~~ February ~~
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Troparion for Nativity
Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath given rise to the light of knowledge in the world. For they who did worship the stars did learn from them to worship thee, the Sun of Justice, and to know thou didst come from the east of the Highest. Glory to thee, O Lord!
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Kontakion for Nativity
The Virgin brings forth today the omnipotent, and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable. Angels give glory with shepherds, and the magi journey with the star, when for our sakes was born, as a new babe, He Who is from eternity God.
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May you all have a blessed Christmas!
xxx
(do you remember this view?)
No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.
~L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
~ Buddha
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(Please read the post below; I'm having a chat with a lovely lady!)
-What do most of your weekdays look like?
I get up way too early every morning, and somehow manage to get everyone organized, dressed, fed and out the door on time, including me (only problem is, I often forget to feed myself!) I drop my husband off at the bus stop, my little one at his preschool and then take my older son to kindergarten. He goes to the school where I teach, so once he's at school, I'm at work too (I work three days a week). Isn't that handy? Once in a while, we have enough time to drive through Starbucks and pick up a latte that I'll drink at my desk. Those are the really great days! I get to relax a bit while I'm in my library, but at 3:30 or 4, I'm in the van and on the go again, running errands, picking kids up, and heading home to make dinner and get a fire going (it gets awfully chilly here in the winter!) I try to read with the kids, and do art activities with them before or after dinner. Then it's time for baths, pajamas and several bedtime stories. My husband gets home around this time and helps me tuck the kids into bed. Then I head for the gym (3 nights a week). I'm usually there for an hour, and then I head back home to have a shower and start packing backpacks and lunches for the next day. When all that's done, I sit down with a cup of tea and try to write on my blog for a bit, write a letter, or maybe read a book or watch a tv show with my husband. Needless to say, I go to bed way too late every night...
- As I've told you before, I love your job as a school librarian. What do you like most about it?
I think my favourite part is shopping for books! There's nothing better than spending the afternoon in the bookstore, picking out stacks of wonderful children's books, and then charging them to someone else's account! I also really love the excitement on the kids' faces when they see a title arrive on my "New Books" display shelf that they've been waiting for!
-Which are some of your favourite children's books?
Growing up I loved the Betsy-Tacy series, Anne of Green Gables, the Narnia books, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. I still love all of them, and can now add Harry Potter to my list. Children's books are still my favourite kind of books to read.
- What are you reading these days? Can you recommend a couple of books you've really enjoyed?
Right now I'm reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. It's a strange story, but I'm really enjoying it. I just finished The Hunger Games Trilogy. It was intense, and rather disturbing, but I couldn't put it down. Next up I'll be re-reading Water for Elephants, for my book club. A few books I always recommend are And God Created the Au Pair (hilarious!) and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (lovely historical novel). Both are written in the form of letters. I love letters!
( Parliament buildings in dowtown Victoria)
(Her little boy on the beach)Thank you so much Erin; it was great getting to know you a little better; and thank you for all the beautiful pictures.
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I think if I ever get tired of teaching, I may become a reporter; this was such fun!
xxx
~Dr. Seuss
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If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.
~Johann von Goethe
(this frosty image is not a randomly picked one; it represents how I've been feeling lately and why reading what I wrote a year ago is something to be grateful for)
Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown): ... I think there must be something wrong with me Linus, Christmas is coming, but I'm not happy, I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel ... just another dang Christmas I guess, I like getting presents, and sending Christmas cards, and decorating the tree and all that but I'm still not happy, I always end up getting depressed ...
Christopher Shea (Linus): ... Charlie brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful gaping white Christmas and turn it into a problem, maybe you shouldn't gripe, of all the Charlie Browns in the world you are the Charlie Brownest ...
From A Charlie Brown Christmas
"Talk and tea is his specialty," said Giles. "He has come along inside... We'll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place".
-The Wind in the Willows
(from my ornament swap partner, Connie; literally, the only ornaments on our tree we haven't made ourselves!)
Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.
~Author Unknown
(schools are closed today)
People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love.
~ Claude Monet
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I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.
~ Claude Monet
Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would I'd never leave.
~A.A. Milne
~Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!
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My little boy went to bed with a broad smile on his face last night, after I told him a story I made up.
I took the picture on Saturday at the Christmas village we visited; this was a place called 'The Little Prince' after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's book. It was really magical.
( under the blanket you see is my baby who's napping)
God's poet is silence! His song is unspoken,
And yet so profound, so loud, and so far,
It fills you, it thrills you with measures unbroken,
And as soft, and as fair, and as far as a star.
~Joaquin Miller
they were so worth the 4-hour bus ride back and forth!
(via here)
(from last winter)
“- "I've been thinking Hobbes --"
- "On a weekend?"
- "Well, it wasn't on purpose..."”
Calvin & Hobbes quotes
The best thing about doing needlepoint for very small children is that they are so uncritical. They don't say things like, "I see you've missed some stitches over here on the leg, was that intentional?" or "Was this creature blinded in a fight?" They will clasp it in their little arms and love it besottedly, inseparably as the thing becomes more and more rancid.
~Carole Berman and Jennifer Lazarus
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I think today's choice needs a bit of explanation; you see, my sewing machine broke down on Monday, leaving me with a whole list of projects to be completed by the end of the week, presents mostly. I was quite miserable after that until of course I came to my senses and realised it was not the end of the world and there are always alternatives. There's no way I'll manage to do everything I wanted to but , well, c'est la vie!
(and yes, there's a reason you only see part of what I've made!)
Take Care!
xxx
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
~Confucius
Music is well said to be the speech of angels.
~ Thomas Carlyle
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
~ Jonh Steinbeck
there may be things better than beef stew and baked potatoes and home-made bread -- there may be.
~ David Grayson
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
~Kahlil Gibran
Medicine for the soul.
~Inscription over the door of the Library at Thebes
She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind.
~Toni Morrison, Beloved
Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!
~Albert Einstein
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this is my online advent calendar.
i'll leave the light on for you every day until christmas.
have a blessed month!
