which actually I found interesting!) this is in here! Spark does have the novelist's eye for detail in the ordinary things which give such flavor to her novels. But, the memoir, which initially has a few mentions of why-Spark-is-great becomes slowly more egotistical until towards the end it has devolved into minute detail about Spark's correspondence and business dealings because she is sure you are as fascinated with her as she is with herself.
This is where the natural comparison with Cleary came in. Cleary also couldn't afford a college education, but she struggled with great determination and resourcefulness and managed to achieve her goal. She shows great fortitude but without coming off as egotistical at all. She candidly recounts her own failures, her strained relationship with her mother, all the ups and downs of her life. Spark has a filter going on and the filter always makes her look good or like her problems weren't of her own making. And yet she had one disastrous relationship after another. She has a child with her husband, whom she leaves in Africa in a boarding school to go home to England smack dab in the middle of WWII where there is danger her ship could be torpedoed. When she is finally reunited with her son, after a year and half, she decides to park him with her parents so she can go pursue her writing life in London.
For some mysterious reason, which Spark never lets on about, she converts to Catholicism. But Spark doesn't elaborate on this at all in her memoir. She'd much rather tell you the addresses of the various bedsits in London she lived in as she struggled to get her writing career off the ground.
To me this memoir illustrates the dangers of reading about someone whose work you've enjoyed. It disappointed me. I had the same feeling when I read Gilda Radner's book. I always thought Gilda Radner was so cute and funny and then, alas, I read her book. Same here. I always though Muriel Spark's books were penetrating and well crafted novels (and they are) but knowing more about the author actually diminished my affection for her work. But maybe I am being unfair. I should try to reread one or two to see what I think of them now.
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Journaling our Fourth Day
Today has a scattered feel to it. Let's see what actually went on:
Got kids up at 9:00. Again they acted like it was the most absurdly cruel thing anyone had ever done to them. Sigh.
By 9:30 they were again sprawled on the couches. We read the Gospel from Matthew, Psalm 87 and talked about St. Maximilian Kolbe whose feast day it is. That perked Becky up because she'd read a meme to all the Hunger Games fans about how St. Kolbe had paid real life tribute. So we talked about him for about 2 minutes. But they were a good two minutes.
Later on we reassembled and did a tiny bit of copy work. At least Becky did. Sean talked me into playing Big Boggle with him, saying you have to write down all the words anyway so . . . we played three enjoyable rounds.
Then Hannah was home and we got into a discussion about the horrible shooting/police action/rioting in Ferguson, MO - I guess that comes under current events. They then played more Big Boggle. Let's see: spelling, critical thinking and handwriting and math!
We did some chores because I just realized that Will's friend Grant is coming to stay with us for a week. We washed sheets for Will's room, Becky swept the basement steps. Sean wiped down the wood to the upstairs steps (which always get really cruddy). Becky cleaned the powder room and both kids spent 20 minutes in their rooms tidying up their clothes. Josh has his day off but in the early afternoon he did a big cardboard recycling haul for me. I started to tidy up the main living section but truthfully, I have been online way too much obsessing over Mike Brown's death. I need to get back to cleaning things up. Sean still needs to clean the basement bathroom.
Sean's physical trainer came at 1:00 (he usually comes on Mondays at 5:30) so Sean worked out with him. Becky finished reading the Legend trilogy and is now working her way through The Series of Unfortunate Events. Those books are her default if she isn't reading something else.
I went out and bought Katie's wedding shower gift mid afternoon.
Will's friend comes in at 5:45 at Reagan. I told Will we can't drive there and back in rush hour so he's taking the metro out to us. Will doesn't come in until 7 something. Josh is picking them up; Hannah and I are going to the wedding shower tonight. Hannah is out right now picking up the wedding dress and other things for Katie's wedding. She read us the speech she is going to give at the reception. It is very good!
We wound up watching part of Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin. I cleaned some more and then went off to the shower. Will and his friend somehow managed to make it home. No reading out loud today.
Sean is on a jag about evolution vs. creationism. He is busy reading websites and watching videos and is having fun criticizing both sides of the debate. A child after my own heart!
Got kids up at 9:00. Again they acted like it was the most absurdly cruel thing anyone had ever done to them. Sigh.
By 9:30 they were again sprawled on the couches. We read the Gospel from Matthew, Psalm 87 and talked about St. Maximilian Kolbe whose feast day it is. That perked Becky up because she'd read a meme to all the Hunger Games fans about how St. Kolbe had paid real life tribute. So we talked about him for about 2 minutes. But they were a good two minutes.
Later on we reassembled and did a tiny bit of copy work. At least Becky did. Sean talked me into playing Big Boggle with him, saying you have to write down all the words anyway so . . . we played three enjoyable rounds.
Then Hannah was home and we got into a discussion about the horrible shooting/police action/rioting in Ferguson, MO - I guess that comes under current events. They then played more Big Boggle. Let's see: spelling, critical thinking and handwriting and math!
We did some chores because I just realized that Will's friend Grant is coming to stay with us for a week. We washed sheets for Will's room, Becky swept the basement steps. Sean wiped down the wood to the upstairs steps (which always get really cruddy). Becky cleaned the powder room and both kids spent 20 minutes in their rooms tidying up their clothes. Josh has his day off but in the early afternoon he did a big cardboard recycling haul for me. I started to tidy up the main living section but truthfully, I have been online way too much obsessing over Mike Brown's death. I need to get back to cleaning things up. Sean still needs to clean the basement bathroom.
Sean's physical trainer came at 1:00 (he usually comes on Mondays at 5:30) so Sean worked out with him. Becky finished reading the Legend trilogy and is now working her way through The Series of Unfortunate Events. Those books are her default if she isn't reading something else.
I went out and bought Katie's wedding shower gift mid afternoon.
Will's friend comes in at 5:45 at Reagan. I told Will we can't drive there and back in rush hour so he's taking the metro out to us. Will doesn't come in until 7 something. Josh is picking them up; Hannah and I are going to the wedding shower tonight. Hannah is out right now picking up the wedding dress and other things for Katie's wedding. She read us the speech she is going to give at the reception. It is very good!
We wound up watching part of Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin. I cleaned some more and then went off to the shower. Will and his friend somehow managed to make it home. No reading out loud today.
Sean is on a jag about evolution vs. creationism. He is busy reading websites and watching videos and is having fun criticizing both sides of the debate. A child after my own heart!
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Journaling our Third Day
Today I woke up only feeling slightly crappy. After a cup of coffee and an English muffin I felt better.
Woke kids at 9:00 again. Really, you'd think I was torturing them. At about 9:30 we finally managed to assemble in the living room, them sprawled on the couches and me leading things. We read today's Gospel, today's psalm, talked about Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus (what great names!).
Then some of us had some breakfast and one of us (me) took a shower. We reassembled about 10:30 to do copy work (Sean copied from Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric - first rhetoric devices are Epizeuxis, Epimone, etc. How do you pronounce those???) What this means is repetition. He copied Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo. Becky finished copying over the cursive alphabet.
Then we did a tad bit of Latin. I realized I am in over my head with Sean's book. I finally did a good search for the TM (which it doesn't seem you can get from the Cambridge website) and found it at good old Rainbow Resource. So I ordered the TMs. Hope they come in the not too distant future.
Becky was in a recalcitrant mood, so no more for her. Sean and I, though, organized his physics notebook and read through the required summer homework. Turns out it isn't due until Sept 2nd. I realized I had never ordered the Solutions manual so I went ahead and ordered that.
Then I read some of The Scarlet Letter to Sean. I skipped the Customs House essay and got right to the story of Hester Prynne stopping to clarify and ask him if he knew what was going on. As tough as Hawthorne is to read, he is a excellent writer. I love this book.
After that, Sean escaped and I went ahead and organized his American Literature/History binder.
Later I took Becky to her voice lesson. Sean and took a walk and then I read him some more Scarlet Letter.
Sean went to CLC. Only there was no CLC. This kind of thing has been happening all week!
I read 5 minutes of Shadow on the Rock to Becky. She timed it precisely!
I downloaded Sean's literature and history books on our Kindle. This is an experiment. I really didn't want to buy the textbooks, so we are trying ebooks. On the Kindle itself, it isn't so easy. You can not really read the pages that have charts or blocked off questions, etc. However, it is much, much easier to read on the ipad. Thank you, Steve Jobs! Much more user friendly. So I think this will work as long as we don't 1) lose the ipad or 2) forget to keep it charged.
I also downloaded the book The Story of the Constitution by Eva Tappan and showed it to Rick. He was going to teach Becky a unit on the American Revolution and the Constitution this fall. I had heard good things about this book (St. Jerome Classical School uses it). So anyway, he looked at it and it is indeed very good.
Woke kids at 9:00 again. Really, you'd think I was torturing them. At about 9:30 we finally managed to assemble in the living room, them sprawled on the couches and me leading things. We read today's Gospel, today's psalm, talked about Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus (what great names!).
Then some of us had some breakfast and one of us (me) took a shower. We reassembled about 10:30 to do copy work (Sean copied from Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric - first rhetoric devices are Epizeuxis, Epimone, etc. How do you pronounce those???) What this means is repetition. He copied Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo. Becky finished copying over the cursive alphabet.
Then we did a tad bit of Latin. I realized I am in over my head with Sean's book. I finally did a good search for the TM (which it doesn't seem you can get from the Cambridge website) and found it at good old Rainbow Resource. So I ordered the TMs. Hope they come in the not too distant future.
Becky was in a recalcitrant mood, so no more for her. Sean and I, though, organized his physics notebook and read through the required summer homework. Turns out it isn't due until Sept 2nd. I realized I had never ordered the Solutions manual so I went ahead and ordered that.
Then I read some of The Scarlet Letter to Sean. I skipped the Customs House essay and got right to the story of Hester Prynne stopping to clarify and ask him if he knew what was going on. As tough as Hawthorne is to read, he is a excellent writer. I love this book.
After that, Sean escaped and I went ahead and organized his American Literature/History binder.
Later I took Becky to her voice lesson. Sean and took a walk and then I read him some more Scarlet Letter.
Sean went to CLC. Only there was no CLC. This kind of thing has been happening all week!
I read 5 minutes of Shadow on the Rock to Becky. She timed it precisely!
I downloaded Sean's literature and history books on our Kindle. This is an experiment. I really didn't want to buy the textbooks, so we are trying ebooks. On the Kindle itself, it isn't so easy. You can not really read the pages that have charts or blocked off questions, etc. However, it is much, much easier to read on the ipad. Thank you, Steve Jobs! Much more user friendly. So I think this will work as long as we don't 1) lose the ipad or 2) forget to keep it charged.
I also downloaded the book The Story of the Constitution by Eva Tappan and showed it to Rick. He was going to teach Becky a unit on the American Revolution and the Constitution this fall. I had heard good things about this book (St. Jerome Classical School uses it). So anyway, he looked at it and it is indeed very good.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Journaling our Second Day
Yesterday I was exhausted by terrible insomnia. This morning I awoke at 6:30 with an excruciating migraine. However, I still managed to stir the kids at 9:00 and they actually assembled in the living room (laying on the couches) for morning prayer. That is two days in a row in spite of adversity! Yahoo! Since I couldn't read because of my migraine, Sean read the Gospel and Becky read the Psalm and I said a few words about St. Jane de Chantel whose feast day it is today.
But that was enough for me at the time so we reassembled a little after 11:00 a.m. when my headache was much, much better. They both did a bit of copy work. Sean copied Beati pacifici which means blessed are the peace-makers. Becky began to copy over her cursive alphabet but then suddenly it was time to take her to voice. Turns out she didn't have voice yesterday but today. I made Sean come with me for my plan was that he would read Ben. Franklin and look through his Physics book and I would read 33 Days to Morning Glory and Teaching from Rest during the 45 minutes that Becky was in her lesson. Then we'd go eat lunch. But the voice teacher thought the lesson was at 11:15 even though when she sent me a reminder it said 11:45. So anyway no voice today either. Instead Becky has a lesson Wed at 3:45.
So after that we went and ate and then came home. I laid down for a little while. Even though the headache is much better it is still there slightly and I am very worn out feeling.
I did do my reading. I asked Sean to do his reading but alas he could not tell me a thing about it. I am fixating on his lack of comprehension.
After dinner (Hannah cooked a lovely dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and tossed green salad) I decided to skip going to the Marian Consecration meeting (that 2x in a row) because I was so tired but Rick got home early enough to eat dinner with us. I didn't feel like going out in the wet. It's been very rainy all day. Anyway, I read some more of Shadow on the Rock to Becky and Rick read a little bit of Ben Frank. to Sean. And I am going to read Scarlet Letter starting tomorrow.
So again not much accomplished but at least we are establishing a pattern in the a.m. which is a good thing.
But that was enough for me at the time so we reassembled a little after 11:00 a.m. when my headache was much, much better. They both did a bit of copy work. Sean copied Beati pacifici which means blessed are the peace-makers. Becky began to copy over her cursive alphabet but then suddenly it was time to take her to voice. Turns out she didn't have voice yesterday but today. I made Sean come with me for my plan was that he would read Ben. Franklin and look through his Physics book and I would read 33 Days to Morning Glory and Teaching from Rest during the 45 minutes that Becky was in her lesson. Then we'd go eat lunch. But the voice teacher thought the lesson was at 11:15 even though when she sent me a reminder it said 11:45. So anyway no voice today either. Instead Becky has a lesson Wed at 3:45.
So after that we went and ate and then came home. I laid down for a little while. Even though the headache is much better it is still there slightly and I am very worn out feeling.
I did do my reading. I asked Sean to do his reading but alas he could not tell me a thing about it. I am fixating on his lack of comprehension.
After dinner (Hannah cooked a lovely dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes and tossed green salad) I decided to skip going to the Marian Consecration meeting (that 2x in a row) because I was so tired but Rick got home early enough to eat dinner with us. I didn't feel like going out in the wet. It's been very rainy all day. Anyway, I read some more of Shadow on the Rock to Becky and Rick read a little bit of Ben Frank. to Sean. And I am going to read Scarlet Letter starting tomorrow.
So again not much accomplished but at least we are establishing a pattern in the a.m. which is a good thing.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Journaling Our First Day
We are starting formal work a bit earlier than usual this year because of Hannah's wedding in October and because we want to get Becky prepped for the high school entrance exam which I think she has to take in February or March.
So today we just tippy-toed a little bit into our academic studies. We started with me waking them up at 9:00 a.m. The horror! I let them lounge about a while and then at about 9:40 we did morning prayer. I am trying to establish better prayer habits. So we read the Gospel for the day, we read about and then said a little prayer to St. Clare, whose feast it is today. Then I read a psalm from the Liturgy of the Hours. Then I talked a bit about the Ignatian prayer of doing a daily examen. I just talked a couple of minutes about it, we'll focus a little bit each day on it.
And that was that.
We talked about our reading. Becky assigned herself Sherlock Holmes stories. She is going to start with The Hound of the Baskervilles. I told Sean he needed to start reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I think he read the first two sentences. We are still trying to figure out how to get The Scarlet Letter read - either by audio recording or read out loud. I am thinking reading it aloud will give him the most comprehension.
Then we broke open our Latin books and did a teeny tiny bit, because our brains are very rusty. Becky read the first story and then did the first exercise in her workbook. Sean tried to do the first exercise but couldn't get his brain to remember verb conjugations (he is doing review in a book he started last year) so instead he went to the website and took a couple of on line quizzes to wake things up.
For copy work, Becky filled out and addressed several wedding shower invitations, Sean copied over the cursive italics alphabet.
And that was it. Hannah came home from work about noon and took them both out to shop for wedding clothes Sean got a suit and Becky got not 1, but two dresses! While Hannah did that I took a long nap which was so lovely!
The only other schoolish thing we did today was that I started to read Shadow on the Rock by Willa Cather out loud to Becky. I only read about 5 minutes, but it was a start!
So today we just tippy-toed a little bit into our academic studies. We started with me waking them up at 9:00 a.m. The horror! I let them lounge about a while and then at about 9:40 we did morning prayer. I am trying to establish better prayer habits. So we read the Gospel for the day, we read about and then said a little prayer to St. Clare, whose feast it is today. Then I read a psalm from the Liturgy of the Hours. Then I talked a bit about the Ignatian prayer of doing a daily examen. I just talked a couple of minutes about it, we'll focus a little bit each day on it.
And that was that.
We talked about our reading. Becky assigned herself Sherlock Holmes stories. She is going to start with The Hound of the Baskervilles. I told Sean he needed to start reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I think he read the first two sentences. We are still trying to figure out how to get The Scarlet Letter read - either by audio recording or read out loud. I am thinking reading it aloud will give him the most comprehension.
Then we broke open our Latin books and did a teeny tiny bit, because our brains are very rusty. Becky read the first story and then did the first exercise in her workbook. Sean tried to do the first exercise but couldn't get his brain to remember verb conjugations (he is doing review in a book he started last year) so instead he went to the website and took a couple of on line quizzes to wake things up.
For copy work, Becky filled out and addressed several wedding shower invitations, Sean copied over the cursive italics alphabet.
And that was it. Hannah came home from work about noon and took them both out to shop for wedding clothes Sean got a suit and Becky got not 1, but two dresses! While Hannah did that I took a long nap which was so lovely!
The only other schoolish thing we did today was that I started to read Shadow on the Rock by Willa Cather out loud to Becky. I only read about 5 minutes, but it was a start!
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Unbroken - Book 33
Unbroken; A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand is about Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner in the 1936 Olympics who wound up a bombardier in the Pacific during World War II. He was stranded in a raft adrift at sea for 47 days before being taken prisoner of war by the Japanese. He then survived two and half years of near starvation and relentless cruelty. I read this book in about three days. It is the kind you simply can't put down, or at least I can't.
Someone mentioned this book to me a couple weeks ago and my interest was piqued. Taking Guille around town, we'd seen a lot of exhibits in the Air and Space museum(s) as well as the American History museum, that focused on World War II. I was doubly intrigued because I often regret that I don't know more about what my father did as a fighter pilot in the Pacific at this time. So I found all the detail and description of Navy life very interesting.
I found this book gripping, though at times very disturbing, and in the end a very satisfying and worthwhile read. I highly recommend it. For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Someone mentioned this book to me a couple weeks ago and my interest was piqued. Taking Guille around town, we'd seen a lot of exhibits in the Air and Space museum(s) as well as the American History museum, that focused on World War II. I was doubly intrigued because I often regret that I don't know more about what my father did as a fighter pilot in the Pacific at this time. So I found all the detail and description of Navy life very interesting.
I found this book gripping, though at times very disturbing, and in the end a very satisfying and worthwhile read. I highly recommend it. For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Guille's Last Day
Guille, our 16 year old Argentinian student, is leaving today. He's been here since July 7th. He is a very nice boy and I have enjoyed having him here even though I am frankly wiped out by having a guest for that long. Our previous 4H exchange students were older and spoke English very well. They were much more independent. This month has made realize just how introverted we are as a family - having a prolonged guest, even one as nice as Guille can be a little bit of a strain. However, it is good to stretch! I think it has been a rewarding experience all around.
I was trying to think back a whole month (hard for me, I can't even remember yesterday!) to list everything we've done. Here's my attempt:
First week - Guille arrived late on a Tuesday morning, I believe. First day was just getting him settled and getting to know him. The second day I had a terrible migraine that lasted most of the day. That day was really awkward. Becky was in Theatre camp and was winding up for her performances over the weekend. That kept us busy. We saw Great Falls park - Hannah took everybody bowling and that was the week of the World Cup so we watched that and we had Becky's birthday celebration and watched her in Peter Pan.
Second week - I introduced Guille to Target and multiple grocery stores. We went to Bull Run with Sean. Josh and Sean took Guille to the Baltimore Aquarium. Rick took Guille out on the boat. One day Sean and Guille walked into town and ate lunch and walked around.
Third week - Was it this week that we went tubing up in West VA? We also went to Mount Vernon. We ate out a lot. We went to a Barnes and Noble so Guille could find a good book to read in Spanish. One night we went out to buy me a new phone and then took in a concert at the Town Center. We spent an afternoon in Middleburg.
Fourth Week - At some point we went to Ford's Theater for the tour and met Rick for lunch. We also went to the National Zoo one day and also met Rick. On Friday Sean and Guille went to Kings Dominion with the St. Mark Youth Group. We went to Lego Brick Fair.
Final Week - One night Guille and I watched West Side Story with Spanish subtitles. We went to the Holocaust Museum one day and then yesterday went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the WWII memorial.
Sometimes the days didn't have anything fancy planned for them. We just took a walk or ran errands or ate out. I don't think I remembered a lot of this stuff in order. Anyway, I hope he had a great time here.
I was trying to think back a whole month (hard for me, I can't even remember yesterday!) to list everything we've done. Here's my attempt:
First week - Guille arrived late on a Tuesday morning, I believe. First day was just getting him settled and getting to know him. The second day I had a terrible migraine that lasted most of the day. That day was really awkward. Becky was in Theatre camp and was winding up for her performances over the weekend. That kept us busy. We saw Great Falls park - Hannah took everybody bowling and that was the week of the World Cup so we watched that and we had Becky's birthday celebration and watched her in Peter Pan.
Second week - I introduced Guille to Target and multiple grocery stores. We went to Bull Run with Sean. Josh and Sean took Guille to the Baltimore Aquarium. Rick took Guille out on the boat. One day Sean and Guille walked into town and ate lunch and walked around.
Third week - Was it this week that we went tubing up in West VA? We also went to Mount Vernon. We ate out a lot. We went to a Barnes and Noble so Guille could find a good book to read in Spanish. One night we went out to buy me a new phone and then took in a concert at the Town Center. We spent an afternoon in Middleburg.
Fourth Week - At some point we went to Ford's Theater for the tour and met Rick for lunch. We also went to the National Zoo one day and also met Rick. On Friday Sean and Guille went to Kings Dominion with the St. Mark Youth Group. We went to Lego Brick Fair.
Final Week - One night Guille and I watched West Side Story with Spanish subtitles. We went to the Holocaust Museum one day and then yesterday went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the WWII memorial.
Sometimes the days didn't have anything fancy planned for them. We just took a walk or ran errands or ate out. I don't think I remembered a lot of this stuff in order. Anyway, I hope he had a great time here.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Boxing Wendy - Book 32
My friend Carol Walsh Greer has come out with a new book! Boxing Wendy is another foray into the mind of someone who isn't quite sane, or is she? She's pretty delusional, unless she's just more perceptive than most and actually has a handle on what Stuart Richmond is all about.
Wendy Jackson is a waitress at the local diner. She lives with her brother, Troy, her one loyal tie to sanity. Then she's got Penny, her 'friend' who never talks, and will just appear standing like a statue in the yard, wearing her old Let's Make Pizza, Baby t-shirt and staring catatonically into space.
Wendy doesn't have much of a life until she meets Stuart, a new customer at the diner. Stuart seems uber-clean and repulsively soft to Wendy. While everyone else sees a nice guy, she sees someone who gives her the creeps. And Stuart is weirdly obsessed with her.
As with her previous book, Unlovely, the plot moves steadily forward; all the little details that slowly come out keep the reader in suspense as to who is really crazy. Are some of the details delusions or are they real? The real question is: who is more murderous? Wendy or Stuart?
This book felt lighter to me than Unlovely, perhaps because Wendy isn't quite unlovely. She's got real affection for some of the people in her life. Everyone's got a developed personality, Wendy's mother, the people who work at the diner, the customers, even Stuart's cat.
So if you are in the mood for a clever tale that will keep you guessing, set in the quirky world of small town, U.S.A. this is a book for you! I am proud of my friend for coming out with her second crazy, well written book! Huzzah, Carol!
For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Wendy Jackson is a waitress at the local diner. She lives with her brother, Troy, her one loyal tie to sanity. Then she's got Penny, her 'friend' who never talks, and will just appear standing like a statue in the yard, wearing her old Let's Make Pizza, Baby t-shirt and staring catatonically into space.
Wendy doesn't have much of a life until she meets Stuart, a new customer at the diner. Stuart seems uber-clean and repulsively soft to Wendy. While everyone else sees a nice guy, she sees someone who gives her the creeps. And Stuart is weirdly obsessed with her.
As with her previous book, Unlovely, the plot moves steadily forward; all the little details that slowly come out keep the reader in suspense as to who is really crazy. Are some of the details delusions or are they real? The real question is: who is more murderous? Wendy or Stuart?
This book felt lighter to me than Unlovely, perhaps because Wendy isn't quite unlovely. She's got real affection for some of the people in her life. Everyone's got a developed personality, Wendy's mother, the people who work at the diner, the customers, even Stuart's cat.
So if you are in the mood for a clever tale that will keep you guessing, set in the quirky world of small town, U.S.A. this is a book for you! I am proud of my friend for coming out with her second crazy, well written book! Huzzah, Carol!
For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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