AO Moments...

Savannah and I had the opportunity today to visit the Library Book Sale.  We went armed with a list of books that we might need for upcoming school years.  Since the Ambleside Online Curriculum utilizes many classics as well as some out of print books, I was hoping to find a few of these to add to our ever increasing library.

While I did not find a lot of the books that were on my list, I did come away with a few gems... The Best Loved Poems of the American People, The Viking Book of Poetry of the English Speaking World (Vol 1 & 2) and Daphne Deane. I have been slowly adding to my collection of vintage Grace Livingston Hill novels and while this copy of Daphne Deane is not in great condition, it is one I don't have and it only cost $1... Can't beat that!

I also snagged a pristine copy of Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (we already have the first 2 in this series and Savannah has promised me that she will read it!) and also Stephen Lawhead's first novel in his Arthurian series Taliesin which Georgia will love!

 

For Juliana we found Karen Kingsbury's A Thousand Tomorrows and Julie Andrews Edward's The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.

Then Savannah calls to me.  She has found a book that she wants.  I go over fully expecting it to be some little twaddly book only to find that she wants to get The Complete Dictionary of Shakespeare Quotations!

Woo Hoo!  So I turn to the library worker standing near and say, "How can I turn my 12 year old down when she is asking for Shakespeare?"  The look on her face was priceless...

Now not all of her selections were as noted, but I am glad to find that the slow plugging away at this curriculum is starting to pay off.  She also seemed genuinely pleased to be getting Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.

I got a few other books (Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest, Soon by Jerry Jenkins, some beginning piano books for recital pieces, a novel based on the author Beatrix Potter's life in the Lake District, and a few paperbacks for Savannah) but the big news was that all of these books only cost me $14!  The Peter Pan book alone would have cost more than that at B&N!

So I think I did pretty well today.

Savannah and I ended our book sale day by reading out of one of our new poetry books.  After I read 2 poems aloud and she read 1 aloud, I flipped through looking for one that spoke to me and I found the following:

If You're Ever Going To Love Me

If you're ever going to love me, love me now, while I can know,
All the sweet and tender feelings which from real affection flow.
Love me now, while I'm living; do not wait 'til I am gone
And chisel it in marble - warm love words on ice-cold stone. If you've dear sweet thoughts about me, why not whisper them to me?
Don't you know twould make me happy and as glad as glad could be?
If you wait 'til I'm sleeping, never to waken here again,
There'll be walls of earth between us and I couldn't hear you then.
If you knew someone was thirsting for a drop of water sweet
Would you be so slow to bring it? Would you step with laggard feet?
There are tender hearts all around us who are thirsting for our love;
Why withhold from them what nature makes them crave all else above?
I won't need your kind caresses when the grass grows over my face;
I won't crave your love or kisses in my last low resting place.
So, then, if you love me, if it's just a little bit,
Let me know now while living; I can own and treasure it.
~ Unknown

~ Liana