August Wrap-Up

I kind of forgot that the wrap-up was this week, and it also coincidentally happens to be the first week of classes, so that was a fun realization. Please forgive any weirdnesses. :)

But my August was a wonderful month! I realize I've said that about most of my months this year, but all of the times I've said it, it's been true. Here are some of the things I've been up to...

-This was technically at the end of July, but I went on a backpacking trip with my dad and two youngest siblings to Mt. Rainier National Park. The whole trip was gorgeous and a lot of fun, and in total, we hiked 17 miles that weekend! (Very proud of my siblings, who are 9 and 12, for making it that far!) We got to cross a hiker suspension bridge, and see a glacier, among other things. 

-I actually went camping three weekends in a row--the other two trips were a car camping trip with about thirteen other families (during which we clammed, one of my favorite seaside activities) and a backpacking trip with my two other siblings, Dad, and Pippin. 

-I finished the Dominican habit that I started at the beginning of the summer! The priest that I made it for had me rehem it once, but then really liked it, which was vindicating, given that I'd never made a project of that magnitude before. 

-I turned 20! :)

-I got to sing with our official (as opposed to summertime) parish choir for the Feast of St. Dominic, which was satisfying both because it meant that our music director has decided that I am Capable Of Singing With His Official Choir, and because we sang a whole bunch of beautiful music. 

-I was the Activities & Recreation Coordinator for our parish's first ever Children's Choir Camp, which meant that I was in charge of planning crafts and games for eleven children for five days, and then implementing that. I had a blast, especially since I already knew most of the kids, and the kids did a great job singing for Sunday Mass that weekend, but after that, I was kind of ready to come back to college, where there are fewer kids aged 6-12. 

-I came back to campus and started classes again! It's sooooooo good to be back (although I do miss being at home--I feel like all of the good stuff is juuuuust starting and I'm missing it) and I'm looking forward to this semester of classes! One of the classes I'm taking is a seminar on the senses in landscape architecture, and that one especially promises to be fascinating. 

(Also, my new room this year is fabulous--twice as big as my room last year, and with these lovely dormer windows that you can sit up next to.)

-I went to the Illinois State Fair, because I had an event with the Illini Dairy Judging Team (which is a competitive cow judging team). The event was just helping with a 4H dairy judging competition, but that was fun, and then afterwards I got to wander around and see all the fun fair stuff, and I ended up getting to actually show a pygmy goat, because I was watching the goat show and I overheard an exhibitor asking another exhibitor if they had any extra people to show for them, because they had one too many goats in a class, but the other exhibitor didn't have anyone to help them, and so I said "hey, I've showed Nigerian Dwarf goats before, do you want me to show her for you?", and she did, and so I showed the goat, and she took third! 

Quotes

This month's quotes are especially numerous and rich because they're drawn from friends and family at home AND from friends at school, AND (most especially) our music director, as I worked with him both on singing for the feast of St. Dominic, and for the choir camp. (He is hysterical, but many of the funny things he says are funny because of tone, so I didn't include all of them, only the ones that I thought would translate.)

Luna: "You're always giving me diseases."

Boys: "You're swimming in our pee!"
Girls: "So? We're not going to drink it."
Mark: "Ewww, they like it!"

Music director: "We're doing a choral Mass. Fear. Shock. Awe."

Music director: "Everyone else will be at 'terra', and you'll be stuck in heaven. Which is ironic."

Music director: "Your Agnus Dei entrance was tortured. Which is maybe appropriate to the text."

Pippin: *takes a pull on his first ever cigar* *exhales* "That is NOT NICE."

Pippin: "It's weird that we pronounce 'mayonnaise' as 'man-ase'."
Gimli: "Yeah, what about woman-ase?"
Uncle: "I prefer to call it 'gender-neutral sandwich lubricant'."

Galadriel, upon being awoken: "Blech. I feel like a slug. I'm going to ooze out all my organs."

Music director: "I send erasers flying. That's my superpower."
Child: "You threw your eraser under the piano!"
Music director: "I didn't throw it, I launched it."

Music director: "I can draw squares, really, I can. I went to grad school and learned to draw squares."

Me: "I need to drink some water or I'll become a monster."
Legolas: "Yeah, we don't need any more monsters around here."
Music director: "Hey, it's not nice to talk about me that way when I'm right here."

Children, multiple times, to the music director: "Why are you bald?"

Me: "Yeah, polar bears are white because even though their hair is clear, their skin is black. I know it doesn't sound like it would work that way, but the science does work."
Legolas: "That doesn't sound real."
Music director: "See, I believe her, because I don't think she'd lie to me. You, on the other hand..."

Choir camp children: "Mr. Madoc is advanced in years."
(Mr. Madoc being our emeritus music director, who is maaaaybe 70 years old.)

Music director: "I'm more scared of Mr. Madoc than I am of Miss Samantha. *pause* That's not true."

Music director: "You are a continuously renewing Tesla fueled by your baptism."

Gimli: "My pants are inflating again."

Galadriel: *grabs Gimli from behind* "Sorry, it was my womb."

Dad: "At least you're not the poop mouse."

Ana: *to one of our older staff* "What was the funnest decade?"
Me: "In history, or of the rosary?"
Ana: "Of her life."

Ana: "You should just suck it up."
Jack: "You asked me how I felt about it, I gave you an honest answer! What was I supposed to say, 'I'm sucking it up as we speak'?!"

Father M: "You could just leave, and no one would notice."

Kay: "Yeah, we lost Lewis for a bit..."
Mary Kate: "As you should."

Newman music director: "I love exploiting musicians. I mean, I love exploiting them in a good way."

Peter: "How many descendants does Abraham have?"
Anton: "Forty-five."

Jake: "The ghost of the spirit of Vatican II, wooooooooooooo!"

Some guy (in the context of Duck Duck Goose): "I love chasing women in the dark."

Peter: "You cannot serve both God and Duck Duck Goose."

Me: "Maybe the real serial killer was the friends we made along the way."

Kay: "Not to sound like a Victorian man, but...ankles."

Kay: "There's going to be a bit more bone with me in my room tonight."

Kay: "Me when Jesus takes the wheel...of my intestinal health."

Worth Reading If...

(You may notice that there are a LOT of books this month...there are indeed, because I read a TON of good books in a BUNCH of different genres, so I am sharing perhaps a bit more than usual, because a lot of these delighted me.)

...Catholic literature in the Flanner O'Connor-ish line is your thing

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Both of the books in this section were recommended to me (and, in fact, foisted upon me to borrow) by Frodo, who loves Flannery O'Connor an absurd amount, and so it probably shouldn't have surprised me that they recommended me of FOC, but it somewhat did, lol. Muriel Spark is a new Catholic author for me, and she's interesting to me because she works in a more directly Catholic mode than a lot of Catholic authors that I am familiar with? Not as much in this book, but in, for instance, Memento Mori, her purpose and Catholic point are clear, and there are Catholic characters who do a certain amount to drive it home. 
But the reason that this particular book reminds me of Flannery O'Connor is that I don't entirely understand it. It's a story, almost a la The Wednesday Wars, of a teacher, and the impact that she has on her students. It's the story of a teacher who makes, in fact, a deep impact on her students, by going beyond what the teachers of her day would typically teach, but who also makes a lot of human mistakes that change and in some ways break her relationships with her students. She thinks that she has more insight than she actually does and works from that framework, and so actually fails a lot to accomplish what she's trying to do. It's the story of messy human relationships, and the messy ways in which we try to understand them, and I found it fascinating. 

Morte D'Urban by J. F. Powers 
This book also reminds me of Flannery O'Connor in terms of the use of metaphor, and how it's hard to understand, but in addition, it reminds me of Flannery O'Connor in the way that it turns one's expectations on their head. (I will literally NEVER forget the moment when I was reading The Violent Bear It Away and realized that the way I'd been approaching the character and story was exactly backwards.) There were moments that reminded me of that moment in this book, although they were more subtle. 
It's about a priest who wants to Get Things Done, who wants to See The Church (and especially his order) Succeed. A priest who sometimes thinks that maybe in very subtle ways, the ends justify the means. A priest who is just fine with putting off expressing his principles until a later date, if that will get the order more money. But a priest who thinks that he is working as hard as he can for the coming of Christ's kingdom and growing in virtue.
And it's scary. You start out by being like "oh dang, he is awful", and by the end of the book you're asking yourself "am I him?" And it's frankly terrifying. 
(The ending is also wonderful and interesting and scary, and I can't tell you anything about it, both because it's subtle, and for fear of spoilers.)

...Betsy's Wedding is your favorite Betsy-Tacy book

Joy In The Morning by Bettty Smith
This was yet another Frodo recommendation, by the author of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (which I still haven't read). It's the chronicle of the first year (or so) of married life of a couple who marries when the man is in law school and the woman has just turned 18. The woman is from an abusive family in Brooklyn, and I think the man is from Brooklyn, too, but they're at a college in the Midwest (this brought it close to my heart), trying to figure out married life while the man is getting his degree and struggling with the stresses on time, on budget, and on intellectual development. 
And it's beautiful. I've never been married, but from what I have gathered by reading and talking to married couples, it seems a very true depiction of the adjustments and struggles that people must go through to become one, not only in the 'obvious' way, but also one in life--to live a truly shared life. 
It's written more or less through the lens and POV of the wife, Annie, who reminds me a bit of Anne of Green Gables not in relentless optimism but in her interest in other people and their lives, and her love of learning. I loved being in her head, and I loved seeing her story unfold. (And the whole thing is so beautifully written!)
I will say that while there are no inappropriate scenes as such, there are several scenes that are in the bedroom before the couple goes to bed together (after they're married) in a somewhat fade-to-black way, and mentions of abuse and other adult topics, so this isn't a book for younger teens. 

...you appreciate a good Newbury Honor book

Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian
(The heading of this section of the book recommendations is ironic, because I have Thoughts about Newbury Honor books, but that's a post for another day.) 
I randomly discovered this book on the shelves at the library when I was there for a completely different reason, and to be honest, only picked it up because of the "Mr. Tom" in the title. I am surrounded by many Toms right now (from a friend to a newborn to a book character who is now my godson) and I love all of them, and I wanted to acquire another Tom-friend (albeit a fictional one). 
It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful book. It's about a boy who is sent to the countryside of England during the Blitz (more or less) and ends up staying with a widower named Mr. Tom. 
Mr. Tom is a rather set-in-his-ways 60-something widower, who deeply loved his wife, and deeply mourned her passing in childbirth. He can be gruff, keeps to himself, but is determined to do right by Will (the boy), and shows his love for him (which grows and grows) through acts of service. He's a country man, born and bred, and has a simple distaste for anything 'citified', and a respect and love for the countryside and the outdoors. In other words, I loved him. ;)
Will, when he comes to stay with Mr. Tom, is a scared, abused, weak, friendless, and ignorant boy, who over the course of the book grows into a strong, brave young man, who loves learning, and cares for his friends deeply. He becomes a country boy, as well. There are, of course, hiccups and difficulties along the way, and it's not a linear path, but it is beautiful. 
Some of the hiccups and difficulties along the way are actually very, very dark. For that reason, I'm a bit torn about its status as a children's book. On the one hand, some of the stuff might go over a child's head. On the other hand, I'm not sure that's a good thing. 
Stating it in very plain terms, as a warning: this book contains instances of severe mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical abuse. Will grows up with a single mother who is manipulative, gaslights him, tells him that he is not lovable, beats him, &c. Halfway through the book (this isn't a spoiler, cuz it's in the blurb), he has to go back to his mother, and...a lot of very bad things happen. 
That's why I'm on the fence about its status as a children's book. Some of the emotional and spiritual abuse stuff might go over a child's head (I definitely didn't know enough as a kid to recognize that--only as an adult can I be like 'oh, that's emotional abuse'), but the horrific physical abuse probably wouldn't, and I'd be concerned about a child reading it. 
So yeah. It's a beautiful book, but probably not the right one to read if any of those things is personal/especially problematic for you. 

...old-timey sci-fi is your thing

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin 
A young couple that I know recommended this one to me when we were talking about books and scifi in particular, with the description that it's a book about what if people could be either male or female in any given reproductive encounter, and what if people only came "into season" once every twenty-six days. I approached it with caution, even though it was highly recommended, but ended up really enjoying it. It is exactly as described, but it's not at all inappropriate, and it imagines the world in a wonderfully realistic way. Somehow, Le Guin managed to capture what it would be like in a world where people weren't male or female but were somehow in between--and it's not pretty. Really, it's kind of a warning. A world where there isn't the drive and push and aggression (when well channeled, it can be a good thing) or men, nor the softer and more intuitive nurturing touch of women, but rather some lukewarm in-between thing is not a beautiful world, and it could make one think twice about gender roles. At the same time, it tackles the feeling of loneliness and isolation that the people of that planet, Winter, have, being the only ones of their kind among all of the inhabited planets, a loneliness that is perhaps relatable even on a smaller scale to every human being. 
I will say that it's a typical early-scifi scifi novel, in that the characterization plays second fiddle to the what-if of the book, but that's something I enjoy. If you don't, no skin off my nose. :)

...you prefer WWII spy thrillers

Where Eagles Dare by Alastair McLean
I don't remember who recommended this to me, but I have a feeling it might've been Sarah Seele, because it seems like something she would enjoy. (If not, Sarah, you should read it!) 
It's a WWII spy thriller, as I said, which isn't something I always enjoy, but I did appreciate this one quite a bit, not necessarily for thriller aspects (although I did like those for once), but for the characters and the twists! This book had more twists than The Thief, which is saying something, I think. Smith, the 'main character', was definitely my favorite--he just needs to Get The Job Done, and he is the man who always does that, so he was sent on this mission. And as several of the characters accurately state "men like Smith don't fall off roofs." (I don't want to say much more than that, because going in blind is definitely the superior way to experience this book.)

And because I can never go a year without changing up my wrap-up format in August (it's a tradition now, folks), I thought I'd add a section on what I've been listening to (in terms of music) recently. Nothing fancy...just a plain list, maybe a bit of embellishment. But as I've gotten more and more into music and listening to new music, it becomes an increasingly large part of my life, and I wanted to share that with you. :)

The Month In Music

Humble by Audrey Assad: not too proud to wear our skin/to know this weary world we're in

The Gambler by Home Free: every hand's a winner/and every hand's a loser/and the best that you can hope for/is to die in your sleep

The Crane Wife 3 by The Decemberists: she had no heart so hardened/each feather it fell from skin/and I will hang my head/hang my head low

Fire and Rain by James Taylor: I've seen fire and I've seen rain/I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end/I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend/but I always thought that I'd see you again

Fireflies by Owl City: to ten million fireflies/I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes

Beautiful Dawn by The Wailin' Jennys: take me where the courage doesn't need a name/learning to cry is the hardest part/there's only one way to mend a broken heart

The Captain's Daughter by Alison Krauss & Union Station: my daddy owns a clipper ship/he brings me pearls on every trip/pink champaign for me to sip

Old Churchyard by The Wailin' Jennies: mourn not for them for their trials are o'er/why weep for those who will weep no more?

Lay Me Down by Andrew Peterson: I suppose you could lay me down to die in Illinois/bury me beneath the rows of corn

Fairest Lord Jesus by Arlen Clarke: fairest Lord Jesus/ruler of all nature/O Thou of God and man the Son

So! How was your August? What have you been listening to this month? What was your favorite quote? Have you ever read A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, and should I read it?