Some of my favorite blogs are finalists for the Blogs of Beauty Awards sponsored by Sallie at Two Talent Living You have about a week to check out the finalists and vote for your favorites. Voting will close 8:00 p.m. EST, Tuesday, December 6, 2005.

I hope to visit all the finalist blogs that I don’t already know by next Tuesday.

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

Sallie at Two Talent Living is sponsoring the 2005 Blogs of Beauty Awards for “female bloggers who bring beauty to the world of blogdom.” You can email nominations to Sallie through November 29th.

Amanda Witt posted a beautiful poem by Antoine de Saint Exupery on Sunday called “Generation to Generation.”

“We live, not by things, but by the meanings
of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords
from generation to generation.”

Joseph Bottum at First Things led me to this poem, After 9/11 by Charles Martin published in The Hudson Review.

We went up on our roof and saw first one
And then the other silently unmake
Its outline, horrified, as it slid down,

Leaving a smear of ashes in its wake.

Well worth your poetry reading time.

I just discovered the children’s literature blog Chicken Spaghetti this week and added it to my bloglines. Susan Thomsen writes about Rudyard Kipling in Vermont, or the Raj meets America’s Winter Playground.

According to Carolyn at Solo Femininity, Joshua Harris (he who long ago kissed dating good-bye) preached this sermon last Sunday: “Courtship, Shmourtship: What Really Matters In Relationships.” You can listen to the sermon online.

Suitable for Mixed Company has a US history lesson. If you have a couple of million dollars lying around, you might be able to purchase a US battle flag captured by the British during the Revolution and bring the flag back home.

Speaking of revolutionaries (and Harrises), The Rebelution, a blog written by Joshua Harris’s younger twin brothers, has some good reflections on the disturbing case of David Ludwig and Kara Borden. If you haven’t read about this case in the news, suffice it to say that Mr. Ludwig, a homeschooled teenager, murdered his girlfriend Kara’s parents, and the two ran away together. The police later caught Ludwig and determined that Kara went with him willingly. Rebelutionary Alex says (wisely, I believe):

Being homeschooled did not prevent this tragedy; growing up in a Christian environment did not prevent this tragedy; bearing many signs of true faith and an understanding of the Gospel did not prevent this tragedy; these are harsh, but necessary truths that demand humility. Hard to swallow as it is, what happened in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is not an exception, it’s fallen man’s default.

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

Amanda at Witingshire has a cool post about Aragorn and about Tolkien’s prophecy poem about him that begins, “All that is gold does not glitter/Not all those who wander are lost.”

Michelle Malkin tells us about the “African American” youths whose deaths started the riots in France. This linguistic poverty would be funny, if it weren’t somewhat sad. Shall we call them “African French” or “French Africans”?

JavaMom really liked the new Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightley. Really. The blogger at A Circle of Quiet has also seen and enjoyed it. My turn soon, I hope.

Patry Francis at The Marvelous Garden, formerly a waitress by day and a writer by night, is now just a writer. She has a book deal. Congratulations!

Joseph Bottum at First Things wonderS why there aren’t more pro-life songs and tries his hand at writing lyrics for an anti-abortion ballad. Maybe he’ll get a deal, too.

Karen Kovaka at Rhetorical Response writes about some ideas from Dr. Francis Schaeffer on evangelizing the non-intellectual. “Though an intellectual defense of Christianity is of incredible importance, people will not become Christians unless we can demonstrate love, humanity, and integrity in our lives.”

I got the link to this article about Advanced Placement (AP) testing from Joanne Jacobs. I’m interested in the AP world because of an AP American History class that I taught at our homeschool coop last year and because I may teach another AP class in the future. Passing the AP exam seems as if it is a good way for motivated students to get credit for doing college level work, however, as the article’s author indicates, there are some issues.

From Betsy Newmark, guestblogging at Michelle Malkin’s site: Matt, a soldier serving in Iraq, asks bloggers to help get a wheelchair for an Iraqi translator who was injured in a terrorist attack.

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. Blaise Pascal

It’s Veteran’s Day, and here’s something you can DO to help veterans today. Project Valour-It provides voice-activated computer equipment for disabled soldiers. A good cause, don’t you think?

Mrs. Happy Housewife links to several bloggers who should have logged their last post long ago: David Brainerd, John Wesley, Spurgeon, and Pepys. I would add that C.S. Lewis also has a blog: The Window in the Garden Wall. Any other good dead bloggers you know of?

Maybe death is the theme this week. Ariel at BittersweetLife celebrates a bittersweet birthday and remembers that death is one year nearer.

Speaking of celebrations, I’ll bet you didn’t know that “christmas is an ancient tradition that has its roots in SIberian shamanism.” Read all about it.

And here’s another posthumous work of literature, well, sort of. LOST fan that I am, I don’t think I’ll be reading this book unless someone I trust assures me that it’s worth my time and money. Maybe Kevin at Collected Miscellany will review it for the benefit of those of us who are somewhat obsessive about LOST, but also short on time and possessed of a long list of other books to read.

Karl Rove, Joe Wilson, and Valerie Plame all attend the same evangelical church? (From Palm Tree Pundit) What kind of sense does that make?

If you have or are planning to have a baby,Molly at Choosing Home tells you everything you ever wanted to know about wearing your baby, i.e. baby carriers. I wish I had had all this info when my babies were little; I never did find a baby sling or pouch that didn’t make my back ache.

For those whose children are a little older, Barbara of Mommy Life blogs here and here about teaching kids to work and to serve. Good stuff.

Amy has some thoughts about the same subject.

Holly, also at Choosing Home and not to be confused with Molly, writes about Operation Christmas Child. What a great family Christmas project!

Is the role of parent, one male and one female, headed toward obsolescence? James Kushiner at Mere Comments tosses out some ideas on the future of legalities related to birth and parenthood.

Blest With Sons has some great words of wisdom that didn’t quite make the Biblical cut, including this one: “She who mainlines pixie sticks while changing lanes at 75mph lacks wisdom and foresight.” Right.

Frivolous and fun:
Debra remembers The Waltons. Some of those old TV series were classics, and it’s fun to see them becoming available on DVD. What old TV series have you bought on DVD, and what would you like to see available?

The blogger at Seasonal Soundings was busy making earrings out of buttons this week. I’m craft-challenged and I don’t wear earrings, but I might be able to do this one for the urchins who do wear earrings. It sounds like fun.

Jared, King of the Thinklings, posts odds on various happenings in his center of the blogosphere. Cute. I’m sure he left me out because I’m too unpredictable for the gamblers in our midst.

Waterfall has Prufrock Thoughts and Mitty Moments and wonders if the rest of us do, too. I know I have frequent Prufrock Thoughts: “Do I dare disturb the universe?” And “So how should I presume?” Maybe what I have are Prufrock Questions. In fact, I’m thinking right now, “What if Waterfall (or someone else) should come along and say, ‘That is not it, at all. That is not what I meant at all.” How embarrassing.

Thoughtful and timely:
Great family Thanksgiving ideas at Mommy Life and Chief Executive Mom,

Amanda Witt of Wittingshire on the importance of symbols.

Catez at AllThings2All blogs about meeting the neighbors. I am, like she says she is, absolutely no good at this. I know most of my neighbors (casually) because we’ve lived here for twenty years, but meeting people is one of my worst skills. I say I’m interested in community, but when it comes down to brass tacks, I guess I’m more like Linus “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand.” Not really can’t stand, I just don’t want to risk the effort.

Ariel asks for specific, applicable ideas on how to add a small helping of humility to our lives. I’m working on it, but if anyone else wants to join in on the discussion in the meantime, go read Ariel’s post and the one that initiated the discussion.

Michael Spencer, iMonk, on the death of Pastor Kyle Lake of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas last week. I’ve been praying for the family of Kyle Lake and for the students and others in Waco who are in mourning over his loss. I would imagine that Eldest Daughter has heard him preach when she visited UBC.

New and interesting blog I found this week:

My Year of Shakespeare: James Weber says, “I have always been aware that there was this dude named Shakespeare and that he influenced, well, everything. It seemed like a good time to read up on him and read what he wrote.” He’s planning to read all the plays this year—and live to blog about it.