This Classical Life

Some of my favorite articles lately:

Freda Rosenfeld is The Breast Whisperer.

God said be fruitful and multiply and Yitta certainly did.

Where the Bar Ought to Be is an opinion piece about education, and how excellent, passionate teachers make the difference.

I know this is a little late for Shrove Tuesday celebrating, but I’ll remind you next year!

GINGERBREAD PANCAKES
(inspired by Kerbey Lane in Austin, but it’s been so long since I’ve eaten there, I can’t verify the authenticity)

Cream together:
6 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar

Add, then mix well:
1 cup buttermilk*
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup coffee (brewed)
2 tsp vanilla

In a seperate bowl, combine dry ingredients:
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 Tbs. cloves
2 Tbs. cinnamom
2 Tbs. ginger
1.5 Tbs. nutmeg

Add dry ingredients to wet, mixing gently. When combined, mix in:
1 stick of butter, melted

This makes about 7-8 thick, plate sized pancakes. SUPER thick. Cut back a tsp of baking soda or so if you prefer less cake-y pancakes.

* buttermilk is easy to make: 1 c. milk + 1 Tbs. lemon juice or vinegar, I let it stand for a half hour or so, but you could probably push it to even 5 or 10 minutes in a pinch.

A must read post by a friend-of-this-blog. This post is sensitive in nature as it mentions an adopted child’s death at the hand of her parents - cardiac arrest brought on by spanking. Please pray for her sister, in critical condition, and for all families struggling with difficult to discipline children that this would not continue to happen.

A novel in short stories, Olive Kitteridge is a skilled weaving of tales to show the way lives intersect with one another in a small coastal village in Maine, and in doing so, teach us about community everywhere.

The stories are raw and real, and the protagonist, if she can be called such, is rude, overbearing and larger than life. To know Olive is to be flummoxed by her, and yet, like Henry readers find themselves undeniably smitten with her.

Loneliness, depression, longing and pain are all vivid parts of the lives of those documented, and sometimes things don’t end up the way you’d want them to be, but the book wasn’t without hope. Somehow, the weaving of these stories together mirrored the weaving of all of our stories to me, and gave me a glimpse of something beautiful.

Virtue is also apparent in the lives of these Crosby residents. Loyalty, faithfulness, kindness… in their small connections community is born and grows. And community sustains them through many hardships. It’s a lovely book, and is even able to talk about difficult things with grace and beauty, and I’d recommend it to almost anyone. (9/10)

Today I was at the Jewish Community Center and a flipped-open copy of Southern Jewish Life alerted me to the fact that you can get prescription drugs relatively cheaply from Israel. Magen David Meds can be your Israeli pharmacy, and with $10 shipping to the U.S. it may be worth checking out.

Kathleen Norris’ little book about “laundry, liturgy and ‘women’s work’” is a must read for anyone who struggles to see the value in repetitive tasks. Quotidian is a word from the Latin meaning daily or ordinary, and in our society where we feel measured by our output, these everyday things like laundry, cooking and dishes can be very discouraging to those who do them day in and day out. It might also be a good read for a spouse who has trouble understanding exactly what their partner does day in and day out. The author is not a stay-at-home mother, so homemakers who work in or outside the home, with or without children, will all relate to her insights. It’s a work that is short and very readable, having been delivered as a lecture series, but also thought provoking and deep. I expect that I will be coming back to it again in years to come, for encouragement and insight to sustain me in my daily work. (9.5/10)

I am feeling uninspired… I need healthy and somewhat kid-friendly dinner ideas. What should I make?

I love that my alma mater is the center of this story in the new york times about male-female ratios on the college campus.

Some days I am just overwhelmed with how lucky I am to parent my kids. They are such neat individuals.

Lexi has a *slight* obsession with Kit Kittredge. She’s been running around saying “Brilliant!” I love listening to her prattle on about Strawberry Shortcake, imagine, tell stories, and even recite catechism questions. She has so much personality, and I can’t wait to see what she will do with it.

Kate is doing so well in school, and has wisdom beyond her years and a sneaky sense of humor. She’s a great big sister and has a natural inclination to help others. I love hearing her talk about what she’s learning and what she wants to learn next.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first in a trilogy of crime novels written by Stieg Larsson. Originally published in Swedish, it was an international best seller long before I ever heard of it. I am not typically a fan of modern crime novels, but some rave ratings on goodreads persuaded me to give this one a try.

From the first chapters, I was hooked, even though the novel starts slowly and develops over time. I suppose what pulled me in is how well written and translated it is and the dynamic and interesting characters. The mystery itself intrigued me, a classic “locked-room format in an island setting” as the protagonist, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, describes.

The titular character is a hacker turned private investigator who gives the novel a certain edge. She’s likely a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome, but in spite of her difficulties connecting with people, she is extremely sympathetic to readers, and forms an instant bond with Blomkvist that is genuine and believable.

The original title was Men Who Hated Women, and there is a fair amount of misogyny and some descriptions of violence, particularly against women. I didn’t find them gratuitous or excessive, but be forewarned. Eagerly anticipating the next two installments, I am also sad that Larsson died so young without being able to give readers even more to look forward to. (8/10)

After two months of daily blogging, I took a few days respite. As I ran errands today, I was thinking about what I ought to blog about. Walking through Wal-Mart gave me several things to consider blogging about such as how annoying it was that the organic fruit snacks are up high and the “bad” ones shaped like princesses are at child’s eye view.

An hour and cart full of groceries later, the girls hit their breaking point and melted down over who was going to get the orange juice out of the case and put it in the cart. (At least they fight about helping, right?) My nearest fellow customer glared at them, and then at me. I tried unsuccessfully to mediate and then, a man walked toward me.

He was an older gentleman, and he reminded me of my great uncle Joe and his posse of Italian old men. Dressed in one of those old man tracksuits, with glasses and shaggy hair, he approached me with a smile. He clasped both his hands around mine, and I felt something pass between us. When I opened my hand I found two small lollipops. I thanked him profusely, then handed the candy to the children, who in their preoccupation with juice had missed the exchange completely. “Where’s this candy from?” they asked. “That nice gentleman there.” They bounded over to say thank you, and he returned once again. I watched as he reached his hand into his unzipped pocket and pulled out a big handful of butterscotch candies, giving them to me. We shared a smile, and he walked away.

It’s funny, two minutes earlier I had been thinking about 1 John 4, where it says that love is from God, and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God, and more than that, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. When I least expected it, I found love in the dairy aisle at Super Wal-Mart. I hope to be that gracious, to reach out to the harried and discouraged, and to remind them that they are not alone. At minimum, I hope to be a little old lady with a big purse full of lollipops.