Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

Short note today. I got up, and now two loads of laundry are almost done and the dishes are running. Sometimes, you just have to take advantage of whatever scraps of time you have, right? 27 degrees. Sun trying hard to melt things. It looks to be another lovely mid-50s afternoon, too.  This evening, I will be at St. Rose, leading my poetry workshop-- I hope it goes well. If you are local, come on in. I'm sure there will be room. Although, honestly, I did see that a few folks have registered, so who knows? Hopefully, I won't scare everyone off. It'll be a challenge to strike the tone between teacher me and parishioner me. Either way, the focus is on poetry and reflective writing.  Take care, all. Really, take good care of yourself, others, the planet... it's up to us. The people in charge are ruining things.  C

I suspect the chill has settled in. It was 27 degrees this morning. We really need to clean off the deck and put away some things soon. And I hate to; it's over, is the message. The sitting outside in the sunshine part of the year is gone. And now, it's time to think about wool socks, heavy curtains, and being parsimonious about heating oil.  And it's not that I hate winter, but I find much of what it requires inconvenient. I found myself musing this morning what it would be like to retire. As in, I could get up and shuffle about, attend to house things, read, write, and not worry about boots and hats and heavy coats and scraping windshields and slippery roads and and and... I don't mind winter if I don't have to battle for my place in it. And it feels like a battle, much of the time. Yup, I'm getting old.  And I can't retire, probably not for at least seven years, so it's a suck it up, buttercup situation. Early retirement? The only thing that would o...

OK, guilty. I binged the whole 8 episodes of Season 4 of The Diplomat . Wow. And now... we have to wait to a/ see if there's a Season 5 (there had better be), and b/ when is it coming? Probably next year. Gluttony, that's what it was. But what a banger of a cliff hanger ending. I won't spoil it for you, but let's just say, it was pretty awesome.  I'm still watching a few other shows that are being doled out one episode a week, so I have things to look forward to. But gee whiz.  The weekend was busy, but good busy. G snipped herbs and pulled carrots for me, so I'll be working with those this afternoon after I get Holly from school. And there is always housework to do. But I got all my papers graded, watched football, and had a lovely Sunday dinner with G. There's so much pork tenderloin left, I will just work it into something a little different tonight for dinner. So, that daily question is off the table.  And we are, for all intents and purposes, moving on ...

It's actually cold. Twenty degrees and dark out. ugh.  This week is supposed to get up into the 50s/60s, so we had better get the outdoor stuff done. Like, turn off the outside water spigot. (And would you believe I saw some post the other day from an erstwhile smart person spelling it spicket?) Anyhow, herbs and carrots when we get home from church and breakfast.  The writing workshop yesterday was an absolute delight. All the people I met were wonderful, I was not the youngest in the room (call it bottom third), and I wrote and wrote and laughed and thought and talked with new folks. I have a few drafts that show promise. I sold two books. And our presenter, Betsy Sholl, was an absolute spitfire! She's awesome. Yes, I was tired when I got home, but it was good day tired, writing tired. And we went to dinner at the Littleton Freehouse, and I got a lovely salmon dinner with a glass of pinot grigio. I came home, crawled under a blanket, and watched a few more episodes of The Di...

What a wild and woolly 24 hours, eh? Rain, gusts, bursts of weak sunlight, and then, all night, windy enough to make the house creak while slashing rain across the windows. And now, 39 degrees and dark. I'm up, of course, but I'm not hustling along just yet. That's the one great thing about most Saturdays-- I don't have to rush. I have the poetry class today in St. J, but it's not until 11:30. I'll give myself an hour or two to not "do"-- it's been a very busy week, and every week looks to be busy for the foreseeable future.  I looked yesterday and I have something every weekend until November 21. Luckily, most all of it is chosen and I can't complain. =)  My poetry class that I'm leading starts this week, too, at St. Rose, so I need to get that figured out. I have been copying poems to use, but until I know the folks who will be attending and how they approach reading, discussing, and responding to poetry, I'm sort of in the dark. I...

Mid-30s and raining. And dark. I am not amused.  Today, it's work, then home for lunch, then out to get groceries. Perhaps the rain will lessen, but it's predicted to be wet again all damn day. I will never get outside to clean off the deck, pull carrots, clip herbs at this rate.  Tomorrow, I have a class -- a real, in-person one-- in St. J with the poet Betsy Sholl. I am really looking forward to it. One, I know of her work, and two, she is a friend of my friend Dawn, and three, I get to write without distractions for a few hours. What a blessing. And I'm hopeful we can go out to dinner afterward, G and I. Perhaps the Leaf Peepers have all gone home.  Or maybe they haven't. I still see busloads of them disgorging onto Main St. on my way home from work every day. But this cold and wet will likely keep the casual Peepers away. Maybe. We are a Destination, and we'll only have a couple of weeks that we can fully enjoy our own restaurants and stores until skiers invade....

UP and it's a little less chilly, and sunshine is in the forecast. I sure hope so. There are outdoor things I want to get done, and let's be honest, we are about to grow gills.  Holly's birthday was good; she got lots of presents, had a great day at school with her friends, and we had dinner out at the diner. Her choice, of course. It was okay, but what was especially fun was a friend of ours who also works there brought out her bowl of mac and cheese with a lit candle in it. Too cute. It's one of the myriad reasons why living in a relatively small town is a good thing for everyone.  Today, the chores abound for after work. Nothing much changes.  Well, not exactly true: the leaves are still changing, despite the wet weather. It's the season of gold, russet, bronze, and copper. It's lovely, really. And hanging in there later than usual. I'm thinking of making a list of related nouns/adjectives and then embedding them in a poem. Hm... I hope your day is wonder...

Rainy and chilly again. Yes, people need the wells filled up. But gee whiz. It's been a pretty wet stretch of time. Today, all students in grades 9-11 take PSATs. I will be working with seniors on college app essays. Or resumes. Or both. Either way, I'll have about two hours of time with a small crew of kids who likely would rather be sleeping. As would I, honestly. But I'll bring a boo bucket of Dunkins munchkins, and we'll see what we can do.  That all said, TODAY IS HOLLY'S FIFTH BIRTHDAY! What a hoot! She's amazing. Meg got her a boo bucket of munchkins to share with her class at snack time. We'll convene at the diner for dinner (her choice, this kid loves diners), and head back home for cake. Somewhere in there will be presents. I didn't go overboard, much. Well, a little. She's my favorite human.  I'm sure she'll be wound up tight today-- who isn't when it's their birthday and they are five?-- but I hope we'll also extend a ...

Chilly, rainy, and Tuesday.  Holly and I had a great day yesterday, and I got almost everything done that was on my house cleaning list. I still have folding of laundry to accomplish, and it looks like there's at least one load to put in. I also have to wrap some b'day gifts for an almost-five-year-old! I sure hope her cold is better for tomorrow-- what a bummer to be sick on your birthday.  But I have today. Meg is home with possible pink-eye (ew, and ouch), so I likely will not be picking up Holly from school. I'll have to find out for sure, though. If I'm not, then I have a stretch of time this afternoon to finish the laundry stuff and the wrapping stuff. And I want to make an applesauce bread.  Who has time to work? I have some other small things I want to attend to, as well, such as getting out the fall kitchen linens. Minor, but these things matter to me. Call it a last stand against the chaos out there.  And there is chaos. And havoc. Sixes and Sevens. O, the ...

Rainy, chilly Monday-- Indigenous Peoples Day (I won't go there, but it's not "Columbus Day" in my mind).  I know this post is a little later than usual, but I got up at the usual time, and then proceeded to get a turkey soup going (boiling the meat on the bone, then pulling it out to "pick" and adding veggies, then putting the meat back into the pot). I got the sourdough starter fed and going, too, so I can make bread later. And I have a metric ton of house work to accomplish, but first, I'm taking a minute to write a little to you.  So, how ya doin'?  How about those Patriots? Love them or not, it was a good game, especially since some first-string starters are still on the IL. Never count 'em out, eh? And the 49-ers won their game, too -- my second choice team since way back with Joe Montana. What's best is watching the football game with Meg-- she gets me. She's just as vocal. And I love spending time with her. Holly has little patien...

Sunday, and it's a lovely magenta start to the day. Yes, likely there will be unsettled weather, but it's pretty nonetheless. We have church, then breakfast (Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast--once a month). Then, I'll be coming home to process the last pears and apples from our trees. Well, maybe the last. You know how it is.  And yesterday ended up being a pretty good day. I was working on my full-length poetry manuscript, going down a really deep rabbit hole (when poems are about family, it's like exploring old wounds sometimes). I was, in short, getting both frustrated and depressed. Mainly because I had it all sorted in the summer, but when I went back to it, I didn't see what I thought I'd seen, the arc of the manuscript didn't hold up. It was facile, too easily organized and catalogued. I didn't like it. I didn't even like the title, and it clearly needed a new poem or two to work with the ones already in play. None of this is news to anyo...

It's been hard to ignore the horrors in the news. In fact, I haven't ignored them-- I'm just having a really hard time processing how evil people are. The story about the Cornell rape-fest is making my stomach turn, especially since the response given to a reporter's question was that the men involved would not get a "fair shake" and he "feels badly" for them. Agent shooting a man with a five year old child in the car. The proposed televised execution of a man who, admittedly, did a horrifying thing in 2009, but to put a man who is a paraplegic in front of a firing squad? And there is so much more to be horrified by.  Who the hell are we, as a nation? How and why are we "celebrating" this violence and evil? This is not, and should not be, merely an ontological question. It addresses the core of who we are, both individually and as a country. As human beings. It feels like our moral compass has been smashed to unrecognizable shards.  I...

Finally Friday. Not that it's been a bad week, just a long one. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow: I have the day sort of free to do some poem work. I also need to plan the reading/writing/reflection workshop series I'm going to be hosting at church that focuses on poems by Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, and the book of psalms. I have a couple of people who have emailed me already that they are going to attend --and I don't know them!-- so I need to make sure to have all of my poems figured out. The series will run for four weeks, take a couple off for Thanksgiving, then have one final session with the goal of assembling a small booklet of poems to offer to the parish. We'll see how that goes.  And I'll have time to figure out my own book tomorrow. I hope. And I want to make herbed butter. That isn't time consuming, except for the prepping of the herbs, and it's good to have on hand all winter. I should think about submitting some poems to journals, to...

Thursday, cool and rainy-- but not as chilly as yesterday! Mother Nature is teasing us a bit. It was 46 when I got up- fully 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. Weird. And welcome. I made another pie yesterday-- the bags of apples are down to half a bag. I still have the pears to work through, though, but that's looking manageable. And the garden got frosted yesterday, so likely all I have to do is mourn the loss of the squash (though I have not checked...) and pull up the meager half-row of carrots. That can wait until tomorrow, or sometime this weekend. It's wet out.  School goes apace. We are working through Julius Caesar, working on rhetorical devices, and nothing much new coming up until next Wednesday when the kids 9-11 have PSAT stuff, and I'll be hanging out with a handful of seniors, working on college app stuff. It'll also be Holly's fifth birthday-- so that will be a grand thing! We still don't have definite plans for her big day-- unfortunately, most o...

Crisp (okay, cold) 26 degrees and a hard frost. I suspect that, even though we covered things, the frost has ended the short run for the butternut squash. I will try to get out there to check on it later today, but there's likely no rush. G covered a few plants on the deck, too, but who knows if they'll be okay. They were not a real priority, and inattention may have been their demise, too.  I try. There's only so many hours in a day, right?  That said, yesterday went well at school. The play went off without a hitch, it was really awesome actually, and it seems that most of the kids liked it a lot. Well, except for the dyed in the Carhartts-I hate everything except T. and motocross-why can't I wear my oil-stained hat in school sort. They are a harder case to solve. And frankly, I'm pretty sure I can't solve their issues. Frost said it best in "Mending Wall" when the speaker says, Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down.’ I ...

Chilly and windy-- perfect fall weather. The wind knocked down most of the pears, so Holly and I went out yesterday and gathered as many as we could. Poor sweetie slipped in some mushy pears and came up covered in pear mush-- it was comical, though. The sunshine was lovely, the wind was brisk, and we were outside gathering fresh fruit. Not a bad way to spend a bit of time.  Today, Weathervane theatre is coming to my school to perform a shorter version of Much Ado About Nothing. I am hoping it all goes well. I always get so nervous about events that I have planned. At least this year there was no chasing permission slips, arranging chaperones, and figuring out busing. Amen. I just hope that the kids like it, and it goes well, and I'll be able to cross this one off my list of things to do.  My list is getting rather long again. Work things, home things, fall project things-- never enough time or enough me to go around. I do what I can, but I sure wish I had a free day or two to...

Well, then. Sunday turned out pretty good, which was just what I needed. Church was fine, G, Holly, and I got breakfast out, and I got some chores done before the football game. That said, what a game!  There was not one person (myself included, alas) who thought the Patriots would win, especially since they were playing the Bills in their new stadium. A road game? Yeah. And no doubt, the bookmakers were astonished, as was the whole rest of the universe, or so it seemed. They won. The kid who caught the game-clinching TD one-handed it, and he's not even all that tall. He seriously went airborne, snagged the long ball, and came down with it. Meg and I were losing our noodles, to be sure-- it seems one of the life lessons I imparted to my daughter was a masterful command of salty language. O jeez. Thankfully, Holly was at home with Tim, so we could yell all we wanted to. Poor G-- at one point, he dryly remarked, "You know they can't hear you, right?"  And yes, we know. ...

Yesterday was a lot of fun at homecoming-- the girls won a nailbiter in the last seconds, the boys won handily, and Holly was awesome. The weather was perfect; warm sun, chill breeze-- and the trees are in their glory, all the gold and red and orange. Lovely. Idyllic? Probably not, but close enough. Today, I have a pile of mini chores and a set of papers to grade. First, church, find breakfast somewhere (leaf peepers take over all the usual spots, sigh), and see what the day brings. Well, I know it'll bring football-- probably a heartbreaker of a game-- and I'm roasting a small turkey. I needed the freezer space, and it'll be nice to have leftovers for a few days. I made a pear and raspberry crumble pie last night after dinner-- it's an experiment, and let's hope it tastes good. Those pears are ours-- so many pears!!-- and I wanted to make something fallish. I mean, I've been overwhelmed by the apple harvest (there's still more to do), and apple pie and appl...

It's Saturday, it's crisply fallish out, and I'm being very lazy. Soon enough, I'll have to get going, because there's homecoming stuff to get to, but not just yet. I'll finish my coffee first. We had a lovely time at Weathervane Theatre again last night. Anything Goes was light, funny, and the music and dancing were spot-on. We're going to go to one more show in early December; they are doing a musical review for the holidays in the style of the old Bob Hope or Carol Burnett holiday specials-- the kind we grew up watching. I'll get tickets this morning. And Theatre UP is putting on Guys and Dolls in November-- more to look forward to. Escapism? Yup. No apologies coming from me. We need to fill our lives with moments that give us a reprieve from the abject horrors and nightmare scenarios. If local live theatre can do that, great. Whatever we can do to shore ourselves up, right?  I'm also signed up for a writing workshop in mid-October with former Ma...

So, it's a drizzly Friday. I hope it clears off (it's not predicted to do so, though), but at any rate, we have a half day at work. There's a fundraiser this afternoon: a big ol' golf tournament that raises money for our Education Foundation, the organization that funds things like field trips and so on. In this age of python-tight budgets, we depend heavily on things like today's tournament. It's part of the homecoming festivities, so it's pretty well attended. School's out early because many of the teachers either work it or play in it. Not me, I can't, but it's still a good cause. So, c'mon, Momma Nature. Be nice. The float building went okay yesterday, and from what I hear, the mini parade was fun and enjoyable. Again, I was home. I had Holly, and G had a tooth extracted, so my priorities were here. Maybe next year I'll go and take Holly, but she needs to be in bed by 7:30, and the event started at 6:30. Not gonna happen. And I didn...

Short post today, because I am running behind a bit. Not that I slept in or anything. I finished doing laundry before I even came downstairs. Ah, the life of a person who must work outside the home, do the house work, and take care of all the details. It's a crazy schedule, to be sure. I just want one day to catch up. It will not be this weekend, I'm pretty sure.  Saturday will be devoted to being at the high school homecoming games, supervising sophomores as they sell food from crockpots. I'll have Holly with me, so I hope she is patient. If the weather is good, it'll be fine. If it's cold/wet/windy, it'll be miserable. I've done this a lot of years, so I've had my share of all of those conditions. At least I only have to do a middle of the day shift; we have three class advisors (for a crew of about ten kids-- another story). I'm not setting up, and God willing, I won't be sticking around for the clean up. Both are usually fraught with minor ch...