Ambitions for this Summer

Or, mainly, a Summer Reading List, and other assorted goals.

I want to read:

-Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon
-The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis
-Post Captain, Patrick O'Brian.
-Created to be His Help Meet, Debi Pearl
(Already begun, and not sure of the extent to which I agree)
 -Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner

-What to Eat, Marion Nestle

-The Gift of Asher Lev, Chaim Potok 
(I had no idea My Name is Asher Lev had a sequel)
 
-Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice, Stephanie Paulsell

-Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time, Dorothy Bass
(A book about "receiving each day as a gift from God... She encourages readers to open their hearts every morning in quiet thanks to God for life, to learn to structure their lives with flexible regularity, to use their time for things that matter and to live today confidently, without fear. She also discusses the benefits of keeping the Sabbath, observing the Christian year with all its special holidays and religious celebrations, and counting days and moments with an eye on eternity." Sounds good.)

-Commodore Hornblower, C.S. Forester. 
(Classic adventures. The Hornblower Saga never gets old, no matter how many times you re-read it. Bonus: happy memories of Dad reading it out loud to us)

-The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley
 (well, re-read, really. It was my favorite book when I was about nine)

-The Percy Jackson books? Maybe? The prospect makes me happy, but we'll see.

And more bits of the Apocrypha, but I'm not sure which yet.

Also, one of my grandmother's Sewing Circle friends will hopefully be teaching me to weave fabric on a floor loom. This is so cool I can hardly believe it might actually happen.


Other aspirations include:
-lots of experimental cooking from scratch, from whole foods
-teaching Ali to sail, one on one. We will pretend to be Pellew and Hornblower.
-carrying my sketchbook around on hikes in Islesboro, and producing a lot of drawings
-making my own lip balm

Photos of some inspiration: the work of Sheila Hicks. Saw an exhibition at Phillips Academy when I was in Andover this winter, and I am still in awe. I want to learn more about textiles!

I'm Like My Mom

I found this photo recently in my parent's wedding/honeymoon/newlywed album. It's my mom on our beach in Maine in June, 1981. She was twenty.

It kinda blew my mind, because it's so similar to this photo of me at age twenty. I'm standing in the exact same spot on our beach (well, I am slightly to the left, if you note the rocks). The tide is even the same.

I'm a lot like my mom and becoming more like her all the time. She improves me a lot. She used read to us continually (three books per child for each naptime and bed time), so I was reading and writing as a toddler, and I attribute a lot of my academic success to her. But she made fun of me so I wouldn't get too nerdy, so that's good, too.

My mom taught me to cook, sing, take care of babies, and play nice. She made sure I had eight years of classical piano lessons and a decade of clarinet. My loves of peanut butter and pilates and baking bread all come from her. She's always up for taking a walk, going sailing, hiking on the beach, reading the Bible in the sun, or watching an hour of Pride and Prejudice.  She lets me borrow her beauty products and stylish shoes. She taught me to draw, wear funky jewelry, and weave fabric. Does it get any cooler than that?

No. It doesn't. She's the epitome of cool.

I love you, mommy.

Reminiscing on Solomon's Ladder

Dr. Padelford (our Bible study teacher) told us this story, and I think everybody should have a chance to hear it. It's really good.

He was in Ethiopia preaching a sermon on Song of Songs in a church that was one big, airy  room with three walls and just openings for windows. At one point, he focused particularly on the imagery of doves in the book to show that Solomon and the Shulammite find peace in each other (their names, by the way, are associated with Shalom, right?). He drew the parallel that we should look to Christ as our peace, and that we need to live at peace with him.

So, for instance, Song 1:15

"Behold, you are beautiful, my love;

behold, you are beautiful;

your eyes are doves."

Suddenly, a pair of doves flew into the church and landed in the rafters together, cooing gently to each other.

Can you believe it? Magical! That really happened!