Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

Well, then. Ten below zero again. And at 2 a.m., the town crew had heavy equipment out scraping the roads, reducing the snowbanks. A very loud, growling scrape, followed by insistent beep-beep-beep , over and over again. Lucky for us, only about 20 minutes of it. I did get back to sleep. Thank goodness.  And thank goodness it's Friday. Work, then home to get laundry going, then getting Holly, and so on. I think it's a good night for take-out dinner.  The news cycle is a morass of evil-intentioned statements. The once-venerable Washington Post is now fit to line cat litter boxes. One of our residents in town advocated for a significant cut in the proposed town budget because they see a "slow eviction of those who built Littleton." Sounds like whining about a loss of perceived privilege to me. The motion failed.  I'm all for fiscal conservativism, but that's not something we are seeing at the federal level, not by a long shot. And the local budget has no "...

Well, we have hit the warming trend for a few days-- well, until Saturday. The days are warm, bright, and melty--well, 20s is warm, right? Never fear; the single digits will be back this weekend. Of course.  My quiz bowl team has a tournament at the high school in the next town over on Saturday morning, so I know I'll be busy with them until around 1pm; then, it'll be off to the grocery store. I hope I don't run into a whole lot of mad snack-buyers. I bought our wings and chili fixings last weekend to beat the rush. I have no illusions that the Pats will win on Sunday, but y'never know... At any rate, it's almost baseball/softball season. Our kids are already warming up in "open gym" situations. And the early harbinger of spring has already sprung (no, not the rodent): Red Sox truck day was the other day. It's amazing how much stuff they send to Florida. According to various news reports, the trucks contained: 20,400 baseballs 1,100 bats 200 batting gl...

Finally got the APLit kids talking. They are a passive bunch, for sure. We have been working our way through short fiction, and finally-- FINALLY-- a story got them going so much they actually did want to talk about it. We read Hemingway's " The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, " one of my all-time favorites. The characters are just so nasty!! There are so many analytical lenses to use in order to discuss elements of complexity in the story, too. Perfect for APLit. Character development, historical (re: colonialism), structural (sentence variations, use of foreshadowing, use of indirect characterization, how the title operates, etc.). Such fun.  And fun to read aloud. =) They are finishing up drafts for conferencing for the first critical analysis paper; that's what I get to do today. Read drafts. We'll see how they go; they will sit next to me as we go through the papers, so they get immediate redirection as needed. The assessment drafts are due on Friday, s...

ahhh, a balmy 12 below zero. The prognosticators were off by... yeah, 12 degrees or so. It's cold, dark, and February. We went to Candlemas at church last night, and it was lovely. The young person swinging the thurible didn't overdo it, too, which was nice-- I like the smell of incense, but sometimes it sets off my asthma.  We need light. We need it so very badly. Dark mornings are hard. Mental and emotional darkness are even harder. And when you put the two together, it's almost impossible to navigate.  I pray that today, and every day, the Light reaches the dark places.  Have a good day, friends. Hold all you love in Light as well. C

We had a restful(ish) Sunday: it was too darn cold and I was too exhausted to go to church, so I watched it on livestream. Not the same, but something, anyhow. I needed to sleep. I've been pouring out of a bucket for a long time, and I have not felt rested in months. So, sometimes you have to listen to the body.  I did a few minor things, went shopping downtown with Meg, and pretty much just puttered. I sent out some poem submissions, and got nice news that two poems found a home.  This week will be busy, but not insanely so, at least I hope so. The last couple of weeks were weird, due to holidays, snow days, and delays, etc. Maybe this will be a solid full week? I hope so. Somehow, those short or shortened weeks are a lot harder to manage.  We went out to dinner on Saturday to IFB, and it was so dang noisy-- not their fault, but more, over-privileged skier types with rambunctious, feral children. It's hard, living in a "destination" area, because either you don't...

Imbolc (Feb. 1) St. Brigid's Day (Feb. 1) Groundhog Day (Feb. 1) Candlemas (traditional end of Christmastide, Feb. 2) The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Feb. 2) O, and the 2026 Football Pro Bowl is Tues., Feb. 3 But what do these all have in common? Maybe issues of faith, both religious and secular. All of them signal we have had ENOUGH of winter.  So, leave a scarf or other fabric article of clothing outside overnight on Jan. 31 in accordance with Irish mythology; St. Brigid, as she passes through, will bless it, and you, for the upcoming year. Put away your window candles, as the light is reappearing in the northern hemisphere.  Can't say that I have any rules or traditions for the Pro Bowl. Go, AFC?  Have a good day, friends. Enjoy the returning of light and the strengthening and blessing of you and yours.  C