February Book Report: All the Light We Cannot See

I have had this book on my to-be-read list for quite some time because it is the sort of book that ticks all my boxes: about Europe in WWI, with two young people at the core of the story, a narrative told by an omniscient narrator…..all the things I am bound to love in a book.  

I am the sort of person who saves a good book for just the moment that I need it and as our February opened with vast amount of snow while T and I finished out our quarantine, I picked up All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.

The book did not disappoint, which is a gross understatement because this book is simply splendid.  The story unfolds gradually at the start of WWII and is mainly told from the point of view of Marie-Laure, a blind girl living in Paris with her father and Werner, an orphan in Germany who will be given an education and then opportunity by the Third Reich, things that he comes to recognize as the double-edged sword they are.  

That the two will come to know one another is clear from nearly the outset of the novel and as Doerr weaves together to story of that meeting, there are beautiful reflections on the nature of love and responsibility, the meaning of the lives regular people live, and the power of a story and sound to lend meaning and vitality to our lives.  To me, a voracious reader and radio-listener, there was such familiarity in those things.  

Doerr can turn a phrase and he won’t be hurried,  two of the very best things about the novel.  He doesn't underplay the horror of war, but reminds us of our humanity amidst it.  I’ve only read the book once but I know that will come back to this novel again and again, to savor the story and Doerr’s reflections on the human condition.  I finished it a few weeks ago but I am still savoring it.  This is the highest complement I can pay a book and I pay it gladly!

The Longest Month of the Year

February’s status as the shortest month of the year may be a thing for the calendar but this year February found a way to drag on and on.  I can’t quite explain it because most of the month featured at least one snow day each week.  That the snow fall often measured more than a foot is part of the challenge.  Neither our snow blower or our shovels were ready for that much snow and much of it lingers in piles in our front yard, as proof that Winter wasn’t messing around this year.  

I always long for Spring and this year is no exception.  At midday today I realized why.  For this year’s model of hybrid school, our 6th graders are in session every day but our 7th and 8th graders are on campus for one week and then learn remote the next.  Snow and the dictates of a pandemic have sometimes demanded that we all learn remotely.  There has been little regularity to the year.  To provide time for non-digital play, the principal and I decided we would have daily recess after lunch.  To give the teachers a break,  supervise every recess on our own.  Our plan was to have that recess outside and for most of the fall and into a cold January, we did that.  The end of January brought epic snow and that snow has lasted all of the month.  So recess is indoors in a large space.  Middle Schoolers - even just 50 of them - are the loudest creatures on the planet and the mid-day noise can sometimes be draining, even when it’s the noise of happy kids.  This week we were on campus for all five days and that meant five loud recess duties.  I am ready for the snow to melt and the ground to dry so that my banshees and I can have our recess outside.

Amaryllis Tuesday: February 23

This year’s amaryllis is a candy-striped pink and white flower.  Two pods emerged and the first had three flowers.  Tucked behind these beauties is another pod that looks ready to bloom as the week closes out.

I don’t think that both pods will be open with flowers at the same time but that is okay by me.  In a cold and snowy February, it’s been nice to know that pretty flowers will steadily come my way, a harbinger of the Spring that is on the horizon.

Snow Day Grievances

With a Winter storm featuring 24 hours of snow on the horizon, last night my school made the call for a snow day today.  I was not mad about that because I love myself a leisurely morning and with classes cancelled I can freely indulge in such luxury.  The rest of the day will be given over to catching up with work —— new lessons for the 8th grade, comments home about quizzes and such, a calendar for the post Spring Break months, planning for a (fingers-crossed) in-person but socially distant closing ceremony for the 8th grade.  In short, there is plenty to keep me busy today.

Around 8:30 am I opened up my side of our school digital platform to find no less than 8 messages from students.  Several wanted to know if school was cancelled….all acknowledged that they had received the school message which read “…Thursday, Feb. 18 will be a snow day for all students.  All instruction and campus activities are cancelled.”  

Yikes.

A few more students sought to find out if the digital open note quiz, assigned three weeks ago and slated to close tonight at 8 pm, would have an extension because there was no class today.  

Ahem, hard NO.

A few more offered explanations for why they had submitted incomplete quizzes and were now sending additional answers to the quiz questions.   Would I please give them full credit?

I cannot even.  

At this juncture, I took a pause from school work and stuck my nose into a Miss Read book.  Her February in Fair Acre features early daffodils and the smell of Spring.  That’s a balm to my tired soul and spirit.  When I return to the business of quiz grading and such, it will be with a patient heart.  Pandemic school is hard for us all.  Winter makes it harder.  We are all worried and afraid.  But kindness is free and I will find some hope; I always do.

The quiet fall of snow is lovely.  We have heat, running water, and electricity in my corner of the nation.  Winter can’t last forever and March is on the horizon.  Sassafras Spring will surely arrive even sooner.  We can do hard things.  And we will.

21!

Today, JT wakes up a 21 year old.  Such news seems patently unbelievable and yet, there is ample evidence that he has grown up.  For all the challenges of this last year, there has been happiness for me as I realize what a good and decent man my little boy has become.  We’re a long way from his Peter Pan days.

Though, perhaps, he is still a boy at heart…… 

Amaryllis Tuesday: February 16

Over the last few days, the first three flowers have emerged on my plant and the pink and white striped flowers are lovely when they greet me in the morning.

All of our yards are filled with snow; overnight there was rain (happily, it was too warm for ice or snow) and its flowing in the streets because it cannot sink into the ground.  Another Winter snowstorm is forecast for this week....February isn’t planning an easy departure.  But for all of that, these flowers symbolize hope and today I hear that message load and clear.

Valentine Flowers

This year’s Valentine treat featured flowers.  Bright pink tulips, because they remind me of Spring.   

And pale rink roses, because I am spoiled.

Love your people extra today, folks.  Though hope is on the horizon, things may still be hard.  Love matters.

February Front Porch

The colossal winter storm that ushered in February and then dumped more snow less than a week later slowed my porch set up for the month.  But once the snow was shoveled off the porch, I got to work.  There is a seasonal flag.

The table has a Valentine covering, the pot of hardy ivy, and a pinecone home for the fairies to stay warm while we all wait for Spring.  I had hoped to exchange the “hope” plant stake for one that reads “love” but the soil in the pot was too frozen for that swap out so we’ll have to stick with hope.  Given my longing for Spring, hope might be in order.

There is a cheery wreath for the front door.

February is the last full month month of Winter and in my mind March 1’s meteorological Spring is as good as the real thing.  The snow is piled over 2 feet high, however, so though I am prepared to call the end of the season, I suspect plenty of snow will linger into March.  Mother Nature has no less than three Water storms forecast for the next 7 days, so she clearly hasn’t received my memo.

Loss and Hope

In the New York Times today there was an article about Covid (and it seems like every article is about Covid…..but that is a topic for another day), a chaplain at a hospital in California, speaking about the ways in which people are dying alone in the pandemic explained how she and her staff try to ease the loneliness and grief of families losing a loved one in the pandemic.  She explained how they look to find opportunities to make human connections in these moments.  One example really stood out to me.  She explained, “We Zoomed in a person’s son who was incarcerated, and she hadn’t seen him for years before she died.”

The description hit me like a sucker punch.  This seems so undeniably sad and such an indictment of our national character.  How can justice be served by punishing people who are incarcerated by denying them access to the people who love them?  How can we hope to build a strong community for all of us when we punish families in this way.  So much of the way we live has changed in the pandemic and I hope that when we get to the other side we work on treating people - all of us - better.  We need to re-think the ways in which we use prisons and jails in our justice system.  No one, no matter how terrible their crime, should be so isolated that they cannot see their family while they are incarnated.  There is nothing to be gained by such cruelty and so much of us that is lost because of it.

Sassafras Luck

Yesterday morning I opened my e-mail to a message from the state of New Jersey that it was my turn to schedule a vaccine.  After a few seconds of disbelief and then some hit and miss moments, I got an appointment more than an hour away.  I took it and headed south to one of our state’s vaccine mega-sites.  A few hours later, I had a Pfizer vaccine in my arm and an appointment for my second dose on March 2.  I spent the rest of the day in a haze of disbelief and gratitude, a feeling that remains front and center today.  

New Jersey, with a population of just under 9 million people, is approaching 10% of the population having received a first vaccine.  I am glad that my lucky number came up so quickly and crossing my fingers for everyone else.

Amaryllis Tuesday: February 9

This flower is a bright spot in the midst of my cold and snowy February and I am grateful for its daily reminder to keep the faith.

It’s been planted for 6 weeks and a flower is nearing.  I’m cheering for you, splendid flower.

Enough, Already

On the heels of digging out from nearly 3 feet of snow, another storm blew in yesterday.  The good news: it wasn’t 3 feet.  The bad news: it was 8 inches.  A pretty 8 inches of snow, but 8 inches nonetheless, with cold temperatures on its heels.  Our average yearly snowfall in New Jersey is 29 inches.  In two storms, my corner of the state has gotten 38 inches.  

The birds were glad that the feeder was full.

This time around, the snow blower could handle the challenge a little better.  I am always ready for Spring blooms and the practically giddy ease of Summer.  This year, Winter is determined to be sure that I appreciate my blessings when the warm days arrive.  In the meantime, yesterday's post-storm blue sky will have to suffice.

Back to the Far Side

For years of my life, Far Side daily calendars were my companion.  Then cartoonist Gary Larsen retired and life moved on.  But I never forgot the happy amusement of a daily cartoon and when the calendar was available for 2021, I put it on my Christmas list.

So it is that every day I have the happy treat of a Larsen cartoon, many of them familiar scenes that make me laugh.  January featured cowboy and Indian cartoons.  February is dinosaurs and it opened with one of my all time favorites.

Everything about this calendar brings me happiness and in my pandemic world, that is very nice indeed.

Real Life Texts with JT: On Brand edition

The backstory:  For a wide swath of his childhood, JT was into pirates.  So into pirates that he would spend his days dressed as one, all while commanding a veritable fleet of Playmobil pirate ships bent on world domination.  

JT: I had a dream I was a door dash driver but I drove a pirate ship. 😂

Me:  That is awesome.  And very on brand.

JT:  Argh matey.

Quarantine’s End

T and I have been in quarantine since January 20.  Two weeks and three negative tests later, we’ve shoveled ourselves out from the snow and today I return to school in person.  I’ll be teaching in the hybrid model we’ve used all year and so I don’t really expect to see that many students in person in my classes — usually no more than 4 students are in the room; most Zoom in to school — but I am glad of the chance to leave the house and teach from my classroom.  

I taught from home while I was in quarantine but it was hard and a huge burden on the co-workers who were called upon to hook up the classroom into my Zoom.  The longer I teach hybrid, the more frustrating I find it.   But that is a post for another day.  Today is a day to be glad and grateful for my blessings, so I won’t grumble and I will hope, as I do every day, that my turn for a vaccine comes soon.

Amaryllis Tuesday: February 2

In this Groundhog Day of a pandemic year, the amaryllis is evidence that small change does happen.  Week to week, the growth is sure and steady.

An amaryllis bulb usually sees me through the darkest part of the Winter.  This year’s bulb is assigned that task and is also sustaining me as I wait for my turn at a vaccine.  The bulb’s steady weekly progress reminds me that a mixture of hope and patience will see me through.  These days, that's an important lesson.

Old Man Tree: February 1

We are starting February with a major snowstorm.  It started last night and is expected to continue through today and into Tuesday morning.  When I got up this morning, there was an easy 8 inches on the ground.  

The light and snow makes it hard to make out the face on Old Man Tree, but he is there watching quietly over all the birds and squirrels in the yard.

As of this writing, now Monday afternoon, the forecast calls for 20 inches to fall before this storm is over.  At the current rate, I’ll be glad if it’s only 20 inches.  Up to this storm, we’ve had a mild Winter but it would seem we are making up for it in the last full month of Winter.