Feb 14, 2013

Reading and Doors


"We read to know we're not alone."


I was very blessed to have a mother who read to me. My first memory of the power of books is being held close in her arms while she read "Big Little Kitty" I loved that book and asked her to read it to me over and over again.

"Karen Kay was four and a whole lot more."

My next vivid memory of books was being given a beautifully bound and illustrated edition of "The Wind in the Willows" by my parents for my 7th birthday, which I still have and treasure. Many more gifts of books were to come from them over the years. If they or my sisters want to give me a gift, they know they cannot go wrong with a book.

I don't know if grade school teachers still read to their classes, but we were read to up through fifth grade.  Even one of my high school English teachers would read to us!

When the Kindle first came out, I scoffed at it.  How could anyone want to hold an electronic gadget when they could hold the real thing; smell the paper, feel the weight of the book, turn the pages.  But I must admit, even though it took me a couple of years to warm to the idea, I did succumb and there has been no looking back.  

I still have way too many of "the real thing" in my apartment -- and not enough book shelves to hold them all, but I have come to dearly love my e-reader, which now has over 2500 books on it. (I must admit I get a bit perturbed when there is a book I want to read and it is not available on the Kindle.  My how far I have come!)

I usually, insanely, have four or five books that I am reading at one time.  Talk about overload but I can't seem to help myself!

I am still rereading "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion". Of course, the Bible is part of my daily reading.  I am also reading two books about Abraham Lincoln, "Team of Rivals" and "Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness".  

I didn't really need to add anymore but I kept hearing about a certain book, how it must be made into a movie, and that Richard Armitage just has to play the lead character. So, of course, I had to find out what all the fuss was about.

The book I am referring to is entitled, "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness.  I am not overly fond of the witch and/or vampire genres and this has both, but I downloaded the sample on Sunday night and started to read. I got to the end of the sample, bought it, and at 2 AM forced myself to stop.  I continued the next day as soon as I got home from work and by 1 AM had completed it.

It is not the best book ever written, but it is a great read!  Probably what captivated me the most is that she weaves so much history into it.  Did I mention it's a trilogy?  So now I am reading the second one, much more slowly, especially since Ms. Harkness is still writing the third one.

It has been awhile since a book has been that engrossing to me.  Since finishing it on Monday night, the quote at the top of this post, "We read to know we're not alone" has been echoing through my mind.  Some attribute it to CS Lewis but I have read almost everything he has written and don't think he actually wrote it.  It was a line in the movie "Shadowlands" about CS Lewis and his wife Joy Davidson (starring the wonderful actor Sir Anthony Hopkins).  If you haven't seen it, add it to your list of must see movies.

Why do I read? Do I read to know I'm not alone?  Was it just a clever plot point in a movie that people grabbed onto without really giving it much thought?

Why do you read?



3 Gifts Behind a Door
Joy Dare: continuing to count 1000 Gifts

69. the refuge of  home
70. the quiet when the office door is shut at work, so I can work
71. the back door at home on the farm, even though I don't get to walk through it as much anymore



"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."  
CS Lewis


Feb 13, 2013

In all things...





3 Hard Eucharisteos
Joy Day: continuing to count 1000 gifts

Eucharisteo:
1. To be grateful, to feel thankful
2. Give thanks

Ann describes hard eucharisteo as:  
the hard discipline to lean into the ugly…the hard times… and still be able to give thanks, find joy, find grace.



66.  singleness
67.  estrangement from a favorite aunt
68.  trusting in His plan, even when I don't understand it




As the Ruin Falls


All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through:
I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, re-assurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin:
I talk of love --a scholar's parrot may talk Greek--
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

Only that now you have taught me (but how late) my lack.
I see the chasm. And everything you are was making
My heart into a bridge by which I might get back
From exile, and grow man. And now the bridge is breaking.

For this I bless You as the ruin falls. The pains
You give me are more precious than all other gains.

CS Lewis

Feb 12, 2013

The Hobbit, Laughter, and Work?


Joy Dare
Continuing to count 1000 gifts in 2013

Sunday, February 10
3 times you heard laughter today
Gifts 60, 61, and 62

While seeing that movie The Hobbit  for the umpteenth time yesterday afternoon, the laughter of the young boy sitting behind me, at all the appropriate funny parts of the movie, reminding me that it truly is a story for children. (Which is probably one of the reasons I'm so drawn to it -- I'm still a child at heart!)

Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage with Legos of their characters from  The Hobbit -- children at heart?







Monday, February 11
3 gifts in working


63.  The job I have had for 15 years this year.
64.  Thankful that this job has evolved over the years, allowing me and challenging me to grow.
65.  My coworkers who are my extended family.






The child in you, like all children, loves to laugh, 
to be around people who can laugh at themselves and life. 
Children instinctively know that the more laughter we have in our lives, the better.

Feb 9, 2013

Snow and Grace


As of 1:15 this afternoon, 18.4 inches of snow had fallen here in Bangor. 





3 Surprise Gifts -- Unexpected Grace!
Joy Dare: continuing to count 1000 gifts

57.  Sarah, who after an entire night of working, stayed another 5 hours
58.  Daphne, for helping me with my staff
59.  Donna, for coming in and working in the evening



"I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - 
only that it meets us where we are 
but does not leave us where it found us."
Anne Lamott

The Clownfish and the Blizzard


Growing up in Iowa I am used to blizzards, but that doesn't mean I actually enjoy them. It seems that "Nemo" (couldn't they have picked something a bit more menacing?) is going to be a whopper of a storm.

Bangor 12-20 inches!



The Portland Press Herald picked up my tweet of the picture below and shared it in their story, "What Mainers Have to Say About the Snowstorm."


I have absolutely no idea where this is.  I had simply retweeted from photographer, cook book author, and B&B realtor extraordinaire, Dana Moos. You can find her on Twitter @DanaMoos

So we are all hunkered down for the next couple of days and we'll ride it out with typical Maine chutzpah.

Too many days have passed without me making mention of  "The Hobbit." (I have been just a wee bit preoccupied with Richard III).  The OneRing.net shared this today,  "Nine Mind-Blowing Reasons We Are Able to Enjoy The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Books and Movies" and it contained several interesting tidbits. Sean Connery had been offered to play the role of Gandalf!  Don't get me wrong, I think Sir Connery is a great actor, but as Gandalf?  I don't think so.
Connery turned down the part because he didn’t understand the script. Years later, he reflected upon the story after reading the books and seeing the films: “”I read the book. I saw the movie. I still don’t understand it.”  He did add something that we can all agree upon: “Ian McKellen, I believe, is marvelous in it.”

A Gift Broken, Fixed, and Thrifted
Joy Dare: continuing to count 1000 gifts

54. Broken:  "A broken and contrite heart, you will not despise." Psalm 51:17

55. Fixed:     my car

56. Thrifted:  a "new" jacket


Feb 7, 2013

Sisters, Sleep, and BBC



My sister Cheryl has been sharing sister quotes with me and our little sister, Georgi.  Two of my favorites thus far:
"We were opposites in every way until we grew up, left home, and discovered we were more alike than we'd thought. Sisters only get to be opposites within the family; separated by the world, they become practically identical." Helen Fremont
"Siblings: children of the same parents, each of whom is perfectly normal until they get together." Sam Levenson


A Gift at 11:30 AM, 2:30 PM and 6:30 PM
Joy Dare: continuing to count 1000 gifts

I was ill today so I stayed home from work. Thus two of my gifts are repetitive.

51. 11:30 AM -- listening to BBC Leicester's interview with Philippa Langley about Richard III

52.  2:30 PM -- blessed sleep

53.  6:30 PM -- blessed sleep


"Sleep is the best medicine."


Feb 6, 2013

Gifts Outside and a Bit More Richard


There are some funny memes circulating on the Net regarding Richard III:




On a serious note and the heart of the story, the press conference at the University of Leicester on Monday:





Three Gifts Found Outside
Joy Dare: continuing to count 1000 gifts

47. The large, fluffy snowflakes falling on my way into work this morning.

48. The wonder that is Acadia National Park, only 45 miles away.

49. Glorious Mount Katahdin, only an hour away.

50. Maine: the way life should be.