A Goal Worth Having

"I want to take such good care of my husband that whatever he is doing, he can do it better, because he has me."

Jacqueline Kennedy, as quoted in A Thousand Days of Magic by Oleg Cassini

This quote encapsulates for me what being a "help meet" is all about. This is what I, Lord willing, aspire to be.

*cross-posted from my Sister-Blog, because this quote was too good to miss.

Author Meme

I really can't resist filling them out...tagged or not. :) This one I found most recently at A Banner Of Crimson.
So here goes:


Who is your all-time favorite author and why?

This is hard. Because if I pick my favorite author of today, I would have to say J.R.R. Tolkien. Beauty mixed with longing. Yet I've known his writings for a mere five or six years. If I dig deeper into my past, then I would say Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her storytelling amazes me each time I revisit Little House.

Who was your first favorite author and why? Do you still consider him/her to be among your favorites?

I think it must have been Marguerite Henry or C.W. Anderson, both authors of horse stories. As a child, I read any horse story I could find. M. Henry's books paired exciting stories based in history with excellent illustrations. I still count Marguerite Henry as tops on my favorite children's author list. C.W. Anderson I love for his pencil drawings, but not for his writing, which falls flat for me now.

Who is the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

James Herriot. I never thought I'd be reading books about icky doctor stuff. But I love his stories! They make me laugh every time. His books have rekindled my old love for animals which I'd almost forgotten.

If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth?

J.R. R. Tolkien. C.S. Lewis. G.K. Chesterton. P.G. Wodehouse. Douglas Wilson. Jane Austen. R.C. Sproul Jr. Elizabeth Yates. And my mouth is still open.... ;)

Anyone else want to take a stab at it? Leave a comment or a link to your post if you do!

No time to read?

Once upon a time in the dead of winter in Dakota territory, with the temperature well below zero, young Theodore Roosevelt took off in a makeshift boat, accompanied by two of his ranch hands, down-stream on the Little Missouri River in chase of a couple of thieves who had stolen his prized row boat. After days on the river, he caught up and got the draw on them with his trusty Winchester, at which point they surrendered. Then, after finding a man with a team and a wagon, Roosevelt set off again to haul the thieves cross-country to justice. He left the ranch hands behind to tend to the boat, and walked alone behind the wagon, his rifle at the ready. They were headed across the snow covered wastes of the Bad Lands to the rail head at Dickinson, and Roosevelt walked the whole way, 40 miles. It was an astonishing feat, what might be called a defining moment in that eventful life. But what makes it especially memorable is that during that time, he managed to read all of Anna Karenina.

I often think of that when I hear people say they haven't time to read.

--David McCullough in a commencement address at the University of Connecticut

Clip Art for Bibliophiles

If you've ever searched for clipart, you know that finding just the right image among the available millions can be quite time consuming. So I'd like to share a great source for antique book images which are copyright-free: Pictures from Old Books
I've already used one of the images on my other blog, and plan on keeping this site in mind for future use.
Also of interest is Antique Clipart. (Though I wasn't able to find any book images)

Announcing a new blog

It's called Sewing Sisters. Not that my sister and I will write exclusively about sewing. It just seemed the right title at the time. :) I expect it won't be of "general interest" (as Father says in Cheaper by the Dozen), but if you like to work with your hands, appreciate beauty in the everyday things of life....or just want to see what two sisters could possibly come up with to write about, check us out! It's been fun so far.

And just so you know: I have absolutely no intention of letting this blog fall by the wayside. Anymore than it has already, anyway! Comforting, aren't I? But really, I do intend to write some more serious reviews. In a cheerful fashion. Soon.

Getting Serious About Getting Married: Audio Book

I just learned that Canon Press has produced an audio book version of Debbie Maken's Getting Serious About Getting Married. I read this just a little over a year ago, and highly recommend it. It helped to cement my thinking on several topics (including what the "gift of singleness" is), and provided much conversation fodder for my friends and I! Definitely a bit of a shocking book, and one, now that there's an audio version, there's no excuse not to check it out. :) You can even listen to the first chapter for free.

Go to my book review here.

Note: It looks like you might have to wait for your copy of the audio book if you order...it's listed as a pre-order item.

Love Among the Chickens by P. G. Wodehouse

This is my first experience of Wodehouse via an audio book. (Courtesy Librivox) It's the story of Jeremy Garnett, aspiring author, and his adventures running a chicken farm with his enterprising but unscrupulous friend Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge.
The bottom line: this was Wodehouse's first attempt at a novel for adults. So if you're new to him, start with one of his better works, such as any of the Jeeves stories. Because Love Among the Chickens has none of the zip, verve or punch I've come to expect from him.
Interestingly, P.G. Wodehouse later rewrote and republished this 1906 novel nearly 20 years later. I'm not sure which text was used on the Librivox recording, as at first glance I saw no dates on the Project Gutenberg entry .