{ENJOYING} Picking Hadley up from school in the afternoons. Harper and I stop by Starbucks (as you might have determined from the picture), I bring along some easy reading and she brings a notebook with her sketches. We read and draw while we wait for carpool to begin. Sometimes friends walk up to the window and we chat for awhile. Today, I read this from my Martha Stewart Living magazine: “A gardener needs to dream and plot.” Isn’t that lovely? I had to underline it and think about dreaming and plotting. Lauren Winner told us in Santa Fe last year that we will never read the same again after we start graduate school. She was right. I never read anything without a pen, dog earring a page, ripping it out and clipping it into a scrapbook, or writing about it. I like that.
{PRACTICING} Lectio Divinia when I read. Trying to read a poem a day and working from Acceptable Words by Gary D. Schmidt and Elizabeth Stickney. I like this slower pace of reading (perhaps that has something to do with my thoughts in the above statements). Interested in learning about Lectio Divinia? Sarah Arthur has a great post on how to do it.
{CHANGED} My “The Stack” page. I typed out a list of all the books I’ve read so far for graduate school. The asterisk indicates the books I just loved. Maybe you’ll find some summer reading? May I suggest starting with Booked, then moving onto Rumors of Water? Read The Christmas Plains around Christmastime. My favorite scene is the scene when Charles Dickens finishes A Christmas Carol and parties into the night with a reluctant, introverted lass. It’s wonderful. Oh, and do yourself a favor and read some Brian Doyle. Good gracious, he’s the best. (PS- Please don’t think I think I am some smart thing because of this list. I’m behind on all I’m supposed to be reading for graduate school. In one annotation, I compared The Berenstain Bears to Joan Didion. And last night when I turned in my packet, I flipped through the Twilight Series, only reading the “good” parts.)
{LOOKING FORWARD TO} Summer. There are pool dates, and play dates, and Hadley’s requested I start up Book Club again and well, how can I deny a gal a Book Club? There’s lots of dreaming and plotting going on up in here. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks for reading and for those of you who subscribe and don’t mind me popping into your inbox every so often, thank you so much. Seeing your name on the list of subscribers makes me smile and believe in myself as a writer every day.
Five Years Ago: The “Waabare”
Four Years Ago: Oh my, Harper gets baptized.
Three Years Ago: And Geoff and Kellee get married. (Happy Anniversary, y’all!)
Two Years Ago: I talk about how awesome it is to grow up with a sibling while trying to quote Dave Matthews Band.
One Year Ago: An Around Here post.
Thanks for the book recommendations! It’s a bit overwhelming to walk into Barnes and Noble and have no idea what to buy! Not that I don’t love wandering around in there for hours, but I usually only feel confident about the cookbooks I buy, since you can tell at a glance whether they will be useful or not.
How do I get your love for scrapbooking/journaling to rub off on me a bit???
Valerie, how about you teach me (again) how to knit/crochet/sew/quilt and I’ll teach you some scrapbook/journaling. It seems like a fair trade to me.
Well, I don’t knit or quilt, and I haven’t sewn anything since high school, but if you want to crochet, I’m your girl. Again, I’m noticing a common theme of us needing to live closer. Plus, Joshua wants to be in book club.
How about you set up a crochet club? Then we’ll totally move.
what? i can start a crochet club if you move out here. i mean, i’ve never crocheted (how do you spell that?) a thing in my life, so no telling what your creation might look like… how about stitches? i can teach you how to stitch up your own kids’ head injury. we’ll call it a suturing club. who’s in?
Of course you can be in the club. We’ll make it a book, crochet, doctor club. These are all skills we need.
I already have one, as of right now. And our neighbor is planning to put their house up for sale, so there you go.
How hilarious would it be if we were neighbors, Valerie? We were good roommates so I think it’d totally work out.
I was feeling like I will never read a “real” book again and beginning to get depressed until I came to the part where you skimmed through Twilight. Thanks. I’m feeling better now. I think those are the only books I’ve really read recently. Someday, when my youngest is in school, maybe I’ll be able to accomplish something noteworthy again. Not that reading the entire Twilight Saga in 2 weeks while managing to keep my family fed & clothed isn’t noteworthy . . . just probably not the best use of my time.
Katie, I highly recommend Rumors of Water. You will be able to read it even with kids at home, I promise. It is your kind of book. (And it’s a skinny one with short essays, a page or two, completely readable. The subject? Creativity, motherhood, and faith.)
Thanks for the shout out! Good memories.
You’re welcome! It was a fun day!
I’ll have to check out your ‘The Stack’ page. Thanks for calling attention to it (though I don’t feel that I’ve got much time for reading either, like another mom stated above.)
Do tell more about the book club. I’d like to hear how it goes. Perhaps I’ll borrow the idea…
Hi Anita,
I am planning a post on book club with the materials I use so you can start your own if you’d like. It’s a very fun project!
Love the idea of practicing Lectio Divinia while reading! I’ve used it for Bible reading, but never thought to try it with other reading as well (I’m generally a speedy type of reader!) Look forward to seeing how the Book Club shapes up! 🙂
Kelly, I find it very helpful for many reasons. It helps me think about why I like a phrase, or why I stopped at a certain part. Also, it makes me slow down. Too much hurry in my life. 🙂
what, valerie? you already have a suturing club? what are the chances? well, then i have nothing new to offer callie… (it wouldn’t let me repy to the previous string. apparently this blog had had enough of our humor.)
This blog never gets enough of your humor. Ever. Amen.