We Picked Pears Today

Off the ground. Our pear tree drops its fruit before it ripens--and has done so for the last six or seven years. We don't digest unripe, rock-hard pears very well, so we can't really do anything with them. We'd leave them there, but our lawnmower doesn't digest them very well either (though of course the bees love them). So there we were, in the cool of the day (85 degrees) and the soft evening air (80-something percent humidity), picking up fruit that had left its proper place and settled on a different element. What was it Pope said?

And who but wishes to invert the laws
Of order, sings against th' Eternal Cause.

That goes for pears too. But of course, they won't listen. Oh, no.


For those interested, it has been decided that the pear tree will be cut down this winter.

"Palace of Fine Arts"

Matte painting with motion (video). I believe this is called a 2.5D(imension) matte: there are several layers (sky, background building, foreground building) placed at varying distances from a virtual camera, which gives a sense of parallax when the camera moves.

Also check out the original image here.

Happiness is Making Your Own Dinner

At the last minute, after you've found out there is no baking powder for muffins. Yes, I've made my own dinners before--large end-of-the-day snacks, rather. But tonight I had salad, bread with dip, and pasta (admittedly leftover). I am happy, and so is my stomach. It was lucky we had the things on hand. (Oh--except--there's no such thing as luck.) Never underestimate the power of leftovers.

Avid Reader

Charlotte Mason proves to be riveting reading for all ages. ;)

Of Men and Makeup

or, An Idea for a Poem Stolen from C.S. Lewis

Makeup is a made-up face,
A base attempt of man to trace
God's loveliest immortal lace
Which it, succeeding, does efface.

Lady, if my conscience reigned,
Although your so-called beauty waned
I'd ask from such things you refrained:
Your face is better left unstained.


Alas, even my poetry frames an argument. This is rhetoric gone too far: the work of the poet hampered by the mind of the logician. But ah well, it is what it is. Consider the argument framed.


I also like this verse, with a different rhyme scheme:

Makeup is a made-up face,
a mask of vanity composed;
hiding God's immortal lace
behind a curtain mortal closed.

And here is C.S. Lewis's original poem:

Lady, a better sculptor far
Chiselled those curves you smudge and mar,
And God did more than lipstick can
To justify your mouth to man.

Edit: (Disclamer) The opinions expressed above do not mean that I think those who use makeup will be found guilty at the Judgement, nor indeed that I think all makeup an evil...

Goodbye, Scottie

Last summer and the summer before, I went to Atlanta to meet some e-friends and go to a Jackson Browne concert together. We all stayed at Annie and Scott's and had a wonderful time. They found out that Scottie had cancer about two months ago. Annie started a website for him a week ago to keep everyone updated. This morning, he died. He will be missed.

Picture Break

It's time to lighten up, and what better way than with a couple of baby pictures? :)


Eating applesauce



Fallen asleep on the couch after a bad night

Charlotte Mason's Letter to the Editor

I read the letter that Charlotte Mason wrote about Montessori on Aimee Natal's site (the original is here or you can read my modern English paraphrase here), and I have a couple thoughts of my own. In one sense, I agree with Aimee, that CM reduced Montessori to a 'peculiar novelty.' Charlotte did go on and on about Montessori's method of blindfolding children to force their other senses to compensate so as to engage their attention more. I suspect that CM is grossly misrepresenting Montessori's method; I'm pretty certain that Montessori's method entailed a LOT more than blindfolding children so that they had to rely on a sense of touch. I found the book 'Maria Montessori - Her Life and Work' by E.M. Standing at a used bookstore for 99 cents yesterday, so I plan to make it one of the next books I read, and then I'll know more whether CM missed a lot of what Montessori was doing or not.

I've always thought that, in some of CM's criticisms of education sprinkled throughout her books, she had Montessori specifically in mind, and her letter to the editor makes me more sure of that than ever. But I think Montessori may have improved since CM's day, so the Montessori she was reacting against so strongly then might not be the Montessori of today. But I think CM made a good point in observing that "the note of popular education today is contempt for knowledge and for the books in which the knowledge of mankind is lodged. 'Education by things' is boldly advocated, regardless of the principle that things lead only to more and more various things and are without effect on the thoughts and therefore on the character and conduct of a man." It's books that enlarge and broaden the mind, not information gained from tactile, sensory experience.

Science and Religion

The difference between science and religion is as follows: science produces a logically proveable theory based on observable facts (think Historical Accuracy of the Bible), while religion is a set of beliefs and assumptions that often are not founded on observable fact (think Naturalistic Evolutionary Biology).

My Next Reading

I'm going to read Aimee Natal's summary of David Hicks Norms and Nobility and decide if I want to tackle the book myself. I hear it's not easy reading. Then I have a book about Maria Montessori, I'm curious to see how her ideas line up with Charlotte Mason's.

Wait, here's a letter CM wrote about the Montessori method.