Category: Favorite Authors

Anne of Green Gables: Chapter 4

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Continuing our reading…

Anne awakes to a mixture of “delightful thrill” and “horrible remembrance” because she is NOT to stay at Green Gables because she is NOT a boy. pg 30

Montgomery’s shines here…

“Below the garden a green field lush with clover sloped down to the hollow where the brook ran and scores of white birches grew, upspringing airily out of an undergrowth suggestive of delightful possibilities in ferns and mosses and woodsy things generally. Beyond it was a hill, green and feathery with spruce and fir; there was a gap in it where the gray gable end of the little house she had seen from the other side of the Lake of Shining Waters was visible.” pg 31

“Anne’s beauty-loving eyes lingered on it all, taking everything greedily in; she had looked on so many unlovely places in her life, poor child; but this was as lovely as anything she had ever dreamed.” pg 31

I love this thought. How our souls, in their own way, need feeding. They can be starved in a sense. Something as simple as a flower in a vase or a beautiful sunset can feed that inner need. I believe that in some small way beauty points us unconsciously to our Lord Jesus.

The anthropomorphism of nature is so charming and contributes to a sense of delight and mystery. Brooks laughing and trees dancing…Montgomery is so good at drawing us into the feeling of nature.

Anne’s optimism is just so refreshing and contagious!

“Isn’t it a splendid thing that there are mornings?” pg 32

“But I’m glad it’s not rainy today because it’s easier to be cheerful and bear up under affliction on a sunshiny day. I feel that I have a good deal to bear up under. It’s all very well to read about sorrows and imagine yourself living through them heroically, but it’s not so nice when you really come to have them, is it?”  pg 33

I love that…”bear up under affliction”! 🙂 Again, I love how reading has helped her put things into perspective here. Her life hasn’t been easy, but reading heroic deeds has helped her cope in some ways, and given her courage.

Poor Marilla is confused and befuddled by Anne.

“…she had an uncomfortable feeling that while this odd child’s body might be there at the table her spirit was far away in some remote airy cloudland, borne aloft on the wings of imagination. Who would want such a child about the place?” pg 33

Anne on wanting to go outdoors and explore…

“If I can’t stay here there is no use in my loving Green Gables. And if I go out there and get acquainted with all those trees and flowers and the orchard and the brook, I’ll not be able to help loving it. It’s hard enough now, so I won’t make it any harder. I want to go out so much – everything seems to be calling to me, ‘Anne, Anne, come out to us. Anne, Anne we want a playmate’- but it’s better not. There is no use in loving things if you have to be torn from them, is there? and it’s so hard to keep from loving things, isn’t it? That was why I was so glad when I thought I was going to live here. I thought I’d have so many things to love and nothing to hinder me. But that brief dream  is over. I am resigned to my fate now, so I don’t think I’ll go out for fear I’ll get unresigned again.” pg 34

A cynical look at this might believe Anne is slightly manipulative, but knowing how Montgomery portrayed her character, I believe her to be totally sincere. I know she is impulsive and rash, yet her outbursts of emotion and love for beauty feel genuine to me. I really think that in some ways, her stark life made her all the more aware of and appreciative of beauty in its simplest forms. It makes me wonder that in my comfortable lifestyle and lavish American outlook, how many simple things of beauty I miss because I’m not purposefully looking for beauty or have too much STUFF or I’m just ungrateful in a small way. I also hope that I can keep wonder alive for myself and my children, where we want to be “acquainted” with nature and appreciate it. I feel this ties a little bit into media use. Too much media dulls our appreciation of nature, because who can complete with its drug-like effects? Anyway, 😉 I’m going off on a tangent here as I think on Anne’s comments in this chapter.

What stood out to you? 🙂

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2016 Favorite Reads: Elementary/Preschool

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The Complete Brambly Hedge by Jill Barklem – We all love this book, really good for any age. My 7 yo and I will “ooo and ahh” over the gorgeous illustrations and gently told stories. Such scope for imagination in this delightful collection.

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My Naughty Little Sister Storybook by Dorothy Edwards – These are told from the perspective of an older sister and the adventures and trouble of her little sister. Delightfully British turns of phrase, darling illustrations by Shirley Hughes, and gentle, humorous reminders of life lessons. Highly recommend.

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Read-Aloud Rhymes For the Very Young Selected by Jack Prelutsky – This is absolutely charming. A collection of poems and sayings with delightful illustrations by Marc Brown. My 4 yo and I just love reading these together and can get lost in the illustrations. Highly recommend.

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Ten Little Babies by Gyo Fujikawa – Charming counting book with the wonderful Fujikawa illustrations. My 2 yo’s favorite board book right now!

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On Market Street by Arnold Lobel – This is an unique alphabet book with hours of interest logged in our home. The delightful pictures depict a person dressed with something corresponding with a letter of the alphabet. One of our best loved books!

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The Quilt Maker’s Gift by Jeff Brumbeau – Another well-loved favorite here. Hours of intricate illustrations to pour over. Magical, sweet story with lovely message.

These are just a few of the many books that I could have included here. I tried share the ones that are currently being loved.

{book covers from Goodreads}

Any favorites in this genre that you’d share? I’d love to hear.

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2016 Favorite Reads for Young Adults & Middle School

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The Black Stallion Series by Walter Farley – this series has been a huge hit with my 13 yo. It follows the life and adventures of a young boy and a wild black stallion. Highly recommend.

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Rascal by Sterling North – my 11 yo and I have been enjoying this book immensely. Humorous, adventurous,  crazy, and nature-orientated. We love the unique relationship between Sterling and his father. Of course, Rascal the Raccoon, is very entertaining himself. Highly recommend.

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DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul – these are my 13 yo’s favorite fantasy series this year. Allegorical, mystical, and adventurous. I’ve been reading these with her and they are light, fun reads.

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Silent Storm by Marion Marsh Brown – This lovely historical fiction title is a favorite with all ages here. It follows the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. We love that it gives us Annie’s perspective. Highly recommend.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare – a historical novel about a young girl coming to the colonies. She is having a hard time being accepted by her new family and misunderstandings and confusion abound in this Puritan world.

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Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher – I just finished reading this to my 9 yo and it was just as good, if not better, than the first time when I read it to my oldest. It follows the life of a young girl who is being raised by her cloying, fearful aunt. Circumstances change and she is sent to live with the dreaded Putney cousins, who love and live a bit differently. This is a delightful tale that I love to read as a mother, because I learn so much about parenting. It can feel like a book more for girls, but it’s not. My 9 yo boy said it was his favorite book this year. Don’t miss this one. Highly recommend.

Honorable Mention:

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis – Ever wonder where the Wardrobe came from? Or the Lamp Post? Or how Narnia came to be? My 9 yo and I are so enjoying revisiting the first story in The Chronicles of Narnia tales. We love hearing about the creation of Narnia and all the interesting bits that make this series unforgettable.

These are just some of the few that jumped out to me, that my older and middle children have really enjoyed this year. I will be back soon with ones for younger children and myself!

Please share your favorites in these age groups for this year!

{Book covers from Goodreads}

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2016 Favorite Family Read Alouds

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Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen – beautiful, haunting book about a family working through the father’s PTSD. The family is drawn toward a remote, inherited cabin, the natural, seasonal rhythms, maple sugaring process, and neighbors surrounding them in beauty, love, and light. Highly recommend.

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Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White – this is a delightful story of a boy and a swan without a voice. Hilarious, sweet, and subtle nature lessons woven throughout. We love this title!

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Family Grandstand by Carol Ryrie Brink – we finished this book earlier this year and can’t recommend it enough. Lovely story of a family living near the father’s job at a college, a writer for mother ;), and an interesting neighbor hood of friends and adventures.

Honorable mention is the Ralph Moody Series, which we’ve been slowly working through!

What are your favorite family read-aloud titles this year?

{book covers from Goodreads}

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Anne of Green Gables: Chapter 3

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Continuing our reading…

Poor Marilla. She is probably still nervously reeling from Rachel’s Job-friend-like 😉 advice, and now she has to deal with a GIRL.

Anne’s outbursts are funny, but man, she really is such a cheerful child for having had very little love in her life. Her imagination and the beautiful ideas that she has read in books have helped keep the hope alive, a little bit at least, I think.

I love this part…

“Oh, this is the most tragical thing that ever happened to me!”

Something like a reluctant smile, rather rusty from long disuse, mellowed Marilla’s grim expression.

pg 24

What’s your name?

The child hesitated for a moment.

“Will you please call me Cordelia?” she said eagerly.

“Call you Cordelia! Is that your name?”

“No-o-o, it’s not exactly my name, but I would love to be called Cordelia. It’s such a perfectly elegant name.”

“I don’t know what on earth you mean. If Cordelia isn’t your name, what is it?”

pg 24

This whole part is just so funny and sweet. Marilla’s bewilderment, Anne’s anguish…so many little things. I find myself in the “depths of despair” quite often myself, in fact, my husband sometimes will ask me if I’m wallowing in them. He knows me so well. Ha. 🙂

I love the description of the room from Anne’s point of view…I laughed out loud specifically at this…

“…with a fat, red velvet pincushion hard enough to turn the point of the most adventurous pin. ”

pg 27

I love how Montgomery is showing us Anne’s frame of mind through her perception of the room. Such beautiful writing!

I love Matthew’s heart here…

“I suppose – we could hardly be expected to keep her.”

“I should say not. What good would she be to us?”

“We might be some good to her,” said Matthew suddenly and unexpectedly. ❤

pg 28-29

And upstairs, in the east gable, a lonely, heart-hungry, friendless child cried herself to sleep. pg 29

Aww. Sweet, yet sad chapter.

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Anne of Green Gables: Chapter 2

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Continuing our reading…

Now we come to dear Matthew and Anne. The very illustration on the front of my beat-up paperback is such a sweet part of this chapter. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, however.

Montgomery shares some of her lovely nature-aware writing here…

“It was a pretty road, running along between snug farmsteads, with now and again a bit of balsamy fir wood to drive through or a hollow where wild plums hung out their filmy bloom. The air was sweet with the breath of many apple orchards and the meadows sloped away in the distance to horizon mists of pearl and purple; while

The little birds sang as if it were

The one day of summer in all the year.” pg 9

I adore “farmstead” and “balsamy”.

I find Matthew’s shyness  around women to be endearing and slightly humorous. Perhaps having Marilla for a sister and how long has Rachel Lynde been his neighbor I wonder, may not have helped his shyness? He dare not have any opinion or maybe never could get a word in edgewise.  Remember even a disorderly stream straightens at the sight of Mrs. Rachel!

And now we are introduced to our Dear Friend of the Ages…

“A child of about eleven, garbed in a very short, very tight, very ugly dress of yellowish gray wincey. She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat, extending down her back, were two braids of very thick, decidedly red hair. Her face was small, white and thin, also much freckled; her mouth was large and so were her eyes, that looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others.” pg 11

I love this…

“…our discerning extraordinary observer might have concluded that no commonplace soul inhabited the body of this stray woman-child of whom shy Matthew Cuthbert was so ludicrously afraid.” pg 11

I hope I can be a discerning observer with people, especially children. Even just a good observer, not even extraordinary. 😉 Caring about each person as unique and special.

Oh, Anne, you and your cheery tree!

“It’s so easy to be wicked without knowing it, isn’t it? They were good, you know – the asylum people. But there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum – only just in the other orphans.” pg 12

I love how Anne immediately sees a friend in Matthew and really starts sharing pretty deep thoughts and feelings. She is so open. She tries to see good in people…I love this,

“A merchant in Hopeton last winter donated three hundred yards of wincey to the asylum. Some people said it was because he couldn’t sell it, but I’d rather believe that it was out of the kindness of his heart, wouldn’t you?” pg 14

I love how she calls the Island the “bloomiest place”. Sigh.

And after Matthew telling he doesn’t know what makes the roads red,

“Well, that is one of the things to find out sometime. Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive – it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” pg 15

That above quote reminds me of the British educator Charlotte Mason’s quote, “Not what we have learned, but what we are waiting to know is the delectable part of knowledge.” School Education, pg 273

Scope for the imagination. ❤

“…people laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven’t you?” pg 15

“Yes, it’s red,” she said resignedly. “Now you see why I can’t be perfectly 🙂 happy. Nobody could who had red hair. I don’t mind the other things so much – the freckles and the green eyes and my skinniness. I can imagine them away. I can imagine that I have a beautiful rose leaf complexion and lovely starry violet eyes. But I cannot imagine that red hair away. I do my best. I think to myself, ‘Now my hair is a glorious raven black, black as the raven’s wing.’ But all the time I know it is just plain red, and it breaks my heart. It will be my life long sorrow.” 🙂 pg 16

Oh my! There are so many good lines and parts in this chapter! How she asks Matthew if he would rather be “divinely beautiful” or “dazzinglingly clever”. pg 17

How she is struck deeply by the beauty of the Avenue and insists on renaming it “the White Way of Delight”. pg 18

Barry’s Pond + Anne = The Lake of Shining Waters.

“Isn’t it splendid there are so many things to like in this world?” pg 20

She catches her first glimpse of Green Gables, Matthew growing a bit uneasy about the coming storm.

” Listen to the trees talking in their sleep ,” she whispered, as he lifted her to the ground. “What nice dreams they must have!” pg 22

What  lovely trip home to Green Gables! What did you enjoy about this chapter?

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Anne of Green Gables : Chapter 1

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I’ve always loved L.M. Montgomery’s beautiful nature descriptions and rich, deep characters. I forgot how humorous these books are for some reason. I don’t think humor comes through quite as strongly in some of Montgomery’s other titles. Maybe I just haven’t read enough of them or paid close enough attention! I was so glad to see how many of you sounded interested in this project , I think we all are truly kindred spirits.

Chapter 1 opens with our dear Mrs. Rachel Lynde…I chuckled at this…

“…for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum..” pg 1

I was so charmed how Lucy Maude introduces us to Mrs. Lynde by way of small, side comments alluding to her being into everyone’s business while keeping quite on top of her own.

I think words such as “betokened” need to have a resurgence in our English language. Really. They are GORGEOUS.

Upon seeing Matthew Cuthbert driving by in a SUIT and COLLAR no less , Mrs. Rachel, “…ponder as she might, could make nothing of it and her afternoon’s enjoyment was spoiled.” pg 3 🙂

I absolutely love the Naming of places and things through Montgomery’s writings. Swoon. And swoon again. Lynde’s Hollow. Green Gables. Bright River.

As Mrs. Lynde reaches Green Gables all in a dither, I love this about  Marilla, “Here sat Marilla Cuthbert, when she sat at all, always slightly distrustful of sunshine, which seemed to her too dancing and irresponsible a thing for a world which was meant to be taken seriously; and here she sat now, knitting, and the table behind her was laid for supper.” pg 4

This made me think a bit of how opposite really Marilla is of Anne. We know, of course, what happens in this story, but one has to ponder if Marilla really needed Anne in a sense MORE than Anne needed her.

Mrs. Lynde’s shock and surprise is so funny and what’s the most funny thing about it is that she is so appalled the Marilla dare make a decision like this without informing or asking HER first.  After Mrs. Lynde blasts Marilla with scary stories on orphans…this cracked me up…”This Job’s comforting seemed neither to offend nor alarm Marilla. She knitted steadily on.” pg 7

One has to overlook a few old-fashioned, NOT “politically correct” references in this chapter and focus really on the two characters that we are being introduced to…Rachel and Marilla. Opposite really, but they say opposites attract…and I was just thinking about how in some ways the friendship of these older ladies is just as kindred as the later one of Anne and Diana.

What jumped out to you?

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Reading through Anne…

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{Google}

Does anyone want to join me in a little project of delight? I want to read through the entire 8 book Anne of Green Gables Series by L.M. Montgomery again. These are some of the most cherished books of my life, and I thought it would be fun to read and write through them…I’m putting no time limit on this, so it could take me a year or ten 🙂 , but I know it will be a joy. Join me on your own blog space OR just comment in the comment section about sections that stood out to you, quotes, life lessons, and just Anne love. I enjoy reading challenges, but I don’t like pressure added to my life. This is a lovely journey to me with NO pressure. You are welcome to join. I will list these under Anne Shirley in my Ramblings category cloud, so if you miss one, just check there and read along! 🙂 Avonlea, here I come! 🙂

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Monday Ponderings {December 5th}

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Mother had that peculiar God-given gift of imagination so keen that the printed word became to her a vivid, living reality. It was as though, while her body stayed at home and cared for the children, her spirit had climbed far mountain peaks and sailed into strange harbors…Yes, the warp of Mother’s life had been restricted to keeping the home for Henry and the children. But the woof of the texture had been fashioned from the wind clouds and star drifts of the heavens.

Mother Mason by Bess Streeter Aldrich

pg 84-85

Amy Carmichael

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O Thou in whose right hand were seven stars,

And whose right hand was on Thy servant laid,

How tender was Thy touch, Thy word, Be not afraid.

Thou who didst say, O man greatly beloved,

Fear not, and, Peace be unto thee, be strong,

What wealth of grace and mercy doth to Thee belong.

 

Thy touch, Thy word, and lo, like to a cloud

That was but is not in the fields of air,

So is the fear we feared; we look, it is not there,

Dissolved, departed, banished by Thy touch.

Oh, as we pray, purge us from every fear,

Thou who dost hold the stars, our Lord, art Thou not here?

 

Thou Givest…They Gather

Amy Carmichael

pg 31

Tea, Cake, and Susan Branch

amyofhearthridge6 Comments

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Dear Susan Branch , I just turned the last page of your Martha’s Vineyard: Isle of Dreams. I was so inspired and enchanted. As a wife, mother and home cook, I found it just the perfect shot of encouragement.  I often loose sight of the little bits of joy in creating a home for my loved ones. I  found so much to be inspired by your tenacity in keeping at your dreams.  Your books, especially, Isle of Dreams, and then, A Fine Romance have brought so many smiles to my face, tears (I felt bad for you!), chuckles, and beautiful quotes to think on. Your thoughts on books, movies, cooking,  gardening, and gushes about little lovely bits of life make my feelings of kindred spirit well up. Isle of Dreams was my favorite, but  A Fine Romance was a very close second and I thought of you and just about swooned with delight as I had the chance to visit England this year.

One of the biggest things I loved about Isle of Dreams, was how much you praised and thought on all that you mother had done for you. It is so encouraging to know that little touches, the hot meals, and the traditions reached you and are remembered in a small way. I found that such a blessing to see a child of a big family praising the hard work her mother did for her family. Motherhood isn’t really a prized profession these days and the endless mundane dance we do each day while being told we have to be something MORE can really beat a woman down.

The little cocoa cups, the tea pots, your kitties, the ivy, and the endless magical little paintings you include teach me more than just love of beauty. I want to learn to pay attention deeply, and I pray my children will follow. Just to really listen to people, to savor  meals, to delight in lingering over tea, to mull over and discuss great books, and to never forget their faith. I desire to grow deeper relationships through hospitality and sharing life. You delight and excel in those gifts. Thank you, Susan, for your sweet books and a bit of brightness and warmth to wrap myself in, with a bit of tea and cake, of course.

With love,

Amy

Inspired by this writer, we enjoyed this lovely coffee cake with tea and some new MUSICA for a fall treat. Enjoy!

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