Where should we go today? The Weekend Edition!

We're starting to really heat up around here, in more ways than one!

Friday: We finished our science this year with a thermal transference experiment (recipe below) and then Kotch had her Awards Night at Seton ... which meant leaving home at 5:30, heading to Chick-fil-a for dinner (a great way to celebrate our last Friday in Easter-tide), than to school. Home after 10:00!

Saturday: shopping extravaganza with Kotch to hunt for "the" graduation dress; I found shoes! Than off to the commissioning of a family friend -- now a 2nd-lieutenant in the USMarine Corps. The ceremony, held at the Marine Corps Museum, was beautiful with the commissioning directed by his dad, a Colonel (reserves) and his brothers helping (three young marines) and their pastor from Oklahoma to bless him and pray over his active-duty years. After the actual commissioning, we had a lovely party at their home and then dh and I headed to the "last semi-formal of the year" at his high school. Serving soda and snacks to hot sweaty kids was a great time! (No, really! They are mostly great kids who just want to socialize with their schoolmates!).

Sunday: after a lovely Pentecost Mass, we headed up to the District to visit the American History museum and the National Gallery of Art. After seeing Night at the Museum earlier this week, we realized we hadn't been up to the museums in a while. The kids so enjoy the Spark!Lab and other hands-on activities and we had a blast visiting the presidential exhibits and viewing some of the films they've compiled. We focused quite a bit of our American history this past semester on the first five presidents, so it was great to see them remembering those guys and then finding out more about the others. The Art museum (which has the best food on the Mall!) is always a favorite -- especially for dh. We wandered the rooms, occasionally sitting on the couches and just gazing at the pictures: BamBam's favorite is Daniel and the Lions while String Bean and I loved all the DellaRobbia's and LegoManiac prefers the bloody ones (like George and the Dragon, etc). Dh loves the art from the Netherlands/Germany/Brussels of the 1500s-1700s ....

A GREAT weekend! Tomorrow? Kotch's graduation from high school!

Books: curing math phobia ...

... or at least geometric phobia!

Here are some books we've been using to study regular geometric shapes, both two- and three-dimensional shapes. These books show that math, at least geometry, can not only be interesting and fun, but also artistic and creative!

Hewavisenti, Lakshmi – Shapes and Solids: with games and puzzles – great overview (with fun projects) for learning all about shapes and solids (tessellations, reflectiosn, moebius strips, tangrams, etc.)
Kohl, Herbert – Insides, Outsides, Loops and Lines – now this is a fun book for exploring closed and open shapes made completely with lines; lots of great games and activities for all ages.
Micklethwait, Lucy – I Spy Shapes in Art – this is another great art book for kids from Micklethwait. Here, the focus is on regular geometric shapes (so, the 14 paintings are primarily modern art) and the kids can really investigate these individual paintings looking for the shape to “spy” and also looking for other shapes in the paintings. Great cross-curriculum stuff here!
Pluckrose, Henry: Math Counts: Shape – cute picture book about regular geometric shapes and looking for (and finding) them everywhere. Just because this is written for the littles, doesn't mean you can't use it if you just have older ones -- have them do a full picture using as many regular shapes as possible; or search for shapes while driving in the car; or create 3-d sculptures based on shapes.
Wilson, John – Mosaic and Tessellated Patterns: How to Create Them – this is a great Dover book that gives wonderful illustrations of tessellation and mosaic patterns (with great overviews of how to create a myriad of designs). The book includes 32 “plates” to color … which copy wonderfully so you can color, and color and color!

Geometry can be a bit scary -- but make it interesting and creative and you will all have fun!

Creativity Book ...

is a book that, God willing, will be published this Spring!

In His Name: Nurturing Creativity in the Home will come out this Spring ... but needs a cover. Rather than using Michelangelo's original "Creation of Man" from the Sistine Chapel, we are calling for all those under the age of 18 to submit their interpretation as the potential cover.

Margot Davidson at Hillside Education has consented to publish this book I've written.

We'd like to use Michelangelo's Creation of Man image as the cover, but not the original. Would you ask your children under the age of 18, to do a sketch, drawing or painting of the Creation of Man? Ted Schluenderfritz, who will do the layout of the cover, will choose the winner for the cover of the book. The winner will receive a free copy of the book and credit for being the artist.

We'd like the submissions by February 15th.

Here are the guidelines:

• anyone under the age of 18 can compete -- public, private, parochial or home-educated


• only hand-done work will be reviewed (no computer graphics allowed)


• the image should be scanned in at high res and sent to Margot at Hillside -- or you can send the original to Margot (Hillside Education, 475 Bidwell Hill Road, Lake Ariel, PA 18436) for her to scan


• the artist can draw all of the picture, or only God and Adam, or just the fingers touching ... whatever they'd like as long as it is clearly a representation of Michelangelo's original


• any 2-d media may be used for this project -- collage, paint, pen-and-ink, colored pencil, whatever.

Any questions .... please email me or Margot!

Thanks so much and please keep this project in your prayers as I really think it is important to encourage creativity but only the good, the true and the beautiful -- there is plenty of bad, false and ugly out there already!

Feast: Our Lady of Sorrows

(Durer's Seven Sorrows of Mary 1497)

Today is the day we remember the seven sorrows of the Blessed Mother:

1. The prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35)
2. The flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
3. Loss of the Child Jesus for three days (Luke 2:41-50)
4. Mary meets Jesus on his way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31; John 19:17)
5. Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (John 19:25-30)
6. The body of Jesus being taken from the Cross (Psalm 130; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:31-37)
7. The burial of Jesus (Isaiah 53:8; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42; Mark 15:40-47)

We celebrated today by coloring the beautiful drawings by Waltzing Matilda (the dear!) and I made a shrinky dink plaquesimilar to the one I made for Holy Name of Mary.For dessert, we made a crockpot version of the old classic, Espresso Brownie Pudding -- a bittersweet dessert to help us remember that Mary's sorrow is sad but had Jesus not died on the Cross for us ... if she hadn't given us everything she loved ... we wouldn't have the chance for salvation. Besides, anything with chocolate is always a great way to remember the good things in life!

Here's the recipe for Espresso Brownie Pudding:

Batter:
□ 1 Cup all-purpose flour
□ 2 tsp baking powder
□ 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
□ 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
□ 1/4 teaspoon salt
□ 1/2 cup low fat milk
□ 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
□ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
□ 1/4 cup granulated sugar
□ 1/2 cup brown sugar
□ 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
□ 1-1/2 cups very hot water & strong black coffee
□ 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

To prepare the batter, combine the flour, brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the milk, melted butter and vanilla until blended. Spoon the batter into a 4-quart slow cooker.

To prepare the topping, combine the sugars and cocoa in a small bowl with optional nuts. Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Carefully pour water-coffee over the cocoa-sugar mixture. DO NOT STIR.

Cover and cook until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean 1 to 2 hours on high (ours took just about 1.5 hours). Remove lid and let cool a little. The top is the brownie part, and there should be a great, gooey, lovely "hot fudge" syrup underneath -- best served in a bowl with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream!

This does not keep ... it should be served warm and fresh ... so eat up!

Iconography -- Seminar on Spirituality and Symbolism

St. Luke's Theotokos

My husband and I really like icons and own many different Saint icons. The theology behind iconography is an amazing subject. I was fortunate to be able to attend a seminar at Church last night given by three women -- one is an expert on prayer and works for the Archdiocese, one is an artist who writes icons for her hobby, and one who is an iconographer. These ladies gave a wonderful talk that I thought I would summarize here:

Iconography Seminar (1) – Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Prayer:
When JP2 wrote the apostolic letter to accompany the Catechism he specifically mentioned the “patriarchs” in the salutation. A sign that he was very serious about the Church breathing out of both lungs.

The Eastern tradition is that the focus of all spirituality is on the heart. Paragraph 2563 of the Catechism mentions that “heart is the dwelling place”.

Eastern orthodox and Byzantines constantly pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”

Before starting, an iconographer examines her heart, must reconcile with whomever over whatever. Then, a prayer is said before work starts. All iconographers use the same prayer:

Prayer Before Writing an Icon
Glory to Thee O God, Glory to Thee.
O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

All-Holy Trinity, have mercy on us.

Lord, cleanse us of our sins.

Master, pardon our iniquities.

Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy Name's sake.

Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen.

O Divine Lord of all that exists, You have illuminated the Apostle and Evangelist Luke with Your Most Holy Spirit, thereby enabling him to represent the Most Holy Mother, the one who held You in her arms and said: The Grace of Him Who has been born of me is spread throughout the world.

Enlighten and direct our souls, our hearts, and our spirits. Guide the hands of your unworthy servant so that we may worthily and perfectly portray Your Icon, that of Your Holy Mother, and of all the saints, for the glory, joy, and adornment of Your Holy Church.

Forigve our sins and the sins of those who will venerate these icons, and who, standing devoutly before them, give homage to those they represent. Protect them from all evil and instruct them with good counsel.

This we ask through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Apostle Luke, and all the saints, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Icons – are written, not painted. As bible is the written word of God, so too the icons are written by the Holy Spirit thru the hand of the iconographer.

Icons are meant to transform us, bring us closer into communion with God. Icons are usually displayed in an icon corner (so there are no distractions, all focus is on the corner), positioned slightly above eye level, lit by a candle/oil glow. The icon is not hung on the wall passively; the icon is standing on a shelf in an active position for us to respond to, make us ready to go forth.

Icons are not written for the eye; they are written for the soul. They are not meant to be physical images of the saint but are to be symbolic representations of the inner life of the saints. If you really study an icon -- really look into the eyes of the Theotokos or Jesus -- you lose the external and begin to see things internally, God's truth and beauty shine through.

Russian spirituality, tied up with icons, is best illustrated in the book, The Way of the Pilgrim. Another book is the Philokalia.

For Mary alone there are more than 400 titles/icons. Tradition says that St. Luke was the first iconographer, writing an icon of Mary.

Icons are reproductions, not original works of art. There is a “canon of iconography” as the belief is that each of these images was revealed by the Holy Spirit to the original iconographer. It is pure truth, so don’t change. These images have brought centuries of people to prayer, produced good works. Therefore, all iconographers replicate the original images. Changing even one single line is like changing a sentence of scripture – it’s not done lightly!

Another book to read: Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons by Henri Nouwen.

Symbolism:

• Icons are always created on something strong, stable, long-lived: fresco on an interior wall, thick planks of birch or ash to remind us of the permanency of God.
• Grain of wood is always on the vertical – reminds us to lift our eyes upward, Heavenward
• One single board is used, with an inset area carved into the wood – the inset area is the inner life, draws us into contemplation; the outer frame/rim is the secular life. Often a saint’s halo will go beyond the inset area to the outer rim – to show that we can/should live holy lives in the secular world; grace comes from the internal to the external.
• A veil covers the front of the wood completely – linen or 100% unbleached cotton to represent Christ’s burial shroud and the torn curtain at the crucifixion. This veil is glued to the board with rabbit-skin glue to remind us that the Cross is ALWAYS present.
• Gesso covers the veil – 10-12 coats to make the veil-covered board as white and smooth as our souls in Heaven. As iconographer paints the gesso on, he/she is purifying his soul.
• Garlic juice and a charred stick are used to mark the thick/thin lines to copy the icon. The lines are etched all the way thru the veil to the wood – reminded us of the Cross and that we’re all carved on God’s hand. The black lines remind us of sin – when we brush them off later, that’s our redemption. The thick and thin lines remind us of our walk thru life – thick lines = growing in faith; thin lines = times we’re not growing in faith. Straight lines symbolize God piercing our souls to get to our heart.
• Red clay mixed with hide-glue is put on the edge to remind us of the Old Testament and that God was watching over us even before Jesus came to save us.
• Halos are made by breathing gently on the board; breath condenses and the gold leaf sticks; our breath reminds us that we are all called to holiness
• Pigments used are ground earth or ground minerals only
• Red is the first color put on as a sign of self-martyring; dying to self so that God’s glory may shine. [Iconographers never sign the front of their work; IF they sign it at all, it’s on the back “through the hand of Cecilia, a sinner” – ego is gone to allow God to take over]
• Dark green symbolizes earth and man
• When done, icon is oiled – a reminder of our baptism, chrism of the icon
• Light in an icon is key – essence of our experience of God.

Second half of the seminar will be Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 7 p.m.

Ancient Eqypt: Tomb Paintings

We've learned that the paintings in the Ancient Egyptian tombs were often pictures of things the deceased wanted to have in the after-life -- things that would keep him/her comfortable when they "woke" from the dead.



Here is what we would want painted on our tomb walls -- note the names are all in hieroglyphs ...

(from l-r, top to bottom): LegoManiac, Mom, String Bean & Bam-Bam.

BTW, we used the Stone Beeswax crayons for the first time -- they work great with wonderful color coverage. They can blend nicely and you can adjust the amount of color by the pressure on the crayons. Plus, they give off a heavenly bee-honey smell.

Art and Nature

Yesterday, we went to the Denver Botanic Gardens and found, much to the delight of String Bean, a water garden with a myriad of water lilies floating on the pond. String Bean loves water lilies and water gardens, primarily because her favorite artist is Claude Monet! She has loved his works for a couple of years now and has collected pictures and books about this famous Impressionist.

We used up many digital pictures, trying to get a good shot at one of the waterlilies. When we got home I was asked to IMMEDIATELY load the pictures so she'd have something to study and work from.

Here's the result of her morning's work:

By the way, she created the "easel" from scraps of wood left from a renovation project dh and I are working on (more about that if we EVER finish!)