Nostagia or ?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

Once upon a time I showed dogs, bred champions, trained in obedience and agility, did all the proper health testing even if there wasn’t a problem in my breed, and even trained to be an AKC judge. I then went through a crisis and ended up letting it all go. So now, I enjoy my pets but they are not particularly trained.

Recently I spent a lot of time getting some scheduling moved around so that I could return to attending the meetings of our local kennel club. Why? Because I saw an old acquaintance coming out of Church and thought how much I had enjoyed the people I knew in the local kennel club. And now, I sit here typing away, missing the meeting I worked so hard to be able to attend because I am not sure that I actually want to go to kennel club meetings anymore. What is more, I find I am not sure why.

Did I only think I wanted to go because of nostalgia? I enjoyed my friends in the kennel club. I did not enjoy the infighting. I enjoyed interaction with and learning from my fellow dog breeders. I did not enjoy the nasty anti-breeding and animal rights infiltration. I enjoyed the beauty of the dogs. I did not enjoy the pressure to perform and the nastiness that was directed at me when I won. I enjoyed time with my dogs, but I did not enjoy grieving each one as their natural lives came to a close leaving me wishing for another day with them.

I am wondering if I am missing the good things and wanting to turn back the clock, but forgetting the other side, and forgetting that my life is further along and has taken other turns. I do not want to be going to a dog club because I want to turn back the clock to my younger self. If I attend, I want it to be because I still enjoy those good things and want to see if I can find more.

Yet, I don’t take my dog out to train. I let him run about and be ignorant of the many things I used to insist my dog understand. My relationship with him isn’t close as it would be if I had put a Companion Dog title on him. I am sorry for that but aware that I am not motivated to get out a leash and do the work. Why?

Is it because I am no longer willing to experience the grief I feel when a dog I have trained goes down the expected trail of old age to the inevitable goodbye. I am foolish in my avoidance because I will grieve anyway because he is a good dog in his own unique way. No two dogs are alike, no matter how carefully bred, no matter if nobody else can tell them apart, they are unique as snowflakes. Every loss is a knife in my heart.

There is more. My friends have moved on in their lives and most of them no longer live here. Most of my mentors have passed away and I will feel the lack of their presence so much more strongly when I go to a kennel club meeting and they are not there. These were good people. They loved their dogs and worked hard to preserve their breeds with healthy lineage. They taught me about health testing, temperament testing, training and showing. They taught me to think objectively even about a dog I loved so that my breeding decisions were good ones. They taught me that if I could not handle the inevitable grief that would come that I should not even try to be a breeder. It is not easy to do it right, but worth the effort to preserve what is good and beautiful about a particular breed of dog.

I have changed some too. No longer do I approve of refusing stud service. I have seen the gene pool of breeds shift toward the poorly bred because the breeders who are the preservers of the healthy genetics are refusing to spread the good genes around and thus causing the gene pool to skew away from the healthiest dogs! Oh, that pains me that I was once stingy with the healthy genetics I was called to conserve.

I am missing my kennel club meeting because I fear the grief. The grief of persons who have died and I miss them. The grief over the many dogs over the years that I have loved and who have died and I miss them. The grief over the lost opportunities to help my breed of dog, and I sorrow. I see the way the culture has moved to being hostile toward purebred dogs and those who love and preserve them, and a grieve the change.

I wonder. If I moved past the grief would I once more take up my favorite leash and take a dog to obedience classes? Do I need to return to kennel club to face that grief?

Right this moment it is questions without answers, or the answers are there but I am not yet able to see them. I just know that I didn’t go tonight and my heart is heavy.

Dear Lord, I don’t really know if I should have gone, or will go next month. Please help me do what is healthy and good. +Amen.

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Culture Wars

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

Someone on a social media site made the irrational statement that guns were part of the culture of death. I object. Inanimate objects have no power to act on their own behalf; thus, as inanimate objects, they are incapable of making the moral decisions necessary to join either the culture of death or the Culture of Life.

Guns are not culture of death because an inanimate tool is incapable of making a moral decision in the same way a scalpel is, also, not part of the culture of death. Both these tools can be used to defend innocent life and both of these tools can be used to kill entirely dependent on the moral decisions of the human who wields them. The culture is in the hands of the person wielding that tool.

I personally favor the unrestricted freedom of all citizens to acquire such tools. Each acting person, by virtue of the gift of free will, is responsible for how they choose to use those tools. Guns are great equalizers making the 130 pound women in her home the equal of the 250 pound man hopped up on drugs who just busted into her home. Her life and her children’s lives are defended by the power of a tool used morally.

Dear Lord, please help people to recognize that only humans can act and by their actions join the culture of death or the Culture of Life. Please defend our freedom to own tools with which we can defend innocent life. +Amen.

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To Know Myself!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by

I realized this evening that I love ballads.  Songs like The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald, and Bristlecone Pine.  I realized this when I heard the song, Bristlecone Pine, on an interview with Bryan Bowers and found myself obsessed.  I had to know what CD had the song, and it turns out the CD is named for that ballad.  Then I purchased that CD just for that one song!

This caused me to wonder, am I ever so obsessed with a song that is not a ballad?  Truth is, generally NO.  I do love Church music of all kinds, especially the ones with deep theology reflected in the words.  But have I ever gone to search and find a song, even a hymn, that was not also a ballad?

As a youngster, I was totally obsessed with the ballad, Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald, and even learned about the history behind the story because it was such an incredible story-song. I could never hear it often enough!

Ghost Riders in the Sky gets my attention every time. Love it so much that I go to Youtube sometimes just to listen to it played by different musicians because it is a ballad and ballads are meant to be sung by people, lots of different people.

I think about these examples, a drop in the bucket of ballads I have loved, and yeah, I am really awed by ballads.  I want to listen to them, over and over and over.  I want to memorize the words and the melody, no matter how many times I must repeat the music to get them all correct.  I want to be able to sing the song, over and over and over.

My older kids occasionally asked me to change songs.

During Lent, I was singing my favorite Lenten hymn. Yes, it is similar to chant.  It is ALSO a ballad.  Ditto for my favorite Marian hymn.

I guess at my age I should have realized how much I can be touched by ballads but I guess I didn’t or it would not have been such a surprise.  Soon I will be playing Bristlecone Pine over and over and over and over so I can figure out how to sing it for myself.

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Finding Friends

Posted on April 18, 2013 by

Friendship is a rare and wonderful blessing. Most of us say “friend” when we mean acquaintance. To find and gain interesting new acquaintances is much easier than finding friends.  Acquaintances are fun to have but it is friendship that prevents burnout.  Shy, socially anxious, introverted– whatever the reason, for some persons the work of connecting and developing friendships is much more difficult than for others.

Joining a group that shares an interest in common is a great way to expand your circle of acquaintances. Many people get involved up at Church, or make sure they get to all socials connected with work, or they join the Daughters of the American Revolution, or community choir, or Society for Creative Anachronisms, etc.

What then should you do to get to know those acquaintances in the hopes of finding the one or two who might become friends? I really don’t know.  I know that keeping busy with things I enjoy doing leads to larger circles of acquaintance and that the larger the circle of acquaintance the more likely it is to produce a friend or two.

Talking helps. Not easy if you are an introvert, or suffer from social anxieties. Arriving early to chat briefly with other persons before the big crowd arrives helps. Staying late if you have the energy helps too, because often the scragglers will let down their hair and speak freely. For me, the practice of being there and listening is part of becoming comfortable with new acquaintances.  Moving acquaintance to friendship seems to be a serendipitous event most likely to occur if the pool of acquaintances is constantly being freshened with new acquaintances.

Going to everything that you can stand attending helps freshen the pool of acquaintance with new faces and helps to improve already acquired acquaintance. If your face is familiar, people get used to recalling your name, and gradually the connections can deepen.

These things bring no guarantees.  I spent 12 years at the same Church and participated in numerous activities: Bible study, RCIA, choir –for years–, even took time with a lay religious group for formation and recently had to admit I have no FRIENDS.  Many acquaintances, but nobody to call to join me for a cup of coffee. I’ve tried inviting people from my pool of acquaintance to join me for coffee and chat time but the lack of success suggests I need to look further.

I burned out. If I had some friends there perhaps the burnout would not have happened. But all my friends with whom I share the Faith live in other cities. So, I stopped all but Sundays and re-assigned that social energy to expand my circles of interest and freshen my pool of acquaintance.

I am putting in time with our local Society for Creative Anachronism.  I enjoy it. I like the people in general. Intelligent, creative, interesting people and we share this fun activity.  Have I made any FRIENDS? Not yet, but I am gradually building my circle of acquaintances with many persons I enjoy.  I like these people, and they seem to like me too. Will a friendship grow from this? I have no idea.  It might.

I must admit that my best friends are either from childhood or University or from Dog Training. I hope that I am able to transfer that ability to find friends and create friendships in a different venue!

Dear Lord, thank You for my friends. Bless them please. Thank You for new acquaintances and the opportunity to discover another person out there who can be a friend with me. Bless my acquaintances please.  Please help me to recognize persons who can be friends when I meet them. +Amen.

 

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Sex and Celibacy

Posted on April 17, 2013 by

+Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, especially Bishop and Hieromartyr Simeon of Persia, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.+

This series of blog posts chronicles my experiences with the Spirit of the Age and its lies about women – me in particular.  Let no one be mistaken, just because I am used as an example, I am not interested in self-aggrandizement.  I write ONLY because I can’t be the only one wounded and enslaved by the ideas I describe in this post. 

+May the Most Holy Trinity, along with the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, and our dearest Mother Olga of Alaska heal all of us suffering and laboring under these false ideologies.  Eternal Father, through the Divine Mercy of Your Son and our God, bring healing to everyone enslaved by these modes of thought and the concomitant modes of action that inevitably follow.  Amen.+

The worldview ushered in by the Sexual Revolution and demeans women and men alike.  This worldview insists that children are not harmed (by sexually charged materials, images or behaviors) because sex is natural.  That sex is natural is true, that children are not damaged by early exposure is a lie.

In this worldview, choosing to say “No” to sex is seen as abnormal, unnatural, unhealthy, wrong, possibly evil and definitely oppressive. This is another major falsity.  It is not true that chastity or celibacy are any of those negative things and yet people live by this belief even if only subconsciously.

In this worldview, marriage is abnormal; marriage is a false layer added by the culture. To restrict marriage to the God given definition of one man and one woman married to each other is seen as something put on people instead of the healthy natural order. The result is great pressure to be sexually active outside of marriage to “prove” you are free of cultural pressure.

The result of the above assumptions creates a worldview where women are only valuable insofar as they are sexually active because being sexually active is equated with what is natural and free.  Being sexually active is natural for SOME people (married heterosexual couples), not for all.  Therefore, this also is a lie made up of an incomplete truth that has been twisted. 

The above assumptions creates a worldview where men are in charge of women’s sexualities, the assumption here is also that since sex is natural it is only right that people become sexually active once in a relationship.  This is an outright lie.  Men are NOT in charge of women’s sexualities and relationships do not have to include intercourse.  The woman herself is in charge of the body God has granted her.  She can choose to use it in service to the Creator, by whatever means is appropriate for her, or not. 

These aforementioned lies, when taken together, create a mindset in which it is not possible to exist as even a second class or lower ranked human person without being sexually active at the discretion of another regardless of your age or desire.  To refuse participation in sex outside of marriage is seen as oppressive, wrong, unhealthy, unnatural and because of those things, unreasonable.

Being a person in which these lies have been manifest for many years, and being one who is attempting to rectify the damage they have done in my life, I am consulting a nun for clues to the value of the female human person if those lies are NOT true. 

According to St John Chrysostom, even the hardest of cases can be made a pure virgin again if she turns to Christ as His Bride.  This is obviously a spiritual virginity.  Not necessarily as a nun, mind you.  Due to my mental health issues, I cannot become a nun.  So how do I react to the world without that supportive and challenging context?  This is my huge question. 

Part of the answer is that I am working with my sweetheart to better my life and our relationship through celibacy.  This is novel, this is frightening; this goes against every single thing I’ve ever learned or experienced about being a human female.  My very core is shattered on a profound level by my single “No,” to sex and it is healing again with my single “Yes” to God.

Julia Cameron once pointed out, “Going sane feels like going crazy.”  Maybe I’m going sane now.  I’m trying to.  I am terrified. 

I have hit the core of my difficulties and while the bipolar and the borderline personality disorders – the later a result of the victimization of females and children rampant in this fallen world – may never go away, I may yet be able to integrate my alter-personalities with the application of Christ’s Truth about myself.

+Dearest Lord Jesus Christ, most holy Theotokos, and my blessed Mother Olga of Alaska, please grant that my healing start today.  Please strengthen my sweetheart and myself.  Let us not be felled by temptation and arrogance and self-aggrandizement, thinking that we can handle it ourselves.  Please send down the dew of God’s mercy on our parched and struggling hearts and grant healing to our souls and to all souls endeavoring to live appropriately and to value themselves aright in God’s world. Amen.+

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Creating Sacred Space

Posted on April 10, 2013 by

+Through the prayers of our holy fathers, especially those of St Basil the Confessor and Bishop of Parium, o Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us, Amen.+

On The Complete Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, Chapter 4:

Making a sacred space for creativity is an old idea I have toyed with, but I’ve never had the space to execute before.  Seeking my own autonomy is difficult. This building a sacred space for my creativity and for prayer is symbolic of my seeking to be a person after Christ’s heart in His Body.  I find myself almost dancing as I put this space together.  I have Mr. Mister’s song Kyrie rolling through my head and through the air as well. 

SACRED SPACE EXTERIOR sm

The puppy is curious about all the goings on.  We pray at every step, sometimes aloud, sometimes silently, she’s been doused with holy water twice now as I’ve blessed the space in the Name of the Holy Trinity and dedicated it to the Theotokos, Joy of Those Who Sorrow; and to Matushka Olga of Kwethluk, who is granted to have mercy on the abused and who is known to be a Companion to the Theotokos.  See Matushka Olga’s site at http://www.oholy.net. 

SACRED SPACE INTERIOR 2 SM

No sacred space would be complete for me without books.  Therefore the top shelf has fiction that inspires me to be a better artist, human being, and Christian.  The next shelf has guides for my journey – The Complete Artist’s Way, Simple Abundance, and The Orthodox Study Bible.  Under that shelf there is a series of regular sized books about lives I’d like to live: bookbinder, bellydancer, dog trainer, calligrapher, and the bottom shelf continues the theme, but in oversized books, laying on their sides:  herbalist, person who crochets, designer and maker of Victorian/Steampunk women’s clothes.

SACRED SPACE INTERIOR 1 SM

My prayer book lays on the 18th century Korean altar table, as does the icon of Matushka Olga and next to that is the icon of the Theotokos, Joy of Those Who Sorrow.  Beneath the prayer book is the notebook holding my Morning Paragraphs (baby steps, you know. . . they’re supposed to be Morning Pages – 3 pages of stream of consciousness recording, but I’m doing paragraphs until I have the endurance to do more) and my Affirmations.

+Thank you, Lord, for friends like Quicksilver who encourage my growth and development into a person You are more likely to want to know.  Have mercy on the souls of all artists who seek to emulate Your creativity by producing more beauty in the world so that all can see what Heaven might be.  Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen+

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Western-Eastern Fusion Music, or what I Learned when I asked if a Chinese Pipa could play American Folk Music

Posted on April 4, 2013 by

One of the good things about being American is that we tend  to explore elements of many other cultures, and add them to the many uniquely American elements that have grown up here. All the members of our family value the cultures of our ancestors.  My niece will likely do the same, after all, she is one of us.

My niece is also musical and enjoys playing her piano and musical people often play more than one instrument. So I began to explore folk instruments from the culture of her ancestors. I wanted to find something interesting that might be small and portable. A piano is difficult to carry off to camp or to college–but a Pipa or Guzheng? Now these will fit in the car, dorm room, or apartment!

The result of my spending some time enjoying the many fine folk instruments of China was my wondering if these truly fabulous instruments might also be able to play Western music? The answer is YES! A marvelous fusion is possible.

First, Scarborough Fair:

I get goose bumps over that one. One of my favorite songs played with instruments from a completely different culture. TOTALLY AMAZING!

Then I looked at this video of some other western song (not one familiar to me) played on the guzheng:

It made me think of the western Ghost Riders In the Sky I get all goose-bumpy when I listen to that ballad.  This fusion music is something worth the listening time.

Then I listened to this next one and all I can say is this is one fabulous belly dance song!! Woo-hooo, I had to MOVE!

I think the answer to my question is YES, Chinese folk instruments can play American music and give it a new sound that is amazing.

How about a guzheng used in a Church for a gospel song? Here is AMAZING GRACE and SILENT NIGHT on guzheng (here is another rendition of Silent Night), Auld Lang Syne, and He’s a Pirate from the pirate movies.

AND I found Sound Of Asia, a store where they sell quality folk instruments from Asia.

Dear Lord, thank You for my niece. Thank You for the incredible creativity You gifted to the human race. Thank You for the many opportunities to enjoy the many cultures on our planet. Please bless the makers of these instruments and grant them the best supplies for their art. +Amen.

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Home Education: Teaching History

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

Teaching History in a Home School setting can be a challenge, especially when we are faced with teaching ages 11 and up through High School. Most of us learned what little history we know from textbooks that sucked the life out of the stories and bored us nearly to death. A few of us were fortunate enough to run across writers of histories who are anything BUT boring. Historians like Dr. Warren Carroll whose books (like the very short 1917, Isabella, and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness, and the heavy duty Christendom series) challenged and delighted me into becoming a lover of History.

Biographies, GOOD biographies, are enjoyable and interesting. There are biographies of persons in every field and for every segment of history.  A look at the lives of actual people makes history come alive.  One need not limit oneself to political figures either.  Scientists, Saints, cartographers, adventurers and explorers abound in history.  Even philosophers like Dietriech von Hildebrand whose biography Soul of a Lion is a must read for the study of WWII (along with the story of a geeky guy’s contributions to the British war effort in the book Between Silk and Cyanide or a view of the Spanish Riding School in My Horses, My Teachers). History is about PEOPLE and so their lives and their loves matter.

History is about people in another way too.  How they worshiped, how they spent their money, how they were paid, what did their money look like, how did they light their homes, how did they keep time, what did their maps look like, how were people educated, what did children play with, what did the market look like, what did they eat, what didn’t they eat, how did they dress, what colors, what fabric, what jewelry, where did their food come from, what was the climate like at the time? ANY interest a child may have can become a history lesson simply by asking them about their interest as it might have been at a certain point in the past.

An even more hands on way to study history is to join with others who love aspects of history. The Society for Creative Anachronisms is just such a group.  Serious historians participate right along side people for whom it is more fantasy play but the major thrust is to learn history experientially.

SCA says of itself:

“The SCA is an international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe. Our “Known World” consists of 19 kingdoms, with over 30,000 members residing in countries around the world. Members, dressed in clothing of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, attend events which feature tournaments, royal courts, feasts, dancing, various classes & workshops, and more.”
The official line is “pre-17th-century Europe”, but many a person looks at the silk road and chooses a persona to develop from one of the many cultures represented along its endless miles making it possible to study Asian, Middle Eastern, and African cultures too because they came into contact with European cultures. People of every race and religion traveled and traded along the silk road from the earliest days. Events happening in one country can be compared to the same time period in a far flung part of the globe.
Imagine a project where family members research elements of life from a period between 600 and  1600 AD and then re-create some of them to demonstrate what they have learned. Attending events lets you see living history. Large events have Arts and Sciences competitions where papers documenting the history accompany items made from that information. Modern substitutions are also documented with an explanation of why (cost for example!). Of course, the boys and some of the girls will find the Chivalric, Rapier and Archery more their idea of fun. And for the kid into building machines, how about a catapult or siege engine?
Religion can be included in the study of History in the home school.  If your persona lived in Avila Spain during the 1400′s, when would they have needed to be living if they wanted to meet St. Teresa of Avila?  If they lived in 984AD in Constantinople, whose writings were being read in study of the Faith?  Who was Pope Who was Patriarch of Constantinople? What liturgy was being used at that time? When did the Rosary first appear and how did it look? Would your persona have owned a Bible and if they did, how would it have been bound?
The SCA has the motto of “The Middle Ages as they OUGHT to have been” meaning that we keep our modern plumbing, and our medical persons at the events are modern in their training (but dressed for period!). We also keep our tolerance of differing religious beliefs and each persona may have a religion but it is not flaunted because while we may study the wars of religion, we prefer to reenact without them!  We attempt period clothing, period tents, period everyday practices and materials (what kind of dishes were used and had forks been invented yet or introduced to your culture yet?), and work to avoid breaking the ambiance with modern materials.
How did ladies and gentleman wear their hair in your period and culture?  You might be surprised! In 1525 Britain, what would your persona be wearing and what was happening at that time in Constantinople and in the Americas?  This sort of study helps a student to connect with history on a more global scale and at the same time connect with people of a particular place.  The way most of us learned history we never realized how cultures ebbed and grew so that while Rome was a dying ruin of a city, Constantinople was still in its hey day, and London, Paris, Mexico City, Jerusalem, and Hong Kong  were doing what (or did they even exist at that time)?
History is about people and how they lived and interacted with each other and with their world. It need not be a dull list of dates and facts divorced from the context of human lives and loves. Get into history with an eye toward re-creations and possibly by taking part in a local SCA group where other brains have been doing history in this way and may be wonderful resources.
Above all, have fun learning!
Dear Lord, thank You for Your presence in every time and place. Thank You for interesting books and hands on ways to learn about history. Please help all of us to understand our histories a bit better through study and bless the efforts of home schooling parents and their children. +Amen.
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Lenten Silent Retreat

Posted on March 28, 2013 by

Silent Retreats are a means of stepping away from the usual business of life and focus hard on God. As always, what I got out of my silent retreat is not what I expected to get out of my silent retreat. God always has plans that differ from what I expect even when I don’t think I expect anything in particular.

The retreat I participated in was held at Featherock Conference Center in Schulenburg Texas. As ALWAYS, the facility was spotlessly clean and well appointed inside, the grounds immaculately presented and beautiful, the food excellent, and the program well designed. The meditations, spiritual readings, Mass, Confession, and ample time for quiet introspection never fail to bring something unexpected to my attention.

The food was good, and my diet is a bust this week.  I confessed that failing along with a shockingly long list of faults and sins that showed up because I used a different guide than usual. Silent retreats have a way of granting clarity!

My clarity came in several areas, one of which was the need to express my love and appreciation for my spouse more openly.  I value him so very much but all too often I fail to TELL HIM.   So I drove the two hours home after the retreat and baked my hubby a triple batch of his favorite quiche. I hope to enact a number of changes for his benefit.  He is such a good husband and deserves the good I have not be doing!

Another area has to do with the time I spend with my children. I have not been getting my children, who are not good at being still or quiet, to Mass.  I have also spent too little time just playing with them and enjoying them.  It is uncomfortable and will require some sacrifices on my part, but I am quite convicted that my parenting while good, has not been anywhere as good as I am able!

Pride claims yet another victim.  It hit me out of the blue that pride has kept me from admitting my limitations; accepting those limitations so I can better serve my family will not be easy for me but now I see it as absolutely essential. I feel peaceful accepting this fault, and rather uncomfortable that it existed so long without my recognizing it.

I finally feel like my list of missions of the Church that my little bit goes to is complete.  So many good works and nobody can support all of them, so I have been giving a good bit of thought to where my donation money goes. I was reading about all sorts of ministries, I read about an ideal focus for the prayers and donations of a bibliophile with a passion for Church teaching. :) “Friends of the Library” for the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome!

So, I feel rather fatter– but perhaps have gotten extra graces that will help me stick to the diet. :)
Dear Lord, thank You for the clarity, for the Sacraments, for the time to pause my life and pray, and for the grace to make the changes You have shown me I need to make. Please bless my family. +Amen.
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BREAKING ANCHOR by Henry Melton

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

Oh my home school book loving friends I have run across a new to me author who is MARVELOUS! Henry Melton writes books with teen age protagonists who face real science fiction scenarios in the modern world.  The writing is fast paced, the characters well developed, and there is none of that anti-parent propaganda so popular in most modern youth books.  Themes in his books encourage communication between the generations, respectful relationships, learning about the sciences, and becoming active rather than passive in living.

Breaking Anchor is the first of his books I read. I found in this book a sound relationship between a father and son played out in a way that is neither sugary sweet nor hostile. Does the teen protagonist have issues with his Dad’s rules? Yup! Does he rebel and get hailed a hero for doing so? NOPE!  Do some of his friends complain about how strict his dad is? Yes, and the protagonist stays loyal to his dad even though at times he feels sympathy with how his friends feel about it. It is his respect for what his father and what he taught him that keeps him alive and enables him to do what he does in the story.

The author is respectful of the emotions of teenagers, and portrays them realistically. The adults are never demonized but shown sympathetically as they too struggle with the situation.  I liked very much the relationships I saw portrayed. Even the handling of attraction between teens is managed well and without any heavy moralizing, glorification or smut.  The kids make the right decisions (from a Catholic standpoint I am delighted with their decision!) in a very natural organic to the story manner. Nicely done!

The underlying theme of responsibility to other people and to our promises has important and unexpected repercussions.  Our protagonist takes risks and learns some things about himself, and that insight causes him to make some changes in his own attitudes. Altering his approach to differences in groups of persons by becoming more willing to adapt and more sympathetic to the desire not to have to adapt.

The book has a good underlying message that there is a LOT a teen can do when they have paid attention and learned from the adults.  Our youthful hero applies what he learned and gains experience successfully because of his education. He survives the adventure because of lessons learned from his parents. The theme of authority is explored.  The world view is devoid of relativism and sympathetic to Natural Law.

These books are aimed at teens. Taking the rule of thumb that the age of the readers is two to three years below that of the hero, then this book is aimed at 14-15 year old teens.  I would certainly not hesitate to let my 15 year old children read this book.  Depending on the teen, I would likely not hesitate to allow a preteen who is reading well to read this book.

As Home School parents we keep looking for good books that are age appropriate for our young readers which will be positive in influence and avoid undermining our efforts. I believe this author’s books do just that, and in a way that also encourages interest in science and learning.

Recommend HIGHLY

Dear Lord, please bless Henry Melton and send many buyers for his books. Thank You for author’s whose work is interesting and filled with positive themes. Thank You for Henry Melton and his books. +Amen.

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