Lenten Meditation - A Book by the Man with Two First Names

A Cry of Absence: Reflections for the Winter of the Heart by Martin Marty. HarperCollins, 1993 (1983).

A book for those of us who seldom (if ever) experience a “summery” spirituality. Marty turns to the Psalms which are overwhelmingly wintery and seldom mention the life to come, something I’d never noticed before.

“The psalmist was pleading not for a second life but for meaning in this one. If God is God, these texts suggest, then there should be value already to our days as they pass, but there seems to be all too little. Charm festers and drains away, who lives to enjoy riches? And wind twice puffs as winter advances” (48).

Marty discusses historical views of the afterlife: “Sheol is thus no match for Greek or later rabbinic immortality or Christian resurrection. The Hebrew Scriptures have no language of bliss after life. They give no voice to a hope for a creation that is reflected back into the old world ...” (64). Sheol follows life, he writes, but rather than afterlife, it was seen as an afterdeath—not a comfort or a heaven.

The Psalmists then concentrated on the trustworthiness of God, not the gift of an afterlife, and thus don’t ask for more living after death, rather, “They pleaded with God as the giver of life to endow the meaning of their seasons with value” (64). “Modernists reflect on the past as if all people in it faced death with equanimity because they believed in recompense in a life to come. That belief appeared in the interval between the era of the psalms and our own” (64).

Marty goes on to comment that our current era has again lost consciousness of a life to come. He writes of: “The wintery night, the pain without relief” (66) and asks “can we find a God worthy of trust on this horizon?” A summery faith and self-help philosophies fall silent in the face of such pain, or refuse to hear it at all.

So, he asks, is there a wintery spirituality? What’s wrong with evasion, illusion, escape? There’s no satisfying answer except the “intrinsic value in the act of facing up honestly to the limits of the human condition.” If a reader is to get a “yes” from the psalms, she has to feel the “arctic winds of the landscape of death.” Ah, what an icy breeze that is.

I found the book at times beautiful and inspiring, at times tedious. Making it doubly appropriate for this season, I suppose. Though I wish someone would write a more accessible, less flowery version for us mere mortals.

Books About Halibut, or not

Halistones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. Doubleday, 1961 (republished w/ new illustrations in 1989) affiliate link.

I absolutely love this book. Here is another homeschool resource, one I used time and again when I “assisted” with a homeschool coop class on writing. It made the notion of metaphor come alive, along with personification, vivid detail—really everything I wanted to teach in that class could have come from this book.

I, of course, was not the lead teacher, so the children got lessons on what they “ought” and “ought not” write about (children being naughty, unless they are punished, was one “ought not”) which left me steaming, but alas at least I got to read, again, these beautiful poems!

What’s not to love? The first poem, “What is purple?” starts,

Time is purple
just before night
when most people
turn on the light, 

and describing purple as a “great grandmother to pink” is just lovely. Gorgeous, educational book.

Our Egypt Diorama (speaking of education!)

Not About Music

The Man with the Beautiful Voice by Lillian B. Rubin. Beacon Press, 2003.

I read another of Dr. Rubin’s books, The Transcendent Child, during the MFA, so when I spotted this one at the library, I knew I had to pick it up.

Dr. Rubin, an influential sociologist and psychotherapist, has collected stories of her experiences as a therapist and recorded them here. Both an instruction manual and a fascinating set of case studies, this book provides endless insight into the therapeutic process and human nature. Her storytelling is superb, her love for her work and her patients obvious, her insights applicable to the reader no matter why she’s coming to the book. To learn what a therapist does? To grow as a person? To study good writing? It’s all there.

“No one is ever fully baked,” Rubin writes, recounting words spoken to a patient, “because life is a process that continually confronts us with new challenges that require new adaptations.” Amen. Aren't we all works in progress?

Free Dog to a Bad Home

Ok, I'm kidding. Mostly. But I'm so fed up with Oscar Wild. I just put him in the kennel outside and he's staying there for a nice, long doggie time-out.

Why?

Yesterday Mud Pie spent all evening lovingly hand-making her valentines. So pretty, and each little heart had a sweet Hershey's chocolate inside. Note the use of past tense.

I came home from running an errand with Penny to this ...

Bad, bad dog.

Update: Sad Mud Pie

Soaker Sewing Take Two!

How to Sew a Wool Soaker!

Step 1: Collect 100% wool sweaters. Medium to heavy weight, any style or color. Thrift shops are fabulous for this. As is your closet - finally a way to use all those "thoughtful" wearable gifts from your mother-in-law!

Step 2: Felt the wool. It sounds fancy but is as easy as tossing the sweaters in the washer with some soap. Run through on hot, dry in the dryer. For thinner sweaters, try the process twice. Enjoy seeing shrinkage at work. (Not that sort of shrinkage!)

Step 3: Either cut off the sleeves or make sleeve-like thingies. (Pardon my use of technical terminology. I'll include a glossary if needed.)

Click Photo to Enlarge

Measure baby's inseam (ankle to middle of diaper at crotch). Mark your "sleeve" this same amount up from the wrist, adding a bit for seams/bulk/growth. If using sleeves, snip at the seam down to the mark. If using sleeve-like thingies, sew up to the mark (right sides together - zigzag stitch or serge). Either way, what you end with should look like the picture above.

Step 4: Turn one sleeve right-side out and tuck it inside the inside-out sleeve. Yes, that makes so much sense, doesn't it? It will look like one inside-out sleeve with a lining. Or like the picture below.

Match up the open ends of the sleeve (where you snipped/didn't sew) and sew or serge it. A zigzag stitch works best if you're not serging. You'll want to reinforce/overstitch the spot where my hand is in the photo. Turn the whole thing right-side out and check your work! Cool!

Option: if you want there to be an obvious "front" and "back" to the pants, stitch one side straight up from the leg seam. Does that make sense? Trim off excess fabric and that flat side will be the front while the puffy side will be the back. Confused yet? Trust me, it makes sense.

Step 5: Cut your soaker pad! It will look a bit like an hourglass and should be roughly the width at the crotch of your diaper (3-4 inches, usually) and likewise, as tall as your dipe in front and back. Picture? Sure!

Step 6: (Optional) Decorate your soaker pad!

Use felted wool (old skirts or pants are perfect) and quilt or straight-stitch on a wide setting the decorations to the bum side of your soaker pad. A picture will help, I'm sure. (Note: You can also do this at the very end, if you hand-quilt the applique.)

Step 7: Attach the soaker pad to the Outside of the pants. I use a zigzag stitch again, close to the edge. You could hand-quilt if you wanted that look (though you'd have less durability). Use lots of pins. Seriously. The pad tends to shift if you don't and who wants a baby with a lopsided bottom?

Perhaps eat some lunch and check on baby.

Step 8: Measure your little goofball around the waist. Cut your elastic to this length, plus a thumb's width. Use virtually any type or size of elastic. Smaller babies I'd suggest a 1/4 inch, larger up to 1/2 or 3/4 inch.

Step 9: Cut the top of the pants fairly straight. You can make the back slightly taller than the front as most dipes have a higher rise in back. To be super certain your cover will cover the diaper, I'd measure the rise of a diaper in front and back. Mark those measurements up from the crotch and mark again about 2-3 inches up. Trim as needed, then turn over the top and pin in place. Stitch all the way around except for about an inch. Insert your elastic (handy to use a safety pin). Sew elastic ends together, pull into casing, stitch that final inch closed. Like this:

Step 10: Lanolize the cover! Easy peasy. Take a Tablespoon or so of Eucelan woolwash and a teaspoon or so of lanolin (you may have some leftover from those early sore-nipple-breasteeding days). Microwave or heat to melt the lanolin, add to a little tub of very warm water, and let the soaker soak. For quite a while. Several hours at the least.

Step 11: Dry and Dress! To help wool dry faster, roll the item in a towel and stomp on it (or if you're in a good mood, just squish it with all your weight), then hang to dry. Once dry, your soaker can now be used over any cloth diaper. No leaks, soft and comfy for baby, fun and beautiful for you. You'll have the cutest Puffy Butt on the block.

If you're feeling extra crazy, use the rest of the sweater to make a dress to match the diaper cover ...

But that might be going a wee bit overboard.