A Heart Lost in Wonder: The Life and Faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins by Catharine Randall

A Heart Lost in Wonder by Catharine Randall is part of the far ranging Library of Religious Biography. Gerard Manley Hopkins poetry is unique and memorable, full of vivid images, but I knew little about his career as a priest or his life and how it affected his poetry.

Hopkins viewed everything through his faith, finding the divine in every tree and mountain.

Hopkins developed a personal and unique philosophy to explain the power of beauty in this world through the lens of faith. The draw of beauty was so powerful, he believed it might eclipse the divine. He would go weeks with his eyes fixated on the ground in self-denial.

Drawn by the traditions of the Catholic church he converted and he believed he was called to the priesthood. 

It seems like the absolute wrong choice that Hopkins would become a Jesuit--in effect, an itinerant teacher. I can personally attest that no one can who has not lived it can fully comprehend the sacrifices of itinerary, to be removed from a place that feeds one and set in a place that kills one's soul.

A perfectionist, he the work of grading papers and teaching wore Hopkins out and allowed no personal time for his poetry or an internal life.

He responded to the beauty of Wales and the rural assignments but the cities with their poverty and ugliness were soul-destroying. He denied himself poetry but rhapsodized in his journals.

Randall's book delves into the theologies that inspired Hopkins and shows how to interpret his poetry through the lens of his faith.  I am not Catholic and I am not deeply familiar with Newman or Loyola but she presents them very well. 

It is very interesting, but difficult to comprehend Hopkin's unique view of poetry. Cooper discusses the poems as vehicles for Hopkins's theology. 

Hopkins suffered a faith crisis in his later life and died an early death.

I enjoyed the book but do not feel I could comprehend it in one reading. It is dense and deserves a deeper study.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

A Heart Lost in Wonder: The Life and Faith of Gerard Manley Hopkins
by Catharine Randall
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Pub Date 28 Jul 2020
ISBN: 9780802877703
paperback $22.00 (USD)

Quilts, Books and News

No, I do not need any more books...but who can resist a 50% off deal? I can't. And I dragged my husband along and he found several books as well. 

I tried to get the galley for The Darwin Affair. Miracle Creek has had rave reviews. And Greek to Me had me laughing out loud the first page. My husband has enjoyed Linda Castillo's novels and thought When Life Gives You Lululemons would be a fun read.

Several LibraryThing books had never arrived but an email to the publisher got a great response. I now have Bill McKibben's Falter on my TBR review pile.

And Archeology From Space by Sarah Parcak.

I am reading:

• America is Immigrants by Sara Novic, a Goodreads win
• Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin, a Book Club Cook Book galley win being read by my library book club 
• Adventures of the Peculiar Protocol, a new Sherlock Holmes mystery by Nicholas Meyer who wrote the Seven Percent Solution
• Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison
• Little Women Cookbook by Wini Moranville and Louisa May Alcott
• Patchwork Picnic: Simple-To-Piece Blocks that Celebrate the Outdoors by Gracey Larson

Parade Magazine in our weekly Free Press often has a book column. This past Sunday they highlighted This Tender Land by Kent Krueger, a book I loved. My review is coming upon its publication. Krueger is reading the fantastic Virgil Wander by Lief Enger, which I reviewed here.

I shared my 1857 Album quilt at my weekly quilt group and they took some great pics.

I also shared the Halloween table runner I made as a gift.

I used leftover fabric to make placemats to match, shown below with a cute black cat mug I thought could hold candy or an arrangement as a centerpiece.

Close to 30 years ago my dad planted two apple trees next to the patio. Over the last nine years, we have trimmed them back every winter and they have become prolific fruit bearers. This year they did not get the black-spotted fungus and we had a rainy spring and a dry, sunny summer. We have more apples than we can handle. The pic below shows what we gathered in TEN MINUTES!

We will be making apple butter very soon.

And I am enjoying the weekly farm stand in the city part two blocks away.

Last of all, I have joined a fitness center and have signed up to work with a fitness coach! This is taking me out of my comfort zone for sure!
I want to build strength and balance and muscle tone. I have issues with vertigo and also am working with a doctor to deal with it.

What are you up to?

Late Summer in Michigan, Quilts, and Books

My 1857 Album quilt is finally complete! In 2016 Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches shared her patterns based on a historical quilt. I finished the top in 2017. A few months ago I took the top to a local machine quilter, Maggie Smith. She did a wonderful job!

I bought the green, red, and orange fabrics online. I found they frayed too easily for applique. That will teach me to buy online! Applique requires a tight weave.

The one things I would recommend is to wait until the top is done before adding the corner petal units. Mine came out wonky. I should have removed them and restitched them. But I didn't. Because I am complacent and lazy, lol.

 I substituted some of the original patterns and made up my own, like adding the printed portraits of 1957 presidents.

I made a Halloween table runner. I created the applique in the center based on the print. 

After a long stretch of 90+ degree heat it cooled down a bit and two weeks ago we went to the Stage Nature Center in Troy, MI for our walk. 

The Rouge River flows through the park.

The meadow flowers were blooming.

 The last time we visited we saw close to 20 deer, but this day we only saw one.

Our Rutgers tomatoes and apple trees are coming into peak season!

After my brother returned from backpack hiking into the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan he invited us to his place for a corn roast and for my birthday presents--Charlie Harper coloring books and The Man Who Planted Trees with woodcut illustrations.

Two weeks ago on my Sunday walk I came across a neighbor's garage sale and picked up a book by Pat Cox.

 I am quite charmed by Millie's Quilt.

 What a great scrap quilt this would be!

 Also pictured is this Single Wedding Ring quilt circa 1915.

I caught my interest because I have an heirloom quilt from my husband's great-great-grandmother that is a Turkey red and white Single Wedding Ring and I had thought it dated about 1915.

Harriet is pictured below on the left with her mother Margaret Scovil Nelson and holding her daughter Grace.

We went on a trip to Port Huron, Michigan. We donated Harriet's New Testament to the Port Huron Historical Museum for a long-term loan. The book is said to have belonged to John Riley, an Objibway chief, and son of an early Michigan trader. Riley was a translator for The Treaty of Saginaw. He and his brothers James and Philip are mentioned in history books with Louis Cass, fighting for the Americans.

I just hung this handkerchief quilt wall hanging which I made some years back. The Japanese contemporary handkerchief is beautiful! I added three borders extending the motifs.

I was recently contacted by a man who saw my review of Simply Austen. He noted I had studied with Prof. Toby Olshin at Temple and was excited to find someone else who remembered and revered her.

As if I didn't have enough books to read...I jumped on the bandwagon to join The Goldfinch readathon sponsored by Little, Brown on social media. It was on my TBR shelf and it was a good excuse to pick it up. I am so glad, too--it's wonderful!

The Goldfinch 

Our local library is having a book sale. I picked up some vintage books.

 The Sunbonnet Babies are adorable.

 I can't resist this pattern with the baby reading a book.

 A cat lover has joined our family. Perhaps these patterns will be of interest to her.

I love Rumor Godden's fiction and memoirs about living in India. She also wrote books for children, like The Mousewife.

What have you been doing this summer?

1857 Album Quilt Top Finished!

When Gay Boomers of Sentimental Stitches saw an 1857 Album quilt it caught her interest. The original quilt was machine quilted. When she won the auction for the quilt Gay decided to draft patterns based on the 64 blocks and share them through her website.

1857 Album quilt top by Nancy A. Bekofske

Beginning in January 2016 Gay released several block patterns a month, free of charge. A Facebook page was set up so those who were making the quilt could share their progress.

Some of the first blocks from 1857 Album

I finally completed my quilt top. There is a border pattern available but I don't need a quilt that large. I have substituted some patterns with my own inventions.

I created the inkwell to reflect my interest in writing

The patterns are now for sale at her website at http://sentimentalstitches.net/free-stuff/block-of-the-month-quilt-designs/the-1857-album-quilt/

1857 Album block

It was interesting to have found a 1938 magazine article by Florence Peto with a quilt that is very similar to Gay's. The border Gay offers is similar to the one in the quilt in the article.

1857 Album block

I shared the entire article at https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2016/01/old-quilts-tell-story-by-florence-peto.html

I used green, red, and orange as my main applique colors

Here is the part of the article in which Peto describes the Houseman quilt:

"Although little verifiable biography enlightens the genesis of the merry Housman Quilt, the spirit of a locality animates it and it is vibrant with sentiment, symbolism, and the interests of a family. It was made in 1859, which is not old as quilts go. The present owner inherited it from an aunt whom she had seldom seen and she knows only that it was made in the Housman family which had Dutch ancestry; historical records show them to have lived on Staten Island as early as 1675. It is believed that some young son of the Housmans emigrated to Pennsylvania where he married a girl born and bred to German traditions. Being, therefore, well versed in local folklore, her patchwork took on the exuberant quality of a regional document which, at her passing, went to the Staten Island branch of the family.

The Houseman Quilt

"Occupying central position is the red calico homestead with building-stones, and chimneys embroidered in chain stitches; ornamental stitchery is so often seen superimposed on the appliqué work of Pennsylvania-made quilts, it is tempting to call it characteristic. On both sides of the date have been placed pineapples, domestic symbol of hospitality. One of them, pieced of tiny rectangular patches hardly as large as your own small fingernail, has acquired a remarkable realistic effect. Left of center are two formalized trees of life, a little stark and primitive, but often seen in this form on other pieces of local handiwork. On each side of the house are more naturalistic, fruit-bearing trees under whose branches cocks and hens strut and feed. Baby's hands, scissors, and the baby's cradle over which hovers the dove, in this instance symbol of innocence, suggest woman's occupations. The capacious coffee mug, fancifully inscribed "John Demorest" and the Masonic and Odd Fellows' emblems, indicate masculine tastes and interests. There is speculation in the meaning of the Punch-and-Judy-looking figures; they may be Grandpa and Grandma Horseman; one or both may have had the disconcerting habit of mislaying his or her spectacles. Under the debonair horseman in orange breeches and green coat, "Euphemia" is stitched in outline; there is sad implication in the little riderless pony, who, by the way, carries an English saddle.

"Of not so personal but more general interest are the flower forms. Left of the house is seen a conventionalized passion flower. The lute as a motif was often employed by music-loving people, while oak leaves (top row, right of center) bring to mind German songs and stories; it is written that in ancient oak groves Germanic forebears worshiped their gods and held their communal assemblies. In Pennsylvania the double rose, fuchsia, pomegranate, and tulip are constantly recurrent motifs in the adornment of dower chests, household utensils, and needlework.

"Your old quilt may be decorated lavishly with hearts or there may be just one tucked away unobtrusively in a corner; the presence of a heart or dove indicated a bride's quilt. In the Housman Quilt a circle of hearts has been arranged in a round patch. The Star and Crescent (upper right-hand corner of the quilt) painted on a barn was a potent talisman to ward off unfriendly spirits from cattle and still other symbols had the property to insure prolific increase. Left of the Star and Crescent is the St. Andrew's Cross; though more often placed in a circle, in this quilt it has been set in a square. The St. Andrew's Cross, sure protection against sorcery, was a favorite hex mark. For instance, a witch, placing her hand on a door-knocker into which the occupant of the house as previously had the foresight to cut a St. Andrew's Cross, would be rendered helpless and impotent. Tools and guns, so marked, never disappeared or behaved badly.

"In the Housman quilt a green leaf appliquéd close to the corner of each unit block becomes a group of four leaves when the blocks are set together; leaves cut in three lobes supply a pleasing border finish. this piece is owned and shown by courtesy of Mrs. Frank Carroll."

 I enjoyed working on this quilt for nearly two years! Now....to get it quilted!