“… it just seemed as if she were marking time while life rocketed past.” 
― Soheir Khashoggi, Nadia’s Song

 

 

FUNNY

 

There are a lot of homeschool days that don’t shine like stars in the universe.  There’s plenty of mundane and must get done and should have done better and how can you not already know this.

I don’t feel like writing about those days today though.

I’ll keep having to live them, of course, but I just don’t, at this second, care to write about them.

 

 

Instead, this week at the dining room table, we had a genuinely funny homeschool moment.  (And it was sorely needed for it followed closely upon the heels of a semi-disastrous morning.)

I was having the kids narrate what we had learned about Shakespeare this term and also narrating back to me the storyline of Midsummer Night’s Dream.  (I might have been using chocolate chips as a memory aid.)  The kids all knew the life of Shakespeare so well that they were laughing and adding extra details  And when they began reciting the plot line and the details of the play itself, we all got a little lost in the retelling.  Character names were slightly altered.  Hermia became Hernia.  Oberon was Ober Gatlinburg and Puck was Hockey Puck.  Oh, they told the story details all accurately but we were laughing heartily.  There was acting involved and overacting involved too, of course.

The mood right then was about a thousand times better than it had been just an hour earlier and I was reminded of how laughter can rescue you if you let it.

 

FASHIONABLE

 

This one is an easy one this week.  I saw it first on my Instagram feed and I was immediately drawn right in.

First – it is a joint project with two local artists I know and already admire and appreciate.   Maritime Supply and Olde Soul.

Second – it is jewelry and I love wearable art best.

Third – it’s so perfectly tiny and detailed and I can’t explain why those two factors matter so much to me, but they do.

Fourth – they have named it Wildwood.  That’s us.  Our school.  So – you know, it’s meant to be.

It’s this tiny little ax pendant with its beautiful miniature wood handle.

 

 

(You can follow along with its progress on their Instagram page.)

 

FLAVORFUL

 

London created tacos at home for us this week.

 

 

Homemade oven “fried” chicken tenders on a soft shell.  Pickles, lettuce, cheese and a special sauce that was a bit ranch, a bit jalepeno and a bit honey.

I like when she experiments on our dinner plates.

 

FAITHFUL

 

This week it was a verse.  Sent at the right time.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Oh that I could daily (hourly) remember to fix my eyes NOT ON WHAT IS SEEN.  That I could recall that what I see is temporary because it feels so permanent.  That I could focus my brain and my heart on recalling that what is eternal is what is unseen.    And that these troubles are achieving for me, for my children, for our family, an eternal glory that far outweighs the burden of these troubles right now.

 

FEELS

 

You know I love the book Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.  And last weekend my friends and I had a rare chance to hear Mr. Berry, an octogenarian, read excerpts from his writings and answer a few audience questions.  (Yep, I didn’t know what octogenarian meant either.)

(They asked us not to take pictures afterwards with Mr. Berry in order to respect his time and his privacy.  A handful of attendees broke the rules but the four of us just couldn’t bring ourselves to approach this gentleman and disregard his requests – so we tried to catch him in the background.  We weren’t too successful.)

 

 

One audience member asked about Mr. Berry’s writing of the character of Hannah Coulter.  She was curious as to how a man could write so clearly and intimately and beautifully the inner details of the heart of a female character like Hannah.

How Mr. Berry responded could not have suited my fan girl ears more.  He basically said (and I paraphrase here), “She came to me.  Her words came to me.  I sort of fell in love with Hannah as I was writing.  And when I tried to write words for her that were not true to her character, my wife corrected me.  And then – then I waited until Hannah spoke to me again.”

I love the thought of Mr. Berry waiting for this beautiful character (who I fell in love with too) to speak to him.

That just seemed so fictionally right in a world full of literary wrong.

 

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