A Week of Prayer (a short post)

This past week has been a very good one, busy and simple.  Busy, because we are having a Novena at church - nine days of prayer, like the nine days of prayer the apostles had in the book of Acts.  Simple, because of the structure and routine of each day, and soothing and comforting because of that, like re-reading a story you know by heart, but seeing it in a different way each time.  There is a new grotto, Robin has been doing some landscaping.  I havn't taken many photos.  We have also been enjoying some cooler days, so welcome.  It is good to have intention in prayer.  For the Novena, each day we go to Mass, pray for the overall intention of religious freedom and for our personal intentions, and light a candle.  I wrote my intentions on a piece of paper and put it in the basket on the first day, and though the last day of the Novena is on this coming Tuesday, my first one has already started coming true.  I am so thankful!  I'll have more to write next time, after the Novena is over.  Prayer is so powerful.  Give it a try!

The grotto in the process of landscaping.  You can see the lovely waterfall cascading from the statue of Our Lady of Knock. 

The statue.  When light hits the white it seems to glow.  I love how happy she looks as she raises her eyes to heaven. I am very blessed because this lovely view is visible from my office window at work.  I have lots to tell you about and photos to share later.  Remember,

 Have a lovely week, Shari

Day of Rest

Have you ever read the comic strip Mutts?  It is my absolute favorite, and I have the strip of the day sent to my email everyday.  I really look forward to it. It's all about animals, specifically a cat named Mooch and a dog named Earl who are best friends.  Yesterday the strip had a kitty on the beach, and it had a lovely quote, actually a Spanish proverb:  "How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterward."  I really love Sundays - when I was young it was just understood that it was a day of rest, a day to write letters, read poetry or the comics, or walk through a cemetary.  No noise, no shopping, no technology.  Just simple easy food and relaxing.  How wonderful.  Today is so different for most people.  I still love to have a day of rest on Sunday - after church and lunch, we can nap with the dogs, write letters (or emails), and now for me, write on this blog every Sunday.  It is a comfortable rhythm, and I so clearly see God's wisdom in giving us a day of rest, and a day for family.  I treasure this time, more than I can express.  Sometimes on Sundays we do a leisurely craft or project, and I'd like to share one with you today.  Though I enjoy getting on the website Pinterest very much, nothing takes the place of an actual pin board or bulletin board.  They are in some ways an art form, yet fluid and thought provoking.  Robin has been keeping several boards in her room for most of her life - she started out taping pictures and cut outs from magazines on her closet door when she was around four years old, then graduated to boards, and currently has 18 of them in her room right now.  I have two going, though recently I've had an addional six that I've taken down because I plan to paint soon. Here are my two:

my first, and this one Robin gave me for my birthday:

I have lots of room to add more to this one, Robin made the background and I'm sort of adding things in the same color scheme.  It's a lot of fun.  I guess it's like 3-D scrapbooking, sort of.  Robin's are more detailed and interesting, and some of them have history, quotes, and pictures, some are biographical  - about people she admires or have read a lot about.  This next one has some famous faces you might recognize - I love the sketching of Victoria and Albert near the top right.

Do you see the photo at the very top left of this one? That's Robin at age one between Pooh and Tigger!  We also like to add other little things to the boards such as brooches, stamps, prayer cards, stickers, and postcards, as well as vintage illustrations printed from the internet or greeting cards or notes from friends.

It is fun to look at these, and to see the way they ebb and flow over time.  Have you ever made a board?  I highly recommend it.  Just put one up and add to it gradually.  See what develops. 

This artistry has also managed to express itself on the refridgerator door.  I read somewhere a long time ago that a busy and full refridgerator door was a reflection of a happy home.  I've found that to be true for us, and now just see how busy and happy our refridgerator is:

Here is the side, covered with those tiny word magnets you find in bookstores:

a close up:

and the front:

No particular order here, just little things added here and there. 
I've been working away at my cross stitch daily - here's a progress photo of the Queen's Crowns, nearly finished:

It has been a lovely and restful day after all, it started out right, too. We got to church a little early, so Robin took me to the park and showed me a lovely foot bridge.  I realized it's the only place this summer I have gone outside of the normal schedule - what a gift.  Thank you, Robin for sharing this lovely morning with me!
Here's Holly patiently waiting for me to get off the computor, so I'll say bye for now, see you next Sunday.  Have a restful day!

Peace!  Shari

More To Celebrate

I have a weakness for really dark chocolate, Dove to be specific.  Today the saying on the inside of my Dove chocolate says: "The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."  I like this a lot.  It's also reminds me of what my Grandma MeeMee used to say, "the more happiness you give away to others, the more you have left for yourself", and also that quote by Henry David Thoreau:

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”  I love all of these.  They express what this blog is to me:  I am sifting out what is good and cheerful and hopeful in my own life each week, and focusing only on those things.  Like the Bible verse Phillipians 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 

Here is a cheerful face.  Robin sometimes will sit down and draw out hundreds of these fun faces, one right after another, all different. I love to look at them. Here are a few examples:

Here is the artist at work:

She also did some painting this week, two kinds.  Art work:

and wall painting.  Our kitchen is now the lovely color of Dove dark chocolate!  Behr paint called Moose Trails.

Yum.

I have also been painting in Pemberly (my room) my desk and CD rack - but I'm not finished yet.  I go more slowly.  I will post photos when I am finished.  I do want to share a little old fashioned keepsake I have.  I have always loved certain women's magazines, but now I pretty much read just blogs.  There are so many wonderful ones to read!  However, this magazine is one I plan on keeping, it is a copy of the Ladies Home Journal, from August 1912.  Exactly 100 years old this month!  I love the cover.  It is really lovely, and makes me want to go canoeing some day with Robin. 

It includes a story serial :  Daddy Long Legs.  Maybe you have read the book or seen the movie.  There are also many photos of needlework and making lingere that are lovely.  I love old fashioned clothes.  I used to be a costumer and tailor.  I have made many historical and theatrical items.  It has been quite awhile now, maybe I am due to attempt something new.  I would love to make myself something from the 1820's.  For Robin's confirmation a couple of years ago we wanted something special, so we browsed online for an idea for a starting point, which led us to this museum photo (sorry I didn't keep the link).

We knew we wanted the basic dress, empire waist, ribbon at waist, 3/4 sleeve and at least a tea length.  Oh, and the blue of course.  We found fabric in blue and a white organza over layer, which we later decided was too fussy for Confirmation.  I also found a really lovely pattern at Sense and Sensibility - here it is:

and here is the final gown, worn for a very special day, Confirmation:

Another special day occured recently, my Mom turned 75.  She is a true sweet-heart.  Here is a photo of her (at age 2).  Happy Birthday Mom!

Well, it's time to go mend some doggie toys so my darlings have some of their favorites to chew again this week. 

Honey having fun.  Remember to think happy, positive thoughts, and celebrate the good in life.  Shari

The Bluebird of Happiness (a longish post)

Today was a very special day - something truly wonderful happened.  This has only happened once before in my life, the first time was in April 1996, just a few days before Robin was born, I was in the Bernheim Forest.  Today we were in the car leaving church and it happened again...I saw a Bluebird.  It was beautiful.  I felt so joyous.  I saw it twice, the second time Robin saw it with me - and I believe it is a sign of very good things to come, of immense happiness.  Here is what Wikipedia says about bluebirds:  "The mythology of the bluebird of happiness has deep roots that go back thousands of years. Indigenous cultures across the globe hold similar myths and beliefs about the bluebird. It is a widely accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird.  Many Native American tribes consider the Bluebird sacred."

I have also seen an Indigo Bunting once, many years ago in Pennsylvania.  But this Bluebird today was a messenger of happiness and joy, I'm sure.  I have stitched a bluebird before, I found it the other day.  I do still have a few of the the things I have stitched over the years, I'm so glad I saved this one:

It isn't framed yet.  At the same time, I also stitched some charming sheep.  Both were Bent Creek kits.  Here are the sheep, also not framed yet:

I've also knit a little bluebird, though the pattern was supposed to be for a baby pigeon, it looks like a bluebird to me.  The pattern was from the knitting book Stitch London. 

We saw a really neat movie this week:  Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.  I would highly recommend it for its romance, humor, scenery, and thought provoking ideas.  Definatley the kind of movie I'll want to see many times again.  Good old Redbox.  I had a coupon, so rented it for 75 cents.  We love bargains.  Robin had a charming outfit she put together again this morning for church, every morning I love to see what she comes up with. 

My little scholar has finished all her high school work.  We will have a little ceremony and party for her next summer before she goes to college.  She continues to read like a machine, and we have had countless fascinating discussions about her reading and about the books we have both read.  She has definately out-read me, though, no wonder one of her nicknames is "the reading machine".  I am amazed how she remembers and evaluates everything she has read.  We have also had many compare and contrast discussions.  I asked her to keep a list of her high school reading, which she has and I will share here, though I know this is only a partial list, for she only adds titles she deems worthy.  Any modern novels or newer literature she does not deem worthy to add.  Some of the books on the list she has read more than once, such as DeToquevilles's Democracy in America, which she really enjoyed and wrote a paper on.  She also did a thesis on war.  Anyway, here is just part of her high school reading list in the order that they were read - to save typing I'll skip some of the more well known author's names:

ROBIN'S HIGH SCHOOL REAING LIST:
2010 - 2012
The Bible
Peace is Every Step
Ghandi: The Man, His People, and the Empire
Democracy in America by Alexis DeToqueville
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Civil Disobediance by Henry David Thoreau
Walden
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The Maine Woods
Little Men
An Old Fashioned Girl by Alcott
Native Tongues by Charles Berlitz
Jo's Boys
Eight Cousins
Rose in Bloom
Lincoln the Unknown by Dale Carnegie
The Oxford English Dictionary
The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates - The First Unexpergated Text
The Bridge of San Luis Ray by Thornton Wilder
A Patriot's Handbook by Caroline Kennedy
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne's House of Dreams
Anne of Ingleside
Rainbow Valley
Rilla of Ingleside
Chronicles of Avonlea
Akin to Anne
55 Successful Harvard Law School Application Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature & Henry David Thoreau Walking
Kilmeny of the Orchard
Pat of Silver Bush
Magic for Marigold
The Blue Castle
The Doctor's Sweetheart
Jane of Lantern Hill
The Road to Yesterday
Mistress Pat
Further Chronicles of Avonlea
Betsy and the Emperor
A Tangled Web
The Story Girl
The Golden Road
The Forgotten Woman - the Untold Story of Kastur, Wife of Mahatma Ghandi
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Christmas With Anne and Other Holiday Stories
Maid Marion, a novel by Elsa Watson
A Condensation of Napoleon by Emil Ludwig
Along the Shore, Tales by the Sea
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle
Against the Odds Tales of Achievement
The Merriam Webster Dictionary
The Blythes are Quoted
Real Mosquitoes Don't Eat Meat by Brad Wetzler
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart
Sugar Blues by William Dufty
Puttin' on the Ritz - a Fred Astair Biography
Laugh Your Way Through Grammar by Joan D. Berberich
Pride and Prejudice
Emma
Sense and Sensebility
Persuasion
The Lambs Supper - The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking
Mansfield Park
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
Wild Fruits by Henry David Thoreau
Her Little Magesty The Life of Queen Victoria by Carolly Erickson
The American President by Kunhardt
The Book of Virtues by Bennett
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Verne
Around the World in 80 Days
The Mysterious Island
Five Weeks in a Balloon
We Two Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill
Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard
An Unfinished Life John F. Kennedy by Robert Dallek
Animal Farm by Orwell
To Kill a Mockingbird
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Backwoods and Along the Seashore by Thoreau
The Three Muskateers by Alexandre Dumas
Ophelia's World by Michele Durkson Clise
The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary of Britian
Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly
The Better Part by Thomnas Keating
Tales from Shakespeare
Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
Amelia Earhart the Mystery Solved by Long
Nicholas and Alexandra the Story of Love that Ended an Empire by Massic
Beatrix Potter A Life in Nature by Linda Lear
The Federalist Papers by Hamilton, Madison, Jay
Finding the North Pole Cook and Peary
All Creatures Great and Small
All Things Bright and Beautiful
All Things Wise and Wonderful
The Lord God Made Them All By Herriott
Every Living Thing
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Brothers Karamozov by Dostoesvsky
Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky
Gone With the Wind by Mitchell
War and Peace by Tolstoy
The Miracle of Mindfulness
The Queen Mother by Shawcross
The Lost Peace by Robert Dallek
Climbing the Mountain by Anne a Lay Apostle
Napolean's Wars an International History 1803-1815 by Esdaile
Founding Brothers by Ellis
Glory, Passion, Principle by Bohrer
Another Day in the Frontal Lobe by Firlik
His Excellency George Washington by Ellis
Louisa May Alcott by Cheever
Great Expectations
Franklin and Winston by Meacham
Truman by McCullough
Eisenhower Soldier and President by Ambrose
Much Ado About Nothing
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Twelfth Night or What You Will
Macbeth
The Tempest
Pilgrims Progress by Bunyan
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana Jr.
Othello
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Measure for Measure
Timon of Athens
Cymbeline
The Comedy of Errors
The Merchant of Venice
The Taming of the Shrew
Julius Caesar
First Part of King Henry VI
King Henry VI part two
Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War by Buchannan
American Courage by Herbert W. Warden III
King Henry VI part three
King Richard the Third
King John
The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by Milne
King Richard the Second
King Henry the Fourth part I
King Henry the Fourth part II
King Henry V
Troilus and Cressida
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
King Henry the Eighth
General Patton by Hirshson
Stalin the Court of the Red Tsar by Montefiore
Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler The Age of Social Catastrophe by Gellately
A Tale of Two Subs by Jonathan J. McCullough
Oliver Twist
David Copperfield
A Tale of Two Cities
How Hitler Could Have Won World War II The Fatal Errors that Lead to Nazi Defeat by Alexander
To Kingdom Come by Mrazek
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Utopia by Sir Thomas More
Our Sacred Honor by Bennett
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Beetle The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith by Crosswell
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas
From the Earth to the Moon by Verne
Round the Moon
A Journey to the Center of the Earth
No Ordinary Joes by Larry Colton
Flags of Our Fathers by Bradley
The Gathering Storm by Winston S. Churchill
The Grand Alliance by Churchill
The Hinge of Fate by Churchill
Triumph and Tragedy by Churchill
Retribution The Battle for Japan 1944-1945 by Max Hastings
Fly Boys by James Bradley
The Last Good War the Faces and Voices of WWII by Thomas Sanders
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer
The Atlantic and its Enemies by Norman Stone
The Irregulars by Jennet Conant
In Enemy Hands by Claire Swedberg
First Into Nagasaki by Weller
The Pacific by High Ambrose
Treasure from the Attic by Pressler
A Perfect Hell the True Story of the Black Devils the Forfathers of the Special Forces by Nadler
Nicholas Nickelby
Silent Night the True Story of the WWI Christmas Truce by Weintraub
Anne Franks Tales from the Secret Annex
In Time of War Hitler's Terrorist Attack on America by O'Donnel
Mein Kamph by Hitler
The Odyssey by Homer
The Illiad by Homer
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson
The Red Badge of Courage
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Eric Liddell by Catherine Swift
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Bobby and J. Edgar by Hursh
Fighter Boys the Battle of Britian by Bishop
The Forgotten 500 by Freeman
Danger's Hours the Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Piliot Who Crippled Her by Kenndy
Our Mutual Friend by Dickens
Bleak House
The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne
The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Master Man by Tolstoy
Little Dorrit
The Old Curiosity Shop
Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
Hard Times by Dickens
The War of Wars by Harvey
The Gift of Fear by Becker
Winnie Ille Pu (Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh in Latin)
Fateful Choices by Kershaw
The Berlin Wall by Taylor
The Nuremberg Interviews by Goldensohn
Commander in Chief by Perret
Dresden Tues. Feb. 13, 1945 by Taylor
Young Stalin
John F. Kenndy by O'Brien
Human Smoke by Baker
RFK By Heymann
Eleanor Roosevelt Vol. 1 1884 - 1933 by Cook
Eleanor Roosevelt Vol. 2 1933 - 1938
President Reagan A Role of a Lifetime by Cannon
Operation Jedburgh by Beaven
Kremlin Rising by Baker and Glasser
15 Stars Eisenhower, Macarthur, Marshall - Three Generals who Saved the American Century
Unbroken A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience,and Redemption by Hillenbrand
Supreme Power by Shesol
The Candy Bombers by Cherny
After the Reich by Macdonogh
What we Knew by Johnson...
Sea Cobra by Melton
Operation Exodus by Thomas
Ivan's War by Merridale
Vanity Fair by Thackery
Tom Jones by Fielding
The Phantom of the Opera by Leroux
The Man in the Iron Mask by Dumas
Treasure Island by Stevenson
Frankenstein by Shelley
Dombey and Son by Dickens
The Pickwick Papers
Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
The Idiot by Dostoevsky
Dick Sands, Boy Captain by Jules Verne
Lady Susan by Jane Austen
Cobra II by Gordon...
Neptune's Inferno the U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal by Hornfischer
Quiet Hero by Cosby
Without Hesitation General Hugh Shelton
How Wars End by Gideon Rose
Without Fidel By Bardach
Agent ZigZag by Macintyre
Fundamentals of Nursing The Art and Science of Nursing Care by Taylor...
Psychology in the New Millenium Sixth Edition by Rathus
Guide to Physical Examination by Bates
Nursing Student Handbook I and II
Lusitania by Preston
Shadow Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate by Bob Woodward
Character is Destiny by John McCain
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
America the Last Best Hope Vol.1 by Bennett
America the Last Best Hope Vol. 2
Command of Office by Graubard
Empire of Liberty by Wood
1984 by Orwell
The Possessed by Dostoevsky
Don Quixote by Cervantes
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Hugo
Agnes Grey by Bronte
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Night the Bed Fell by James Thurber
The Dog Who Bit People by Thurber
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Age of Innocece by Edith Wharton
The Mystery of Edwon Drood by Dickens
The House of Mirth by Wharton
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
The Skin of our Teeth by Thornton Wilder
The Matchmaker by Wilder
The Divine Comedy by Dante
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Hardy
Lorna Doone By R.D. Blackmore
The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne
Washington Square by Henry James
Anton Chekhov the Complete Novels
The Works of Oscar Wilde
The Selected Poems of Robert Frost
The Selected Poems of Emily Dickenson
The Works of Robert Browning
Germinal by Emilie Zola
The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Twenty Years After by Dumas
The Well-Beloved by Hardy
Jude the Obscure by Hardy
Desperate Remedies by Hardy
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Hardy
A Pair of Blue Eyes by Hardy
The Trumpet-Major by Hardy
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
Daisy Miller by James
The Ambassadors by James
The Way we Live Now by Anthony Trollope
The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Medjugorje the Message by Wayne Weible
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway
Death in the Afternoon by Hemingway
True at First Light by Hemingway
Silas Marner by Eliot
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
Lord Jim by Conrad
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
Middlemarch by George Elliot
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Sometimes a Great Notion by Kersey
The Glimpses fo the Moon by Edith Wharton
Ethan Fromme
The Reef
The Americans by Henry James
Demons by Dostoevsky
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
Daniel Deronda by George Elioit
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Ward No. 6 by Anton Checkhov
Marie:  A Story of Russian Love by Pushkin
Typhoon by Conrad
The Forged Coupon by Tolstoy
Poor Folk by Dostoevsky
Pioneers by Willa Cather
The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
Republic by Plato
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
Heart of Darkness by Conrad
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Why England Slept by John F. Kennedy
Barnaby Rudge by Dickens
Jacob's Room
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Decamercon by Giovanni Boccaccio
Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
Lost Illusions by Honore de Balzac
Adam Bede by George Eliot
Pere Goriot by Balzac
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
Across the River and Into the Trees by Hemingway
Resurrection by Tolstoy
Ulysses by James Joyce
Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
John Brown's Body by Benet
Victory by Conrad
Quentin Durward by Sir Walter Scott
Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Doyle
A Long Fatal Love Chase by Alcott
The Marble Faun by Hawthorne
Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis
Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut
Catch-22 by Heller
Candide by Voltaire
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Orczy
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Mice and Men
Confessions by Saint Augustine
Nana by Emile Zola
The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
Freakonomics
Free Air by Sinclair Lewis
Lady Chatterlys Lover by D.H. Lawrence
The Graduate by Charles Webb

Ok I have to stop typing now!  Anyway this is a very long but very partial list.  One morning last week she read three John Grisham novels, but of course, modern novels don't make the list. 

So when I hear any type of comments about homeschooling I smile to myself, and I thank the God of Heaven for my amazing and wonderful daughter who is my daily bird of happiness.

In The Good Old Summertime

I love that old song "In the Good Old Summertime" - when I sing it in my head I see Victorian ladies all in white and lace strolling across a green where there are people playing croquet, sipping lemonade, and gentlemen in straw hats and bow ties (also wearing all white) laughing heartily.  Ah me.  A lovely dream.  When I was young we used to play croquet all the time. Maybe we should get a croquet set again.  Anyway, speaking of white, here is Robin in our little bug car - she now has her temporary driving permit.  Isn't she cute behind the wheel?! 
No rush, she can take her time with this!  We have so much fun in the car.  One of the things we like to do is make up new words to familiar song tunes.  One day we were driving past a lady walking her dog very near the road, and Robin comes up with "Grandma got run over by a bug car, walking to the mailbox Thursday morn..."  Of course that was only a joke!  I'll share more of our silly songs later...
Our car's name is Peace Dove Bob.  We name all our vehicles, of course.  In fact, we name pretty much everything.  It's fun that way.  I've always liked the way the English name their homes, so friendly and civilized.  Anyway, wherever I have lived, my bedroom has always been Pemberly.  Austen fans will understand.  Here is is little peek inside Pemberly.  This is my night table:

As you can see I have orchids here, they do surprisingly well.  I think it must be the East facing window, and the crocheted lace allows just enough filtered sun inside.  The lace is actually an antique hand crocheted  baby blanket I found on ebay for a song.  Each square is a different animal.  I think it is so sweet and lovely.  You may also see my little sheep collection.  The larger one I knitted.  It was a bit of a challenge, and a joy to knit.

Here is another quick glimpse of Pemberly, the top of my dresser.  Each of the things on top have special meaning or memories for me.  My favorites are the ones Robin has given me.  The little church she gave me for Christmas when she was in kindergarden.  She also gave me the little yellow box with a rose on it and the cover says "Mother you are the best Mom and I love you dearly".

This morning after church our friend Ginny gifted us with some lovley organic squash from her garden, so when we got home Robin did some mowing and yard work, and I made up this summer squash casserole:  sliced squashes with onion, garlic, cheese, and spaghetti sauce.  Yum.

We saw a couple more interesting movies this weekend too:  The Music Within and Stolen Summer. 
Also found some old Hitchcock movies, just right for sitting in the dark living room with the air conditioning on a hot afternoon. 
Here's Spuddie and Holly on the lookout deck checking out the world:

They only stay out for a few minutes at a time.
I also got a little sewing time in - this time making pillowcases for Robin.  I have always made our pillowcases, that way they are so much more fun, softer, and we can choose our fabrics.  We have pillowcases for various holidays or just because we like the fabric.  They are so simple to make, and a yard and a half of fabric will make two pillowcases. This fabric has sock monkeys all over
it - pretty cute, huh? 

When I set it up to take the photo, Spuddie and Holly had to see what was going on.  I've been really enjoying my cross stitch lately in a big way.  I have two projects going right now.  This one:

and this one I've just started.  It took awhile to do all the basting to mark rows since it will actually be twelve different charts all on one fabric from the Country Cottage Needlework's Cottage of the Month Series:

I am starting with the June cottage, which is a white one, so I had to change the floss color as I am stitching it on white fabric.  Robin helped me choose just the right shade of pink.  I'll show more later as I make some progress!  TTFA

More July!

What a lovely weekend.  Yesterday I never left the house.  Yes, I am a homebody.  As Jane Austen says:  "home keeping hearts are happiest".  I have always loved Jane Austen - books and movies and love the clothes from her era.  When I made Robin's confirmation dress, we used a pattern for a dress from the 1820's.  I used to be a tailor, seamstress, and costumer for a university theatre.  I got to costume a Shakespeare festival (several plays) and a personal favorite, "The Importance of Being Earnest".  Love the humor.  I also love costumes from a variety of eras - 1820's first.  I also used to be pretty active in a civil war reenactment group, I did learn a lot about American history, and enjoyed making myself several outfits that were historically accurate - and later sold them.  I love American, English, and French history.  I also love Swedish and Scandinavian embroidery, cross stitch, and folk art.  I'll share more later.  For now, as promised, more George and Martha.

This is a close up of the dolls. I did not make them, but they are handmade.  I hope to make my own sometime.  Lately I've been fascinated with George and Martha.  I did visit Mount Vernon in 1976 - great year for visiting Washington, D.C.  I was really impressed with Mount Vernon - it's beauty and efficiency.  They must have been fascinating people!  That may have been my only real vacation, but we plan to travel again someday.  For now, Robin and I travel vicariously through books, films, and here Robin is visiting St. Basil's in Moscow via a 2000 piece puzzle.  I could never have done it, it was very difficult and there were so many pieces that looked exactly alike.  She triumphed, naturally. 

We have seen some very interesting films lately.  We get them from the library, and occasionally from Redbox.  My absolute favorite was yesterday, the BBC North and South.  Again, great history, romance, and costumes.  Also notable of late:  The Way, and The Yellow Handkerchief.  Definately can't go wrong with British Historical Drama.  I've been pretty crafty too.  Loving my cross stitch - after not having stitched for awhile, I'm back into it bigger than ever and loving it even more.  Here are a couple of small pieces I finished in June.  The bear one was from a kit from a wonderful British magazine that I saved, and the tiny bunny one was a kit from Britian I found on ebay.  I'm currently busy at work on a historical piece of sorts I'll share later, as well as the Cottage of the Month series from Country Cottage Needleworks.  Here are my two little pieces:

Here is a close up of the bear, notice the little star sequins.  The pattern came with a cute mat to accent the picture.

I also worked on a couple of craft projects yesterday, one of them I have been planning for awhile since Robin gave me this lovely printer's drawer:

I love the history of the drawer, so I don't want to paint it.  I have so far just cut out scraps of paper, and I'll have a little shadow type box for my tiny things.  I have lots of little cork people to add too, if they will fit.  At Christmas time I take wine corks and knit them little sweaters and hats and sometimes draw faces on them - I love doing it and have quite a little family of them now.  Here's a piccy from my ravelry site of some that I made:

I'm sure I'll add to the collection this year!  Anyway - lots of lovely projects to look forward too.  Love my life here in Shariland.  So much to be thakful for, especially my family and my lovely daughter, Robin.