Number Six's First Chamber recital

We were all charmed by the young members of the youngest chamber ensemble of the state as they gave their first recital. They played Piano Trio in G Major by J. Mazas and were also the first ensemble in the state who was ready to perform!

Feast of All Saints Craft!

Print the pattern and have fun celebrating tomorrow's great feast day! I will post later today a picture of the two saints we are making today: Blessed Sister Dulce of Brazil, and Blessed John Paul II! Also look at accessories I posted last year...  And more ideas here. Below are the original paper saints we made five years ago, that launched this blog's most popular post!

My dear papai

My sister Marta just sent me this photo... my dear father with his wonderful nurse and companion, Expedito, and their new well-loved dog, Charlotte.

I just checked my library account and the two Ignatius Press books I requested are in! Yeah!

The Father's Tale
by O'Brien, Michael D.

Ida Elisabeth
by Undset, Sigrid/ Chater, Arthur G

Thanksgiving Preparations Tip #1

Pre-order the new Ticket to Ride Asia board!

Text of Pope's speech in Assisi

Can be found here. Thanks to Fr. B. A.!

It is a great read! Here is a good excerpt:

The absence of God leads to the decline of man and of humanity. But where is God? Do we know him, and can we show him anew to humanity, in order to build true peace? Let us first briefly summarize our considerations thus far. I said that there is a way of understanding and using religion so that it becomes a source of violence, while the rightly lived relationship of man to God is a force for peace. In this context I referred to the need for dialogue and I spoke of the constant need for purification of lived religion. On the other hand I said that the denial of God corrupts man, robs him of his criteria and leads him to violence.
In addition to the two phenomena of religion and anti-religion, a further basic orientation is found in the growing world of agnosticism: people to whom the gift of faith has not been given, but who are nevertheless on the lookout for truth, searching for God. Such people do not simply assert: “There is no God”. They suffer from his absence and yet are inwardly making their way towards him, inasmuch as they seek truth and goodness. They are “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”. They ask questions of both sides. They take away from militant atheists the false certainty by which these claim to know that there is no God and they invite them to leave polemics aside and to become seekers who do not give up hope in the existence of truth and in the possibility and necessity of living by it. But they also challenge the followers of religions not to consider God as their own property, as if he belonged to them, in such a way that they feel vindicated in using force against others. These people are seeking the truth, they are seeking the true God, whose image is frequently concealed in the religions because of the ways in which they are often practised. Their inability to find God is partly the responsibility of believers with a limited or even falsified image of God. So all their struggling and questioning is in part an appeal to believers to purify their faith, so that God, the true God, becomes accessible. Therefore I have consciously invited delegates of this third group to our meeting in Assisi, which does not simply bring together representatives of religious institutions. Rather it is a case of being together on a journey towards truth, a case of taking a decisive stand for human dignity and a case of common engagement for peace against every form of destructive force. Finally I would like to assure you that the Catholic Church will not let up in her fight against violence, in her commitment for peace in the world. We are animated by the common desire to be “pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace”.

Tintin film opens in Brussels and Paris

We simply can't wait until the Tintin film gets here! If you have Facebook you can add Tintin as your friend and see the great photos of the Premiere in Brussels! The whole city was celebrating the event. There is also this news clip on YouTube.

Plus: a brand new English language site!

Ancient Greece reports

We are studying World History using All Ye Lands at our homeschool Tutoring Center. The kids presented their reports yesterday and I was very pleased. The stories of Romulus & Remus, Horatio, Cincinnatus, Cicero, Virgil, JC and Hannibal paraded through the classroom as papers were read aloud along with nicely done posters and oral reports presented, and even poetry! Finishing the class  period with a memorized recitation of the first stanzas of the Aeneid was superb! Thanks to my excellent students!

Watching Jane Eyre(s)

Last night we finished the 2006 BBC version of Jane Eyre, highly recommended by our local librarian. I had never seen it and was very pleased with it. We have also watched the 1930's version with Orson Wells, the 1996 Zeffirelli version, and the newest, 2011, version out on DVD recently.  As a new version of the Bronte classic is out every 5 years, or so it seems, we are far from done.

I loved this romantic story since I can remember and find it fascinating to compare the different versions. Austen's Pride & Prejudice and Emma are other "comparative marathons" the girls and I have undergone.

The BBC 2006 version we finished last night was also wonderful.. She was an excellent Jane Eyre, believable, good, confident. The film was scary and emotional, and we had a blast.

And yet as much as I liked so many aspects of all of the versions mentioned above, the Zeffirelli version remains my absolute favorite. His mastery as a director is unsurpassed. His Romeo and Juliet, I believe, will reign on top forever in cinema, his Hamlet (with mel Gibson) excellent, and his life of Our Lord is, in my opinion, so much better than The Passion Of Christ.

Zeffirelli films are a feast for the eyes. No director is as careful in his visual composition and interiors as he is. Every detail is in its right, beautiful place. See the photo from the film below on the right as an example. This version also has the best Adele, Rochester's ward. William Hurt is surprisingly excellent as Rochester and the feeling between master and governess is developed so well--which is the major absence in the recent 2011 version.

Photos...

Just had to post these very recent photos of an October-Number Five and Number Three: the owner of a new banjo.

My facebook comment was,

"May his grades increase in the same progression as the number of musical instruments in his dorm room."

A costume party!

Twins S. and C. (Pirate and his shadow) hosted a costume party last night and the guests had outstanding ideas! Prize winners were Mr. Sparrow, the Gnome and the Gypsy. The robot was one of my favorites, but they were all truly good: the nurse, the hippie, Cleopatra, Macbeth's witch, lady pirate, Tinker Bell and last but not least Balloon Man!

Coop Art: self-portraits

I let them pick three colors from our coop Prismacolor pencils... and I got some interesting results!

Coop Art: Winter Squash in oil pastels

I am finally uploading some results from recent art projects at co-op. These turned out very, very nice! I brought the squash from our home garden harvest and we inaugurated brand new pastels sets!

Romulus and Remus

We are studying Ancient Rome at Tutoring Center and my young students drew these... I had to post them.

Catholic Church studying possible miracle of John Paul II in Yucatan, Mexico

My sister got me to subscribe to this awesome news service. And... look at today's news!

Catholic Church studying possible miracle of John Paul II in Yucatan, Mexico

Feeding the Lions

The kids and I enjoyed attending the lecture and visiting Husband in his workplace.      

An autumn window

The autumn brings colors we don't see any other time. The days have been sunny and beautiful, but in the mornings we begin to see low temperatures. Thank You, Lord of Creation.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Psalm 19

Tempest Sonata

I finally found and uploaded my own recording of Number Five's performance of Beethoven's Tempest Sonata last Sunday at her recital. Of the three pieces she played that night, this is the one she was most satisfied with. Enjoy!

New Picture Book on Guadalupe

Talking Eagle and the Lady of Roses
by Amy Cordoba and Eugene Gollogly

I don't usually post books with which I may have some quibbles, but this one is a worthy one. This a very nice retelling of the famous, true story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, found by my friend Caitilin at our public library. I recommend the book but must list a couple of quibbles: the bishop of Mexico City at the time is historically documented to have been very kind and generous towards the poor and ignorant Juan Diego, and this book  paints a slightly different story. The second one is found in the Afterword by Eugene Gollogly, which is almost entirely accurate but for the unfortunate linkage of Our Lady's protection and the dissenter Liberation Theology movement, opposed by the Church. If you skip these minor points, enjoy the lovely book!

Online reading

I have been enjoying  reading some online articles, especially from the daily online version of the National Catholic Register  immensely. Here is an excellent recent article.

And here is another one, this from Crisis online.

Sweet Potatoes, and busy, busy!

Number Four brought the last of the sweet potatoes in yesterday. They are plentiful, and delicious roasted with garlic and salt! He has also begun bringing in the regular potatoes, we just had fresh mashed potatoes for dinner! With the extended warm weather, which is wonderful, life has been overly busy lately. We have a very complex activity schedule while we are still dealing with bringing produce in. I am also working intensely on the workbook for Light of the Nations Part 2, work that I love to do, but extremely time-consuming. I am beginning to look for ward the holiday break!

A nice website!

I just visited this site and downloaded a free cut-and-assemble nativity scene. Number Six' Medieval History class at co-op, taught by Mary Daly, is studying Saint Francis of Assisi and the link came with the homework email. It just so happened that the first free download I looked at is by a Brazilian collector of Nativity models.

A fantastic issue!

I have been enjoying the latest issue of Saint Austin Review-- it s is a fantastic one, with tons of great reading and book reviews. Take a look at the table of Contents:


Editorial 1
Joseph Pearce
From the Website 2
The Evolution Controversy: On the Links that are Missing
Joseph Pearce
An “Anguished” Love of Country: Solzhenitsyn’s 4
Paradoxical Middle Path
Daniel J. Mahoney
Catholicism as Cult and as Culture 9
Thomas Storck
Investment and the Common Good 13
Christopher O. Blum
The Last Letter of a Catholic Martyr 16
Johannes Mekel (translated by Maria Rioux)
En Passant 17
Warren Carroll
Remembered by Christopher O. Blum
Boar’s Head 18
Otto Von Habsburg
Robert Asch
New Voices 20
Holiness is . . . by Philip C. Kolin
Ends and Means by Mark Amorose
Shire Economics 21
Andrew V. Abela
Theater of the Word 25
The Religion of Political Correctness on Display
Kevin O’Brien
Musica Donum Dei 26
Opera and the July Monarchy: Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots
Susan Treacy
Movie Star Video Vero 28
It’s A Wonderful Life
James Bemis
The Cave Wall 30
Secular and Sacred Power: Two Films by Robert Bolt
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Sword of the Spirit 32
Fearless Preacher of the Truth
Fr. Benedict Kiely
Views & Reviews
Crown and Shamrock: Love and Hate Between Ireland 33
and the British Monarchy (Mary Kenny)
Reviewed by David Twiston Davies
He Became Poor: The Poverty of Christ and Aquinas’s 35
Economic Teachings (Christopher Franks)
Reviewed by Deborah Savage
Christianity, Democracy, and the American Idea: 37
A Jacques Maritain Reader (James P. Kelly, III)
Reviewed by C. J. Wolfe
The Political Problem of Religious Pluralism 39
(Thaddeus J. Kozinski) Reviewed by Seana Sugrue
Edith Stein and Companions: On the Way to Auschwitz 40
(Fr. Paul Hamans; translated by Sister Regina van den Burg)
Reviewed by Clara Sarrocco
10 Books Every Conservative Must Read: Plus Four 41
Not to Miss and One Imposter (Benjamin Wiker)
Reviewed by Dena Hunt
Treatise on Human Nature: The Complete Text 43
(Summa Theologiae I-II, Questions 75–102)
(St. Thomas Aquinas; translated by Alfred J. Freddosa)
Reviewed by Joseph G. Trabbic

Dr. Hank Shugart to present "Feeding the Lions" at SDSU Oct. 10, 2011

Environmental scientist looks at Job for relevance to world today 

BROOKINGS, S.D. —Passages from the Old Testament Book of Job invoking the need to understand the functioning of the planet and its natural systems will form the basis for a science talk, “Feeding the Lions: The Conservation of Biological Diversity on a Changing Planet.”  Herman “Hank” Shugart, professor of environmental science and director of the Center for Regional Environmental Studies at the University of Virginia, will make his presentation at the South Dakota Art Museum Auditorium at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10. Shugart uses the biblical text documenting an ancient environment to compare Neolithic biodiversity with the current day dilemma of a simultaneously growing population and a changing climate. Shugart looks at the “whirlwind speech” found in Job to make his comparisons.  “It is my hope that the poetry of Job and the power of the whirlwind speech will help us write a more unified synthesis across the diverse global issues that Earth and its people now face,” said Shugart. Shugart’s presentation kicks off a series of visits to South Dakota State University for the Virginia and John Holtry Distinguished Lecture in Geographic Information Science.  “The Holtry Lecture series will bring internationally recognized scientists to SDSU to enhance public understanding of geographic information science and its many applications,” said Geoff Henebry, interim co-director of the Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence at SDSU.  “Dr. Shugart is a recognized leader in the use of ecosystem models to address pressing environmental issues,” said Henebry. “In addition to being a prolific scientist and author, Hank is a very entertaining speaker.”

Life with Number Seven

OK, so I haven't gotten a great soccer picture of her yet, but her team is wonderful and yesterday the won 6-0! In the meantime she and friend H. S. do some twin-rollerblading in the house and... works on kitten videos!

Coop Art Project

Color, tempera paint, some pointillism... add a bunch of great students and... voila!

Steve Jobs, resquiat in pacem

The first thing I did very early this morning was to read the text of Steve Jobs's Stanford commencement address in 2005, courtesy of this blog.

It has been a busy day--a busy week actually, and all day out of the house I caught myself thinking of his words. I wonder if I would be doing any of this if I hadn't been gifted an iPad by Number One last Christmas, but my love for this helpful and amazing tool made me feel closer to the genius behind it these past months.

Undoubtedly, he was very intelligent, and a genius in inventing the new way for human interaction with the computer. And yes, the fact that he was adopted is a huge positive banner for the pro-life movement.

What I thought about, however, were his words on love. Did he really mention Love? Perhaps not. He mentioned passion, and being true to one's vocation if you will.  I don't know the ins and outs of his business, but what I read made me see goodness in his heart, and Love, which should reign in every heart. Read the address, or watch the YouTube, it's worth it.

Three books requested

I am just done filling out the library request forms for these three new publications by Ignatius Press.  The first one, Ida Elizabeth, is by Nobel Prize winner Sigrid Undset. The second one, The Father's Tale, is by Michael O'Brien, the author of the bestseller Father Elijah and Strangers and Sojourners, two books I loved. The third is a children's title on Saint Clothilde, first Queen of France, and will tie in with Number Six' study of medieval historical characters this semester at coop.

On Superstition

I must post today a short paper written by Number Six (12) yesterday for a Tom Sawyer unit in Lit. She has been a talented writer for a few years now, and this is a good example of her abilities.  

On Superstition

        

We all know that superstition is rooted in ignorance. It is never true, no matter what people say. The Catholic Church teaches that superstition is sinful.  Nevertheless, people can become very attached to their superstitions. Sometimes it is because they simply believe in it and will not be convinced otherwise, but sometimes it is because they have had “experience.” This “experience” is more likely than not a coincidence. Here is a funny story my mom remembers her grandmother telling her: 

My mom’s grandmother’s cook was superstitious. She always said that if silverware fell on the floor, company was coming. Of course, no one believed her.  Well, one day the cook was washing dishes, and spilled a whole drawer of silverware upon the floor. She immediately went to tell mom’s grandmother, who told her to think nothing more of it. But the cook did not listen. She spent all afternoon baking, for there would surely be a large group of people judging by all that silverware. That evening, a bus full of people from a church group broke down in front of the house. Since it was raining, they were all invited inside. Thanks to the cook’s superstition, there was food for everyone!

In Tom Sawyer, there are quite a few popular superstitions. Maybe in those days people were just stubborn, but maybe they claimed “experience” because of a funny coincidence.                                                                                                                                                 

Dedication (Widmung) by Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann

Number Five nailed it last night at a local recital to the joy of her Russian piano teacher. This is one of three pieces she is readying for the upcoming annual state competition. Listen until the very end when a little bit of Schumann's gorgeous Ave Maria was embedded into Liszt's composition, which was dedicated to him.

SD Symphony season tickets

Husband got season tickets for the SD Symphony and last night he took the kids to the first concert. It was a delightful evening for all!
The 2011-2012 season opens with the most famous four notes in classical music. Beethoven’s thunderous symphony will resonate through the hall and invigorate the audience. Guitar enthusiasts will delight in the return of Eliot Fisk performing Joaquin Rodrigo’s Fantasia guitar concerto. 

Eucharistic Exhibit

I just visited this exhibit at our cathedral on the occasion of the first Diocesan Marian conference this afternoon.... it is supposed to be an exhibit to reach every parish in every diocese.... what a wonderful idea of our Holy Father! It is so interesting! Beautifully printed posters tell of the history of each Eucharistic miracle and one feels as if traveling through History and Geography... and courage, holiness and awe of God! I purchased the book containing all of the information of the exhibit in a spiral bound volume, and we will read one a day at prayer time. Some are well-known such as Lanciano, but there were so, so many that we had never heard about!