I’ll probably delete this in the morning.
The poinsettia said, “I’m thirsty,”
But I was much too busy.
The poinsettia said, “I’m dry,”
But I just walked right by.
The poinsettia leaves were dropping
But I passed it without stopping.
The poinsettia leaves turned black
And I paid attention at last.
Don’t let this happen to your poinsettia.
I’ll probably delete this when the edges turn black.
My sister visited recently and we decided to spend a little time watercolor painting. I found a couple paintings on Pinterest to copy and that’s been my artwork for the week.
Original painting by Lynda Hendrickson Shilhanek. My version looks a little wonky if you look at it too closely (and maybe you shouldn’t). The front of the house juts out a bit, but the roof still covers it in an impossible way. Kinda trippy! It was a quick painting and I enjoyed working on it.
Original by Lavinia de Boer. I mostly like how this one turned out, except for the legs and feet. Fortunately, you can’t see the original. Another quick painting!
I’ll probably delete this quick blog post in the morning.
What books are y’all reading these days? I’m working on the Georgette Heyer book, The Grand Sophy that was a favorite of my mom’s – this is probably my second read-through. I’m re-reading Surprised by Oxford, for the third or fourth time. It’s a memoir written by Carolyn Weber about her experience in unexpectedly finding Christ at Oxford. The commentary on Hosea by John Calvin is one that I’m plodding through and don’t expect to finish any time soon. I’m enjoying the book The Things of Earth, Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts, by Joe Rigney. My husband and I are reading through a book called How to be Unlucky by Joshua Gibbs, a second read-through for me and first for him.
Quotes from the Commonplace Book
There, peeping among the cloud-wracked above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end, the Shadow was only a small and passing thing; there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. …for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear, he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.
JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King
I always found that to be such a lovely quote near the end of The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. In the midst of the most oppressive darkness over Frodo and Sam while they march forward to Mount Doom, Tolkien inserts this beautiful meditation by Sam as he sees a star peeping through the nearly unbreakable cloud cover. That last part reminds me of 1 Peter 5:7, in which we are told to “cast all our anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
Being a writer doesn’t just mean writing. It means finishing.
Andrew Peterson, Adorning the Dark p. 15
Ouch, Andrew.
The tyranny of evil looks like love until you mount resistance. Underneath the velvet glove there lurks the iron fist.
Andree Sue Peterson
A guest in my home is God in my home.
Polish Saying
Would it be tyranny if I delete this in the morning?
I don’t think I’ve ever shared a meme on this blog, but I came across this one recently and laughed so hard at it. Maybe it will bring some well-placed cheer in your life as well.
I had some bread dough kneading in my Bosch mixer the other day and went to go play the piano for a few minutes while the machine did its work. I began hearing a funny noise and came back into the kitchen just in time to see the mixer working its way toward the edge of the counter. I ran to try to avert disaster, calling out “NOOOOOOOOO!” but to no avail. The mixer sailed off the counter and dropped to the floor with a loud crash. Believe it or not, the dough was not ruined and the bread was excellent. The plastic mixer bowl, however, did not fare so well.
I’ve had that mixer since 1997 and the bowl has performed faithfully and well. RIP, my plastic friend. Your replacement will not suffer the same fate.
Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits:
Hillsdale free online classes
the means to buy groceries
good dental care
morning and evening “liturgy” at home
fresh baked bread
weekly communion
restful sleep
I will knead to drop this post on the floor in the morning.
The one-eyed cat
Just sat and sat
I want to know
What you think of that.
Her one-eyed glare
That baleful stare
I want to know
If she’s still there.
A one-eyed tabby
Shouldn’t be crabby
I want to know
If she’s getting flabby.
The one-eyed cat
Just sat and sat
I want to pet
That putty-tat!
I want to know what you think of me deleting this in the morning.
I decided to get back to the drawing instruction book I got in 2023: 50 Ways to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life.
Here are some of the beautiful ordinary things I bought at the beautiful ordinary grocery store.
Drawing practice of any kind seems like a good idea. Sometimes I think about whether or not I could publish anything I’ve written and do my own illustrations. These are mostly delusional thoughts, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try, right? I’ve been continuing to work on my story about Saul, the bog lemming. His wife’s name is Borealis (Alis for short) and he has three children, triplets named Yogi, Kogi and Chogi. Let’s see how this experiment turned out.
I was trying to think of a way to make the triplets distinguishable from each other. Very challenging.
Then I moved on to draw Alis, who wears a leaf apron when she is cooking. As you can see, the first attempt makes it look like she is wearing a large green diaper. Alis, I done you wrong. We can’t all be Beatrix Potter, but I’d like to get closer to her work than this.
Thank you for taking the time to see what weird things I’m drawing these days.
This beautiful, ordinary blog post will self-destruct in the morning.
Before we get to some quotes from my commonplace book, I thought I’d do another roundup of neglected photos. These are photos that I smallified, thinking I’d use them on the blog and then nothing happened. There was no call, for example, for a statue of a monk that I saw at the Como Park Observatory. Commentary, such as it is, will follow the photos.
Tonsures are awkward.
My artsy photo of our cat Luna. I still like it.
What’s the difference between a turtle and a tortoise? I think this is a tortoise, but couldn’t tell you why.
Notes from My Commonplace Book:
Join them in their world when they’re little,
So you’ll be welcome in their world when they are big.
L.R. Knost
Those that with a holy reverence fear God need not with any amazement to be afraid of the power of hell or earth. If God be for us, who can be against us to do us any harm? It is our duty, it is our privilege, to be thus fearless; it is an evidence of a clear conscience, of an honest heart, and of a lively faith in God and his providence and promise.
Matthew Henry, commentary on Psalm 46
The best mirror is an old friend.
George Herbert
Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not by wine drunk, but the wine poured forth.
For love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice;
And whoso suffers most hath most to give.
Ugo Bassi, Sermon in the Hospital
Measure my blog by loss…in the morning.
With all the re-shelving of books going on here, I’ve been finding occasional bookmarks, tickets and other random things in them that served as bookmarks in a pinch. It felt like a special treasure, then, to come across an old note from my mom in a book by Georgette Heyer that was one of her favorites.
She says in her note to me that it’s a book she revisits every few years and that she bought an extra copy of the book to give to me since she thought I might enjoy it. Because it’s a small paperback with somewhat small print, at the end of the note, she wrote: “Buy some cheap magnifying spectacles at the drug store or Walmart! Love, Mom” Ha ha!
As it turned out, I did enjoy the book and have revisited it at least once. The note from my mom will serve as the perfect bookmark for that one.
What’s the oddest thing you’ve used as a bookmark? I’ve been known to stuff a paper napkin in a book.
Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits.
eating someone else’s good cooking
inspiration for writing
privilege of prayer
Big Bertha, our backup van
nightly hymn singing
re-reading a favorite book: Stepping Heavenward
I’ll be determined to delete this in the morning unless it steals my heart!
Lynniebeemuseoday 