Last Day of November

Last night the wind moaned around the house most splendidly.  I woke up from time to time to press my ear to the wall to see if I could hear rain tinkling through the downspouts.  There were only a few spatters of rain during the night -- the deluge came as soon as I set foot at school in the morning.  The water came down in waves; sheets slid down my windows.  My portable is located on the far perimeter of the campus and it's a long walk from our classroom to anywhere else.  The children loved it.  First, coming to class through the pelting rain at the beginning of the day.  Half an hour later, back to the mult-purpose room for our awards assembly.  Then back to my room.  Then back to the multi-purpose room for lunch.  Then back to my room.  I was surrounded by soggy kids all day long.  Other than one of them stepping on my umbrella and breaking it, the day went fine.

Tomorrow morning I'll be driving back to school to help at our school's Christmas Bazaar.  The 4th grade is selling pies to help pay for our springtime overnight trip to the ocean. 

The next storm is due to hit in the late afternoon.  Hopefully I'll be back home by then.  I want to be sitting at the window, watching the rain and sipping tea (or a glass of wine).  This rain is wonderful.

First Storm

First of the series of storms staged across the Pacific and aimed in our general direction has blown through.  We got 0.42"  by our rain gauge -- not bad.  The next storm is supposed to come in tomorrow and have stronger winds and more rain.  Keep 'em coming!

I had two long meetings after school, but bailed and ditched the third.  Enough is enough. Bruce was was home taking a homemade chicken pot pie out of the oven.  I love being married to a man who cooks! 

The Lull Before the Storm

Weather-wise, it's been a calm, benign sort of week.  But just around a corner a good sized storm is brewing and should be here by early tomorrow morning.  The weather site says that we should have 2 to 4 inches of rain by the end of this weekend -- that's a good amount for around here.

It occurs to me, as I sit in my bathrobe, typing and sipping tea, that most of my houseplants are still sitting out on the back deck, completely unprotected.  Crap.  I'd better get them moved before I go to bed. 

Other than that, everything else outside is pretty much battened down.  Bruce works from home tomorrow -- it will be nice to come home to a warm, lit house and all the outside chores done.  Perhaps he'll even have a fire in the woodstove and dinner waiting...

BRUCE, ARE YOU READING THIS??? 

Reclaimed!

 







Good things come to those who wait.

 

 

Sweet dreams, dear Seal!

 

 

 



Now, how to reclaim my own bed... 

The Bed Thief



 

 

 

 
 Several weeks ago, Bruce and I brought home three plump new dog beds to replace the torn, flattened ones that lined the front porch.  It took a few days for Seal, Arlo and Murphy to break them in so that they indented in the right spots, but all three dogs are now delighted to nap their days away from their centers. 

At least most of the time.

Seal likes to sunbathe on the carport, so we moved her bed over there.  Max also likes to sunbathe.  I'm sure that you know how this story is going to go...



Seal came over and very politely asked Max to please get off of her bed.  Max blinked up at her and, just as politely, told her that this wasn't going to happen.


Seal is a very patient (and long-suffering) dog.  She sighed and settled on the doormat.

 

Buddenbrooks update: I'm on page 207! It's been a very long time since I've managed to stay with a book this thick (both in a metaphorical and physical sense).  Stacks of schoolwork await, but I have to read just one more chapter first.  And then another... And another...

Post Thanksgiving Blessings

I love the whole Thanksgiving feast/celebration thing -- I really do.  A day where the table wears a tablecloth; flowers in a vase; a candle; appetizers, main course and desert; company; conversation; music.  The closest we ever get to a party around here.  Fun times, to be sure.

But the truth is that I enjoy the day after Thanksgiving even more.

Behold:

 

A steaming hot turkey leg, glass of white wine and a good book.  In my humble opinion, it gets no better than this.

 

The immensely thick book I'm reading is Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann.  Cousin Anke in Germany told me that it was one of her favorite books when I was visiting her in Hamburg last summer.  I promised her that I would read it and it's been patiently sitting on my bookcase for several months now.                                                                                



After visiting Uncle Mike in Arizona and showing pictures of Lubeck (where Buddenbrooks is set), I decided that it was time to finally actually open the book.  So, when I got home, I blew the dust off the cover and began reading the first of 731 pages.  It was a hard slog through the first few chapters -- about 15 characters are introduced and some of them have the same first names.  I was lost and had to go back several times to reread who was who.  I haven't suffered so much since I read War and Peace.  But now those chapters are safely behind me and I know everybody pretty well.  And I can't put the book down!  Cousin Anke was right -- this is a fabulous novel (thank you, Anke!).

 

Best of all, I actually was in Lubeck and can have an image in my mind of what the author is describing.  I'm in heaven!!! 



Everything came full-circle when I visited Unkle Mike in Arizona.  I asked him what music he listened to and the first name he said was Gustav Mahler.  I can't say that I was delighted -- I've tried on several occasions to appreciate his music but have never been able to "get" it.  Mahler, to be blunt, makes me grit my teeth.  But when people I admire like something, I do my best to understand why.  So I told Mike that I would give it another try. 

He gave me this cd of Mahler's 5th Symphony.  I've listened to it twice now.  The music is not easily accessible (at least not by me), but the first movement (with the trumpets) is growing on me (thank you Mike!).

 

When Mike called me yesterday to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving, I told him that I was working on Mahler.  I also told him that I thought it only fair that he read Buddenbrooks, to sort of even things out.  He agreed and said that he'll be checking the book out of the library. 

 

Gustav Mahler and Thomas Mann were roughly contemporaries.  I was born the same year that Thomas Mann died.  I have no idea what any of this means, but am very happy to be deep into the literature and music of my German heritage.

 

School is a million miles away.  Two more days of freedom -- a blessing!

Symphony in Orange

Max in the Tupelo Tree

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve Day

Three days in Arizona...

...and then...





- POP! -

...here I am back at Frogpond again, feeling (in a good way) a bit like Alice in Wonderland.

Traveling to Phoenix so quickly after a long week at school was hectic, but worth the scrambling in an abundance of ways. I'm so glad that I went. The three days of quiet visiting with Mike and Mirelle were so exactly what I needed to be doing -- I'm still amazed that I was able to figure this out all on my own several weeks ago. Maybe I'm getting smarter after all! I do hope that my visit, on their end, was also beneficial.

As an aside, I have also come to a very helpful realization. After screeching along at breakneck speed during the previous four days at school -- brain crammed full of a storm of angst, worry, and hurry -- all that negative energy drained away from me in a matter of hours. It was quickly kicked out by new (but transient) concerns such as how many pairs of socks to pack, whether I should take off my belt when going through security at the airport (I did, and got through without setting off the alarm -- finally), how to find my way to Mike in the Phoenix airport... Minutia like that fully occupied my mind and I assume that my brain cells can only fret about a limited amount of crap at one time. So it was out with the old school worries as I filled up with new travel worries. The wonderful thing is that when the travel worries were resolved, the school worries never came back.

Wow! Is this something that everyone else knew but me? Maybe I really am getting smarter! Yeah, that's it...

Arizona

I'm here for only a few more hours and then whisk back to California.  I haven't had a chance to see much of the Scottsdale area, but have been fascinated by the peaks that form a ragged circle around the city.  My cousin is undergoing cancer treatment, so we took several easy walks in nearby parks.  It was good to stroll and talk under this blue, blue desert sky.  Besides sitting around and talking, we've just been sitting around and talking.  Last night my uncle and I watched a sweet but quirky Norwegian film called 'Oh, Horton'.  This quiet time has been a blessing to me and very much needed and appreciated.  I only hope my visit has been a fraction as beneficial to Mike and Mirelle.

The Start of Thanksgiving Break

Four days and 53 parent/teacher conferences later...the week has ended.  Wrung-out describes me at this very instant.  However, it's nothing that a week of no school can't remedy. 

Tomorrow I leave for Scottsdale to visit with Uncle Mike and Cousin Mirelle for three days.  She's been sick and I've been wanting to see her -- now is the perfect time.  I'm rather bemused, though, to have rushed from school to pack for a trip to the Oakland airport early tomorrow morning.  So uncharacteristically jet-settish of me.

Tonight there is a soft rain -- a nice sort of send off, to be sure.  I'm here now to tuck my blog in for the next few days.  Back soon!