The Holiday Shelf: The Vernal Equinox

In This Night
by Irmgard Lucht

Night meets day in the early morning.  Chill and shadows still hold the land.  But already the sky belongs to the light and its game of ever-changing colors.  The clouds start to shine as though the light pours from inside them -- dawn is very near.

The Reference Shelf: The Family Hand-Me-Down Book

The Family Hand-Me-Down Book:
Creating and Preserving Family Traditions
by Debbie Trafton O'Neal
illustrated by Dana Regan


Celebrate-a-Blessing Book

Why is it easier to gripe and complain than it is to appreciate the blessings from God we encounter each day?  Start a family book to celebrate your blessings, and you will have a treasure to read whenever you feel blue.

Tuesday Tales

A weekly peek at what we're reading. 
Post your peek in the comments and share your favorite books!


Anne is reading
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

I missed Ernest's company all day, but he didn't seem to miss mine, not while there was work to do.  When he craved contact, he stopped in to visit the Cezannes and Monets at the Musee du Luxembourg, believing they had already done what he was striving for -- distilling places and people and objects to their essential qualities.  Cezanne's river was thick and brown and realer for it.  That's what Ernest was after -- and sometimes the going was achingly slow.






Holly is still reading
The Mother Market by Nancy Brelis

Babs fed them frozen chicken pie for dinner.  "If I spend too much time cooking, I won't be able to devote myself to developing our relationship," she said.









Lily is reading
Bible Stories for Girls by the American Bible Society

Poor Hannah was very sad --
She couldn't have a child.
Hannah went to the temple to
Speak to God for a while.

Almost Spring

Outside, we see cherry blossoms, forsythia, magnolia, daffodils, clover, Bradford pear trees, and even dandelions blooming.

Inside, bits of spring are creeping into our nature tray, tinting our indoor snowscape with lavender, red, yellow, and green.

Tuesday Tales

A weekly peek at what we're reading. 
Post your peek in the comments and share your favorite books!


Anne is reading
Fidelity by Wendell Berry

She was cold, and the wind's insistence wearied her; the wind was like a living creature, rearing and pressing against her so that she might have cried out to it in exasperation, "What do you want?"








Holly is reading
The Mother Market by Nancy Brelis

"Thank you, children.  You were a great help.  Now let me tell you what I suggest.  You must go to the Mummy Market."

"The what?" said Jenny and Elizabeth.  Harry was sitting still with his mouth and his eyes wide open.

"The Mummy Market, my dears.  It is many years since I have been there, and it may not be still in operation.  Anyhow, it is worth a try."

"Mrs. Cavour, are you teasing us?" said Elizabeth.

"Have I ever teased you, my dear?  Your position is a serious one indeed."



Lily is reading
Secrets of the Vine for Kids by Bruce Wilkinson

Jesus said, "My Father is the vinedresser." (John 15:1)

The vinedresser's task is simple: to take care of the plants and help them produce as many grapes as possible.

Tuesday Tales

A weekly peek at what we're reading.
Post your peek in the comments and share your favorite books!


Anne is reading
The Sew-It Book by Rachel Taft Dixon, reissued by Amy Barickman

When you sit down to sew have a clear space on a table before you, where you can lay your material to cut and baste.  The old saying "A good workman is known by his tools" is very true, and it is quite as true that a good workman makes the conditions under which he works just as favorable as possible.  You can do this also.  Sit in a comfortable chair and give yourself plenty of room on the table to lay out your work.  Have a scrap basket near by for the snips and threads.






Holly is still reading
Ginnie's Baby-sitting Business by Catherine Woolley

December had come in, as December should, with a drop in the temperature and a sting in the gray air. Christmas lights were strung along Main Street, and Ginnie liked to walk Honey at dusk, so she could admire their red, blue, and green gaiety. Shop windows were rimmed with frost, tinsel trimmings winking within.








Lily is reading
The Present by Bob Gill

Every day Arthur checked to make sure the present was still there.

Just when it seemed to Arthur that his birthday would never come, it was suddenly the day before the big day.  He went to his dad's closet to look at the present one last time.

Tuesday Tales

A weekly peek at what we're reading.
Post your peek in the comments and share your favorite books!


Anne is still reading
Peace and Plenty by Sarah Ban Breathnach

I have a theory about feeling protected and prepared.  We assign money that job, and obviously it does it well.  When money isn't what we've got to exchange, however, we need the currency of ingenuity and planning.  Every day we need to be prepared in small ways as well as large, and every day we find new wants and needs that can be satisfied through our creativity and organization.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Holly is still reading
Ginnie's Baby-sitting Business by Catherine Woolley
 

That night Ginnie had trouble getting to sleep.  For the first time the magnitude of what she had blithely undertaken loomed large.  She recalled, suddenly, the trouble she had had with Tommy when Susan insisted on his being Mrs. Bobbin.  Suppose they all lay down on the attic floor and kicked and screamed?  They wouldn't listen long to a story.  And two babies in playpens in her room!  Would Geneva be willing to stay with those two?  That meant she would have six to handle herself.  Mother might come . . . but no, Mother said it was all up to her.

Lily is reading
Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg

A torn piece of paper . . . is just the beginning!