Bravexperiment

July 21: Curtains for Curtains (I hope)

2011-07-21T08:17:00.002-04:00

It's hot already--due to be a humid, nasty one, so my plans of finishing the curtains, going for a walk for exercise and then adding a cross-and-back swim topped off by some school work seem to be right on track.

The Curtain Project has been going well: I love the material and the only place I got stymied was on mitering the corners: I finally went with a plain square corner. Bah humbug--they're GUEST ROOM CURTAINS. Sheesh. Otherwise, my standards have been high and I think things look good. I used some quilting techniques to keep things (I hope) square and straight, and I'm looking forward to a good final iron and the Big Reveal! The tabs are all done (thanks to Nate who was able to turn them inside out at great speed)and I just need to sew them onto the top hem. That might be a struggle, as there will be a lot of layers of fabric involved, but I trust my loyal Pfaff!

(Victorious?) Pics to come!

July 18: MONDAY!

2011-07-18T07:56:00.005-04:00

Well. My addiction to leisurely mornings does complicate the rest of my life, since after a slow and indulgent morning, even one that starts at seven am, the day flies by! On my list for the day:
picking up/cleaning house
mailing C's nightie--got to post a pic of that too--And here it is:

food shopping with a menu in hand
picking up N's repaired bike, which requires mounting the bike rack on my car
a run, I think. . . maybe a swim, but probably a run
some work on either the curtains OR the dress, take 1
a Lib. Trustees meeting at 7.

WHEW! That should do it. We had a lovely weekend, featuring hot, sunny, breezy weather and lots of swimming in the river and in Green Lake, an inaugural paddle in the new-from-Mom double kayak which lasted longer than we'd expected and resulted in my first sunburn in a long time!, a great Nate b'day dinner/cake/celebration, a wonderful church picnic at Gil and Ruth's with tons of swimming, a long lovely nap, and some productive knitting AND sewing. So! Onwards!

Oh: while I'm posting: here's why sewing is so suddenly on my list again. This is a shot of my "outdoor sewing room":

It's a lovely place to be, even tho it does require complete breakdown each evening. Still. . . it's inspiring, and I hope will result in the curtains for the study at least, and maybe a dress as well!

ETA: So, at 4 pm when it's hot and steamy and I'm about to knock off ANY useful work except making dinner and attending that Library meeting, I will say: 1. I read some of a new Donna Leon, part of the Wonder Box of Books from Julie; 2. I found TWO new veggie recipes and shopped for them so we have enough food for THREE DINNERS in the house at this moment (this is big for me so far this summer); 3. I arranged to have three of Lyle's pictures framed for about $200, which I think is pretty reasonable; 4. I went for a 12 min walk and a 25 min run!; 5. I cut out all the remaining "contrast" bits of the dress pattern, and am about to go do some measurements for the curtains so I'll be ready to go tomorrow with cutting that fabric! So: despite a leisurely start to the day, I've done pretty well!

July 16: Happy N's B'day!

2011-07-16T07:50:00.003-04:00

Well, Nate is now 15! His wonderful Grand Camp friends have been making much of him and steak tips are marinating in the fridge. On Thurs/Fri night/morning they all went to see the last HP movie, getting home around 2, and Andy also flew back from his LV conference on the same night, so last night they both went to bed by 9. Today is a quiet, still, sunny, going-to-be-hot morning, and I thought I'd post, partly to help me grasp the summer, which seems to be slipping blithely away!

I have certainly been ENJOYING the summer--since it arrived around July 1, really--before then it was truly a fleece and bonfire summer, grey and chilly. That is done! But I'm also a doer and I've got a list of things I wanna DO, so here they are:

--I have finished Andy's Christmas socks (he got the yarn and a promissory note; there was no time limit) and a bonus pair of booties that I started at the Retreat when the orange yarn was too stringy for adult socks. Pic to follow.

--I have made three batches of strawberry jam, tho we were foiled in our attempts to pick our own berries.

--I have cleaned Silas's room within an inch of its life in preparation for its reincarnation as MY room again.

--I have finished Caroline's b'day nightie. I discovered that I can set up sewing on the back deck, thereby enjoying the lovely weather AND sewing, so that turned me on to all kinds of sewing dreams. . . see PENDING below!

--I have finished all 782 pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Suzanna Clarke, and also read a very inspiring AP Lit. teacher's guide.

PENDING I have

--two dress patterns I hope to play with and make a few dresses from;

--7 yards of lovely decorator fabric from Marden's for curtains in the study as a preference to repainting the room;

--done one sleeve cap on Nimbus (which fits PERFECTLY in the body, yay yay)--too loose and bunchy; dug around for advice and then done a second--a little too few stitches so there are a few gaps and some pulling, and therefore I have plans to take out cap #1 and redo it with about 48 stitches so it is JUST RIGHT and then ditto that for cap #2 (whereupon I have a hunch I will have run out of yarn and need to track down more!). . .

--AND my b'day cashmere, which needs to be made into a hat for ME and I'd also like to make some Norwegian mittens! So!

Upcoming are Dad's 80th b'day celebration in Casco with the family, several curriculum work days (money, money, money!), Aunt Joan's 80th in PA with Ann and Mom, and then Julie's week up here too. So there will not be too many uninterrupted work stretches, but that's okay. I am enjoying being Crafty McCrafterson, so here I go. Gotta love summer!

June 25: Thunderstormy Saturday AM

2011-06-25T08:03:00.002-04:00

Andy is off to pick up our rental mini-van so we can take Silas to Portland in relative comfort. We HAVE a hike planned for this am (my favorite North Ridge of Cadillac) but at the moment, the rain we had this a.m. has turned into a bit of a thunderstorm and downpour number, so we'll see. I *do* cling to Gram's adage of "Rain before 7, stop before 11", and it's worked before, EVEN when I really, really wanted it to (like Field Day Friday this year!), so I won't give up.

However, in this quietly gloomy house, I need to clean up for Alissa, our wonderful cleaning person, so I need to spring into action--or maybe glide into action. More coffee, then cleaning up, I think!

June 21: NOT OUT OF SCHOOL YET

2011-06-20T18:13:00.002-04:00

That's the downside to all those lovely snow days I wrote about. . . TWO Saturday school days and then in school till Wed. WOW.

But I am done correcting and nearly done my little "gotta dos" and big ones like interviewing English candidates and the like. And I feel like I am refinding myself, slowly, slowly.

I am thinking about cooking and baking.

I am thinking about making fancy drinks.

I am thinking about going out to dinner with my beloved husband in Bar Harbor, all dressed up.

I am thinking about spending pretty much a whole day reading for fun.

I am NOT thinking about taking Silas to Portland to drop him off to go to Denmark forever.

I am thinking about knitting more, soon: finishing Andy's second sock (I'm on the foot already!) and then the sleeves for MY nimbus from Julie.

I am thinking about summer vacation, and that's. pretty. good.

WHOOPS: April 1

2011-04-01T10:03:00.002-04:00

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I believe it? March was full of Fabulous Firsts--Teacher of the Year nomination and Day of Honor in Augusta, meeting the Governor (oy!), and taking a knitting class in Belfast, BUT March is always Crazy Time so I didn't post! On this Friday morning SNOW DAY I am posting!

And now I am going to correct five papers and then to work on Caroline's (ahem) Christmas (cough) or b'day (Jan. 5) (er) present nightgown. . . The shonda!

Feb. 26: Sat. of Vacation!

2011-02-26T09:21:00.003-05:00

The sun is pouring in, gleaming off the 12" snow we got yesterday, from the second snow storm in February. . . I think. Funny how they all run together! It's 16 outside, so feels very January-ish, except for the strong, golden sun. Silas's sister, Sissel, just left this am after her flight was canceled yesterday, so we heeded the strong "stay put" message and had soup and homemade rolls and two different movies and much lolling about. Today I plan more activity: laundry, the house stuff I didn't do before, and more work on finishing Julie's sweater. All in the sunshine. Yessssss!

For my "new" resolution. . . well. Let's see. Had a girl in the house for the first time for a week! Did NOT get a hot stone massage in Portland with Julie last weekend, but did hang out in Border's doing school work for the afternoon. DID complete my Teacher of the Year app., and did also make TWO new meals--a slow cooker chicken curry and a potato/garlic soup. So, tho it's not exotic, I think I've met my goal. Meeting it for March might be harder or easier: I have to go to Augusta for the TOY assembly (ye gods), and I thought I'd try to take a yoga class downtown sometime, and I'd also like to knit with cashmere, which, it turns out, is much harder to get a hold of than I'd anticipated. BUT March is a crazy month, too--evening events at school and N's music/show choir ramps up, and, well, it's MARCH. . . but we'll see.

This is kind of fun, I must say. And now I have to head off to Do Stuff like cleaning off my bureau and the kitchen desk, at least partly in search of my lovely watch which I have, uncharacteristically, misplaced. Sharing below a pic of the lovely second year amaryllis and SWIPE one sunny am this vacation, before I leave!

Feb.1: ANOTHER Snow Hammer?

2011-02-01T20:05:00.002-05:00

We are due for another snow day--we DID get a five day week last week, despite hope for a Wed. snow day. But this one looks pretty definite.

So my to do list is:
sleep
swim
knit
read
write my essay, "WHY I SHOULD BE THE 2012 TEACHER OF THE YEAR," trying not to make it too toe-curlingly awful.

Feel lucky.

January 12: Snow Day and New Update

2011-01-12T08:56:00.004-05:00

We are due to be hit by a "snow hammer," so despite the fact that we had NOTHING on the ground OR coming down even by 8 am, school was called at 5:18 am. Andy and I went back to bed; N got up at 6. . . Raised waffles and soon, some knitting.

BUT FIRST: I did another new: new soup recipe. From Country Living, Feb. ? Jan.? issue, Roasted Garlic and Potato soup. Even without the cup of fontina cheese melted in, the fam. pronounced it yummy. Not too gluey, and tho it did have several steps, it pureed well with the immersion blender, which is a huge plus in my book. So: another successful foray (how DOES one spell that?) for me in 2011!

Here's the link, for those so inclined: oh, no, Blogger declines the honor. So go to www.countryliving.com, and google within the site for "Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup," and you should find it. Adaptations below!

I doubled the batch for my voracious crew, and found I would've liked either 2.5 heads of roasted garlic, OR two bigger heads of garlic to roast. Have no idea what "creamer potatoes" are, so I got regular reds that were described as "creamy textured"! Also, used less water, and, as I had no fontina, I sprinkled on grated sharp cheddar. No complaints!

Jan. 2: Resolution?

2011-01-02T17:37:00.002-05:00

I suppose "resolution" should be followed by a big old exclamation point, but I've been pondering this one and am still not 100% committed, so I will stay with the ?.

I think that for 2011, a year described in my Yahoo horoscope as "fiery hot," my goal will be to do something new at least once a month. Doesn't have to be dangerous, physical, expensive, or big, but new. I'm hoping that January will feature a new recipe. Ha! Yes! Just one! But January is often the month of the cooking rut, so I hope I'll avoid it that way. We'll see. February??? No idea!

So there we go. A resolution? We'll see if it was, in Dec. 2011!

Nov. 8: Thank you!

2010-11-08T05:40:00.003-05:00

I was raised to write thank you notes. My memories of the last day of Christmas vacation or the evening before New Year's include a box of cards, an address book, and a list. Notes had to be specific, they had to be personal, and they had to be written--no phone calls, no "but she was here!", and, by extension, no email. My best friend and I developed a schtick about "Because we were not raised by wolves, we write thank you notes." My elder son is famous for the note he once wrote this friend in the orgy of post-Christmas thank you note writing: "Dear Aunt Julie: Thank you for the movies. Mom is making me write this. I think you should hate her." That gem is still on her refrigerator--note the personalization and the fact that it's three lines long!

I consider myself a student of culture, and I accept that we are different. I believe in freedom of choice, I belong to the UCC, I reject the English only movement in the US, and, although that aforementioned son and his brother might roll their eyes when I say it, I am generally a pretty open minded person. However, I have come to realize that one cultural trend I resolutely mourn is the passing of the tradition of thank you notes. Not only do I mourn it, but I have to admit that I will think a little bit worse of you if you should fail to send me one when you should. (I know. I'm cringing even as I type that line. the word "should"? Not my favorite. But I'm trying to be honest here, and that's the truth!) I have participated in a great "Seven Days of Specialness" Swap through a blog that shall remain nameless. My first swap partner faded away, and I ended up swapping with the blogger herself, which was a pleasure. Her presents were thoughtful, inventive, fun, useful and lovely--as, I must say, were mine. Since we had each other's mailing addresses, and since one of presents to each other had been notecards, I wrote a detailed and enthusiastic thank you note to her at the conclusion of the swap. Then I waited for hers--which never ever came. No email, even, saying which bits she liked the best and how nice the dish towel was and that the tea was nice. Nothing. Even now, a year later, I feel a little bitter when I visit that blog. Clearly, some nice people were raised by wolves!

And many of my students were raised by wolves, too, which makes me sad, as it foretells a society in which we say thank you less and less (See? I get to be rigid and depressing. This is a great topic!). Eight recommendations sent to different schools on time? Regular after-school help sessions, progress emails, and above-and-beyond effort and encouragement? No word. The student may say thank you, the parents may spread my name around as a caring teacher, but no note, nothing I can tuck away to revisit after a day when I'm rethinking my career choice. No little flare of happiness that my effort's been acknowledged. That's not to say that I haven't gotten the occasional knock-my-socks-off thank you: a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from a family, two gift certificates to a book store when I taught two children in the same family, a huge bag of fresh garden produce. But the regular, "thank you so much for helping me out" note--it's an endangered species, and that, I join my ancestresses in thinking, is a shame.

Readers will be relieved to hear that I don't follow the "don't start with the word 'Thank you' rule," I'm not fussy about paper quality, and I care if you mail it, put it on my desk, or hand it to me personally. All I like to see, hope to see, and, clearly, need to see, is that other people are acknowledging that my actions have an impact on their lives. I know I feel a lift when I write a thank you note, especially for something the donor might not realize made an impact. My colleague who helped organize a terrific field trip to a Shakespeare workshop with twelve wonderful students? She's getting one on this rainy November morning. So is the bus driver who schlepped us all over the rain-drenched town, never complaining once. And my guess is that those little three sentence wonders will lighten their mornings, even just a little. So although the current response to spoken thanks is now "No problem," take ten minutes to acknowledge your gratitude for something someone has done for you. You'll be amazed how the wolves of anonymity and apathy will retreat, and the grandmothers of love and acknowledgment will smile, warming you with their approval.

Yeah. a little rough, but I have some thank yous to write. . . :>)

Nov. 2: Advisory

2010-11-02T18:11:00.004-04:00

I'm on my third rotation as an advisor. At Mdihs, we get a class of ninth graders and stay with them through till graduation, with varying degrees of closeness and friendship. My first two groups featured a cast of characters that changed regularly, struggled a good bit, dropped out (in some cases), made me very proud, and, in other cases, drove me demented. We met about once a month for about 40 minutes, and did occasional projects and activities together. We "got on," as the Brits say.

This year MDI has a new format, so I am seeing my 13 sophomore advisees every day of the week: 10 mins most days, and 30 mins. on Fridays. We chat, we do puzzles, we check in, we lie in exhausted piles around the room--we've also participated in Spirit week, wearing different themed costumes each day; worked on really learning the school song; enjoyed two fire drills; done a few on-line activities, some of which we hated and others of which were okay, and of course we also partook in the PSATs. I liked this group last year, when we were only 11, a little quieter, smaller, and more insecure. We've gained two new members of the group, and added height, age, and attitude. What's most amazing, however, is how differently we interact now that we see each other daily. I know that N. and F. will get sucked into their laptops if I'm not proactive about it; I know that L., E., and A. have a bad habit of gossiping and need to be reminded to "use their powers for good, not evil," and I know that I can be as firm as I want with E. so long as I keep my voice cheerful and upbeat. In addition, I've seen K. and K. fit seamlessly into our group, Z. survive a tough summer, and A. weather a nastily broken ankle, a week out, a wheelchair, and, finally crutches.

On the return side, I just had a long meeting to try to get one advisee back on a healthy, productive track. During that meeting, I was able to give reasons for hope and concern on the basis of daily observations and conversations. After it ended, I just happened to run into another advisee looking blue in the hallway, and pretty quickly found out he was feeling overwhelmed and nervous about his school work. He's prone to depression, I remembered, and though I had to run out for an appointment, I was able to give him a little love, make a to-do list, hand him a granola bar, and promise that we'd touch base in advisory tomorrow. The feeling of interconnectedness (which sometimes, yes, masquerades as exhaustion and over-responsibility) was palpable and very strong: I know these kids. I've only had three of them in class, and only this year, but I feel more and more that I know them, in the words of the CES document that inspired our first lurching advisory steps, "deeply and well." It's hard work, but it's good work, because it enriches both my teaching life in the school and their growing lives in it as well. These connections are why I went into teaching. Go advisory!

Nov. 1: Playing Hooky

2010-11-01T04:50:00.002-04:00

"Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work."

Robert Frost got it so right with that scrap from "Out, Out--" that these lines echoed in my head as I swam laps Sunday morning. I usually swim laps Sunday morning, but this time I was 3 hours later than usual, and had not been and had no plans to go to church. Most of my family and I were indulging in a Sunday of playing hooky.

This fall has been stunningly busy for us. My husband and I are both teachers, he in an elementary school and I at a high school, and both of us have a commute of about an hour round trip (less once the tourists and leaf peepers leave!). I have just gone back to full time teaching this year, and am also the head of my department. Andy's on the negotiations team. We have two children who attend the local high school, a blessed 5 minute walk from our house. Lyle is a senior, Nate is a freshman. Cross country season just ended, Y swimming is starting, Nate celebrated high school by joining every activity known to human kind: not just cross country, but also show choir, jazz band, pep band, the fall musical, and, on Wednesday afternoons, he now has a paper route. Oh, and we have an exchange student from Denmark this year. He's a senior too, a day older than Lyle, and he decided to play football this fall.

As a whole, our family has felt that we've kept our obligations thinned down: work, school, and church: no travel soccer, no weekends at the skiing condo, no Rotary club, no scouts. However, somehow Y swimming crept in there, in addition to my position as Library trustee for our town and a second on the Mission Board in our church. This fall we were in full action mode: AFS activities with Silas, various meets and games to watch or get kids to, parent meetings as teachers and as parents, committee meetings as planned, and then all the inescapable facts of family life: food shopping. Laundry. Family dinner as much as humanly (humanely?) possible. Occasional rounds of UNO or Blokus. Andy's 50th birthday party. A hike.

In this rich but laden calendar, the idea of playing hooky presents enormous grace. I've learned, after 24 years as a teacher, that a sick day isn't really a gift, as it comes with "sub plans" stamped all over it. That leaves the weekend as our backout option, and, this past weekend, Sunday was the chance. Amazingly, none of us had nursery duty or ushering; I didn't have any announcements to make or activities to run; none of the kids was involved in a project he didn't want to miss. As I turned the idea over in my mind, it began to assume the glow of a truly inspired chance, and when we all reassembled in the kitchen at 10 pm after a day of car appts at seven am (Brewer), Lyle's last State meet at Belfast (11 am), Silas's last football game in Lamoine (1 pm), Nate's work call (9 - 3), Lyle's work at the YMCA Haunted Hayride (4 - 9), I told the kids we were skipping church--and that was clearly a good idea.

Not that we did much with our extra time. I got up about the same time I would if I were on my usual schedule of swimming before church, but I made a coffee cake adn then lounged in my pjs with the cats and coffee for a while. I did some banking online, wrote a few letters (remember those?), called my brother, organized some catalog returns, and then swam hard, three hours later than usual. I food shopped at just about the usual time, and it snowed. Nate's goal was to stay in his pjs all day, and he almost made it! Lyle lounged and then went to his usual shift at the pool. Silas nursed a sore ankle from the game and slept in. The day, however, even with all its ordinariness, was set apart, special, because we had time to relax in it. We had given ourselves the gift of space to breathe, to lounge, to celebrate. For one morning in one week, we'd stepped off our chosen and beloved treadmill to revel in more time. What a gift to be "saved from work."

Oct. 31: WAHOO!

2010-10-31T09:35:00.004-04:00

Well, yesterday I said to Andy, "This is the busiest we'll ever be." And, honestly, I think that's right. Lyle and Silas as seniors and athletes, A and me as full time teachers, me as dep't head, library chair, and mission board member at church, Nate involved in xc and every other possible activity, A visiting his dad every other weekend, A turning 50 with the concomitant celebrations. . . . all good, all chosen, all rich and full and. . . WOW~

So yesterday featured 7 am long-overdue car maintenance appts in Brewer for both Toyotas, then L's final State xc meet (probably final xc meet), and Silas's last football AND a work call for Nate and work at a Y fundraiser haunted hayride for Lyle. AND we did it--but it was a "leave the house at 6;30, return for 15 mins at 1:30, and then stagger back in at 4 pm" kind of Saturday. So, today the boys and I are skipping church, A is going to wave the family flag, and I will swim at a leisurely 10:30 ish time, food shop thereafter, and the afternoon will unfold into trick-or-treating with no particular fuss at our house.

Whew! And tomorrow is November, which starts with a busy week (tho I voted on Friday!) and end of marking period 1/2 day on Friday; the second week features ARMISTICE day, so a three day week, a day off, and a Friday; one five day week, and then finishes (nearly) with a two day week before T'giving. Yay! And I *do* love November.

Good stuff. Rich. Just nice to kick back once in a while. Happy November, soon!

Oct. 1: Friday Night. Pouring Rain. Pre-Thai Food.

2010-10-01T18:56:00.002-04:00

I am very happy, all of a sudden! Silas and Lyle have gone to the Mex and a movie with Lyle's girlfriend, Holly (this is new this week, so I am practicing)--tho I hae me doots given a few awkward pauses when she came, but oh well. We are not going away anywhere this weekend, tho S. has a Saturday "thing" with AFS on the island and we're having two AFS boys from Egypt stay here on Sat. night. I have to take Zeus to get his staples out at the vet tomorrow (and neither of us is psyched about that, let me tell YOU!), Gram is bringing up our side of beef, and I have to make brownies for the AFS dinner and locally sourced bread for communion . . . . I sort of want to see both boys run in Belfast, but I. Need. Some. Time. Home.

But it's October 1st! And that makes me happy and excited, for some reason. I *do* love the start of months!

August 19: Loveliest Day of the Summer. . . Maybe. . .

2010-08-19T16:39:00.003-04:00

Tho that's like deciding on the cutest puppy! It has been a spectacular summer. We do finally need rain--the rest of Maine has needed it for a while, but we had heavy rains every three days or so which kept us green--but it's been quite wonderful for quite a while.

And Silas is here and things are going quite well. It seems longer than a week--not in a bad way, just in that it seems like at least a month. He's talking more, which is great, and eating a bit more (which is a relief to my "feed 'em up" Mom mind) and has met a bunch of the boys' friends. Our world seems much bigger now with him in it, which is terrific.

Today I did school work on the back deck for about two hours, and felt it was the best of all possible worlds: productivity coupled with inordinate beauty. . . WOW. Now, school work DONE for today, I am heading toward iced tea, chips, and book, also in inordinate beauty. What have I done to deserve this??????????????

August 15: After the Stork!

2010-08-15T07:48:00.002-04:00

Well, Silas is here, and we're settling in. I can already tell that I am going to have to learn to "sit on my hands," and just let things unfold, since 17 year old boys don't need to be directed, overseen, involved, checked in with, and generally fussed at every. minute. of. the. day, even when their host mamas just want to be sure they're okay. Thank God I can inflict that kind of attention on my own children instead. . .

So. Here we go on our new adventure. Once again, time is the secret. Gosh, I hate that kind of thing!

August 11: Yesssssssss!

2010-08-11T14:16:00.002-04:00

The redecoration is mostly finished. We have pictures to hang, a few lamp decisions to make, and a chair to shellac (I *like* me a shiny finish!), but the big muscle--work all day--sweat dripping off your nose--it's 8 pm and I think I'll eat dinner stuff is DONE. Andy and Nate got the mattress and box spring yesterday; Lyle, Nate and I set up the den yesterday afternoon (Lyle and Nate both said, "It looks like a study!"--I think they mean old British Safari Club, as much in it is worn, warm, or wood!), and we're all happy with the new layout. A picture will follow, once I take one: I sat down at 9:20 last night IN said finished den, and then the department came over at 8 am till 1 for an intense and useful session unpacking standards (yeah, I know. But it makes sense to us teacher types, and we even had fun). . . so I am tired, kicking back, and relishing the empty house.

My beloved Corolla will be done at the body shop post-collision late afternoon, so we are slowly getting back to normal--and then to our new normal on Saturday, and then ANOTHER new normal on Monday afternoon, when I'll have two senior sons and one freshman son, all doing preseason! Bring it on--but right now I think I'm taking a nap!

August 10: Snagging. . . and the like

2010-08-10T07:43:00.002-04:00

Click on that picture to see the newest denizen of our front porch: yes, a HUGE spherical spider, and, to add to the whole horror movie effect, she's white and orange. EWWWWWWW! I am hoping that someone will decide to relocate her humanely and quickly, but I don't think that someone will be me, as I'd have to get too close to her. She's outside, so killing isn't the ethical thing, but, really---yuk.

On the brighter side, we're down to the details. I ran into the phrase "snagging list" in a novel on home reconstruction, and it means all the final things that need to be done to be truly DONE. Some stuff--buying a new mattress and box spring, for example--is a tad larger than just snagging, but we have plenty o' pictures to hang, decorating decisions to make, the final two bits of baseboard that we overlooked before to denail, fill, paint and replace. . .etc. I have been working full out for several days, and Andy has too. The boys have been on and off for the past few, but when we fall into bed tonight. . . I'm hoping we'll be DONE. Well, maybe "done and with a snagging list." Do those EVER get completed????

August 8: Summer of Boys

2010-08-08T09:12:00.004-04:00

It's Sunday morning; in less than a week we'll have picked up the new member of our family, our exchange student Silas. Partially as a result, we've been working very hard on some house projects lately, and the odd side effect of that focus has been some wonderful family times.

My 'family of origin' was light on money and heavy on projects which were, therefore, fueled by our own muscle power and time. We all joke now about how we complained and whined and moaned at the time but now romanticize that life--stacking wood, shoveling, weeding the garden, even getting in hay and cleaning chicken pens. I've noticed the same pattern in my current family's life: the boys will moan and complain when we pick a day to rake leaves or put in screens, but then they'll say, "Remember how we always used to. . . " and the memory is whine-free.

So when Andy and I planned to refloor the den and paint my study ivory instead of pink for Silas's sojourn, I expected the same pattern. Imagine my shock when

it didn't happen.

The boys have been fun! They have volunteered to join in and work! They have moved from one project to the next without having to be rooted out of the corners where they might hide. . . I even heard Lyle telling a friend that he was sorry he couldn't make it to the friend's party last night because "I don't have a ride"--which he did, in fact.

I attribute a huge amount of their enthusiasm to the intense effect of homedecoration on a run down room, but also to the addition of a ROPE SWING to our front yard. After working for a bit, they'll slide out to the front and swing for awhile, Lyle boosting Nate onto the seat, or Nate pushing Lyle. There have been a few bumps and bruises, and there's certainly been fine-tuning of the swing itself, but overall, the swing has added serenity and fun to our work for this summer. Paint a bit--swing. Clear moldy cardboard out of the cellar--swing. Do a good deal of family work that needs to get done--swing--then eat a terrific dinner of hot potato salad and free range tbone steaks on the deck and talk about what we want to do when Silas comes--swing some more--then collapse into bed. Great memories, minus the whining. Amazing.

7/30: Friday!

2010-07-30T07:54:00.002-04:00

Well it's a lovely cool morning and Andy and I are pausing before (I hOPE!) leaping into a day of great productivity. With Silas arriving in just about 16 days, we have a lot of house issues to square away, to say nothing of general stuff we just want to do. Yesterday we got ten boxes of laminate flooring at Marden's, and soon Lyle and Andy are going to pull up the nasty carpet in the den. . . meanwhile, I am about one file drawer and several armloads away from having the whole den cleaned out and ready to be painted, emptied of the futon, reloaded with the bed (with a possible new mattress), and just plain readied for the arrival of a 17 year old boy for the year!

So: TADA!

And MOm comes up tonight and Sweeney Todd launches. Last night A and I went to see a "showcase," which was a nice selection of various scenes from famous works the kids had worked on--Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Importance of Being Ernest. . . . Much fun to see them all, and it really made me feel that they were doing "theater camp" and not just "putting on a play." THEN we got ICE CREAM. :)

Coffee time!

July 16: Happy Birthday, Nate!

2010-07-16T09:01:00.001-04:00

And he's fourteen! WOW!

Today will involve: making a midday b'day celebration snack for the gang at Grand Camp
--delivering said snack
--an hour of tidying work in the Silas zone
--a hard swim workout (2000 meters here we come!)
--German Choc. Cake icing
--some school/library phone calls
--work on Kole's bootie #2.

Rock on.

Happy b'day to my sweet, funny, smart, quirky, tender-hearted Nateus Nuteus.

July 12: Onwards!

2010-07-12T09:01:00.002-04:00

GREAT rain all day yesterday, and I got unwhiny, and the boys and I had a nice afternoon/evening and Andy did come home from B'wick and. . . it was a nice day. Today is hot, still, and sunny.

List:
--laundry out
--finish A's jams, while listening to Vol. 3 of Great Expectations (am loving that book!)
--possibly finish A's socks
--work on the great Closet Consolidation
--bike ride and/or swim (hip is better, but running is definitely not good for it right now)
--stop by the Farmer's Market for vegs for pasta salad
--possible Library stop for more fluff (tho I keep finding books to read in the study. . . )

TaDA!

July 11: A Little Whining

2010-07-11T12:19:00.002-04:00

It's raining, and that's GREAT. In fact, I wish it would rain a little harder for the whole afternoon. We need it, and since Nate and I have to work on Andy's belated Dad's Day jammies, it's a perfect setting for our afternoon plans. I even swam this morning so I am off the hook for exercise (I think I've inflamed my left hip bursa, so I think I'll skip running for a bit. Am trying to be good with ibu and icing. Might try for a hike or two this week instead, and lotsa swimming). BUT

everything in the house is sticky due to the humidity! There is NOT a breath of wind, and we need the lights on. This always bothers me. Bleah.

So I plan to eat some lunch, read my Katie Fforde book (pure fluff), and then sew. Probably with some loud music on to get me unwhiny.

And the rain is nice.

July 7: Action!

2010-07-07T14:59:00.002-04:00

Hot but lovely. Even a breeze. Here's what I have done today:
--made Lyle's b'day cake layers.
--finished reading Volume II of Great Expectations. That's 16 days early, thank you very much!
--set up the second blog over Volume II of GE for my students.
--finished Julie's letter.
--run the dishwasher.
--made iced tea.
--started cleaning out my closet so I can move out of the study for Silas to move in.
--cleaned out my wallet.
--swum across the river with Andy.
--gone driving around the neighborhood with Lyle, practicing his shifting.

I plan to also
--run with Nate (then probably swim with him too)
--wrap L's presents
--food shop/go to the bank and the libe with the boys
--finish the closet (at least the clothes hanging part, maybe not the piles of stuff part).

WHOOSH! Take THAT, July 7!!!!

June 30: Last Day of the first month of vacation!

2010-06-30T08:08:00.002-04:00

And it's a lovely one! The roofing guys are here to start Big Project #1, the second part of reshingling the roof, and I need to send a check to the guy who's going to do our front walkway with paving stones. . . things are moving! A is feeling under the weather, possibly with a flu? thing I had badly (and thought was food poisoning) when I ate the leftovers from our good Green Tea food. I was miserable Sunday afternoon/evening/night and then slept most of Monday, when it rained hard most of the morning. I curled up on the futon with the cats. . . ahhh. Not a bad way to be when you're under the weather!

So now I hope to get some stuff done! Have at it!

June 26: WOW!

2010-06-26T16:43:00.002-04:00

I am just barely staying awake on this first real vacation Saturday of the summer. Have been reading up on AFS issues, etc, and am feeling a tad queasy about what we're taking on, but having read Denmark's profile, I also feel like it might be a good match.

It's that still greyness outside that might herald a t'storm, and I think I'll go up stairs for a read or a nap (or both?) before Nate and I order takeout from Green Tea for dinner!

Summer: I love it!

May 30: Sunday

2010-05-30T08:55:00.002-04:00

Skipping church today. . .hoping the sun will come out, but mostly seizing a different way to feel the weekend. I also don't like the war/church interface. We tend not to do that well yet.

So: soon to write instructional grants, due on Tuesday, but spent some time messing around outside (it's still very dry so I watered). Found six lovely ripe strawberries in my front garden. . . yum! Am hoping the chill grey will fade as it seems to be doing and we'll have the sunny day we've been promised. If we can't have RAIN, I'd like SUN!

Gobbled down The Double Comfort Safari Club yesterday. . . fun. I will reread parts of it, but overall Mma Ramotswe does not fail to please.

AND found out we got our exchange student for next year--exciting!

May 28: FRIDAY of Memorial Day Weekend!

2010-05-28T19:32:00.002-04:00

I copied THIS from Letters from a Hill Farm's blog. . . and SHE said, I saw this at Cornflower's blog this morning and here are her words about where it came from.

Here's a meme from Bookish NYC via Life must be filled up; do take it to your own blog or answer the questions in the comments on this post if you wish.

Do you snack while reading?
Sure, but not always. I'll come in from work and plop down with my snack and a drink (see below) but it doesn't have to be that way.

What is your favourite drink while reading?
Winter/Fall/Spring: hot tea; summer: iced tea of our family recipe.

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
If I'm reading for school, I mark a LOT. Otherwise, usually not, unless there are editing errors. THOSE I mark, even in library books. For shame, sloppy editors!

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?
I try to bookmark. I rarely dogear unless the book is TERRIBLE, and I don't usually smash them flat.

Fiction, non-fiction or both?
Mostly fiction but will read non-f. with pleasure too.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?
Depends. I like to read to ends of chapters, but sometimes when I realize I am falling asleeeeeeep while trying to get to the end, I'll just stop.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
Nope, tho my best friend and I use that as hyperbole. I just stop and return or donate it. HA!

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Not usually. Honestly, I don't usually come across words I don't know. . . . as I think about it. Hmmm.

What are you currently reading?
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I like it a lot, though it's a weird, very specific topic and very different from her others (which makes me a little sad, as I liked those!)

What is the last book you bought?
Fiction: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. In hardcover. Totally worth it.
Knitting: Weekend Knitting, for less than my $10 gift cert. Ha!

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?
Anytime. I was shocked to realize how little I'd been reading for long stretches, as reading was my opium as a kid. But I like anywhere/anytime nowadays!

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
Both, unless the author gets annoyingly predictable or zanily tries to keep our attention.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
For people in bad places but with a sense of humor: Anne Lamott
For people who have patience: Ladies' No 1 Detective Agency
For teens and adults who are witty and funny: Terry Pratchett.
I could go on!

How do you organise your books?
No way at all. Not enough bookshelves in this house so it's usually a scramble. I do like a tempting pile, so often I pile the "to be read" books in my study and then tell myself, "No more new ones till this pile is gone!"--but it never works!

Barbara's additional question: background noise or silence?
Am a teacher of high school; come from a big family; now have a lively, active family. . . . I read however it comes! Often knit while I do if the book will stay open!

May 18, 2010: WOW!

2010-05-18T19:50:00.002-04:00

Much time has gone by, but much good/fun/challenging/rewarding stuff has happened. Or unfolded. Or been accomplished. Right now there are several things I feel like sharing:

•went to a great tech workshop after school, geared for English teachers. It was great fun, time shot by, and we all (three of us!) got great ideas. AND there was pizza!

•thanks to a student, I have put "omnidazzle" on my cursor so I sprinkle golden pixie dust as I move around and do my work. I love it inordinately and geekily.

•have been knitting quite a bit on the sweater that I want to make and that will fit BH, Elder, or me, so that's good, but it's taking TIME so am

•planning the next pair of socks. It's been a while!

In the meantime, May is jetting by. It's been a lovely month, and many lovely things have happened in it. This weekend, Elder goes to an art enrichment weekend in Deer Isle, and Younger, BH and I go to Grandaddy's 80th and then Younger's confirmation. Yay!

For now................ I'm beat! G'night, maybe, even!

May 8: Mini-Triathlon #2!

2010-05-08T15:58:00.002-04:00

I am wearing a fleece, long sleeved tee, wool socks, and jeans, and curled in my comfy chair, complete with mohair throw. Outside, it is cold (45) and raining steadily. I have had a hot shower, a nap, and a lovely lunch at the Riverside, complete with a chocolate milkshake. All these details crown the fact that I have completed the Downeast Family YMCA's "Dare to Try" Mini-triathlon for the second time, and I am so pleased with myself that I could just sing (more active signs will have to wait till Sunday or even Monday)!

It was not a lovely day, and what to wear if it was going to pour steadily was a big question, but many things turned out fine. I wore my running tights and my windbreaker after the swim, then shed the 'breaker for the run, and apart from a slight tendency for the tights to slide down during the run, all was well. My feet got VERY cold--wool peds next year--but otherwise I felt a lot better than I did last year. I have little idea of what my time was because I forgot to check, and I don't. even. really. care: I am just delighted that I did it, that I finished, that I felt so good. The only bummer was that I was moved to the third heat due to a very slow swimmer in my assigned lane. It made total sense to move me, but I battled the feeling of being THE LAST ONE. I ended up not being, and, of course, timewise I was far from the last, but still. Maturity lesson, I guess!

Well. That is a huge hurdle at the end of two weeks of lots of hurdles, including a budget meeting for the library which went very poorly AND the massive scoring of honors work which we do every year and which I'm in charge of as dept. head this year. I just feel happy and relieved--yay!

April 23: Friday of Vacation Week

2010-04-23T14:04:00.004-04:00

It's a grey cold day and I'm having a lazy one of it, I guess. . . plan to spring into some work (bill paying, updating the busy, busy calendar for April/May, etc) but I didn't sleep well last night (next time: a DECAF iced coffee after Younger's ortho at 4:30!) and am tired now, so I am on the futon in the study, hoping for a nap.

The Boston trip was good/fun/packed/cheerful/pleasant/full of family and friends. . . . Besides seeing BH's aunt and uncle and a family friend, Younger and I had a lovely time in Boston while Elder and BH visited his second school. We went to the Aquarium and then knocked around downtown a bit, miraculously finding all the spots we needed to find easily and quickly. The weather was stunning, and we simply had a lovely time. Two pics:

Us on the wharf outside the Aquarium. . . and

a very avant-garde pic I managed with my terrible camera. There were tons of people in the Aquarium, but it was fun to be there with a mellow companion, so the stress didn't get to us.

On the homefront, Younger and I finished a deep cleaning of his room and, as a result/reward, he now has a new mattress and boxspring to replace the one I slept on in my grandmother's guest room. . . . which was old THEN! I think he'll sleep well. The room is certainly stunning!

Okay. Nap time, starting with a little more Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, which I am loving and reading very, very slowly to make it last!

April 17: The Saturday of Vacation

2010-04-17T08:34:00.002-04:00

Well, it's finally here! The week was busy but good, with my 9/10 English class being especially, surprisingly, focused yesterday, which was a delight! I wound down the week by turning in the schedule for next year (my first time to plan it as dept. head), getting the nasturtium seeds for Earth Day Sunday next week at church, and then a really nice knitting group after school. To top it off, we had BH-made pizza as we watched "Mamma Mia!" (fun) and then Younger and I cleaned under his bed, step one of the Total Room Cleaning we have planned for this week. Yikes!

Sunday we leave for Boston: it will be great to see some of BH's family, and (gulp) to visit some colleges with Elder. We're hoping to get back on Tuesday night. . . best case, we'll have a nice family time, enjoy a change of venue to do some fun Boston stuff, and I'll get a chance to do some knitting en route. Not-so-best-case, we get cranky because we spend too much time rushing around and being crammed into our Toyota. . . and I forget something integral and can't knit! Well, good thing I'm an optimist.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand BH just walked into the den and announced, "It's snowing!" Which it is. Who says a good vacation has to be a warm one?

April 11, Sunday Before Vacation!

2010-04-11T14:55:00.002-04:00

Well, we have one week looming between us and the week that seemed like it would never come. Maybe it won't--but compared to the gulf that has stretched between our tired selves and it, these five days with not too many commitments in them seem quite manageable. So.

For me, this weekend was a big sigh of relief after a week containing a lot, lot, lot of commitments: parent meetings, Younger's show choir night, eye doctor's appointments, meetings to discuss next year's class assignments, on and on. Last of all, I spent Friday on a bus with 13 other colleagues going to a conference in Portland on differentiation. While the conference was a blend of usefulness and glibness, the whole day was terrific. The bus ride allowed a lot of visiting/school talk/processing/non-school talk and two meals which left us all feeling charged up and energized despite a loooooong day (on bus at 5:30 am; off bus at 8:40 pm). It was a huge relief to get out of the classroom for even one day. What a great day!

Yesterday I had a chunk of solo time at home which was a pleasure, even as I hustled around doing laundry and picking up. As a result, the house looks neater and calmer than it often does on a Sunday afternoon, and I feel less stressed--so much less stressed, in fact, that I think I might just take a napppppppppppppppppp!

April 3: Wow! Time Flies like an arrow. . .

2010-04-03T09:30:00.002-04:00

. . . but fruit flies like a banana!!!!

Just realized I should've used that old joke while studying figurative language with my 9th graders. . . . Oh well. Next batch.

It's Easter Saturday, BH has gone to help empty his father's house, under contract at last!, and I have much much much to do. However, I am bolstered in my determination that if volunteering to make the Easter breakfast for church is my gift, it needs to be done with pleasure and grace, not frenzy and rush. So.

1. Made six Stollen yesterday after school. Discovered that yes, they are still delectable even when one forgets to add the eggs. Completely. All four eggs. Until the first batch is in the oven and the second batch is formed and rising. Hmmm. Who knew?

2. Have made a good clear to do list for the boys, who will be asked only to do a small help-out since the breakfast (see above) is my idea. Mostly their to dos will make a nicer homecoming for BH, who is very stressed, and will get their weekend chores done before tomorrow, Easter.

3. Have decided on some simplified foods, but mostly have decided to focus on the almost-miraculous (and we're in the season of miracles, now, anyway, natural and religious, so let's call it miraculous, shall we?) way that things seem to get done every year for this event, whether I freak out or not. Am I learning? Anne Lamott talks about how her behavior can make Jesus want to drink gin out of the cat dish; I feel like my obtuseness makes Jesus want to kick me in the head to make his point!

4. Am hoping for a nap, and am watching the fog clear slowly. Forecast is for a most unMainelike Easter: sunny and 70's. !!!!

March 23: Looky! Looky!

2010-03-23T19:04:00.006-04:00

(Do kids say that anymore? We used to, all the time!)

BUT. . . here we go. . . .

1. Younger's triumphant hat for his show choir pianist's first baby, due in June:

I am delighted to report that the recipient, Colin, was ecstatically impressed and a wonderful gift-getter. So nice when that happens!

2. Amaryllis of wonder. I bought two and gave one to my friend Marie, and it exploded into beautiful blossoms of white and pink, three stalks' worth, each with five blooms. Mine, scarlet, is on its third stalk as well, this one with four blossoms (the other two had two gorgeous trumpets each). Easily worth the $12.95 for each! What show-stoppers!

3. And, finally, I finished the Charybdis socks from the Glass of Fashion website for my sister-in-law!! One (poor) picture, featuring Younger's feet. . .

Not crazy about the pooling of color in the yarn, but it is a wonderful pattern and I hope to make it again! Hope she likes 'em!

It's raining steadily and has done all day. Reading for a bit now. Yay, Tuesday!

Later That Same Day. . .

2010-03-22T19:41:00.001-04:00

. . . Nice Monday mostly over, dishes washed, kettle on the boil, congo bars waiting for tea, rain falling on the skylight.

Ahhhhhh.

March 22: Happy B'day to Ann!

2010-03-22T05:59:00.002-04:00

It's a grey, chilly day here, but still no rain! We are really hoping for it, as we haven't had any for a long time. I think it's all pooled in CT, where there's been major flooding, etc. We don't need all that, but certainly a day/night of steady precip. would be good, rejoicing the souls of the buds and the bulbs and the trees!

Let's see: it's Monday am, 6 am to be precise, so my post is not the usual "What I hope to do this weekend" variety. We did have a nice weekend: the high school had no classes on Friday, the inservice day I helped to plan was a huge success and a lot of fun, Younger and I headed off to Bangor for a fun trip to Target so I could see their Liberty line (clothes, not so good; housewares, okay: I got some notepaper!), and I watched "Funny Face": hello, dumb movie!!! I am all for suspending disbelief, but Astaire looked like a child molester, Hepburn couldn't sing, and what I think you'd call "the production values" AND the plot were really weak. BUT. . . I worked on Ellyn's second sock and am nearly nearly done. Yay!

The big news is that Younger's jazz band got SECOND in the State competition--sort of out of the blue! I am so happy for him and his director: it's been an up and down year, and it's rare to have things come together so successfully at the end. . . Younger was sportin' a pair of wingtips we happened (okay, Eagle-Eye-for-Bargains *I*) spotted in the clearance bin, and he loves them, so maybe that mojo helped. But it was great.

And I went out to see a band downtown (!!). . . BH was too tired so I was sans partner and didn't get to dance as much as I wanted to, but it was fun to be there and how different is that for me? I have extracted a sort-of promise from BH to go the next time they're playing, and then we'll be up and at 'em!

So my goal for this week, schoolwise, is to keep my challenging 9/10 class in focus. Partly, I'm praying about it (which makes me laugh because it would freak out the kids to know that, but I think Jesus is ALL ABOUT kids like this. . . which is part of what makes the whole thing so hard, because I can't just dismiss them!) and partly I am just trying to step back and see what the kids need. In a nonjudgemental kind of way. I hope.

Mar. 12: Yessss!

2010-03-12T16:17:00.002-05:00

Thirteen hours at school yesterday, but today

featured

a nice, mellow, "let's be friends" but fairly productive Friday schoolwise,

a good car clean,

one load of laundry done and hung out already, and

great anticipation of getting the "new" Toyota--2003! but with sunroof, incredibly low miles, and tape deck AND cd!--tomorrow!

Now, on the couch with chips, a Mike's, and lots of blogs to catch up on. Nice!

March 10: In Praise of Terry Pratchett

2010-03-10T17:52:00.002-05:00

Because, even on a crap day when I ponder the future of our civilization because kids seem so resistant to learning or doing anything remotely demanding even breathing practically,

when I wonder if it's ME and I'm just an evil/demanding/unrealistic/too strict/too old fashioned/too closeminded/too [you fill in the blanks] old monster who should stop harming the youth of America,

when I drive home battling to turn off the drumbeat of "I must" "I should" "I have to" and "I should have" in my mind,

he can still make me laugh out loud at lines like "he was what you would get if you shaved a bear" and other gems, and he never seems to forget the value of human beings, even when they are stinky, stubborn, short-sighted, and difficult.

Both of these are things I needed to do or be reminded of today, and the wonderful Stephen Briggs recording of Going Postal that is gracing me with its company these days did the trick.

March 7: Is it HERE?

2010-03-07T09:00:00.003-05:00

I know we are still in for some nasty days and grueling weather, but my! We've had a stretch of three days of downright lovely. Not a weekend for the LOTR trilogy at all: my run yesterday featured my running tights and a long sleeved tshirt and a LOT of sweat--what a sign of Spring! BH and I went for a nice walk along the Bangor waterfront after a nice lunch while we waited for the 60,000 check on his car, and I even hung out more laundry! Life is good!

I hope to reappear shortly with some FO pictures. . . MUCH progress has been being made (!) on various odds and ends. Stay tuned, and enjoy the weather!

Ah, here they are.

The big brown and orange socks were finished this morning and seized by Younger with cries of joy. Since he is VERY fussy about his feet, I considered and discarded the idea of giving them to him for C'mas (he likes orange and funky stuff, as you can tell by his pj pant legs!), so am delighted he likes them! The booties were resurrected, as I had run out of yarn to finish the second one and make the ties. With both Elder and BH asking for booties for various causes, I got creative and did a Frankenstein type yarn transfusion, making one shorter and lengthening the other, and then dug up some yarn that sort of matched for the ties. One pair down, one more to go! But nice to have two FO's, esp as both are patterns I love. Nothing like that Yankee Knitter sock pattern or that great bootie. . . Yay!

Mar. 2: Soft and Grey

2010-03-02T06:50:00.002-05:00

Got up this morning to walk Zeus, and although it is still overcast, it was definitely 1. light enough to see, and 2. not bitter. (That's a very Maine thing to praise, but still!). It was also not raining or snowing, a weather trend that has been the rule for the past week plus. So all in all, it felt like a very verge-of-Spring type of day--for some reason, it felt like a very English Spring day, though all the Brits I know are watching bulbs come up, while our ground is rock hard still. However, I would guess that while people are canceling snowshoe races left right and center, many maple syrup makers are dusting off their spiles and buckets for the season. Things take their time, but their time is coming!

Have had a few Orc-type dreams lately, but all in all, seem to have survived the experience quite well. After that viewing and two (quite high energy and fun) meetings yesterday, I am nearly through the foot of my brown/orange sock, and am nearly the heel on the Charybdis sock. Such productivity and energy!

Feb. 27: Saturday and Saving Middle Earth

2010-02-27T20:44:00.002-05:00

For some reason, I decided it would be fun to watch all three of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. . . I don't think I actually sat down and watched any of them start to finish, so last night (after a terrific evening of show choir at the high school: Younger's group's 80's medley was great, and MDI's and Ellsworth's senior high productions, while very different, were both terrific.) Younger and I came home, cobbled together some dinner, and sat down to watch the first half of "The Fellowship of the Ring."

After a great night's sleep (the night before I woke up a lot from the wind and rain!), some hanging around the house, and then a delicious breakfast out at the Riverside, Younger and I finished #2, and I did two loads of laundry, set it to dry on the rack, went for a run, took Z for a walk with Elder, and showered, whereupon we settled in to start "The Two Towers," which we just finished after a break to make cornbread and salad, admire Elder's picture for art, and take said food to a potluck supper at church. Amidst all that hacking, slashing, amazing scenery, and admiration of Llegolas (OB never looked better. Never.), I did the gorgeous eye-of-partridge heel flap for my orange/brown socks, got through the first 1/2 of the foot of my charybdis sock #2, and wound 8 balls of Peace Fleece's Ancient Fern for the sweater I'm planning.

NOT SO BAD! Still I am feeling like today flew by and might skip church (first time in a long, long time!) just to have some more time to be. Will wait and see how that feels.

Meantime, weather is still sun/rain/cold/warm/snow/rain/wind/sun, but the least of all, sun. We were lucky with our vacation!

Feb. 25: Wet, Wild, and Windy!

2010-02-25T06:00:00.005-05:00

February has returned with a vengeance--though it's really more February mixed with late March as our striking dry weather has been replaced by lots and lots of rain, with splatterings of huge wet snow flakes mixed in. We are so lucky we had such nice weather last week: while I'd love to take today to slop around the house in my jams, knitting and reading and maybe taking a nap, a whole week of this gloom, chill and damp would drive us all nuts.

One nice thing is the lack of sun will preserve this:

It is the sturdiest and possibly most prolific amaryllis I've had! It's short, too, which makes it more durable. There are two more stalks coming up! I am, once again, delighted by my Ellsworth Feed and Seed purchase! Marie's apple blossom one is stunning as well, brightening up the main office at school. Lovely things!

I am eyeing this weekend and hoping to watch some "Lord of the Rings" movies with Elder and Younger and also my netflix. I need to get both socks, Ellyn's and the brown ones, over hurdles (heel and I forget what else), and I could start my peace fleece pullover if Marie brings in the swift. . . . so some movies would provide a great backdrop. Saturday night we're out at church for a potluck and the LaRomana group's picture show, which should be fun. Sounds like a nice mix of in and out--after a week of too much out, kicking off a month of "too much out!" But such is March. Ah well.

I'll close with a shot of my vacation accomplishment, my cleaned and organized spice cupboard. . . from this:

to this:

Maybe this is the reason I've been baking so much lately! Martha, eat your heart out!

Feb. 20: Back from Brunswick

2010-02-20T20:39:00.002-05:00

Let's see: I knitted on Ellyn's sock toe en route down (2.5 hours). Realized I'd cast on with the wrong sized needles, though I had carefully recorded the correct size. . .just didn't bother to check. Still, took everything out, redid the Knitty '06 magic toe up cast on without the pictures (!!) and was back up to . . . well, the toe, by the time we got to BH's dad's place.

Knitted on plain brown sock (orange top, heel, and toe; yarn packaged together and then given randomly to me!)while visiting with the family. . . about 2 hours. 2"?

While light lasted, started pattern on Ellyn's second sock. Redeemed self by getting pattern going without trouble. Whew. Did about 1" before light failed.

Switched to brown sock and knitted in the dark (yes, boasting) for 2 hours or so. Am about 1" away from heel, so did about 5" total. Yesssssssssssssssss!

Hands are tired. NOT knitting when I read!

Feb. 18: Thursday, and What Have I Done?

2010-02-18T08:47:00.003-05:00

Here's the old "gotta get stuff DONE" quandary. . . cleaned the spice cupboard (pics to follow) and have done some good reading and knitting, but today I hope to get down to some good work on the ol' to-do list. Doesn't help that my friend Lori is WHIPPING through her to-dos in preparation for a move!

So, here are my hopes:
--cut the pieces for my bench runner--DONE!
--print out family pic for my errrrr holiday ? card/letter for the year (that would be 2009!)--DONE! Now I have to REwrite the "copy"
--DO SOME TIDYING UP! My bureau and my study are beginning to make me itch!TODAY!
--get a card to the library for the other trustees to sign. . . DID IT! Also got both boys new, much needed sneakers, on sale and with a coupon. . .
--go out to dinner with BH to a restaurant *he* wants to go to that *I* am not so thrilled about. . . Put on a happy face! IT WAS GOOD AND NICE. YAY!
--good swim workout at 1:30 to practice back and breaststroke. . . Elder was very patient on Tuesday! WHEW! I WAS BEAT--GOOD WORKOUT INDEED!

That. Should. Do. It.

Then I'd feel a little more accomplished! Well: except that I managed to start feeling MORE hunted and LESS accomplished. . . stupid brain. And BH's sil has now planned a b'day gathering for BH's brother. . .ON SATURDAY. Two hours away. When the whole family was down there LAST WEEK. I can't decide if I should suck it up and go, thus losing more time, or not. . . BH says not to go if I don't want to, but it's not that easy. My bigger self wars with my smaller self. I have a hunch I'm going. ==sigh==

ETA: Though I managed to get completely distracted and forget to post this entirely! D'OH!

Feb. 16: Good Times!

2010-02-16T07:52:00.002-05:00

It was wonderful to be in Portland with Julie and Lori; it's wonderful to be home with a list of enticing "to do's" before me. We're even due to have SNOW tonight into tomorrow. Such goodness!

Today the sunshine is streaming in the window and my amaryllis is making a good attempt at blooming (thanks for waiting till I got back!). I am thinking I might attack the spice cupboard and start work on the runner for my new bench--if I at least get the fabric I can skip driving tomorrow if the roads are bad! I do have Library Trustees tonight, and then tomorrow is Ash Wednesday (how the HECK did that happen?), but still. Glorious vacation!

My sinuses are giving me a run (ha! Inadvertent pun, and actually it's an oxymoron) for my money: my ear started crackling on Friday and I had a go round (and round and round) of bad vertigo Sunday night, and today my teeth feel funny, so I will take some drying medicine and hope I can avoid a trip to the dr. Because I. Am. Just. Too. Busy!

Had a very slick bus ride up from Portland: I finished Ellyn's first sock, started the second orange/brown sock, and read a ton of my bargain book: The Circle, by Peter Lovesey. I like his Peter Diamond series, and this is one. . . great characters, and a twisty ending. Finished it last night. Yessssssssss!

Feb. 13: Vacation!

2010-02-13T07:59:00.002-05:00

At last! I will leave for Portland with Lori at 11; Elder has already left for States at Orono and Younger and BH leave for family b'day in Brunswick in about an hour. I have swept the floor and have a load of towels in already. Towels? Why towels, you ask? Because Elder's swim team did their States prep at our house yesterday (3 pm on) and of the ten kids we had, three shaved their heads completely, two did total body shaves, and three got substantial hair cuts. So there was a LOT of showering. And hair disposal. Then I fed fourteen people dinner of spaghetti, sauce, bread, salad, and BH, Younger, two of Younger's friends and I made it to a 6 pm showing of "The Lightning Thief," which we'd all read, downtown. WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a lot of fun from start to finish (many pics on Facebook, of course) but at about 6:45 in the movie (which I enjoyed, tho it left a lot of stuff out!), I nearly fell asleep.

Am so looking forward to three days in Portland! Lori and Julie have made the reservations for dinner, so I get to just show up, and we're all prepared to drift happily around the city and shore for a few days. I am riding down with L and taking the bus back up, so I can knit or sleep or whatever. Yesssss.

This vacation I have several putzy goals:
--clean the spice cupboard. Enough with waiting for the snow days already.
--clean the top of my bureau.
--start a runner for the top of the bench in the living room. I think I'll pattern it on the Christmas one we had.
--send out our (ahem) Christmas picture to some stalwarts who sent Christmas cards.
--look at fixing the fraying curtains in the bedroom.
--finish a few WIPs if possible: my brown and orange socks and Ellyn's first sock at least.
--go out to dinner with BH!

Yeah!

February 8: More Things I Like

2010-02-08T17:25:00.003-05:00

1. The feeling that comes over a class room when everyone is working. Suddenly, we're all headed in the same direction, and it gets. . . peaceful, is the best word I can think of. Love that.

2. Taking off tights and putting on flannel pajama pants.

3. Hot tea. Hot black tea. Ahhhh.

4. Hyacinths coming up to bloom in the house. =Sigh=. My carefully planted ones from this fall are NOT showing, even after six weeks of love and sunshine. Next step: dumping them out to find them 1. uninterested, or 2. mouldy. =Sigh again.=

(This pic is from last year. Granted, it was much snowier last winter, but I'm still misty. I give myself permission to go buy another hyacinth from the grocery store for this year!)

5. Finding a book that sucks me in. It's been a bit! I need one!

Watch This Movie!

2010-02-06T14:03:00.002-05:00

"Arranged"--tells the story of a friendship between two women, one Orthodox and one Muslim, living in NYC, who meet each other as their families are amping up their efforts to marry them off. Lovely to watch and very thought-provoking. I'd recommend it highly! Got it through Netflix, and started BH's new, larger, and green chullo hat while watching it.

Now, off for a run in the cccccold. It's hard being tough.

Actually, it's hard only being disciplined enough to go for the run rather than being able to maintain my weight some other way like eating less!

But the sun is out, so the vitamin D will be good too. Off with me!

Feb. 6 ??!!: Whipping through winter!

2010-02-06T08:40:00.003-05:00

Not much new snow lately, despite the "snowmaggedon" promised to our nation's capitol. It's been cold enough so I'd like a little more coverage for some of my plants, but since February break in only one week away and Lori, Julie and I are planning a rendezvous in Portland, I will wait till the end of February for any more spectacular snow falls. Please!

Today Elder and BH are in Deer Isle meeting Elder's art mentor and seeing his forge; I plan to get off my duff in a moment, clean up, and head down town to check out the library book sale (I am restlessly between books right now. . . grrrr.) and the studio cleanout sale at the Maine Grind, just for a variation. I also realized at our fun and rowdy knitting group meeting yesterday, that I have four projects "on the needles" and I have just ordered yarn (will go out on Monday) for a sweater, so I want to get cracking on BH's second (bigger) Christmas hat. Since it is 1. very cold and 2. I have a Netflix that's been waiting to be watched for three weeks, it seems 3. like a knitting and watching afternoon might be inevitable. The futon in my study is unfolded, in fact, and might be just the spot!

So this is a quick appearance to say nothing much. I will bemoan the fact that my "Seven Days of Specialness" swap partner seems to have vanished, so my carefully selected and wrapped gifts are sitting in my car, frozen and neglected, and my seven special days are also in limbo. So far, my experience with swaps has been middling to poor. Hmm. Note to self? Or maybe just self pity!

However, to uplift all of our spirits, I will close with a pic of Younger, showcasing his Christmas present to me: comfy, bright pj pants made by himself! They are just what I love and needed. . . We are both delighted!

Jan. 31: They're Back!

2010-01-31T19:39:00.002-05:00

The La Romana crew is home, safe and sound, tan and tired. . . My two participants arrived around 9:30 pm yesterday, and today the whole group "was the sermon" in church. Each person spoke, movingly, honestly, without notes, about the trip, sharing a key insight. Elder's friend Neal was perhaps the most moving as he said, "Us just being there makes the people happy." Elder read the Lord's Prayer in rapid, beautifully accented Spanish, which totally blew me away. It was a moment of sheer rejoicing for the whole group.

And in the week they were gone, Younger finished my pj pants, his hooked rug (a three year effort), and made himself a knitted "Chain Chomp" hat (Ravelry link)!! Wish *I* could be that productive and crafty!

Jan. 25: Monday Work Day

2010-01-25T16:41:00.002-05:00

Today was the trade-over day at school, but due to our snow day last week, many of us still have exams tomorrow (errr. . . . that would be me. AP English first thing). Still, it's great to have a chance to draw breath, clean, sort a bit, dump some things, and enter grades, and ponder, looking ahead and behind. And I did a good job today, spending about an hour visiting to start, then cleaning for two hours, then settling in to academic stuff, and some department head issues as well. Left around 3, got stamps--two 50 stamp rolls as opposed to the sheets we've been getting, which feels very secure!--and dropped six boxes of hand-me-over books from school at the library for the book sale. Settled in at home and basking in a sense of accomplishment.

It's gotten VERY warm in the past day, and we had on and off rain and mist. Now, as it gets dark, the rain is settling in, and the wind is rising. I am so very glad we had a day for the earth and snow to get used to the warmth, as we're due to get between one and two inches more precip tonight before we turn back to chillier temps tomorrow. In any case, it will be a noisy night tonight! Safe passage and warm sleeping to everyone in this weather pattern!

Jan. 23: The Big Departure Day

2010-01-23T10:54:00.006-05:00

Elder and BH left for the DR trip last night. They flew out this am at 6, so stayed overnight in Portland. Got a call this morning that they were on time to leave NYC at 11:17 for Santa Domingo! Much excitement, and it seems that Younger and I are settling down after the anticipation as well. Here's a shot of most of the group from our church prior to departure.

A few more things I like:

1. Our big sturdy new drying rack. I can fit TWO loads of laundry onto it, and that means NO DRYER USE. Yay!

2. Sun on snow. Wow.

3. The Amos Lee cd Elder gave me for Christmas. I play it all the time. He's my new Norah Jones!

4. Meals of soup, bread, and salad, sometimes, but not always, made by someone other than me.

5. Well-written British chick lit.

6. The booties that I can whip through in five-days-provided-we-have-a-long-faculty-meeting-and-a-snow-day. They're fun, very functional, and easy to make. Here's a not-very-good picture of the very pair that earned that name:

Jan. 18: And Now. . .

2010-01-18T09:14:00.001-05:00

. . . woke up around 8:30 after a lovely night's sleep to find it snowing tiny, steady, dense flakes! Happy Monday off!

Jan. 17: Great ice!

2010-01-17T17:47:00.003-05:00

In the midst of all my existential fuss and commotion and insomnia, there is much much much to enjoy and be thankful for. Skating on Eagle Lake today (me in my first ever brand new comfy high tech skates from BH) was certainly a big item on that list.

Breath taking, isn't it? What a great time.

Jan. 16: Thin Places

2010-01-16T09:10:00.002-05:00

Well. Huge thanks to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for being born in January, thus giving us a three day weekend at at time when, even after a lovely nearly two week break in late December, we really need an extra pj morning. He was a gutsy and amazing man, and one who definitely adds a plus to the checkered history of organized religion, and hooray for a January b'day.

It's odd: I've been having a bit of a struggle with stress, hormones, and sleeping lately. It's the usual combo in which my inner self cooks up exactly the cocktail that will torment my outer self most effectively, because who knows how to drive me crazy better than. . . well, me? So I've been doing the right stuff--eating well, exercising, saying "no," seeing friends, making plans for fun stuff, knitting, keeping an eye on the big picture, taking a sleeping pill instead of lying awake fuming, etc.--but I'm still functioning on about 6 hours of sleep and a mildly suppressed sense of panic about that fact. I know it will pass: I have the journal entries to prove it. Whenever I think, "This is the worst round of insomnia since The First Big One in . . . 2001?" I go to my journal and hey! It's not! This happens every winter--sometimes in November, sometimes in February, often in January. It is, in an odd way, reassuring, as then my job becomes not "fixing it," but getting through it, learning from it, sitting with it. As a pragmatic fixer person, I hate that, but I think it's a good lesson.

AND. . . I am amazed how many of my friends are going through the same type of challenging time. I just got off the phone with my dearest friend, who's bedeviled by stress and worry and sadness, and my closest teaching friend is battling a migraine and generalized worry, and . . . . Suffice it to say, most of the women I know well enough for them to peel back the "Hey, I'm fine!" veneer are at a thin place right now. The earthquake just adds to it, partly as it creates guilt as we have our families around us, our houses intact, our bank accounts reasonably functional, but also as a layer of sadness and mourning.

So maybe this thin place is a part of the cycle of the year (or maybe I've been reading too many mythology-based ya novels: thanks, Terry P and Susan Cooper!), part of cleaning out, dealing with the dust bunnies of frustration with our spouses, global worries, panic about our ability to hold our worlds together. . . NOT THAT IT DOES NOT SUCK! I do not want to underestimate how much I hate the constant thinking about how I'm feeling or the loss of that blissful, freeing spin into the free fall of sleep. But. It feels like this is something female humans do. May we support ourselves and each other through it!

Jan. 9: Five Things I Like

2010-01-09T15:50:00.002-05:00

I think I bumped into this on someone's blog lately, and it does appeal. I'll do one right now (nearly 4 pm on a Saturday afternoon; lots of good "got tos" behind me, bread rising, soup cooking, sun setting) and then repeat the process whenever I see fit. Ha!

Five Things I Like (In No Particular Order)

1. Dolly Parton. She's sassy, self-deprecating, loyal to her (musical) roots, and certainly a survivor! She also uses banjo backup often--a huge plus.

2. Sunshine on snow.

3. Busy birdfeeders.

4. The feeling I get when I put a bunch of personal letters into the mailbox, flip up the flag, and walk back to the house.

5. The Charybdis sock pattern that Glassoffashion has posted on her site. I'm making it for my sil and it is wonderful: pretty, interesting, fun, great for varigated yarn, and still very easy to remember.

Well, I have to add one that remains as a perennial favorite: well-timed traffic lights. I love the kind that operate on a pressure plate, so I'm never stuck waiting for a non-existent line of traffic to have its turn, and I marvel at the way that a well-planned set can turn a stressful, dangerous experience into a moment of Zen-like calm.

Off to get the mail.

Jan. 3, 2010: The First One!

2010-01-03T16:08:00.002-05:00

Home and seated by the window with quiet, warm grey cat behind my head as dog races back and forth amongst us and the furnace works overtime to warm up the house. Had a wonderful, warm, rejuvenating family time with all but one sibling's family for the past four days--a time which really saved the vacation, which until then (well, after the 26th, anyway) had featured way too much of me trying to vacation and too little of me enjoying vacation. Not sure why: full moon, hormones, who knows what? But then we decided, in the teeth of dire snow forecasts, to head to Auburn early, and spent one night at Mom's rather than the hotel, and got to spend an extra evening with John and his wonderful family, and then moved to the hotel and starting visiting in earnest with everyone: Tom and Ellyn and kids, Ann, Dad and Nicci, and John and co (after their bout of illness). . . The extra day allowed Elder, Younger and me to spend a lovely time sledding at the high school and BH to go to see his dad, and that also allowed the wimmenfolk to make their annual Marden's trip, with some terrific results for me (bright green corduroy pants! A hot pink shirt!), and let Younger and BH go see "Avatar," which they'd been hoping to do. And in the muddle as well--good fun times, great simple food, lots of laughter, swimming and hot tubbing, snow watching, awesome hotel breakfasts, presents, listening to 1/2 of Hat Full of Sky, various workouts at the hotel (which always feels chic though efficient and is much fun with company) and much good stuff. What a great vacation.

And now I have two fun knitting projects, a fluff book I'm rereading and am halfway through, some great new clothes, and a lot of thank yous, good memories, and oh yes, a week of school (and food shopping to do tomorrow). But things seem good, happy, good, contented, and. . . happy. Yay!

Dec. 29: The Children's Book

2009-12-29T08:38:00.003-05:00

I have just finished reading A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book. I enjoyed her Possession, which took me out of a long dry streak and got me very involved and swept up, and CB did the same, though it took a while to do so. Byatt is a writer who can create another time period and also create characters who are people, so the reader feels as though she has lived through a different time and met people who never existed. The Children's Book covers the late Victorian period up through 1919, and spins off the socio-economic-psychological-political-emotional atmosphere of the time--the feeling that is at once naive and creepy and sexual and strange, all at once. I don't like Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland, and/so I skipped the stories that Olive writes that are in the heart of the plot, but Byatt certainly depicts the individual situations that those stories grew out of. There are weird things about it: Tom and Olive sort of fade out of the story, as does the Violet plot, but at the same time, that's how time passes and history unfolds. And Byatt gets away with telling a lot, a ton more than I'd allow any of my students--but somehow (though I did skim some of those political updates that lasted pages) she keeps the characters alive and immediate. It's an interesting book--not an easy one, and not a simple one. But I'd add it to the curriculum for my "Class to Help Students Understand History through Literature If Time Managment is Not a Problem"--and it would be a hit!

Rain last night, snow this am--6" of it! Pretty.

Note: just went online and read some reviews of CB. Lo and behold, there is literary gossip I did not know (!!), but at least the Times reviewer was much of my mind. . . . [<=That's supposed to be a link. Not sure if it is.] Perhaps I should now research Byatt's life in particular!

12/26: Boxing Day!

2009-12-26T16:16:00.003-05:00

Tho not much boxing of any kind (with gloves or INTO boxes) being done today. Here's a pic that captures the spirit of yesterday:

Elder displaying and celebrating some of his good loot, sportin' the flame fleece pants I made for him two years ago. . . We had a nice day. It went pretty fast, but not greedily, just excitedly. Elder's big deal was that he used his own work savings to buy BH and me a sound system for the house--wow! In a nice parallel, I'd asked for and gotten several cds (ahem. . . NINE!) so we had a housefull of new, great music. It's unlimited screentime in our house on Christmas, so Younger spent a lot of quality time with his new DSi from his grandfather, and he also watched nearly ALL of his season of Scrubs. I read, napped, cooked, washed dishes, talked on the phone. . . . and then this am Gram and I went to the Grasshopper Shop for some "immediately after C'mas b'day shopping" and used my 20% off certificate to great effect, and then she headed off. Since then Younger and I have gone for a nice walk, a short one with Zeus, who is feeling noticeably better to my immense relief, and a longer one to replace a run since my hamstring is still pinging uncomfortably. Then we watched some "Scrubs" while I started on BH's hat. . . and we played some Kings in the Corner, and I'm about to have a shower. . . at 4:34 pm! Maybe some picking up tonight, but nothing too major. Feels pretty darn good, I must say!

Dec. 23: VAY-KAY-SHUN!

2009-12-23T08:55:00.003-05:00

And dog is feeling better after a shot from the vet, we had a really nice dinner out at Finn's yesterday evening, the much-vaunted storm has dwindled into flurries so Gram can make it up as planned, and I've already had a nap (right after school yesterday) and done some reading and slept in. . . .

so things are off to a great start!

Warmest wishes to everyone for a Christmas that opens your heart and feeds your soul. May there be light and warmth and love--and enough for everyone.

Here's my Christmas image, post-pageant and in the midst of the snowstorm on Sunday!

Dec 20: Pictures at Last!

2009-12-20T13:35:00.003-05:00

I thought about writing a few times, but I did want to get some pictures to liven up this space, and I was off doing a lot of things (many of them a great deal of fun) and then there's the whole Christmas event/busy-ness. . . . oh and I am just finishing off writing a grant proposal--so ah well. It's been a nice Advent--the boys decked the tree (seen above) on the first weekend of December, which was wonderful. I am not fussy about how it's decorated, I just like to get it up and done so I can revel in its beauty. And this one has been beautiful! Elder, despite (or maybe because of) losing laptop privileges due to a poor report card, has been a lot of fun, and Younger always is ready for a game, a snuggle, or making a batch of something or other. We've rediscovered UNO and played numerous highly contested games, some of them lasting for ever. . . but all in all, it's a been a good December!

And to close, the picture below is of the fingerless gloves that will be my last present for my Secret Angel at school, a man I don't know very well. The pattern is called "Dashing"--the companion to the women's pattern, "Fetching"!--and I used some of Younger's Weasley sweater yarn and all seemed to go very nicely. I got the bulk of them done in the car headed down to see BH's dad last Saturday--I even brought Younger's headlamp so I could see to knit en route home!

Two days of school this week, then my mom comes up on Wed, and then the fun begins! Off for a cuppa and a read of Stones into Schools--an EXCELLENT book!--before getting more productive. Cheers!

Dec. 5: A List Entry Just Because

2009-12-05T13:43:00.002-05:00

It's December, and as always when Advent starts in November, it seems to be moving fast. Today Elder had a meet and BH had a meeting in Augusta, so Younger and I headed out to do Festive Things downtown, which we did--didn't buy much except at the church fair, but looked at and planned and greeted and went to the new Goodwill (seem appropriate, yes?) and all that. Oh, and I got some pretty blue snowflake flannel to make Elder two festive pillow cases, which will be one of my relatively few handmade presents this year.

Other observations:

*School has, honestly, been delightful lately. My frosh have been funny and fun, and my decision to have my seniors choose and read a poem, one each day till Dec. Break, has wildly exceeded even my optimistic expectations. The New Principal has asked me to help apply for a grant which I might then administer, becoming full time before next year but not increasing my correcting load, and flattering me immensely as well.

*My family has been incredibly endearing lately as well. Elder, in all his 16 year old, 6'6" teen hipness, still gets deeply excited about the holidays, and Younger has been growing up, physically and behaviorally, so much as well that I am swamped with love for them a lot. Thursday night BH and I went out to dinner to plan Christmas presents for them, and we had a great dinner and great planning and a great time, and then when we came back Elder was so chatty and funny that neither of us could get our work done, while Younger and BH had a similarly warm time upstairs reading. Just. . . wow. Lucky, lucky. Then last night the boys put up the tree and decorated it, and today we're supposed to get snow!

*I'm even reading books I like these days, too. Wow. If this is Karma, sign me up for more, please!

Passing comment: I am considering making a New Year's Resolution to sign up for sewing classes and one other sort of classes as well--banjo lessons again, if I can find them in Ellsworth, or maybe signing up for yoga again, or maybe taking a knitting class on finishing techniques. These seem like things that would add greatly to my life but that right now I am too lackadaisical to actually commit to, so a NYR might be JUST the thing!

Off to walk Z with Younger as a way to rest my humming hamstring. I think I need new runners!

Nov. 28: Ahhhh!

2009-11-28T16:55:00.002-05:00

It's nearly 5 pm on Saturday, and we are home. It's very windy out and the temperature is dropping as the rain we've had for a few days moves out. My legs are sore from my run--the second in two days!--brought on in place of a swim when the pool was closed due to a vomiting incident. I am clean but hungry, and am pondering what to eat for a snack and when to eat dinner.

Our trip to Gram's was nice, though the sleeping situations were not particularly comfortable (so good bye to my hope for lots of sleeping!) and we were VERY BUSY--my nephews are go go go boys so we went went went. Shopping, train viewing, shopping again, and a movie. . . wow! It was terrific to see everyone and to have an extra day that wasn't a travel day. My father in law seemed to enjoy our dinner out at Kennebec Tavern, and we ran into friends from church there (!!!) after our delicious meal. Elder and Younger were delightful: great with their granddad, great with their cousins, fun to ride in the car with. Our travel entertainment was my first present to the boys for the season: Terry Pratchett's first two Tiffany Aiken novels, Wee Free Men and Hat Full of Sky, on cd. We have 1.5 discs of WFM left to go!

I finished the latest Isabel Dalhousie, the name of which escapes me but which I enjoyed (yellow cover. . . picture of empty box on front. . . ), and then read part of the newest Maisie Dobbs, Among the Mad, and part of the second Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace. With the apartment full of 10+ people, reading wasn't always the easiest thing to accomplish. I did make one and a half pairs of mittens, though!

Well. I am hungry, tho have decided against a gin and tonic, having had two Mike's Hard Lemonades (one pomegranate, one "light". . . bleah. Go for the extra calories, I'd say) this vacation. Dinner early, perhaps. Then. . . more knitting and a read, maybe? First Sunday in Advent is tomorrow!

Nov. 24: Vacation AlREADY???

2009-11-24T20:54:00.002-05:00

How nice to have a two day week! Am looking forward to a break that includes
--great family time
--lots of sleep
--reading!
--pie
--knitting
--generally relaxing.

Happiest of Thanksgivings to one and all. . . .

Nov. 22: Nice Times.

2009-11-22T17:27:00.004-05:00

This weekend consisted of (among loads of laundry, church, and various other items):
taking in two high school shows: my high school's "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (growing season for them, but fun, impressive, charming) and Ellsworth's "The Wiz" (much more stage crafty with terrific costumes and effects, terrific music, many dear people in it) with Younger;
finishing The Bespoke Stocking of 2009;

and running a Turkey Trot 5k with Lori, a good friend from school, and younger, and 365 other folk! Our goal (all of ours) was to finish in under 30 mins, and we all did--Younger in 26.03, me in 26.57, and Lori in 27 plus a few seconds. . . and we all got tshirts, and were given a turkey each (Lori and our family, that is) by a colleague who won loads of them! Much, much fun.

Now home and looking forward to dinner and trying to whack up the ginger (in Bertie Wooster's immortal words) to do something more than slump here all evening.

Nov. 14: Wishes

2009-11-14T07:41:00.002-05:00

1. Top wish du jour: a clutter vanquisher, a la Mary Poppins. Let's just make all those piles of pencils, old papers, bills, computer stuff, clean laundry, dirty laundry, yarn, etc., vanish back where they belong. Better yet, let the trash end up in the trash, following my definition thereof.

(Feeling better already. Do I need three wishes?)

Wish #2. Insta-travel machine, so Julie and I can spend the day together, or even just have lunch.

Wish #3. If I had the other two, this might be superfluous, but I might enjoy "super kitchen speed" so I could
make a big batch of squash soup
make a batch of bread
peel, core, slice, and deal with all the apples sitting in the garage--pie? sauce? cake?
make some Katherine Hepburn's brownies
make a batch of ginger cookies
AND still do other stuff like going for a run, working on The Stocking, and picking out a new book. Oh, and laundry.

Finished The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly last night. It's read by Stephen Crossley, who was fabulous, and it's a fascinating story, but very sad. I think. I've been pondering it a lot. I also finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and that's a ponder-worthy book, too. I have to admit I skipped sections: it's all about the people for me, and whether it's chaos theory in Jurassic Park or the dream sequences in Holes, I will skip what doesn't directly involve the people. Therefore, considerable numbers of pages whirled by as Renee pondered happiness or Paloma discussed philosophy. . . . but it was an intriguing book and I'm glad I stuck with it! Last on my list is Inkspell, which I've been halfway through for weeks. Might finish the toe of the stocking and the rest of the book at the same time!

Nov. 11: The Brighter Side of the Day Off

2009-11-11T15:10:00.003-05:00

I had forgotten, after a summer not terribly conducive to gardening, how satisfying a good garden session can be.

And exhausting, as well.

Two items lurked in my mind: bulbs and "putting the garden to bed." Bulbs are ideal because they are a huge boon of color, life, and hope that appears when there seems to be little of any in our Maine landscape, and putting the garden to bed because I tend to be bad at that stage of the process, partly because I like to leave seedheads for the birds, and partly because I am a Memorial Day to Labor Day garden since I teach in a public school. A logical time to attend to both items is, of course, our day off--both because it's a treat, and because it's a nice climatory time to plant and trim. SO, this morning, I headed off to get potting soil to plant some hyacinths for forcing and some more bulbs to plant around the trees by the church. I found organic potting soil and, to my delight, bulbs for 50% off, so I got 42 assorted daffodil bulbs and 12 assorted hyacinths for about $12, and the work commenced.

Home first: I had thought of two gardens, one at home and one at church, but of course there are two at home, small ones but each full of tall reedy things to cut down before raking free of oak leaves. I did that, then corralled some small pots for bulb forcing and also planted a few new daffs (BH bought me 6 lovely new bulbs of good ol' King Alfred from a fundraiser at his school) and a few hyacinths in the newly cleaned beds. Lunch after an hour and a half of work tasted pretty good. . . . and then I rooted myself out of my chair and headed down to the church to plant bulbs there and clean the upper, and more visible, garden.

There the real work began! The soil around the trees was packed and hard, and the one trowel I'd carelessly brought nearly broke, so I ended up doing a lot of sod removal, invention, and plain ol' digging. Got the four trees done, planted, and fertilized, however, and I do hope that April next year is bright and pretty around those maples' ankles. Daffodils will come back, and it would be great to start a legacy of yellow (and white with orange trumpet and plain ol' white) happiness!

Cleaning up the front bed followed: I was already sweaty, and the cutting was satisfying and dirty too. The globe thistle from my beloved mil is on its third flowering this year, so I left its brave blue shoots there for the birds, but otherwise I cut and pulled and raked and neatened, then truly put everything to bed with some nasty old hay from last year as mulch. It looks kempt and restful, and since a lot of the hay already had worms breaking it down, I'm hoping that when we rake it up next Spring some of it will have decayed completely. I slipped a few new bulbs into gaps in that garden, too, and then staggered home to force myself to put away all the tools and then collapsed into bed for a rest/drowse/nap for an hour.

But how nice to have done all that! I keep thinking of those bulbs, and that hay, and those quiet gardens. "Put the garden to bed"--it's a great image, and I am so glad to have done it! Let it rain, let it snow, let it freeze. I'm ready!

Nov. 11: Veterans'/Armistice Day

2009-11-11T08:23:00.003-05:00

I am glad, glad, glad to have this day off, but it's a holiday that makes me sad. It originally celebrated the Peace that ended that "War to End all Wars" but that really led up to the Next Big One (I had to rephrase this sentence since that opener is so unwieldy), but now has become yet another war-related commemoration. . . and while I do think that veterans, people who answered the call, deserve honor and support, far too often these holidays become jingoistic relivings of simplistic us-them world paradigms.

WOW. I am reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog, slowly and carefully, and I think Barbery's diction is rubbing off on me.

Nonetheless, I do think that somehow Memorial Day and now Veterans' Day and also the Fourth of July have become days to celebrate war. We don't wear black. We don't gather up the widows and orphaned children and go to VA hospitals and ask hard questions about why we keep cranking out so many veterans. We don't feel the grief and bewilderment that "man's inhumanity to man" should evoke in us. All too often, we wrap ourselves in the flag and we say thank you but we say, "And we'll be ready for the next Big One, too,"--instead of vowing that there should never be another one at all.

And why don't we have a Peace Day? Or even a day to remember all people we've lost, not just soldiers? I love the Mexican Day of the Dead--which could be our Memorial Day, but again: here comes war. We don't do well with grief as a country. We prefer rage and revenge.

But on this sun-soaked day, due to hit 50 in November! In Maine!, I plan to plant bulbs, deadhead gardens, do some mulching, tend a flu-ridden Elder (temperature of 101+, and that's WITH ibuprofen!), and maybe even take a nap. The cold (nothing more, but it's a doozy that has reached deep into my lungs to entwine its gunk with my bronchioles) is ebbing, and I'm hoping fresh air, a gentle run, and a nice snooze will help see it out the door.

And on this Veterans'/Armistice Day, I pray for support for all veterans, and I pray that my country and all countries will not act in ways that propagate war, but in "ways that make for peace."

Nov. 7: Blog Kvetch

2009-11-07T21:08:00.002-05:00

Home from Younger's band festival--as usual, amazing to see what early rising, a bus ride, and 6 solid hours of practice can do. 150 middle school musicians and the same number of same aged singers made LOVELY music. Fun!

But have been reading some blogs as entertainment and I am starting to consider an entry test for potential bloggers: The Apostrophe Test. It's/ its, yours/your's (which doesn't exist), the there variations. . . I honestly think that people who write for the public (and isn't that what a blog really is? That's what makes it "not my teen journal", right?) need to learn and follow those rules.

Sheesh.

Or maybe I just need some sleep. Like 10 hours of it.

Nov. 6: Ye Gods!

2009-11-06T20:45:00.003-05:00

I do love November, and this has been a lovely one so far, complete with some pure-lighted bare treed sunny days (Lori and I ran my favorite Park trail on Wednesday on one such) and also a few sullen, raw, can't-wait-to-get-some-tea days. It's been plenty busy, however, and somehow I'm not prepared for the date above.

But what brings me to post (though I have several kicking around in my head) is that Cornflower cited a comment of mine! I'm SO excited. Reading blogs--the best ones, the ones I've still got bookmarked after my renewed struggle to keep technology from completely controlling my life--makes me feel part of a funny, friendly, smart, international, literary, creative community, and being cited by someone who IS REALLY one of those people. . . ooh! It's a lot for this lone blogger from Ellsworth, Maine!

During the early part of this week, I have been pondering the joys of single-mindedness, and realizing that being a teacher AND a mother, I don't get much of a chance to practice those joys. However, I am learning to treasure the half hour with a cup of tea in a quiet house and the comfy read before bed. I just finished Sense and Sensibility for the first time in a few years. . . Lacking single-mindedness lately, it took me quite awhile, but I did it tonight. And I am much enjoying John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things in the car--it's a fascinating and unsettling mix of kid and adult story.

Tomorrow I am chaperoning Younger's Honors Festival Band Trip. Since I'm not in charge, I can work through some correcting and possibly even work on The Stocking (which is giving me some trouble). However, I will be multi-tasking once again. Single-mindedness will come. . . someday!

Oct. 29: Heading into November~

2009-10-29T06:24:00.004-04:00

My camera does not quite do justice to this gorgeous tree (I overuse "remarkable," which was my adjective of choice in that sentence. . . I think I picked it up from Dustin Hoffman's role as Willy Loman in the PBS "Death of a Salesman" years ago. It is a specific word: worth remarking over. . .but I am trying not to use it fifty times a day) which, every fall, lights up the end of the school, but there it is anyway. We're entering the phase of fall that I love, when many of the trees are bare, but their dark limbs serve to emphasize the incredibly intense color of the few late-changers. Later, in deep November, the beech leaves will be the only remaining color, and their deep copper will stand out against the grey and black branches and, if we're lucky, a few early snow storms. For now, our colors are still bright in places, and the grass is shockingly green.

We've had a spell of warmer weather lately, and though it's due to be showery, Saturday, the day of Elder's regional xc meet, should be the warmest in a bit (55!). Nice to have a warmish Halloween: how I remember those battles with Mom about wearing a jacket over my costume when we went out trick or treating!

Oct. 24: Saturday Night Monsoon

2009-10-24T21:12:00.002-04:00

What a mellow day! At the moment, BH is asleep in my pink study, which glows with the lights on, and the rain pounds on the skylight and alternate windows as the storm changes directions. Both boys are at a Halloween party from which BH will fetch them in about an hour, and I've just finished a second (successful) draft of the top of the latest commissioned stocking. I think I have some reading in me next: I've knitted a great deal, read some, cleaned my study and various piles of patternsbillsletters recipesarticlesmagazinesjunk from around the house, and also had a good run around noon, just before all weather hell broke loose and it really really really started to rain, so I feel pretty pleased with myself and endorphinized to boot. As I ran, I realized that one thing I really missed about running was being able to go out in terrible weather and warm myself up, so that I could return on a freezing cold or driving rainy day and feel pretty darn good--which is what happened today. Wet, yes, but studly? Definitely. AND charged up and warm.

So. My eyes are getting prickly, and I think I will quickly do my banking and then go down and read for a bit before I fall asleep. . . I am reading through Elizabeth Noble's The Friendship Test, which is a lot like her Reading Group: predictable and warm. I also am still reading Sense and Sensibility, and I have two other library books I'd like to get to. I wish I could magically transfer some of those onto cd, then I could do the stocking AND "read". . . what a skill! Anyway. Time to go enjoy the calm of the evening a little more deeply, along with humble thoughts for people and creatures who aren't blessed with a solid roof and reliable heat!

Oct. 22: Thursday. Yes!

2009-10-22T06:28:00.002-04:00

I was thinking that this week was a quiet one, as I only had one evening commitment on Monday, but I conveniently overlooked the jam-packed afternoons that awaited me. AND BH going to a conference for Wed. night - Friday and that type of thing. But most of the items have been fun--hair cut, Younger's final middle school xc meet, trip to Brewer for Younger's teeth which means some one-on-one time and maybe some errands--so things are good. Yesterday was a stunning, golden day, then today is cold, rainy, and raw: so glad I'm not cheering on my runner today! Apparently Saturday, Elder's regional ch.ships for xc, will more than make up for it--"steady, soaking rain," I heard mentioned--so we'll snuggle up now.

Boys are great: how they are growing! How they are growing into people I enjoy and like spending time with! How nice!

Wed. Oct.14: Freshman Work Day

2009-10-14T20:15:00.002-04:00

Today was the Freshman Community Service Day, and thank HEAVEN it was sunny and dry. . . though very, very cold, especially after it clouded up and got breezy in the afternoon. However, my group was working at the new community gardens in a nursing home complex in Bar Harbor, and there were lots of chores to keep us busy, mostly low skill: painting a fence. Painting the raised beds (really raised--like 4.5'--so that old backs don't need to bend much. Brilliant.). Raking and bagging leaves. Painting a sign. It was the best work site I've been to: there was so. much. work., and it was pretty "safe"--we couldn't hurt ourselves or other people, and we could definitely see the results of our work. It was great, and the kids were great.

Still, the kids were. . .kids! Fourteen and frisky, and there was a considerable amount of managing to do, so I was busy. While we were there, an old woman drove up in her van and veeeeeerrrrrryyyyyyy sloooooooooooooowly made her way into the main building with her walker, and we all sort of watched her on her way, ready to help, but not needing to. She came out just as we were leaving, and I helped her open her van door. She looked at me and said, "Are you the teacher?" and I said I was, and she looked at me, straight in the eyes, and said, "Well, you're a very good teacher! I've been listening to you all day [gulp, I thought] and those are good kids, they are, but they have lots of energy and they need to be directed a little bit. Well, you do a great job of that. You talk to them just right and I can tell you're a great teacher." And then she gave me a big hug and drove away!

That completely made my day!

Now I am trying to read through some Death of a Salesman responses before I completely collapse. Sun+ work+wind+cold+lots of horsing around and talking = sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepiness!

Oct. 12: A Nice Afternoon

2009-10-12T07:20:00.003-04:00

Not as Martha Stewart as it coulda been, on many fronts (note the sheets drying in the fresh fall air!), but a great fallish lunch and cup of tea in front of the fire.

And on tap for today? Well, it's unrealistic to think I could finish my 1/3 done sock, start a Christmas project, do all my correcting, make apple cake, pick up the house, AND go for a walk. . . so I guess I'll settle for "enjoy the day, do some stuff, and deal with the limited nature of time!"

Oct. 11: =Ahhhhhh=

2009-10-11T21:01:00.003-04:00

So what did YOU do over your long weekend?

More foties to follow!

October 9: A Quiet Friday Night at Last!

2009-10-09T21:08:00.003-04:00

It's been a great fall so far, but my it's been busy! Seems like every weekend one of us has been away, had a meet, a major commitment, or a deadline, and sometimes all of those at once! Finally, on this three day weekend we have

Nothing Major Planned.

==Deep sigh of satisfaction.==

To make things even better, BH and I drove to Elder's xc meet together, Elder ran well and we got to see a lot of students/friends/people we like, and the rain held off until we got home, though the looming clouds set the lovely leaves off amazingly well. BH and I had dinner at Finn's, a new "Irish pub" in town, which had good food and reasonable service, though its noise level got pretty uncomfortable as the place filled up. Town is feeling very Fallish now: there are empty parking spaces, the traffic is calmer, and down town just feels cleared out. Yay!

Poor Younger seems to have picked up a stomach bug, though he's been so prone to them in the past that he's very accomplished at being sick and its details (which I will spare any readers). I hope he's through the worst and can sleep in tomorrow and call that all good.

My wishful thinking list for this weekend includes:
correcting three different batches of work for school
reading some of the three good books I've got lined up
picking some good crunchy apples√
baking with said apples: pie? cake? sauce? √
removing the screens, separating out the ripped ones for repair and storing the others
cleaning up some of the piles in my study
doing some planning for Library and church details that I need to attend to
running √ and swimming and maybe going for a final long bike ride on Monday.

That seems manageable, huh???? Cross your fingers for me. But also remember the joys of a rainy Friday night with most of the family tucked up asleep and the last one expected soon!

Oct. 3: Book Reviews and Updates. . .

2009-10-03T09:36:00.002-04:00

Wow. It's October third (I think. I frequently get weekend dates wrong. . . ) and a cold but sunny Saturday morning, although both the forecast and the wind that turns the leaves upside down promise differently come noontime. I'll have to check the laundry I hung out yesterday and start finishing it off in shifts in the dryer, I fear. I was at the Me. Conference of the United Church of Christ annual meeting all last weekend, so there is a laundry backlog that the "possibly heavy at times" rain is not going to help me with. AH well.

Yesterday I took a personal day from school, partly because I knew this weekend would be busy, and partly because I could! I managed to finish my February Lady Sweater and my meeting socks, prep for Elder's varsity team spag. feed and overnight, go to Shirley's 20% off yarn sale, and clean my car. . . I also just reveled in the fall light that flooded the house at midday, and took Zeus for a lovely walk in it too. A nice day.

I have had a flurry of reading lately: still trying to cut down on my computer time, I've found a vein of good books. . . some on CD, some on real paper. Here they are, in some kind of order, I think.

--The Help, by Katherine Stockett. I think I mentioned this one before: it's written in a variety of voices, primarily several black women who work as "help" in Alabama in 1963, and one white woman who works with them to write a book about that experience. It recreated a time period I had not experienced with impressive reality, I thought, much like Water for Elephants did. The characters were developed and the plot kept me involved. Oddly enough, it echoed Mockingbird, the Harper Lee biography I read last year, tho they are not much alike in many ways!

--Marilynne Robinson's linked novels, Gilead and Home. I listened to Gilead, having read some of it about 2 years ago, and then read Home in great gulps over the past week. They are beautifully written, devastatingly sad books that remind me of my grandfathers, raise key issues of faith and forgiveness, and are worth rereading. The first one, Gilead, has many passages that are . . . dull, or at least incredibly convoluted and specialized in focus: discussions of predestination, sin, abolitionism. . . . and I can see how I didn't finish the book the first time through. While listening to it (and this time I thought the cd succeeded in spite of the reader, who was a bit pedantic), I'd find my mind drifting. . . and then I realized that possibly Robinson did that on purpose, since Ames, the narrator, is frequently daydreaming, resting, or pondering, and he drifts away himself. Home, on the other hand, is much more traditionally structured, and moves faster, though it really tells the same story as Gilead of the homecoming of a much loved but very prodigal prodigal son. The conclusion of Home is more decisive and more devastating, though also more hopeful, than the ending of Gilead, but together they are powerful, unforgettable, and well worth reading--or listening to. Wow.

--Finally, sandwiched in there, I read most of Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder, a biography of Deogracias, a young man who survives the genocides in both Burundi and Rwanda, and gets to the US with $200 and no English in 1998 (?). By the end of his story, he's working for Paul Farmer's Partners in Health, which links with Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains, but this book is much more Kidder-oriented--not in a bad way at all, just that Kidder plays more of a narrative role, trying to explain how Deo's experiences come across to someone who meets him and what it's like for Kidder to travel to Burundi with Deo. It's an enlightening but terrifying story, and raises questions about genocides, but also survival and coping. It certainly provides the emotional aspect that I felt was totally missing from Ishmael Beah's book (Long Way Home? Long Walk Home? )about his role in the genocide, so maybe they'd make a good pair. . . with a hefty dose of Prozac and hopefulness on the side. Adopt two kittens and read these two books and maybe you'll make it out okay.

--And now I'm rereading a fluff book, a Brit chick lit book, The Reading Group. I think I deserve a little leaven, don't you?

Whew! Muchas literas (ahem). . . maybe I'll take some pics and wedge 'em in, but I have to go fetch down laundry and then go for a run with Younger. Hope your days allow some admiration of the out-of-doors!

Sept. 22: Love!

2009-09-23T06:45:00.002-04:00

I am currently listening to Marilynne Robinson's Gilead in the car. I have read it before, though quite hastily, and liked it. On this dvd (a Marden's [mishmash clearing house store] buy last year?), I am not crazy about the reader, but

Oh!

the story, the words, the mindset, the humor, the images, the words, the words, the words.

I have that upwelling feeling that one gets when falling in love. Step two will be stopping friends in the street to tell them "listen to it, listen to it, or read it, it's wonderful". . .

So what are you waiting for? Go fall in love! And I hear there's a sequel/related book: my anticipation grows!

Sept. 20: Serendipity

2009-09-20T18:38:00.002-04:00

Today was one of the days (actually, the whole weekend felt like this) when I had to struggle to live in the moment, not to fret over all the time I didn't have to do the things I dreamt of doing. . . but the gorgeous weather helped to remind me that "all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well" (Julian of Norwich). With the space that made, I went for a walk with BH and Zeus; BH stopped at the Y to swim, while I took my still-present cold (which precluded my usual Sunday am swim) with me to walk with Zdog instead. And there was the "aha!" moment: we ran into church friends who are readying their house for sale, and whom we hadn't seen for a long time. I taught both their sons, and we (I should say "I", as Z was busying snuffling around their underbrush and ignoring us all) had a great visit--nothing earthshaking, but just catching up, and the kind of visit that makes me feel connected and rooted in a warm and steady community. Glowing, I headed on up the road, and then coming past the woods path, on a place where my route on the road runs parallel and above the woods path, I saw someone with a dog down on the path, and that person was

picking up trash. Not just one or two pieces, but with a trashbag and one of those cool sticks, and he was going at it seriously.

This simple fact dazzled me: someone else was taking care of a piece of the world I love, and one that I can get all het up about the neglect of (ouch. Bad sentence), feeling that I am the only one who "ever does anything," and "why don't people. . ." and "There oughta be a law. . ."--and there was someone, who turned out to be a friend of mine from the Library board, out there doing more than I ever think to.

Okay, okay, I get it. Well, for today I did. Making the time for the walk in the lovely day led to that great visit and then the humbling but reassuring discovery that I'm not the only one on the clean up team around here. There's a lesson there, and it's not too far under the surface. I hope I can remember it for the rest of this year!

September 5: Saturday Morning, and the birds are here!

2009-09-05T08:12:00.003-04:00

Zeus and I are out on the deck because it was just too lovely to stay inside, and the birds are all over the little cheesy feeder I filled with sunflower seeds and cracked corn last week. There are at least two small nuthatches (maybe "yearlings", aka hatched this spring?) and a clutch of chickadees, also pretty small, but I haven't seen a lot of goldfinches for a few years, since we thinned out the trees around the house. Maybe I'll try thistle seed in one of the feeders, since the finches really like that. We might put feeders on the outside posts of the deck as well, which would make it easier to see the action from inside the house (it's chilly out here even with a fleece vest on!) and might allow more experimentation with less squirrel interference. I do love the way the birds aren't visible at first, but then you realize, if you take the time, that the trees are alive with them, and they come swooping out and really aren't even very timid: I just had a nice face-to-face with Small Nuthatch, and, far from being afraid, s/he looked like s/he planned to take a sip of my coffee!

The sun is just pouring down on the tops of the trees, and the leaves are glossy and green, rustling and shining in the wind. It's definitely not summer anymore, but it's due to be a lovely day, and even though I worry about H1N1 and teaching a good class and helicopter parents and no time to myself. . . . I think it will be a good year. And I love a sunny Saturday morning!

September 4: Ah, FRIday!

2009-09-04T16:57:00.003-04:00

This school year is off to a TERRIFIC start: the district days were interesting and/or fun, and our own school opening days were really inspiring, visionary, and fun. The energy in the school is wonderful, and my advisees and my ninth grade students (who come today) were chipper, interested, funny, and a lot of fun.

Still: Friday afternoon is wonderful, and I realized that summer lacks that complete-collapse feeling. I am enjoying it now! Happy Friday!

(To add to the feeling of achievement: took Zeus to the vet with Elder's help and yes, Zeus does have an ear infection! We now have meds, ointment, cleaning stuff, and a sense of accomplishment!)

(and: Younger, on his first day of school in his newly remodeled school, was interviewed for the local news! Much excitement! Check it out. . . . . . but you can't, since I can't insert a link. Hmmm. Might figure out how to do that, sometime!

Aug. 30: The Last Day

2009-08-30T16:18:00.003-04:00

It's a lovely golden day and has been since about 12:30, when the sun fought off the fluffy clouds and the temperature went from about 50 to 65ish. I have written a letter on the deck, hung out two loads of laundry, planted the mums that Swimgirl's mom gave us, filled and hung three birdfeeders, and taken down the hummingbird feeder. I still need to decide what socks I want to make next, since this morning I sewed in all the ends and blocked . . . .

the February Lady Sweater!!!!!!

At this point, I'd call it a modest success--it'll be interesting to see what I think when the buttons are on and I'm wearing it post-blocking. The yarn, Reynolds Cricket, is the tricksiest part: as I was finishing I was thinking I wanted to start it all over in some of the natural Candide I have, and the other half of my brain was thinking that I didn't. ever. want. to. do. another. gull. wing. lace. repeat. again. In reality, I think I'll make a baby version in the rose colored Cashmerino I have in my stash and call that good. Oh: pic with my rinky-dink camera:

It's currently drying in the screenhouse; I'll bring it in tonight and hope that an evening inside will finish it off. We shall see!

Today is such a perfect late summer day: it's really too cold to swim, even! I am in a long-sleeve shirt and jeans on the deck, and I could use a fleece vest (Younger snagged my pullover). I had hot tea after we came home post-food shopping, and it tasted great! Next week is due to be gorgeous, dry, and cool (low 70's), so all the signs are there and pointing toward school. Let it be so!

It's been an interesting summer, for sure: July was hard. I don't know if it was my micro-managing side, my loss-of-school-people-fix withdrawal coupled with sunshine deprivation, or what, but man! It was a tough month. August, on the other hand, has been wonderful--I almost feel that having only August would've been enough for me! My Wabanaki class, my time with Julie, the weather, the family time, running with Younger, working on FLS, doing a little schoolwork each day (at least in theory), then our recent festivities of dinner with Bigfamily, Younger's b'day party/overnight/b'fast, BH's and my elegant anniversary lunch, and Elder's xc dinner, then yesterday's smash hit coupling of terrible weather, triumphant closing run, fun out to lunch, tons of movies, and deliberate knitting, knitting, knitting--WOW. I feel really ready to go back and make the most of it. I guess that's what a vacation is for!

So, in closing. . . a shot of Zeus personifying enjoyment in this green and gold world we're living in:

August 28: The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday. . .

2009-08-29T15:18:00.002-04:00

We've got 'em! I was the first up at 7:50, and Younger the next at 8:50--and we went to bed early, too! Rain started gently but has been hard on and off, and it's been a great day for me to fulfill my sincere hope of finishing sleeve #2 and blocking FLS today! I have flown through the two remaining House of Eliot episodes left on cd #3 and am ready to take a break from them and go for some real movies. While the show is lovely to look at, I feel that the stories have become a little set, and the plot features the kind of problem to which the reader can see the answer long before anyone in the story does. Tilly needs glasses, of course, but she can't afford them! If Bea would be less bossy, Madge would stay! Of course Jack loves Bea! etc. Sooooooooo. . . I'm postponing the rest till I need some good knitting background.

But mostly I want to boast about Younger, by starting off talking about ME. I'm a structure person: I tend to make plans and then try really hard to follow them through. Not everyone enjoys this approach: Elder, for example, and BH only sometimes see the wisdom of my approach. Younger, however, tends to be even a little too fond of structure. . . but when I was thinking about him and his upcoming cross country season, as well as his tendency toward self-doubt and chunkiness (at 13, granted), I thought that a plan might work for both of us, and we decided to run every other day during August. We started at 20 minutes on August 3, and he will have preseason on August 31, so today, August 28, we had our last run: 34.51 minutes, at a good clip, a 2 minute improvement over the same course two days earlier, and in the driving rain. Younger uttered no complaints, and he really pushed in the last half mile. I am so proud of him (and of me. Though I work out five times/week, running every other day, about 3 miles, is not what my 46 year old knees/feet/joints necessarily desire, especially when I spend some of my energy exhorting a less-than-excited 13 year old, so big cheers for me, too)!!! I feel that we've taken a huge step towards life-long fitness, and we've had a good time (ahem: all in all), and we did what we put our minds towards. Ha! We rock! And here we are, being tough, right after our return. Two hot showers, fresh clothes, and a celebratory lunch at Karen's Cafe followed. Yay!

August 26: From the Porch

2009-08-26T09:05:00.002-04:00

A lovely morning after a perfect night for sleeping--breezy, cool, quiet. I was the first one up at 7:30, and Younger appeared next at 8:45! Elder was due for a late night good bye visit with a good friend and role model who's off to college, so he's sleeping in as long as he'd like. Emotional times are wearing, especially for boys, I think--but I'm so glad that Elder and his friends are admitting that and taking the time to say good bye. In any case, it's a quiet house this morning.

Five days left till BH and I go back to school, and we've got plenty planned in those five days. I keep trying to get a hike up Cadillac together, but can't seem to get anyone to go with me, so we'll see what unfolds there. Maybe it'll become a Labor Day/last gasp of summer outing instead. Younger is having his very belated friend b'day gathering here on Thursday night: two movies, cheap pizza, and six boys in our screen house. Friday night we've asked Elder's xc team over for spaghetti after practice, as they have their first meet on Saturday at MDI. Things are cranking up again!

The boys and I are on Artemus Fowl book four, having skipped book 3 since it was "out" at the library listening site (not sure how that works, but that's what it said). I'm hoping we can figure out how to work that site once school starts, since I'll be in the market for books on cd for my commute once again. As it is, I am listening to Artemus while I work on sleeve #2 on my February Lady Sweater (!!) and Elder listens to it while he works on his artwork.

I am thinking of a portable project for the various meeting days upcoming, and I am thinking SOX! I have four options at least, but I"m leaning toward making a pair for me from my Koigu PPM handpainted stuff in pink. I don't want to get distracted from the sweater efforts yet, so perhaps I'll wait till Sunday afternoon to get that decided.

In the mean time, I'm in the balance between getting stuff done and reveling in my lassitude. . .

August 24: The First Day of the Last Week

2009-08-24T08:19:00.002-04:00

--Big crisis for me was the LEAKS we had in our NEWLY SHINGLED ROOF when the incredible rain produced by the remnants of Hurricane Bill arrived on Sat. night and last night. As I lay in bed listening to the water dropping into the bucket at the top of the stairs (falling through the light fixture, just for another scary touch), I let myself get all knotted up, feeling that old black wave of "why does this happen to meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?" sweep over me. Coupled with the Ongoing Question of the Stupidly Rigged and Inefficient Heating System and the Mysteriously Triggering (But Only at Night) Fire Alarm System, the Leaks Despite $4000 of New Shingles Roof made me feel like Ma Joad or at least like we owned the Amityville Horror house. Then I snapped out of it: admitted I was pissed but realized that it was NOT the end of the world or even a huge crisis, got up, had a snack, finished the book I was reading, and fell asleep by midnight. Still: we're calling the roofer today.

Dentist today and then a stint weeding the big gardens at the church, which need some TLC. All this rain will make it a pleasant job, I think, as the weeds should slide right out. The last week is always a battle between soaking up some lassitude and doing everything I meant to do but didn't, due to soaking up too much lassitude. May the balance be struck!

August 21: Well We've Got Cooler!

2009-08-21T09:06:00.002-04:00

It's also foggy, damp, and still. I think it's tropical moisture from the much-vaunted Hurricane Bill, whose wrath we're supposed to feel (?) on Saturday/Sunday. An interesting sign of the change in air was that the fire alarm system went off TWICE last night, the first time since a week ago Sunday, when our visiting guest dad who thinks about such things was pretty sure it was a malfunctioning unit in my study. Alas, 'tis not, apparently. After explosion #2 I (BH is checking out nursing homes for his dad with his brother these two days) went to the cellar and turned off the fuse. Oy.

Yesterday was a busy busy busy day: curriculum/course planning work from 8:30 - 2:30, tho an accident in Somesville meant most of us sat in our cars for 45 mins to an hour. Once we got to Sue's, the work was good and the food delicious, however! I stopped by school en route home (still thinking, "Hot dog! I'm ahead of the game!") and got my new laptop decorated with all the stuff Anne Computer Whiz had recovered from my old laptop (we teachers are SO LUCKY!), which took a really long time at the end of a day and in the middle of a list of errands. . . . and then I had to shop for Friday dinner with the Big Friend Family, now up to seven with their two new kids and eight with a nephew who's visiting. { I think I made some good calls on that: pulled pork in the slow cooker, coleslaw, and blueberry buckle INSTEAD of pie, with ice cream or whipped cream, and ice cream/chocolate sauce if the kids prefer. Of course, it's now 9;13 am and I haven't stuck it in the cooker yet, nor started The Great Clean. There. The boys and I have just agreed (ahem) to have them start picking up at ten, and then I can start cleaning. It's a running day for Younger and me, so I'll have to fit that in somewhere. . .} THEN I went to the Farmer's Market and picked up the share, and when I got home I had to fit all the stuff into the fridge. . . Believe me, I was ready to collapse into a chair to read the weekly paper with a big glass of water!

Last night we lolled about a bit, then Elder finished his amazingly detailed AP pic of a praying mantis and Younger and I watched two episodes of "Scrubs" (I'm enjoying wasting my nights as soon I won't be able to . . .!) while I worked more on my sleeve. We'll see how it turns out over. Right now I'd say it's better but not ideal. I may need to actually decrease some stitches before the cuff. !!!!

So: soon to my feet, for b'fast and some good hard work. Ta DAAAAAAAA!

August 19: Hot, hot, hot

2009-08-19T07:00:00.002-04:00

It's been about a week of hazy, hot, and humid weather, and (shhhh) I'm getting ready for it to change! It's not so much the days, as we're blessed with the river to swim in and there's usually a breeze somewhere, but the nights aren't much fun! There are rumors that we'll get remnants of various hurricanes up here this weekend, but I'd settle for a nice northern flow and some Septemberish weather, especially as I need to do a (final?) thorough clean on Friday and the floors, skipped when Julie and co. came but used heavily thereafter!!!, need real attention. In this weather if I wash them, they'll stay wet all day!

Sweater news: I don't think I've ever watched so much screen stuff: episodes of "Scrubs," "Columbo," and soon more "House of Elliott" (tho I love that and would watch it regardless!). . . and then I decided to take out the last 12 lace repeats on the first arm,go down one needle size, and aim for a less flowing shape. I'm making the arms full length, and I don't want a LOT Of extra fabric. So: I am now about at the elbow, take #2, sleeve #1, struggling a bit with the flow of the stitches on the round needle after the lace rows, but doing okay. I think I'll have to use double points for the next needle downsize--in about 10 repeats, I think. I was checking Ravelry yesterday to see what people were doing about sleeve changes and again I was amazed by the number of people who can set out to do these in ONE MONTH! I must investigate this!

But I'm also getting a hankering to make socks, remembering that BH would like a hat for C'mas (and I'd like to do it secretly so it's a surprise), considering a commission to make a stocking and a chullo for my patron of last year, and and and school is looming. SO: I knit, I knit, I knit, and hope for a cooling trend. Not bad, not bad at all.

August 13: Friends. . .

2009-08-13T15:24:00.003-04:00

There we all are, just before our CT friends left. What a nice week of activity, visiting, adventure, UNO, and good food we had! The two womenfolk even got to go see "Julia and Julie" yesterday--with no kids! The house is quiet and empty now, with BH off fishing, Elder at Swimgirl's house, and Younger at Gameboy's. I have done and hung up four loads of laundry--humid nights and lots of swimming meant lots of musty wash, so it's up and drying, tho it's a half-sunny, chilly day and not great for drying. Tomorrow, maybe. Though we didn't fit in everything we wanted to do--a meeting surfaced that couldn't be changed, so the Saturday departure became a Thursday departure--we did a lot: I taught Daughter to knit, which she took to with great alacrity; we hiked Pemetic Mountain in Acadia on a GORGEOUS Sunday; we went fishing; we went to Lamoine Beach and did some kayaking/wading/rock skipping/lolling around; we swam in the river a lot; we ate out at Ben and Bill's, Jordan's, Martha's, and Julie and I snuck out to the Riverside too; we had lobster; Younger and I ran every other day, regardless; Elder got his braces off; there was minigolf and a trip to the Fun Park; we played two looooong games of UNO and took many walks. It was a very nice visit!

Starting tomorrow, Elder and I have to be more structured in our time, which will be especially hard for him--I use it/need it to deal with my approaching school anxiety! I have my Wabanaki unit due on the 22nd, and also have several pieces of work due as paid summer work (yay!). . . but I need to DO it, which means I'll need to set up a schedule of some kind. I am thinking that 9 - 11 most mornings will work quite nicely, but we'll see. If I could stick to that, things would get done pretty easily, and I'd be able to work out right after, and then the rest of the day would be mine. Pipe dream? Maybe!

BUT I did want to update my recent spate of lite whodunit reading with an excoriating review of Cordelia Frances Biddle's Deception's Daughter, set in the late 1800's amongst the highest and lowest of Philadelphia's social classes. Apparently the author comes from the former. . . but she is much, much, much too fond of mannered sentences and awkwardly stylized speech for my liking: the whole story is told in present tense, which is a jarring detail, and that's topped off with various grating descriptions of people's burning eyes and passionate gazes. It made me cringe, and I speed-read the last 1/3, but overall, I feel fully qualified to say: Don't bother. I'd read quite good reviews of it (my knowledge of BIddle as a writer came from the Daedalus catalog, warmly recommended), but: beware.

Sweater progress: I have fallen in love with the "House of Elliot" series, and between them and knitting with Daughter I have gotten about 3 inches on one sleeve done. I don't THINK I'll be wearing my FLS on the first day of school, but I am making (some) progress. And that counts! It's certainly a faster round with only (maybe) seven lace repeats and then a knit row vs. maybe 20 repeats and a purl! Again, if I can get my "gotta do" work done in the mornings, then I should have plenty of time for my "wanna dos" in the afternoon and evening!

I am hoping to swim a bit this afternoon, and hoping that will loosen up my shoulder. Mixed progress, but overall I'd say it's better--more a 5 than a 7 in the discomfort level lately. Let's hope the progress down the scale continues!

And, last but not least, on Tuesday, our quietest morning, I painted my toe nails, thus making myself inordinately happy AND saving myself at least $20 at the same time. I have to remember what a return I get on 20 mins of work!

(Color of toes not exactly as shown; I'm too lazy to take and post a current pic so this one's a rerun from a year ago, April!!!)

August 8: Appreciating Vacation

2009-08-08T07:50:00.003-04:00

Well, let's see: August has been a blur so far: We had a very successful yard sale on Saturday the 1st, making over $350 for the Heifer Ark, and then Sunday I tidied up the financial loose ends for THREE church fundraisers, and the boys and I had a lovely quiet time listening to the Artemus Fowl cd (Irish and Younger were right: reading, not skimming, was the key to enjoying the book) up in my study while I cleaned up in readiness for

EPC 251: EMBRACING THE WABANAKI INITIATIVE, which hit like a whirlwind on Monday at 8:30 in Bangor and washed everything else in my week away!

The Wabanaki is the tribal confederacy of Native people in Maine, composed of four tribes, the Penobscot, the Passamoquoddies, the Micmac and the Maliseet. In early 2000, their tribal rep. to the State Senate managed to get an unfunded mandate passed saying that Maine kids should be exposed to Wabanaki culture and history on a regular basis in school. SO: we're supposed to teach it, but most of us teachers know very little about the Wabanaki in that deep way you need to know to be able to be excited and full of resources and able to do a really good. Well, suffice it to say that after four books, 8 guest lecturers, numerous powerpoints and documentaries, a media review, a curriculum review, a visit to Indian Island, and 50 hours of class, I feel like I can do it. I also came home and slept for 2 hours yesterday afternoon!!!!!!

Ironically enough, it was a lovely week of weather. My best friend in the world and family arrive around lunch time today, and today is lovely, so we'll hope the trend continues. But I am newly ready to enjoy the joys of summer! FOR THREE WHOLE WEEKS! YAY!

July 31: Progress? What Progress?

2009-07-31T07:41:00.003-04:00

Last day of July, and a rainy one it's been. . . I am on the verge of my first ever yard sale (to benefit our church's effort to raise $5000 for a Heifer International Ark--two of each of the animals Heifer provides for families in need around the world). We'll see how it goes, but I am blown away by the help and support everyone is offering, crowned by my BH but ably supported by Elder. . !!!

However, the heading refers to my February Lady sweater. HOW do people crank it out in one month or less? I have been knitting A. LOT. Every evening I knit at least an hour, and I have NOT had to take out major swathes or anything. I am about one or two lace repeats away from starting the garter edging, and that's great! I even tried it on last night and am cautiously optimistic, given that virtually everyone who's made it says it grows when blocked ("What ees dis blocking you spik of?"). Wearing this creation, the most complicated sweater I've made I think ever, seemed within my reach. . . but then suddenly I realized:

SLEEVES.

Long sleeves.

TWO of 'em.

All gull patterned lace.

This could take some time.

"More books on cd, Jeeves!"

July 26: Mornin'!

2009-07-25T08:18:00.004-04:00

The show was great fun: I was amazed at how smoothly it ran after only five weeks of work, and delighted by how much fun they were all having. Younger went off for a late dinner/celebration after the show: a huge step forward for him socially!

Now I am browsing knitting blogs, all the while feeling that more knitting and less browsing might mean more progress. Certainly the infernal "it's too hot to knit this summer" problem has not raised its head so far! I did do several lace repeats (3, maybe?) last night while waiting for the show to start, during intermission, and then at home, waiting for Younger to appear (and to get to go to SLEEP!). I may finagle the sleeve stitches so I can try it on and make a decision about length soon.

The skies are only mostly cloudy, not pouring rain, today, so my spirits and energy are higher. Cleaning? Finishing the Skirt? Etc? We shall see! Let's hope at least that my brother and BH have great fishing!

July 24: Opening Day/Night!

2009-07-24T09:47:00.003-04:00

Today Younger's theater camp opens "Bye Bye, Birdie!" with a 12 noon showing for the YMCA camp as a dress rehearsal, which BH will attend. I'll go tonight "for real" and then again tomorrow night for closing. Younger is very excited, and I'm proud of him in a complicated and mushy way: he has dealt with some stress (practices every day since school ended, riding himself up and down the hill on his bike, not getting a big part, being part of a show with older kids, etc) and has really thrived (throve? thriven??) and been increasingly independent and happy. He sings around the house and practices dance steps and retells terrible jokes the cast enjoys. . . . He's making his own way and loving it, so I'm proud and delighted and touched.

Today is also a day of heavy rain, though I'm watching to see if the old "rain before seven, stop before eleven" saw holds true. It's 11:03 and raining less heavily, so maybe that counts, at least for this soggy summer! I am still in my jammies, and have read and then played about on Ravelry for a bit. I'm pondering making the free skirt pattern I got from Sewing by the Sea using the funky rayon print I got at Marden's yesterday (3 bucks and change), but I might also want to really neaten up my study before that, and I had considered cleaning at least half the house today and doing the rest tomorrow. I could ALSO plop myself down on the couch with a movie and do some serious repeats on the FLS. . . but I just. don't. seem. to. be. able. to. muster. up. the. energy.

BLEAH.

Younger and I did make luscious millionaire's shortbread yesterday, and I did finish reading The Private Patient, a classically well-written and enthralling Adam Dalgleish novel by PD James, and I am very close to finishing the Nicolar book for my class. . . . so I have been doing stuff, but I am definitely in a quagmire of sorts--bored, moldy, lethargic, flat.

However: this post has been written over a span of about 2 hours, as several people have stopped by, BH and I have loaded Younger's old bike into BH's car for its delivery to my younger brother's older son (!!) this weekend, and I have begun and stopped a few things, like cleaning off the dining room table to cut out the skirt, etc. When I told him I was out of solar energy, BH also said to me, "So have a lazy day in your pajamas. No harm done." And he's absolutely right: what difference does it make? I don't really have to always be "a human doing": sometimes I can be a human BEING! So: whatever gets done, gets done. Inspired by his insight and given a burst of well being by it, I have brushed my teeth and changed out of my pjs. Plans (!!) include maybe cutting material, taking Zeus for a walk if the rain subsides, and maybe watching some "Columbo" and knitting. OR MAYBE NONE OF THE ABOVE!!!!

'Sokay.

JULY 21: Lest You Think. . .

2009-07-21T19:38:00.004-04:00

that I am a rain-hater, I thought I'd write about the lovely rainy afternoon/evening I'm enjoying. Younger and BH have gone to see the latest HP, but I am happy to spend the evening pottering about, watching my latest Netflix (had it for at least a week now!), knitting on my sweater, and enjoying the rain. Elder is going to a swim meet (his last for the season) in Canada this weekend: unfortunately BH and my younger brother have planned a fishing weekend and Younger's show is this weekend, so none of us can attend. . . but we can send food. Elder doesn't have a remarkable sweet tooth (Younger inherited mine, I think) but he does love some things I bake, and one of them is a family standby: Choca-Dotta Pumpkin Cake. If my sister--I think my only reader, in fact!--reads this, she will cringe, since she hated the name when we were kids, tho I don't remember her minding the cake at all. It's a dense, heavy cake, one I often make in the fall and winter, and I thought it would be great for (fairly) healthy breakfasts or snacking for the four days the team will be in St. John. Elder himself is exhausted and sleeping right now (or texting Swimgirl. . . once I'm done this I'll shut off the router, just to check), but it adds to my cozying in feeling of this evening to have the cake in the oven.

AND here's the recipe. Ann, if you've forgotten it. . . have at it! You can call it whatever you want!

Choca-Dotta Pumpkin Cake
(my version)

For starters, mix the "wets" so the bran flakes can dissolve. In a large bowl,
beat 4 eggs and mix with
2 cups or one can of pumpkin (probably not the pie filling, tho I've never tried it)
1 cup of oil
1 1/2 cups of bran flakes (yeah, weird. But this way you can justify eating it for b'fast or sending it on a swim trip). Let that sit.

Then: sift together
2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking pwdr
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves (be sure to take a nice sniff--what smells better?)
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
2 cups of sugar (don't really need to sift that, but it makes it easy to keep the dries together)

Mix the dries into the wet, and add 1+ cup of chocolate chips and, if you so desire, 1 cup of nuts. Elder does not desire the nuts but does desire 1.5 cups of chips. SO!

Then: spoon into pans: if you do it in the one tube pan it calls for, grease it well and put the oven on 325 for one hour and a quarter and maybe you'll still need to put tinfoil on the top. I like to do a tube pan AND a small loaf so they don't get brown on top AND so the family can have some for b'fast and still send a nice tube cake to Canada. In that case, I start at 350 and then turn it down to 325; the loaf takes about 45 mins and the cake. . . an hour? But overall: bake till it seems done: some crumbs but no goo on the tester, pulling away from edges, etc.

Enjoy!!!!! My brother loves it with oranges and chocolate sauce. Go figure!

July 20: Progress (or lack thereof)

2009-07-20T08:03:00.004-04:00

Lately our family evenings have featured watching at least one episode of the Jeeves and Wooster set that I gave BH for a belated Father's Day gift. Each show lasts about an hour or so, and while we watch it, I knit on the body of the February Lady Sweater (adapted by Pamela ?? [too lazy to get off porch and check] of Flint Knits), and I must say 1. I am enjoying the gull lace pattern, and 2. I am stunned by how slow the process is! So many bloggers I read seem to have finished projects to show off every day or so--lace shawls, sweaters, shrugs in ornate lace patterns, complete pairs of socks! When I'm teaching and thus tied to evenings of correcting or prep that precludes knitting, I thought that was the difference. "Humph," said I, "those professionals have the whole evening from 7 to at least 10 pm, maybe with a ride on the train or bus home, for knitting! Hence the progress!" Now, however, I am changing my opinion, and wondering what is up: I knit at least an hour nearly every evening, but I still think my sole project for the whole summer might end up being one. sweater. (and that's assuming enough for me to look like an old Italian lady as I cross myself and spit over my shoulder to ward off the Evil Eye). What gives? I knit "fast", with a modified continental style (I think it's called "English"), holding the yarn in my right hand but not dropping the needle to wrap it, and I use good tools. . .

But, as I run my mind's eye over my fuzzy (I fear my Cricket will pill like the devil but it's a pretty yarn nonetheless), lacy bodice-to-date, I guess I just have to accept this: I'm making progress. And progress is really what knitting's all about!

If I get my "gotta do's" done, I might post a pic of the sweater so far! It has come a ways, I do admit!

Edited to add promised picture of "Feb. Lady Sweater with Controller and Plant Pot". . .

July 19: Pic Coming. . . Lovely Maine Day

2009-07-19T18:45:00.002-04:00

Wow--it's summer! Breezy, warm, sunny, even a few fluffy and some black clouds didn't interfere with that ambiance. Sometimes it just happens. And today was summer. Wonderful! I drank my coffee on the cleaned front porch without a fleece or a sweatshirt, and the day continued in that vein. Amazingly, it was the church picnic out on Newberry Neck, and we decided to go, though we knew we'd be the only family with children (child, really: Elder had to life guard and then mow two lawns, so Younger was it). The weather was such a clear sign that we couldn't ignore it--and BH suggested deli sandwiches instead of grilling, which made it fun and easy. And we had a wonderful time: everyone was tickled that we'd come, Younger brought his b'day origami books from my mom, and someone had also brought bocce, which is the perfect intergenerational game with a big group: it's fun to watch, it's easy to play, it's fast moving, it's very low stress, and it got us out into the sunshine. What a nice time we had--and of course the view of Blue Hill Bay didn't hurt anything, either! There were a good number of sailboats whizzing up and down (and we saw one washed ashore, unfortunately, after a broken mooring), white caps, and deep, gorgeous blue water. Ahhhhhhh.

Then we came back and Younger started to do his yardwork chores, only getting through most of the mowing part as the weedwhacker didn't work. . . but I did some major clearing and brushcutting, wreaking havoc against the bushes that had crept back into our walls, hedges, and washline. It was good sweaty dirty work (break to go admire the large black mouse that Swipe the cat has caught and is announcing proudly on the porch. Apparently we won't go hungry if he has anything to say about it. . . Nice kitty! Good boy!): I put on lots of sunscreen and bug spray and had at it! The yard looks better (the weedwhacker's ailment means it doesn't look great yet) and my shower felt TERRIFIC!

Shall I say it again? What a nice day!

July 17: Family and, at last, a ZIPPY BOOK!

2009-07-17T21:45:00.003-04:00

Just finished Dick Francis's Under Orders--wow! I used to like him a great deal, and then just fell out of reading him, but having listened to one of his at the very end of the school year, I thought I'd try another, and Under Orders was great: fast moving, suspenseful, informative, and a lot of fun! Nice to read a really zippy book! I also started another book for my Wabanaki course, Joseph Nicolar's book about the Penobscot, The Life and Times of the Red Man, and it is fascinating, though I haven't even read his work yet, only various intros and discussions and historical backgrounds. BUT: hopeful nonetheless. AND I have the newest P D James to read as well!

And we have spent some lovely time these three days with BH's cousin, cousin's wife, their four kids, and BH's uncle. What great people! I wish the weather had been better for them, but the upside is that we got to see them more! Today they came to Ellsworth and we got Thai food for lunch, after which they headed off to watch the new Harry Potter. How terrific to see them and to enjoy them so much. Family: always a crapshoot, but sometimes you win!

We're due for heavy rain and maybe t'storms tomorrow, then . . . . clearing, we hope! In case we're denied, I DO have some good reading.

July 16: Happy Birthday, Younger Son!

2009-07-16T18:44:00.003-04:00

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY!

The young man in question is modeling his new ORANGE CROCS on our deck before heading happily off to theater camp. What a blithe spirit he is!

Seems like we may be embarking on another stretch of grey weather. Glad I am not on the boat in NE Harbor with BH's uncle and cousin and their family: four teens, two parents, one granddad. Yikes. If it continues grim, they may come over to . . . oh, take hot showers, do some laundry, and go see Harry Potter #6, just as a change.

Off to eat steak tips, caesar salad, garlic bread, and german chocolate cake!