tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post4933282482572410909..comments2023-10-21T03:54:12.029-04:00Comments on A Gift Universe: 7qt - been awhileSheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-88278307665343720202015-12-20T08:30:21.988-05:002015-12-20T08:30:21.988-05:001 - almost finished with season 3!
2 - Yes, I thin...1 - almost finished with season 3!<br />2 - Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Lucy complains that people don't know what she's really like (since they all have different ideas) but she doesn't just never tell anyone what she's like -- she never tells US! When does she ever admit of something she wants, or take a single step to achieve something she wants? Why does she leave England, basically on a whim? What disaster led her to this? (I think Jane Eyre works much better in that Jane's character is built from the ground up -- we understand who she is AND WHY.) And I guess I feel like -- hey, Lucy, you're not the only woman ever in history to have a crush on a guy who doesn't like you back. Pull yourself together!<br /><br />But, if the article I read was correct, it's too autobiographical to be a good novel. Bronte refuses to reveal who Lucy is because she doesn't want to reveal who she herself is. And yeah, it really feels like we're not good enough. Perhaps her readers of the time really weren't -- suspicious of a female author -- but maybe she misjudges them, just like Lucy misjudges everybody.<br /><br />And yeah, the anti-Catholic stuff struck me as downright absurd. I think you'd have to be a Puritan to understand it.<br /><br />5 - I don't know if they have mini trumpets; I've never seen such a thing, but then I've never met a five-year-old who wanted to play trumpet either.<br /><br />7 - Onions are high in sulfur, which has anti-microbial properties. Not surprising that onion syrup would cure things! I can't make dinner without both onions and garlic ... when I run out, my cooking is insipid and I can't stand it.<br /><br />SO, Marko used to have a keyboard, which he loved, and Michael broke it. He also had a toy guitar and Michael broke that. I think Michael's past the wanton-smashing stage (gosh, I HOPE) but Miriam is now the resident smasher. In a year, I can see getting the kids a keyboard, or a trumpet, or whatever, but not right now. My tin whistle is pretty sturdy, but if you've ever heard a toddler play a tin whistle .... it's one of the most piercing, painful sounds in the world.<br /><br />SC, I had thought of that but not done it yet. I really should find one!Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-78201820107671971882015-12-19T18:10:34.257-05:002015-12-19T18:10:34.257-05:00If you have a tablet... you can search and get a f...If you have a tablet... you can search and get a free app (there are a few different ones) which will put a keyboard on it - a couple of octaves worth, anyway. We use one now at the Monastery to start us off on the right note now that we have no choir director. We may start plinking the organ but for now... it's a "kindle" type tablet with an octave and a half of keys. It works. Marko might like that, but then you have the possibility of never ever getting your tablet back! <br /><br />It's great that he's musical though. :) Sugar Coaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15501553009099127331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-54402009148071933442015-12-19T08:16:18.632-05:002015-12-19T08:16:18.632-05:00Maybe get a keyboard? A used keyboard can be <...Maybe get a keyboard? A used keyboard can be < $100, I think.SeekingOmnisciencehttp://seekingomniscience.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-65733800008126333402015-12-19T03:43:23.550-05:002015-12-19T03:43:23.550-05:00+JMJ+
#1 -- Yay for the tablet! Which season of ...+JMJ+ <br /><br />#1 -- Yay for the tablet! Which season of <i>Buffy</i> are you on? <br /><br />#2 -- You know what's funny? I actually thought of you several times while reading Lucy Snowe's criticisms of the Church. It's not that yours and hers overlap much; I was just wondering how you would read the same passages. <br /><br />I actually put off reading <i>Villette</i> for many years because I thought the anti-Catholicism would just make me blow my top. And perhaps it would have, given what my personality was like when I first heard of it, but this year, I mostly raised my eyebrows and snorted. <br /><br />I absolutely agree with you (<i>Hey, when was the last time I said that here? ;-)</i>) that Lucy Snowe creates most of her own problems. It's almost as if she <i>wants</i> to be miserable. But she really doesn't have to be! Even as an unreliable narrator, she can't hide that other people find her quite likeable. It's <i>she</i> who doesn't like them! <i>Sigh.</i> I remember feeling especially frustrated during the parts when she said she never acted again (despite her electrifying dramatic debut and <i>although she wanted to</i>) and when she kept herself from writing warm, intimate letters to Graham. And when he stopped writing to her (either because she was really boring or because he took her tepid style as a lack of enthusiasm on her part) and she turned into a walking ball of internal agony, I wanted to dump some cold water over her. What did she expect??? <br /><br />Incidentally, that first time I heard of <i>Villette</i>, I was an English major myself. That day, the topic was <i>endings</i>, so we all had to read the last page or so as our example of an unsatisfying ending. To that, I'd add Mrs. Darwin's insight that Lucy keeps things from us the readers because she judges us as harshly as she does the other characters, and she can't imagine how we could possibly sympathise with her enough to deserve to hear of her last great suffering. Ginevra isn't good enough, her own godmother isn't good enough, even sweet Polly isn't good enough--and guess what, reader? You're not good enough, either. =P <br /><br />#3 -- We're having an unusually wet December here. Then again, we had an unusually dry June to October. The monsoon is six months late! <br /><br />#4 -- I'll probably see the new <i>Star Wars</i> movie with a friend next year, when the crowds at the cinemas thin out. <br /><br />#5 -- Oh, it's just wonderful when children are drawn to an instrument! Is there a music store nearby that will let you rent a trumpet? Or maybe a high school with an orchestra or marching band whose members might want to sell their old instruments before going off to uni? (But perhaps those would be too big. =/ Do trumpets get scaled down for children the way guitars and violins do?) <br /><br />#6 -- =) <br /><br />#7 -- What do you think of onions? My favourite natural treatment for colds involves slicing an onion into discs (I can't recall the proper culinary term!) and stacking these in a small container with sugar between the layers. After a few hours, the sugar turns into syrup that I take a spoonful of in the morning before leaving for work and another spoonful of at night before going to bed. It seems to work for me, but I could never explain the science behind it. <br /><br />I also did a lot of baking last night, to get my signature snickerdoodles done in time for my TLM group's end-of-year party. Christmas tastes like cinnamon-sugar to me. =) What is your favourite Christmas cookie? Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.com