Booking Through Thursday: Storage

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The weekly Booking Through Thursday question for today is suggested by Kat:

I recently got new bookshelves for my room, and I’m just loving them. Spent the afternoon putting up my books and sharing it on my blog . One of my friends asked a question and I thought it would be a great BTT question. So from Tina & myself, we’d like to know “How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?”

I wasn’t going to answer this question originally because the answer that came to mind was only a couple of words. But reading Sally‘s and Janet‘s answers inspired me to elaborate.

The short answer is: by subject and genre. More or less.

We have four main bookcases, two in the family room and two in the sunroom. They used to all be together until we got furniture for the living room that was larger than what we’d had before, so we had to move two bookcases out. The ones in the family room are technically only half-bookshelves: the upper half has bookshelves with glass doors, the bottom half has shelves with solid doors which hold games, wedding and baby albums, and the boxes I keep for each of my children with special cards and keepsakes. (It sounds more organized than it is. The shelves with keepsakes are stuffed with such things that I squirrel away in there during a quick clean-up, but periodically I sort through and put the right items in the right boxes and make hard decisions about throwing some away (To my husband: I really do, honey, though it looks like I never throw anything away. 🙂 ) The books in the upper shelves are mainly Christian non-fiction. Some of my husband’s books, which are mainly on the subject of creationism and science, are in those bookcases as well.

The ones in the sunroom have six shelves each and four of those are double-stacked — they have two rows of books on them (you’d think a sunroom would have white walls, billowy curtains over open windows, wicker furniture, and plants everywhere. Not ours. 🙂 Ours has dark wood paneling and a hodgepodge of stuff that won’t fit in other rooms: two computer desks, bookshelves, treadmill, a table with assorted craft supplies on it, filing cabinets, tools, and boxes of my mother-in-law’s storage. The previous owners had a hot tub and exercise equipment in here.) Anyway, the bookshelves in here house my most-read books: biographies, classics, and fiction. I read a lot of Christian fiction but I don’t keep a lot of it: most of it used to be passed on to my mom before she died and is still passed on to my mother-in-law. I have one box set side for my sister. Some gets donated to thrift stores. I have a lot of “mom” books and organizational books, for some reason, spread out over two different bookcases (which I guess means I need to put some of the organizational ones to good use.) I also have a couple of shelves of craft books in here. If I ever get my sewing/craft room, hopefully I can move those there. One of the “double-stacked” rows is to-be-read books; another holds books I put away in a quick clean-up but need to move to their rightful spot (but usually there is no room left on the shelf where they would belong…)

Within each of those broad categories, books on like subject are grouped together.

I also have a small bookcase of cookbooks in the kitchen as well as a shelf of cookbooks on a baker’s rack. Each of my children has bookcases in their rooms, and we have boxes of children’s books in the attic (which I am really glad I kept in light of the CPSIA). I hope to have very bookish grandchildren to share them with some day. There are a few books on my nightstand and a few end tables and, of course, in the bathroom.

Once when I hinted to my husband that we needed more bookshelves, he said we needed to get rid of some books. 🙂 It’s true — there really is no space for more shelves. He once said he didn’t see the need to keep a book once it had been read, but he is very patient with my book collection. Believe or not, I have purged it a few times, and it is probably time to do so again, but I don’t want to do so hurriedly. Books are an investment, and it would cost more to replace them than to keep them, so I like to go through them carefully, making really sure I don’t think I’ll ever use a book again before parting with it. I admit I do keep some out of sentimentality. I almost tossed my college literature books out recently since most of their content can be easily found elsewhere, but when I paged through them and saw various notes and underlinings, I just couldn’t.

friedmanlibrary217x271 I once thought it would be nice to have a room designated officially as the library like you read about or see in films in old English manors, complete with the little rolling ladder (that I really don’t think I have the balance to actually use.) But I am not so sure I’d really like that. Books are some of my best friends, and it is nice to have a few close at hand in most of the rooms.

(Note: This is not a picture of my bookcases: this is a picture of a “dream library.”)

Melli’s ABC Challenge and other things I see in odd places

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Do you remember the Magic Eye craze several years ago: a picture of squiggly lines or confused images which didn’t make sense, but if you stared at it in just the right way, you’d see a 3D image.

I could never make those things work.

But we had wallpaper in our bedroom and bathroom made up of swirly images that, if I stared off into space for a while, thinking of something else, suddenly I’d see a picture take shape in the wallpaper.

I guess you could call it an optical illusion, or sometimes it is the optical version of a homonym — a shape or object that can look like several different objects. There probably is an official word for such things.

That is kind of the premise behind Melli‘s ABC challenge. We’re supposed to find everyday objects that resemble letters of the alphabet, but we’re not to put something together to make the shape, and we’re not supposed to photograph letters themselves in a sign. We’re taking two letters at a time, and this week we’re looking for I and J. But along with this challenge I wanted to share some other optical homonyms. I am saving the best for last!

First my I and J. You can see straight lines that could be used for an I everywhere, but I really wanted to find something with the top and bottom crossbar (I would have loved to have found a lower case i — I’ll be interested to see if any of the other participants did.) The closest I could come is this — the side of the CD holder on the computer desk.

The J I noticed a while back: this is a hook outside which will support hanging plants when the weather gets consistently warmer.

Some years back when this piano was new, the one thing I didn’t like about it was that I thought the book support on it looked like kidneys:

Then a friend pointed out that it also looked like an insect’s eyes or twin embryos. I don’t know if that made me like it any better, but it was interesting!

Our “sunroom” has wooden paneling, and right above the computer desk is what looks to me like an eye:

Also on the ceiling of this room is what looks to me like an animal’s face. It’s a high ceiling and I can’t get quite close enough to get a good picture of it, but here’s the best:

In real life it does look like a 3D image: it looks like it is emerging from the paneling.

For the record, I really don’t like Southwest-style decorating, either the color or the shapes (no offense to those who do), but other room renovations have taken precedence over this one, and we just haven’t gotten to it yet. This long shape looks like some kind of bug to me:

And this looks like a man with a Mohawk wearing a gray suit:

Finally, our church has a “ladies’ lounge” connected to the restroom.

The wallpaper is made of these white-on-white urns or vases with bouquets and garlands of flowers:

But I noticed one day that from across the room it looked like a series of Gene Shalit faces, complete with bow tie:

Don’t you think?

gene_shalit_list_view

(For my international readers, Gene Shalit is a book and film critic whose trademark look includes bushy hair and a bow tie.)

Interests and Issues

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Gina at Chats With an Old Lady is running a series on Titus 2 women, sharing testimonies of women who have emphasized the Titus 2 characteristics of an older woman teaching and being an example to a younger one. If you don’t have someone like this in your life, perhaps these testimonies would give you an idea of the kind of person to look for and pray for. Some of us need to get used to the idea that we’re supposed to be on the other end — being a Titus 2 woman to someone — and these will give us some idea how to do that.

Those of you who pray, I’d appreciate your prayers for the talks in Washington about the auto industry bailout. I don’t pretend to have any idea what the best course of action would be, but this concerns not only the auto industry but also myriad other industries that contribute to it. Some of the big car companies are some of the biggest customers of my husband’s company, so anything that affects the “big” business affects his as well.

Frank Sansone brought my attention to something I had not heard of: the fact that President Obama has nominated David Ogden for the position of Deputy Attorney General. This is alarming because of Ogden’s record on pornography, as delineated in the article article: David Ogden and the New Pornographers: Why the Senate Should Reject His Nomination:

In addition to making it harder to prosecute those who sell images of child molestation and rape, Ogden has sought to ensure that pornography can be easily distributed and readily accessed in almost any medium or location. He has fought cases in Puerto Rico to allow Playboy to broadcast explicit programming on TV. He represented Philip Harvey, a man who runs the nation’s largest mail-order pornography shop out of North Carolina, in his attempt to deflect a Department of Justice investigation of his business. Completing a sort of multi-media grand slam, Ogden has sued to allow sexually-explicit content to be transmitted over the phone. Taking this quest to its absurd limits, he has even claimed in court that there is a constitutional right for pornography to be kept in firehouses. Ogden’s position is good for the industry groups he has represented but bad for female firefighters who could be subjected to humiliating and harassing images in the workplace. With an equal disregard for the comfort and protection of children, in 2000 Ogden sued to allow pornography to be accessed in public libraries

Albert Mohler has some additional thoughts here. I hope you will contact your senators to reject this nomination.
The Common Room rightly describes as “Deeply disturbing, heartbreaking” this news and these clips from Palestinian children’s programming glorifying hate, war, and antisemitism.
I’ve been saddened and even sickened by the ramifications of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Sherry at Semicolon has a good summary of it here. The main purpose of it is to keep our children from being poisoned by lead in toys — a good and worthy goal. But it has spun off into senseless mania. Retailers, thrift shops, and others are having to do away with multitudes of children’s books even though there has never been a known instance of someone getting lead contamination from a book. The Headmistress has been blogging about this for days — I would encourage you read even a portion of the info. there on it. It is absolutely mind-boggling.

Finally, I have also been greatly frustrated at the push for the economic stimulus package. Again, I know very little about what would be the best thing for the economy, but what frustrates me is the push to get it voted through before it could even be read. On a local radio interview with my state senator, Jim DeMint, he said he was trying to get them to delay for a week so they could take and read the thing, but that didn’t happen. It’s just irresponsible to push for a vote on something when very few have any idea of the specifics, and I have heard the bill contains some alarming policy changes. One of President Obama’s campaign promises was that the people would have five days to view any bill once it reaches his desk before he signs it. I hope he keeps that promise, but it would be nice for lawmakers to have at least that long to study a bill before signing it.

Sorry to be so depressing. 🙂 I am not feeling depressed — just bothered. I started to look for something cute or funny to end up with, but I decided to leave this post as is to encourage our alertness and prayers for our country and our world.

Blue Monday: Blue Poetry

Posted on February 16, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Smiling Sally hosts a Blue Monday in which we can post about anything blue — pretty, ugly, serious or funny — and then link up to other Blue Monday participants.

I rechecked Sally’s guidelines to make sure this was ok and that our blue item didn’t have to be an actual object (I didn’t think so as Sally’s pretty creative in other memes she participates in, too. 🙂 ). But over the weekend I was reminded of two poems that mentioned blue, both of which touch my heart for many reasons.

The first is “The Blue Bowl,” which I discovered a while back in Lanier Ivester‘s article, “I Am a Stay-at-Home Wife,” which is excellent reading. This poem has to do with a wife’s loving ministrations for her husband throughout the day.

The Blue Bowl

All day long I did the little things,
The little things that do not show;
I brought the kindling for the fire,
I set the candles in a row,
I filled a bowl with marigolds—
The shallow bowl you love the best—
And made the house a pleasant place
Where weariness may take its rest.

The hours sped on, my eager feet
Could not keep pace with my desire.
So much to do! So little time!
I could not let my body tire.
Yet when the coming of the night
Blotted the garden from my sight,
And on the narrow graveled walks
Between the guarding flower stalks
I heard your step, I was not through
With services I meant for you.

You came into the quiet room
That glowed enchanted with the bloom
Of yellow flame. I saw your face;
Illumined by the firelit space,
Slowly grow still and comforted—
“It’s good to be at home,” you said.

~ Blanch Bane Kuder

The second is one I first saw referenced on Janet’s blog, titled “The Blue Robe” by Wendell Berry.

The Blue Robe

How joyful to be together, alone
as when we first were joined
in our little house by the river
long ago, except that now we know

each other, as we did not then;
and now instead of two stories fumbling
to meet, we belong to one story
that the two, joining, made. And now

we touch each other with the tenderness
of mortals, who know themselves:
how joyful to feel the heart quake

at the sight of a grandmother,
old friend in the morning light,
beautiful in her blue robe!

— Wendell Berry, from The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

I like the depiction of “old love,” of two who have known and loved each other for years, and I especially like the last four lines. I’ve enjoyed discovering more of Berry’s poems since this one, such as To Tanya on My Sixtieth Birthday, They Sit Together on the Porch (both of these similarly themed about “old love,” but the second almost makes me teary with the symbolism at the end of which will go “first through the dark doorway, bidding Goodnight, and which sits on a while alone”), and To My Mother.

The tenderness in both of these poems really touches me.

No one understands like Jesus

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Psalm 139:2

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:15-16

No one understands like Jesus.
He’s a friend beyond compare;
Meet Him at the throne of mercy;
He is waiting for you there.

No one understands like Jesus;
Ev’ry woe He sees and feels;
Tenderly He whispers comfort,
And the broken heart He heals.

No one understands like Jesus
When the foes of life assail;
You should never be discouraged;
Jesus cares and will not fail!

No one understands like Jesus
When you falter on the way;
Tho’ you fail Him, sadly fail Him,
He will pardon you today.

CHORUS:
No one understands like Jesus
When the days are dark and grim;
No one is so near, so dear as Jesus–
Cast your ev’ry care on Him!

Words and music by John W. Peterson. The story behind the hymn here.

C. S. Lewis on love

Posted on February 14, 2009 by Barbara Harper

From Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis:

Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also many things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go. And in fact, whatever people say, the state called “being in love” usually does not last. If the old fairy-tale ending “They lived happily ever after” is taken to mean “They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,” then it says what probably was never was or ever could be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be “in love” need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense — love as distinct from “being in love” is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be “in love” with someone else. “Being in love” first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

Friday’s Fave Fives and Show and Tell Friday

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Barbara Harper

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.

I’m also linking the first item to Kelli’s Show and Tell Friday. I know Kelli doesn’t want the Show and Tell combined with other memes, and I hope she’ll forgive me, but I just couldn’t see making a separate post, especially when I have another one and am thinking about one more already today.

1. Finally getting this done:

I bought this door decoration at an online shop (I am sorry to say I forget now which one) and showed it for a Show and Tell last September:

Then a few weeks ago Hobby Lobby had all their floral stems on sale, so I bought several stems. I just put them together this morning:

I can see I should have gone with the lavender hydrangea stems rather than the dark purple — I just loved the richness of the color when I bought them, but they get kind of lost against the dark door. I lightened the picture just so they’d show up. I am not entirely sure I am done fiddling with it, but so far I like it.

2. Talking to my future daughter-in-law. My son’s cell phone has about died, so his fiance called the home line last night, and I happened to answer the phone. I have missed her being able to come over on weekends (she has finished school and is back home for the semester), so I enjoyed chatting with her for a bit and hearing about wedding plans.

3. Jesse’s tip-off. Jesse got to do the initial tip-off for the last two basketball games, and he was excited. Melli asked earlier whether they won their last game that was to determine whether they’d be in the playoffs (thanks for asking!). No they didn’t, so I thought they were done, but evidently there is a tournament later this month they might be going to, so they’re still practicing. Jeremy videotaped parts of the last game since that was the only one Jim couldn’t attend due to work, so I may add video of the tip-off later on if I can.

4. Nice temperatures. Even though it is February and still winter, we have had some bright sunny days and springlike temperatures this past week. It’s chilly again this morning and I am sure we will have more winter-like weather before it is over, but I soak in those warmer (but not hot yet) days whenever I can.

5. Valentine’s day! OK, that is tomorrow and not from this last week, but it is one of my favorite holidays.

I’m going to add just a few more — it is hard to stop at five once you get started!! But I don’t want to make the post go on and on, either, so I’ll just list them: a good dentist’s visit with one filling I was concerned about being ok, a wonderful ladies’ meeting Monday night that I am still enjoying even days later, our cable coming back on after being out for six hours yesterday (and the fact that we even have cable! It’s one of those easily taken for granted things until it’s off for a while), and old movies — I just watched an old version of David Copperfield (the one with W. C. Fields as Micawber) recently and started watching A Tale of Two Cities — I taped it, so I will catch the rest tomorrow. Plus the fact that as Christians we don’t have to be superstitious about things like Friday the 13th!!

Have a great Valentine’s Day tomorrow!

Poetry Friday: St. Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Barbara Harper

Poetry Friday is hosted at Big A little a today.

St. Valentine’s Day

by Edgar Guest

Let loose the sails of love and let them fill
With breezes sweet with tenderness today;
Scorn not the praises youthful lovers say;
Romance is old, but it is lovely still.
Not he who shows his love deserves the jeer,
But he who speaks not what she longs to hear.
There is no shame in love’s devoted speech;
Man need not blush his tenderness to show.
‘Tis shame to love and never let her know,
TO keep his heart forever out of reach.
Not he the fool who lets his love go on,
But he who spurns it when his love is won.

Men proudly vaunt their love of gold and fame,
High station and accomplishments of skill,
Yet of life’s greatest conquests they are still,
And deem it weakness, or an act of shame
To seem to place high value on the love
Which first of all they should be proudest of.
Let loose the sails of love and let them take
The tender breezes till the day be spent;
Only the fool chokes out life’s sentiment.
She is a prize too lovely to forsake,
Be not ashamed to send your valentine;
She has your love, but needs its outward sign.

Even though this is directed to men, I think it is important for all of us to take the time to let our loved ones know we love them. We all need “the outward sign.” And even though this should be a year-round activity, I love that Valentine’s Day provides a special opportunity to do so. For me Valentine’s Day isn’t just about romantic love, but any kind of love. It has always been a special family day for us.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Quotes about love for Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Barbara Harper

lacy 1. All you really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. ~ Lucy Van Pelt

2. I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.
~ Unknown

3. Impart unto me, O God, I pray Thee, the spirit of Thy Love, that I may be more anxious to give than to receive, more eager to understand than to be understood, more thoughtful for others, more forgetful of myself. ~ F. B. Meyer

4. We say that grace is “unmerited favor.” And we are instructed to love as Christ loves us. He shows us grace; we are to show each other grace. What does that mean? That means we are to be kinder to people than what we think they deserve. ~ Unknown

5. Respect is love in plain clothes. ~ Frankie Byrne

6. It is love in old age, no longer blind, that is true love. For love’s highest intensity doesn’t necessarily mean its highest quality. Glamour and jealousy are gone; and the ardent caress…is valueless compared to the reassuring touch of a trembling hand. Passersby commonly see little beauty in the embrace of young lovers on a park bench, but the understanding smile of an old wife to her husband is one of the loveliest things in the world. ~ Booth Tarkington

7. True love ennobles and dignifies the material labors of life; and homely services rendered for love’s sake have in them a poetry that is immortal.
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

8. The springs of love are in God, not in us. It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally; it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

— Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, April 30

9. The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think whether much of your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal, how can you hope to find inward peace?
– A.W. Tozer

10. We should measure affection, not like youngers by the ardour of its passion, but by its strength and constancy.
– Cicero

11. The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved – loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
– Victor Hugo

12. Loving can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life.
– Merie Shain

13. Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.
~ G K Chesterton

I am linking this to Thursday Thirteen today, now under new management.

Booking Through Thursday: Authors Talking

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Barbara Harper

The weekly Booking Through Thursday question for today is:

Do you read any author’s blogs? If so, are you looking for information on their next project? On the author personally? Something else?

I haven’t really gone searching through a list of favorite authors to see if they have blogs, but as I have come across links to a few I have subscribed to them. It seems to stand to reason that if I like the author’s writing, I would like something about their personality and their thoughts on other things. I do like hearing about their upcoming projects, but I don’t want too much revealed, like a commercial that tells you the whole plot line or major points of a program before it comes on.

Some of my favorite authors don’t really keep up too much with their blogs, though, and that is fine with me — if they have to choose between blogging and their next book, I’d rather they used the time to work on their next book.

I’m not really looking for information on their families or personal lives. They do deserve some privacy. But if they choose to write about their personal lives, I don’t mind. I guess I look for the same basic things in an author’s blog that I do in others: interesting writing first of all, whether funny or serious or matter of fact. I’d like to hear about what inspires them, what led to the things they write, their general thoughts on things not having to do with writing, etc. Some of them do have web sites rather than blogs with information about their books, “coming attractions,” and maybe a page or two of other thoughts.

The author’s blogs I read regularly are Sharon Hinck’s Stories For the Hero In All of Us, Patsy Clairmont‘s blog, Sheila Wray Gregoire’s To Love, Honor, and Vacuum (though I haven’t read any of her books yet. I found her through a link elsewhere and didn’t realize she was an author at first. I do enjoy her blog and have one of her books waiting on my TBR pile), and Writes of Passage, a group blog for Robin Lee Hatcher, Lori Copland, Tracie Peterson, Kim Vogel Sawyer, and Tamera Alexander (I haven’t actually read any of the books of Kim and Tamera yet, but I have of the others). A group blog where an author is only responsible for one post a week might work well for those who don’t feel they can keep up with a regular blog. I also read some of Robin Lee Hatcher’s Write Thinking through her reader’s group on Facebook. I also occasionally check the web sites of Terri Blackstock, Beverly Lewis, and Jamie Langston Turner.

I would probably search out more if the list of blogs I read weren’t already so long, but, who knows — maybe I will find some interesting ones through others’ answers to the BTT question today!