Sorry that I haven't been writing much lately. I've been even busier than usual the last few weeks. The increased activity has forced me to do some unpleasant thinking about time management, and priorities, and just how much I can realistically expect to accomplish in a given day or week. I have concluded that some of my favorite activities (such as blogging) will have to go, or at least will have to be cut back by quite a bit. Perhaps I'll post more about that later.
This week is our congregation's communion season. While I look forward to the services and the fellowship with friends and visitors, I am of course extra busy at the moment with preparations. I've been listening to psalm recordings as I work in the kitchen, and it occurred to me that I should post two of my favorite recordings for you to hear, since they have something to do with the upcoming communion season.
These two psalms are traditionally sung at FP communion services. Psalm 116 is sung as communicant members gather around the Lord's Table. Psalm 103 is sung as the communicants leave the table with thanksgiving in their hearts.
These are recordings of congregational singing, recorded a couple of years ago. Both psalms were precented by my brother Jeshurun.
Psalm 116:1-8 to Coleshill
Psalm 103:1-7 to London New
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Excuses, and More Goodbyes
I write, and I crochet. These two activities are very different, and you would think that they would require the use of different parts of the brain. But I've noticed that when I've been writing a lot, I have a hard time designing new crochet projects; and when I've been crocheting a lot, I can't seem to think of anything to write. So I guess I have a limited supply of creativity, and if I'm using it on one thing, I don't have any left to apply to the other.
So, I've been crocheting a lot lately. :) I've also opened a new Etsy shop selling recycled yarn. The shop is off to a good start so far with a few sales already. But with all the crocheting and listing and selling things, the writing part of my brain has been feeling quite dull. I know, it's a bad excuse.
So, what's going on in Texas? Well, life continues. It seems that everyone is so busy these days, working and travelling and moving and preparing for weddings.
My brother-in-law Mark is off working the recent hurricane on the East Coast, leaving his wife behind to miss him. It just so happens that Mark and Mercy will be moving soon (into Caleb and Leah's old house) so Mercy has her hands full, watching two little girls--and the youngest quite a squirmy and active little girl who needs a lot of attention!--and preparing to move, without her husband there to help. The rest of us are doing our best to look out for her.
Caleb and Leah are, as I write, on the plane to Glasgow. Due to visa complications, it seems that they will only be in Glasgow for six months at a time; the alternate six months, they will be back in Texas. While we are happy that they are not leaving us for the full duration of Caleb's divinity studies, we are also sympathetic that Caleb and Leah are facing a major international move every six months for the next three years. What a chore! And Leah with two small children to care for, and another on the way! (It's a BOY!)
Here's a photo from our last visit with Caleb and Leah. Caleb showed us his new neighborhood in Glasgow via Google Street View. He also showed us the Glasgow church building, where he will be doing his studies. It looks like a beautiful building. I hope I can visit it someday.
(the pink laptop is Leah's, don't worry)
In other news--I meant to start "properly" homeschooling Elijah this past Tuesday, but somehow I never got around to any lesson planning! So perhaps the beginning of our school year will be pushed back a bit. Lest you think I am shockingly careless about my child's education--our daily life includes quite a lot of informal education, and he is doing quite well academically despite not having formally begun school yet, so I feel as though I can get away with some laxity at the beginning. :) Our primary focus at the beginning of the year will not be academic growth, but character growth--teaching him to focus, and apply himself, and work independently.
I'll leave you with a perfectly dreadful photo of us five siblings. I'm sorry, it really is dreadful. I promise that we are all really better-looking than this. But there you have it.
So, I've been crocheting a lot lately. :) I've also opened a new Etsy shop selling recycled yarn. The shop is off to a good start so far with a few sales already. But with all the crocheting and listing and selling things, the writing part of my brain has been feeling quite dull. I know, it's a bad excuse.
So, what's going on in Texas? Well, life continues. It seems that everyone is so busy these days, working and travelling and moving and preparing for weddings.
My brother-in-law Mark is off working the recent hurricane on the East Coast, leaving his wife behind to miss him. It just so happens that Mark and Mercy will be moving soon (into Caleb and Leah's old house) so Mercy has her hands full, watching two little girls--and the youngest quite a squirmy and active little girl who needs a lot of attention!--and preparing to move, without her husband there to help. The rest of us are doing our best to look out for her.
Caleb and Leah are, as I write, on the plane to Glasgow. Due to visa complications, it seems that they will only be in Glasgow for six months at a time; the alternate six months, they will be back in Texas. While we are happy that they are not leaving us for the full duration of Caleb's divinity studies, we are also sympathetic that Caleb and Leah are facing a major international move every six months for the next three years. What a chore! And Leah with two small children to care for, and another on the way! (It's a BOY!)
Here's a photo from our last visit with Caleb and Leah. Caleb showed us his new neighborhood in Glasgow via Google Street View. He also showed us the Glasgow church building, where he will be doing his studies. It looks like a beautiful building. I hope I can visit it someday.
In other news--I meant to start "properly" homeschooling Elijah this past Tuesday, but somehow I never got around to any lesson planning! So perhaps the beginning of our school year will be pushed back a bit. Lest you think I am shockingly careless about my child's education--our daily life includes quite a lot of informal education, and he is doing quite well academically despite not having formally begun school yet, so I feel as though I can get away with some laxity at the beginning. :) Our primary focus at the beginning of the year will not be academic growth, but character growth--teaching him to focus, and apply himself, and work independently.
I'll leave you with a perfectly dreadful photo of us five siblings. I'm sorry, it really is dreadful. I promise that we are all really better-looking than this. But there you have it.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Writing
Every once in a while, I find it necessary to answer the question "So, what do you do?" and I am never quite sure what to say. I usually say a few things about being a [single] mom, and homeschooling, and keeping house; oh, and I sell old books and things online.
But what I really want to say is, "I write." I am always writing, or thinking about writing. Writing has been a part of my identity from an early age; and I've had encouragement from others to write, starting with my fifth grade teacher, who told me to be sure to let him know when my first book was published, because he would be buying a copy (I haven't forgotten, Mr. Vergunst!) There were other teachers and professors, too, who seemed to assume that writing would be a part of my future.
But if I say that I write, I will be expected to explain what it is that I write, exactly; so I refrain from calling myself a writer. Yes, I am always writing, or thinking about writing. But most of what I write never makes it to paper, or is deleted rather than posted.
I do want to write more, but what do I write, exactly? I once thought I would be a journalist, and I did write a couple of articles for a small-town newspaper, the sort you pick up for free at your local grocery store; but I soon realized that I wasn't fond of deadlines, and dropped that idea. I could write a book, but about what? Should I focus on doing a better job of keeping a journal, or writing to friends?
I would like to post more often to this blog. But it's hard to know what to write about. I feel uneasy at the thought of writing publicly about some of the topics that I think about most often. Some topics are too personal to post to a blog when you don't know who your readers are, or what they are looking for (...are you just here for the psalm recordings?) Other topics might be of broad interest but might also be controversial (homeschooling) and would therefore require such a degree of patience and wisdom that I'm not sure I'm up to the task. And other topics...well I might enjoy discussing some things (theology and church matters) with friends and family, but I'm not so sure that I'm qualified to write about them on my blog. :)
Still, I feel that I ought to be spending less time writing Facebook comments (and yes, Facebook comments do take a lot of time, since I feel compelled to proofread, edit, and re-write even on Facebook) and more time on proper writing. So, consider yourself warned: I am going to try to be more diligent about writing for my blog--and actually publishing the posts. :) Don't worry, I'll still post psalm recordings as often as I can, and pictures of cute babies and children.
But what I really want to say is, "I write." I am always writing, or thinking about writing. Writing has been a part of my identity from an early age; and I've had encouragement from others to write, starting with my fifth grade teacher, who told me to be sure to let him know when my first book was published, because he would be buying a copy (I haven't forgotten, Mr. Vergunst!) There were other teachers and professors, too, who seemed to assume that writing would be a part of my future.
But if I say that I write, I will be expected to explain what it is that I write, exactly; so I refrain from calling myself a writer. Yes, I am always writing, or thinking about writing. But most of what I write never makes it to paper, or is deleted rather than posted.
I do want to write more, but what do I write, exactly? I once thought I would be a journalist, and I did write a couple of articles for a small-town newspaper, the sort you pick up for free at your local grocery store; but I soon realized that I wasn't fond of deadlines, and dropped that idea. I could write a book, but about what? Should I focus on doing a better job of keeping a journal, or writing to friends?
I would like to post more often to this blog. But it's hard to know what to write about. I feel uneasy at the thought of writing publicly about some of the topics that I think about most often. Some topics are too personal to post to a blog when you don't know who your readers are, or what they are looking for (...are you just here for the psalm recordings?) Other topics might be of broad interest but might also be controversial (homeschooling) and would therefore require such a degree of patience and wisdom that I'm not sure I'm up to the task. And other topics...well I might enjoy discussing some things (theology and church matters) with friends and family, but I'm not so sure that I'm qualified to write about them on my blog. :)
Still, I feel that I ought to be spending less time writing Facebook comments (and yes, Facebook comments do take a lot of time, since I feel compelled to proofread, edit, and re-write even on Facebook) and more time on proper writing. So, consider yourself warned: I am going to try to be more diligent about writing for my blog--and actually publishing the posts. :) Don't worry, I'll still post psalm recordings as often as I can, and pictures of cute babies and children.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Playing with Tables
Recently, I've been learning a bit about web design, and in the course of my studies I came across a nifty site called Tableizer that creates tables out of data that you copy and paste from spreadsheets. I soon realized that I could utilize this tool to help create a better layout for the list of psalm recordings I posted a while ago. So I entered all the data into a spreadsheet (a tedious task), copied and pasted into Tableizer, tweaked the CSS a little, and voila, a somewhat more readable list of psalm recordings.
Free Psalm Recordings, Scottish Psalter
What do you think? Easier to read, or not really? Does it take too long to load? It loads slowly on my computer, but that might just be my computer.
As I've added to and edited this list of recordings, I've found a few errors. No doubt others had already noticed. :p If you find any errors--broken links, incorrect data, etc.--please feel free to point them out to me so that I can make corrections. Thank you!
Free Psalm Recordings, Scottish Psalter
What do you think? Easier to read, or not really? Does it take too long to load? It loads slowly on my computer, but that might just be my computer.
As I've added to and edited this list of recordings, I've found a few errors. No doubt others had already noticed. :p If you find any errors--broken links, incorrect data, etc.--please feel free to point them out to me so that I can make corrections. Thank you!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Top Five Posts, 2010
As of the sixth of this month, I have now been blogging at the "Texan Rose" address for one year. I just had a look at my blog stats program. Here are the top five most clicked-upon posts for 2010:
1. Psalm Recordings :)
2. My brother's thoughts on education, and a discussion
3. Free Presbyterians discuss homeschooling
4. Running in a skirt?
5. Running + skirt = frustration (or so I thought at the time)
There's a lot of disparity in the numbers on these: the #1 post got nearly five times as many hits as the #5 post. I guess psalms and homeschooling are hot topics--the psalms especially; it would appear that a lot of people are searching for psalm recordings via internet search engines. I am happy to see that the psalm recordings have been of interest to others as they have been to me!
I hope to blog more regularly in the coming year. I'm behind on posts at the moment (yes, my sister did finally have a beautiful new baby, and yes, I do still have psalm recordings from December to post) but hope to get caught up soon. Thanks for your patience, friends. :)
1. Psalm Recordings :)
2. My brother's thoughts on education, and a discussion
3. Free Presbyterians discuss homeschooling
4. Running in a skirt?
5. Running + skirt = frustration (or so I thought at the time)
There's a lot of disparity in the numbers on these: the #1 post got nearly five times as many hits as the #5 post. I guess psalms and homeschooling are hot topics--the psalms especially; it would appear that a lot of people are searching for psalm recordings via internet search engines. I am happy to see that the psalm recordings have been of interest to others as they have been to me!
I hope to blog more regularly in the coming year. I'm behind on posts at the moment (yes, my sister did finally have a beautiful new baby, and yes, I do still have psalm recordings from December to post) but hope to get caught up soon. Thanks for your patience, friends. :)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Three things
Firstly, I've been playing around with the design of the blog. Do you love it? Hate it? I haven't made up my mind whether I like it or not. I reserve the right to change it again without notice. That header will probably change, for one thing (but isn't that a cool hawk photo? My mom took it). Sorry if the changes are disorienting, and I promise that within a few days, I will settle on a final design and then leave it alone for a while. :)
Secondly, on several occasions I've gotten comments that said, in part, "Feel free to edit this if you need to." For the record, I can't edit comments. I can only accept or reject them as is. If I think something needs changing, I will have to e-mail you and invite you to re-write and re-submit it. Sorry about that.
Thirdly, I've added a page entitled "Homeschooling Resources." I will be linking to websites and books that I have found useful, and explaining why I like them. I hope this page will be of interest to those of you who are homeschooling young children, or plan to. I'll be listing more resources there soon, so stay tuned.
Secondly, on several occasions I've gotten comments that said, in part, "Feel free to edit this if you need to." For the record, I can't edit comments. I can only accept or reject them as is. If I think something needs changing, I will have to e-mail you and invite you to re-write and re-submit it. Sorry about that.
Thirdly, I've added a page entitled "Homeschooling Resources." I will be linking to websites and books that I have found useful, and explaining why I like them. I hope this page will be of interest to those of you who are homeschooling young children, or plan to. I'll be listing more resources there soon, so stay tuned.
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