Two weeks have passed since watching this film on the big screen and I continue to contemplate the story and its implications.  There are a host of discussion points starting with something as lofty as leadership (link to Peggy Noonan) and ending with something as practical as interior decorating. (link to apartment therapy)

But today I want to focus on the parenting styles demonstrated by the main characters and wonder about the ones that influenced them as well.  My current book club selection, Ten Ways to Destroy Your Child's Imagination, and our discussion of a WSJ article (which I deplore drawing attention to), may explain part of my curiosity.

Even before thinking about The King's Speech as a parenting model, I came away with a favorite scene.  It occurs very early in the plot and is quite heart-warming ~ Father is dressed formally for an elegant party.  Mother is awaiting him in the background.  But Daddy takes the time to spend time with his children.  He kneels down in front of his two daughters, gathering them close, and proceeds to tell them a bedtime story, despite his stammer, illustrated with penguins, and complete with a punch line.

So, there we have some insight of how the current queen was brought up.

There is also a poignant scene that features Bertie and his father, King Albert.  It is remnisicent of Amy Chua *helping* her daughter practice piano.  And then, there is the Logue family, the speech therapist, his wife, and two sons.  The contrast between the warmth felt in his family's environment versus the coolness displayed in the royals' realm is palpable.

Just as a way of wrapping up this review, I will list my five favorite parenting manuals... so far:

1)   The Bible
2)   The Example by my parents
3)   Withold Not Correction by Bruce Ray
4)   Six-Point Plan for Raising Happy, Healthy Children by John Rosemond
5)   The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer

Have you had a chance to see The King's Speech?

Soup is a favorite meal around our house all year long.  My preference is homemade, but I keep all kinds (dried and canned) available.  I prepared tonight's dinner in less than an hour's time from leftovers in my refrigerator.

Here's the recipe ~

Saute in 3 Tbs safflower oil the following chopped vegetables using a large stock pot:  1 large white onion, 1 large clove garlic, 3 carrots, 2 stalks celery, and 1 medium red pepper.  Once translucent and tender, I added 8 cups of hot, homemade chicken stock, 2 cups Bloody Mary Mix*, 2 cups of cooked (seasoned) black beans, 1 cup chunky salsa, 1 cup diced chicken, and 1 1/2 cups cooked white rice.  Heat over medium flame for 10 minutes without boiling.  Season with salt/pepper, to taste.

Serves a crowd

*explanation for the availability of Bloody Mary Mix is that I enjoy it for breakfast (sans vodka-really!!) with 2 hardboiled eggs.  I'd rather have that, V-8, or tomato than a fruit juice.

For my own benefit, I'm tying the actual calendars dates with the chapters of our book club selection.  It's all about helping me stay on task.

Tuesdays is our online *meeting* date, but our hostess, Cindy Rollins of Dominion Family Fame, graciously allows posts and comments all week.   Don't think that just because you cant participate on a particular Tuesday that you are exempt from sharing your thoughts at some later time. 

So, join in the discussion!

Ten Ways to Destroy The Imagination of Your Child

1/4   - 1/10     Introduction:A Bad Day for Grendel
1/11 -  1/17    Exordium:Why Truth Is Your Enemy
1/18 -  1/24    Method One:Keep Your Children Indoors
1/25 -  1/31    Method Two:Never Leave Children To Selves
2/1   -  2/7      Method Three:Keep Children From Machines
2/8   -  2/14    Method Four:Replace the Fairy Tale with Fads
2/15  - 2/21    Method Five:Cast Aspersions on the Patriotic
2/22 -  2/28    Method Six:Cut All Heroes Down to Size
3/1   -  3/7      Method Seven:Reduce All Talk of Love to Sex
3/8   -  3/14    Method Eight:Level Distinctions B/t M&F
3/15  -  3/21   Method Nine:Distract the Child with the Shallow
3/22  -  3/28   Method Ten:Deny the Transcendent

Here's a link to my first entry.  It's about the book jacket.  I was so taken with the cover, I had to write about that even before opening the volume and surveying the title pages, dedication (to his mother, btw, very sweet), and the table of contents.  Plus, I was introduced to a new artist, Kevin van der Leek (potential FAF entry?).

At some point, I learned to pay attention to who publishes what type books.  It's just interesting.  Note that ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) Books is behind this one.

One more thing ~ about the author.  He first caught my attention when he wrote about cousions and their instinctive bond.  Here's a link that tags where I wrote about that and Esolen's marriage manifesto.

So, what are you reading for Book Club?

How I love thee!  Let me count the ways ~

1)   Plain and warm straight out of the oven.
2)   Wedged on my New Year's Day dinner plate
3)   Slathered with butter and sorghum syrup for dessert
4)   Split and toasted with butter for breakfast
5)   Complimenting soup on a cold day
6)   Wrapped in foil and given as a gift
7)   Planned over for Thanksgiving Day's Dressing
8)   Completing the protein in a 3-veggie plate
9)   Shared with the birds on my back deck
10) Crumbled in a glass of cold buttermilk?

Not exactly an ode, but I do enjoy good cornbread.

No sugar allowed!!

Link to my recipe ~

Four years ago in early December, this bright card arrived.  It's been a favorite ever since.... worthy of framing.

This artist/sender was a family friend who died unexpectedly just a few weeks later.  The funeral service was memorable on several points not the least of which was the strong congregational singing.

So, as we approach our Christmas celebrations, consider focusing all the positive that comes from believing and knowing the babe in that glowing manger.

Like these words from Robert Frost in his poem Kitty Hawk.

But God's own descent
Into flesh was meant
As a demonstration
That the supreme merit
Lay in risking spirit
In substantiation. 
 

Or in Rutter's spritely-composed Shepherd's Pipe Carol.

Going through the hills on a night all starry
On the way to Bethlehem
Far away I heard a shepherd boy piping
On the way to Bethlehem

He makes all things joyful despite the sorrow.

Partial to greeting cards, especially for Christmas, I'm highlighting this favorite one from a cousin because he's the artist!  I save all our cards which means I have quite of few from Dick Davis, enough to display a mini solo exhibit!

Here's a link to his website where you can learn more about him and buy prints or sets of cards.  He also has a Facebook page.  Search and like

The sentiment from 2002 ~

May the Gift of Christmas become our sanctuary of peace, hope, and love.

Do you send Christmas cards?

They are gifts.

Angel with Lute will be gracing my Christmas cards this year, so I determined to know her/him better.

Designed by Terrence McCaffrey of USPS, this stamp features a detail of a fresco fragment circa–1480 originally crafted by Italian Renaissance painter and architect Melozzo da Forli (1438–1494).

Clad in red and green, the angel with a halo strums a lute and glances downward. Unlike a postage stamp, the real thing measures almost 3 feet by 4 four and lives in Rome ~
Room IV of the Vatican Pinacoteca (art museum).

While I dont feel compelled to mail Christmas greetings every.single.year, I do enjoy the custom and am happy to highlight the United States Postal Services' hat-tip to fine art.

Do you buy Christmas or specialty stamps?

I especially do ..... online where I dont have to stand in a long line

Added later ~ The numerals .44 are gold-like and difficult to see in the upper right corner.

Specious (seemingly true but actually false) is a favorite vocabulary word of mine and is an appropriate description of the sailing vessel depicted in this early 20th century painting by Warren Sheppard.

Very early this morning, November 28th, (152 years ago or 1858) the Wanderer slipped silently into a coastal channel and unloaded cargo of more than four hundred African slaves onto Jekyll Island, GA.  That would be almost forty years after the trade had been made illegal!

Sightseeing on Jekyll as a youngster, I heard lots of stories about wealthy Northerners vacationing in Georgia.  I even learned about their secret meeting in 1913 which hatched what is now known as the Federal Reserve Bank.  Furthermore, I was captivated by the lives of the characters in Eugenia Price's historical fiction.  Locating their headstones in the graveyard of Christ Church only made history more real and true.

In this case author Eric Calonius shines a bright light on dark voyage in this fast-paced historical narrative.

The Wanderer, a luxury racing yacht flying the pennant of the New York Yacht Club, was secretly converted into a slave ship within a year of being built.  Radical conspirators who wanted to defy the federal government and speed the nation's descent into war carefully designed this slaving venture.

There's lots more to the story, revealed in newspapers and courtrooms.

Suffice it to say....

Chief organizer Charles Lamar makes Rhett Butler look tame.

Saturday's seminar was sobering.  The last time I felt this way (profound sense of duty coupled with an adequate but limited amount of knowledge), I had just graduated from college with a BA in History at the ripe age of *20*.

I wonder how the other attendees felt.

Having been around doctors all my life (my father, both grandfathers, my husband, my brother), I feel more comfortable than the average citizen conversing on this topic.  But the bottom line is that it is prudent to think about your health and be informed about the options BEFORE you need to act.  Much like writing a will or saving for retirement.

Even I (humorless stick-in-the-mud me) hit a brick wall when imagining how I will behave in these situations.

It's no fun.

But.....

a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, medicine go down.

Here's my synopsis ~ 

Dr. Jago delivered a *Medical State of the Union* address announcing that we already have *socialized medicine* and there are not enough money in the till to cover the costs.  Buyer beware!

Dr. Payne explained *Medical Misinformation*.  In other words, he broke down medical statistics (aka lies) and gave extremely practical advice for assessing one's personal situation.  Establish a Biblical worldview.

Dr. Jordan's lecture *Defining Death* climaxed the morning with chilling stories about the end of life.  Is one dead because the heart stops, breathing stops, blood stops circulating, or because the brain fails to emit the proper signals?  Execute an Advance Directive.

Now is the time to BUY!! the DVD from Boles Media Group, knowing that the three physicians who are giving this free advice understand that they are *comforters*.  They do not cure or heal.  All three are ministers of The Great Physician and tempered their diagnoses with Scripture.

I know you dont have the time to listen.

Make some.

It is a disservice to you and your loved ones to not be informed by these three wise men.

PS ~ You must supply your own sugar

We are often plagued with many questions regarding our health and the care that we can expect to receive from doctors.
  Expect answers to these questions and more:

Is my healthcare worth what I am paying for it?

Who can I trust to give me good advice about  my health?

What do current trends in healthcare lead to?

What does the Bible say about the ethics of healthcare?

What about living wills?

Link to my other posts about healthcare.