Wolverine

Exhausted.... I woke up early today to hit Rietta Ranch. Henry wanted to go with me, so I woke him at 6:00 and we were off. IT was actually kind of a successful trip. I bought five books for my classroom library. My goal is to get books for $2.00 a piece. That's about what I can get them for on paperback swap. Henry bought three hotwheels, a comic book and a big quartz crystal. All for two dollars.. not too bad!

I came home today and had a few things to do. I did none of them. I was just completely wiped. Nora came flying downstairs before supper, throwing kicks and punches and dressed in a wolverine costume. She's pretty convincing. I can tell you, I wouldn't want to be the arch-nemesis that faced her. Its late, and I just put away the dishes. Need to sleep....

End of Summer: chapter 1

There are certain signs that the end of summer is imminent. One of those is the fair in the center of Templeton. It was today. Like most small town fairs, it is exactly the same every year. The same venders the same people. The same everything. It is comforting in a way though. I went today (Jen didn't want to go) with the kids and Chaucer, knowing exactly what would be there, and I was right, right down to Steve Laprise (My dad's neighbor) and his wagon full of puppies. Henry and Nora got cotton candy and honey sticks and begged for stuffed animals with leashes and cheap plastic guns that break after three uses. But I prevailed and walked away with money in my pocket, void of carne toys.

Another triumph of the day, Jen made a peach pie for the first time ever.... She told me it would be too hot to have a piece tonight... she was wrong.

db

Jacob's Pillow

Jenny was a dance major. I was not a dance major. However, in my complete ineptness, I found an art form that I love. There is something about the narrative... the storytelling that really communicates well with me. I am not talking about the dance that you see on tv.... god help me... So you say you can dance style. That is dance, but it isn't what I generally like... too dramatic and soap opraish. What really gets me going is deep, communicative, suggestive dance. The kind that can pull me in and speak in a new way. Like seeing something in a completely new light. Sometimes, dance can go there.

The Nymans, close friends of ours, wanted to go out with us for a quick mini-vacation. Two days tops. So, my mind headed out: East... Boston, Cape, Beach, north end?  North: White mountains, um... royalston?  South: Conneticut, Rhode Island, The Coast, Mystic, Il Forno? West: Amherst, North Hampton, Springfield, Greylock, Vermont? I was stumped. The things that I really wanted to do were too far away. We could have gone to Manchester Vermont, or Conway New Hampshire... but the ride trumped the destination. Jenny finally remembered Jacob's Pillow. 

We have never gone. Its a nationally famous dance concert right in Massachusetts. So we went. The trip was great. We stayed in a nice, if not old and slightly ramshackle, Bed and Breakfast and had a great time. We spent one day at Jacob's pillow. There were two concerts, the first was by Mystic Ballet. and was free to the public. It may have had something to do with the setting (it was on an outside stage with the mountains as a backdrop) but I must say, I think I liked it better than the concert we paid for. That one was a hip hop kind of deal with some actually real choreography lending an amount of real depth to their athletics. Still, I felt like there was something missing a bit. I think that might have been the depth of the message communicated by the dancers. It fell just a tiny bit flat. The trip didn't though. We spent the next day eating out, and traveling home, with a quick detour to the Yankee Candle Factory. Our kids completely love it there. The Nymans are courteous, fun and easygoing. The whole trip was a lot of fun. 

cat nap

Sun + Window + Cat = prrrrrrr

Comet

Summer, for me, is about finding the beauty in simplicity. Comet pond is exactly that. Its free, and clean and small. I love to take the kids there and let them go. Well... watched of course. But I take a book and seat and a few beach toys and towels and away we go. With summer closing soon, this is what I think of. The easiness of it all. Maybe this is another blessing of not having a ton of money. If I had it, I know I would want to go all over the place and busy myself doing crazy things, but really, when it comes down to it, its really just about who you are with and your state of mind. Both of these comfortably find their place at Comet beach in the summer.

db

Pearls

Henry woke up at 4:30.... I woke up at 4:30. Henry went back to sleep. If I wake up in the night I can go back to sleep, that is, if my mind stays in that blank woozy state where things are all mushy and thick. If I think concretely at all, I am up.... for good. So, yeah, I have been up for a while. It's ok though, I kind of wanted to be up early (not exactly that early) but before the sun shows up. School's going to start, my head and body needs to be moving toward that. I walk Chaucer for about an hour before school. Last year that precluded my biking to school, but this year, I think I have worked out a way that I can do both. But it means getting up about half an hour before sunrise every morning. Again, as terrible as that may sound, I am good with it. In my heart, I am a morning person. Its really only TV that gets in the way of perfect morningness. Those damn late night shows that are so good!

I woke this morning and watched a whole episode of Warehouse 13. Then I walked Chaucer for an hour in that stillness before the sunrises. God I love that time, when all the birds are still inactive and everything around me is just waking up. When its still cold out and even in August, I can still justify throwing on a barn jacket. Morning is for waking, and if you can manage it, some mornings your soul can wake as well as the rest of you.

This morning I hiked for an hour, rode my bike for five miles, made breakfast, showered and dressed before anyone in this house was awake. This is good.

db

what you ask for

I planted my garden late. I just am getting my first fruits from it now. Radishes... They come up first and usually I am so happy to see them. I picked a bunch today, and put them in a little bowl for supper. They were terrible. I mean super astringent and a bit woody. These radishes, Cherry Bells, are usually slightly sweet and not as spicy as store bought ones. Sad.

As a teacher, I live in this world. Tons of effort and attention, and sweat and tears, and emotionally pushing into kids lives, and sometimes it comes to nothing at all. A kid sees you as a teacher and shuts off completely. I did this to all of my teachers, without exception, until I got to college, so I know about this. Who can blame them really. We all have experienced bad teachers. I ask my students sometimes about their  stories, and they tell me things that seem so amazingly bad... its hard to imaging how they came through it at all. So I strive against, sometimes a flood, of bad experience and try to undo a lot of damage. Not all teachers are bad. I have met some very good ones, but as with most things, it only takes a couple to do some real damage. Its no wonder really that a few students don't open up. Actually, its kind of a miracle that any of them do. But they do...sometimes unexpectedly like the sunflower that Nora picked from under the patio in the back of my house. The one that I didn't plant, that just grew there from the seeds that fell from the bird feeder above it.

db