Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

Not all of you, dear readers, are football fans. But still, I have to share the ongoing issue I have in my sophomore Brit Lit class. It's over-run with non-Patriots fans; there's a segment of the population that are Bills fans (and one really vocal Chiefs fan). Okay, people can root for whom they wish; I've been a loyal Pats fan since birth (the team became a franchise six years before I existed). I've followed stats, players, and so on for a very long time-- in short, they can't trash talk without bringing the receipts. Which, given that they are all 16 or so, they can't bring much. But I admire loyalty, so there's that. But seriously-- they do talk a lot for kids who don't have much history to rely on. Okay, so there was a lot of smack talk this past week, the general tenor of which was O, the Pats have an easy schedule, they haven't played any good teams  (well, except that victory over the Bills...hm), and they'll get beat this week when they...

Snowing. It seriously never fails. Six weeks after the geese fly, there's snow sticking on the ground. We are not supposed to get much, maybe an inch? But the mixed precipitation forecast until early afternoon is a concern, so we are not going to Tilton to BJs after all. No matter: I can order most of it online and have it shipped. We can try again in a couple of weeks, if the weather is better. No cheap goods are worth going through Franconia Notch with freezing rain as a possible consideration. So, today it'll be church, breakfast, then home to putter around and get a few things done, watch football, play with the dog, etc. A decent Sunday, I think. I have papers to grade, too, so I can get those knocked out. Maybe the snow/messy travel forecast is God's way of saying to me that I need to slow the heck down.  This week is a busy one (when isn't it?)-- but we do have Tuesday off for Veterans' Day. That said, I have a huge field trip for the high school on Thursday ...

 UP at the usual time-- can't figure out why my noggin won't let me sleep in a half hour more on Saturdays.  Today, I have a short agenda (groceries, house work) and I want to sit and read and think for a bit.  We'll see how it goes. I'm fixated on the groceries. I am grateful I can get them. There are far too many people living on the razor's edge right now, and it's entirely a human-caused situation. There is no blight. No famine. No crop failures. But there is a malignancy, rooted in cruelty and corruption.  Today, and tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future, I will round up at the register, I will buy extra to donate, and I will simmer. I'm angry that people's well-being is being used as leverage. For those card-carrying Christians who are doing this heinous thing, all I have to say is, hell awaits. Have a good day, hug those you love, and if you can, help fill a need. No one goes hungry on my watch. C

Such an adjustment we need to do with this little doggo! She's not as housebroken as we'd been told, but we can work on that. Otherwise, she is a delight. Such a loving little dog. I rearranged the front room so that she could climb on the futon to look out the window--she is a nosey neighbor, for sure. And G lowered the gate that is on the front hallway so she will stop squeezing herself under -- there is nothing upstairs she needs, and her toenails would get caught in the carpet on the stairs. No one needs a dog with a broken leg. And we've got some other gates and barriers that we've installed or are coming in soon-- she is, as I say, nosey, and she gets into all sorts of stuff. And, to be honest, until she is fully housebroken, I'd like to limit the places she has accidents to the washable areas. No one wants to make a daily event out of running the carpet cleaner.  But anyhow-- this week is running about as smoothly as it could; it's been a bit expensive (d...

   Welcome to our family, Cece! Geoff went up to the rescue and picked her up, brought her home, and we are already in love. She is a sweet little cuddler, quick with kisses, and hardly any barks.  I know we'll have some readjusting to do (so much hair!!) but she is a lovely little pup. We need a new routine, and it'll take a few days. q Have a great day, all... C

      Autumn Rain D.H. Lawrence     The plane leaves     fall  black  and wet     on the lawn;     The  cloud  sheaves     in heaven's  fields  set     droop and are drawn     in  falling  seeds of rain;     the seed of heaven     on my face     falling - I hear again     like  echoes  even     that  softly  pace     Heaven's  muffled  floor,     the  winds  that tread     out all the grain     of tears, the store     harvested     in the  sheaves  of pain     caught up aloft:     the  sheaves  of dead ...

Here's a favorite poem of mine from Frost: My November Guest My sorrow, when she’s here with me,      Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree;      She walks the sodden pasture lane. Her pleasure will not let me stay.      She talks and I am fain to list: She’s glad the birds are gone away, She’s glad her simple worsted grey      Is silver now with clinging mist. The desolate, deserted trees,      The faded earth, the heavy sky, The beauties she so truly sees, She thinks I have no eye for these,      And vexes me for reason why. Not yesterday I learned to know      The love of bare November days Before the coming of the snow, But it were vain to tell her so,      And they are better for her praise. Enjoy the beauty around us,...