An incomplete opinion

I think some of my other twenty somethings will appreciate what I'm currently reading because they have read it before. It's called Saving Grace by Lee Smith. It tells the story of Grace Shepherd, daughter of a Holiness preacher. Without having finished it yet, I think it could be called a coming of age story, which is odd because I usually really enjoy those stories. This book is going slowly for me because I'm not motivated to open it. I think it's because I find the narrator's voice unappealing. There are certain aspects to like such as the lyrical writing and the sense of place. I'll withhold any more judgement until I finish it. I'm a little over halfway, so watch for my full opinion on my personal blog in a few days.

Cheers!

Granny Eyre

Fireflies and Lighting Bugs

Today's challenge is something that starts with F. Here is a firefly on a book by Eric Carle.

At work, I've been reading books and putting questions and vocabulary in the front for the tutors to use during their sessions. There are over a 1000 books in the room I believe. Some of the books were finished this past summer, but I've been getting through about 10-12 a day in between other meetings and projects. I think I've gotten through the majority of three grade levels. Mainly I have little bitty picture books and chapter books left to complete. 

So there's my F word, although I generally call them lighting bugs. I used to catch them and keep them in jars during the summer. They rarely lasted the night in a jar, though. Sometimes I crushed their butts onto my hands so I could glow. That wasn't very nice of me.

As an aside, this challenge reminds me a quote that my high school math teacher said:

"If you want an F reduction, you need another F word: effort."

Cheers!

A Quick Stop at Work

Woah! It's snowing like crazy out there, but I'm here at work with a cup of tea and a mini muffin. I thought I'd drop by and give a few thoughts from my life.

I just finished a really thought provoking book entitled A Prayer for Owen Meany. It had a lot of commentary on political events from the 60s and religious faith. At the heart of it was a story about two boys who became best friends in spite of the fact that one boy's baseball killed the other's mother. I'd recommend this book to anyone in for a long haul with a book. It has some language and risque topics, so it's for 20 somethings and above. Keep your eye on my personal blog for a book review soon.

Searching for a book cover image made me realize that there are many iconic symbols in this book. This cover is the one that I read from. The dollmakers dummy respresents the mother and the Mary Magdalene statue. I can't really say much else without giving away plot points. Other iconic images that have made covers include an armadillo, a tomato-red truck, a baseball, and a boy. 

There is a movie based slightly off of the book. In my blog post, I will discuss how Simon Birch does and does not represent Owen Meany.

Right now at work, I am helping the tutoring team think through their training. I also have been hosting transition meetings to help acclimate our newest team member to the programs that work with children. In the future, there is potential that I will be leading trainings for volunteers and students. I'll get to teach!

Very soon, I'll begin the job search for my first teaching position. I'm excited to be in a classroom. This time away has only reinforced my desire to work with teenagers. I'm also itching to know where I'll be living next. I'm open to most anywhere in Kentucky. I want to stay close to family and friends, and I already somewhat understand the Kentucky school systems. As far as grade level goes, I'm not sure yet. I can see positives for both younger and older high school students.

Now that you've gotten a small glimpse into my life, I must get back to work. Today I am spending my morning doing research about tutoring best practices. This afternoon I have several meetings.

Cheers!

Finishing up the Challenge and the Year

Day 29:

I had to wait until I had a photographer to get the full effect of this picture. Here is my newest blanket scarf.

Ha! It's actually an afghan that my Grady gave me for Christmas. I really like it. The colors are gorgeous and it keeps me warm and cozy in my chair.

Day 30:

I thought about combining these posts since I just posted a photo of myself, but then I realized there's another aspect of my life I wanted to share. I brought all my friends books back from my mom's house which meant I had to buy a bookshelf. After perusing all of the discount stores in Richmond, I settled for a Walmart shelf because it would fit into my car and my budget. So here I am contemplatively looking at my books. Fair warning, I have more books in my apartment than this. I was an English major.

Day 31:

How is it already the last day of the year?! And this challenge is almost finished. We all did pretty well. I'm proud that we all made it through the challenge (I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that you will all finish). The challenge actually says to reflect on 2013, so I did. It was fun to look back at what was only two years ago.

In 2013, Martha S. got married to Marvel's Dad (well it was before Marvel, the dog was in the picture, but it's a good psuedonym for her husband). Unfortunately Captain couldn't be at this event because she had just gotten a new job. I'm sure the picture would have been more fun with her help as well. Wasn't it cool that I happened to wear Martha's other wedding color to go well with the two bridesmaids (Miss Ellaneous and Farmer's Daughter). It was such a nice wedding. Of course I only had one real-life wedding and movie weddings to compare it to.

I also spent the summer of 2013 in England. This photo is from a trip to Dublin that some of took one weekend. It was jam-packed and included a crazy chance meeting with one of the travel buddies old elementary school friend who had moved to Ireland. In this picture we had just decided to use our bus passes to ride until we felt like getting off. We ended up in a park.

Now for a picture of 2015 to really reflect.

In January, I was housesitting and there was a kitty. In February, I hosted an Un-birthday party which turned into a sleepover. In March, I walked to Sonic. In April, I moved to Union City. In May, I met a sloth. In June, I moved into my own apartment. In July, I learned to be a super VISTA. In August, I and some other lovely ladies welcomed the freshmen. In September, we went to First Friday and had Ale8. In October, I hiked the Pinnacle on Mountain Day with my co-workers and Gunner. In November, the freshmen bonners gave me cookies and nice words. In December, I saw a friend graduate; it seems that all of my friends are slowly graduating college.

Well that's all for this year. Until next year.

Cheers!

Dat 28: A Beautiful Literary Sight

I love books and I adore libraries. So when I found a little free library today in my Grandy's town, I was ecstatic. It's just a little box in a small park. The premise is that you put one in and take one out.

It's a beautiful sight for sure.

Book Swap: A Parchment of Leaves

Silas House's A Parchment of Leaves is a portrait of the tension of humanity. Woven with rich language, the text tells the story of a young couple trying to navigate the ties between families. They are asked several times to stretch beyond themselves to forgive past and present faults, and many times only the natural world can help them come to that realization. The novel is set in Kentucky during the early 1900s, when being Native American was not appreciated. A young man, Saul Sullivan, goes up the mountain looking for work but returns with a wife who is nothing like his mother expected. Vine, the young Cherokee girl who steals the heart of Saul, spends the next few years of her married life learning about family ties, forgiveness, and the hatred toward her people. 

The connection to nature in this book made me want to be outside more and more, especially during the gloaming. Unfortunately I spent most of my time reading this book in an airport or inside. Like the characters I have often looked at nature as a connection to God, not in the sense that I speak to God through the trees but that the trees represent God's ability to create beauty. At one point, Vine wonders about the trees and says " They were like God in many respects: they stood silent, and most people only noticed them when the need arose. Maybe all the secrets to life were written on the surface of leaves, waiting to be translated." If we all spent more time pondering nature, I think we might understand God just a bit more or at least desire to be closer to him. 

Family is huge theme in this novel. Amidst tough situations, Saul realizes that "All a man had in this life was his family, and he had to do his best by them. This was the think that would matter most to him when he lay upon his deathbed, taking inventory of his days on earth." At first Saul and Vine each try to cling tightly to their individual families, unwilling to see any faults in their own natural family and always running back when things got tough. They learn that while they can remain close to their own natural family they now have a new family by marriage.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. The story kept me entranced and the language was beautiful. I will leave you with one more quote from the novel that really sticks: "Words become solid on the air when spoken, but quickly drift away. Ink lasts always."

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/83293/a-parchment-of-leaves-by-silas-house/

Thanks to Martha S. for letting me borrow her book.

-Granny Eyre-

The Storyteller

Well I finished another book swap book in the midst of other crazy activities. In true Jodi Picoult fashion, The Storyteller was a mix of characters that fit together towards the middle of the book and then the book raced toward the end. When thinking about my review while starting the book, I thought I would give it a less positive review compared to other Jodi Picoult books, but now that I have finished it, I think it still deserves to be placed on the shelf next to the rest of her books.

The story begins with a young woman with some major self-esteem issues. She works at a bakery in the night because in addition to loving to bake, she wants to avoid people. Sage (adequately named for a baker, but maybe a bit forced for a novel character) frets that other people will judge her for the scar down the side of her face, but when she meets an older man who comes in to the shop and stays after it closes she can't continue to hide behind her flour and hair anymore. She begins to have a friendship, but the friendship gets rocky when he reveals that he was once a Nazi.

Picoult really displays her ability to create dynamic and real characters. There's the bakery cashier who only speaks in haiku, which as you might imagine displays Picoult's ability to write poetry. Josef, the former Nazi, is known by the rest of the town as the kind, retired German teacher who coached baseball and wrote letters of recommendation. The bakery owner is extremely nice to Sage but has an interesting past as an ex-nun. She now keeps a garden on a hill above the shop, called Our Daily Bread, where she is often found praying. She acts as sort of a spiritual guide for Sage, who is an atheist but comes from a Jewish family. Adam is the one character who is a bit flat because he plays the boyfriend who is also married. Personally I found his character a bit unnecessary except that he contrasts Leo, the detective. Leo is the guy that Sage contacts once Josef tells her that he regrets his actions as a Nazi and requests that she help him die.

This book centers around a couple of key questions.
1. Who can forgive?
               Josef comes to Sage because he regrets his actions as a former Nazi and wants her forgiveness. Since she rejected Judaism, Sage doesn't feel that it is her place to forgive him regardless of her family's religion. She also argues that her forgiveness will not undue his actions. This logic is exactly the same logic that is keeping Sage from forgiving herself. We learn that Sage blames herself for her mother's death, which is why Sage hides from the world. This is also why Sage has a relationship with a man already married; she doesn't see herself worth anything more.

2. How powerful are stories?
              Interspersed between narratives are short chunks of what is obviously a different story about a vampire falling in love with a girl (better than Twilight I promise). Towards the middle of the book, we learn that this story was written by a Jewish girl living during World War 2. I think this question is what makes me think this book is worth reading. The girl writing this story uses the story throughout her entire life in the ghetto and concentration camps to encourage other people and to save her life. While in the camp, she tells the story to the other inmates as a way of enticing them to live one more day, if only to hear the next part of the story. At one point, her whole existence in the camp is based on her writing ten more pages a day to present to a curious officer. The story literally saves her life. Later, she trades the journal where the story was kept for her life.

3. When can the past stop dictating the present and future?
               Josef has created an entirely new life for himself in the United States, but he can't quite seem to shake his past from his mind. Sage lives in isolation because she can't let go of her past. Sage's grandmother won't talk about her past because it is so full of pain. So many characters in this book let the past tell them how to live in the present and the future. Sage has to figure out how to first learn about the past and then how to let it guide but not control the future. She learns this for herself and others throughout the course of the book.

Overall I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars. It ends really well; in fact I was almost late to work because I wanted to finish reading it. The book, though, starts sort of slow and I wasn't a huge fan of some of the characters. Some of the sub-plot was unnecessary and distracting.

Thanks to Miss Ellaneous for letting me borrow it.

-Granny Eyre

Book Swap Reviews

Since we had our book swap during the camping trip I have been able to read two of the books I borrowed. I thought it would be good to review the books here.

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
There are some books that you wish would never end. This is one of those books. I became so attached to the two main characters, Angel and Michael, that I wanted to see more of their life. The book is loosely based on the book of Hosea in the Bible, evidenced by Michael's last name. After the initial rescue of the prostitute and the fact that she runs away and he retrieves her, there is little to compare. It's set during the Gold Rush and centers around a girl who is sold into prostitution after her mother dies. Angel comes to believe that is she's worth and forgets about the little girl Sarah of her past. Michael, a quiet farmer, sees her in town and hears from God that he is to marry this prostitute. The book follows their marriage, her resistance to love, and Michael's obedience to God.
I found the book realistic to emotions, even though I have no idea how it feels to be a prostitute. The book paints a picture of how love can break down even the toughest walls. It's also a testament to the importance of following God; Michael hesitated to marry Angel but because of his obedience Sarah resurfaced and many other girls were saved from prostitution.
I know it's fiction, but I think there's a lot of truth in this book.
Thanks for letting me borrow it, Farmer's Daughter!


The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed by Lee Smith
This was a book of emotions, beautifully written and truthful. It follows one summer of the nine-year-old Susan, who's family is falling apart in the middle of her coming of age. The story begins cute with her descriptions of her family and friends. It's a close neighborhood and a time when kids roamed free outside. Throughout the story, Susan learns more and more about life when her family has more trouble and the kids form a club.
Smith writes in such a way that I felt that I was in Susan's head. The descriptions and feelings felt real. I have experienced divorce and I think I had some of the same naivety that Susan experienced. The difference was though that Susan didn't feel close to her mother from the beginning, evidenced by the fact that she called her the queen who lived in the castle. The character is interesting and could be a psychologist's field day.
Thanks for letting me borrow it, Martha S.!

What have y'all been reading?

A Day in the Life

Recently, Granny Eyre tried out a new blogging technique by choosing a blog post idea and running with it. I was curious about the ideas in the links she attached in said blog post, so I looked them over. One that stood out to me, because of the photographer in me, was to take a picture every hour of one day and make a blog post from the photos. Martha S. also made an interesting post about her daily schedule, so mine may be similar to hers, in photo form.

I forgot to begin the day with photos, so I began around 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon and continued it until about 7:30 that night. I also didn't take them exactly on the half hour every hour, but I did my best. I hope to try this again, beginning the photos not long after I wake up and continuing until I go to bed!

Thrift store shopping in Spg!

Yum! Hazelnut iced coffee! 

Mom shopping in the garden shop!

Examining my finds from the thrift store..I found several
books with pretty covers, they were 10 cents each! 

Met up with my beau; he needed a car battery

Had some Mexican food, he ordered an interesting stone bowl meal

Wednesday was a pretty good day! Gosh, I sure love summertime! I hope you enjoyed my day in photos! I'll try to do another day like this again! The Farmer's Daughter

Is It Summer Yet?

It was a beautiful afternoon full of hammocks, books, and fresh air laundry.

Granny Eyre Stuff

It's time to truly live up to my name and make a blog post about a book. Recently I just finished reading Life of Pi  by Yann Martel. I'd give it a 5 out of 5 even though it wasn't life changing. Martel brilliantly took the 227 lonely days that Pi Patel spent stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger and turned it into a captivating book. I've read The Old Man and the Sea and Moby-Dick, so I know how boring sea novels can be at times. (I'm not saying those are horrible books. They have their merit, but they were a bit dry at times.)

Life of Pi begins with a boy whose family owns a zoo in India. It's a magical place to grow up, but Piscine very clearly knows the difference between animals and humans and does not imagine that the animals are his friends. Still though, he learns quite a bit about life, death, and animals while growing up there. In addition to animals, Pi also takes interest in religion, joining three somewhat different religions: Christianity, Islam, and Hindu. The chapters about his exploration through these belief systems are interesting and informative. There is no bashing of one religion over another because the character equally believes in all of them. As a Christian, the few pages where Pi discovers Christianity were beautiful because they were a reminder of the time when I first understood how much God did for humans.

I had seen the movie before reading this book, but my memory of the movie wasn't that great. I remember ranking it above March of the Penguins, but I was upset by the confusing ending. The book ends similarly where the reader is unsure what exactly is the true story. After taking a class in contemporary fiction, I think the author is going for the contemporary ideas where truth is left up to the individual. That is evidenced by Pi's interest in multiple seemingly contradictory religions and the somewhat similar stories. Before making a final judgement on the movie, I probably should re-watch it in light of the book. After reading the book, though, I'm really unsure how the movie ever captured the detailed dialogue of thoughts expressed by Pi in the book.

If you're looking for a thought-provoking quick read, I'd suggest Life of  Pi. I think I could even read this book numerous times.



___________________________________

On a separate note, I have also been fulfilling the Granny part of my pseudonym by crocheting up a storm. Since I came back the this area the day after Christmas I have crocheted an entire blanket and made quite good progress on another. I don't have a picture of the first since it is in the washer right now, but it is fuzzy blue and worsted weight gray. I'm finding that I prefer to crochet with worsted weight yarn over the fancy yarns that are often sold. I like the even stitches I can get with worsted weight.

Here is a picture my second blanket. It's a new stitch pattern for me and I'm quite pleased with the way it's turning out. I think I'll go around the edge with a solid color to tie it all together.

Well that's all for now. More to come soon!

-Granny Eyre-

Some pictures.

Pictures! The pictures finally cooperated in getting from my phone to my computer so here's the photos from my baking adventures last week.

This is the recipe I began the bread making adventure with.

Mixing the dough. This mixer ended up being too small.

The dough is ready to rise. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the baked loaves. Now they're gone....

My mom doesn't like cucumber so it's up to me to eat the ones people bring to us. I was going to make a cucumber and tomato salad but we didn't have vinaigrette, lemon juice, or anything else I could find. I tried to use vanilla yogurt. I wouldn't suggest it. Plain yogurt would be better.

I'm still working on some more pictures.

Today I drove 20 miles to Smithland where Livingston Public library is located because I heard they were having a book sale. Maybe it was a bit far to drive to look at books that I don't need, but oh well. I bought East of Eden (John Steinbeck) and Ben-hur. I'm not sure when I'll have time to read these books but here's to hoping I find time.

Yesterday I finished pulling the wallpaper off our kitchen walls. If my mom will get some sort of caulking or something to patch the holes I will be able to help her get closer to painting. I'm trying to convince her to use a mustard yellow since it's already on part of the wall. She wanted a light blue but covering the yellow that's already there may be too difficult. By the way, never put up wallpaper in your house. It's just a pain to remove.

Other than that I've just been chilling at the house. I do get dressed but I'm not sure why because some days the only time I leave is to go on a walk with my mom in the evening. Soon I'll start the process of packing for college. Next week this time, I will be at the school with my teacher getting ready for the teens to arrive on Wednesday. Eek!

-Granny Eyre

I've accomplished almost every thing on my list of things to do while I'm at home, except the fact that I can always read more and spend more time with Jesus. I'm currently reading The Castle by Franz Kafka. It is true Kafka style. Even though it wasn't supposed to be published (he told his friend in his will to burn the manuscript), it's intriguing. It's about a surveyor who is summoned to a castle but once he gets there the count won't see him and the peasants think he doesn't belong. The entire book so far has been about his struggle to meet with the count, whose name is Klamm. This guy is a true clan because no one ever sees him, not even the castle officials. And did I mention the main character simply goes by K.? He never gets another name. I almost quit reading it because it is a slow read but now that I'm over halfway through I'm want to finish it.

In addition to cleaning and organizing, I have been cooking some as well. When I left call I copied down some recipes with the intention of making them while I'm here. The problem is that the recipes are intended for large groups so I have to cut them. Here's what I started with when I made bread:

Well no pictures because I'm having terrible trouble getting pictures to come off my phone onto anything else.

In summary, I've made bread from scratch, meatloaf (this is not a camp recipe but my own recipe) from deer meat, mashed potatoes (with sour cream), and extra good no bake cookies.

It turns out that I will be at Model next semester for at least part of the semester. My cooperating teacher is leaving October 14 but hopefully the teacher they hire to replace her will have enough experience that I can stay there and finish the semester with those students. It's going to be an interesting, challenging, and exciting semester.

I wonder if there is an app for blogging from my phone. It's strange to do this on the phone.

Granny Eyre

Maybe I Shouldn't Make Blog Posts At Night...Oh Well.

I feel like I should actually live up to my blogging pseudonym and write about a book this evening. My favorite author is C.S. Lewis and I am discovering that he wrote more fiction than the Narnia series. Currently I am reading Til We Have Faces which is a retelling of the myth about Cupid and Psyche. Well, I would be currently reading it if my brain would just sink into the story and stop thinking so critically about the words and phrases. I guess my brain misses English classes where I can discuss cool passages of the text with other scholars. Since I don't have any scholars with me currently who are reading this same book, I'm just going to share some of these thoughts with you. Don't worry you don't need to know anything about the book for these words to ring a bell in your heart and mind (hopefully) as well.

"Why should your heart not dance?...The sight of the huge world put mad ideas into me, as if I could wander away, wander forever, see strange and beautiful things, one after the other to the world's end....Who can feel ugly when the heart meets delight?" -Til We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)

Oh so many times in my life have I been filled with euphoria by a situation. I call those my perfect moments. It happens when I feel like I'm on top of the world and could do anything. I want to see all parts of the world because the world is beautiful. Nothing bad seems to be on the horizon. I feel beautiful and I just want to dance and sing and let the world know.

I made a list of my perfect moments on my blog, which you can visit here and here. (It's on two different posts.) I'll share a few of those right now to whet your appetite:
-the mountain of mashed potatoes with a candy cane garnish that my Papaw made
-seeing the joy on a little girl's face after she accepted Christ.
-surprising my mom for her 50th birthday
-having great conversations with my teen girls at camp
-laying in the parking lot after hiking the Pinnacles with two friends and looking at all of the stars.

The world is so beautiful and the people in it are beautiful, but sometimes my vision is hazed by the fog of disappointment or bad situations so that I can't see the beauty God places before me. In those moments my heart doesn't feel like dancing. In those moments I don't feel like there's anything more in the world worth taking the time to see. I want to hide in a hole and cry. I don't feel beautiful and I just want people to go away. But those aren't the moments I want to cherish. Those are the moments I want to lessen. I want to always feel the joy that God has given me because there really is so much in the world to cause joy. Yes, there is sadness but even in those moments, there is joy. Even at the funeral I attended today, there was some laughter in the remembering.

Sorry if this train of thought sort of writing bothers you. My thoughts are not very polished right now. I will end with a couple of poems that I wrote a while back which are a bit more polished. They relate to the idea of a heart singing and dancing.

Heartbreak

What do you do when your heart is broken?

You pick up the pieces and glue them back together.

Give wings to your heart and teach it how to fly again.

Play some music and let it sing and dance with freedom.

You pick up the pieces and glue them back together,

When the pain gets too hard to bear.

Play some music and let it sing and dance with freedom.

Just let it crumble a bit and start over

When the pain gets too hard to bear,

The carefully placed stitches pop loose,

Just let it crumble a bit and start over—

Picking up the pieces, flying, singing, and dancing.

The carefully placed stitches pop loose,

But one day you’ll find it doesn’t hurt so badly

Picking up the pieces, flying, singing, and dancing.

All that’s left are beautiful scars

But one day you’ll find it doesn’t hurt so badly.

You give wings to your heart and teach it how to fly again.

All that’s left are beautiful scars.

What you do when your heart is broken.

Heartsongs

What do you do when your heart is singing?

Play some music and let it sing with freedom.

La di da di do di do!

Then join in with a little dance.

Play some music and let it sing with freedom.

A simple melody or an elaborate concerto…

Then join in with a little dance.

Tip tap top ti top!

A simple melody or an elaborate concerto…

The foxtrot or a bit of hip hop…

Tip tap top ti top!

Just let it out and let the whole world know.

The foxtrot or a bit of hip hop…

The rule is to let the heart lead.

Just let it out and let the whole world know,

Because joy is contagious.

The rule is to let the heart lead.

La di da di do di do!

Because joy is contagious,

It’s what you do when your heart is singing.