daybook

october 27

outside my window...gray skies, rain and wind. Red and gold leaves fluttering to the ground like so much snow.

I am listening to...silence. Everyone is asleep.



I am wearing...a Halloween costume. Ensign Coyan from the Federation Alliance.

I am so grateful for... national holidays. Tomorrow, October 28th is a public holiday, Czechoslovak Independence day. In 1918, in Prague, Czechoslovakia became an independant nation. 28 října 1918– V Praze byl vyhlášen samostatný Československý stát - viz Vznik Československa.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia



I am reading... "The Night Eternal" by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/40537/the-night-eternal-guillermo-del-toro-chuck-hogan-9780007319527




I am thinking..that I need to work out more often. I am concocting a plan to get myself a discounted membership to this gym. Why should Danny have all the fun??  Step One: Radka, the manager, told Danny that I could come as many days a week as I wanted and gave me a discounted visitor price (theoretically guests pay 290 kc for the day (about $16 and can only come thrice monthly).


I am creating...new habits. Reading to my girls by the fire each evening. Now we are reading the Little House on the Prairie series. Reading from the Psalms and praying with the girls in my bed before we tuck them in.


I am hoping and praying...for clarity when big decisions need to be made, for our friends to see God as their God, Jesus as their Saviour and Friend and for my daughters to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind.


I am learning...French again. I am reading through my Grandfather's book "Ma Belle Époque". Tomas is helping me to read aloud, pronounce things correctly, comprehend evrything and to get over my shyness to speak. There was, in the first chapter, a part that stumped even Tomas. Papa was describing how his childhood friend was a celebrated horseman and people would gasp and scream when he rode into town...naked. That's what is written. Tomas was laughing out loud. I suggested that "a cheval a poil" means riding bareback, but Tomas said that you wouldn't say it this way. To him it read like something from Lady Godiva.

"Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem."
"You live a new life for every new language you speak."
Czech proverb


Around the house...washers and dryers piled up like we are opening our own appliance store or are setting up a shrine in honour of Sanford and Son. Our washer has kicked the bucket. We know this now as yesterday sparks and smoke and, I believe, the rest of our Earth's ozone came forth during its final spin cycle. And it knocked out all of our electricity for a while.

Coming home from work I discovered a dryer in our entry hall, a washer in our backyard (oh, how the neighbours just love that) and a borrowed washer dancing around our mudroom. It is so old and stupid that it doesn't know to sit still when it is washing clothes. Instead it moves halfway across the room. I literally thought Dan was moving it around. He inquired of me late last night if I had moved the washer way the heck over to the other side of the room and we deduced that it is trying to escape.

From the kitchen...prayers that no more appliances die. (Our fridge is looking a little sick. There is a pool of water inside it coming from some mysterious location and it has released all of its door handles onto the floor in a brave but unsuccessful protest.)

One of my favourite things...collecting kindling in the forest. We each  grab a basket and pick up every nice branch, twig and bit of bark we can find and haul them home for kindling. We have to do this a few time before the snow comes.

On the calendar for the week...Cambridge University course Success! Now on to running our big Halloween party at school today and then the day off tomorrow for Czechoslovakian Independence Day! Dinner and games at our friend's house, working out, sending away for college transcripts, winterizing our garden and coffee with a friend over the weekend.

A picture thought..

Oh, to be this autumn leaf. Having been beaten about on the angry swirling current, came to rest in a pool of such clarity and calm that thanksgiving is offered to the Most High. For in knowing the violent waves and the weariness of the struggle to keep head above water, tranquil waters are appreciated that much more.
^"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28