Reflection

A house without books is like a room without windows. ~Heinrich Mann

I keep thinking that at some point I'm going to get back to more of my own "stuff" and use this space to be less-inclusive of others'...you guessed it ~ "stuff".  (I have found space below for a bit of that...a bit of me.) The issue is that I am discovering inspiration and happiness in so many other places, and I'm finding ways to bring the joy home.  I recently became acquainted with

Carrie Raphael's design. 

In her bio, she includes these words in her philosophy:  Family, home and
work are harmoniously whole. I never separate one from another... Beauty and function make a house, but family and happiness make it a home. 

Bliss. 
The very definition.  
I love the color of these bedroom walls.  They speak one word to me: 
Nantucket. 
And therein lies a piece of my heart.
*sigh*

Meet Rie.  She lives here and she is passionate about Home & Harmony.  Me too.  It's the very reason I am where I am, doing what I do.  I've only just met her, yet love her already.

As for home...today my family ~ four of us ~ hung out at my mom's house, painting while she was away at work. The girls were surprisingly cordial to one another; the husband and I were, too (surprisingly cordial, that is...insert a chuckle here).  I had some time to revisit my childhood while there.  It was quite a little journey.  If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older. ~Tom Stoppard  In the room where the grandchildren now play are toys that my sister and I once once claimed as our own.  There, on the floor, is the bear with a pullstring, the one I received for my first birthday.  There, too, is the high chair and crib that my very talented paternal grandfather made for us to share.  Dolls have been strategically placed, positioned by the latest generation of little ones, and have now found company with so many, many legos.  The Fisher Price people ~ and camper and boat and school bus and school house and parking garage and village ~ are there, too.  My favorite piece of that ensemble is the toilet, the one whose lid opens and allows the Fisher Price campers a bit of relief.  I've always found that to be quite progressive for the early 70s.

  

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again. ~Elizabeth Lawrence  What drew me in though, what seemed to whisper my name, was the bookshelf.  The words contained there have been mine for decades...from my earliest books (with my name inside, and "from Grandma" or "from Aunt Esther" on the endpaper), to one that proved significant in the adolescent years: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. 

(I wonder if my mom ever really knew the giggles that accompanied the exercise destined to "increase our busts." This is both ridiculous and hilarious to me now.)  Most importantly, there are Bibles.  The greatest lessons came from these.

Thank you, Mom.

 You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be -

I had a mother who read to me.

~Strickland Gillilan

 

My mother read to me.  She collected books for me.  She collected books for herself.  Her family room still contains a library...books that are hers, and law enforcement books that were my dad's.  What we remember from childhood we remember forever - permanent ghosts, stamped, inked, imprinted, eternally seen. ~Cynthia Ozick   I could never have known how my mother's love of reading, and her gift of the same, would impact what I ultimately chose to do with my life.  There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. ~Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory  I'm still trying to figure it out (what I'm doing with my life) but those who know me immediately sense the keen passion for literacy.  I teach children to read and write ~ creatively, reflectively.  I encourage children to discover the world around them, whether they travel by plane or by print.  The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived. ~Howard Pyle  I hope, I hope, I hope my daughters will love books forever too.

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves,"

New York Times, 7 August 1991

For you, McKenzie, from my well-read childhood

An ordinary man can... surround himself with two thousand books... and thenceforward have at least one place in the world in which it is possible to be happy. ~Augustine Birrell

*     *     *

I received a letter the other day from the University of Missouri.  As I unfolded it, a parking hangtag fell the the floor:  a good sign!  I have decided to pursue a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.  The letter confirmed that my application dossier has been recommended for the next stage...interviews and writing assessments.  Thanks, mom, for laying the foundation a very, very long time ago.  I love you. 

The scholar only knows how dear these silent, yet eloquent, companions of pure thoughts and innocent hours become in the season of adversity. When all that is worldly turns to dross around us, these only retain their steady value. ~Washington Irving

The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare. ~Kenko Yoshida