Big News

Big happenings around here. Man of the House has received and accepted a call to a permanent pastorate, so we will be leaving Appalachia and moving back to the Mid-west, something Man of the House and I are happy about. Girl of the House has been surrounded by hills since birth and the wide open spaces make her nervous. Other than that, she seems pretty laid back about it. No "you're ruining my life!" drama. What a sweetie.

We should be ensconced in the parsonage in mid-June, Lord willing. In the meantime, we will, of course, be packing and selling our house. Even though we've lived in our present house for over fifteen years, we've been pretty good about giving things a good clear-out every year or two, so there isn't too much detritus to wade through. We are all thankful for that!

I will do my best to keep up with my reading challenge during the transition. I may have to rely on short books or audiobooks, or I may have to catch up later. I am a book ahead, so that gives me a little leeway up front. I'll blog about our move if there's anything blog-worthy.

This is a dream come true for Man of the House and we are all excited for him! He's thought about being a pastor since before we were married. He has a lot of prior ministry experience as an elder and interim pastor, but this is his first full-fledged call. Hey, he's younger than Moses was when God called him. ;-)

Our denomination is The American Association of Lutheran Churches, a small, conservative arm of Lutheranism. We are moving to a small (pop. 5700) farming community within pretty easy driving distance of a large metropolitan area. It's big enough to merit its own Walmart. lol The people at the church were friendly and welcoming when we visited. May we be blessings to one another.

Man of the House will continue his online teaching duties, at least for the first year. The schedule has already been made and families registered, so he needs to see it through. His schedule will be a challenge, but he's a hard worker ~ always has been ~ and I will help him as much as I can.

So that's our big news. It's been a long time coming and I'm not sure we are fully grasping the implications yet. Your prayers for us as we make this transition are truly appreciated. :-)

2011 Reading Challenge~~Book #19

I first learned of the Battle of Hastings in my high school world history class, and since that time I have encountered it while homeschooling my kids, in other reading, and in Teaching Co. lectures, but 1066: The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth filled in many gaps in my knowledge. The book takes its readers through the events that led to Harold's coronation as King of England and Duke William's consequent invasion to secure the crown that he believed was rightfully his, culminating in the Battle of Hastings. At just two hundred pages, I'm sure it's not an exhaustive history, but it is certainly informative for those whose knowledge about the battle was picked up piecemeal like mine was.

The author is very fair and evenhanded in his assessment of the events and players in the crucial year of 1066. He does not engage in the riduiculous speculation so common among historians today that result in equally ridiculous interpretations of history. The writing itself is very good. I can see why The New Yorker commented, "A model of scholarly popular history . . . Mr. Howarth is a brilliant writer, full of wit and solid common sense."

David Howarth was a military historian; I had never read any military history before now, but this book was so much more interesting and engaging than I ever thought a book about military history could be, and I will likely stop avoiding books of that type now. This book would also make an excellent addition to a high school history curriculum.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real ~ May 11, 2011

Happy~



Short Ride in a Fast Machine by composer John Adams is a lot of fun! Adams (born 1947) is one of America's most often performed composers and this paricular work is extremely popular as an encore piece. Adams is known as a minimalist composer, which means that he is interested in stripping music down to its bare bones, especially rhythm. Minimalist music is highly repetitive and can get downright boring if you don't know what to listen for (and even if you do sometimes!). The great thing about Adams, the thing that makes him my favorite minimalist composer, is that he avoids the tedium that other minimalists are prone to. I've been listening to this piece the past few days as I prepare to teach my last class of the year and it's so much fun I thought I'd share it here. The animation in the video is terrific too!

Funny ~



This is Man of the House hard at work. Doesn't he look like he's strenuously toiling away to earn our daily bread? He actually is! When he's not pastoring, he's teaching Latin and Greek to junior high and high school students online. Anyone who's ever worked with that age group knows what hard work that can be. But how many teachers do you know who can go to work in shorts and a T-shirt, put their feet up on their desks and still run a smooth and stimulating class? The commute to the office (down the hall from our bedroom) isn't bad either! :-)


Check out more "Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real" entries at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

2011 Reading Challenge~~Book #18

Weeeelll, I didn't finish 1066: The Year of the Conquest after all this week. I'm surprised I didn't because it's only 200 pages long, but I am just over halfway. I'm reading it rather slowly, trying to keep straight people named Tostig, Stigand, Loefwulf, and Lanfranc. I'll save my comments about it for now, but I am eager to commend it to you. Let that suffice for the time being.

In the meantime, I've been listening to Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope and finished it just yesterday. I found it a very enjoyable book, read engagingly by Simon Vance. The plot revolves around the political and/or ecclesiastical maneuverings of the clergymen of Barchester Cathedral and their effects on the various relationships among themselves and their families. There are a wide array of characters: the hen-pecked Bishop Proudie and his overbearing wife; the gentle and capable ex-warden Septimus Harding and his two daughters, one a young widow, the other married to fastidious Archdeacon Grantly; the odious and manipulative golddigger Mr. Slope; the scholarly yet socially inept Mr. Arabin; the disreputable Stanhope family; and the impecunious but likable Quiverfull family (who naturally have a lot of children~fourteen, to be precise).

Written in 1857, Barchester Towers pokes fun at the opposing forces inside the Church of England at the time: the High Church traditionalists and the new Evangelicals. It's enlightening to read books that deal with the issues of the day and which were written by people who were eyewitnesses. Viewing the controversies from their vantage point rather having the events interpreted for us by a modern historian looking back brings a different perspective. Even though the book is mainly a work of fiction, Trollope's discussion of "Sabbath schools" for children of the poor and high church v. low church was interesting to me. I already had a fairly good understanding of these issues before I read Trollope's book, but it's always gratifying to read something that refreshes and cements ideas already planted in the mind.

In some ways, Barchester Towers reminds me of Dickens but without the intricate storyline and mysterious plot tangles. The story is much more straighforward and even predictable. It certainly has the amusing names, which I think are fashioned after Dickens (i.e. Mr. Quiverfull and Dr. Omicron Pi*). It also has a similar level of detail, so if Dickens isn't your thing, I don't think Trollope will be either. However, I enjoyed it and will probably give more Trollope books a try.

*Since I listened to this book, I haven't seen how the good doctor spells his last name. It could be Pi, Pye, or even Pie, I presume. I used Pi to stay with the Greek alphabet theme.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real ~ Pathetic Garden Edition

This week my focus is on the "real" part of Like Mother, Like Daughter's Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real feature. Our backyard is very small and of course our garden is even smaller, but it's big enough to keep us in green beans, carrots, and lettuce throughout the summer. But this spring~THIS spring~the weather has been most uncooperative for keeping it weeded. It has rained almost everyday for the past five weeks, and since I will not weed in the rain, this is what it looks like now. Pathetic, isn't it?



That lovely spray of green you see? That is mostly weeds. There are a few things that we planted on purpose, though. See?





I try not to complain about the weather since complaining about it is in effect complaining about God. Since He controls the weather and sends it to us, who am I to say that it ought to be different? Do I really think He doesn't know what's going on? How much I am longing for open windows and sunshine and warm breezes? How tired I am of the rain? And I am sooooooo successful in not complaining. Just ask my family. On second thought, you better not.

I know there are many people who are truly suffering because of the recent tornadoes and flooding; my unweeded garden insignificant compared to that, but it's real life around here and so I thought I'd share it. The sun is shining today and it's forecast to be 67 degrees, so I'm making a raid on those weeds this afternoon. Say your prayers, weeds. Your end is near. . . Lord willing and the creek don't rise (literally!).

Family Culture IV

You know the drill. Whence did these quotes originate?

She’s nothing but a baby.

A ghastly looking crew!

What's it got in its pocketses?

You're a fine, steady hand.

Not very how (in answer to inquiries about one's health and well-being)

A wizard is never late. He arrives exactly when he means to.

Gotcher conk!

Tut, tut, it looks like rain!

That's the boy for me.

I'm the most horrible! I'm the most horrible!

He jumped six inches in the air with surprise and anxiety.

Swish and flick!

I can't put my arms down!

You won't have to be mumbling with me.

I just want your opinion, your honest opinion.

Plain food and plenty of it.

Pickin' flowers (pronounced "flawrs")

I never bawled!

Husband high (in reference to whether or not a girl is of marriageable age)

References to Napoleon, character, the Magna Carta, or propitious occasions

How many of them did you recognize?

2011 Reading Challenge~~Book #17

I'm glad I read the dedication* of John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps or I might have given up in disgust by the third chapter. Since I had been warned to expect the improbable and even the nearly impossible, I was amused rather than dismayed at the long pile-up of unlikely events throughout the story. Our hero, Richard Hannay, has the uncanniest luck I have ever seen and is more than once saved from certain demise by the unlikeliest of rescuers. Hannay is unwittingly drawn into international political intrigue when a stranger shows up on his doorstep and ends up dead a few days later, leaving behind a little black notebook full of coded clues and a trail that leads his enemies straight to Hannay. A chase across Scotland and back to London ensues. Set in 1914 just before the start of World War I, this book is an early example of the spy novel. I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but it was interesting to read an early specimen.

The Thirty-Nine Steps was a fun-enough, easy read, a good choice after my rather serious Lenten reading. There are four more Richard Hannay novels, which I may or may not read, but I'm glad I've read this one after hearing so much about the author over the years. The Thirty-Nine Steps has been made into a movie several times. We own the Hitchcock version, so I will have to dig it out now and see what I think.

I must apologize that this review is late. We were out-of-town this weekend, and it turns out we had no internet access. Once the withdrawal symptoms ceased, we found we didn't really mind (except I couldn't post my review!).


*TO THOMAS ARTHUR NELSON

My dear Tommy,
You and I have long cherished an affection for that elementary type of tale which Americans call the "dime novel" and which we know as the "shocker"--the romance where the incidents defy the probabilities, and march just inside the borders of the possible. During an illnes last winter I exhausted my store of those aids to cheerfulness, and was driven to write one for myslef. This little volume is the result, and I should like to put your name on it in memory of our long friendship, in the days when the wildest fictions are so much less improbable than the facts.

J.B.