Quest Notes

{My weekly Classical Quest status update}

A gift from my husband...just because.

✒ Finished Anna Karenina this past week -- and I loved it. Now I'm busy chipping away at the  final inquiry post. (Although it will still be a while before I finish all of my Anna Karenina themed posts.)

✒ I've been thinking more about establishing excellent habits since I wrote this post. I'm working on an "Excellent Habits" page to challenge myself to be more disciplined in various areas of life. Love this post -- "How to Cultivate the Habit of Focus...in an Age of Distraction", by Ann Voskamp.

✒ My heart and mind is turning toward Advent which begins Sunday, December 2nd. I was not raised with the Advent tradition. When my oldest kids were babies I brought home a wooden Advent calendar and chocked it full of treats. Of course the tradition stuck -- they wouldn't let me forget! However, with each passing year I find that the spiritual significance of Advent has struck a deeper chord in my heart. This year, I'm hoping for a tender spiritual event to strengthen my love for God and to increase our feeling of anticipation for the message of Christmas. I plan to memorize this passage over the coming weeks.

✒  Working on my own version of  "The Road to Bethlehem", inspired by Godly Play. This is a once a week (Sunday) activity so we'll definitely have time for another fun idea -- A Literary Countdown! 

✒ I saw this at The Modern Mrs. Darcy today: wrap one holiday book for each day of Advent and place them under the Christmas tree! I found seventeen books that will work on my bookshelf. A trip to the public library should easily get us to twenty-five! A couple of our chapter books like A Year Down Yonder and Little House in the Big Woods have excellent Christmas chapters which could be read as excerpts.

✒ "Blush: Part Two" should be up Wednesday. And yes, there will be a Blush: Part Three. I've counted eighty-one pages from Anna Karenina with the words "blushed", "flushed", "reddened", or "crimsoned" on them.

✒ Trying to avoid stores as much as possible this year! I'm thinking hard about what to buy online for each my five kids. I'm going for a "less is more" theme. I hope to find some timeless classics that they will come back to again and again.

✒ Auntie Leila from Like Mother Like Daughter had surgery last Tuesday. This blog has been a huge inspiration to me as a mother/homemaker. This coming Thursday I'm going to participate in the "Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real" link-up with a special post to say, "Get well soon Auntie Leila!".

✒ I'm planning a tight synchro-reading of The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy. I think I may need some hand holding through this one! I will start putting up comments chapter by chapter on my Classical Quest Facebook page starting December 1. (If you haven't visited the Classical Quest FB page yet, jump over and check it out. While you're there, click "like" and make my day!)

✒ Not sure yet if I'll go see Anna Karenina, the movie in the theater. (We almost never pay full price for a movie out. Dinner + movie +  baby sitting for five kids = "Why not have a nice date-night-in?") I was expecting it to be a another film which glorifies lust and carnality -- a liberty which  film adaptations of classic novels often take, leaving the viewers with a utterly different impression of the story than the author intended (i.e. The Scarlet Letter). However, after listening to this interview by screen play writer Tom Stoppard, I admit -- I'm intrigued.

✒ But first: the inquiry...

Perhaps you would like to start your own "excellence habits list". What sort of habits would you like to cultivate?

What are some of your all time favorite Christmas gifts for kids under age ten?

Have you seen Anna Karenina, the movie? If so -- thumbs up or down?

Would you like to join me for a "The Return of the Native Synchro-Read" on Facebook?

(Answer any or all or none! If you want -- just peek your head in and say hi! Blessings, friends!)