"4. Kingdoms without justice are like criminal gangs
Remove justice and what are kingdoms but gangs of ciminals on a large scale? What are criminal gangs but petty kingdoms? A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention.
  If this villainy wins so many recruits from the ranks of the demoralized that it aquires territory, establishes a base, captures cities and subdues peoples, it then openly arrogates to itself the title of kingdom, which is conferred on it in the eyes of the world, not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity.
  For it was a witty and truthful rejoinder which was given by a captured pirate to Alexander the Great. The king asked the fellow, 'What is your idea, in infesting the sea?' And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence, 'The same as yours, in infesting the earth! But because I do it with a tiny craft, I'm called a pirate: because you have a mighty navy, you're called an emperor.' "
St. Augustine, City of God, Book IV, Chapter 4

  "'Drinking, sir? Me, sir? No, sir. Where would I get a drink, sir?'
  'You're as tight as an owl.'
  This was a wholly unjustified slur on a most respectable breed of bird, for owls are as abstemious as the most bigoted temperance advocate could wish..."
~Pigs Have Wings, by P.G. Wodehouse

The lizard survived. But it had to be photographed first, to prove its existence to posterity.
I tried to take its picture with Joshua lying in the grass and the lizard in his hands, but the lizard would escape, terrified, from the hands that caught him. He would leap out and try to run through the grass, which is like me trying to run in thigh deep water. He made very little progress and I would catch him again as gently as I could. Then I put him on Joshua's head. The pale, translucent skin of the lizard showed up very well against his dark brown hair. Hopefully the snap will turn out well. One's first lizard must be properly documented!

Those who have never had a small lizard dart up their pant leg do not know what they have missed. The search for it, though, gently patting my pants, was the harder part. Happily, the lizard decided to exit my pants, and headed for under my dresser, where I recaptured him.
Had I lost him there would have been grief, because this lizard was the first one Joshua has ever caught. The lizard is sitting by my keyboard in an empty Celestial Seasonings box, safe for the moment. He is due for release at nightfall, and my self-appointed mission is to keep him safe until then.

I've been listening to 'Downstream', a WeatherVane Compilation for a while.
While I have my favorites, of course, it is a good listening CD. You can just let it play, without groaning and thinking to yourself, "Why did they put this in here?"
It is difficult to place this CD in a tidy genre. Buzzwords would be folk, folk/rock, grassroots, acoustic guitar, alternative rock, country and folk, haunting poetic lyrics, and acoustic pop. Altogether, its an excellent CD.
My favorites are

Lady of Cicero, by Hughes & Wagner,
Mary Visits Elizabeth, by Claire Holley,
Listen to the Rain, by Hughes & Wagner, and
Pull My Wagon, by Loni Rose,

however, there are 18 tracks, so there are lots of other choices. Not every song appeals to me yet, but when I get around to listening to each track and appreciating it on its own, not as a part, I'll be better equipped to judge them individually.

The violin has lovely tone and squeaks less. I'm enjoying practice more. I'm playing simplified versions of Psalm 122, 119 X, the doxology, and Rise Again Ye Lionhearted.
Also, by ear, If I Were a Rich Man. (from Fiddler on the Roof). It is addictive-- all the boys have asked me to play it, and now, today, everyone is walking around the house singing the 'yabba dabba dabba dabba dabba dabba da!' part. Only some of them are singing 'yubba dubba.' Ah well.
I'm going to try to squeeze in finishing my chemistry homework before I have to leave.

my violin arrived!

I had class this afternoon so it isn't set up yet, but it looks beautiful. And now I can stop jumping up in agitated hopefulness every time the doorbell rings, hoping its the UPS man.

Saturday...

is a great day. Even if you have to do Chemistry homework. (didn't get done yesterday, due Monday) I'm planning on seeing Open Range (with Robert Duval) this evening.

I finished The King of Torts, by John Grisham, last week. I didn't like it as well as, say, The Testament. The main character absolutely failed to endear himself to me, becoming a slimeball lawyer too quickly in the narrative for me to hope for a turn around, or to make it seem realistic. He says he thinks about a blatant wrongdoing he committed, but if I'm going to be convinced he really did, not just says he did, I want to see symptoms of remorse. As it was, it looked like at the end leaving it all behind in repentance was just an excuse for flying off into the sunset with the girl. (The first girl, not the second girl.)

Anyway, at least The Man in the Brown Suit, by Agatha Christy, came through with a rousing whodunnit plot and plenty of details and twists.

Tennis this morning. Shakespear this afternoon.

I'm reading St. Augustine's Confessions still, books 6-9 this week. As well as The Hobbit, which I must say doesn't seem at all like homework. The Hobbit is sheer pleasure to read. In Shakespear we're reading A Midsummer's Night Dream.


btw, what color does my blog background show up as for you? I see white, but apparently for some of you it shows up as "chartreuse on steroids". Hmm. Odd.

Played tennis this morning. I was happily surprised that I hadn't lost all my playing ability. Just, apparently, my serve. And backhand. Oh, wait... I didn't have the backhand to start with.

Read Shakespear aloud in class today. I was Helena speaking to Demetrius in Act 2. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, though, that she would follow him despite his hatred for her. I would agree with her statement that "[w]e should be woo'd, and were not made to woo." Which points to the upside-down-ness of our culture, where boys learn to sit back while girls chase them. Which I read somewhere-or-other but cannot remember where at the moment. But I would guess Her Hand in Marriage.

I'm off to read Augustine's Confessions. I've read through his babyhood and boyhood so far. Books one through five need read by Thursday.

Government class today. We had an ex-state legislator come speak. I disagreed with him on some things (he enthusiastically supports Bush and the war in Iraq), but on other things he was correct. He told us it was very important to vote for Christians, more important than the Democrat/Republican distinction.
Tolkien/Lewis, Great Books, and Shakespear all going well. We're reading through The Hobbit, St. Augustine's Confessions, and A Midsummer's Night Dream. I've read The Hobbit many times, but this is the first time through for the other two.

If you are at the video store pondering whether to view The Importance of Being Earnest, I advise you, discerning viewer who likes good plots and everything to tie in, go across the street to your local public library and get a Jeeves and Wooster such as Jeeves and the Cowcreamer. We watched the former last night. Enjoyment was keen at points, but very spotty. Go with Wodehouse.