12 Months of Miss Read: January

The backstory: At the start of 2016, I pulled out my very favorite Miss Read book, Village Centenary.  The novel is structured in months and each chapter explores a month in the year of a village school that is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  This year, my own school is celebrating its 250th anniversary and as we think of our past and look toward our future, I thought that Miss Read would once-again make a lovely companion for me.  Each month of 2016, I plan to read Miss Read’s reflection on the month.  

Miss Read is a pseudonym for Dora Jessie Saint, an English author who wrote between 1955 and 1996.  Her novels were tales of every day life in small English towns.  Village Centenary is set in Fair Acre, an imaginary Cotswold community.  As is the case in nearly all of the Fair Acre novels, the novel is written in the first person and it is through our narrator, school teacher Miss Read, that the story unfolds.

January with Miss Read

Village Centenary starts in January and so did my project, though it’s taken me to the month of February to finish my writing about January.  Miss Read’s month of January unfolds rather like my own, as she puts her holidays behind her and prepares for a the blustery cold first month of the year.  Part of her mind is directed toward thinking about her school’s 100^th year, but most of Miss Read’s days are filled with the details of daily existence: keeping children busy and happy when they are stuck indoors; the moods of her irritable school cleaner, Mrs. Pringle; the wry observations of her school handyman, Mr. Willet.

Our first day back at school in 2016 featured an all-school photo, as we prepared to celebrate our 250^th year.  Like many milestones, this one mostly lives in our subconscious, as the Winter school days unfolded in the typical fashion.  At school, January is a month when some serious schoolwork gets done.  There are occasional 3 day weekends on the horizon but we’ve 10 weeks between the January return-to-school and the arrival of Spring Break and by now the students have adjusted to the pace of academic expectations.

My January is filled with long days that begin in the dark and end with post-wrestling practice drives home in the dark twilight.  Like Miss Read, I turn my face to the sunlight when it shines, even if it’s a cold sunshine.  I wrap up in cardigans and set out scraps of bread for the animals who spend Winter in my back yard.  I mark the days on my calendar, aware that each week brings a few extra minutes of the sunlight that I crave in the Winter months.  I also pause to enjoy the stark beauty of Winter, aware that it is the months of Winter that make the colors of Spring and Summer so lovely.

A Valentine Wish

When I was a child, my mother treated Valentine’s Day as a family holiday.  I have a vivid memory of a family Valentine’s supper when we dined by candlelight.  I was in first grade and still remember how lovely and special that supper felt.  My mother’s tradition was a good one and I embraced it in adulthood, especially when I became a single mama.  When I was on my own, my mother, not always one to express her emotions, made sure to send me a card so family Valentine celebrations with JT always felt special and less laden with hurt.  I always appreciated it.

These days I have a sweet valentine to love but I’m always aware that days like Valentine’s Day feel loaded for people whose heart is finding its way toward peace.  I spend my days with middle schoolers, an age when kids are both notoriously unkind and oversensitive, and so now more than ever I am aware that each of us has a private journey toward that sweet spot of acceptance of ourselves and others.

So that is my Valentine’s wish for us all.  Be kind toward yourself.  Wish on a star for unexpected joy to turn up more often in this life.  Find a little bit of grace somewhere each day.  For all of its trials, there is happiness in this world.  May it find you today.

New Bloom Thursday: Week 7

After all my fretting last week, this past weekend the amaryllis finally committed to making me a lovely flower.  Behold, the stem is on its way!

Once things get started, it grows each day, nearly two inches by the end of the week.  I see the stem each morning when I come downstairs and I know it bathes in the morning sunlight.  We’re in the stretch of February when the daylight is growing by leaps and bounds.  By the end of the month, we’ll have more than 11 hours of sunlight a day, perfect for a flower looking to show off.

Bring on the Predictions: We’re in the Granite State

My Iowa assessment worked out pretty well and so I should be coming into New Hampshire feeling confident, or at least more confident than some of the candidates (looking at you, Governor Big Mouth).  Alas, I think there is is a lot of uncertainty in the Granite State.  The Democratic contest is an easy call; the state’s blue voters will feel the Bern and Senator Sanders will walk away from New Hampshire with a victory just north of 15 percentage points over Hillary Clinton.

For the Republicans, the outcome is less clear.  Even accounting for the dropouts of Huckabee, Paul, and Santorum, there are still a whole lot of choices available to New Hampshire Republican voters, a group who are less religious and more moderate than Iowa Republicans.  New Hampshire primary voters are traditionally last-minute deciders and most polls show that even as we head into election day, 30% of them remain undecided.  The same New Hampshire polls show that Trump is holding his lead, though it’s shrunk since Iowa.  I think that Trump will hold on among New Hampshire voters, but it won’t be a 20 point victory.  He’ll win first by 5-7 points, though I won’t be surprised if the win is more narrow or even if Trump comes in second.

A Trump victory clears the way for Kasich in second place, and I think that’s where he will land, by a few points anyway.  

Conventional wisdom is that Rubio’s Saturday debate disaster won’t cost him much but I think it will cost him second place,  and he’ll slot in third, but just barely behind Kasich.  Bush and Cruz will be next, both in the low double digits, not much apart from one another.  Christie comes in sixth with the high single digits.  This may cause him to pack it up and return to New Jersey; it will surely cause the money to dry up.

Speaking of dried up, Fiorina and Carson are done as of tonight.  The chance that they hold on to get South Carolina seems pretty slim given the fact that both are out of cash.

That’s how I think it will shape up.  What you got, New Hampshire?

Front Porch in February

Mild though it may be, it’s still Winter and the February front porch is stark for the season.  The snowman flag has come down, because I’ll not encourage any more nonsense on that front.  Snow clearing supplies remain at the ready because I may be hopeful that snow is over for the season but I’m not stupid.

The table has a blue cloth and basket full of pinecones because pinecones always look like Winter to me.

There’s a polka dot-ribboned heart wreath on the door.

The cafe lights remain.  Though the days are getting longer, the wrestling season means that we are still prone to getting home after dark.  The lights welcome us home and that’s most happy.

Real Life Conversations at School: Girl Power edition

The backstory:  My 7th graders are working with historical documents from the Louisiana Purchase era, including a series of letters President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Senate about the purchase.  They are reading and analyzing the documents and trying to understand both how the documents  help us to understand the time period we’re studying and its differences with our own time period.  The letters are addressed to “Gentlemen of the Senate,” and one of the groups (3 boys and 1 girl, student M) were perplexed…..were there not “Ladies of the Senate” in 1803?

Me:  No.  Remember, women were not permitted to vote and they would not have been allowed to serve in the Senate had they sought to do so.  Women got the right to vote in 1920 (I opted not to explain Jeanette Rankin…..this group was already rather stunned).

M:  How many women are in the Senate now?

Me:  Well, how about you take a guess?  How many Senators are there?

Quick math revealed that there are 100 senators.

M:  50.  I think there are 50 women in the Senate.

Me (gently now, because this bright girl has no earthly notion of sexism or discrimination against women because of their gender):  There are 20 women in the Senate.

At this point, all the air left the room, as M looked at me and considered what she had just been told.

Me (still gentle but feeling like this reality must be understood):  That’s the most women who have ever served in the Senate.

M (looks at me intently):  Well, that’s a reason to support Hillary Clinton for president, isn’t it?

Me:  Yes, M, it is indeed.  It is indeed.

New Bloom Thursday: Week 6

I’m impatient to see big progress in the amaryllis, much as I am impatient for the arrival of Spring blooms.  Quite frankly, I’m impatient for all sorts of things….I’m looking forward to Spring Break and packing away my Winter clothes.  I’m looking forward to March Madness basketball because it gets me that much closer to the start of baseball season.  I thumb through my gardening catalogs and I’m impatient to start Spring planting.  I think about the summer and I’m impatient to plan an adventure with T, to make some college visits with JT.

And here is where impatience runs up against my heart.  A look into my not-too-distant future reminds me that in just over two years, my baby will be moving out and heading to college.  That’s exciting and it’s what I want for him but it’s also such an unfathomable development.  Where did the time go?  How is it that I once had a bundle of soft, sweet baby and now have a tall and strong, sometimes still sweet, nearly-16-year old?

Impatience for the things that are coming puts me at risk for not appreciating the here and now.  So I’m going to stop and admire the amaryllis as it looks today.  There is time enough for the future tomorrow.

Real Life Conversations with JT: Culinary Genius edition

The backstory:  I like to cook and I’m a good cook so it’s rather an irony that I gave birth to the world’s pickiest eater.  As he’s grown up, JT’s become less picky and whenever he discovers something new that he likes, he’s prone to acting indignant, as if this food has been purposely denied him for years.  The truth, of course,  is that I’ve avoided something for years because the whining about it is more than I was willing to endure.  Case in point: walnuts in chocolate chip cookies.  Though it is my most favorite cookie, I have avoided making them for 12 years, since a three-year-old JT spit a mouthful of walnut chocolate chip cookie on the floor, gagging as he did it.  Last weekend, I threw caution to the wind and made the kind of cookie I like.  JT tried them.

JT:  What’s in those cookies?

Me (cautious):  Walnuts and chocolate chips.

JT:  Those cookies are straight fire.  You’ve never made them before and you should make them again.  

Oh, the charms of a teenage boy.

2016 Iowa Caucus Predictions

Tonight is the Iowa caucus and this afternoon seems like a good time to offer my predictions.  I believe that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic count but it will be closer than her campaign will like.  She’s got a good organization on the ground in the state and her behind-the-scenes white paper policy positions will motivate voters who really care about those issues.  They’ll come out to caucus on a cold Iowa night and she’ll win it by 2-3 percentage points.  But Sanders will do just fine and his prospects in New Hampshire, neighbor to his home state of Vermont, are good.  This contest isn’t over yet.

The Republican caucus vote seems like more of a crap shoot.  I know that Donald Trump believes that people who will wait in line three hours to see him in person will surely put in time for the caucus but I don’t share that belief.  Though he’s made some missteps in the last few days, that won’t bother his nutcase supporters; Ted Cruz has done the organization legwork in Iowa and he’ll prevail tonight, winning by 4-5 percentage points.  Number two will be the Donald (pun intended) and third place will go to Marco Rubio.   Bush, Christie, and Kasich will all perform poorly tonight.  But they will likely stay alive for New Hampshire, where all three have better prospects thanks to the fact that New Hampshire’s vote is a primary, not a caucus.  Because it’s a primary, New Hampshire Republican voters are a more stable lot than the Iowa caucus Republicans (how is that for damned by faint praise?).  So those three live for another few weeks.    But the same can’t be said for the remaining Republicans.  Surely, the Iowa results will drive at least one of them out of the race.  Will it be  Rand Paul?  Ben Carson?  Carly Fiorina?  Rick Santorum?  Those jackals are on life support before caucus results are counted.  Afterward, well.....tick-tock.

I’ve been grateful that I don’t have to teach about politics in this 2016 presidential cycle.  I like all the Democratic candidates but as both a citizen and a student of politics I have been horrified by the Republican display.  I think that the party is breaking up and, like most break-ups, it isn’t pretty to watch.  Neither side is conducting themselves well.  On NPR’s Sunday edition show yesterday, a group of young Republicans expressed the plaintive hope that their party would begin to stand for things rather than against.  That’s a sentiment the party should surely embrace.  Alas, that’s not yet begun.  So the Republican brawl continues and will play out in the coming contests.  I’ll be here with observations and predictions.    Here we come, 2016 contest.

In the Backyard Neighborhood: February 1

On the first day of the year, the backyard was experiencing a mild day, one in keeping with our rather temperate Winter.  Last weekend’s massive snowfall changed that up quite a bit, with nearly three feet of snow on this corner.  Just a week later, there’s been plenty of melting, thanks to some sunny days and the return of Winter mildness.  Yesterday, the sun shone and the temperature rose to nearly 60 degrees.  It’s not often that I drive with the window cracked when there is snow on the ground, but that seems to be the kind of Winter we are having.

Piles of white snow can be deceiving so it's hard to know how much of the icy white crystals remain. But it was more than I wished to brave, so all the pictures were made from the back deck.

Even when it’s cold and snowy, I find February to be a lovely month.  Sixteen years ago, a sweet baby was born to me in February.  Its 28 days feel that much closer to the arrival of Spring.  Even this year, with an extra day of Winter, there is a tantalizing sense of seasonal change just around the corner.  This corner of the yard is drinking in the snow, getting ready for some Spring blooms.

That’s happy!