Archive by Author | Sherry

Four Meme

I know some of you out there don’t like memes, and I can understand the feeling. However, I must admit, even if it makes me seem juvenile and unsophisticated, I like being “tagged.” I feel complimented that Phil at Brandywine Books asked me to participate in this meme. It’s sort of like being picked to be on the team.

4 Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
1. The Princess Bride
2. Henry V
3. Lord of the Rings
4. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Semicolon’s 105 Best Movies of All Time

4 Places You Have Lived: I’m a Texas girl. I’ve never really lived anywhere else, aside from one summer spent in Oklahoma City, and I doubt that really counts. I once told Engineer Husband that I’d live anywhere in Texas he wanted to live–except Houston. We both laughed and agreed, “Why would anyone want to go to Houston?” So that’s where I’ve been living for the last twenty years. Lesson: Be careful what you laugh about.
1. San Angelo,TX
2. Abilene, TX
3. Austin, TX
4. Houston, TX

4 TV Shows You Love To Watch
1. LOST
2. Monk (on DVD)
That’s it. The urchins watch PBS.

4 Places You Have Been On Vacation
1. Houston. Our first family vacation when I was a young teenager was to come to Houston and go to Astroworld.
2. Colorado. Our second family vacation was a trip to Colorado to see Pike’s Peak and Royal Gorge. Are they both still there?
3. Monterrey, Mexico.
4. Shakespeare at Winedale

4 Websites You Visit Daily
1. Mental Multivitamin
2. Brandywine Books
3. LibraryThing
4. Bloglines

4 Of Your Favorite Foods: I could pretend to be healthy and wise, or I could be honest.
1. Sugar
2. Chocolate
3. Lime coke
4. Thin mint Girl Scout cookies

4 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now
1. London
2. Paris
3. Rome
4. Madrid

4 Bloggers You are Tagging: I usually tag my urchins to see if they’re reading my blog (probably not) and to see what’s going on in their heads. Sometimes one, of the four who have a blog, responds.
1. Eldest Daughter
2. Dancer Daughter
3. Organizer Daughter
4. Computer Guru Son

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born January 19th

Jan19

Patricia Highsmith, b. 1921. We used to rent DVDs from Clean Films, movies that had been edited to remove profanity and nudity. One of the films we rented has become something of a family joke, The Talented Mr. Ripley, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith. I think something was definitely lost in the editing; it was a very confusing movie experience for us, and by the time we realized what the movie was all about and that we really didn’t want to watch it at all, it was too late. I still can’t watch a movie with Matt Damon and feel comfortable with whatever character he’s playing; I’m always afraid he might turn into Mr. Ripley before the end of the movie. Anyway I bought a copy of Strangers on a Train also by Patricia Highsmith, and I plan to read it soon. I hope it doesn’t have any disturbing or disturbed Damon/Ripley characters in it–although I could probably handle it better in a book than in a movie.

Maybe January 19th is the day for weirdness; it’s also the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe. I posted last year on Poe’s birthday about tintinabulation and in 2004 about my favorite poem, Annabel Lee.
I also wrote about the Poe forgery, Leonainie. Does anyone know without looking who the forger was?
Finally, have you heard about the Poe Toaster? He comes in the night every January 19th and leaves a half-filled bottle of cognac and three roses on Poe’s grave. Some unknown man has performed this ritual every year since 1949. Does anyone know if he’s left his tribute for this year? Or will it be tonight?

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born January 18th

Jan18

Alan Alexander Milne, b. 1882
The Most Important Book I Read in College and other Milne links.
Favorite Pooh quotes.

Did you know that Milne wrote a parody of Conan Doyle and of Pope called “The Rape of the Sherlock”?

His first book was called Lovers in London, a collection of sketches about a young Englishman and his American sweetheart. Doesn’t that sound sweet? Milne was ashamed of the book and said that he hoped it never came back into print.

He wrote plays and was a good friend of J.M. Barrie, also a playwright.

Dorothy Parker wrote a very critical review of The House at Pooh Corner to which Milne responded that he didn’t write it for Dorothy Parker but rather for the children who loved Pooh. ” . . . no writer of children’s books says gaily to his publisher, ‘Don’t bother about the children, Mrs Parker will love it.'”

Quotes:

Ideas may drift into other minds, but they do not drift my way. I have to go and fetch them. I know no work manual or mental to equal the appalling heart-breaking anguish of fetching an idea from nowhere. (Autobiography, 225)

When I am gone
Let Shepard decorate my tomb
And put (if there is room)
Two pictures on the stone:
Piglet, from page a hundred and eleven
And Pooh and Piglet walking (157)…
And Peter, thinking that they are my own,
Will welcome me to heaven.

Community Building

Jan17

Buy this Poster at AllPosters.com in honor of Ben’s 300th Birthday

In the spirit of Benjamin Franklin (b.January 17, 1706) and William Wilberforce, some folks in Roanoke, VA under the guidance of Mr. Dawn Treader have started something called Pigfest. I don’t care for the name, but I love the idea.

A Pigfest is a time to gather together to indulge piggishly on food and to feast on ideas. You might think of it as a modern day Junto society. The Junto society was the brain child of a young Benjamin Franklin. Franklin’s group met weekly in Philadelphia from 1727 until 1767. Their desire was to improve themselves, their community, and to help others. William Wilberforce had a similar group which met in England from 1790 to 1830.

I would enjoy starting a book club that met once a month to discuss the ideas in literature or a group that met to discuss ideas and issues. I’m just not sure I have the leadership abilities to start and sustain such a group. Nor do I think I really have the time. Do you meet with others regularly to talk about ideas or to find ways to improve the community together? What form does your group take? Is it a formal group meeting or informal? Does your church sponsor such community-building discussion groups?

Oprah’s High School Essay Contest

Jan16

So Night by Elie Wiesel, an autobiographical novel about the Holocaust is the book that’s “mandatory reading for every person on the planet.” I must admit that although I’ve heard of Elie Wiesel, I’ve never read any of his work. Dancer Daughter read Night last year for a class, and if I remember correctly, she didn’t care for it too much. Anyway, MMV says she’s with Oprah on this one, so maybe I should add Night to THE LIST.

Here’s the web address for more information on Oprah’s National High School Essay Contest and the official entry form. There’s some question about whether the contest is open to homeschooled teens, but I say go ahead and read, write down your thoughts, and send them in. Worst case scenario, you learn something and don’t get to be considered for the contest.

God’s Judgement

Jan16

Today Mayor Ray Nagin said that God sent Hurricanes Katrina and Rita because He’s mad at the US for our involvement in Iraq and at black people for perpetrating violence against one another.

“Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves. . . Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood? We as a people need to fix ourselves first.

I think Pastor Jeff Box of Suburban Baptist Church in New Orleans has a sermon for Mayor Nagin:

“During the evacuation,” he said, “I was invited to preach in a church in a Mississippi town. Just before the service, the mayor said to me, ‘Katrina was the judgement of God on New Orleans. It was his judgement on a filthy city, on filthy people, who do filthy things.’ Then he said, ‘Furthermore, God sent Rita to rinse away what He had washed with Katrina.” Jeff said, “I thought to myself, ‘What an idiot.'”

That day, Jeff said, he preached on Luke 13:1-5 where Jesus mentions some well-known disasters and says, “Do you think those people were worse sinners than you for such a fate to befall them? I tell you, no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” He added, “I looked the mayor right in the eye and said, ‘Do you think this town in Mississippi (he named it but I won’t) is less wicked than New Orleans? God says, ‘No! Unless you repent, you will perish!'”

I got this story from the blog I mentioned a couple of posts ago, that of Joe McKeever, Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. Rev. McKeever is writing some good stuff, helping me to understand the situation in New Orleans a little better. In fact, I almost cried while reading about the first Sunday worship services of three NO Baptist churches this past Sunday.

Now if only some other folks would quit trying to decide what message God was sending to whom and get on with living their lives in repentance before God and helping others to do the same . . .

Picture Book Preschool Book of the Week (3)

Jan16

Engineer Husband called from the living room, “Did this book win the Caldecott Medal?”

“What book?” I asked.

“Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton.”

“No I don’t think so.”

“Well, it should have because the illustrations are great.”

He’s right. The pictures are what makes this picture book special. The story is a sort of combination of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by the same author and The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. But the illustrations are colored drawings of the vehicles and buildings of Geoppolis on a background of white snow. A black and white picture map of Geoppolis on pages 6-7 gives readers a chance to slow down and find all the places in the key that’s scattered around the margin of the two page spread. Then Katy the Snowplow plows through all the snow and uncovers a little more of Geoppolis on every succeeding page.

The theme for Week 3 of Picture Book Preschool is Big Machines. Preschoolers and primary age children love machines: bulldozers, steam shovels, eighteen wheelers, dump trucks, and snow plows. There’s something about those huge machines that makes a little person feel powerful and excited just watching them work. I think Katy will be a favorite at your house for both boys and girls.

Kindergarten unit for teaching about weather, maps, community services, and summarizing using Katy and the Big Snow.
Biographical information about Virginia Lee Burton

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

Coming Attractions

Jan16

I posted THE LIST (2006) of books I’d like to read this year (or someday) at the beginning of January. I also keep a running list of movies I’d like to see based on recommendations from others or information gleaned from here and there. So here’s my list of movies that I’d like to see sometime soon. I don’t get in a hurry with movies; I don’t like to pay movie theater prices. So I usually wait until it comes out on video/DVD. Or I might catch a movie at the dollar theater–which I think is up to two dollars around here.

To End All Wars
Amistad
84 Charing Cross Road
Cinderella Man
The Great Raid
The Merchant of Venice
The Touch A documentary about the ministry of First Baptist Church, Leesburg, Florida.
I Have Found ItAn Indian Bollywood version of Sense and Sensibility.
Corrina, Corrina
Something the Lord Made
Walk the Line
Pride and Prejudice No, I haven’t seen it yet. I am still having trouble picturing Keira Knightley playing Elizabeth Bennet.
Beyond the Gates of Splendor A documentary about what happened after the martyrdom of five missionaries in Ecuador in 1956.
The Wrong Man An early Alfred Hitchcock film.
Mrs. Miniver
Marty
Mars Attacks! Parableman recommended this sci/fi comedy. We’ll see if we have the same taste in movies.
End of the Spear Due to be released January 20th, this movie tells the story of Nate Saint and his son Steve, another perspective on the same story Elizabeth Elliot told in Through Gates of Splendor.
Curious George: The Movie Due out in February.
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest Release date: July 7, 2006.

Have you seen any of these? Did you love it or hate it? Tell me if I’d be wasting my time and (little bit of) money or if any of these are so good that I should see them immediately.

By the way, here’s a link to Semicolon’s 105 Best Movies of All Time, my own eccentric list of what I think are the best movies I’ve ever watched. I wonder if any of the movies on the list above will qualify to be added to the master list. I’m still considering whether or not to add Napoleon Dynamite and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, two recent favorites.

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born January 15th

Jan15

Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream
Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.” And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Awesome God

Jan15

Awesome God is a praise and worship CD for kids produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries. I read about an offer before Christmas of a free CD for bloggers who would review the CD on their blogs. So I emailed Sovereign Grace, and my urchins are enjoying the fruits of my having done so.

Seriously, the urchins have been listening to Awesome God ever since I unveiled it at the beginning of the year. My younger children like to worship/dance, even if we are Baptist, and these songs are perfect for dancing and singing along. The songs are basic praise and worship type stuff, musically speaking, some with a beat and others slower and more contemplative. The accompaniment uses drums, guitar and keyboard, the instruments you would expect on this kind of CD. Vocals employ both children’s and adult voices.

The lyrics are the strength of this CD. Scripture-based songs alternate with others that present foundational theology in song. Scripture songs include You Are Always With Me (Psalm 139) and Who Is Like You? (Job). Jesus Came to Earth seems to be a restatement of the Apostle’s Creed. And others of the songs teach about God’s sovereignty and about the doctrine of the Trinity. The CD includes twelve songs in all. The words are meaningful and understandable, and a booklet with printed lyrics comes inside the CD case.

I can testify that my children, at least, are really enjoying and learning from Awesome God. If you’re interested in ordering a copy for your kids or for yourself, just click on the picture to go to the Sovereign Grace Ministries store. They also have T-shirts and sheet music available. I can see this CD being helpful to children’s worship leaders or for use in Vacation Bible School this next summer. Or just listen and dance before the Lord.