Two of my favourite sounds:

-someone giggling or laughing out loud over the book they're engrossed in

-the sound of shears cutting fabric laid out on a table or the floor

books (surprise!)

The children have discovered ibooks on their ipod.... They have downloaded the entire collection of Lang's Fairy Tales except the Blue one which we own in print. They're exploring Henty's books and are disappointed to find that many authors cost money!

I anticipate quiet days ahead with the occasional "my turn!" squabble.

Friends and books, can be there a better combination?

When the two met in a living room on Saturday for 4 to inventory 1200 the only thing missing was the chocolate...which we found. We also found joy in each other's company and satisfaction in neat stacks of boxes filled with cared for books.

(Admittedly the host home was left with some un-neat stacks still to be cared for. Sorry and thank you.)

The sad thing is that the books will be returned to somebody else's living space far away. The other sad thing is that the friends live scattered like marbles on a tiled floor. Thankfully, plans are to be swept together periodically.


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a lesson learned

There is a land called Crete in the midst of the wine-dark sea, a fair land and a rich, begirt with water, and therein are many men innumerable and ninety
cities. (Odyssey, XIX)

So begins our history section today from a book by Dorothy Mills called The Book of the Ancient Greeks. All ears are open and careful hands intently draw into notebooks what the ears hear. Narrations of the paragraphs are thoughtful; CTM even goes on to tell the rest of the story from another book he has read. The next paragraph I read out is in fact this story. We read the other book too. (Wings by Jane Yolen) The drawings are quick yet precise. No dawdling today.

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What do we do now? is the wail.

I know he is asking which book shall we start now that we have finished reading both The Fellowship of the Ring and Walk In My Woods. But my reply is, "cry?" as I leave the path in the woods that has led me through the life of my Aunt Margaret and her family, which is my family. And on a broader scale, I have seen God at work through generations of people who have loved him, who have been impacted by others who have loved him and who in turn impact others.

I am older now since I read it last. I understand so much more. I hear more in the words on the page; Margaret Epp said more in her sentences than she actually wrote.

I have been deeply moved and thus deepened. So have my children in proportion to their age, just as I was the first time I read Aunt Margaret's story. This is how we learn and grow, in stages, as we are able to absorb and stretch. The prayer is that we never become rigid.

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finally made it to the library

Northrop Frye. An Educated Imagination.

Chapter 1. So far, I'm interested.

I forgot to pick up my library book. I had put it on hold weeks ago and then waited. I even forgot which book it was (and still can't remember!). Someone had a big fine to pay. The library phoned Tuesday to say it was in and that I had until Saturday to pick it up. I knew that I was going to be in town Thursday evening--plenty of time. But I didn't plan for the snowstorm or the onslaught of runny noses, including my own lethargic state.

OK, lethargy for me isn't that uncommon in the cold of winter but it helps the story.

I snapped awake from my wee nap on the couch this afternoon with the sinking remembering that I had forgotten to pick up the book. I really wanted to read it too. Now I'll have to pay $0.50 for not picking it up and try to remember what it is called so I can take it out before someone else does. Thankfully I do have it written down. It was something about learning or how the brain works or using our brains to learn or....maybe it's time I read it.

With Christmas and New Year behind us--already--we have settled back into our school routine. Admittedly re-entry has been a little bumpy. It's not helped by my fuzzy cold and sinusy head. A good nap this afternoon was welcome while Pieman took over teaching. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

As for Christmas, well, with the whole family here I was thrilled. A little noisier than is normal at our home but certainly a beautiful time for me. Thank you for coming! BTG wondered why the pappaenate lasted longer than the jam-jams when we had made them first. She hadn't realized I had frozen half of them. She did request new year's cookies today even though new year's is past.

The best part of our school day is by far the read-aloud time. I sit down with a cup of tea or other warm drink, the children grab their 'yarn work' (knitting mostly--it's the year to learn how) and I read. Currently we're reading Walk In My Woods by Margaret Epp (this is the reason BTG requested those new year's cookies) and The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien. We read the Hobbit earlier in the school year and the kidlets loved it. I wasn't ready to start the trilogy but I tell you, when my 9-year old begs me to read a book, it's hard to say no!

We finished up our Christmas holidays with a get-together with 3 other families. They came for supper, each bringing more than enough for their portion! They stayed for toboganning, coffee and tea, dessert and more coffee and tea. Much later than is usual at our home on a Saturday evening, the lights were on and the children playing.

I learned much about myself over these holidays. I learned that having a crowd of people here brings me joy. And it really isn't that hard to plan. I learned that our house is much warmer with a crowd of people in it! Another good reason to have parties. I learned that an adult woman is still a daughter and sister but she can 'grow up' and change those habitual ways of relating to family members. I learned that brussel sprouts aren't so bad. (Speaking of growing up.)

But chocolate is still better.

Who the Dickens?

I had put off reading Dickens with the kids, thinking them too young still. But a conversation around the table Sunday past had K2, the youngest at 7-11/12ths, asking who Scrooge was and BTG, the oldest at 11-10/12ths telling her he's a duck. OK, so not only are my children illiterate, they also have watched Disney's version of A Christmas Carol too many times. It took me only a few seconds to decide that the time had come to read the book.

Varied were the comments. But mostly negative.

I persisted.

"Marley was dead. There is no doubt whatever about that....Old Marley was
as dead as a doornail."

The surprised looks on their faces as the kidlets actually laughed out loud were as gratifying to me as the fact that they were enjoying the story. I was smug, I admit. "Maybe this won't be that bad after all," CTM says. It makes a mother proud. sigh.

Scrooge is described in sharp, pointy detail on page three.

"He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in
the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas."

And the clincher for this proud mother: "And to think I thought this would be boring!" (BTG)

Two and a half hours later, with my voice scratchy, the story was interrupted by the return of Pieman. We picked it up again Monday and finished it Wednesday. Not one word was missed, although I'm sure many of the old English allusions were. But nobody seemed to mind. There was silence when I finished. The spell was complete.