Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

I am truly feeling the end of the school year tired. There's so much to do, too many loose ends to tie up, and of course, there's the added "I need to get my garden planted but it's supposed to be stupid cold and rainy" thing, and the "O my goodness, Holly has no school after 12:30 next Friday who is gonna watch her" thing, and the "dangitall, my book is delayed a little but should be here sometime mid-June and I want to schedule a launch party" thing.  I need a little breather.  So, I watched another rom-com last night, and it was actually super good, had some interesting twists in it, and yeah, if you are feeling super overwhelmed like I am, I'd recommend Love at First Sight currently on Netflix. I know, the title is... yeah... but the movie is based on a book, too. It was fun to watch, had some serious moments, and it was altogether satisfying.  The Red Sox blew chunks. Sigh again.  Today is Friday, we'll finish both Othello and St...

I did not watch a rom-com last night. Instead, I invested in watching the Red Sox--and they won, handily, convincingly, reassuringly! This is after I watched Jeopardy, got 28 right, and got the final question right as well.  I was feeling pretty good, truth be told.  My Creative Writing kids are doing a great job reading Othello aloud; they all predictably despise Iago, but they have no inkling what's coming (we are only in Act III). Fun stuff. And the APLit kids are watching Streetcar Named Desire -- and they all sense that things are going to get really awful (we only got through the first 36 minutes so far). How depressing, really, to bring the school year to a close with those two plays. But still, it's good stuff.  I spent some time yesterday revising syllabi, and I think I'll put Richard III in APLit next year instead of Othello . And Fences (film version) instead of Streetcar . I need a change. I'm even going to cave and teach Frankenstein in Brit Lit. Suffice...

I've found myself gravitating to really formulaic rom-coms on Netflix lately. It's not my usual fare, but I'm finding that watching those is somehow comforting. I particularly like the ones where Italy and cooking are involved, it seems. I'm almost puzzled by this recent desire for escapism, but I spent a lot of the winter watching mysteries, so I guess this is what my brain wants right now. Probably it's some sort of insulation against the atrocities in the news.  We all need a break. If this is my (temporary) mental hiding place, so be it. It could be a whole lot worse. The weather around here is warm and sunny for a few days, so I'm soaking that vibe in as well. G planted the two honeyberry bushes yesterday afternoon, and if they take off, that'll be nice. Something new to add to the fruits of our labor, quite literally. And both of the holly bushes survived the winter! I hope that they'll grow a lot this summer so we don't have to worry about the...

Spring is damp. That's the general gist of things. This weekend was not conducive to doing much outdoors, so I dug into some piddly little house chores (and some usual ones like laundry). I made a batch of sourdough bread, too-- first one in about a year. My old starter went bad, so I finally got a new one going. I'm looking forward to toast this morning.  Back to work-- we've still got plenty to do. I'm not in the packing up mode just yet. Two weeks to go for seniors, and a few more days after that for the underclasses, which means, after June 7, I'll have two students, total. It tends to wind down like that. Next year, we are shifting our schedule (we are our own SAU starting July 1), and graduation will be the last day. No more dribbles and sputters. I'm looking forward to that.  I have to plan my writing weekend for young folks, too. I think I have maybe five kids signed up? I'll have to put that project on the front burner soon. I hope it runs; it'l...

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,/ ... And wild plum trees in tremulous white/ ... And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done From Sara Teasdale, " There Will Come Soft Rains " Memorial Day, and pouring rain. At least it's not that cold, but the pellet stove is still humming along--it's damp and uncomfortable. For years, when I was in high school, our band marched in parades, but more often, we just marched to cemeteries to honor the dead on Memorial Day. We had a very small band to begin with, and then people would not show up-- but I did. One year, I was up puking all night with food poisoning, but I went. That was the year that, when we figured out how few of us were there for the "parade," I marched beside a tuba and the drums. I played clarinet. No matter, though: we always had one talented trumpet player there to play taps from behind shrubbery. It was pretty moving, regardless. I have military mem...

"When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."  ~ Acts 2: 1-4 I wonder how this plays out in our current times. I'd like to think that it is an occasion to speak the truth, the kind of Truth that can burn away all the misinformation, hatred, vengeful words, and hurtful rhetoric that we are surrounded by. The news is full of ugly things being done, the shifting and erasure of what we know to be true, all in the name of creating an even uglier space that is unsafe and unwholesome for everyone. This cannot stand. This practice cannot be sustained.  And it'll be up to us to speak out about what is right and just.  Come, Holy S...