Still pining...

After my 7 month blogging hiatus, I blame winter. For those of you familiar with the arctic tundra of the Northland--yes, winter lasts from September until April...if we're lucky. All blogging inspiration most certainly seeped into the many, many dark hours of the day and night. Now that the day is longer, and the air filled with the crisp of Spring rain, that part of the person that dreams and creates has awoken again.


Though it was 7 months ago I wrote of pining for England, I find myself still in the same predicament today. And for the past week especially. My goal is still Oxford in 2012. And again, any who are willing to support a young [financially...just beginning] girl, feel free to support the cause :-).



I read a quote recently, from a Father Bede Jarrett, that in order to speak well, one should choose an English author and be constantly reading his works. ...With that in mind, this week I picked up C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man. I'll limit my quoting to my two favorite passages: "As the king governs by his executive, so Reason in man must rule the mere appetites by means of the 'spirited element'. The head rules the belly through the chest--the seat, as Alanus tells us, of Magnanimity, of emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments. ...And all the time--such is the tragi-comedy of our situation--we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more 'drive', or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or 'creativity'. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful."

and, "An open mind, in questions that are not ultimate, is useful. But an open mind about the ultimate foundations either of Theoretical or of Practical Reason is idiocy. If a man's mind is open on these things, let his mouth at least be shut. He can say nothing to the purpose."

Which further reminds me of a quote by Jacques Maritain, "One must have a hard mind and a meek heart."

To be exaggerated in any one of these--the head, the heart or the belly--is destruction of the human person. To discipline any one of these more than the other is to cause atrophy in the other two. Our society is uncannily characterized by the exaggeration of heart and belly, of feelings and pleasure, of tolerance and relativism.

...On a completely different note. I have successfully finished some home-made goodies. I post these especially for my Great Aunt Barb--you'd be so happy Auntie Barb. I did forget how to knit, but am picking up the sewing machine ;). These are gifts I made for a friend of mine getting married soon. I asked her what she and fiance especially wanted, and her response led me to finding and making these. She said, "Oh you know, Bec, we don't really need a lot...I don't know, something special...I remember growing up and asking Mom 'Where are these from, Mom?' and Mom saying 'Oh, that was a wedding gift from so-and-so.' Something like that..." So, I thought hand-made was the route to go....I found the canister sleeves template at Handmade Mommy. Cute blog.

The pics are arranged all weird because I have problems.

Enjoy your Sunday!