Thanks to those folks who get the chance to say they enjoy {b&p}. It's fun to do, but I'm glad that you are liking it – just so I know I'm not wasting time sending links out into the webesphere to fall blankly upon bored eyes who would rather read about beans cooked by Auntie Leila.
And if I've been a little boring in my delivery of the links lately, please excuse me. I've been busy working on something that is related to the something that Auntie Leila is busy working on. I admit that it's been taking away from the mental space I have for {b&p}…
Here's a picture of one of the beautiful quilts we were given for our wedding. It's a good thing that I absolutely love our wedding colors, pink and green, because more than one person had the idea to give us wedding quilts in those colors! I'm delighted to have constant reminders of that happy day around us (and, in this case, over us).
Our friend asked me to take some pictures of it for use on the website dovetailquilters.com |
Did you re-read the posts about Thanksgiving and Advent (upcoming)? I need to get in the zone and start prepping over here.
Some posts on marriage:
- The Dominicana Blog had a piece about how Finances, Facebook, and Pornography can affect marriage. Interestingly tied to the virtues and their opposing vices.
- For some more marriage/religious life connection, I enjoyed Finding Tranquility in the Ordinary on Catholic Exchange.
Fun photography posts this week:
- Criminals got to look way classier and more fascinating back in the day. Behold these mug shots from the 1920's.
- If you're up for the more fascinating and strange, enjoy this incredible photography documenting tribal life around the world, by Jimmy Nelson.
- This extremely clever mom turned her baby's naptimes into artistic opportunities. I have to say — it seems like her son is quite a deep sleeper. And these are adorable. I tried to pick a favorite for you but I just can't!!
Costumes and paper dolls!
- A history of pockets for those interested in 17th and 18th century dress.
- Pippi paper dolls (since we've been talking about Astrid Lindgren) — do they work? And Saint paper dolls (since we're always talking about Saints – as always, look to Catholic Culture for info about each!).
- Finally, my favorite link for this week: In Defense of Her Majesties. There's been a lot of naysaying going around vis-a-vis girls wanting to be princesses. This is the perfect answer to all that.
From the archives:
-
First Steps in Teaching a Child to Write, plus Books for Christmas! (includes links for book recommendations)Every Mom can Nurse her Baby! (featuring random photos from Ireland)
A Cowboy Quilt
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Auntie Leila's Ravelry
Becky says
Something interesting about the mug shots… The dates were all written day, month, year (as they still are in Europe) rather than month, day, year. I wonder when the shift happened?
Becky says
Oops! Sorry to spam but perhaps it will be helpful to someone. I told my daughter that she is welcome to be a princess but she has to be the princess *of* something. She can be Princess of Literature, Princess of Engineering, Princess of Flowers. The idea is that she has to be actively ruling over something rather than just prancing about- with great jewels, come great responsibility. 🙂
Melissa Diskin says
Love this! (Even though I have one 5YO who would respond with “Princess of EVERYTHING” — ha ha
Anitra says
That's perfect! I'm going to use that with my 5 year old the next time she wants to be a “princess”. (“what are you a princess of?”) Although, about half the time, she pretends to be a warrior princess with a sword and shield as well as a crown and dress. I think I'm OK with that.
Rebecca Parfitt says
Fantastic idea!
Sukie says
I have to say, I would hesitate to require justification for any imaginative play, be it princesses or cowboys. It would have to get pretty dire, I think. And like the author points out in the article, it's probably not going to get dire if the kids have good stories (fiction and nonfiction) informing their imagination.
DeirdreLMLD says
Hi Becky, I'm with Sukie here. I am actually in favor of letting girls just prance about — just as I'm in favor of letting boys run about. They're only little once! I'm also not opposed to girls pretending to be princesses just because princesses are fun and fairy tales are exciting – why not? If our boys wanted to play knight or sheriff or whatever else, I think we'd just let them.
When we were little, we played princesses (or queen). But I also remember playing orphans, scientists, school teacher, inn keeper, archeologists, shopkeeper, banker, dress designer, etc. We went through phases, but we never stayed on one pretend game for very long. As it turned out, I didn't end up being any one of these things (nor did I end up being a lawyer), but that's not the point. We weren't indulged with purchases to go with our pretend games, we just turned the dress-up box (and whatever else we could get our hands on) into whatever we needed it to be! (maybe that's the problem that some see: when parents are spending $$ on all kinds of “princess” accoutrements and, really, spoiling their daughters, Disney-style.)
Finally, as a daughter of God, my daughter *is* a princess; I do want her to know that and carry that with her through life!
Susan says
I love bits and pieces! I never comment since I end up poking around a bunch of fun links and forget to come back here. Thanks for posting each week.
Jamie says
Bits and Pieces is quite interesting. Thank you for taking the time to post the posts! My husband and I watched the video on Why Beauty Matters by Roger Scruton per your suggestion. It was excellent. Everything he said was right on and so succinct. Keep sharing please.
Laura says
The princess mindset is something I did not grow up with. I'm not sure it was quite as bad as it is currently, however… My parents didn't start something that they couldn't continue and there was no way they could have afforded the type of obsession that many girls have with being a princess. Not only that, but I think in the childish mind, it's a way of manipulating others, or a way of wiggling out from under authority…. and it encourages the girl “drama” you hear so much about ( i have all boys so far, so I have yet to experience that phenomenon). But the, fairy tales have never held much interest to me… I was much more interested in reading about how “ma” made cheese in Little House(and trying to convince my mother to try it too), than I was in wearing a tiara… LOL
Sukie says
Laura, I agree that it's a way to get out from under authority for a while, but I think that's a good thing! Imagining how you would act in a position of power! Of course the consumer-driven frenzy is problematic; but those aren't true princesses. A true princess is noble and just and virtuous.
Also, on the days I wasn't playing Laura on the prairie, I was pretty darn convinced that I WAS an Empress (princesses weren't powerful enough for me) and I can't see how it cost my parents a dime, since all my jewels and finery were imaginary. 🙂
_Leila says
I encourage everyone to read the essay about princesses — “In Defense of Her Majesties.” The author makes good points.
The concept of princess has been trashed by our trashy narcissistic culture, the object of which is always to make money by pandering.
But beware of throwing the fine, noble daughter of the king out with the glittery plastic Disney-fied bathwater. It only does the the downtrodden, misunderstood (in her own mind) little girl good to imagine that she's a princess in disguise who's being tested by evil witches, even though it's hard to swallow that you and I are cast in that unflattering role. (Still, that shoe may fit, no?)
By all means, reject the narcissism. But I have to agree with Sukie and put a plug in there for little children being willing to be gracious monarchs-in-training. Spiritedness is not something we want to scold out of our children at this late date in our civilization.