Family For WREAL

Family Vacation

2009-07-24T17:00:00.001-07:00

The Post
I've been lax in seeing to this blog and am hoping there is still someone out there to read it! I had planned to do a flight-themed post for June, but June and almost all of July have passed...so I'll do flight later. For now, I'm thinking of family and vacation (for some strange reason!) and I have some books in mind that cover both, so I'll focus on those instead.

Before I get to the family/vacation picks, I'll mention what we've been reading this summer. My 12- and 15-year-old have been devouring The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney. I read the first book, in which the lead starts his training as a "Spook," which protects society against witches, boggarts, etc., and found it intriguing but dark, maybe a bit too dark. I just finished The Mysterious Benedict Society, a NY Times bestseller by Trenton Lee Stewart about a group of orphans sent on a mission to save the world from a mind-controlling madman. It might be a bit long for kids who aren't avid readers, but it was a lot of fun. My 10-year-old is working on Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, and if we're readling aloud everyone stops to listen.

The Books:
Picture Book: Arthur's Vacation, by Marc Brown.
Even my older kids still stop and listen if they hear me reading this to my five-year-old, and we all laugh at the tiny hotel pool and our favorite picture spread with everyone crammed into a green motel room on a rainy morning.

Middle Grade:
Fudge-a-Mania, by Judy Blume
I've only read pieces of this one, but my ten-year-old son loves the whole series. I just focused on Fudge-a-Mania because it takes place on a family vacation to Maine. Every time my son reads it, he sits and snickers through the whole thing.

The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall
I think I've mentioned this book before, but it's so much fun I had to put it in. A family of four girls and their widowed dad vacations at a cottage behind a mansion (somewhere in the east, but I can't remember the state, sorry), getting into all kinds of mischief.

The Etymology: "vacation"
I haven't looked this up before, so I'm curious. I imagine it has the same root as "vacate," although I can't help but wonder if it has something to do with cows, as in "vaccination" (vaca meaning cow, & the small pox vaccination discovery coming from immune milkmaids who had been exposed to the similar cowpox). Okay, here it goes:

From L. vacationem (nom. vacatio) "leisure, a being free from duty," from vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure" (see vain). http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=vacation

Okay, so it's similar to vacate, not vaccinate. And vain comes from the same root, too. I wouldn't have come up with that.

The PHP (Personal History Prompt):
What are some of your favorite vacation memories? You could start with childhood or most recent. Did your family have vacation traditions (we always had pastrami with cream cheese on onion roll sandwiches)?

OR What are some favorite summertime reads for you? How do you associate them with your summers? (For example, I always used to read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder to counteract long, hot Arizona summers.)

For the Birds

2009-05-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Blog:
Since my boys and I have been bird watching for scouting requirements over the past couple of months, I thought I'd do a bird/flight theme for May. But May is almost over, so it'll be birds for May and flight for June.

The following is an entry I posted on a different blog a few months ago about trimming my parakeet's beak. It seemed to fit the bill. No pun intended. Really.

Recently I trimmed my parakeet’s beak. I’ve had parakeets most of my life, but this was the first time one of my birds’ beaks ever grew too long. The beak became monstrous, actually, curving and scaly like a rusted scimitar poking into poor Gordy’s green chest. Ew. I had no idea how it happened, being a faithful hanger of cuttlebones and sprinkler of gravel on the cage floor.

Was this vet-worthy? I wondered and vacillated, not being a subscriber to parakeet insurance. Somehow Gordy managed to eat and clamber, but I knew something had to be done. Finally one day I walked into the bathroom—yes, due to cat issues we keep two parakeets in the master bathroom—and something snapped.

Grabbing a pair of fingernail clippers and a washcloth, I took a deep breath and approached the cage. “This won’t hurt a bit,” I cooed, sliding open the door and inserting a washcloth-draped hand. Gordy didn’t believe me and exploded into squawking green fireworks. Persistence paid and I caught her, gently, and proceeded with the trim. When I finished, both of us felt a bit shaken. However, not being a farm girl accustomed to animal husbandry and the like, I felt a bit heady also. I clipped the beak!

It was a Minor Triumph. I like Minor Triumphs, little surprises that pop into days often filled with perplexing problems that require long-term efforts to solve, or at least manage. Small or quirky as they may be, they are still triumphs, worth a little smile and a lingering savor.

The PHP (Personal History Prompt):
Do you have any memories of birds? Pets? Birds that lived or nested near you? Finding a nest or trying to make one? Did you know someone who liked birds? Or did you ever try to fly or wish you could?

The Etymology: Bird
O.E. bridd, originally "young bird" (the usual O.E. for "bird" being fugol), of uncertain origin with no cognates in any other Gmc. language.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bird

I thought it interesting that bird actually came from Old English--not Latin through French or a Germanic language. Hmm.

The Links:
This looks like a fun site with coloring, games, and facts about birds for kids.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Birds/ForKids/default.cfm

Here's a site about the "corridors" hummingbirds use when migrating and the loss of this habitat:
http://desertgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/hummingbirds_as_desert_pollinators

How about identifying bird songs? I think this is cool.
http://www.enature.com/birding/audio.asp

The Book: Guardians of GaHoole Series, by Kathryn Lasky
My oldest three kids, two boys and one girl, with an age range spanning five years, all got into this fantasy series a few years ago. It's about good owls fighting the evil ones. I only read a couple, but they were fun. Might be a good summer read.

Humor Me

2009-04-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Blog

Every once in awhile I read something funny and decide I need to try to write something like that. Mary Roach's essays in Reader's Digest are always make me laugh while being so on point. Dave Barry's silliness borders on genius, if that's possible. So even though I don't consider myself a funny person, here's my attempt.

***
Fitted sheets fall in that category of things I need but really don’t like, like vacuum bags. I mean, I’m glad I don’t have to use flat sheets on the bottom. I really am. My husband freely admits he sleeps like a tornado and I know a flat sheet would get whisked away in the storm and end up in a tangled heap on the floor—every morning. Fitted sheets help batten down the hatches, so to speak.

Still. Fitted sheets are sneaky. They nab innocent co-tumblers in the dryer and deposit them into their corner pockets, where the unfortunates slowly twist in, constricted and hidden until the dryer dings. When I pull out the sheet all the weight bulges from the bottom like a water balloon. The sheet takes about ten minutes to untie, which reveals a bath towel, three socks, and an orange pair of boxers, all still wet.

Fitted sheets are also mean. For example, they hate getting folded. Every week I promise myself this time I’ll do it right and dutifully match corner pocket to corner pocket, fold, smooth, match corner pockets again, fold…smooth…and…what the heck, I roll it into a glorified wad and hide it under the much-more-cooperative fitted sheet already nestled in the laundry basket.

As I’m sure anyone knows who has tried going one-on-one, fitted sheets also hate getting put on the bed. Sure, they act sweet as the first corner slips over the mattress, but just try the others. Slip on the next corner and the first one pops off. Lay spread-eagled on a king-sized bed, hold one corner down with your foot and try flipping the next corner into place. Both hold for two seconds. Then one pops off.

They're extortionists, really, holding me captive to their whim in exchange for keeping the tornado at bay.

The Etymology: Humor

From Latin "umor," body fluid, "Humor" first appeared in the English language around 1340 with the same meaning. It didn't acquire the connotation of funniness until 1682.

The PHP (Personal History Prompt)--Pick one question or many:

What is your sense of humor like? Quirky? Literal? How has humor helped you in your life? Have you learned over time to use humor to diffuse tension or stress? Any specific stories?

And what is one of the funniest things that has happened to you in your life?

The Book: Brave Potatoes, by Toby Speed and Barry Root

We discovered this book in the library several years ago, and I should have just bought it because we keep checking it out. It tells a rhythmic, almost rhyming, goofy story about potatoes who get kidnapped from the state fair by a chef who needs them for soup. Very fun.

Math Reads for Kids

2009-03-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Liz, a math education major, forwarded these recommended math reads for kids:

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table (A Math Adventure) by Cindy Neuschwander and
Wayne Geehan(there are several sequels to this one about Sir Cumference)

Math Talk: Mathematical Ideasin Poems for Two Voices by Theoni Pappas

The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat by Theoni Pappas

Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Tales by Theoni Pappas

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure by Hans Magnus EnzensbergerA Gebra
Named Al: A Novel by Wendy Isdell

The Journey of Al & Gebra to the Land of Algebra by Bethanie H. Tucker

One Grain Of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi and Demi

Math Curse by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith

Grapes Of Math by Greg Tang and Harry BriggsGreedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns

Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar by Masaichiro Anno and Mitsumasa Anno

Math Musings

2009-03-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

The Topic: Math

The Blog:
Lewis Thomas wrote that Montaigne, an early essayist, frequently explored topics which interested him without researching or claiming expertise. I’ll have to take my cue from Montaigne today because I’m thinking about math.

Math fascinates me because it is the language of patterns (I think “language of patterns” came from The Calder Game…?). In that sense, it is a universal language. But let’s get this straight: I’m not good at it.

I hated math all through school—working through the box of math cards in second grade more slowly than other kids, multiplying three numbers by each other in fifth grade, grinding through algebra and trigonometry in high school. I based my college major on how I could get through without any math since I didn’t want to ruin my GPA. And I still let my mom figure out the right amount of material for making curtains.

To my surprise, though, I’ve been able to help my ninth-grade daughter with algebra right up through the third quarter, but that doesn’t mean I really understand it. All I do is find the pattern to follow, then follow it. I have no idea how the concepts would be applied in real life, but using the pattern helps in the meantime. Math is more approachable if I separate it into pattern recognition and pattern application.

I love the idea that math can describe patterns in nature and music; that math can predict future patterns based on present ones. Last summer I read The Secret Life of Numbers, a collection of essays about math for laypeople. It exposed a realm of thinking which, since I generally lack a frame of reference in which to apply it, I have largely already forgotten. One story that struck me, though, was one in which some mathematicians did a study on the shapes, or patterns, which are most efficient for tile-layers. That is, they figured out which shapes take the least amount of perimeter while enclosing the most amount of space. The answer? Hexagons. Then the author pointed out that bees figured out that same thing long, long ago, and hence the patterns we see in their honeycomb. Pattern and application.

As a naturally disorganized person, since the beginning of the year I’ve been thinking about organizing myself better both in writing and in life. I think I’ll try taking some hints from math—starting small--and find a pattern here, an application there.

The PHP (Personal History Prompt):
How did you feel about math growing up? Was it easy or difficult? Why? Did you have a teacher that helped or hindered your progress?

The Etymology: Mathematics
"From Greek mathema (gen. mathematos) 'science, knowledge, mathematical knowledge'; Math is the Amer.Eng. shortening, attested from 1890; the British preference, maths is attested from 1911."
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=mathematics&searchmode=none

The Picture Book(s): The "Sir Cumference" books by Cindy Neuschwander
Set in the time of King Arthur, these books tell fictional tales while explaining mathematical concepts like pi, circumference, the volume of a cone, etc., and are full of clever wordplay. They are so fun and were a delight to explore with my math-loving son.

The Links:
Try this link for games, explanations, etc. for different ages:
http://www.coolmath.com/0-math-puzzles.html
This site has preschool spring-theme count & trace worksheets:
http://www.kidzone.ws/math/kindergarten.htm
I hope I can get back to this site; it lists books that explain the histories of math games (tic tac toe from Egypt?),board games for strategy, probability, etc., and more computer resources:
http://www.livingmath.net/GamesMisc/Games/tabid/391/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Sweet clean Romance

2009-02-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

The Blog:
There's nothing I dislike more than immersing myself in a new book, throwing myself into the plot, identifying with the characters...and then getting brought up short by unexpected sleazy material. February's blog will focus on different aspects of love, but as far as the romantic type...check out some of the authors and their websites below. Guaranteed fun reads, squeaky clean.

The Links:

Try these!!

Midieval romance by Joyce DiPastena:
http://www.joyce-dipastena.com/

Rachel Rager's CleanRomance4You:
http://www.rachelrager.com/

Sarah M. Eden's historical romance:
http://www.sarahmeden.com/

Or Liz Adair's romantic Mist of Quarry Harbor:
sezlizadair.blogspot.com

Or a List for the Library:
Kerry Blair
Barbara Cartland (fun but formulaic (: )
Janet Cox
Betsy Brannon Green
Dee Henderson
Dorothy Keddington
Lori Wick

The Etymology: Expressions of Love
Etymonline has a fun timeline of love idioms, like
love (beloved person): 1225
love-letter: 1240
love song: 1310
fall in love: 1423
in love with: 1508
lovelorn: 1634
love-hate: 1937 (psychological jargon)
For more, go to
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=love

Quilt Stories

2009-01-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Blog: Quilt Stories
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed stories. Not surprisingly, the common theme of painstaking love seems to run among them all. I hope you can take a minute to read through!

The Stories:

From Monique Leutkemeyer
No one in my family quilted. That's not to say they weren't crafty, my mom is very good at crochet and my grandmother made all the dresses for my aunt's wedding. However I didn't even know you could quilt until I was in my mid twenties. But once I discovered the quilting world I couldn't be stopped. I lived with my best friend at the time and we both got started small. We made pillows for everyone for Christmas one year. By the time I was done I had made like 10 pillows or something like that. I got a little cocky with all my "experience" and decided I would try my hand at making a full size quilt. What a disaster that turned out to be! Not a single line was straight and it became so disproportionate that I had to scrap the whole project.. That was only after ripping out the stitches about 100 times and trying to fix that ugly thing. I really wish I had taking a picture of "the worst looking quilt ever made." It was so bad it was funny. I have yet to try a full size quilt but I still love the process, think I'll stick to pillows and wall hangings though.

The same story from Monique's friend, Mary Watts
After growing up sewing on an ancient Singer sewing machine operated by the foot pedal, and stitching everything from hair scrunchies to small purses by hand after leaving my natal home for years, I decided to treat myself to an electric sewing machine. Suddenly an entire new world opened up for me. I could create so much in such a short amount of time! My roommate had purchased a quilt cutting kit for me at Christmas and and we thought making quilt-patterned throw pillows would be fun and simple enough, and so we went together to the fabric store galore and chose our colors and patterns and drew up designs.

That was a pivotal point in my life. Once my pillow was complete, I scanned the papers and each time there was a sale, added more and more hues and prints to my collection. I didn't answer the phone, didn't answer the door- Clandestine weekends were spent with my sewing machine... Eyes shining and cheeks flushed, I would glance at the clock and find it three am! Oh joy! Everyone with a birthday or wedding during those months either received a quilt patterned pillow or pillowcase or apron set (oh! I even taught myself how to applique! Bless!).

Ten I decided I was ready to make a quilt for my mother for her birthday. But it was going to be created in the free-form flow that reflected the style of our family. I chose the original design of the very first pillow, and created four of them, alternating the colors and patterns on the throw. They varied a bit in shape and size, forgiven by the cream-colored background. I then appliqued seven read hearts to reflect each family member randomly on top of the design and chose the most delectable to the skin blue underside I could find. The underside created a frame for the top of the throw, too. I ended up hand stitching quite a bit of it for the effect I was seeking. That quilt was a labor of love. It was non-symmetrical, unconforming, involved intuition and problem-solving, involved many happy thoughts and wishes, and has warmed and comforted many in these past seven years.

From Mary, Monique's stepmother
I've made many quilts & afghans over the years. The one that stands out is the one I made for my mother. I was a teenager - maybe 15. I spent months making squares. I knitted orange & brown squares and painstakingly sewed them together. It was my first attempt and I was so proud of it. I made brown wool tassles to finish it off. The following mother's day I gave it to my mother (who cried when she opened the box). I'll never forget the look on her face and the years she sat in her chair with my quilt on her lap. My next attempt was a few years later when I cut every piece of material I could find into squares (different sizes & all colors). When it came time to finish and to fill with batting I lost interest and never finished it. By then I was into crewel work which I continued for a number of years and made numerous pictures which I still hang today. I think every one in my family has either an afghan or picture which I created.

From Lonnie, Monique's stepfatherGift quilts, those are the ones, that are the most special.
I am blessed to have 4, 3 small individual quilts (for that little extra warmth) that are so nice in the winter while drinking that first cup of coffee on a cold winter morn, or watching the late news, just before bed..
The other one is a full size hand stitched quilt, featuring three massed schooners.
It is normally the cover for my Great-Grandmotherʼs bed, given to me buy my oldest daughter.

The thing so very special about them though, is not only do they look beautiful, but they warm you twice.
With the insulating factor they warm physically and with the love and care that went into making them, they can warm your very heart.
Blessed by Love
Lonnie v

From Kristie Vanover, Monique's stepsister
Quilting has long been a tradition in my moms family. If Granny wasnʼt cooking or in the garden she was most likely sitting at her quilting frame or the rocking chair in her room sewing pieces together. Mom still has quilts that Granny made when I was probably only the age of three. For the longest time I had my baby blanket she made, Bub still has his somewhere. Granny would make them and sell them for extra money.. She had a cousin in New York that would send her the material she wanted and the design and Granny would fix it up and send it to her. It was always neat to me, that she was sending quilts all the way to New York, still is neat. The quilt on my bed is one that mom paid Granny to do for me when I was in high school. Yes, itʼs over twenty years old. Barely though! :) The summer before my junior year Granny and I set out to make us a quilt a piece. That was when the paint in the tubes with the ball points was big. Her sister had given her several blocks that had different cartoon characters on them. I set out painting them and when I was done we split them up and we each had a quilt with twelve squares that I had painted. Unfortunately I got my top sewed together and band camp started, followed by school and I didnʼt get my quilt made. Granny didnʼt abandon the project like I did though. She finished both of our quilts and instead of being upset with me gave me mine for Christmas. When she died the next September Mom told me I could go get the other blanket before anyone else had time to see it and try to lay claim to it. I still have them both, they are safe in my son's closet and when heʼs bigger and needs a full size quilt he will get one. The other will most likely go to my first grandchild. Of course heʼll know the story about how my Granny, his Grannyʼs momma, set out to make the quilts and how special they are. Mom also makes quilts and has for years and years. And over the years I have made a few. Mom and Dad actually have one that Mom, my mom lol, and I made.And my son has a few different ones that his Granny made him and one that Mom and I quilted down. Quilts have so much love in them...and the love goes on forever. There are times now when Iʼm changing the bed or missing Granny that Iʼll lay on her quilt and run my hands over the stitches that she made. Each one as strong as the day she made them. Just like the love...

From Susan Corpany
Mom had a quilt on her bed with pictures painted to tell a story. There was a square that was a representation of each of us five kids. My square was a young woman chasing after a boy, Sadie Hawkins style. Every time I would start dating a new guy, Mom would get out her paints and change the hair color of the guy I was chasing. To make matters more difficult, I never dated two guys in a row with the same hair color. I told her to stop changing it, to wait until I got married. By the time I married Paul, if you laid down on that quilt, there was a little bump--that guy's three-dimensional hair.

Another quilt Mom made for me was a red, white and blue bicentennial quilt for what she hoped was going to be my bicentennial wedding to Matthew Smith, who now, incidentally, I have discovered faithfully reads my Meridian column. When Matthew and I broke up, Mom ditched those plans and I got a quilt out of it. Many years later after my non-bicentennial wedding, Mom and Dad were visiting and I had pulled out the patriotic quilt to put over the twin-sized pop-up trundle bed on which my dad was going to sleep. Mom was sleeping on the daybed. They had been married long enough that the two twin beds we had to offer didn't cramp their style too much. Dad decided one afternoon to take a nap. Because it was a queen-size quilt, it draped to the floor on the twin bed. Mom and I both looked at Dad lying there and it hit us both at the same time. He looked like he was lying in state at a military funeral. I grabbed a bunch of silk flowers out of a nearby vase and laid them on his chest. "He was a good man." Our laughter must have been what awakened him, and somehow he didn't see the humor of it the way we did.

When Paul and I got married, Mom had started working on another quilt for me, with the same painted hillbilly pictures. She had put dates on it for our special days. There were little sayings that went with each picture. The last quilt square showed a mother and father and three or four children. Mom was still working on that quilt when Paul died. She picked off that last square and replaced it with a Mom and Dad and one little blond boy, knowing we would never have th group of children in that picture. She could never bring herself to work on our quilt after that. She worried that even if she finished it, if it would only serve as a reminder to me of my loss. She finally put it in a bag and stuffed it in the back of the closet.

About six months after Paul's death, she was getting ready for work one morning when she had a feeling she should pull out that quilt. She could not think of any good reason for doing so, so she went to work. The feeling stayed with her, so much so that she drove home on her lunch hour and pulled out the quilt. There on the first block was the date of January 26--the date we had met. She realized that it was January 26th. "Okay, I listened. What do you want me to do?"

Later that day I came home from running some errands and my next-door neighbor came over almost immediately, carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers. "These came for you. Have you met someone?"

"No."

I could tell she wasn't going to go away until I opened the card. "What does it say?"

It says "From someone who loves you."

"Maybe you've got a secret admirer."

"I doubt it."

"Is today a special day?"

"I don't know. What day is it anyway? I don't keep track much these days."

"January 26th."

I was stopped in my tracks. "Yes, it is a special day, but nobody else would remember about today. Only Paul would remember the day we met. Who else would possibly remember the day we met?"

And so, with the help of a quilt, I got flowers from the great beyond.

__________________

Susan

From Angela Judd
I love quilts! I've often told my mom that i am sad my grandma's crocheted instead of quilting. My mom has one quilt she made, just a crazy patchwork one and she knows I've got my eye on it. Back in the day when I had so much time... I pieced and made several quilts, nothing fancy just patchwork. Two used the fabric from bridesmaid's dresses. (It's telling that each dress had several yards of floral fabric... can you say early 90's?) I also cut up all of our old t-shirts and made a quilt out of them. I'm glad now for my thrift and industry. I'm not sure where that thrift and industry went, but maybe one of my kids will have their eye on one of my quilts... :)

Simultaneous Incorporation

2009-01-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

The Blog: Simultaneous Incorporation
Part of the allure of quilts is that they often simultaneously incorporate a multitude of endearing features: color, design, skill, time, warmth, love.

Ruminating on quilts and simultaneous incorporation reminded me of when I got to be an art lady a few years ago at my children's elementary school. Every second Thursday, I donned my black art lady apron with the rainbow hearts (usually I’m not into hearts, but this was an exception) and “The arts, heart of education” emblazoned on it and went to talk to kids about a specific work of art and its artist—Renoir, Picasso, Marc Franz. Ooo.

In between time, I would go to the art poster cupboard in the library, find the cardboard-backed print next on the docket, and take home the print to study and research. If I was lucky, I remembered to bring the car since I’d learned the hard way that riding the bike didn’t work too well. Study and research complete, I could then plan an amazing (?!?) presentation for the kids—the more props neatly deposited in my trusty apron the better.

Being an art lady simultaneously incorporated some of my favorite things—art and children--and so it became one of my all-time favorite volunteer jobs.

One day I rummaged in the art cupboard for my next print—a painting by American artist Faith Ringgold. Unfamiliar with her name or work, I finally located a print anchored by black but vibrating with color. A series of triangles around the edge completed the piece. When I googled Faith Ringgold, I was fascinated to learn about her technique: she paints her subject on canvas, then quilts around the edge. She also has numerous children’s books to her credit. Her career looked like a serious case of simultaneous incorporation to me.

I could relate.

The Etymology: Simultaneous
from L. simul "at the same time" (see similar) + -taneous, abstracted from spontaneous, etc.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=simultaneous
Ah--I hadn't made the link between "simultaneous" and "similar" before.

The Prompt:
What have you simultaneously incorporated in your life? Did you plan it that way due to a specific need, or was the circumstance the result of happy chance?

The Book: Tar Beach, by Faith Ringgold
A big city girl finds her beach on the black rooftop of her apartment building, and her imagination takes flight from there.

The Links:
Learn more about Faith Ringgold and her work at http://www.faithringgold.com/ or http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/catalog/author.pperl?authorid=25610.

Quick Quilt Comments

2009-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

The Blog:
Once the holidays have passed, January settles in, often with doldrums. I like to think of coziness instead, of bundling inside a quilt with a good book, so January's theme is quilts. Can you think of a quilt with special meaning, one with colors or patterns you've loved, one made for you by someone important in your life, one that generates memories? As a child I remember loving the handmade quilts that appeared on our beds when the nights turned chilly. Each quilt had a story. For example, when my mom married, a friend of my grandma made the thick green and pink star quilt on my bed—green for my dad’s favorite color, pink for my mom’s. I also loved sitting on my mom’s bed before she made it in the morning to examine the materials and patterns in the worn fan quilt that hid under the bedspread after the covers had been straightened. On lucky days, Mom would point out which fabrics came from her childhood dresses.

I've only ventured once into piecing and quilting a full-sized quilt, a pattern of rocket blocks for one of my sons. Mom, bless her heart, took over most of the cutting and piecing when I realized, with toddlers and preschoolers, that I was in over my head. Mom, my grandma and I all quilted it together when they came out for a visit. I can still find and trace my grandma's stitches, over-large and frustruating to her due to failing eyesight. She is gone now, but the stitches--endearing in their size--remain.

The PHP (Personal History Prompt):
This is a new feature I'm starting to tie writing in with reading and language. I'm not sure yet if I'll change the prompt by week or by theme. Anyway, here's the prompt:

What are your quilt stories? Why not share one or two with your family--and then write them down! If you don't already have a file folder for your life stories, start one now.

The Etymology: Quilt
OF. coilte, cuilte (mod. couette), with var. coute :- L. culcita mattress, cushion. The fact that "quilt" entered English through Old French makes me wonder if the French introduced quilts to England...and if so, when? Or maybe mattresses and comforters used to be about the same thing, like the Latin term would seem to indicate. Does anyone know?
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-quilt.html

The Book: The Quiltmaker's Gift, by Jeff Brumbeau
"A New York Times bestseller and a Booksense Book ofthe year, The Quiltmaker’s Gift tell the story of a greedyking, who with the help of a generous quiltmaker, learns to find happiness by giving his possessions away." http://www.quiltmakersgift.com/

My kids and I have all loved the gentle, compelling story in this book and its pairing with rich illustrations. I think we'll pull it out again, wrap up in a quilt, and read!

The Links:
Try this link for applying the ideas in The Quiltmaker's Gift.
http://www.quiltmakersgift.com/stories/community_service.html

Here's a fun paper quilt block activity to try with kids:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10489

"Handeling" Christmas

2008-12-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

The Blog:
The glory of Handel’s Messiah seems to burst through and wrap itself around the spirit of Christmas. When my older children were just four or five, I think I can say it was the first Christmas music they latched onto, and they would sing along with “Wonderful! Counselor! The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!” and mean every word.

In college, a peer introduced me for the first time to the idea that the Lord had inspired and used sacred music through time to convey truths to the world, from the illiterate to the wealthy patrons of art. Whenever I hear the Messiah, I’m sure this must be true.

The Etymology:
The word that in English is often used as the equivalent of "wahoo!" comes from Hebrew hall lû-y h, or "praise Yahweh."
http://www.bartleby.com/61/85/H0028500.html

The Picture Book:
Try reading this one with your kids: Handel, Who Knew What He Liked, by M.T. Anderson with pictures by Kevin Hawkes. The book, a Boston Globe-Horn Book award winner, beautifully summarizes Handel’s life and career, and the artwork is fantastic. It culminates with his inspiration to compose The Messiah. Not only does the book explain who Handel was and how the music for The Messiah came about, but it also shows how one person rose to success and dealt with failure. Libraries file this book under nonfiction, or you can order it from Amazon for about seven dollars.

It's Thanksgiving--So Let's Talk Guajalote

2008-11-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Blogymology (Blog + Etymology)
I felt particularly enlightened in a college Spanish class to learn that quite a few names in English and Spanish for native animals and foods, especially those ending with “-ate” or “-ote,” come from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.

Try coyote and ocelot (ocelote in Spanish). Originally coyotl and tlalocelotl in Nahuatl, they’re animals indigenous to this continent. Then we have foods like chocolate (xocoltl, from xococ, bitter, and atl, water), tomato (from Spanish tomate, from Nahuatl tomatl, meaning swelling fruit), and elote, a Spanish word for corn, coming from the Aztec word elotl. Avocado is a folk etymology (meaning someone heard the original word wrong and turned it into something more familiar) for Spanish aguacate, coming from Nahuatl ahuakatl.

Now, after all the preamble, let’s combine food and animal and talk turkey. That is, in Spanish, guajalote. Which is borrowed from Nahuatl huexolotl.

Unlike tomatl to tomate to tomato, obviously we didn’t turn guajolote into an English word like waholo or something like that. Why not? Why turkey? Part of the reason probably lies in the fact that turkeys weren’t first eaten by Europeans on their home ground. Instead, Europeans first imported the birds from the Americas in the 1500’s. Incorrectly thinking the fowl came from the same family as some other delectable birds which they (also incorrectly) thought came from Turkey, they assigned the name turkey.

So now we talk turkey instead of waholo or guajalote or huexolotl. I don’t know; I think talking huexolotl sounds intriguing…. Let’s talk huexolotl.

Sources:
http://podictionary.com/?p=485
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=tomato&searchmode=none
http://aulex.ohui.net/es-nah/?idioma=en

The Book
I define “talking turkey” in terms of other idiomatic expressions like cutting to the chase or getting down to the nitty gritty or getting to the business at hand without beating around the bush. Eoin Colfer’s lead character Fletcher Moon in the middle-grade mystery Half-Moon Investigations is a twelve-year-old detective chagrined by his weaknesses (wimpiness, uncoolness, etc.) but compelled by his strength, detecting, and he tells his story in detective straight talk. In other words, he talks turkey. It’s a fun book with unexpected twists, turns and friendships, and I’ll look for the next one in the series.

To learn more about Eoin (pronounced "Owen") Colfer, go to http://www.eoincolfer.com/.

Exploration: Final Frontiers

2008-11-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Introduction

To wrap up October's Exploration theme, I asked doctor and writer Rene Allen to share some thoughts, as her personal and professional experience seemed to lend themselves well to the topic. You may also want to explore her article on Tucson's Rattlesnake Bridge in the October 2008 issue of Highlights Magazine. Thank you, Rene.

The Blog

When I was young, Disney produced “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” It has since been remade, but seems lackluster to my memory of that first cinematic adventure to the earth’s core and its many remarkable discoveries. The exit route was also dramatic – I recall a sort of cup made of stone containing the explorers and a blast from a volcano.

Sarah has asked I share a few thoughts on this kind of exploration that takes us to the inside, in this case, to the core and center of ourselves where the landscape is mutable and where you, too, will make remarkable discoveries.

On this trip, we may study the geography of memory. There will be mountains and valleys, vistas of swelling emotional recall and those which flit passed with only small tugs at our heartstrings. A well-known character from literature whose seasonal remembrance is almost here, Ebenezer Scrooge, was deeply touched as he was taken by the Spirit of Christmas Past back to his own childhood. Many of us hold unresolved in memory pieces and chunks of our childhood that can be like landminds in some circumstances, going off with an emotional ker-bang that leaves us stunned. Returning to such memories is not for the faint-hearted or ill-supported, yet they often demand one way or another we return and finish the business of growing up.

There is also the landscape of contemplation, of search for answers and truth, where you let your mind wander, permit it to construct for you the solution to whatever problem frustrates the surface of your existence. The answer is often a spontaneous thought that comes unexpectedly, as a whisper or image, perhaps, but also having a kind of resonance that it is, indeed, the solution you are seeking. This is the kind of pleasant journeying through the unconscious that is whacked into hiding by anxiety and the perfectionist’s need to always be right. It is a tender, fragile thing, and requires serenity to flourish.

There is also the exciting landscape of creativity. Here is where, with you in the director’s chair and your mind the screen of your own talent and creativity, you let go, trust the process, and watch and listen and feel. Then through your own vision, through your fingers and ears and eyes, you translate, produce, and refine. Your inner landscape has evolved, been changed and solidified. You have made it real, turned it into story or art or music or whatever and shared it.

The thrill, I believe, is similar to that last wild ride from the center of the earth on the breath of a volcano.

Explore this Nonfiction

2008-11-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

The Brief Blog
I've got the in-a-hurry-but-not-quite-done feeling about October's Exploration theme. I'm in a hurry because it's November and I'm behind again, but I'm not quite done with October. In fact, I'm still looking forward to a guest blog on October's theme--so in the meantime, I'm going to add in my suggestions for adult exploration reads.

The Books
I love finding nonfiction that grips and propels me through the book--something I expect in fiction but which surprises me in nonfiction. Here are three engaging, relatively short "exploration" reads:

Longitude, by Dava Sobel: Longitude recounts the late 18th century race to find a reliable way for sailors to determine their longitude, thus preventing the frequent tragedy and economic loss that stemmed from ships perpetually being lost. John Harrison, an English clockmaker, found a solution but then had to battle the academic establishment for decades to gain recognition for his accomplishment. I couldn't put it down.

The Wild Muir, edited by Lee Stetson: Tales told in John Muir's own words of his adventures and explorations from sliding down an upper-story slate roof in his childhood Scotland to riding an avalanche in the Sierras. One of my all-time favorite books.

http://www.johnmuirlive.com/

Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Written by Charles Lindbergh's wife, this is a must-read for women. With its gentle allegory of the ocean, the book illuminates how to find balance between personal fulfillment and external obligation...definitely falls in the "internal exploration" category. I reread it whenever I need grounding.

The End! (for now (: )

I Think, Therefore I Explore

2008-10-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

The Blog:
When I hear “explore,” I tend to think first of men like Columbus sailing past the edge of the earth. For most of us, though, the majority of the exploration we experience in life involves not going anywhere. Instead, it’s about questioning and soul searching. The middle grade novel I chose this week includes some of each.

The Quotes:
Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.”
Frank Borman

“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.”
T.S. Eliot

The Book:
Middle Grade Novel: A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park (Newbery Winner)

None of my kids has read A Single Shard—yet—but it’s my very favorite middle grade novel. Set in a twelfth-century Korean potters village, the story follows an orphan boy who wants to learn to make the celadon pottery the village is famous for. Beginning with this simple longing and ending with a dangerous journey, the story is poignant and beautifully told and well worth the read, for adults as well as kids.

The Links:
To learn more about Linda Sue Park and her work, try her website at http://www.lspark.com/.

The Metropolitan Museum has a fun interactive site about celadon pottery; to check it out, go to http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/celadon/html/startpage.htm.

I found the above exploration quotes at the following link. To find more, look at http://thinkexist.com/quotations/exploration/.

Columbus and the Age of Exploration

2008-10-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

The Theme: Exploration
I thought about using an obvious theme for October like Halloween or mystery but settled on exploration instead since Columbus Day falls in October. I couldn’t resist exploration since I can, with some creativity, place two of my very favorite books under that umbrella.

Mystery is also a strong pull, though, so if I’m really with it maybe I’ll manage to pull off both themes. We’ll see! In the meantime, on with exploration.

The Example
A strip of desert about twenty feet wide ran between the west patio wall of my childhood home and the chain link fence which marked the edge of our property.

We called that strip “The Jungle.”

For us, it was a jungle in the desert. Pungent creosote bushes grew thick and waved above our heads; in the middle, bushes once weighed down by a freak winter snow bent their tips together to form a shelter of sorts. A mulberry tree grew next to the shelter. Large, sloping branches sprouted from a thick trunk only a couple of feet from the ground. A small tree with dark, rough bark and long, twining leaves grew at the south end of the Jungle near a forever-locked gate.

We spent hours there, setting up house in the shelter, picking insect exoskeletons from the tree, examining small furry plants with purple flowers and yellow berries.

I learned in the Jungle that journeys long or short begin internally, with questions, and that if no far-reaching explorations move on our horizons, the familiar can be forever re-discovered.

The Book: Land Ho! Fifty Glorious Years in the Age of Exploration, by Nancy Winslow Parker
“We suffer from a disease that only gold can cure.”
-Hernan Cortes, quoted on title page

Starting with Christopher Columbus, discover the life and times of twelve explorers. Each explorer has a fun two-page spread with text, maps, pictures, and text boxes. My son, nine or ten at the time we purchased the book from Scholastic book orders, couldn’t put it down.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=Z3SuSIXn7xoC&dq=nancy+winslow+parker&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=gfTY2TakfG&sig=ZqJo9kRdsfAoBV1pLzCV-mRTv38&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=13&ct=result#PPP1,M1

Try the link above to preview the book.

Author Interview with Joyce DiPastena

2008-10-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to wrap up September's castle theme (let's pretend it's still September) with an interview with Joyce DiPastena.

Author of LOYALTY'S WEB. Joyce DiPastena fell in love with the Middle Ages when she first read Thomas B. Costain’s THE CONQUERING FAMILY in high school. A graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree specializing in medieval history, Joyce lives in Arizona with her two cats, Clio and Glinka Rimsky-Korsokov.

Joyce, thank you for agreeing to do this interview. To start off, could you tell us how you became interested in the Middle Ages?

Thank you, Sarah. I appreciate this opportunity to talk with you today.
How did I become interested in the Middle Ages? It sort of came about as a "narrowing down" of interests. I've enjoyed learning about history for as long as I can remember--ancient Greek history, ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the Tudor, Stuart and Regency eras of England, and the American Revolutionary War. I read a lot of Regency romances in junior high, high school and college. Regency author, Georgette Heyer, was a huge influence on me back then. So I was very interested in many different eras of history for a long time. Then, during high school, I read a series of books by Thomas B Costain that dealt with the Plantagenet kings of England. Edward I was the first Plantagenet king to intrigue me, but then I read about Henry II (who actually came first chronologically) and I completely fell in love with him. Not in a romantical way. There was just something about his personality as described by both his friends and his foes that fascinated me. And because I was so interested in Henry II, I began studying his time period more in depth, so that when I finally chose a time period to attempt my first novel in, I set it in the time of Henry II.
I still enjoy reading books set in other time periods, but the more I wrote about the Middle Ages, the more I seemed to bond with it. So that's where my stories continue to be set today.

Do you have what you would consider an area of expertise or special interest during this time period?

I don't know that I would label myself an "expert" on anything. As I said, however, I do have a special interest in the time period of Henry II of England. I enjoy playing with the disfunctional, and ultimately, tragic relationships in his family. My novel, Loyalty's Web, uses as a backdrop the conflict between Henry II and his second son, Richard, who eventually becomes Richard the Lionheart. I've written a follow up novel, titled Illuminations of the Heart (presently unpublished), that plays with the tensions between Richard and his eldest brother, known as Henry the Younger. Such historical tensions always remain a backdrop, rather than the ultimate focus, of my novels, though. Historical characters may or may not actually appear in cameo scenes in my books. I prefer to "make up" my own characters, kind of "plop them down" in the time period, and then see how each reacts to the political environment they find themselves in.

Do you have a favorite castle or site rooted to medieval history?

I'd be thrilled to be able to visit any medieval castle someday! But I think I would have a special interest in visiting the castle of Chinon in France, which was one of Henry II's primary residences. It was a castle the he seemed to love. It's also where he died in 1189, and is buried nearby in Fontevraud Abbey, which I would also like to visit.

Tell us about your blogs, Medieval Vignettes (http://medievalvignettes.blogspot.com/), and Medieval Research with Joyce (http://medievalresearch.blogspot.com/).

I started Medieval Vignettes just as a kind of fun way to "fill in the blanks" of events that are mentioned in Loyalty's Web as having taken place in the past, but having little to no actual bearing on my book's plot. For instance, there is a mention in Loyalty's Web of "that last Christmas we all spent together" between my heroine's and a neighbor's family. What happened that Christmas has absolutely no effect on the plot line of Loyalty's Web, but I found myself wondering what everyone might have talked about at that "past" Christmas. So I wrote a scene to find out! And just in case any of my readers were interested, too, I decided to post the scene on a blog. A second "flashback scene" shows a "vignette" of my heroine, Heléne, receiving some of her earliest lessons in herbal healing. Both of these scenes probably give a little more insight into my characters, but again, they're for fun, and are not strictly necessary to enjoy the narrative line of Loyalty's Web.

I started Medieval Research with Joyce as a way to share the research sources and some of the research techniques I used to write Loyalty's Web with other writers of medieval fiction. My original goal was to share new research sources as they corresponded to new stories that were being published. I've pretty much covered the sources I used in Loyalty's Web, and as Illuminations of the Heart remains at the moment in manuscript form, Medieval Research with Joyce has kind of been put on hold. But maybe I'll browse through my medieval library and see if I can come up with a new post soon to tide my readers over during the interim.

Your book Loyalty’s Web will shortly be coming out from Leatherwood Press. Can you summarize the book for us?

To quote from the back cover blurb:
The year is 1176, and the Earl of Gunthar and his knights have been sent to France by King Henry II of England to enforce a peace treaty. The rakish earl falls in love with Heléne de Laurant, the younger, spirited sister of the beauty he is supposed to wed in an arranged marriage designed to unite the two countries. But when Heléne and her family are accused of plotting against the king, Heléne is torn: should she betray the man who could send her family to the gallows, or should she follow her heart and risk her safety to save him?
Loyalty's Web is scheduled to begin appearing in Deseret Book stores in November, but it can be pre-ordered now at http://deseretbook.com/store/product/5011757.

What made you decide to write historical romance?

As a reader, I've always preferred books with happy endings. In my opinion, life is hard enough to muddle through. We're surrounded by a world of frightening scenarios that we can't control, and can't tune out. At the end of the day, I just want a break from "reality", even if it's only for a few minutes. I want the reassurance that somewhere, even if it's only in someone's imagination, regardless of all the struggles the characters I'm reading about are going through, everything comes out right in the end.
Ultimately, I'm a romantic, I love history, and I like to write. It just seemed a natural combination to put together. And if I can use whatever talent the Lord has given me to provide a few hours of simple entertainment to someone else, a temporary release from the cares of the world, then that's all I really want to accomplish with my writing. (Well, and if I can stir an interest in the Middle Ages, that would be a nice bonus.)

What do you like most about writing? Least?

What I like most about writing is seeing my characters take on a life of their own. I love it when they surprise me by charging down a path I didn't expect them to go. That's when writing gets exciting!
What do I like least? Facing a new blank page every day and wondering whether my talent completely dried up over night. That tiny little voice that haunts me every time I sit down "fresh" to write, that says, "Sure, I had a great writing session yesterday, but that was yesterday. What if I can't think of anything to write today?" That little voice of self-doubt can be terrifying and paralyzing. And it makes nearly every day a new struggle to write. I have learned that if I'll just push my way through the fear and start typing anyway, I'll get caught up in the story and characters again and that fear will go away. But I also have learned that it will be back the next morning. I don't know if every writer faces this, but I do. And that would have to be absolutely the worst part about writing for me!

Tell us about any upcoming projects.

As I mentioned earlier, I've written a kind of "spinoff" to Loyalty's Web, but I can't tell you much about it, because unless you've already read Loyalty's Web, it might give too much of that book away. If you have read Loyalty's Web and would like a clue (just a clue, mind you!), you can email me at jdipastena@yahoo.com. I'll tell you who the "spinoff" character is in Illuminations of the Heart, but after that, you'll have to draw your own conclusions for now. :-)
Also, please be sure to check out my website at http://www.joyce-dipastena.com. That's where I'll keep you updated about future writing projects. And sometimes I hold drawings just for fun, so check back often and click on my News & Contests page while you're there!

Thanks so much, Joyce.

Thank you for inviting me, Sarah. It was a delight to talk to you and your readers today!

Castles New and Old

2008-09-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Examples:
I’ve been thinking about European and American castles, spurred on after reading Revenge of the Shadow King, reviewed below. I’ve been to a few European castles. At Edinburgh Castle, time-blackened parapets brooded above the city, ready in centuries past for defense. Thick wooden steps at Chateau Chillon in Switzerland, worn smooth and hollowed in the center, silently reminded visitors of their centuries of use. It’s a very cursory view of the castles, but they breathed history.

The only American castle I’ve been to is Biltmore, a Vanderbilt estate in Asheville, North Carolina. I remember it was big, really big; apparently the Vanderbilt brothers had been in competition over who could build the biggest and best house. Extensive grounds rolled into woods and meandered to a winery down the hill. In the home, a little Renoir hung on a guest room wall, roped off so no one could really see what was in the picture. An empty, fully tiled swimming pool hid in the basement, I think next to the bowling alley. It’s a very cursory view of the castle, but it breathed…money.

What does the contrast between the two illustrate about two cultures or societies? Any thoughts?

The items below are geared for (possible) adult-child conversation…

Fun Links:
http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/index/tour/3d.htm
http://www.nonvi.com/sm/chillon.html
http://www.spiritmag.com/2008_08/clickthis/american-castles-08.php

The Etymologies: Castle
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/castle:
From Latin castellum, fortress, diminutive of castrum, fortified place
And Fort:
In a roundabout way from Latin fortis, strong. Think also of forte in music; fuerte, strong, in Spanish…and what else?

The Book: Revenge of the Shadow King, Part I of the Grey Griffins Trilogy
by Derek Benz & J.S. Lewis
Revenge of the Shadow King is the quintessential boys’ novel, starting with the billionaire 10-year-old protagonist living in a castle in Minnesota and ranging from cool treehouses and magical books to catacombs and goblins at the window. My eleven-year-old (at the time) couldn’t put it down.

Undermining

2008-09-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

The Example

“Daddy,” my four-year-old asks from her secure perch in his arms. “Can I have one chocolate?” Her pigtails swing and she opens her eyes wide. “Please?”
“Uh, sure,” he says, and she flings her arms around his neck. Then she casts a triumphant, sidelong glance at me.
What Daddy doesn’t know is that she already asked me for chocolate, and I said no. No, you just brushed your teeth, no, you’ve had enough sugar for today, no, you’ll get it all over your face right before bed, no.
Ah, undermining.

The Definition: Undermine

“To subvert or weaken secretly. “ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/undermine.

The Etymology: Undermine

In the middle ages, forces attacking castles would mine under the outer castle walls, shoring up their tunnels with wooden beams. Then they would set the beams on fire, run like crazy, and wait for the tunnel to collapse once the supports no longer held it up. The portion of the castle wall over the tunnel would collapse too, and behold! A breach to the inner fortress.

The Book: The World of Castles and Forts, by Malcolm Day

This is a fun, do-able survey of castles and forts from China to England, from Roman to modern times. Each castle or fort appears in a two-page spread well-balanced with illustrations and text. I read it with my nine-year-old son, and the format made the book easy to pick up and put down.

Watch for the illustration of undermining!

Into the Game: About this Blog

2008-08-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

After months of thinking about blogging, reading about blogging, and dipping my toes into the blogging world, I'm finally ready to give this a try. I think. Coming off the technology sidelines into the game is a bit scary.

Exciting, too. I've always want to share thoughts on reading and writing and language and here's a forum. Wahoo! I'm envisioning posts from etymology to book reviews to general family matters; I'd like to bring in guest bloggers to mix things up a bit.

My hope for this blog is that the content will be thought-provoking, fun, and worth discovery. Maybe a mom will read a post or something off a list that will serve as fodder for a dinner-time discussion; maybe a child will try a book off the list or find a new tongue-twister. Maybe a grandma will find a link that will help a grandchild with a report.

I hope! So if you visit here, please let me know what you think, what could be improved, what you'd like to see--and tell your friends.

See you later!

Sarah