may be the finest book ever written for children. It's the first long chapter book I read with each of my children when they are around four and a half. The chapter entitled "Dr. Dorian" should be required reading tucked in to every newborn's bassinet. But to hear Mr. White read, ah, that's another thing altogether. To borrow his own phrasing, it's not often that you find someone is both a great writer and a good narrator. E.B. White is both.(We were listening to him read The Trumpet of the Swan recently and it occurred to me that both books feature animals communicating with humans in writing -- Charlotte with her web, Louis with his slate. Yet very few of the humans find anything extraordinary in that ability; in fact, the general consensus in Charlotte's Web is that it couldn't possibly be the spider writing the words, but rather some supernatural gift of the pig causing the words to miraculously appear. Do you think Mr. White is saying something about how the general public values writing ability?)
2. I made my own deodorant using this simple recipe from Passionate Homemaking. It works better than anything I've bought, especially at the natural foods store, and has none of that scary aluminum stuff in it. Yeehaw.
3. The kids and I just read Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" over lunch. Don't you love that poem? That haunting feeling of never knowing "what if?" just speaks to me, although it sure is easier to trust God's sovereignty over our choices. These lines jumped out at me:
"Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back."
Here's a poem Caroline wrote this week. Unbiased me thinks it's brilliant.
The Sparo Rim
In
whis
the
sparo
kris
i hav n wish
Translation:
The Sparrow Rhyme
In
which
the
sparrow
cries,
"I have no rhyme!"
4. Before or after every parent reads "Dr. Dorian," I also recommend watching this one-minute video entitled "The Years are Short." I can't say it better than this film.
Have a wonderful weekend!
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5 comments:
You are such a wealth of information! Deodorant, books and poetry. . .lol! I had no idea deodorant has aluminum in it. Yikes! I have tried natural deodorants in the past and felt like they never worked. I have coconut oil, so maybe I will give this a shot at some point.
Love Charlotte's Web, and love E.B. White's reading of it. I might have mentioned this before, but one of our librarians told us that one of the chapters (maybe the one in which Charlotte dies? I can't remember exactly) took 20 takes because White kept choking up while reading it.
Interesting about the deoderant! May give that a try.
I agree with you, I think he very well may be saying something about how the general public values writing ability...very insightful thought!
Thanks to that very deodorant recipe I have not stunk in over 6 months! Ha! After going all day and then burst training...sniff, sniff, aaahhh nothin'...After running around with a 5 year old and a baby in the Florida heat and humidity...nope...no smell at all to be detected. While I had to swallow a bit of pride and share way too much information, which I do apologize to everyone for...but, I did want to give this wonderful aluminum free recipe all the praise it deserves! (I do use double the cornstarch due to sensitive skin) but I hadn't seen the recipe with arrow root powder..which I'm loving becuase the GMO's in corn scare me to death...does the arrow root work just as well? Oh and I add just about 8 drops of an essential oil each time for extra girliness:)
I'm all for sharing, Julie!
And Anne, I think I read that very chapter aloud tonight, as I too was fighting back tears. It's the penultimate one. Thanks for sharing the anecdote again. :-)
Love Caroline's poem. The video was touching. Made me think of how I used to savor walking in a parking lot with my little girl and her tiny little hand would slip automatically into mine and what a thrill that always gave me. She doesn't hold my hand much anymore (sometimes I get away with it before she realizes she's too old for it), so I'm glad I have those sweet memories tucked away.
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