Wednesday

This can be quick, so it will be.

Writing : Living Faith devotionals for next year.

Thinking, thinking, thinking about other things.

Reading: Went and bought the new Franzen novel, Crossroads, and right after I got home, started reading and made some marks, the notice came from the library that it was available to me as a hold, which was not at all what I expected so soon. So…I was able to let go of that hold and let someone else have it sooner they expected. Circle of Life.

It’s good. I won’t say much about until I finish. I mean – Franzen is not my favorite writer. His work has less humor and a little more character surgery than I usually want, but the setting here is a little like catnip for me – a 1970’s religious setting, in part. Yes, it’s Protestant, and yes it’s set earlier than my teen years, but much of it is very recognizable – basically that transition from a more staid, traditional youth activity to a cool-with-it Blowin’ in the Wind scene.

Let’s just say, at this point it’s excellent writing and a world in which I’m enjoying settling into. What more can you ask for?

Watching: Maybe you caught what I had to say about Midnight Mass. Go here and here if you didn’t and if you are interested.

I watched The Many Saints of Newark – and boy, was it…no good. Chase was mad at HBO for releasing it on HBO Max at the same time as it was released in theaters, but he should be grateful. If I’d paid money to watch it in a theater, I’d feel massively ripped off and I’d complain – as I’m sure a lot of folks would.

I’m not one to spend a lot of the precious time I have in my life writing about something I didn’t enjoy, unless I can do it in an entertaining way, so with this – you will have to take my word for it. There was no reason for this to be made. Sorry, David Chase.

Cooking: Made a bacon-wrapped stuffed pork tenderloin – sort of this recipe, sort of different. Basically: stuff it with whatever you want.

Reminder: tenderloin is not the same as pork loin. You know this, and recipes know this, but at some point over the past two months, I was served a dish (not in a restaurant) and told, with a flourish, “We have a nice pork tenderloin for you tonight,” ….and I thought….er, no. This is not tenderloin. It’s loin – basically an unsliced pork chop, thanks.

These are not the same cut, at all…

School: Mostly handled by the student and tutors/teachers: Physics, economics, and apologetics through the homeschool co-op. AP Statistics and test prep with a tutor. Latin with a tutor. Piano, of course. History is self-directed. Mostly ancient world – all hemispheres.

My main area is literature. We finished up our run through the Canterbury Tales. Which tales did we read? Well, the Prologue, of course, then the Miller’s, Reeve’s, Pardoner’s and a summary of the Pastor’s. Read summaries of many others, getting context. I feel fine about it.

Now, on to Margery Kempe. By way of introduction, four short videos from Oxford University Press, beginning with this one – and then on to read from the textbook.

To be followed by Julian of Norwich.

In the near future, we’ll be spending a lot of time in the car. I’m downloading various episodes of In Our Time to be listened to then – this episode on Chaucer, and this on Margery Kempe, for example.

Traveling: Planning, reserving, etc. When the day comes – or a few days after – you’ll see it on Instagram.

Maybe! If Instagram exists by then! Kind of hoping it doesn’t.