Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

It's Sunday morning, still pretty dark out, and it's 19 degrees. A light coating of snow covers all the messy bits still, and we are expecting some mixed precipitation later today. In fact, it's already spitting snow, so I think they may have the forecast right.  After church and breakfast, I will buckle down and grade the stack of papers I brought home. I've put it off-- classic procrastination-- and it must get done. We have a three-and-change stretch of time before the next holiday break, and I do not want anything lingering. I want a real break. So do the students, I'm quite sure, but with all of the start-and-stops, we are a little behind. We'll see what we can knock out over the next few weeks. I wouldn't worry about it so much, but the reality is, when we get back, we'll have just about three weeks left, and the semester ends. For all that it has felt like a slog at times, it's going to be like a rocket on rails now.  So how to relax through t...

We got a half inch of snow overnight; just enough to coat over all the stuff that is unpleasant (mud, dead grass, blown garbage). What is still outside to put away will have to be done asap. I can't hint/nag anymore. Mostly, it's just a few things that need to be stowed, like the long-handled fruit picker and the sundial. And the random mess in my neighbors' yards. You'd think people would not stuff their coffee cups into my hedge, but there we are. I'll deal with that in the spring. At any rate, it's looking almost festive. I have to pull up one set of snowflake lights; they are dead. Other than that, it's pretty much done. I will buy my wreath tomorrow. Probably put up the candles today. I was all about moving some furniture this morning, but what I was hoping to achieve can't be done without causing inconveniences, so meh, thing are fine as they are.  Today, I'll head out to Lisbon for the craft show. Maybe there will be something fun and interest...

I am really quite tired, it seems, from the whole crazy busy-ness leading up to this more-than-needed break. Yesterday went pretty well; yes, the four year old got bored and a little grumpy (but some games and projects helped), but other than that, the food was good, and it was relatively peaceful. Five of us made a huge dent in that 18 lb. turkey, but I'm pretty confident I'll have enough to parcel out leftovers for dinner for the next two days. We'll see about whether there's enough to bother with for soup; probably I will manage that, too, on Sunday.  It's a day of reprieve today. I've opted not to go downtown at all. I don't need anything, and as lovely as the parade is likely to be, it's cold, and I'm just not up to standing there on the sidewalk for any long period of time. Age has crept up on me, I guess. Or rational thought. Could be both. And Meg and Tim are taking Holly to see Santa, but they don't need me along for that. I'll see t...

To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything. --Thomas Merton I am grateful for so many people and so many things, but most of all for the opportunity to try again every day.  Have a blessed holiday. Surround yourself with good people, good things, good food, and most of all, good moments.  C

Would you believe I woke up around 4am with a decent line of poetry in my head? Maybe the calcification of my imagination is going to crack.  AND...today, Holly, G, and I are hanging out in our pjs for a bit, then she and I will bake for tomorrow. We are going to spend the day slowly. I am so pleased to be able to do this. I'm grateful for the wisdom of the school board to give us a full day before Thanksgiving off. Probably it had something to do with "why bother"-- high absenteeism, etc., but I'll take it.  Enjoy your day, be safe, stay warm (it's cold and wet here-- supposed to clear up later, though).  Hold your loved ones close.  C

I'm supposed to be writing. As in, every day. Well, I do- this- but I've run dry. Maybe it's because teaching lately has required more braining than usual. And I guess I'm feeling fairly prose-y, rather less poetic than usual.  At any rate, I write. It's awful stuff. It's dreck. But it's words.  I will allow the process to work itself out.  What choice do I have? Maybe tomorrow words will come, when I'm not so concerned about essay revision and comma splices, and sentence fragments and irritable parents and lackadaisical kids and AP Language, and and and... Teaching can be pretty antithetical to being creative in the scant few off hours. Have a good day, and yeah... talk about mundane... today, I get my exhaust fixed on the car.  Hug your loved ones. The winter is cold and dark. So is the news. C

A quick note from chilly, damp, slippery New Hampshire.  Two more days. Well, today and tomorrow. Then, we have the Thanksgiving break at school.  I can only hope that there isn't huge absenteeism; there's work to be done, regardless of the impending holidays. I wish the kids understood that my heart and mind are on my own to-do list, but I'm there... and they should be, too.  O, good news! Holly got in at the last minute to start pre-K basketball. That will be a fun interlude over the winter months. Meg didn't play basketball, but Holly wants to give it a try. So, Saturday mornings for an hour, one of us (maybe me) will be at the gym with her. If it's me, I'll try to bring some papers to grade-- but likely, I'll just be distracted by the hilarity of it all.  We'll see how it goes. Gotta find something to be excited about during the cold, dark days. Speaking of which, the news. Ugh. Now we can't trust the CDC website, either. Sigh. And please, suppor...

"No good deed goes unpunished..." Meg and I went to see Wicked: For Good last night, and we enjoyed it immensely. That said, the ending didn't fit the mythic trope, and it bothers me.  Okay, so I'm a literature geek. And I tend to recognize and appreciate (expect?) the dramatic/literary arc in good writing and good movies. So, I was excited that this film (and the first one) were upending the trope a bit, refreshing it and questioning the whole "we need a man to solve our problems" theme in literature and film. We see in the first film that Elphaba first idolized the Wizard, but then came to find out that her trust and belief were misplaced; he is a liar and a cheat, and he uses people. Okay, that brings things to a crescendo, and on to the second film. Elphaba is persona non grata in Oz, and the Wizard, through Nessa, is making life in Oz untenable. The animals are escaping to the great unknown because they are persecuted. Then, the Munchkins' movement...

Saturday-- I'm still in my flannel nightgown, sipping a hot cup of coffee. That was my goal, and here I am, achieving it! There's a lot of things on my mind, most of them state, national, international-- and I am not prepared to talk about many of them, at least not in an indelible, digital way. Let's just say that they are all heartbreaking, wrong, hurtful things.  And I can do little about any of them.  I think we are all feeling that way, and have been for some time. I know I write often about what we can do at the local level, and I also know that most of you (all?) feel the same way I do about all the things I'm not going to write about. So, I'll just smile and nod. You get me. And I appreciate that so much.  So, positive things: I will do my darndest to get the last of the solar lights out today; It should take just a few minutes, so I'm pretty sure I can handle it. I will pop out to the grocery and pick up some things I need for the "regular" gr...

We have a few days of weather forecasts that include 40 degrees and sunshine in the offing! I am going to try to get the last of my outside lights up and operational after I get in from work. Wish me luck: if the ground is frozen solid, then the snowflake stakes will not be happening. I will also try to get the last strand of fairy lights up in the backyard; I'm thinking the highbush cranberry will do. I can reach that one. Lights bring me a little wiggle of joy.  I'm also debating whether it'll be pizza night tomorrow. I'm particularly tired. I don't really want to cook. We'll see.  Saturday and Sunday are scheduled with things to do. Not a ton, but still...things. And grading papers. Those should not take a ton of time, though. I've seen the drafts for most of them more than once.  I'm hopeful of finding a time to go see Wicked: For Good with Meg, but once again, our schedules kind of suck. I will talk to her about it. I really want to see it.  I'm...

Negotiating the holiday meal for next Thursday with Meg was a breeze this year. I always make so much food-- far too much-- and I'm trying to avoid the overdoing it thing. We've decided on turkey (cuz it is), regular mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, corn, butternut squash, bread stuffing. I will save the other "usual" sides for leftover-refreshers. Dessert? Well, one of our student groups does a pie sale, so I ordered a cheesecake and a pumpkin pie. I'll make an apple one, too. I will likely buy a bottle of Beaujolais, but we'll see. I hear it's not been a good year for it. There may be rolls, but likely purchased ones. And yes, cranberry sauce in a can. Two cans, probably. No judgment-- we like our Ocean Spray products. (G's grandfather was one of the original co-op members when Ocean Spray began; he had a cranberry bog in Carver, MA. O, and remind me to tell you what he's told me about growing up with the descendants of the Mayflower...his ...

Well, how about that? I had all of my students in both classes today-- probably for the first time in over a month. I won't get too used to it, as it's cold/flu/ick season, and there's another college tour field trip on Thursday that's taking a few of my juniors again. But we did stuff today! And I don't have to repeat myself! Huzzah! The juniors are working on a quick dip into APA documentation/citation with a very short lit review due on Friday. I am not going to spend inordinate amounts of time on this; I honestly do not care what their topics of inquiry are, because we are just working on the formatting and citing stuff. It's enough to get their feet wet and to demonstrate the difference from MLA, which is the primary method used in school. Which makes no sense at all to me, really, since it's only English that needs MLA-- but I digress. I'm just happy they can see that there's different methods out there, and each is particularly useful for diff...

Well, it was a very busy/sort of chaotic Monday, but we all landed on our feet (I think). That said, how about a quiet(ish) Tuesday? One thing I've been seeing over and over again in the AP Lit Facebook group is a real penchant for three pieces of literature, specifically. Frankenstein , Hamlet , and "The Yellow Wallpaper." I'm puzzled. Since I'm new at the AP thing, why those three things? And why do people spend a gazillion days/weeks on things that should take up maybe a week? Either I'm really going to suck at this, or maybe I'll be fine because what I've been doing for almost four decades seems to work. We'll see.  I'm not knocking any of those works of literature, anyhow. They are all good to read/discuss. But there's a real magnetic pull (or so it seems) to these. For my two cents' worth, I will not read Hamlet with high school kids. They don't have the life experience to bring to the text, so it becomes entirely academic-- w...

Last week had three "Mondays." The start/stop nature of the week was exhausting. Add to it several field trips and so on, and yeah... we lost momentum. This week should be less weird, though there is an advisory meeting (Mon.), and class meetings (Thurs.). I'm sure there will be something or other stuffed in there, too, but I hope to have most of my students most of the time this week! I spent a delightful, exciting, and mentally exhausting weekend. Who knew that, after four relatively short sessions, I'd have a poem draft that spans eight pages (so far)? Wow. I kind of want to play hooky and work on it. But I won't. I'll let it simmer for a bit. I have been writing every day since November 1, so I will keep that up, too.  But there's more stuff I need to get done. I have book reviews idling on my desk. I have holiday stuff to figure out. And I should be working on more poetry submissions, though that's not that critical. I still have yet to plunge int...

It's cozy in my house this morning; G got up early as he always does, got the pellet stove going, and when I got up at 5:30, I got a chicken carcass simmering with some celery-- soup with dumplings tonight! The ice came through and through again last night, and we have predictions for on and off snow today. This feels like the kind of November we had years ago. I'll watch Mass on the livestream, and then my class starts shortly after-- tight schedule, so being home and watching it while the soup is cooking  makes sense, with the added "fun" of slick roads... thank goodness for the livestream.  I've been buying flour. Every time it goes on sale, I get another bag of flour. I think I need to stop for a while-- I have 7 five-pound bags. Must be my squirrel instinct has gone into overdrive. I have not been baking as much (my sourdough died), but winter is upon us, and I have bananas in the freezer. I am thinking about muffins, too. And maybe G will make some cookies.....

 "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." --Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend If you are able to donate time, talent, or treasure-- canned food, good cheer, phone calls and letters to officials, whatever you can and whatever it takes-- please do.  People are hungry. And not just for food (though that is definitely at the top of the list).  With the proposed cuts and new rules regarding permanent housing for those who are unhoused, it's estimated that 170,000 people will be put on the streets. All people who qualify for SNAP will have to "reapply"-- even though they already recertify every six months. This shift toward making poverty a moral failing (there are sobriety rules attached as well) is coming from a party that has its own share of moral turpitude. It's cruelty that would make Herod blush. From erstwhile "card-carrying Christians" this is especially repugnant: Jesus would start knotting cords and flipping tab...

UP, and I am glad it's Friday. It's been a very busy week, especially with the start-and-stop nature of things with a holiday on Tuesday and a field trip yesterday. The weather is still chilly and damp, which seems to be the forecast for the foreseeable future. I want to get the last string of lights in a tree out back, but who knows when or if. Sigh. Missed the window, it looks like.  It's been a long time since we've had a cold and snowy early November. The geese were right about the date, and the acorn supply predicts a snowy winter overall. I like to pay attention to the signs in nature; the professionals do a good job, and I appreciate all they do (especially since they got DOGEd so severely), but I also think that nature has a lot to tell us if we slow down enough to get the news.  I have a writing class both Saturday and Sunday, and I'm really excited to see where this new adventure is leading me. I am percolating with ideas, but I'm holding them at bay u...

Cold, wet, and dreary day-- but a fantastic morning with 65 students and several of my colleagues attending The Crucible performed by TheatreUP here in Littleton. Wow. It was really great. At the end of the play (and if you are local, GO SEE IT!!), John Proctor's anguished cry, "Because it is my name! I cannot have another!" echoes in my head and heart. He was willing to give up his life for a sacred truth, to leave his name unsullied by a lie that would have spared him but would have tarnished not only his and his sons' name forever, but would have dishonored those who died for truth before him.  There are precious few people who are willing to stand so firmly on what it right that they will die for it. Most folks will compromise, telling themselves and others that some personal indignity or shame is worth it for the larger good. (Witness the handful of Democrat senators...) And quite often, they are probably right. But where do we, as individuals, draw the line? Wh...

It snowed all day yesterday, and it's still messy out there. We have not gotten an early snowstorm like this in a while, and it's caught a lot of people off-guard. I got my winter tires on last Wednesday-- just in time.  So, wet/slick roads today. Sigh. Seems to be the likely situation for the next several days.  Y'know, it's funny. In the movie Sense and Sensibility , the one starring Emma Thompson and others, the youngest sister, Margaret, is told that if she had to talk to people, she should restrict her comments to the weather and the state of the roads. I guess I'd pass. Today, I have a full day at work, and I have to make sure all the finer details of tomorrow's big field trip are taken care of. It's never perfect, but it's got to be as close as possible. And then... I can rest. Sort of. No more huge school projects for a while. I've taken on a bit more than I ought to have, I think, and what with extra kid and now dog duty, teaching AP, and so...

  Thank You for Your Service   … and what about the families: the wives, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, fathers, daughters and lovers, all waiting? Sometimes it’s 2190 days (52,560 hours).   The weight of waiting, more than three million minutes, more or less, hating the more, dreading the less   …unless it’s on leave. Checking sleeves, counting fingers and toes, who knows what horrors are brought and bought by those who serve? Those who serve breakfast lunch dinner drink coffeecoffeecoffee & stay awake nights more coffee   Fold the towels, write the letters, cry the tears, check the mirror, apply the lipstick and serve up smiles and gather up linens and stare at the sky. Why lie?   …service gets no damned medals. Just the clink in the sink of forks and knives, spoons, a jumble of cutlery needing polish, like iron markers, little outposts of service: new flags on graves. This poem first app...