Thursday, June 9, 2011

Quick Takes

1) I listened to a lecture recently that suggested - not as a necessity, but as an fascinating possibility - that St. John the Divine wrote his gospel after his vision at Patmos. In other words, that what John had in his mind as he wrote that magnificent prologue, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . ." was that vision of Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, King and Judge and triumphant over sin and death, at the throne, surrounded by all the angels and saints . . . yeah, I could see that prologue coming out a man who had just seen that. Again, it's not something we can know for sure, but doesn't it sound about right?
2) I was listening to Psalm 78 and noticed the phrase "they were not estranged from their lusts" and I thought, I would like very much to be estranged from my lusts. In fact, I'd like to be so estranged that when they raise their ugly heads I am surprised and say, "who are you? what do you think you're doing here? Go away!"
3) It's so fun to put on the "Tangled" soundtrack and watch my adorable three-year olds dance around in their princess dresses. So girly, so rambunctious, so cute.
4) A new food discovery: Bob's Red Mill Muesli. No added sugar, but still yummy with the add-in's like dates and raisins and sunflower seeds. This solves my problem of wanting to eat oats every day, but not wanting hot cereal in the summer. Added bonus: if there's a child-related emergency at breakfast (spilled milk! a fall from a chair! why am I saying "if"?), my cereal doesn't get soggy before I have a chance to get back to it.
5) My favorite crochet magazine is Interweave Crochet - they're always publishing patterns that are actually made for crochet, not crochet-trying-to-look-like-knitting - but they also publish really interesting articles about the history of crochet, and about crochet around the world.
In this past issue, the articles ruled. There was an amazing one about a Ukrainian biologist-turned-artist, who lost her scientific job at the fall of the Soviet Union and fell back on the needlework she learned as a little girl, from her grandmothers. Her name is Antonina Kuznetsova. I loved this quotation from her:
"I was afraid of using colors, because I had no special training in colorwork . . . Then one day I realized, I am a biologist, and I know something about flowers and plants . . . Sometimes we try to invent something new, but in color matching, everything has been invented by nature before us."
Anyway, if you don't subscribe, it's worth borrowing this issue from someone just for the article about Kuznetsova. And the pictures of her work are jaw-dropping. There's also an article or two about doilies that any student of history - or reader of Victorian literature or watcher of BBC historical programs - would probably also enjoy.
6) I've decided recently that instead of hoping to achieve something grand as the House of Elrond, I'm going to be content if my home is little more like the Burrow: clean and neat, but still rather shabby and crowded. All good if it's as full of love and always has a corner in which to squeeze in a guest. Anyway. I'm going to keep up the work on the clean and neat part, but I'm done fighting the slightly shabby and crowded part. I think we're more like the Weasleys than the high elves anyways.
Though maybe when the kids are up and grown, we can reach towards the elegance of Bag End. :D
7) This Sunday is Pentecost! Time to dig out the red clothes and wear them to church! Always a problem for my husband, as his wardrobe is almost entirely in the blue-grey-brown spectrum.
This feast in honor of the coming of the Holy Spirit is always a joy to celebrate, and it's one of the easiest ones to celebrate at home. My favorite tradition is that of scattering red flower petals on the table (in memory of the tongues of flame that descended on the first disciples). The kids get really into that, and it's a great visual to have in front of them when you recount the story from Acts.
Less popular with the kids is the tradition of serving spicy foods (heat=flame is the connection there), but maybe some cinnamon toast sprinkled with cinnamon hearts?

More Quick Takes found here!
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

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