well, it’s about a guy in the forest who lives in a cave with another guy who’s a gnome…so this Siegfried makes a sword out of his father’s old, busted one and then goes and kills this dragon, Fafner, and takes a magic helmet and the ring everyone’s fighting for.
…then he tastes some of the dragon’s blood he has on his finger, and all of a sudden he can understand everything the animals and birds in the forest are saying.
…so this one bird tells him a lot of things, and it says there’s a goddess named Brunnhilde sleeping on top of a mountain. there’s a big ring of fire all around her, and only a hero can get through it and wake her up. so Siegfried knows he’s pretty good and he climbs the mountain and gets through the fire and wakes up Brunnhilde. and then they sing back and forth about love for a little while and then it’s the end.
from The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright
Siegfried with the gnome in the cave with the sword by Mabel
the recommendations feature at goodreads said we might enjoy The Saturdays. it looked promising–written in the 40s, about a group of siblings. so i put it on hold. then it sat quietly on the shelf while we read The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. we finally started The Saturdays this week; it’s our naptime and bedtime reading. we were enjoying it, and then this afternoon, we read the passage above. (i’ve cut some of the most interesting, conversational bits in order to get dinner on the table!). Mabel’s eyes got bigger and bigger with each sentence. swords, dragons, goddesses, gnomes in a cave in the forest! what more could one ask for in an opera?
then i remembered, Kimberlee’s post from last week about how creativity happens at her place. it was a wonderful piece, creative in it’s own right. but it was about Wagner and opera, things i’m not too interested in. Mabel and Nicolas? that’s another story! so, we looked at the pictures and read about Kateri’s good work.
that’s when we realized that Kimberlee and her children have read and enjoyed The Saturdays before us! and they have a whole house full of big and little children to read and listen. blessings upon blessings.
oh, and here’s the link to Melissa’s classic post from whence i appropriated the title of this post.
What a beautiful moment of connection and creativity! These moments are what I treasure most about learning at home along side my children.
S–
Andy and i were talking over schooling ideas this morning with coffee. he said most people just don’t see spending your days with children as real, valuable work, a meaningful way of life.
and i had to shake my head because having the chance to climb under the covers into the warm, fluffy feather bed and snuggle together as i read The Saturdays, to see her face flame up with excitement, to watch her work, to help her find performances on YouTube, to see what others have made in response to Wagner…nothing can compare with this work.
and these moments are so every day, they sometimes lie buried under all the other every day work of dishes and laundry and food for the people who live here.
but they are filled with glory.
Mental multivitamin wrote with grace and clarity on this very issue earlier this week:
http://mentalmultivitamin.blogspot.com/2011/11/2292000.html
and from a few years ago here:
http://mentalmultivitamin.blogspot.com/2010/09/it-takes-life-to-love-life_17.html
…striving to look at my children as if i really saw them…
Very nice picture, Mabel!