Things I Learned in June

Inspired by Emily at Chatting at the Sky who has been making a list of things she’s learned each month, I decided to join in with her other readers and blog about my own list of things I have learned during the month of June this year.

1.  A Troika is a Russian vehicle pulled by a team of 3 horses.  This made me think more deeply about a small suite of music that I often assign to beginning piano students entitled Troika.  It has three movements:  the first about a bear named Masha, the second about a Snowmaiden, and the third about Tsar Sultan.  Perhaps it is based on a tale of some sort, but I have been having so much fun imagining my own story about a journey to go along with the music.

2.  If I know a snake is going to be in a cage, and I know the cage is going to be there in a certain spot so I’m not startled, I can actually get close to the glass just because it makes a certain small boy very, very excited to watch that speckled, scaly creature slither around.  But I still have to try hard not to run away and talk bad about snakes.

3.  At the beginning of the month there was a special google banner on the universal search page honoring Maurice Sendak.  It was so beautiful!  I hope you saw it too.  It went through all of the wonderful books he’d illustrated in the most magical little way, and completely captivated me.  I confess to clicking on it several times.  I learned that honoring someone can be a blessing, and was reminded about what power and sentiment children’s literature can have on our lives, invoking all sorts of memories from our own childhoods and memories of special times spent reading with our children.

4.  Throughout many very special ways, God has been teaching me about the evils of greed, not just how it concerns money and material objects (although that, too) but greed concerning time and gifts and talents.  Even better, He’s been working to show me the true joy in the giving and sharing of all those things.  Of course I always knew it was bad to be greedy and good to give of time and money and all else, but the meaning of this has been entrenched so much more deeply for me in the past few months.  Amazingly, after I’ve taken time to give of all my gifts, there is still SO MUCH left, and I do not want for anything.  I am blessed so abundantly, and no matter what is taken away, I am confident that I would be blessed in the ways that I need to be blessed.

5.  Snapping turtles snap because they are too big to hide inside their shells like other, smaller turtles.

6.  Al Capone, or gangsters related to Al Capone, had a cabin in what is now Voyageurs National Park so they could escape to Canada if need be, and bootleg easily across the border.  Also, Al Capone was one interesting criminal.  I read several articles about him this month.

7.  When all four kids are home all day, it’s pointless to try to clean anything up until the end of the day.

8.  Our cat can kill a mouse even when he’s tied up on a leash.