Books, Books and More Books

 My car is in the shop today, so it is a good time to blog. 

As usual, I pursue my quest to find more books which my granddaughters just might like to pick up and read. When I saw that Tan had The Chestertons and the Golden Key (Nancy Carpentier Brown, 2016) on their $5 book list, I had to get it. The story begins with an eleven year old girl's invitation to the Chestertons after her siblings see them at a hotel in their town. Woven into the story are a pair of roller skates and a missing piano key. I did not like the book at first because I thought it a bit far fetched, first, that such a young girl would recognize Chesterton, and second, that she would venture to write him a fan letter and invite him to lunch. But at the end of the book I found that the story was based on real events. Oh, how mature and well educated that young lady was at a time that we think was so repressive to women! Compare that to now, when kids of the same age cannot drag their eyes off of their computer screens. The truth behind the fiction put an entire new light on the story. The book does have a very attractive, colorful cover. The black and white drawings throughout the book are also very well done with beautiful details. Leaded window pains reminded me of my grandparent's house in Montana, and on one of the pages I saw a drawing of my beloved "teddy bear" bed frame. I got a laugh out of  GK's demonstration on handling writer's block through the use of a  sword and throw pillows. Can't say I'll try it, but it was funny.

After I finished that book I decided that I would order another of Brown's books, The Woman Who was Chesterton (American Chesterton Society, 2015).  Frances Chesterton sounded like a virtuous, kind, faithful Christian woman. Also interesting to see references to my old homeschool friend Charlotte Mason in the book in connection with the Parents National Education Union, of which Frances Chesterton was a member. That is such a cool historical connection. At a time when I can barely stand reading or listening to the news, the mainstream media because of all of it's propaganda, and LifeSiteNews because it is too depressing, this book was a refreshing read. I needed that. 

Now I am into something far more serious, but also riveting: The Sexual State by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (Tan Books, 2018). This was also a Tan $5 book purchase. But I know Dr. J. from the Ruth Institute, and it seemed a good follow-up to Leila Miller's Primal Loss. I felt the need to hear something of the harm that has come through the Sexual Revolution to counteract all of the societal messages promoting divorce, abortion and contraception. Even the Church seems to turn a blind eye to the harm that comes to children through divorce. The focus has been on the need for annulments before re-marriage, which is fine and good. But in the process no one is talking about whether it is really such a good idea for a second marriage even if it can be a sacramental one. I see these books as sort of reparational reading after my own daughter's first divorce. I can't help but think that had I read these books first, I would have given her different advice and acted differently myself. It will be hard for me when my granddaughter is old enough to start asking questions.

Now, for something lighter. I have dome some card stamping recently. My biggest need is sympathy cards, always. I did two designs which I really liked, based on a card which I saw on Split Coast Stampers. I also made a few graduation cards which I really liked. I have enough stamping stuff to last for ages, but I want to try using an ink blending tool when I can get my hands on one. Stampin' Up has a new Sale-a-bration coming up in August, so I will wait until then. 

My flower beds are looking good. It is time to pull out all of the johnny jump-ups which have gone to seed and I have just a few more iris to cut back. But the day lilies are just starting to bloom, and the lamb's ears and mallow are both blooming, and the light green foliage and white blossoms are beautiful. I am hankering after more dwarf iris for next year. I got some free mint seed at The Plant Place in St. Cloud, and that should be close to sprouting. But I also discovered that some of the mint I had put in a couple of years ago is still growing. It is not abundant by any means, but it is still alive. The mint which we had at Bald Eagle was very aggressive, so I wonder why I am having such a hard time getting it to thrive here. The zinnias which I started from seed from gift seed are blooming already in the Mary Garden at St. John Cantius. Once they were planted in the garden they really took off. 

I believe the gophers are gone, but we continue the battle with chipmunks. Cute as they are, they are becoming a nuisance. They ripped some insulation out of the walls in the garage, and dug a hole in my bag of potting soil. I am sure that we have one running around inside the walls of our house, since I have heard it at night. The drywall in our garage has a few access holes in it, and we have found holes in the slat wall and in the concrete near the garage door. 

Pocketful of Pinecones

Our new laminate flooring is dangerous! I have to be very deliberate when siting down on our wheeled computer chair so that it does not roll away from me. Yesterday I leaned against the cedar chest and that moved. I am not accustomed to that.

Our house is still not back to normal because we ran into a little snafu when they put the laminate into the living room. They found a strip of raised cement in front of the fireplace which had been covered by the carpet.

Short of grinding it down, there is no way to make it level. The new plan is to have them fill it in to make a slightly raised platform, and then tile it.  We are waiting for the tile to come in. We are also waiting for the steps to be finished, so until then, our bookshelves and couch remain cramped in the middle room.

Now a few things have happened because the house is in disorder. First, I have grown fond of the couch in its new location; it is warmer, it has more light for reading, and my husband has to sit on it with me when he is watching television. Coupled with a period of abstinence from Spider Solitaire, it means that I have been reading more. The second thing that happened is that three of our five bookshelves are blocked, forcing me to read not what I had planned, finishing that book The Vatican which I had started before we moved the shelves, and then going on to read Little Men. Instead I grabbed Karen Andreola's Pocketful of Pinecones which I had purchased years ago when I was homeschooling and never read. I figured now was the time, and that I would have one less book on the shelves when I was finished.

Karen's book was an easy read so that I was waiting to get back to it when I took lunch breaks or picked it up late in the evenings. It is written in the form of a diary of a mother homeschooling in the spirit of Charlotte Mason  in the mid 1930's. The emphasis is on nature study, but includes other ideas of Charlotte Mason as well. She refers often to Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study, another book which I purchased for homeschooling, but used not nearly enough. Each chapter ends with scientific names of flora and fauna observed during their day, and often includes a related hymn or poem. She also includes questions to prod mother and students on in their studies. The back of the book contains source notes in the event that the reader wishes to track down originals.

The scientific names and quotes are not in a readily usable textbook format, They would only be useful insofar as they would be copied for a one-time reference. Their inclusion does serve as an example of items which might be contained in a nature journal.

I found many similarities between the examples given of Charlotte Mason, and methods used in Laura Berquist's Mother of Divine Grace homeschool program - narration and dictation in the early grades, use of a timeline, keeping a nature journal, and reading books written by a single author in addition to, or in place of text books for history and science. I assume Laura adopted these ideas after studying Charlotte Mason herself. Although we adopted Anne at an older age, I found these ideas very appealing when we homeschooled. I have already started nature walks with my granddaughter, and may have her start a nature journal when she starts first grade. I found that I had many of the books which Karen recommended for homeschooling because Laura Berquist had recommended them in her program. I had others, such as Thornton Burgess' stories and postcards of Audobon's drawings, because I like Dover Publications!

Since finishing Karen's book, I am thinking that I need to make much more use of my copy of the Handbook of Nature Study. Perhaps Anna Comstock will have the answer as to why the geese we saw the other day seemed to circle around and around instead of just flying south in their "V" formation.

One other fun reference which Karen threw in her book was the book, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. I only know about this book because I found it in the library at St. Mary Help of Christians School when Anne attended there. I pulled it off of the shelf to read to the students coming in for library time. I had no idea it was based on a real story, but I share Miss Rumphius' love of lupines. Someone brings wild blue lupine seeds in packets with a lovely hand-painted picture to the Pioneer Arts Co-op at Silver Bay on the Minnesota North Shore. I buy at least one packet whenever we stop. I did have some beautiful lupine plants in my garden, but they died when I purged plants which were growing around them. I must have disturbed the roots.

I will not keep Karen's book, but it might be an interesting read for anyone considering homeschooling. It is an easy introduction to Charlotte Mason.