A question I am fond of asking friends or strangers is, “So, what are you reading?” This is a great source for future reading, often taking me down trails I would otherwise not have ventured upon to discover hitherto unknown regions in literature. January is traditionally a good month to get some reading in, though… Read More So Far This Year
A reminder: Our postponed January Book Sale Update will be MONDAY, February 1st at 10:00 am EST. A new addition to our sale pages will be in place at that time– I’ve added pictures of every book! I hope you’ll check back on Monday to browse our offerings and hope you’ll find some new treasures… Read More February Book Sale
As I write, the temperatures in Virginia rival the bitter winters of the far north. My children and I just finished reading a book about a hero of those brutal, wintry regions. Canada values the feat of courage and fortitude displayed by one of her pioneers so much that a statue stands on the bank… Read More Winter Inspiration for the Entire Family
I just read the opening chapter of Far From the Madding Crowd, my book club’s next selection. The one word judgment pronounced by the farmer glimpsing the girl in the story for the first time is “vanity.” I’m sure the rest of this novel will bear out this truth, but Hardy is letting me know… Read More First Impressions
I often joke that I’m waiting for a “normal” school year to pass, one without interruption of moving, family death or illness, or other significant event that interferes with our daily routine. I always seem to have to be carrying on school lessons in the midst of something pressing or unusual or distracting. It is a peril of homeschooling.… Read More Staying on Track
In the long, long story in which we are characters, the turning of a new year is like the opening of a new chapter in the story of our lives. Only a reader knows the thrill of excitement opening the cover and turning to the first page of an unread book brings. The book itself may be new or… Read More New Books, New Friends, and a New Year
The year has flown. It seems just a month ago I was posting my 2014 reading list. All the major milestones of life, the three great celebrations as Thomas Lynch puts it, have occurred this past year: a wedding of a daughter, the birth of a grandchild, and death of a sister. Life has brought great moments, merrymaking, and… Read More My Year in Books
So many of our earliest childhood memories involve Christmas time. Every element of the holiday enchants them, the focus of attention on a child in a manger delights them. I remember enacting the Bethlehem story in Sunday school pageants, donning the cardboard angel wings and trying to sing like an angel. The atmosphere was almost… Read More When Children Sing Gloria
The celebration of Christmas with music is an ancient practice, and that this tradition continues is especially remarkable in our time when tolerance of anything old is disdained and eagerness for the new is an obsession. Yet, the traditional Advent song of O Come, O Come Emmanuel has been passed down to us for at least 1,200 years, is heard… Read More O Come, O Come
Last winter, I had the privilege of attending a concert directed by Alice Parker, 90-year-old composer and choral director and arranger, and it was a moving experience. She explained her desire to preserve songs from cultures around the world and her passion to keep singing alive in a culture that has slid into spectator mode, rather than active participation in… Read More The Gift of Song