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.

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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.

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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.

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Mysticism

The Mystic Aquarium was amazing. It took about an hour and forty five minutes to get there. Both Henry and Nora really enjoyed it. The thing that struck me the most though was Henry. This summer has been about swimming lessons and riding bikes, things that he has to push himself to do, much less enjoy.  Finally, Henry was in his element. He was relating what he knew from the myriad books he has read to the real life animals. He walked through wide eyed , his brain clicking off information left and right. He was like a sponge. God I loved it. This is what learning is about. Research, knowledge, application and wonderment. He loved the seals, the jellyfish (of course) and touching the rays. (He just whispered that in my ear :)

The trip was interrupted by a semi-quick tropical style storm that dumped a ton of water on the park,  but we stayed indoors for that time and busied ourselves with the titanic exhibit and the Sponge Bob 4D movie. Actually, both kids kind of freaked at the movie. Nora left in tears and Henry demanded to sit on my lap. We spent about five hours at the aquarium and felt like we saw everything. Mystic itself seemed just a place begging to be explored. I may go back to do just that.

the end of swimming lessons

Well, neither of them graduated. Nora is a lot more confident then Henry is. He is still so scared of the water. The picture above is so typical of swim lessons. The brave life guard, deftly trying to talk Henry into jumping in, or dunking under, or floating on his back, or well, you get the picture. All the while, Henry is telling them that he doesn't want to, or trying to sidetrack them with conversation about microbes, or bargaining his way out of it. He truly is scared of it, and I tell him all the time that it is a brave thing that he is doing. Facing fears in all of their variety is so difficult. Its hard though because all that he sees is the three year old jumping in next to him. Nora used this as a catalyst to become a better swimmer than Henry, and I think it worked. Although, she didn't graduate either. I think that might have something to do with going to the beach instead of swimming in a pool. Both Henry and Nora just kind of hang out on the shore line at Comet when we go.

It all doesn't matter of course, they will learn at their own pace and I will consistently push them forward in it. It's important to learn how to swim. It's almost mandatory in New England. I told the kids that we could go out either for lunch or supper in celebration of the end. They of course went for immediate satisfaction and chose lunch. I spent a while trying to think of someplace fun to take them and ended up opting for something a little different. I went to Gardner (yes that is different, but that's not what I meant) and parked the car in the center. I told them that they were going to guide me through the center, we could go in any store they chose, and that they would decide the restaurant that we ate in.

We strolled past an amazing amount of closed down, run down, broken glass store fronts. Gardner has always had it rough, but man... crazy. We wen't in an old hobby store with train tracks and battle scenes set up all over the place. An odd little jewelry/dog treat store that actually looked like it could have resided comfortably in North Hampton. (We bought Chaucer a squeaky rubber duck to chew on... its presently lost somewhere in the house). They passed up on John's sport store, but couldn't get by Priscillas. Such a great candy store... homemade and awesome. They bought salt water taffy... who wouldn't!?

They reserved their decision until the last place that we looped back too, the Gardner Ale House. I actually really liked it there. It was packed! On a Thursday afternoon, packed. It seemed like it had absorbed all that was left of the customers in Gardner. I walked in and there was Brian, my well-dressed (I've never seen him in a tie before) cousin. I guess the restaurant is his client for food sales. He's such a good kid... well, man now I guess. I am glad to see him doing so well.  We sat, and I ordered a hummus sandwich. Henry had the kids pasta (because of the bread sticks) and Nora... well... the ubiquitous chicken fingers of course. I was skeptical of the sandwich but was really pleasantly surprised by a nice, fresh, well put together meal. I think I may go back at some point.

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