May Book Report: Miss Buncle

The hurried pace of school in the month of May invariably finds me looking for a book with a story that will bring me a happy respite from the busy days.  This May hasn’t disappointed and as the month grew more frenzied I turned toward two books by D.E. Stevenson, Miss Buncle's Book and Miss Buncle Married. 

Stevenson, a Scot, wrote in the the early to mid-20th century and her works were prolific.  The Miss Buncle series was published in the 1930s and the books are set in the English countryside of that time.  The novels are light and light-hearted without being flighty.  Stevenson wrote well and is particularly adept at character development.  At the center of both of these books, is Barbara Buncle, herself an author.

Barbara is a keen observer of people and, as such, uses those powers of observation to write her novels.  This invariably means that she’s writing about her neighbors.  Her honesty occasionally causes tension among the residents of the small English town where Barbara lives.  There’s nothing unkind in these stories; they have a Jane Austen-like tone of observation about the human condition that is at once clever and sympathetic.

The books were a quick read  and a treat in a month that needed as many quiet moments as I could find.  They are a treat to which I will return time and time again, which makes them just my sort of stories.  

Two Weeks, But Who’s Counting

After a happy three day weekend, I head to school this morning aware that the busiest days of the year have arrived.  The year will end with our Middle School closing on June 6 and that seems both just around the corner and well outside of my reach.  The last weeks of school always feel this way, as we race to the finish line aware that each day brings a new, urgent tasks to complete.  

There’s final exams and projects to be given, collected, and then graded, a Field Day to celebrate, some final play performances to watch, a three day grade 8 trip to Boston to supervise, the retirement celebration of our administrative assistant to enjoy, not to mention report cards to review and complete…….the list seems to get longer as the days fly by and each day seems busier and more frantic than the last.  

It’s all racing up to the quiet of Summer, when my office can be cleared out and the pace of the days can meander.  Summer work sets us up for the start of school in September but in June those days seem far, far away and though my summer to-do list is long, it never feels as daunting as the days of May.

The Iris Season

The last of my iris flowers has bloomed for the season and I made a picture so I could enjoy the flower long after the bloom has faded.

Flowers on these bulbs feel like a special treat and the bulbs are expanding nicely.  Next Fall, I anticipate splitting the collection and moving some of the bulbs to the front yard.  There is something lovely about this notion; the idea that these old bulbs will bring flowers around my gardens and yard for generations to come, long after their original owner planted them.  They are lovely, of course, and in their history and connection I find more beauty to enjoy.  That’s happy!

College Man

JT’s first year at Springfield College wrapped up yesterday he’s happily home for the summer.  His room is once again the dark cave of boy town.  I did some cleanup work while he was away, though he’ll make quick work of messing it up again.  It’s how I know the right young man came home.

The end of this first year also means the end of his first year as a Division III college athlete.  The boy has logged in a lot of miles, first on the Fall Cross Country team; in the Winter and Spring he ran Indoor and then Outdoor Track, his first full seasons in those two sports.  We watched quite a few races and heard about all of them, nervously waiting for the race day report when we weren’t there to watch.  He made some good friends and had fun; every few weeks, he’d send me pictures of those friends.  He learned a lot and is excited by the course of study he’s chosen. I enjoy hearing about the things he’s learning; he enjoys sharing that news.

Last Summer, I nervously awaited his departure with little sense of what this next chapter of life would bring either of us.  As we both settled into our new habits it was reassuring that we found happy routines and traditions.  Those pictures he texted me showed me the face of a happy boy; one doing well. Seeing his face and feeling re-assured that he made the right college choice made the year much nicer for me.

Even as I celebrate the successful transition, I’m happy that he’s home again.  It’s nice to have his company and hear his laughter.  I enjoy cooking him meals.  We’ve both learned some things about ourselves in the last 9 months but I’m also reminded how some things don’t change: big as he is, he’s still my baby.

Hostas!

It is an established fact that I love hostas of all sorts.  The varieties that grow in my garden make me happy on a daily basis.  In the last few years, I’ve planted additional varieties.  In the frontward flowerbed, I have some green and white-edged variegated hostas that I think are splendid.

There are also some elephant-eared hostas in shades of green and yellow that I rather enjoy.  These hostas come up slowly in the Spring but when they finally open, they are impressive.

This time a year is perfect weather for hostas —— plenty of rain followed by sunshine and warmth.  May, I find you charming.

Fairy Garden

Last week, I set up the fairy garden for the warm weather season.  There’s a patch of garden along the fence and under the peach tree that is a perfect spot for my collection of houses and fairy things ——  there's a pennant, a garden shed, a chicken coop, a wheelbarrow, a grill, and more.  I may have a problem.

The clematis is getting ready to bloom.

This imaginary land and its many clever details brings me such happiness.  There will be points this summer when I will pull out a chair and sit in the shade to read and admire this miniature collection.

That’s happy!

My Front Porch Sweet Spot

The last of the indoor plants came outside this week and the porch is now the happy verdant place that looks like Summer is just around the corner.  Summer spells time off, relaxation, gardening, eating outside, extra time to read, mild evenings, lightening bugs……..I could go on and on.

Between me and those lovely days are the last three weeks of school.  These days are always busy, always filled with frantic energy and exhaustive to-do lists.  I wake up with a list of tasks that must be completed and at the end of the day, I struggle to turn off my whirring brain.  But for all of that, the remedy is my front porch.

As I head into the end of the school year, the porch spells serenity for me.  I’ll have my first cup of morning coffee out here each morning; I’ll take time to sit here with a book and iced tea when I get home from work.  I’ll water the flowers and plants and enjoy the blooms while I daydream about the quiet relaxation that is just around the corner.

That’s happy!

History Lessons

I’ve been teaching U.S. History to the 7th grade since 2015 and from the very beginning I’ve loved the challenge of this task.  The class covers the period from colonial settlement to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and I’ve adapted lessons and activities from the material I used to to teach this period to college students and 11th and 12th graders.

People often find that news surprising; the fact that I can use variations from lessons first developed for college students.  I think this only surprises people who don’t know 7th graders.  For all their bluster and sass, the 12 and 13 year olds who make up my classes are intellectually engaged and honest; they want to be taken seriously and serious ideas ensure that is exactly what happens.  There are some ideas that confound them (transcendentalism, for one, but I kinda feel the same way on that front) but they are open-minded and wide-eyed, with a willingness to take risks in the world of ideas.  Because I teach Middle School and needn’t adhere to an AP curriculum or a college catalog, we have time to get into the weeds of complicated ideas and really think them over.

Unlike older teens, they have yet to develop much distrust in adults.  There is some bluster but not far underneath is a genuine desire for adult approval.  They are often moody and emotional (I joke that 7th graders have two speeds: thrilling excitement and miserable despair)  but in class they expect me to manage our time and they follow my lead.  When I tell them we are historians together, they believe it and act accordingly.

Each year, I have the pleasure of seeing these young men and women as they make discoveries about our national history and how it plays out in today’s world.  This year, my students are creating an historical trading card for a person in 18th or 19th century history.  The list of eligible people is diverse, as befits the diversity of my school.  One of my students is studying the life of Nat Turner.  As part of his research, he learned that as a grown man, Turner was owned by a 9 month old baby.  He came to me doubting this fact and asked if it could be true.

“Yes,” I said, “and that is the utter irrationality of slavery in a nutshell.”  The student in question knew that slavery was wrong; knew that it was inhumane and rooted in racism.  But this discovery drove the point home in a way I had yet to manage.  And that it was his discovery means a splendid thing: he will remember it for the whole of his life.  There is a power in this sort of learning and it is my daily blessing to be a part of it.

One Roof

Posting has been light this week as I attend to a zillion last-minute chores and errands in preparation for a very big deal.  This weekend, T and I will combine households and live full time under one roof.  We’ve been planning for months and to have the day at hand feels rather unreal.

Her office is ready for business.  I’ve cleared space in the attic to store her things.  In a few weeks, some new storage-rich bedroom furniture will arrive for us.  The house is as ready as it can be and my heart is even more ready.  It was a long journey to get here and I am so grateful to the universe that we found each other eight years ago.  No one makes me laugh as much as she does; no one makes me feel as loved as she does.  

She’s the lid to my pot and damn, that is happy!

That’s Happy, What Else?

Several women that I know have had babies this Spring and as I’ve bought tiny little sets of pretty clothes for the new mamas, I’ve added a book from my vast collection of children’s books to their gifts.  This has been a way to share some lovely stories as well as a way to thin my collection, which fills two enormous plastic bins and is far more than I can use when my grandma days arrive (several years from now, if you’re reading this, JT!).  It's also been a treat to look through these familiar books.

Reading is one of my greatest pleasures in life.  So it should be no surprise that as a mama, reading books to a small child was one of my great joys.  I read to JT every night for years, reading books until he drifted off to sleep.  I stopped when I could be sure that he would read to himself at night.  The stories that we read, especially those that we read over and over, served as the very foundation of both his world and mine.  

As he got older, I read to him to slow the evening into sleep and to set him up for a lifetime of imagination.  When I look book at all of those books, I see a philosophy of life coming in to view.  The stories we loved the most were the books that valued unconditional love and taking pleasure in the natural world.  They celebrated shared laughter and joy in the every day.  Some of them served as mantras for the living of the rest of our lives, as did a lovely book called Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep.

In this story, a big brother bunny named Willoughby settles his little sister Willa to sleep by reminding her of the happy things she will find when she wakes up in the morning.  Willa, eager to stay awake, responds to each happy thing (her chicken slippers, her sailor suit, her breakfast, and her toys) by saying, “That’s happy.  What else?”

Toddler JT loved this book, with its sweet pictures and gentle reminder that there was happiness to be found in the every day things and practices that made up our lives.  Saying “that’s happy” became a part of our lives, one part reminder to enjoy the here and now and one part reminder that happiness is not finite; there is always more to be found.

On this Mother’s Day, we are apart as JT finishes up his first year of college, and I can’t help but think of this story and Willa’s chant.  In a few weeks, he will be home again and I will be so glad to give him a hug and hear the sound of him in the house.  I’m looking forward to that happy moment, confident that more happiness is around the corner.

That’s happy!

May Front Porch update

May is the month that fills the front porch with flowers and plants.  Because I don’t bring out plants until the nights will be warm enough to keep us from a freeze, it takes a few weeks to get everything settled.  Some new plants and flowers have been added to the front porch just in time for Mother’s Day.  That’s fitting because most of these flowers were Mother’s Day treats from T and JT.  There are flower baskets hanging from the front porch hooks.

 This planter has pink begonias to welcome us home each day.

The planter beside the front door has pink impatiens and the front door has its striped wreath is in place.

My peace lily has also grown and been transplanted to a roomier pot .  Now it will spend the warm months outside.  The giant polka dot cup has a pothos that is a transplant from a smaller pot. It will flourish in the outdoor warmth.  I could easily become a crazy plant lady but I restrain myself, lest we be overrun by the plants.

The days are becoming warm enough to sit outside on the porch.  Last night, after I finished cleaning out the closet in T’s new office, I sat outside for a bit to enjoy the night.  

The front porch lights had come on and as the evening’s quiet settled it was peaceful and lovely.  I spend hours outside on this porch in the Summer months, reading books and generally soaking in the relaxation.  It’s one of my favorite places in the world.  That’s happy!

In My Native Dress

Warm weather means flip flops, sandals, and fresh pedicures.

That’s happy!

The Blue Room

After 8 years together, T and I are merging households later this month.  We’ll stay at Sassafras House and part of that process has involved making her an office from the room formally known as the guest room.  Potential guests need not fear; there are still extra beds in this house.  In preparation for the conversion, I’ve spent a good deal of time sorting out the many things jammed into the guest bedroom and its closet over the years .  There is no before picture because it was an unholy mess and why should I tattle on myself?  But I started the big cleanup in February and by April the room was cleaned out and ready for its next life.

T and I looked for paint to refresh the faded yellow room, which gets Southern and Western exposure from two large windows.  We both like blue and settled on a color called Fresh Air.  A few weeks back, I got up painter’s tape to protect the white woodwork trim.

On Good Friday, I used my day off from work to good effect as the painter-in-chief.  I started on the ladder edging in the trim, of which this corner room has a great deal.  

It’s not a huge room and by late afternoon, the painting was done.

That night we pulled down the painter’s tape and in the morning light, the dried walls looked quite splendid.

Then the pine floors got a good scrubbing and were refreshed with Rejuvenation, which works like a dream on old floors with a polyurethane finish.  The original 1931 pine floors are shining.  Within the month, the room will be filled with T’s desk and bookshelves, a cozy blue oasis with a splendid view of Old Man Tree.

Even better than that is the two of us living together full time.  After eight years together, it’s time!

Cinco de Mayo!

It’s not that big a holiday in Mexico, but for most of my life, I’ve celebrated Cinco de Mayo.  When I was in elementary school,  the high school's Mariachi band would come to play and dance.  In college and beyond, I was known to celebrate the day with excess tequila.  These days, the 5th of May means taco supper and cerveza or two.

That’s happy!

May’s Front Porch Gets Started

May’s front porch is a work in progress, as the weather warms and more plants and flowers are added.  It started modestly last week, with a fresh tablecloth and a few items on the table.  

A floral flag waves a welcome.  

Today I added bright pink New Guinea impatiens to the table.  An indoor ivy plant has come outside for fresh air and warmth.

In the next few weeks, once the danger of frost has truly passed, more of my indoor plants will come outside for warmth and sunlight.  Flowers will be added to hang from the hooks and fill the flower bins.  By the end of this month, the porch will become a verdant extension of the house.  I look forward to spending many happy Summer hours out here.

Iris Days

Several years ago, my father sent me iris bulbs that he had split from a set that once grew in his grandmother’s garden.  I planted my bulbs alongside the hostas and peach tree in the backyard and they grew vibrant stems and leaves.  But there were no flowers.  The bulbs multiplied each year, as iris bulbs do, but Spring continued to come and go without flowers.

I did some reading about iris bulbs and fertilized the iris bed.  But no flowers emerged.  I’m not going to say that I gave up hope, because that is not the kind of gardener I am, but I did begin to idly wonder if I would ever see blooms.  Last Spring, deep purple flowers emerged for the first time.  This Spring, even more flowers arrived.

I love the history of these flowers and enjoy the fact that both my father and I have a share of flowers that once grew in his grandmother’s rural Missouri garden.  There is something to be learned from an iris bulb, which can be shared and multiplied without losing any of its beauty.  My father is the person who taught me to garden and it continues to be a joy (and occasional frustration) that we share.  I remember these flowers in his garden when I was a kid.  That they now grow in mine is lovely.  In these irises, I see years of memories alongside the beauty.

That’s happy!

May 1 Fairy Garden

The month of April brought blooms and green all over the back yard and the fairy garden is no exception.  The peach tree has young green leaves and the clematis is preparing to bloom.

This weekend, I will freshen the mulch and pick out the weeds.  Later this month, the fairy cottages will return to this happy patch of my garden.