Archive for the ‘Poetry Teatime’ Category

Tuesday Teatime


Teatime_Ellen
Originally uploaded by juliecinci

We haven’t officially started our school year yet, but this teatime happened spontaneously, and we all enjoyed it. Mary, my 7-year-old, brought back my old Halloween costume after our last trip to visit the grandparents. She loves to act out Felicity’s tea lessons, from the books and movie about Felicity, the American Girl. It was Mary’s idea to have a colonial tea party. I put on a CD of Handel recorder sonatas and brewed the lemon tea. Since it was nearly lunchtime, we decided to serve savory treats, like turkey roll-ups and cheese and crackers, and Mary learned the word “savory”. Audrey, the 2-and-a-half-year-old, loves to pour (dump), so she had her own pitcher. This will be our first year using The Writer’s Jungle and the Arrow, and we’re looking forward to more fun teatimes, great read-alouds, and growth as writers.

Ellen

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Reading aloud

We sat on cold tile floors, Jon lounging in a blue caftan, extending his 6’4″ body over a couple of red pillows for comfort, while I leaned my back against the concrete walls, upright, to better hold open the pages of the novel. The Far Pavillions by M. M. Kaye brought us spices and India, romance and war. I read aloud to Jon sometimes for three hours in a day while we waited for the hot, slow summer weeks to roll by so we could leave the country and head out to sunny Spain for our missionary camp.

The Far Pavillions wasn’t the first book I read aloud to Jon. When we were engaged, I read Shogun to him, every page. Reading aloud became a shared point of connection and escape. We eventually worked through several of James Clavell’s novels, most of M.M. Kaye’s and a few of John LeCarre’s.

Once we returned to the states, life became hectic with the increase of children, Jon working away from home, homeschooling. When I had just given birth to our fifth child, we decided to give it another whirl. We read aloud in the evenings after the other four kids were in bed. Instead of TV or videos, we’d snuggle in blankets while I’d nurse Caitrin, and Jon would read to me. Eventually, I’d yank the book back from him as he has this habit of getting so wrapped up in the story, he starts skipping words in order to get ahead. It’s not as much fun for the listener at that point. 🙂

What is fun, though, is reading together. Even today, while we don’t have as much time as we once did to read aloud lengthy novels without interruption, we still find ourselves reading aloud bits of articles, paragraphs out of books, quotes, poems, essays. It’s not enough to say to each other: “Read this article when you get a chance.” For some reason, we just have to do it out loud and talk about it right then and see the reaction of the other person as we are reading or it isn’t the same.

Reading to our kids, then, was a no-brainer. And it never occurred to me that a time might come when they were too old to be read to. After all, I’d been reading to a full-grown male for most of my married life!

With the approach of the release of the final Harry Potter book, my kids are at fever pitch around here trying to determine how many copies we must purchase in order to make it possible for as many people to read it at once as want to. I’ve read all six aloud, the first three twice (at two different times to two different sets of our kids). The older kids want to read the newest book right away, to themselves. But the younger ones have already asked me to read it to them like I’ve done with the other six books.

I’m glad.

There’s something about that shared time that transcends reading to myself.

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Summer teatime


Summer teatime
Originally uploaded by juliecinci

Instead of building a web page with the new LA subscription details, I had suntea, banana bread and a poetry reading (given by two of my adorable children) out on our back deck. So forgive me for that delay, but I tell you, it was worth it!

Newest poetry book: Hailstones and Halibut Bones, by Mary O’Neill. Delightful.

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Tuesday Teatime: Three Stories; One Family

The following teatime message was sent to me during our winter here in Ohio. Knowing that it is cold Down Under, I thought this little glimpse of teatime winter style might be just the thing for our chilly Aussies and Kiwis. And for those who are sweltering in the summer heat in the northern hemisphere, perhaps this memory of the cold will be a cooling influence. 🙂 Keep those teatime stories coming!

—

Hi, Julie.
I know you like to keep up on the tea time news among the families, so here are three stories about tea in our home.

We invited another family over to visit one Saturday, with totally nonacademic intent. The boys (my four, her one) played Star Wars miniatures, and later moved on to Star Wars games on the computer. We two moms just visited, catching up on each other’s holiday news, and sharing frustrations, accomplishments, and challenges. We talked about how to address our creative endeavors while still adequately attending to our families’ needs. Each of us had some inspiring faith stories to share with one another, as well.

This mom happens to make a mean guacamole dip, so she provided chips and dip, and I provided tea. The boys ate most of the chips, and we drank all of the tea (mmm…cinnamon cardamom). It was so good to visit after not having seen each other for a few weeks. We’ll have to do it again sometime soon, since her daughter, who was out of state at the time, missed out on all the Star Wars action, and told her mom, “I wish I could have been there!”
Funny thing–this is what we do when we gather at my house. The moms have a heartwarming tea which is never anything fancy, and the children have Star Wars to their hearts’ content. (I guess that means they’re having a heartwarming time, too, eh?)

The second teatime was totally serendipitous. I had heard from many friends about the movie, “84 Charing Cross Road.” I decided to watch it with the boys, and we were hooked from the moment it began, since it was about books! 😎 Part of the story occurs in London, so I seized the opportunity to tie in some British culture. We’ve always been curious about digestive biscuits, having heard about them on Arthur, the PBS show of all places! Only the day before, I was surprised to find McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits available in a nearby store whose stock varies considerably from any one of my visits to the next.

Since we were watching a British movie and had British biscuits, we decided to have tea! (Hope hot chocolate counts, though…it’s been subzero here. Cocoa is always more filling, and this was a bedtime treat, so tea per se wasn’t our choice of beverage.) It was such fun to unite our appetites for books with the tasty treat and a movie that seemed made for one another!

Over the holidays, I had many personal tea times, since I had to be up early with my husband for his seasonal work schedule changes. I’d light a candle, make tea, and refresh my spirit. One time, it was by writing cards. Another day, I made two booklets as gifts. Other days, I’d write or read my Bible. The time I took to do these things just for myself was a refreshing reminder to look for similar opportunities throughout the year. Each time I accomplished only a bit, but it all adds up!

Thanks for continuing to encourage other mothers in so much more than writing. I think you help us to keep the essence of family life at the center of our learning.

Blessings,
Teresa

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Midweek teatime


Teatime BW
Originally uploaded by juliecinci

I missed Tuesday for the teatime, but thought I’d post this one anyway since it occurred on a Sunday! As you can see, any day is fine for tea. This comes from Kay and Anna and represents a teatime they had in March.
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Must be Tuesday but it really was Sunday Tea. Weather is warm in PA. (Be probably not as nice, pleasurable as SoCal– but feels good to us). We read Wally the Wordworm by Clifton Fadiman in honor of spring and made a list of new words. Our list included syzygy, sesquipedalian, chimera, centaur, eft, moa, (as in “The Moa is no moa.” The moa is an extenict bird.) Other words: ptarmigan, mellifluous, carbuncle, zanzibar, wherry, punctilios. It was great fun, oh, I mean pleasurable and joyous.

See as the word dwindle, dwindled away.

“If you add an L to word, you get world. And that’s what a new word is – a tiny new world, opening up new meanings, new feelings, new perspectives.” Cliton Fadiman

Kay and Anna


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