Posted by Adrienne on October 23, 2009 under Books | 
For the last few months, I’ve spent most of my leisure hours either watching TV, playing video games, or attending a sporting event. This has left me little time for reading, and it shows in the book count. It’s been more than 2 months since I finished a book for the book count, and I do kind of feel sad about that. But I’ve finally finished Book #11. Here’s my review:
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
G.K. Chesterton is an excellent writer; he constructs his sentences and paragraphs very well and never jumps around between ideas, but always proceeds from one to the next methodically. Nevertheless, his writing can be a little dense and difficult to get through. At least, I had to do a lot of stopping and thinking and rereading when I read Orthodoxy and also for some of his other books I’ve read (The Everlasting Man, The Man Who Was Thursday, etc.)
So that’s part of why I took so long to finish Orthodoxy: I wanted to be sure that I was completely understanding what Chesterton was saying, which meant that I generally didn’t read the book right before bed, or while eating breakfast, or at any of my normal “book-reading” times.
Orthodoxy is Chesterton’s “religious autobiography,” that is, how he himself became a Christian (not an Eastern or Greek Orthodox, Christian, but a traditional – or “orthodox” with a small “o” – Catholic one). It’s a fascinating look at a very sharp mind from another (but not too terribly different) age working logically from skepticism to belief. I found the book fascinating, particularly the section with Chesterton’s refutation of the belief that all religions are pretty much the same. If you’re interested in theology or just excellent writing, you should give G.K. Chesterton a try.
View all my reviews >>
Posted by Adrienne on October 21, 2009 under Photos |
Another of the Pacific Northwest’s lighthouses:
Grays Harbor Lighthouse is located near Westport, on the central Washington coast. It is similar in shape and coloring to the lighthouse at Heceta Head (previously featured here) but doesn’t have quite as dramatic a backdrop. The central Washington coast is rather flat, unlike the central Oregon coast, which features very steep cliffs, so this lighthouse doesn’t have the benefit of a steep drop to allow for interesting picture taking. It’s also located quite a ways away from the actual beach. Nevertheless, between the setting sun and the lighthouse’s position among the evergreen trees, this photo of the Grays Harbor light is one that I like quite a lot.
Posted by Josh on October 14, 2009 under Photos |
Today, I had the pleasure of hearing Lincoln scholar Ronald C. White speak about Abraham Lincoln and his 2nd inaugural address. He was very well-spoken, and I wouldn’t even try to summarize everything he said. But I found myself immediately reminded of this quote from National Treasure-which, incidentally, Adrienne just used the other day: “People don’t talk that way anymore.” I could definitely say that of Lincoln’s address. And I could even say that of White himself as he spoke about Lincoln; it was fascinating to hear him talk about Lincoln from a perspective I had never encountered.
Of course, this picture is a little more light-hearted in its content. At Nationals Park in Washington DC, they have racing presidents. Similar to the racing sausages in Milwaukee, they have 4 presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt) that race around a portion of the field once each game between innings. We happened to catch them on the concourse just as we arrived at the stadium, and Adrienne got her picture with Abe and George. Abe won the race the day we were there, though the Brewers lost the game. At least I can say the Brewers have more wins than Teddy, who through 280 races has yet win.
Posted by Adrienne on October 12, 2009 under Baseball, Mariners |
This is the second part of a retrospective of the 2009 Mariners’ season. To see our experiences in the first half of the 2009 season, click here.
Even after the All-Star Break, we had a large number of Mariners games to attend. And they were pretty good, since we both had winning records. Read on for more on the ballgames we attended in July, August and September.
Read more…
Posted by Adrienne on October 11, 2009 under Baseball, Mariners |
This was such a fun season to watch the Mariners play baseball – much nicer than that terrible 2008 season – and we have lots of reasons to hope for a great 2010 as well. But this post is going to focus on the 2009 season that finished about a week ago, and particularly about our experiences during the ‘09 season. Read on for more (and some pictures, too).
Read more…
