Favorite Five - Magazines

My love of reading isn't just limited to books. I've been a life-long reader of magazines as well. Growing up in a family of magazine lovers and relatives that liked to give subscriptions as gifts exposed me to a wide variety of titles over the years.

Some were only read in certain "seasons" of my life: Highlights when I was a kid (and again with my kids), Seventeen as a teenager, and titles like Ladies' Home Journal as a young wife and mother. Some subscriptions have spanned decades, such as Newsweek and Mad (which I finally stopped a few years back since it just wasn't funny anymore). A few were short splurges such as Architectural Digest and The Herb Companion.

The following are my current favorites:

1. Readers Digest - My paternal grandmother lived with us when I was a kid and this was one of her favorites. I would spend hours poring through her copies. The humor sections are still my favorites.

2. National Geographic - I remember my aunts keeping their copies and sending them off to be bound together by the year. I think one had them all the way back to the very first magazine!

3. Discover - I first "discovered" Discover when I was in college. It's a great scientific magazine that isn't too technical for laymen. My favorite monthly feature is "Vital Signs" which is written by real doctors sharing unusual cases they've encountered.

4. Guideposts - I've read this since I was a teenager and remember it as a favorite of my grandmother's, too. The stories never fail to inspire and uplift me.

5. Simple & Delicious - Originally called Quick Cooking, I've prepared many a recipe from this magazine. I also get their e-mail newsletters along with those from Taste of Home, their "sister" publication.

Revelation

I really enjoy reading books, but I'm not very good at reviewing them which is why I don't post many entries attempting to do that. However, I couldn't let this book go without mention.

Last fall I found a new author/series I enjoyed and wrote about it here. The fourth Matthew Shardlake book finally became available in the US a few weeks ago and I immediately put it at the top of my TBR pile.

Have you ever read a book that you just didn't want to end? That's how I felt about Revelation by C.J. Sansom. This one had to be the best of the series so far. Each book has been a different type of mystery. The first was a "closed setting", within the confines of a monastary during the dissolution. The second was, in the words of the author, a "quest" and the third a "political thriller" coinciding with Henry VIII's 1541 progress from London to York.

Revelation finds us back in London in 1543 where a close friend of Matthew's has been murdered in a horrific way. After promising his friend's widow that he will find the killer, Matthew discovers things go much deeper than he could ever have imagined. Soon the killings are multiplying and he is once again embroiled in secret affairs of state. The serial killer uses the Book of Revelation from the Bible to plan his murders, drawing from the seven "vials of wrath" listed in Chapters 15 & 16. It's gruesome!

I'm currently doing a study of the Book of Revelation at a local church. Never claiming to have all the answers (nothing should!), it has offered a lot of material for intelligent debate and discussion. Reading Sansom's book while doing this study has added an extra element regarding the views of end time events during Tudor England. Sansom states in his "historical notes" at the end of the book that he shares the view of one of his characters, that "early church fathers released something very dangerous on the world when, after much deliberation, they decided to include it in the Christian canon". I disagree.

Listening and learning

Stressful moments are not the only times I work jigsaws. I also like to work puzzles when I'm on the phone, especially while studying with my daughter. Let me explain...

When our children were little, I would "give out" their spelling words each week to help them study. By the time they reached upper elementary school, our son and older daughter no longer wanted any help. Not so with our younger daughter. Throughout elementary school, junior high and high school she brought me notes and study guides to give out. I would kid her and ask if she was going to fax or e-mail me her notes from college so I could give out over the phone. Turns out the joke was on me. Sort of.

I don't give out notes anymore, but I listen to them. My daughter takes meticulous notes in her classes. Before a test, she calls me and goes over them... teaches me what she's learned. It benefits us both. She gets to review her notes in the way that best helps her and I get to work on my puzzles while "auditing" her classes!

My daughter is scheduled to graduate from college in May with degrees in History and Psychology. Thanks to her "study habits" I feel like I've gotten to go back to school - only without the tests, papers, deadlines and stress. Learning just for the pleasure of learning. What a treat!

FreeVerse - Claudia Emerson

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!
(click on image above)

Claudia Emerson is one of the poets Ted Kooser recommended in the workshop I attended. Her Pulitzer Prize winning Late Wife collection is wonderful. The majority of the book is divided into three sections, "Divorce Epistles", "Breaking up the House", and "Late Wife: Letters to Kent". I've featured one from each section.

Metaphor

We didn't know what woke us - just
cold moving, lighter than our breathing.

The world bound by an icy ligature,
our house was to the bat a warmer

hollowness that now it could not
leave. I screamed for you to do something.

So you killed it with the broom,
cursing, sweeping the air. I wanted

you to do it - until you did.


Breaking Up the House

Every time I go back home, my mother
tells me I should begin to think now about
what I will and will not want - before
something happens and I have to. Each time

I refuse, as though somehow this is an argument
we're having. After all, she and my father are still
keeping the house they've kept for half a century.
But I do know why she insists. She has

already done a harder thing than I will
have to do. She was only eighteen -
her mother and father both dead - when it fell
to her to break up the house, reduce

familiar rooms to a last order, a world
boxed and sealed. And while I know she would,
she cannot keep me from the house emptied
but for the pale ovals and rectangles

still nailed fast - cleaved to the walls where mirrors,
Portraits had hung - persistent, sourceless shadows.


Driving Glove

I was unloading groceries from the trunk
of what had been her car, when the glove floated
up from underneath the shifting junk -
a crippled umbrella, the jack, ragged
maps. I knew it was not one of yours,
this more delicate, soft, made from the hide
of a kid or lamb. It still remembered
her hand, the creases where her fingers

had bent to hold the wheel, the turn
of her palm, Smaller than mine. There was
nothing else to do but return it -
let it drift, sink, slow as a leaf through water
to rest on the bottom where I have not
forgotten it remains - persistent in its loss.

Puzzle therapy

There's nothing quite as frustrating as knowing your loved one is hurting and knowing there is nothing you can do about it. Two loved ones, actually. One very old, one not so old.

I've always found jigsaw puzzles to be fun and relaxing, but when my life gets ultra-stressful I can literally lose myself for hours in the mindlessness. My 360 blog from several years ago was filled with photos of completed puzzles. This blog, not so many. That says something about my life right now. I'm thankful.

I'm saying extra prayers for my loved ones. Meanwhile, I have a puzzle in progress. I wish it could ease their suffering.

Favorite Five - Books

This post (along with favorite songs) has been weighing heavily in the back of my mind ever since I began my Favorite Five series. I touched on the topic with children's books and book series, but knew eventually I would have to tackle my overall favorites. However, the question was how do I pick just five out of the hundreds I've read over the years? I've often heard folks mention favorite books and how many times they've read them. I don't do that. There are too many books out there I haven't read to spend time repeating any! (except poetry, of course)

Take a look at my choices then tell me some of yours.


The Once and Future King (T.H. White) - There was no doubt this book would be on my list. I read it in college and it remains my favorite version of Arthurian legend. It's one of the few books I've been tempted to read again, but I'm afraid it might not live up to what I remember.

Katherine (Anya Seyton) - As a teenager I read all of the Anya Seton books my local library had to offer. If I remember correctly, this was the first and it set into motion my life-long love of historical fiction.

The Silver Pigs (Lindsey Davis) - Murder mysteries are fun. Even better are murder mysteries set in the past. This is the first in a series that takes place in ancient Rome during the reign of Vespasian. It led me to a variety of "historical mysteries".

To Live is Christ (Beth Moore) - I fudged a little here...this is the workbook which accompanies the Bible study rather than the book. It had a profound influence on me and played a part in taking me to the next level in my spiritual life and my relationship with God.

The Holy Bible - This is the only book that I consistently read (present tense) over and over. I believe it's the living Word of God and every time I open its pages my soul is renewed and refreshed. I have a wide variety of versions in my home, but my favorite is the Life Application Study Bible (New International Version).

A touch of Spring

I got this in an e-mail recently:

I think we all need a little spring today!

Click on the snowman. You will get a black page. Click your mouse anywhere (and everywhere) on the page and see what happens. Better yet, click (hold down) and drag your mouse over the black page. Enjoy!!

Jane Kenyon

Hosted by Cara at Ooh...Books!

(Click on image above)

I read my first Jane Kenyon poem, Let Evening Come, during National Poetry Month last year. Since then, I've shared two other Kenyon poems here, Full Moon in Winter and my favorite, The Pear. (As a bonus, the link to The Pear includes a Ted Kooser poem.) It was tough narrowing down which Jane Kenyon to post today. Maybe I can share more in future FreeVerse entries.

Ice Out

As late as yesterday ice preoccupied
the pond -- dark, half-melted, waterlogged.
Then it sank in the night, one piece,
taking winter with it. And afterward
everything seems simple and good.

All afternoon I lifted oak leaves
from the flowerbeds, and greeted
like friends the green-white crowns
of perennials. They have the tender,
unnerving beauty of a baby's head.

How I hated to come in! I've left
the windows open to hear the peepers'
wildly disproportionate cries.
Dinner is over, no one stirs. The dog
sighs, sneezes, and closes his eyes.

Fruit and Cheese

My Circle group hosted the UMW General Meeting at our church yesterday. I bravely (foolishly?) tried out two new recipes for the brunch we provided. The fruit dish was okay, but the cheese spread was wonderful!

Hot Fruit Compote
tasteofhome.com
Joyce Moynihan (Lakeville, MN)

2 cans (15-1/4 oz. each) sliced pears, drained

1 can (29 oz.) sliced peaches, drained

1 can (20 oz.) unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained

1 package (20 oz.) pitted dried plums

1 jar (16 oz.) unsweetened applesauce

1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Pour into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread pie filling over fruit mixture; sprinkle with brown sugar.

Cover and bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly. Serve warm.

French Quarter Cheese Spread

Simple & Delicious

Heidi Blaine Hadburg (Safety Harbor, FL)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp. grated onion

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. prepared mustard

1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

Assorted crackers

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, onion and garlic. Transfer to a serving plate; shape into a 6-in. disk. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Cook and stir over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in pecans. Cool slightly. Spoon over cheese mixture. Serve with crackers. Can be prepared ahead of time for convenience, then brought to room temperature for serving.

Favorite Five - Actresses

Last month I posted "Favorite Five - Actors". Now it's time for the women, a more difficult task. I mostly drew from movies and would probably have had lots more runners up if I'd thought harder about TV shows.

1. Sandra Bullock - I liked her in Miss Congeniality , but she's also proven herself in dramatic roles.

2. Jodie Foster - Looking over her filmography, I was amazed at how many television shows she appeared in as a child.

3. Dawn Wells - "Mary Ann" and "the Professor" were my favorite characters on Gilligan's Island. You should see her in The Town that Dreaded Sundown! (said with tongue in cheek)

4. Kathy Bates - The first thing I remember seeing her in was Misery, but perhaps her funniest role was "Mama Boucher" in The Waterboy.

5. Julia Roberts - For some reason this actress use to irritate me, but the more things I've seen her in, the more I like her.

Runners up: Grace Kelly, Kathleen Turner, Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sally Field, Eve Plumb (my favorite "Brady")