Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

The morning temps have been inching their way up over the last few days; today, it was 32. Spitting rain, but 32, nonetheless. The backyard is glowing green-- it always amazes me how vibrant the first grass is. The fruit trees are budding small leaves. The lilacs are leafing out. And of course, my eyes itch and I am snuffly, but it's okay. Spring is here. Spring means new life, right? Except, it's also the time of year-- May, specifically-- that we've buried our parents. It's a bit sobering, even though some time has passed.  On the other hand, it's still April, and Saturday is going to be fun, I hope. From 1-3 at North Country Community Radio, there is an open mic for poetry-- ending National Poetry Month with a bang. If you are local, come join us! Favorite poems and/or your own are more than welcome. It will be broadcast live, too, so if you are not around, tune in-- you can l ivestream it on the internet. Two more school days. Amen. I need a break in the worst ...

April is an expensive month, most years. This one, more so. Taxes--ouch. Windshield getting replaced next Tuesday-- 528.00 of ouch. New all-season tires coming Friday-- 484.00-- ouch again. And the sewer bill is the low-ball at 418.00.  Barftastic. When I hear the feds yap about how "gas prices are not that bad" they ought to pump some. Our gas bill (we use a credit card each month, then pay it off), capped out at $493.00 this month.  There's something incredibly broken if the feds think that prices are going down. That we are all willing to feel a "pinch" for the "greater good" of blowing up other countries. And which is it? Are they going down or a mandatory sacrifice? Upside down world.  Prices on everything are higher; costs of shipping things alone are driving that bus. I'm glad I have bought ahead on some things --would you believe, extra summer sandals and a second set of sneakers? I got those a while ago, knowing that the prices of imported...

The temps are disappointing-- 28 this morning. At least it's not snowing again. Yesterday was a strange mix of bluster, snow squalls, then windy and sunshine. The ball games were postponed (wisely), so kids will not be full of game recap/complaints, so maybe we'll get down to business today. Actually, I don't mind a small bit of game analysis; it shows they care about something, and that's a lot better than the dull, staring behavior I get from some of the others who either a/ live in their heads, or b/ have nothing up there, and they are broadcasting test tones.  I'm glad vacation week is coming up. I have so many this-and-thats to attend to. The long range forecast is disappointing in a lot of ways, but at least it'll be a more fluid schedule. Yes, we'll have Holly almost every day, but with G home, too, it'll be a little less stress for me. If it's not awful out, she'll go out to play. I will likely have to go, too, but maybe we can share the ...

Yesterday was a decent day. Church, then breakfast at the diner with Holly and G, then puttering around the house while Meg did some laundry. We got the spring/summer curtains up, and I have the pile of winter thermals to wash. No rush, though. And I got all my laundry caught up, too. G took Holly to her CCD class (last one of the year), then went to a meeting later on at work. I treated myself to a nice dinner from the new noodle place--so good. O my.  This week is likely going to be a very busy one; keeping things in order at work will be a priority. Vacation week is next week, and if you've ever taught seniors this time of year, you know what I mean. It's a challenge akin to herding cats.  I have no huge plans for vacation week, but it'll likely be some sort of cleaning/sorting/organizing thing, yard work if the weather behaves, and maybe a ball game? We'll see about that last one. If the weather is not going to cooperate, I'm not going to push the issue. We'...

I It's Sunday, 48 degrees, and raining. Again. Yesterday was a delightful reprieve; no rain. In the meantime, tree pollen and early flower pollen are making me itchy and sniffly, but hey, it's spring, and I'm not going to whinge about it.  How 'bout that word? I've been thinking about strange, rare, forgotten words again. I am a true nerd: I love etymology. I like to see how words happen, and how they change. One of my favorites is disgruntled . It's a negative of a word we no longer use, that being gruntled . And I love those words that do double duty, like cleave.   When I teach Robert Hayden's poem, " Those Winter Sundays ," kids always, always get hung up on the use of the word offices in the last stanza: "What did I know, what did I know/ of love's austere and lonely offices?" I then have to tell them about the monastic tradition of praying the holy hours, and how doing a quiet duty is an act of love.  I hope your day is calm, c...

UP, and enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee. It's Saturday.  Yes, I'm sort of lazy this morning. It was a helluva busy and exhausting week. But in a few minutes, I'll get myself motivated-- there are things on my agenda that I want to get done. But I'm also going to make sure to put a little "me time" in there. It's all about balance.  My AP Lit kids managed to engage in what is known as "productive struggle" this week-- and it worked. I wanted them to have to fight their way through an assignment (low stakes, but still a grade) and come out the other side being more competent. They were tasked with annotating T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land." Yeah, I'm that miserable *itch of a teacher. LOL It's rough going, to be sure. Then yesterday, I put them in pairs (no student input--work with whom you get) and assigned each pair a section of the poem to present an explication for, and they also had to answer four questions: what is the...