April Book Report: Ferrol Sams’ When All the World Was Young

This novel is the third in a pleasing trilogy about a boy growing up in rural Georgia in the interwar period.  Published in 1991, When All the World Was Young is the third and final novel in Sams’ series about Porter Osbourne, Junior, the only son of a Southern family.

I first read these semi-autobiographical novels almost 30 years ago, when I was living in Nashville.  I loved these stories then, both for the vivid details of Southern life in the interwar period and for the splendid writing.  Sams was a physician by training but he was also a lover of literature and poetry, an affection that shows in the novels.  There is humor to spare, joy in family, and a keen sense of the fleeting feel of childhood.  I read them well before I had JT and have read them since then.

These books were among those I thought of and re-read when I became the parent of a boy.  This fall, as that boy headed off to college, I picked up the series again, finishing When All the World Was Young just a few weeks before JT comes home from his first year of college.  

This third novel begins just as WWII has broken out and Porter, a precocious young man who completed college at the age of 20, enrolls in medical school and contemplates his future.  School is a challenge, but not nearly the challenge of Porter’s desire to do his part on behalf of the war.  Ultimately, medical school is placed on hold and Porter joins the army.  He dreams of being a brave paratrooper but instead serves as a medic, ultimately working in hospitals along the front line in Normandy and Germany at the close of the European front.

I enjoyed the read, as I have done before, and was struck again by how splendidly Sams writes. He invokes a place and time so thoroughly that the reader is immersed in them.  The character of Porter is alive in all the complexities of youth, filled with certainty in one moment and adrift in the next.  When I put the book down at the end of the day, I found myself thinking about Porter and his family.  I expect that feeling will linger well after I’ve turned the last page.  To me, that's the power of a good book.  And this was a terrifically good book.

Dogwood Day: April 25

This is the last full week of April and today's post will be my last dogwood posting for the Spring.  Fittingly, the tree has reached peak flower.

When I look up in the branches, small green leaves have begun to emerge.  Spring is headed with speed into full bloom; the month of April has been simply splendid.

In the backyard, the morning light is a treat to behold; it’s lovely to see each day.  Spring, I am charmed.

Time Lapse Hostas

The front yard flowerbed at my house has been a project for the last few years.  A few unpleasant bushes were removed and the ivy was trimmed.  Daffodil and tulip bulbs, azaleas, and hostas were planted in their place.  The flowerbed gets morning light and comes alive slowly for the first weeks of Spring.  Once the hosta bulbs burst through the soil, the pace of growth is rapid and each day brings a little more unfurling.  This Spring, I stopped to make a picture of that process each day for a week.  From day 1 to day 2 is a bit of a Mother Nature magic in my own yard.

Each day brings a little more green and a little more growth.

I daydream of staying outside all day just to watch it happen.

In the Spring light, the green plants are verdant and lush.

Each day brings a bit more of the brilliant green.

By the end of the summer, the hostas will fill three times as much space as they occupy now.  I can never get enough of them, so that will be very happy indeed.

Running Downhill with Sore Knees

We’ve reached that point of the school year where things are busy beyond measure.  Each week in April there’s been at least one after-school event, most in the evening.  The teachers are starting to feel weary, consulting our planning books and realizing that time is fleeting and there are still lessons we wish to teach.  Thanks to the mild weather and Spring blooms, the students have more energy than ever and holding attention in class requires class activities more inspiring than usual. 

I spend my days working through an increasingly long to-do list and then gratefully slipping on flip flops at the end of the school day, a little treat to remind me that these busy days will soon enough be replaced by the relaxation of Summer.

My boss jokes that April and May feel like we’re “running downhill with sore knees” and I think of that when I slip into bed each evening, weary of the day and working like mad to turn off the to-do list that whirs in my brain.  Mornings come faster than I would like, though the chirping birds never fail to make me smile.  The days fly by and my to-do list seems to grow longer.

This year, I keep thinking about last Spring, which seemed to fly by at light speed as I prepared to watch JT graduate and head away to college.  This year’s Spring days feel less frantic and have helped me to see that last Spring I was sometimes so anxious about the coming change that I forget to enjoy and live in the moment.  This year feels different: I made the transition to having a son who lives away from home, T is preparing to move in; my boy is coming home from his first year of college next month.  The summer stretches before me without fear of change.  I’m grateful for the difference.

Happy Easter!

This is my first Easter weekend without JT at home and I’ll miss his appreciation of his Easter basket (though I won’t miss the candy wrappers he’d leave lying about).  I sent him a box of candy earlier in the week; I'll have a small package for him when I see him next week.  T and I will have our Easter supper together.  It will be lovely; holidays together are always nice.  My day will also be filled with memories of the days when an eager little boy scampered around the yard in search of plastic eggs filled with candy.  We’ll surely think about the avid hunter, Pesky the squirrel.  This year’s flowers and blooms would have provided perfect cover for the hidden treats.  

Things are lovely; with more blooms and green with each day.

I hope that Spring in your corner of the world is just as pretty as it is here.  

Warm Weather Quilt

We’ve reached that glorious point of Spring, when I can sleep with the windows wide open while I tuck under my soft quilt and look forward to waking up to the sounds of birds chirping.  The nights no longer require my heavy down comforter so it’s been packed away for the season, replaced by the warm weather quilt.

This season passes so quickly that I embrace every day with its lovely blooms and mild breezes.  That’s happy!

Dogwood Day: April 18

As the days have steadily warmed, Spring is in full bloom in my backyard.  The dogwood has been busy in the last week.

All of the flowers have begun to open; some are fully in bloom.

Spring’s milder air and expectant feel have made for a lovely April so far.  There's even more to come and I’m looking forward to breathing in all of it!

All Mueller, All the Time

Tomorrow, the Mueller report will turn up in a more complete format than the Trump-serving Barr summary.  The anticipatory energy has me thinking I’ll just leave Twitter alone on Thursday.  It’s not because I don’t care, it’s because I want time to read and absorb exactly what the report concludes without the attendant “what’s next, what’s next, what’s next?” furor.  

Honestly, I have no expectation that the report will make a difference; that there will be an actual “what’s next.”  Republicans are fully in on the Trump presidency and it’s hard for me to imagine that anything in the complete report is going to change that political calculation.

The current state of Republican politics seems hopeless to me and I don’t expect the full report will change that reality.  When I need hope, I find it in the field of amazing Democratic presidential candidates.  That means that the hope lies in November 2020.  Just 565 days, if you’re counting down like I am.

The Perils of an Internet Free Lifestyle

Last Saturday, I realized that my intermittent Internet outage problem had become more outage than not.  That day, T called Optimum, my ISP, re-booted the wireless modem, and crossed her fingers.  We had Internet for a bit but it didn’t last.  On Sunday, we went through this routine again, including the call to Optimum, and this time suggested to them that there was a problem with the line.  The wireless router is less than a year old, we explained, having been replaced when I had an intermittent Internet outage problem last year.

I think you see where this is headed.

Customer Service was SURE it wasn’t a line problem.  I should unplug the router, roll on over to their office on Monday to pick up a new router, bring it home, plug it in, call them for a configuration update, and I’d be back in business in no time.

For those of you counting along at home, that is three days with no Internet.

I did as instructed and Monday night found me on the phone with the ISP, hooking up the new router.  It came on, but there was no connection.  We tried three times.

Nothing.  

There must be a problem, Customer Service concluded.  With the line? I asked hopefully….oh no, they said, something in the house.  They would send someone out on Wednesday, between 5 and 8 pm.  

On Tuesday, the ISP called me to report that there is a problem with the line in my neighborhood.  Their engineers would work on it and I should be patient.  48 to 72 hours, she said.

Things I have realized while I was without the Internet:

1.  I work at home far more than I should.

2.  I truly am an NPR junkie.  In the morning as I drink my coffee and get set for the day and in the evening when I come home and make supper, I listen to NPR on my Echo dot.  The sound is perfect and I love it. I was rather at a loss without it, especially in the morning as the stories help me to set the pace of my morning chores.  I won’t watch TV news (because TV news) and so all week long I felt like I was playing catch up to be well-informed.

3.  I miss the ease of looking up the answers to silly things via the Internet.  It’s not make or break, but who doesn’t enjoy the power to look up any number of inane questions?

Service was back on as of Thursday evening and on Friday morning I was especially grateful to hear the comforting voices of NPR.  We’re soaking up the Internet this weekend and hopeful it keeps on keeping on.

Dogwood Day: April 11

We’ve had the perfect combination of rain and warmth and the dogwood tree in my backyard is making fast work to make flowers.  

It’s always nice to have the dogwood blooms for Easter and we are well on our way to making that deadline.

Garden Treats

In terms of blooms, Spring has arrived a little earlier this year.  All over my yard are bouquets of yellow and white daffodils.

They are a cheery show.  Over the weekend, I spied the hosta patches just beginning to reach out of the cold soil.  This is thrilling to me and I eagerly checked all the hostas in the yard, cheering their arrival.

The peach tree is filling with delicate pick blooms.  From a distance, they are barely a whisper but up close they are splendid.

Spring days, with new blooms arriving every few days, are a lovely reminder pause and enjoy Mother Nature’s splendid beauty.

April Front Porch

Easter s the theme of this month and it starts with the flag, which has bunnies and squirrels and generally celebrates the season.

The front door has my Easter egg wreath.

The table is similarly cheerful.  

Sunlight and warmth are turning up more regularly and that means that the front porch season is soon to be at hand.  I am ready!

Tortured By Tunes, Extra Credit New Jersey edition

Last weekend, T and I went to Sunset Diner, as one does when one lives in New Jersey.  My previous calls for public soundtracks to be cleansed of the most horrifying of songs have been ignored  and Sunday’s playlist started on an unsettling note with a song guaranteed to linger in your head long after the last note has sounded.

“Wild Thing,” by the Troggs.

A dining experience that starts there makes one understandably anxious.  We waited as the songs veered into an especially strange playlist.  We heard Michael Jackson recommend that we “Beat It” and Kenny Loggins told us we were “Footloose.”  With lightening speed we’d moved from the ‘60s to the ‘80s and then Smashmouth reported,“Hey Now, You’re a Rockstar,” which seemed patently unlikely under the circumstances.  Also, late ‘90s?  Back to the ‘80s as Billy Joel whined about his “Uptown Girl.”  Then we abruptly headed to 1960 with a Chubby Checker diversion…he wanted us to do “The Twist.”  At this point, T decided soundtrack predictions were in order.  She predicted we’d soon be treated to something by Elvis.  I predicted Cindy Lauper.  We waited.  The sound track delivered an inexplicable “Just a Gigolo” by David Lee Roth.

And now we were in terrifying territory.  Naturally, “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond followed.  T was preparing to tear out her eardrums when the Stones announced they could get no “Satisfaction.”  No kidding.  We were in a holding pattern.

No Elvis; no Cindy Lauper.  We made new predictions: T went with a solid: Elton John.  I optioned for Frankie Valli, always a sound choice when you live in New Jersey.  The soundtrack responded with Madonna, who remains “Like a Virgin” at the ripe old age of 60.  Then we achieved a new level of horror: Dylan’s “How Does it Feel” in …wait for it… instrumental-only format.  Who does that?  Why now?  Lunch was nearly over and then my most triumphant victory of all time settled over us when Frankie Valli delivered the goods with “December, 1963…Oh What a Night.”  

We laughed maniacally but as maniacal laughter is regular fare among the customers at the Sunset Diner, no one took note.  As we left, Boston was wailing about “More Than a Feeling.”  

Fair enough as we had a lot of feelings.  Angry feelings about the day’s confusing soundtrack.

Dogwood Day: April 4

Sunlight and a good measure of warmth has really brought out the blooms around here.  There are yesterday’s daffodils and crocuses; sights to be seen all over town.  Tulips are up everywhere in my yard.  On my daily drive to work, I’ve seen at least one dogwood already in bloom.  Mine is moving at a more stately pace but I know it will be well-worth the wait.

Spring, you are so very lovely.

Daffodils and Crocuses!

Spring sunlight and warmth are welcome on their own terms.  And then I step out on a given morning and there are flowers.  This time of year is such a lovely treat.  Last weekend saw flowers on many of the red bud trees in my neighborhood.  The tulip trees are next.  In my own garden, these crocuses peaked through the soil.

In the backyard, there are cheery daffodils.  

There  are more crocuses and daffodils set to bloom; tulip and azalea flowers are on the way.  That's happy!

April 1 Fairy Garden

During my Spring Break, I set out the mulch that will cover the fairy garden in the 2019 season.  I will add a bit more mulch before the fairies move in for the year but the shape of my fairy garden is already taking shape.

There are tulips that will bloom in this patch.

Though it's hard to see, the clematis is beginning to come to life.

The peach tree is also getting ready for some loveliness.

This month will see blooms and flowers and leaves and to my mind the most splendid of the seasonal displays that happen in my pretty corner of Mother Nature’s world.  That’s happy!