Ramona's Summer Reading List, Part Three: Today's Kindle Deal Helps Out

I just ordered three of Joan MacPhail Knight's Charlotte Books: Charlotte in Paris, Charlotte in London and Charlotte in New York are each 99 cents on Kindle today. Looking forward to reading these with Ramona!

Poetry Friday: Marginalia

A favorite.
And if I were making notes in the margin, I'd scribble, Yes!
And Me, too.
And Love him.

Marginalia 
by Billy Collins

Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
skirmishes against the author
raging along the borders of every page
in tiny black script.
If I could just get my hands on you,
Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,
they seem to say,
I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head.

Other comments are more offhand, dismissive -
"Nonsense." "Please!" "HA!!" -
....

(Read the whole thing here.)

~~~~~

The Poetry Friday round up is at Reflections on the Teche today. 

Melissa Wiley and Quinn Cummings Talking About Me Behind My Back

What's that you say? The internet is not exactly behind anyone's back?

So, long story short: thanks to the internet, I am friends with Quinn Cummings, Writer Extraordinaire, homeschooling mother, animal lover, and one of the funniest people on the planet.

What? No, don't be silly -- we haven't actually met. We're the kind of friends who say things like, "So, one day I was reading Quinn Cummings' blog, because I love her blog and she always reduces me to helpless laughter, as she did when I read her first book, Notes From the Underwire, and so I saw that she was writing a book about homeschooling! So I left a comment on her blog! So."

And Quinn has (I'm guessing) said things like, "One day this weird woman in Nebraska who overuses italics and can't stop saying 'so' left a comment on my blog. I sent her my homeschooling survey just to get her off my back."

And, voila! A beautiful friendship was born.

So, then I told Quinn "My homeschooling style and history are not even one-tenth as interesting as the delightful Melissa Wiley's, so you should definitely look her up and talk to her about homeschooling, too," and Quinn did, and she and Melissa got together at Lissa's Shakespeare club performance, and another modern, internet-based friendship was born. And now GeekMom (that's an official title, not a judgment) Melissa Wiley has just interviewed Quinn Cummings about Quinn's new book, Pet Sounds,* which is not at all about homeschooling, or italics, or the word "so," but is all about the unique and wonderful things we call our pets.

So.

Go watch Melissa Wiley's first-ever GeekMom Book Dish interview with Quinn Cummings.**

~~~~~

*A dollar from every sale of Pet Sounds will be donated to Sante D'Or Adoption Center.

** They aren't really talking about me behind my back, but you knew that. They do, however, tell the story of how they met and Quinn graciously makes me sound much funnier than I am.

Ramona's Summer Reading List, Part Two

Last month, I started a list of reading ideas for Ramona. Thanks to my lovely readers and their comments, here are a few more ideas:

The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright
The Four-Story Mistake (Enright)
All-of-a-Kind Family, Sydney Taylor
Bantry Bay Series, Hilda Van Stockum
Linnets and Valerians, Elizabeth Goudge
Starry River of the Sky, Grace Lin

And a few more I've added to our list based on my own browsing or suggestions from friends:

Baby Island, Carol Ryrie Brink
Owls in the Family, Farley Mowat
Glory Be, Augusta Scattergood
The Wheel on the School, Meindert DeJong
Dancing Shoes, Noel Streatfeild

You can also check out the comments on Part One for more suggestions -- I didn't post them here if they were books we've already read or if I'm going to wait a year or two to read them with Ramona.

Bits and Pieces of Our Days

Betsy is done with a horrible rite of passage: she took the ACT yesterday!

She is every synonym of happy: blissful, blithe, can't complain, captivated, cheerful, chipper, chirpy, content, convivial, delighted, ecstatic, elated, exultant, flying high, gleeful, gratified, jolly, joyous, jubilant, laughing, light, merry, mirthful, on cloud nine, overjoyed, peaceful, peppy, perky, pleased, sparkling, sunny, thrilled, tickled pink, upbeat, walking on air.

Yeah. She's good.

~~~~~

In case you're not on Facebook or Twitter, or in case you ignore me on Facebook or Twitter, or in case you don't care and now feel cornered because I'm telling you anyway (my apologies), I'm painting my kitchen. Yellow. It will happen slowly over the summer. Very slowly, because that's how I paint, and I'm still trying to decide how much blue or white to throw into the mix, but every time I walk in and see these yellow cupboards, I feel happy.

Yeah. I'm easily pleased.

~~~~~

"Oh, no! I have to water my worms!"

That's what Ramona said last night, thanks to a summer library program. They played with mud, made an earthworm home in a water bottle, (Atticus keeps telling her he'll steal those worms for his garden), drew and decorated a mural (Ramona handled the prairie dogs), and sang Dirt Made My Lunch for library patrons.

I hope we didn't kill the worms. If they're anything like houseplants in my hands ....

Yeah. They're goners.

~~~~~

In closing:

Yeah. This will be Heaven. 

Today's Lesson on Linguistics

Fun stuff for word nerds!

This link shows 22 maps, put together by PhD student Joshua Katz. The maps illustrate just how we Americans are separated by a common language.

How do you pronounce "caramel"? Or "crayon"? What word do you use for "a sweetened carbonated beverage"? (Apparently I am out of sync with the rest of the midwest, because I call it "soda," not "pop." Also? I call mayonnaise "man-aze" which makes me geographically incorrect.)

I Love the People Who Love These Books and Made This Video

Atticus finds the coolest stuff:

Detaching Myself From My Shelf

Summer always includes post school year cleaning and organization. As I update booklists and learning records, add to a high schooler's transcript, file papers, and beam at art-project-keepers, I naturally turn to other kinds of tidying and decluttering.

Sitting in my living room floor, in a box and a few grocery sacks, are 110 books. These are the "few" books that we pulled off the shelves the other day. We haven't been through all the shelves yet.

I have no idea how many books we own. I'm a little afraid to find out. A friend of mine catalogued her books on Library Thing last year. She was extolling the virtues of the site. My first thought was that I would never have the patience for all that data input, but when she told me about how easy it made some of her record keeping, I was intrigued. My Homeschooling-Mom-Brain went into full organizational mode when I grasped how useful the tagging could be ("Ramona's Summer Reads" or  "Betsy: Brit Lit") for both planning and transcripts.

But, this post isn't really about Library Thing (though if you use it, I'd love to hear more about what you do and how you like it), it's about wading through our books, and trying to let them go. "Wading" seems an appropriate word choice, as there are often books on the floor, books in stacks, books everywhere.

I don't so much decorate our interiors as rearrange the way the books look in each room.

Oh, sure, I take books to Goodwill regularly. I have to -- there are always new books coming in to the house. But always, still, a lot of books here.

As much as I adore our books, I sometimes feel weighed down by them. By the stuff of them.  From a spiritual standpoint, books are yet another material thing, and I have long worked toward detaching from material things. It's a long, plodding process. It's working fairly well in some areas: Atticus and I don't care about the size of our home, the prestige of a location, or what kind of car we drive (we just want a vehicle to run and when it runs for several years after the car payments are done, that's even better.) I don't care much about clothes or shoes. I've detached from an abundance of purses and jewelry. I have separated myself from knick-knacks and thingies and stuff from my childhood. But books? They are in a category of their own.

There's the personal to consider ("Atticus, you loved that book when I first met you! I'm not letting you give that one away.") There's posterity ("Will the girls need this? Will they want it? Should I buy two more of this title so they can each have one?") There are beautiful covers (I told you I decorate with books.)

They are "just" material things. But they're not, are they? Not in the same category as the other stuff in my life. They are our personal history, a map of our lives' journeys, our philosophies, our evolution.

It can be hard to toss all of that in a trash bag that's destined for Goodwill.

Still. I want to shed a little of this weight, lighten the load, leave a little less for my children to sift through after I'm gone someday.

So, I'm working on it. (Pssstt ... I would say, "Don't tell Atticus," but I already told him. I think I pulled at least ten of the books he was willing to part with out of the Goodwill bags. Still, giving away 110 of the 120 or so that we pulled isn't a bad start.)

I'll keep you posted.

Let's Meet in Denver

Do you live in Denver?
Do you homeschool?
Do you want to talk Unschoolishness? (And other stuff?)

Then let's hang out.

I'm so excited! I'll be speaking at the Rocky Mountain Catholic Home Educators Conference in Denver on July 12th and 13th.

More news soon ....

Poetry Friday: Lines Written in Early Spring

Atticus got to pick the poem for today:

Lines Written in Early Spring

  by William Wordsworth

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;                      
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played:
Their thoughts I cannot measure,
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.                            

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

~~~~~~~~~~

The Poetry Friday round up is at Teaching Young Writers. 

From the Inbox: A Round-up

I get many requests to review, feature, or otherwise help share and promote music, books, movies, and other great products. I have to confess that it all sometimes paralyzes me. My heart wants to wait until I have time to fully dive in to everything that is sent my way, to do every bit of it justice, but the desired time doesn't always materialize.

I used to do some "From the Inbox" round-up posts, and I want to get back to those. So, without further ado ....

~~~~~

Angels and Saints at Ephesus is a beautiful album from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles. I had the privilege of a sneak peek at the entire album, but I won't stop at the free download. This album is worth the price (and then some), so we'll be ordering a copy. Here's a video about the making of Angels and Saints.

~~~~~

Shalom Media is a Catholic, charismatic media ministry offering a new magazine, Shalom Tidings. In recent months, they have run a couple of my articles, and I feel privileged to be in the company of some terrific Catholic writers. You can find out more about Shalom Media here, and see pastoral affirmations of the new magazine (including one from my own archbishop!) here.

~~~~~

We haven't watched this family film yet, but it looks lovely. Here's a synopsis of El Milagro de Marcelio: Pan y Vino:

El Milagro de Marcelino is a classic remake of a popular Latino film from the 50s, and is a staple in Hispanic pop culture. In addition, the film has won a variety of cinematography and director awards from various Catholic film festivals. It’s in Spanish with English subtitles.

Marcelino is a heartwarming tale of an orphan boy caught in the midst Mexico’s revolution. The story begins as the monks of a poor war ravaged monastery find an infant abandoned on their doorstep. Having nowhere to turn in the wake of the war, they decide to raise him in the monastery. The child grows into a rambunctious boy fond of playing jokes on the friars with his best friend Enrique. Marcelino finds himself yearning for a mother as he observes the deep bond Enrique shares with his mother. An attack by revolutionaries leaves the tiny village in chaos and Enrique dying in the arms of his grieving mother, as Marcelino looks on. Overcome with fear he hides in the one place he was warned to never go — the attic of the monastery .... 

For more information, visit the film's website.

~~~~~

Patti Armstrong, amazing homeschooling mother of ten, has two new books out. Patti's work is all about encouraging faith and family -- find out more about Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families and Dear God, I Don't Get It by visiting the links or Patti's website.

~~~~~

The Martyrs Project has released a new album, The Martyrs' Prayers. They also have a new music video about Archbishop Oscar Romero, and here's a past video about St. Thomas Becket.

~~~~~

That does it for today. I'll meet you here the next time my Inbox is frighteningly full. 

Poetry Friday: To a Daughter Leaving Home

For every parent, and for every parting ....


To a Daughter Leaving Home
by Linda Pastan

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
....
(Read the whole thing here, at The Writer's Almanac.)

Find the Poetry Friday round up at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

School's Out. I'm Officially Turning the Cooking Over to Atticus for the Summer, and This is How I Feel:

"You're more of a Domestic Cat Mom."

Yesterday I mentioned to my daughters that I'd read this article about the ways in which the children of "tiger moms" are, generally speaking, unhappier than non-tiger cubs.*

It got me thinking about the definition of success, and about how my definitions have changed over the years. There was a time when "success" for me would have meant following my dream to become a stage actress. But as I explored that possibility, I became disenchanted because when I seriously examined what I was doing, I realized I got bored during the run of a play. While it was always fun at the outset -- the read-through, the first rehearsal, figuring out the character -- to play a Tennessee Williams villain, or to take up smoking in an effort to make inhaling look realistic to the audience, in the end it all just got a little dull.

When I set out on a quest to find a new spark, a purpose, the meaning of life, my definitions grew fuzzy for a long time before they came back into focus. I remember -- sometime in my twenties, I think -- a friend's mother saying that she was worried about me. I was "just drifting." I had no plan for success, no goals. Where was I going, she wondered?

I didn't know where I was going either. I was worried about me, too. If I had crafted a plan entitled, "How to Achieve Happiness, Relative Emotional Stability, a Strong Marriage, and a Highly Imperfect But Fulfilling Life," that plan would not have included, "Have a conversion to Christianity, abandon everything you thought you believed, become a Catholic, give up birth control, have babies and miscarriages, and trust God even when life is annoyingly hard and challenging." Point A and Point B would not have appeared, in my previous perceptions, to ever, ever merge.

But when I decided that my priority in life -- my one thing, my definition of success -- was to figure out what I did and did not believe in, other things began to fall into place. My faith, my marriage, my family ... that's my hierarchy. It's the kind of hierarchy that Atticus and I have tried to teach our daughters, too. Get things figured out with God and the rest will eventually follow. Writing, for example.

That doesn't mean that life won't require discernment, courage, the discipline of an education, or that our children can skip sifting through the often-confusing choices available to young women in the career and family arenas. It doesn't mean their lives are predetermined, predestined, or guaranteed to be easy. It simply means that if they define success in spiritual terms -- How's stuff going with us, God? Are we good? -- the worldly terms don't much matter, and the worldly choices become a little clearer. A successful life might end up including stage acting, or it might not. It might mean being an at-home mom, or teaching in a public school and hearing kids tell you that you made a difference to them. It could mean a loud, public life, or a quiet, hidden one.

Their one thing. That's what I want my daughters to figure out, know, understand. And I can't, tiger-mom style, force that on them or on anyone.

~~~~~

"Thank you for not being a tiger mom," Anne-with-an-e said.

"Yeah, you're more of a Domestic Cat Mom," added Betsy.

I can live with that.

*Obviously, it's not quite as simple as that, and the article is worth a read. 

Ramona's Summer Reading List, Part One

Ten-year-old reader (nearly 11 ... eek!) looking for ideas, so I'm starting a list for her. Here's the first installment, in no particular order.

She's not three anymore. (Sniff, sniff.) 

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin

Because of Winn Dixie, Kate de Camillo

Number the Stars, Lois Lowry

The Winged Watchman, Hilda van Stockum

Magic by the Lake
Knight's Castle
The Time Garden, Edward Eager

Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell

The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge

Anne of Avonlea, L.M. Montgomery

The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Hugh Lofting

Love That Dog, Sharon Creech

Justin Morgan Had a Horse, Marguerite Henry

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg

Rules, Cynthia Lord

Beorn the Proud, Madeleine A. Polland

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare

Lilly's Crossing, Patricia Reilly Giff

Sun Slower Sun Faster, Meriol Trevor

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

The Cricket in Times Square, George Selden