Archive | June 2004

Of Art, Bible Stories and Babies

Jun30

Eldest Daughter and I took Brown Bear Daughter (age 9) and some of her friends to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston this afternoon. Eldest Daughter drove since I have a freeway-phobia.

We started out in the Caroline Weiss Law Building which “serves as the permanent home of the modern and contemporary collections” and “is also a multicultural showcase, housing dazzling installations of Oceanic art, Asian art, Indonesian gold artifacts, and Pre-Columbian and sub-Saharan African artworks.” I did not know this, and although I had one child asking me where the “real paintings” were, it turned out fairly well. There was an exhibit upstairs of South American or maybe just Brazilian artworks designed to “bring art to the masses.” My children, especially Karate Kid (age 7), and their friends, and I certainly qualify as members of the masses, and the children especially enjoyed all the interactive art pieces: glasses you put on to distort your vision in various ways, a room of colored beams of light where Brown Bear Daughter did a pirouette, and a large net enclosing about fifty balls with a scale in the middle. This last one you could walk into, but the only thing to do was weigh the balls, I guess. I felt a little awkward; it seemed to me that the whole exhibit would fit in well in a building at Epcot or even Astroworld, but I’m almost sure the artist intended me to “get” something more than a theme park adventure.

We exclaimed over the African gold, and the girls saw a beautiful sari. Then it was on to the Audrey Jones Beck Building where they keep the “real paintings.” Here I had to talk to Karate Kid somewhat sternly about making rude comments concerning nude Greek statues. However, we all enjoyed the impressionists and the many, many Biblical scenes. We played “guess which Bible story is depicted in this painting.” Karate Kid’s and my favorite Biblical scene was called The Judgement of Solomon. I liked Susan Comforting the Baby by Mary Cassatt because the baby reminded me of Z-Baby.
All in all, a pretty good trip to the art museum–except for the part when Karate Kid and some of the girls were reprimanded by one of the museum guards for running up and down the escalator. Oh, well, both our group and the museum survived.

What we’re reading . . .

Jun30

Eldest Daughter: Shakespeare’s Sonnets She wants to know why some of the sonnets seem to be written to a man? I don’t really want to get into that controversy!
Number One Son: Nothing. He says, in a house FULL of books, that there’s “nothing to read.” What would you recommend for a 17 year old boy who likes John Grisham, Stephen Lawhead, and computers?
Dancer Daughter: Beauty by Robin McKinley A retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Third Daughter: Dear America books. A series of books about girls living at different times in American history. The books are written in first person as journal or diary entries.
Brown Bear Daughter: Meet the Austins by Madeleine L’Engle
Karate Kid: Cam Jansen mysteries
Curly Redhead: Berenstain Bears: The Bear Detectives (These annoy me, but her sister checked it out for her at the library.)
Z-baby: Play With Me by Marie Hall Ets

Genesis 1:27 and Antoine de Saint Exupery

Jun29

To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible.
—Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antione de Saint-Exupery

Today is the birthday of the French author Antoine de Saint Exupery. Eldest Daughter reads Le Petit Prince in French. Alas, I can only read in English, or maybe picture books in Spanish. I have intended to read the book I quoted above, Wind, Sand, and Stars for a long time now, but I still haven’t managed to do so. I have about fifty books on my list, and those are only the ones I’ve dared to list. My mind is filled with at least that many more books that I want to read or re-read.

See a 12 Week Old Baby

Jun28

Wow, how beautiful! And how long can anyone continue to maintain that abortions only remove a piece of “tissue” from the mother’s womb? If an eighteen week old baby can open its eyes, when will American pro-abortionists open theirs? God is using technology to force them to see.

Born Today

Jun25

Today is the birthday of:
ABEL BOYER (b. 1667, d. 1729) He was a French Huguenot refugee who fled to England. He published various historical worka and a French-English, English-French dictionary. He also wrote a memoir.
JOHN HORNE TOOKE-(b.1736, d. 1812) A British lawyer, politician and priest. Among other things, “in 1775 Horne attacked the government’s actions in America and was imprisoned for libel.” So he was one of our first British friends and supporters.
GEORGE ORWELL (b. 1903, d.1950) I read Animal Farm and 1984 a long time ago. I seem to remember that the pigs took over the barnyard in the first, and there was something scary about mice in the second. I also remember that the government was very fond of slogans such as War is Peace”, “Ignorance is Strength” and “Freedom is Slavery.” Orwell was a socialist, but anti-communist. One quote: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
ERIC CARLE (b. 1929) Born in New York, raised and educated in Germany, Eric Carle is most famous for his picture book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Our favorite Eric Carle book is Pancakes, Pancakes; however, The Grouchy Ladybug is not bad. I sometimes feel like a grouchy ladybug. Wouldn’t that book title make a great blog title? (I’m sometimes embarrasssed that my blog title is so mundane.)

Malapropism or Eggcorn or Maybe just a Misprint?

Jun25

I came across the following sentence while reading Profiles in Courage:

“He was, moreover, a brilliant political analyst, who knew that during his lifetime the number of American voters who agreed with the fundamental tenents of his political philosophy was destined to be a permanent minority . . .”(p. 212)

I have several questions about the phrase “fundamental tenents.”
First of all, I couldn’t possibly be the first person to notice that the author used a misspelling of “tenant” instead of the word he intended, “tenet,” could I? JFK and his editors couldn’t have missed this error, could they? So maybe this mistake is just a misprint in my edition of the book?
According to the definitions, is this an eggcorn or a malapropism? I tend to think that it’s a genuine eggcorn since the two words “tenet” and “tenant” sound about the same when pronounced aloud.
Finally, do these two words have a similar origin? I doubt it, but I’ll have to check my dictionary and get back to you.

I did check Google and got 628 hits for “fundamental tenants,” 110 hits for “fundamental tenents,” and 19,800 hits for the phrase “fundamental tenets.”

It’s Over!

Jun25

Good news from the Fashion World:

Best quotes:
“That whole midriff-baring thing is completely over.” AND
“People are tired of looking too provocative.” AND
“There’s a lot of layering, with tank tops under sweaters for a soft and feminine look.” AND
“People are tired of seeing so much skin.”

Them’s my sentiments exactly. But, pray tell me, why did we have to go through three or four years of low-rise jeans and high-rise tops in order to get tired of seeing everyone’s belly? I tired of this fashion trend two days after I first began to notice it.

(Note from 2024, twenty years later: It was too good to be true. I removed the broken link to the article that proclaimed that midriff-baring was passe.)

Movies, #71-80

Jun23

The last time I posted one of these lists was in April, so I’d better explain. I decided several months ago to make a list of my 100 favorite movies. These are in alphabetical order because I couldn’t rank them. Anyway, here are links to the first 6 lists of ten.
First Ten Movies
Second Group of Ten Movies
Group Three of Ten Best Movies
Next Group of Movies from my list: 102 Best Movies
Ten More Movies: List #5
List #6 (posted in April, 2004)

And here are the next ten movies on my list:
71. Prince of Egypt (1998) In spite of the vague “spirituallity” and a few distortions of fact, I thought this movie was very well done. I was quite impressed with the chariot race at the beginning, and for the most part, the film was both reverent and dramatically compelling. Not just for kids.
72. The Princess Bride (1987) Again not just for kids. A grandfather reads his grandson a story, and the viewer gets to enjoy a movie full of great dialog, memorable characters, and “true love.”
The Grandson: A book?
Grandpa: That’s right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I’m gonna read it to you.
The Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?
Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…
The Grandson: Doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll try to stay awake.
Grandpa: Oh, well, thank you very much, very nice of you. Your vote of confidence is overwhelming.
73. Rear Window (1954) We just watched this Alfred Hitchcock classic again about a month ago, and I remembered how much I like jimy Stewart and how beautiful Grace Kelly was.
74. Rebecca (1940) Another Alfred Hitchcock title. I’ve already blogged about Rebecca and about Daphne du Maurier here.
75. Return of the King (2003) I think I may have put this movie on the list before I even saw it. Either you love Tolkien, the books and the movies, or you don’t see what all the fuss is about. So what else is there to say–except how could any one resist falling in love with all four of the hobbits and Aragorn, too. However, Sam is definitely the hero of the story.
76. The Right Stuff (1983) I don’t know how historically accurate this movie is (based on the book by Tom Wolfe). Nevertheless, with a husband who works for NASA and loves all things space, I had to put this one on the list. And I think the John Glenn portrayed by Ed Harris in this movie is both endearing and heroic.
77. Roman Holiday (1953) Audrey Hepburn is a princess who escapes her duties for a day and meets up with an American reporter for aan adventurous exploration of Rome. It’s fun, romantic, and sad.
78. Romeo and Juliet (1968) The director of this version of Shakespeare’s play is Franco Zeffirelli, and therefore the sets and costumes are lush and beautiful I saw this movie when I was a teenager, and I still think of the actors in Zeffirelli’s movie whenever I read Romeo and Juliet.
79. Sabrina (1954) This one is better than than the 1995 remake because the 1954 version has Audrey hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. We “chicks” like chick flicks.
80. Sense and Sensibility (1995) Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet make a nice pair of sisters with contrasting personalities–the elder very sensible, the younger emotional in the extreme. Again, you can’t go wrong with Jane Austen as long as you just stick to the story pretty much as written.

Homeschooling by Grace

Jun21

My niece wrote me a letter asking some questions about homeschooling. She’s hoping to homeschool her first grade son, Parker, this fall, and she has three younger children. Here are my answers to her questions; however, I expect to be asking her advice after next year. Pray for her.

I’m so sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. We were out of town when your letter arrived, and since I’ve been back I’ve been so busy. I know it’s everybody’s excuse, but I can use it, too, especially when it’s true.

“What curriculum did you use for first grade?”
I can tell you what I used, but a lot depends on where Parker is now academically. To teach my urchins to read, I always used something called Sing, Spell, Read and Write. It’s a phonics, reading, writing, and spelling program, and I’m used to it by now. If Parker is already reading well, he just needs practice. I really like SONLIGHT curriculum; it involves lots of reading out loud and lots of reading for them. However, I wouldn’t start SONLIGHT until he can read unless you want to use their phonics program with which I am unfamiliar. I think you can find SONLIGHT at www.sonlight.com. For math, I use some workbooks called Miquon Math because they’re cheap and kid-friendly. These workbooks cover math through third grade. Oh, you also need Cuisenaire rods to go with them. You can purchase both the workbooks and the rods from any homeschool supplier.

“What are daily routines like?”
Daily routines around here involve lots of juggling. I’m trying to keep Zion out of trouble while helping the others with whatever problems they have. Naptime, if you have one is a good time for reading out loud to the older ones. Crock pots are invaluable. My younger children probably spend 1-3 hours total doing school. One hour a day (not necessarily all at the same time) is plenty for a kindergartener or a first grader. After he’s reading, he may want to spend more time reading by himself, and of course, all of them are learning all the time.

“How did you balance?”
Balance, what’s that? Just do the next thing, and try to to do it well. I don’t think I can answer this question. I just keep muddling through.

“How were household duties divided?”
You know your Uncle Tim. He does A LOT around here, including cooking sometimes, changing diapers, reading to children, putting children to bed, and lots more. I don’t know how we divide stuff up; we just both do whatever needs to be done next. And now the older kids help a lot. When Parker gets to be about eight years old, he’ll really be helpful. Until then, you just have to keep training him to help and pretending that he really is helping.

“What were your greatest obstacles?”
I’m lazy, and my children see my faults all the time. My children are also imperfect–a fact which never ceases to amaze me. After all, I spent all this time homeschooling; the least they could do is be perfect!!

“How did you manage them?”
Manage, who said I’m managing? Actually, I just keep praying and trying and starting over again. In fact, my children laugh at me whenever I tell them I have a new plan for keeping the house clean or a new schedule for the new school year. They don’t expect my “new plans” to last for long, but one of these days I’m going to fool them.

“Any advice you can give will be appreciated.”
Sherry’s advice for homeschooling: Take is slow and easy. If you do an hour of school work every day in first grade, whatever curriculum you choose, you’ll be doing plenty. If you do much more than that, he’ll be overwhelmed and so will you. When you get impatient or Parker gets frustrated, put the math or the phonics away and try again later. Learn together and enjoy it. Read lots of books.