Brambly Hedge

When I was but a tiny lass (with a hey, ho, the wind and the rain) I loved the Brambly Hedge books. For some reason I remembered them today and decided that I must share them with as many people as might stumble across this because there must be people out there who have never heard of them and that is a tragedy.

There are a number of stories, all about a number of field mice who live in Brambly Hedge. The orginal four stories (Summer Story, Autumn Story, Winter Story, and Spring Story) were followed by a number of continuations.

The illustrations are half of why I love them. They are so delicate and so precise. Jill Barklem, the author and illustrator, shows every detail of the mice's homes. Just look at one of the illustrations:

I also loved all the different foods the mice make. They use all sorts of natural ingredients to make the most interesting sounding food imaginable. Elderflower wine, nettle soup, the list goes on and on.

My childhood was rife with wonderful books--Barbara Cooney, Robert McCloskey, Just Plain Noodles, Drummer Hoff, Little House, and many others. I loved all of them, but Jill Barklem's imagination is remarkable for making her world come to life.

Fear and Suffering

I was really moved by Natalie Nyquist's article on YLCF. She really helped me to crystalize some of the thoughts I've had floating around in my brain for awhile. This is essentially my response although I probably won't quote from her article at all.

There are really two different approaches to courtship* out there. One is centered around the thought of waiting and trusting in God. The other is centered around not getting your heart broken. The first approach, which I would say is probably more prevalent, is the one I agree with. I have three separate issues with the other approach.

First, it's selfish. The focus is on your heart, your needs. If someone goes into marriage thinking only about their heart and their needs it is going to be a difficult marriage. Courtship is not about you. Courtship is about your relationship with the Lord and the other person. You should guard your heart with the thought of the young man or woman who, God willing, will some day hold it for you.

Second, it is unrealistic. Sure, it sounds nice to say, "The heart of any father for their daughter is that they never know a broken heart and that they have a happy, healthy, and holy marriage" (Padgett), but we are human. God made us with desires and needs that don't turn off at the flick of a switch. That doesn't mean we should give in to them, but we must recognize that we will have them and that there is nothing wrong with that. We do not sin by thinking about food during church; we sin when we allow that thought to dwell and take root in our mind. In the same way, we do not sin when we think that the young man next to us is handsome; we sin when we wonder if he likes us and maybe he likes me and I wonder if he likes blue and what color could the curtains in our house be? Realizing that a young man is nice does not mean that you have failed to guard your heart. Thinking about him in terms of yourself does.

Finally, it is not really Godly. I know that's a strong statement and I am not trying to personally condemn those who teach or follow this approach. But it truly is not. God did not call us to a life of safety. The Lord did not say, "Come follow me." He said, "Come take up your cross and follow me." He suffered for us and we as Christians are called to emulate him. We fear suffering but as John Donne said, "[A]ffliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction." (Meditation XVII) If we wish to lead a safe and comfortable life we will not be following God. Is it truly holy to say, "I want to stay happy" or to say with the Theotokos (Mary) "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38)?

It is a hard and lonesome path and I certainly do not claim to have answers but I am convinced that only by allowing God to work as He wills in our life can we find the peace that passes all understanding.






*When I say courtship I also mean the period of waiting before one actually enters into a relationship

A momentous day in literary history

Today is the birthday of both Charles Dickens (1812) and Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867). Truly a great day for literature, only surpassed by November 29, birthday of Madeline L'Engle, Louisa May Alcott, AND C.S. Lewis.

Dickens

Dickens is certainly one of my favorite authors. His masterful use of setting and above all his characters have endeared him to me. If I had to, if I were forced to choose favorites among his books I would choose Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House, and A Tale of Two Cities. (If you know who I just paraphrased, virtual chocolate is yours.) There are a few of his books I'm not as keen on: Great Expectations because Estella annoys me more than I can possibly convey online and Oliver Twist just because. But most of his books are familiar friends. His verbosity is intimidating but when you move beyond that you find a word of enchantment open to you.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

My earliest memory of books is bound up with Little House in the Big Woods. I was about four. My father had tried to read Wind in the Willows to me but I was still a bit too young for it. (Unfortunately that early experience has left me cold where Wind in the Willows in concerned. I try to like it, I really do, but somehow it never quite works.) At any rate, he gave up on it and read Little House to me instead. And that I loved. Here was Laura, in some ways so like me (dark haired and little) and her adventures. I couldn't get enough of them. I read them voraciously for years and even after they stopped being my favorite books I would re-read them once in awhile. I haven't recently, partly because they are still boxed up from our move this summer, but I still remember them fondly.

Carrie, Mary and Laura. Not sure of the year.

Source for pictures: Wikipedia

Work

As I've mentioned before my work study job is at the school library. It's work that I'm suited to and that I, for the most part, enjoy doing. But I'm a college student and, as everyone who has been around us for more than ten minutes knows, college students love to complain. The weather, the food, classes, homework, work. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and enter the complain-fest. But recently I've been evaluating that part of me. Granted sometimes complaints are warranted and justifiable. If there is something that needs to be addressed I shouldn't keep silent. But constant complaining about my life does nothing to help me and everything to harm me. It really creates an atmosphere of negativity. How can I serve God when I am so busy thinking about how much I hate shelving?

Now I am a worry-wort and a complainer so I will, I am sure, fall into this trap again. But for the moment I am resolved to try to stop the flow of complaints before it starts and think instead of what good God is doing in my life.

W.B. Yeats

Today is the 68th anniversary of the death of W.B. Yeats. (That was a horribly convoluted sentence. I apologize.) He is one of my favorite poets. I wrote a paper on him for one of my classes last semester and I really fell in love with his poetry all over again. He had a gift for language that few can equal.

It is very difficult to choose just one poem of his to post, but here goes:

When You are Old

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.


Wikipedia's W.B. Yeats page--be aware that one of the pictures on this page is highly inappropriate--it's at the bottom of the page, under the picture of his grave.

Reflection on a Painting

I wrote this about a month ago and though I'd share it.




In this picture you stand, quiet, unconcerned, in an empty street while across from you—on the other side of the picture—stands a man. You look towards him. He looks towards you. What are you to each other? Lovers, once lovers, siblings, friends, enemies? Will you run towards each other in joy or will you turn away, forever leaving this still portrait, this instant? Or perhaps none of this will happen. Perhaps he will cross the street to you and say “I did not expect to find you here.” And perhaps you will smile and say, “I came to meet you.” And then you will walk home together, stopping to buy the meat on the way. Or perhaps you will cross to him and he will look at you and tell you how you have not changed a bit and you will say that same to him as all the while you both think how few years have changed so much. Or is this an assignation and you have been waiting for an eternity, pacing back and forth back and forth while in the distance this man comes towards you eagerly? You are not in mourning for there is this coquettish pink flower in your hat. Perhaps you know that you look well in black or that black is mysterious and alluring. At any rate, there you stand in this quiet drab street, a spot of black, looking away. And we will never know yet we will weave our own story about you, each one choosing the one he likes best.


The painting is called "The Wait" and is by Jean Beraud. I have a copy of it in my room and was not sure what it was called until I saw another painting by the same artist on the back and noticed that he had signed it. I found the digital version here.

Quiz

Before I post it though, I apologize for not posting recently. I attempted to switch my blogger account to the new version and while it switched, I now cannot sign in on IE6. I can on Flock, so I guess I'm just stuck using Flock for all Blogger things. Bah, humbug. I've emailed them but I haven't heard back and, honestly, I don't expect to. Alas.

On to the quiz:

Baaaaahhhhhh--that's me being a meme sheep. Stolen from Mary Beth

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

NO CHEATING...

What does next year have in store for me?
High Germany (ooh, that's interesting)

What’s my love life like?
The Emperor Piano Concerto by Beethoven (hmmmmm....)


What do I say when life gets hard?
Ma coeur s'ouvre a ta voix("My heart opens at the sound of your voice")-Camille Saint-Saens (this would be so much better for the love life one...I suppose we could be talking religiously but that's just kind of odd)

What do I think when I get up in the morning?
Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninoff, "Allegra scherzando" (sure......)

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
Rolling in the Barrel/The Pinch of Snuff/Vincent Campbell's/The Galloping Hound (well it is folk music, so it is possible, I suppose)

What do you want as a career?
El Condor Pasa (If I Could) (What does THAT mean????)

Your favorite saying?
El Cumbanchero (it's not, in fact I have no idea what that means)

Favorite place?
Forth Eorlingas (okay, Middle-earth....)

Where'd you go for a road trip?
A Journey in the Dark (Moria??? They don't even have roads in Moria)


What would you listen to while driving?
Finale (from the 95 P&P) (that sounds really horrible.....Finale)

What do you think of your parents?
Not About Me (*snigger*)

Where would you go on a first date?
Pemberley (LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Your life’s theme song?
Thinking About Lizzy (My middle name is Elizabeth)

Describe yourself?
Messe Basse--Kyrie Eleison by Gabriel Faure (it is one of my favorite pieces of music)

What is the thing you like doing most?
Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, Andante (whaaat???)

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
Breath of Life (interesting)

How will I die?
Solo Gousli (death by Russian folk instrument.....)

Your funeral?
Polianka (more Russian folk music...maybe I'll die in Russia?)

Hemingway

I work in my college’s library which uses the Library of Congress system. I have always used the Dewey Decimal system before and it was awhile before my brain could make the switch.

That was all background except for the last bit which was purely extraneous information. The point is that the other day I was shelving videos in our video section when I noticed that all of the movies made from Ernest Hemingway’s books were in the action and adventure section. This makes me pause and wonder. I am not a Hemingway fan. “The Old Man and the Sea” leaves me cold and I think that the best part of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is the title (from Meditation XVII by John Donne). But I am not so crass as to say that Hemingway is not literature—or at least not as much literature as, say, “Tom Jones.” That would be sad indeed. And it made me wonder what poor Hemingway had done to deserve such an unkind fate. I suppose the classification makes some sense—the main characters usually are in situations that most of us do not face everyday. But all the same, Hemingway provides some deep insights into human beings and, while I don’t agree with him, I would argue that those insights are the point of his work as opposed to the external comings and goings which are merely vehicles he uses to open up the character to us.

The problem, of course, lies in the fact that evidently the Library of Congress does not see things the way I do and so Papa Hemingway must roll in his grave every time the videos are shelved.

NOTE: It has occured to me since writing this that the classification system MAY have something to do with the fact that Hemingway is American but I will not swear to it and I haven't had a chance to investigate further yet. If anyone else knows, leave me a comment. :)

2006 in Books, Part Three

Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff: Rosemary Sutcliff is definitely one of my favorite writers and certainly my favorite within the “historical fiction” label. I hadn’t read Eagle of the Ninth before and it now ranks with The Lantern Bearers in my favorites of her works. The main character’s father disappeared years ago in the wilds of north Britain with the Ninth Spainish Legion. He now is going back to try to find the legion’s eagle but he has no idea what he will find. Highly recommended for slightly more mature readers.

More Spirited Than Lions by Sarah Elizabeth Cowie: This is a former feminist’s examination of the role of women within the Orthodox Christian Church. It uses the examples of women saints throughout the centuries to build a comprehensive view of femininity in the Church and how this both agrees with and differs from contemporary conservative Protestant and Catholic views as well as more liberal ideology. Highly recommended for slightly more mature readers, especially Orthodox.

The Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy Sayers: Some friends of mine recommended Lord Peter to me. I am eternally grateful to them. I have only been reading these books since August but I wonder now how I ever did without them! For the record, my favorites are Gaudy Night, Strong Poison, and Clouds of Witness. But they are all (excluding most of Busman’s Honeymoon) extremely agreeable. Highly recommended for more mature readers.

The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis: I had read the first two some years ago but I think I was a bit young for them. Anyway, I read all three this time around and enjoyed them, although I agreed with Tolkien that the philology is all bosh (although I am by no means an expert). I liked the last book a bit less than the first two, but all three were quite good. Highly recommended for slightly more mature readers.

W;t by Margaret Edson: I had seen the movie “Wit” which was based on this play a few years ago and when I got to college I discovered that my roommate loves the play and had a copy. It is every bit as good as the movie, maybe even a little better. Vivian Bearing is an English professor who discovers that she has very advanced ovarian cancer. Includes one of my favorite lines in the world: “Death be not proud comma death thou shalt die. You see, nothing but a comma separates this life from the world to come.” (From memory, if that isn’t the exact line please don’t kill me, although I would be glad of any corrections.) Highly recommended for mature readers.

King of Shadows by Susan Cooper: This year I really went back to about five or six years ago and revisited some of the books that I liked then. I read a great deal of Susan Cooper about that time but when I re-read a few I discovered that I only really like King of Shadows at this point. It is the story of Nat, a boy involved in putting on a production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Globe in London. One morning he wakes up in Elizabethan England where he discovers that Shakespeare himself is putting on the Dream for Queen Elizabeth. Highly recommended for slightly more mature readers.

A number of books by Madeline L’Engle: Another set I went back and re-read. I don’t always agree with her theology but she has a number of good insights into human nature and our relationship with God and she tells a very good story. I recommend in particular A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and A Ring of Endless Light. Recommended for slightly more mature readers.

Part One here
Part Two here

2006 in Books, Part Two

Grey is the Color of Hope by Irina Ratushinskaya: The autobiography of a Russian poet, who for her poetry was sent to a political prison inside a prison camp during the 1980s. This is a fascinating story which gives a real glimpse into the Soviet Union just before and during Gorbachev. Highly recommended for more mature readers.

A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt: I have read all but the last book in the Tillerman series and I can say without hesitation that this is my favorite. The characters are real and interesting and I liked having a better sense of who Jeff is. Highly recommended for slightly more mature readers.

Fr. Arseny by Vera Bouteneff: Fr. Arseny was a well known and respected Russian art historian. Fr. Arseny was a well known and respected Russian art historian who became a simple priest and was put into a Soviet labor camp. This is his biography, gathered by one of his spiritual daughters from those who knew him. There is a second book, Fr. Arseny: A Cloud of Witnesses. Highly recommended for more mature readers.

The Year of Jubilo by Ruth Sawyer: This is another book that I had read years ago and enjoyed but had been unable to find again. It is a sequel to Roller Skates. Lucinda is much older and more mature. Her relationship with her brothers and her mother is really explored. Highly recommended for almost all ages.

Downright Dencey by Caroline Dale Snedeker: Dencey is a Quaker girl on Nantucket in the 1800s. This is the story of her girlhood. I had heard of this book vaguely for some years and when I finally found it and read it this summer I felt sad that I had not been able to read it growing up. It is a lovely story, simple and sweet, but with layers that an older reader can appreciate. Highly recommended for all ages.

Seacrow Island by Astrid Lindgren: Yes, she wrote Pippi Longstockings, but Astrid Lindgren was (in my opinion) a much better writer than she shows in that book. This is the story of a family who goes to live on Seacrow Island and their life together and with the other inhabitants of the island. Highly recommended for almost all ages.

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis: For years one of my dear friends has been writing me letters and telling me to read this book. I finally did this summer and loved it every bit as much as she thought I would. It is a re-telling of the Psyche myth. I think it will take another reading for me to be able to talk about it intelligently but I know that it meant something to me. Highly recommended for slightly more mature readers.

Part One here
Part Three here