Sometimes (as in, at least once per day) Lizzie and I get on the phone and philosophize. Both of us are usually in the middle of housework, and as we wash dishes or chisel cheerios off the floor, we talk through the big issues. She tells me about her new three-pronged approach to dealing with whining (complete with a great analogy for driving the point home), and I tell her about our discussions regarding how to give the stink-eye to the 8-year-old boy who tried to hug you at recess. Profitable discussions all round.
And both of us have girls. Lots of girls. Amongst the cousin clan at large there are 10 girls under the age of 10. Which means we think about little-girl issues a lot, and we discuss girl issues a lot. Girls are tricky stuff. There are all kinds of issues and nuances to little-girl interaction that are just plain not there among the little boys. Much goes on beneath the surface in the world of little girls. Complicated, high level stuff!
First of all, if you have two or more girls playing together at any given moment (sisters, homeschool play day, school recess) you are almost guaranteed several things. The first is that there are dirty deeds going down. The second is that if you’re not entirely dialed in and concentrating hard, you’ll miss the whole thing. If you and the other mothers are chatting off on the sidelines drinking your coffee, and you never ask your daughter about what she and other little girls were doing over there under the trees, you’re probably missing some big-league stuff. Basically, in any group of little girls there is likely one or more of them who is honing her manipulation skills to a high art, learning to wield “hurt feelings” with power and agility. If it’s your daughter who is filling that role, you have one thing to work on . . . and if it’s not your daughter, then you have a different thing to work on. Gossip rears its ugly head at a surprisingly early age as well. Third graders are entirely capable of the full-tilt, malicious back stab.
What this boils down to is that we ask our girls questions. Lots and lots of questions. Here’s a general idea of our after-school conversation. Continue reading ‘It’s a jungle out there’
Several of you have let me know about some malware on Femina. I’ve got someone looking into it, and hopefully it will be fixed up soon. So sorry for any inconvenience to you!
And what could be better than pumpkin cake? Here’s a recipe for a good one.
Pumpkin Cake
Grease and flour a 9×13 pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together 4 eggs, 1 2/3 c. sugar, 1 c. oil, 2 c. canned pumpkin.
In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients: 2 c. flour, 2 t. baking powder, 2 t. cinnamon, 1 t. salt, 1 t. soda. Add to the wet ingredients.
Bake for 1 hour.
Frost with cream cheese frosting: 1 block of cream cheese (at room temp), 1/2 stick butter (at room temp), 1- lb. bag powdered sugar, and a 1/2 t. vanilla.
Some time ago when I was reading A Preface to Paradise Lost by C.S. Lewis, I was struck by his comments on joyful solemnity. He referred to an old word in Middle English, solempne, when describing the quality of epic poetry. He calls it a joyful solemnity and compares it to “a princess led out by a king to dance a minuet, a general officer on a ceremonial parade…all these wear unusual clothes and move with calculated dignity. This does not mean that they are vain, but that they are obedient…the modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender’s inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.” (This comes from the third chapter called “Primary Epic.”)
We moderns have trouble with solempne because we live in an egalitarian, slovenly culture where no one likes to “look up” to someone else. To really understand solempne, we need hierarchy. So the Christian has a better chance at understanding this because the most high God is our ultimate reference point. Continue reading ‘Solempne’
Many thanks for all the very kind words regarding the passing of Bessie. I wanted to put up a link to her obituary here if you’d like to see it. The Lord bless you all, and thank you for your prayers!
Many of you have been praying for Sophia Orr, and I wanted to remind you to specifically pray for her this upcoming week. She’ll have some tests done on September 23 in Cincinnati, including a heart echo, to prepare for her upcoming surgery, which will probably be scheduled for a couple weeks after these tests. I know she and her family would especially appreciate our prayers.
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