Thankful Thursday: November 2018

After a lovely Thanksgiving and before the Advent/Christmas season begins want to pause and give thanks for the blessings of these days.

1. Charlie; an amazing & loving companion on this great adventure
2. A home that shelters my family well;  keeping warm in the winter and cool in the summer
3. My children who love me and teach me to be kind and brave!
4. The right to vote and participate in choosing those who will govern.
5. The chance to study, question and never stop learning and discovering the world around me.
6. Electricity 
7. A foundation of faith given to me by my mom and strengthen by teachers along the way.
8. Good books and the time to read them.
9. Watching my kids excited about new books and absorbed in their favorites.
10. Clean Water
11. Reliable Transportation 
12. Abundant food including pie!
13. My family of origin whose warm love and shared laughter sustains me
14. Sunshine
15. My 'married' family: warm, funny and hard-working
16. Family and friends across the miles who stay in touch and stay true.
17. The ease with which technology helps me to keep in touch with family & friends across the miles and overseas.
18. This amazing blogging community that share of their time and talent so gracefully.
19. The ocean and time spent there.
20. The beauty around me as leaves change colors and falls.
21. Quiet evenings when Charlie & I share a bowl of ice cream and binge watch a series.
22. Weekend mornings when we drink Chai and everyone 'piles in' together.
23. Sunday dinners with family and friends.
24. My husband's tech skills for when things go sideways
25. My children's laughter!
26. Warm drinks on a cold and dreary day!
27. God's everlasting love!
28. Hope renewed each morning.
29. My life with all its struggles and blessings!

Daybook: Fall'18

Thinking about:
    Raking all the leaves that have fallen. Nearly done with the front yard and then onto the back.  Thanksgiving; we are local this year as Dr Daddy has to work.  Ordering Christmas cards and getting the kids to nail down their lists.

Excited For:
   Thanksgiving; it will be small but nice to celebrate at home just us, plus out-town friends are coming to town for weekend.  Advent and Christmas!! An addition we have been planning in theory moving soon into the actual!

Wearing:
   Mostly jeans and clogs or wedges; I know for most fall means breaking out the boots (and I have a pair that gets some wear) but for me fall means my favorite wedges and wearing clogs again.  Also found a couple of great tops to update and perk up the daily uniform.

In the Yard:

   
 The trees have dropped most of their leaves so lots of raking to go but the end is in sight and then onto the pruning.  Didn't plant any bulbs 



Watching and Listening to:
    Enjoying the return of This is Us and have started watching Magnum P.I. off the DVR and Madame Secretary off Netflix. And thanks to the kids Narwhal Eating A Bagel has become part of the soundtrack of my day.
     
The Kids: 

Elisabeth is thriving in 5th grade; enjoying changing classes and taking good care of her school issued Chrome book. Continues to excel at her gymnastics class, currently working on her back walkover and front handspring.  The end of the day finds her in her loft bed reading Wings of Fire; a fantasy book series that she has been obsessed with since the spring.

Liam has settled well into 2nd grade; reading better and better all the time (handwriting is another issue).  Enjoyed playing soccer this fall and is currently a Wolf Scout. Pokemon is still tops and with help from his big sister is becoming proficient at Mindcraft.  Always a great eater he is currently all about the Cobb salad, requesting one several times a week.

Caitlin is loving Kindergarten and doing really well; making friends and learning to write words and add numbers.  She loves being read to; and I'm so excited to watch over the next year as she begins to learn to read to us.  She has joined Lisbeth in doing gymnastics; loves tumbling ~ the beam not so much.

Poetry Pause: Armistice 1918-2018

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

We Shall Keep the Faith

by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

Open Book ~ November '18

   As someone who has watched and enjoyed the PBS series Victoria, not to mention a person of Belgian heritage I was thrilled to find Charlotte and Leopold by James Chambers and learn more about their story. The book is largely a biography of Princess Charlotte, (though some of Prince Leopold's early life is shared) and shares not only details of her life but the politics of the day which played such an important role in where and how the princess lived.  Well written with plenty of details and good pacing I'm glad to have learned more of this couple's love story which has largely become a footnote in British history.

The War I Finally Won by Kimberly B. Bradley is the sequel to her The War that Saved My Life.  Picking up where the first left off we find Ada, Jamie, Susan and the rest of their village facing the challenges of war as the Battle of Britain hits full force.  As with the first book I am very impressed with Bradley's ability to convey through the plot and dialogue all the uncertainly, confusion and determination of the time.

In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen again found me in England during WWII in small country hamlet adjusting to the changes of war including troops training at Farleigh Place.  Farleigh Place is the home of Lord & Lady Westerham and their five daughters the youngest of whom discovers a dead soldier whose parachute failed on the grounds.  The book tells the story of the investigation that follows with subplots that include the French Resistance, Bletchley Park, and MI5. Interesting character studies with just enough twists to keep the mystery going.

The Mislaid Magician by Patricia Were and Caroline Stevermer is the third installment of The Cecelia and Kate Novels.   It is been a decade since the last book. The cousins now have estates, children, and a place at the height of wizarding society.  It is 1828, and though magic remains at the heart of the British Empire, a new power has begun to make itself felt across England: the steam engine.  As with the first book this story is told through letters sent between the two cousins and the various adventures life brings their way and is a delightful fun, fast read.









Please head over to Carolyn's for more Open Book.

Quick Takes #271: A Week in Pictures

A crazy, fun and busy week ~ perhaps best shared in pictures.

1. Elisabeth's Rain-wing pumpkin dragon

2. Caitlin as a Halloween Princess in her parade.

3. Liam as Saint Peter in his Halloween Parade.

4. Liam sharing about Saint Peter in the 2nd Gr. Saints Pageant .

5. Ash Katchum and Princess Caitlin ready for some T&T

6. Lady Hood ready to hit the Trick or Treating mark.

7. Even found time for some pumpkin carving!!

Happy November! Have a Good Weekend!