Week 12 (2023)
hedgerows & the modern kitchen, difficult literature & receiving blessings, home & palliative care, part-time work & what the economy is for
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reading: books
The Terrible Speed Of Mercy, Jonathan Rogers — audio — Absolutely worthwhile.
The Summer Of The Great-Grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle — audio — Apparently I’m quite into learning about the lives of writers just as much (or even more than) their actual fiction. This is the second of her four Crosswicks Journals, and they are delightful.
reading: essays, articles, newsletters
The Edges Matter: Hedgerows Are Bringing Life Back To Farms — Ann Marshall-Chalmers, Civil Eats — “Long’s research has found that once the habitat is established, the pollination and pest control that’s provided result in a return on investment that lasts between seven to 16 years.”
(related: The Unsettling Of America and Pastoral Song)
Longing For Home — Leslie Gelzer-Govatos, Dappled Things — Maybe you, too, will find a kindred spirit in this essay. Who knew moving to the least-transient and most-generationally-established city my husband or I have lived in would bring up complicated feelings.
The Art Of Receiving Blessings — Justin Lonas, Fathom — “I never expect the eucatastrophe—the term J.R.R. Tolkien coined in his essay, On Fairy Stories, to describe how something that seems bad or comes out of left field may in fact resolve our deepest fears and longings.”
The 'Mortuary Chic' Of Today's Aspirational Kitchen — Clare Coffey, The Bulwark — “Perhaps we should take a moment to pause. What are kitchens for? What kinds of work and leisure take place in them? What makes a good kitchen? What makes a good kitchen for the real and particular life I lead, in a particular physical context?”
(related: No Cooking Please, We're Kitchens)
The Virtues Of Difficult Fiction — Joanna Scott, The Nation — “The familiar criticism that difficult literature is elitist assumes that the reading public is not capable of learning more than it already knows.”
(related: Who Needs Reading? shared previously)
The Gift Of Palliative Care — Leah Libresco Sargeant, Plough — “Here are your meds, here is who God is, here is who you are. Here I am with you, with him.”
Women And The Family Track — Scott Yenor, City Journal — “One of our goals should be to expand such opportunities and make the choice for part-time work fruitful, honorable, and available for more women.”
(related: Why Does Higher Ed Throw Women Under The Bus? shared previously)
The World That Money Makes Go Round — Rhys Laverty, Mere Orthodoxy — “Mothers who choose to be what we today call “stay-at-home” mums should therefore not be portrayed as if they are letting the side down by being “economically inactive”…Now, money does make the world go round. And that’s fine. We can’t get away from that. But there must be a world for it to make go round.”
The Cure Found In Beholding — Strahan Coleman, Ekstasis — “It’s our placing the Great Commandment over the Great Commission. It’s a return to loving affection where we may have preferred a working relationship.”
watching/listening
Teaching Kids About Real Food — Simple Farmhouse Life + Homegrown Education
Continuing On:
Managing Your Fertility with Bridget Busacker — Episodes 46-47 — Q&A (with Dr. Sarah Bartel), and Sexual Sins (with David Busacker).
Verity with Phylicia Masonheimer — Episodes 53-54 — The Biblical Case for Fasting, and Two Views on Tithing (we have come to the same conclusion as Phylicia and her husband, it seems!)
using: product, tip, resource
Where To Donate Eyeglasses — A reminder that if you have multiple pairs of old eyeglasses from over the years (as I do), you can donate them! This is on my list of things to do.
remembering
One Year Ago:
Two Years Ago:
This Week:
Week 12 (2023)
I adore L’Engle’s Crosswicks Journals <3
I, too, feel the complicated feelings of moving to a more generationally established place. Oddly, the big city nearby is very transient with the university and young professionals (like us!), but our town has a lot of families who have been here for generations. Adds a layer of complexity to finding community.