Hymns of the Week: 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

Entrance: All People that on Earth do Dwell

Offertory: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord

Communion: Soul of my Saviour

Recessional: God is Love, His the Care (on condition I get time to practice this week! If not, this one is liable to be swapped for something easier)

Seven Quick Takes, episode 19: Translation translated

It's been a while since I did one of these... I've still been enjoying everyone else's takes, though! Anyway, off we go...

1. I've had quite a lot of work on recently, hence the radio silence (can you still say that when you're talking about a computer  ? Hmmmmm). One of my main clients is publishing a series on philosophy of science, which is ever-so-slightly more "artsy" than their usual fare. Being one of the only translators on their books with a background in something other than "conventional" science, I've ended up doing quite a lot of work on it. Let's just say that translating philosophy is a LOT harder than applied mathematics, fluid dynamics or, for that matter, fashion catalogues. Interesting, but my leeetle grey cells were ready for a rest this week.

2. Es can now climb stairs, as I discovered yesterday when I found her halfway up ours. It's exactly like when we discovered that the Daleks could levitate in Dr Who. We'll just have to keep her away from sink plungers.

3. Since my last 7QT, Mx has STARTED SCHOOL, to everyone's great relief. She's very outgoing, very sociable, and was very, very definitely ready for school. 

 4. I've finally accepted that my high-intensity music days are over (at least for now) and that it might be time to pass a few things on to people who will actually use them. The tenor sax (AKA Mildred - no particular reason) needed to go, it's far too loud to play at home and was taking up a lot of space. I'm never going to get round to refretting the mandolin, and I don't believe in using instruments just as decoration. Finally - and this one was hardest to let go - I haven't done any orchestral playing for several years now, so my clarinet in A is leaving for pastures new. Just in case anyone fancies bidding on any of them, here are the links...

The mandolin

The saxophone

The clarinet

I even made some slightly silly demo videos:

 

(I must say, I find listening to the sound of my own voice EXTREMELY unpleasant. Sorry).

Also, just in case anyone was worried, there are still plenty of instruments in our house. 

5. R. has decided he doesn't like visible vegetables, especially those of a green variety. I can still sneak them past him in pasta sauce or soup, and there are some he eats even if he can see them, but heaven forbid we should attempt to serve him anything even vaguely resembling a leaf ("that's a LEAF! I don't LIKE leaves!"). I just try not to laugh too much.

6. Ze Husband and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on Sunday. He gave me a bar of chocolate and a packet of shiny insect stickers. I gave him a Lego minifigure and a bag of Haribo. We haven't changed much.

7. Finally - it's nearly October! I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers... I think we may have to go and find some leaves to jump in this weekend to celebrate.

On that note, happy weekend!

Linking up with Kelly for 7QT.

What I've been reading: Summer edition

Summer, for me, is not ideal reading time. No preschool, no nursery... you get the picture. Some books still got read, though...

1. Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron. 

Once a medievalist, always a medievalist...
Actually quite surprising, in many ways. Think people in the middle ages were prim and proper and well-behaved (ok, apart from all the wars...)? Think again.

2. Sheila Kaye Smith, The End of the House of Alard.
No pretty pictures for this one, it's out of print (sniff).

This book. THIS BOOK. In many ways, it reminded me of Mazo de la Roche's Jalna series, and I was plodding along, quite enjoying it, and then this happened:


"Catholic Christianity stands fast because it belongs to an order of things which doesn't change. It's made up of the same stuff of our hearts. It's the supernatural satisfaction of all our natural instincts. I doesn't deal with abstractions, but with everyday life. Its sacraments are all common things- food, drink, marriage, birth and death. Its highest act of worship is a meal; its most sacred figures are a dying man and a mother nursing her child. It's traditional in the sense that nature and life are traditional".

There was another passage that exactly pinned down something I'd never been able to put into words about the Anglican church, too, but I can't find the scrap of paper I copied it onto... I'll attempt to post it when I find it.

Also, it smelt AMAZING. Not just standard old-book-smell, but the very best sort of old-book-smell.

3. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter.

I felt I should read this. Now I've read it. The end.
(I genuinely have no strong feelings about this book. Then again, I've never got the appeal of Gatsby either. Am I a philistine, or am I just too... not-American?)

4. Liz Moore, Heft.

This one was July's book of the month at our local library, described as "the most unsentimental sentimental journey this year", or words to that effect. Also, as it turns out, rather forgettable - I couldn't remember what the book was actually about when I saw the title in my Goodreads list.

5. Elizabeth Jane Howard, Mr. Wrong.

Elizabeth Jane Howard is one of the (many) authors I added to my list whilst reading Howards End is on the Landing. This is a collection of short stories with a fairly wide range of subject matter. I didn't enjoy the first one (REALLY not my style), but the others were more to my taste. Summer Picnic merits an individual mention, if only for the following quotation:

"One of the babies began to cry. He had lunched lightly off dandelion heads, some milk chocolate, and a Monopoly card, and was now quite properly resisting any further nourishment". 

It's like she's been watching my children or something.

That brings us to mid-August, so I suspect another book post may be coming before too long. Also, Ze Husband has been reading Brideshead Revisited, and I suspect his reactions could be interesting...

Hymns of the Week: 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

I've spent the last few weeks dealing with a really bigandcomplicated (yes, that IS all one word) translation project, which has been taking over my time to the point where I've actually been choosing hymns ON Sunday morning. Oh yes.

Now that the project in question has gone off for author review, I actually have some time on my hands, so here goes...

Entrance: All my Hope on God is Founded

Offertory: Father, I place into Your Hands

Communion: O Praise our Great and Gracious Lord  (Kingsfold. You can't go wrong with Kingsfold.)

Recessional: Though the Mountains may Fall (I would love to put Faith of our Fathers here, but it has a tendency to upset people. Also, our priest is on holiday so I can't run it past him first).

Hymns of the Week: 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

Normal service resumes...

Entrance: All My Hope on God is Founded

Offertory: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Communion: O Godhead Hid

Recessional: Tell Out My Soul

Looking at that list, I suspect I may be overreacting to two weeks of "modern" hymns in different parishes... these things do happen.

Also, there appears to be a direct correlation between the number of hymns featuring "silence" or "still" and the amount of noise my children are making whilst I'm picking hymns. Ho hum.

Seven Quick Takes, Episode 18: Oh wait, that's right, I have a blog

Haaaappy Friday, Internets!

In no particular order...

1. I turned 30 this week. In my head, I've been "about" 30 for at least two years, so it wasn't too traumatic. I spent most of the day throwing up, but my mummy made me a birthday cake, so it was a proper birthday all the same :-)
(N.B. This is not, I repeat not, a pregnancy announcement. We just all had a rather nasty tummy bug this week).

2. You all enjoy stories told using rubbish Paint stickmen, right?
Good.

So now:

Yes, my children inspect our rubbish, and I now have to HIDE THINGS IN THE BIN. Not because I'm ashamed, but because I just can't face the interrogation.
Please tell me I'm not alone in this...

3. No hymns of the week this week because we're going away. It's the Assumption, anyway, so if you're involved in choosing music for mass already, you know what to do.

4. Es (9 months) is turning into a Food Monster (caps absolutely justified). That baby can EAT. We may have to buy shares in Weetabix at this rate.

5. Some very good news, for anyone who read this: my parents are finally getting their money back! I have no idea how the bank managed it, but it's a massive relief.

6. Last Sunday, our priest started his sermon by saying that he didn't see how anyone could escape the Olympics... which was when Ze Husband and I realised they'd actually started, which made us laugh. Why yes, we do live in a bubble.

7. It's nearly 4 pm on Friday afternoon. We're leaving for two weeks (with one brief trip home) at 9 am tomorrow, and I haven't packed anything. ANYTHING. We're going to Scotland first with friends, then down to France to see Ze Husband's family for a week... on the TRAIN. With three under-fives. I'm hoping to be able to pack separately for each trip, there shouldn't be much crossover between the two lots of luggage... I should get on with it, really, but I just don't want to do the childrens' stuff with them there. Hmmmmm. Youtube? YOUTUBE. Cheburashka, to be precise...

 

 

Enjoy.

Some of the later stuff is barely-disguised Soviet propaganda, but my kids don't speak Russian, so it's fine, right?

Linking up with Kelly for 7QT. Go on over and see what everyone else has been doing this week!

Hymns of the Week: 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

The Feast of the Transfiguration falls on Saturday this year (6th August). I'm still trying to find out whether or not this means we'll be celebrating it on Sunday. In any case, there's no conflict between Transfiguration-appropriate and 19th Sunday-appropriate hymns.

Entrance: Immortal, Invisible

Offertory: Lord, Accept the Gifts we Offer

Communion: Soul of my Saviour (continuing the campaign for rehabilitation of "unfashionable" hymns - terrible when done badly, lovely when done right)

Recessional: Praise, my Soul, the King of Heaven