spices as nature’s glitter.

3 Dec 2013

I cleaned out my spice cupboard and discovered… a whole mess of spilled spices and old herbs that I needed to throw away. Before doing so though, I offered the spices to my children to glue onto paper as decorations. They had just as much fun as glueing glitter would have been.

One Comment

Heather

4 Dec 2013 at 11:11 pm Reply

I love this idea! My youngest daughter usually claims all outdated spices for play cooking, but I’m going remember this to suggest next time.

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Christy's Houseful of Chaos

1 day ago

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Christy's Houseful of Chaos

1 day ago

My kids and I did this quiz together and it sparked some good conversation about what trolls are. Trolls are not just "people you disagree with" and misinformation doesn't make a troll. Trolls are accounts not based on individuals, but fake personas used to try to create the appearance of masses believing something. ... See MoreSee Less

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Christy's Houseful of Chaos

2 days ago

I am delighted that Josephine shared this with me. There are so many things to reflect about it.

First, it is a reminder to think about all the relatively unknown people who play a role in the stories we do talk about. I'm imagining poor Agnes waiting, worrying about her husband.

Second, it is an interesting style of poem with each line containing its own rebuttal. I'll have to try to write something like that sometime, and see if I can get my kids to try it too.

Third, the first line of the third verse is absolutely fascinating. "I sought my death, and found it in my womb." What does that mean? Until that line I assumed that the sorrow he expresses was the result of the failure of his plot and his subsequent torture. With that line I start to wonder if he's hinting his support for the plot was in some way a death wish or willingness to become a martyr. Is the reference to his womb a reference to his death being of his own creation? Something born of him?

Or is it a reference to him being a subservient person? I was just reading yesterday about how in medieval European tradition men were willing to compare themselves to female roles - mother, sister, bride - in the context of their relationship to God. St. Francis of Assisi wrote that friars are brides and mothers of Jesus. Basically being female meant being subservient, the second sex, and in relationship to God all men were secondary. Is the reference to the womb in this poem in some way connected to being secondary?

Then I think about the disappointment he felt. I imagine what life felt like for the Catholics in England at that time and I see in it the same expressions of frustration that I hear from American friends right now as they worry about the appointing of a new Supreme Court judge.... the mixture of feeling lost within one's country, wanting to fight for one's country, feeling hopeless and hopeful. I am glad that we have methods for changing governments that do not involve the types of means that the Catholics of England tried in the 16th and 17th centuries.

BTW, Josephine, who shared this poem with me, teaches with Thinkers Meet Up - you can check out her classes there: www.thinkersmeetup.com/josephineHi Christy, I saw this and thought of your Mary Queen of Scots class. ... See MoreSee Less

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Christy's Houseful of Chaos

3 days ago

"For he that is too quick to tear his clothes
May come to sit in his rags sewing them back together."

I came across those lines in a 14th century English poem. The two lines I've quoted feel sharp and snappy, but what do they really mean?

Tearing one's clothing features in the Bible both as a sign of grief and as a sign of repentance - accepting responsibility and asking forgiveness. Three lines latter the poem praises repentance, so it can't be advocating against that. The poem praises enduring poverty and pains patiently. It is the act of tearing one's clothing, of making a fuss over one's grief, that the text criticizes, I think. I think, from the context, it is criticizing grief that demands something or someone be broken or punished.

The poem uses the story of Jonah to praise Patience as one of the eight virtues. Like other medieval interpretations of the Bible, the poem focuses on Bible stories as a way of teaching individuals how to live. God’s forgiveness of Nineveh becomes the model for kings and others to forgive those repentant.

"For he that is too quick to tear his clothes
May come to sit in his rags sewing them back together."

The lines could be interpreted in the light of kings ruling their nations. I think about how in ancient Mesopotamia the kings would periodically declare the release of all debts because the alternative was that too many people would be enslaved or flee the land to avoid enslavement. Upholding the debts would be like tearing one’s own clothes – the king ultimately damaging his own kingdom.
Or, in medieval times, we can think of how kings had to make peace even with nobles that had revolted against them, because failing to do so would rend the kingdom apart. Only by forgiving traitorous nobles could they bring their kingdoms back under their control.
Those lines could also be interpreted in the light of parenting. A parent too quick to express their frustration at their child will end up having to do more work to reconnect with the child. ... See MoreSee Less

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Christy's Houseful of Chaos

3 days ago

It was reading about Mary, Queen of Scots, that it really sunk into me the incredible dangers that ruling queens faced. She had to struggle with her second husband, who believed that as the man he should be in charge. When she was pregnant she had to write a will, knowing very well that to give birth might kill her. Then, after her baby was born she realized she was unnecessary. She had birthed a son. Her husband could, if he chose, have her killed and reign as regent and many people would rejoice at that.

Many people portray Mary as a foolish, flirty woman and author of her own demise. In an Outschool class I'm teaching this Wednesday, I hope to show she might not have been. She fought against incredible challenges, reinventing herself over and over as necessary to deal with the changing circumstances. There's still room to sign up for the class if you're interested.

Picture from Wikimedia, painted at least twenty years after Mary's death and probably part of the efforts to portray her as a Catholic martyr in order to coax her son into converting. ... See MoreSee Less

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Heather

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