Celebratory dinner, cake, and ice cream yet to come.
I’ll catch up with you all when I can!!!
Quotes about books and reading
No Booking Through Thursday for me this week: the question was about graphic novels, about which I know next to nothing. But as I am used to doing a bookish post on Thursdays, I decided to share several quotes I’ve collected over the last few years about books and reading.
“And indeed, what is better than to sit by one’s fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind beats against the window and the lamp is burning?”
~ Gustave Flaubert
“Books are chocolate for the soul. They don’t make one fat. One need not brush one’s teeth after reading. They are quiet. One can bring them anywhere–no passport required. Books have only one downfall: even the fattest book has a last page, and then one needs a new one again.”
~Antonie Schneider
“Consider what you have in the smallest chosen library. A company of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of all civil countries, in a 1000 years, have set in best order the results of their learning and wisdom. The men themselves were hid and inaccessible, solitary, impatient of interruption, fenced by etiquette; but the thought which they did not uncover to their bosom friend is here written out in transparent words to us, the strangers of another age.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We read literature for a lot of reasons, but two of the most compelling ones are to get out of ourselves and our own life stories and–equally important–to find ourselves by understanding our own life stories more clearly in the context of others’.”
~ From Leave Me Alone, I’m Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan, page 34 (I haven’t read the book and I know nothing of the author, but I saw this quote somewhere and liked it.)
“…and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”
~Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“In reading, a lonely quiet concert is given to our minds; all our mental faculties will be present in this symphonic exaltation.”
~Stéphane Mallarmé
“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice… and just as the touch of a button on our set will fill the room with music, so by taking down one of these volumes and opening it, one can call into range the voice of a man far distant in time and space, and hear him speaking to us, mind to mind, heart to heart.”
~Gilbert Highet
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”
~Francis Bacon
“A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity, and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.”
~ Robertson Davies
“Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.”
~ Paxton Hood
“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
~ Charles W. Eliot
“Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.”
~William Hazlitt
“A little before you go to sleep read something that is exquisite and worth remembering; and contemplate upon it till you fall asleep.”
—Erasmus
“A good book has no ending. ”
~R.D. Cumming
Where My Books Go
All the words that I utter,
And all the words that I write,
Must spread out their wings untiring,
And never rest in their flight,
Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
And sing to you in the night,
Beyond where the waters are moving,
Storm-darken’d, or starry bright.
~ William Butler Yeats
Do you have any good quotes about books or reading?
I am connecting this to today’s Thursday Thirteen.
Odds and ends
- Did you see The Amazing Race last Sunday, when one teamed missed out on the finals because of a bathroom break? That so would have been me. My family is very patient with my need to stop! In fairness, this girl had chugged down 4 bottles of water to try and wash down fried scorpions and larvae and other assorted gross stuff she had to eat. That team had overcome so much, I was so hoping they’d make it — especially as one girl on the team that did make it is one of the rudest people I have ever seen and I was hoping she’d be elimnated.
- Jason’s Baccalaureate service was this last Sunday. I had forgotten the joy of singing hymns with 4,000 or so other people. If that was wonderful…I’m wondering what it will be like singing with all the saints in heaven?
- The guest speaker was a pastor from West Ghana whom we knew years ago when he came to the US to study, so that was a pleasant surprise. I did have a harder time understanding him, though, than I did back then — may have something to do with the sound system, I don’t know. Plus he hadn’t been back in the US for a while so he was probably more heavily accented than when we knew him. But I enjoyed hearing him.
- We had lunch at Fatz Cafe. Great stuff!!!
- We’ve been “cleaning for company” this week as Jason’s fiancee and her mom were coming. Funny how having someone over spurs a cleaning frenzy. When Jeremy was little and we were cleaning before someone came over, he asked, “Why do we want them to think we’re cleaner than we are?’ 😳 I tried to explain that this is really how clean it should be all the time. I usually get all those things done — just not all at the same time!
- The teen fellowship we hosted a few weeks ago actually ended up helping. Many things, of course have had to be redone even before now, but some of the heavier-duty stuff wasn’t too bad since they were so recently done.
- Jason’s fiancee, Mittu, did get in late last night and we were all up til after 1 a.m. — then I had to get up at 5 this morning. So I am definitely going to need a nap some time today.
- Her mom comes in later this week. I’m a little nervous about meeting her for the first time, but I found out she is, too. We’ve talked on the phone before, and she has much, much more of an Indian accent than Mittu does, and I really have to concentrate to understand her — but maybe in person that will be easier, and being around each other more will help, I’m sure.
- I’m enjoying catching up on wedding plans but am reminded of how stressful all that can be, especially when you have multiple varied opinions. I’m pretty much only offering mine when asked, as she has so much of that to deal with already. Jim only half-jokingly offered them $1,000 to elope, but I don’t think her family would ever forgive us if they did.
- Jason has applied to grad school but hasn’t heard back yet. He does have a job lined up and a pretty good lead on an apartment that will be available in August, so things are coming together. I am glad they’re going to be close by for a while.
- This Sunday is Mother’s Day already! We’ve been so focused on graduation that Mother’s Day crept up on us. We tend to do up holidays pretty big and would be willing to just postpone what we normally do, but with Jim’s mom and Mittu’s mom here, that may not be a good idea, either.
- Mother’s Day is one of the times I miss my mom the most. For the first year or two I couldn’t go into a Hallmark store anywhere near May when they had all the Mother’s Day things out. I can now. I thought I’d share this clip of Il Divo singing “Mama” as a tribute. I can’t say, as the song does, I owe it all to Mom: I owe it all to the Lord. But I am so grateful for my mom’s love and support and belief in me.
Famous Firsts
I was working on another serious post this morning…but it was just not coming together. I’m going to let it incubate and give my addled brain a rest from thinking and from a busy week and do this fun-looking meme I saw at Melli‘s, who saw it at Thom‘s.
First Job: Besides baby-sitting for my Mom’s friends, I worked for a whole week at a fast food place. I don’t know if that counts since it was so short.
First Real Job: University Library.
First Favorite Politician: Ronald Reagan.
First Car: I’ve never had a car of my own. The first car I drove was my parent’s — I don’t even remember what it was. I’m not a car aficionado. It was small and tan.
First Record/CD: A set of Disney songs.
First Sport Played: Whatever we did in P.E. I’ve never played on an organized sports team.
First Concert: The Lutheran church I attended at the time took us to see Jesus Christ Superstar. Reading the words later — it doesn’t quite compute that a church youth group would go there…
First Foreign Country Visited: None!
First Favorite TV Show: Captain Kangaroo
First Favorite Actor: Bobby Sherman of Here Come the Brides. I wonder why we don’t see that one in reruns these days?
First Favorite Actress: The girl who played the daughter, Audra, on The Big Valley.
First Girlfriend/Boyfriend: My cousin Tommy when I was 2, so my parents tell me.
First Encounter with a Famous Person: My Girl Scout troop went to see Ladybird Johnson when she came to declare Padre Island in Texas a national site. I was near enough to shake her hand but too shy to.
First Brush With Death: None that I know of for sure, but I’ve had some pretty close encounters in the car.
First House/Condo Owned: A fixer-upper that was way over our heads, though we didn’t know it at the time.
First Film Seen: Oh, boy, I don’t remember. One of the first I remember is The Love Bug.
First Favorite Recording Artist: The Monkees.
First Favorite Radio Station: I don’t remember from growing up. From college, early married days, WMUU.
First Book I Remember Reading: A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.
First Meme You Answered on Your Blog: The first weekly meme: this “Works for Me Wednesday” tip. First random, general meme I saw on someone else’s site and “borrowed”: 4 things meme.
If you borrow this, let me know and I’ll come read yours!
Oh Jesus I Have Promised
O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide.
O let me feel Thee near me! The world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear;
My foes are ever near me, around me and within;
But Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.
O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self will.
O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen, Thou Guardian of my soul.
O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee
That where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be.
And Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.
O let me see Thy footprints, and in them plant mine own;
My hope to follow duly is in Thy strength alone.
O guide me, call me, draw me, uphold me to the end;
And then in Heaven receive me, my Savior and my Friend.
~ John E. Bode, 1868
Catching up with awards and tags
A very long time ago, Alice gave me this Sisterhood award. Alice, forgive me for taking so long to acknowledge it!
She also gave me this Everyday Supplements Award even longer ago. 😳 This one has rules:
- Pass this award on to the blogs that are in your daily “must read” list.
- Name the blog/owners and tell us why the blog(s) is/are like your “everyday supplements”.
- The blogs that are awarded are automatically tagged to do the meme. So this keeps the circle going and hopefully, we will be able to introduce one another with some life-enriching reads.
- Optional: You can also include public blogs that are updated weekly/monthly but one(s) that you religiously follow during every update.
Alice said of me: Barbara is a godly woman and a blogger friend whom I respect. She is also an avid reader and is into crafts. Married to her husband for 26 years, she is an inspiration to me and I know that marriage does work when you partner with the right person. Being a “middle-aged” stay-at-home mom (as she calls herself), she keeps busy with various interesting projects. Her blog is indeed an everyday supplement to me.
Thanks so much, Alice! That’s very sweet.
I’m just going to refer you to my Blogroll for this one instead of copying the great majority of that here. There are many listed there, but the great majority don’t post everyday (if they did, I’d never be able to keep up with this many!!), and some are even inactive, but I keep them listed both for their content and so I’ll know when they start posting again. But each one has something worthwhile about it. I don’t keep up with my Blogroll quite as well as I do Google Reader, but I did just add and delete a few and repaired some links.
If you are a regular reader and commenter here, chances are I read you, too, so feel free to take the Everyday Supplement Award and name your Everyday Supplements as well.
Alice also tagged me with this Kreativ Blogger award which also comes with some rules:
This award deals with the values we deem important in others. Here are the six values that are important to me, six things I don’t support, and my nomination of six bloggers:
Six values that are important to me:
1. Honesty
2. Compassion
3. Generosity
4. Love
5. Faith
6. Grace
Six things I don’t support:
1. Arrogance
2. Cruelty
3. Injustice
4. Selfishness
5. Deceit
6. Stubbornness
My nomination of six bloggers:
1. Thom
2, Quilly
3. Smiling Sally
4. Melli
5. Cyndi
6. Janet
Thom gave me the 2009 Friendly Blogger Award. Thanks Thom!
Thom also gave me the Honest Scrapper award. It includes rules to tell ten random things about yourself.
I’ve done a 7 and an 8 random thing before…I’m not going to try to dig them up to make sure I don’t repeat myself (if I can’t remember what I said maybe you don’t either. 🙂 )
1. I am a sinner saved by grace.
2. I am the oldest of 6 children and a pretty classic firstborn child personality.
3. I once dated a mannequin. Well, not a real one. He was a real guy, but he worked as a fake mannequin. There was an article in the newspaper with a picture of people trying to get him to laugh while he was working.
4. I like pink, slate blue, and sage green.
5. I don’t like red, orange, most yellows, or peach, even though I have peach-colored roses. The label said pink when we bought them! Exceptions: I like these colors on fall leaves or in sunsets.
6. I don’t like weedy-looking salads. Somehow the more gourmet the salad, the more it looks like someone picked weeds for it out of their yard.
7. I like heart-shaped things.
8. Tap, tap, tap, tap…three more, eh? I have more books than bookshelves. Some shelves hold a double row.
9. I like a variety of music: sacred, classical, Irish and Scottish folk songs, many Broadway-type show tunes.
10.If something is out of place on the grocery store shelves, I don’t take it, even if it is the last one. If it is out of place someone has moved it or taken it and put it back, and I know 99.999% of the time that’s all it is — but for a while there “tampered” items in the stores were making big news, and now I just have this mental thing about the possibility. Weird, huh?
Whew! If you’re still reading this far, pat yourself on the back for being such a good blog friend!
Friday’s Fave Five
My Poetry Friday post is below.
Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts a “Friday Fave Five” in which we share our five favorite things from the past week. Click on the button to read more of the details, and you can visit Susanne to see the list of others’ favorites.
1. Our church’s annual ladies’ luncheon went very well. The Lord blessed in myriad ways. I enjoyed it…but it is a relief that it is over! 🙂
2. I’ve enjoyed listening to parts of a dramatic recording of the life of C. S. Lewis on a local radio station. I’ve been catching it mostly while in the car and forgetting about it when I am at home. Yesterday I heard the production information at the end and found it was a production of MoodyAudio.com, but I don’t see it listed under their Stories of Great Christians, though they have several others that look great. I’d love to find a recording of it to hear the whole thing.
3. My blog friend Lizzie at A Dusty Frame sent me a surprise package the other day! I had commented on a book she had reviewed, A Vote of Confidence by Robin Lee Hatcher, and she had my address from an order for a flower pin I had placed from her shop, so she sent it to me along with a lovely, almost too pretty to get messy dishcloth she knitted herself. I was so surprised and pleased! Thank you, Lizzie!
4. This Garfield comic strip. As Christian parents of boys, having tried to teach them that less physical contact before marriage is best, and having one getting married this summer, this struck us all funny.
5. My roses just started blooming this week!
I don’t know how they survive — I don’t do much with them besides occasionally cutting them back. But they sure brighten up the walk from the car to the house!
You can find more favorites from the week or link up to add your own at Susanne‘s.
Poetry Friday: Ode to Hay Fever
Poetry Friday is hosted at Allegro today.
I have an original composition today. It was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek commiseration for those of us who suffer with allergies this time of year, but it ended up sounding a little depressing…maybe because the tune is depressing. But if you can imagine how someone like Carol Burnett would sing it, you’ll have it just about right.
Ode to Hay Fever
— To the tune of the Beatles’ “Yesterday”
Allergies…
cause my eyes to itch and make me sneeze
when the pollen floats in from the trees.
Oh, I’m not pleased with allergies.
Logically
I know pollen is good for the bees
And it helps create some other trees,
But it’s not good for me to breathe.
Why this yellow dust on my car, my house, my hair?
I am surrounded with this pollen everywhere!
I love spring,
Listening to all the birds sing,
Warmer days and blooms on everything.
Allergies are the only things
Negative about the spring.
Book Review: The Centurion’s Wife
The Centurion’s Wife by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn is set in Israel immediately after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Leah is the niece of Pilate, but due to a financial disaster in her family, she becomes a servant to Pilate’s wife, Procula, until a marriage can be arranged for her. Leah does not want to marry, but her pleadings avail little. Procula had had troubling dreams about Jesus during His trial which continue to plague her, and she sends Leah out to try to find the disciples of Christ and learn what she can about whether revolt is planned among them. She befriends some of the women who followed Christ and is drawn to them while at the same time she is increasingly troubled about her impending arranged marriage.
Pilate had thought he appeased the Jews by giving them the crucifixion of Christ which they had clamored for, but now with the news that Jesus’ grave is open and His body missing, Pilate is concerned that His followers are planning a revolt. One of his centurions, Alban, has a good relationship with the Jews in his area, so Pilate sends him to learn what is going on and to ferret out any information he can. Alban is the centurion whose servant Jesus healed and whose faith Jesus praised, yet in this story it is thought that the faith that his servant could be healed was not quite yet saving faith. Alban sets out first of all to find the soldiers assigned to guard Jesus’ tomb: something doesn’t quite add up, because if the disciples had broken into the tomb and stolen Jesus’ body, the soldiers on guard would have been killed for letting that happen. But they are alive, and Alban wants to hear their side of the story.
What Alban and Leah both find separately has profound implications for their future.
I have to admit I approach Biblically-based fiction somewhat warily. It has to be understood that the events and personalities beyond what the Bible delineates are products of the authors’ imaginations, and sometimes an author’s characterization can ring not quite true with one’s own summations. But I have read all of Janette Oke’s books and many of Davis Bunn’s, and I felt they wouldn’t go too far afield. I just happened to pick this book up just after Easter, the same time setting as the book, and it brought to mind what that time must have been like. Pilate thought he had closed a chapter in regard to Jesus but now finds he may have more trouble than before; the disciples are convinced at this point that Jesus has risen and they are waiting, at His command, but they don’t know what is next; other people don’t know what to make of the events. It’s easy to imagine the incredulity many experienced upon first hearing that Jesus is not just missing, but resurrected, yet for several reasons they can’t just dismiss the possibility.
It took me several chapters to really connect with the characters, but I can’t put my finger on exactly why: perhaps it was just that initial confusion and unrest conveyed by the times carrying over into my perceptions. But I did feel more drawn in as the story progressed. I enjoyed “meeting” some of the early disciples: my favorite was Martha. I felt her personality was the most well-developed and realistic. Every church kitchen has a lady like her: bustling, efficient, matter-of-fact, perhaps a little too blunt, yet she had learned well the lesson Christ taught her. Mary Magdalene seemed the least well-developed and almost a little too other-worldly to me.
Overall I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next in the series.
So what is this I’m eating?
I noticed this “ad” on my egg carton one day and was a little taken aback. The eggs I was scrambling certainly looked natural! 🙂
It goes on to explain that the “natural” eggs came from hens fed a certain diet. Still, I am looking at these a little more suspectly…
Stray Thoughts 