needle & thREAD

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It's nearly spring recital time, so "sewing" looks like this around here today. I admit; I kind of love this kind of "to do" list. 

I've been reading Shakespeare with the kids this week. We're loosely following this plan. I love this plan. I loved it when we wrote and love it even more today, because there it was, ready and waiting for me. And we are tightly following the syllabus of the class Christian is taking. Yesterday morning, when big bodies and littles one were all sitting in the great room listening intently to "Much Ado About Nothing," I couldn't help but breathe a giant "thank you" heavenward for the inspiration all those years ago to do something really crazy and educate these children in our home.  They thought nothing unusual about being gathered on a June morning--this crew from 4-21--to listen to Tales from Shakespeare. 

I have days--many, many days--when I question the sanity of the way we live. Yesterday was not one of them.

I've also begun to read Katrina Kenison's new book, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment. Many years ago, when both Katrina and I had two little boys, I read Mitten Strings for God and truly loved it. It was a book that filled me up, inspired me, and resonated deep in my heart. A couple (maybe 3?) years ago, I eagerly looked forward to The Gift of An Ordinary Day. I tried, but I really couldn't dig into it. It made me sad, the way it makes me sad when a friend from many years ago has drifted away. 

I'm only a few pages into this new one, but I admit I am eagerly looking forward to sitting in the waiting room at 8 AM this morning while Mary Beth has an hour of physical therapy. This book will make that time feel like an indulgence. Here is the obligatory caveat: If you are the kind of person who can hang out in the park and watch your kids play, while chatting with a neighbor who doesn't share your faith or even your particular philosophical bent, but still come away from the conversation having learned something and, especially, having acknowledged that women can share some of the deepest true feelings of a mother's heart without coming from the same worldview, you might like this book. If you wouldn't be inclined to have the conversation at all or if you'd spend the whole time arguing with her in your head, don't bother.

I'm eyeing that quilt fabric and thinking the moment is around the corner. As soon as the recital is over, I'm looking to start some home dec sewing. What about you? What are you sewing or reading?