April Book Report: All You Can Ever Know

One side effect of the staying-at-home lifestyle we all have going on is the amount of time I now have to read. Books are my joy, my relaxation, my comfort, and my near-constant thought.  A good amount of my daydreaming time is spent thinking about what I’ve just read, what I am reading now, and what I will read next.

Among the books that keep coming back to my mind is Nicole Chung’s memoir of adoption, All You Can Ever Know which I read earlier this month.  Chung grew up in rural Oregon, the Korean-American daughter of a white couple.  Much loved as a child, she knew one story of her adoption, a standard story of biological parents unable to look after a child and adoptive parents with much love to share.  The story was a comfort when Chung was a little girl, but as she grew up, she longed for more information.  The longing was as much about her Korean identity as anything else.  It became more central to her sense of self when she was pregnant with her first child.

As she details her search for information about her biological family, she reflects on her on sense of identity as a child and now an adult woman.  She is thinking and writing about herself as a daughter, both adopted and biological, as a mother and, as she will find out, a sister.  As she makes sense of her adoption, it is a story that is personal to her.  But for the reader, the story is also universal, a reflection on love and family, on the stories we know about our identity and the stories we imagine about ourselves.  

The writing is beautiful and Chung’s unfolding of identity and its shifting meaning in a woman’s world is emotional.  I found her story powerful and thoughts about it have echoed in my mind since I finished the book.  To me, that is the very essence of the power of reading.  

Mother Nature Marches On: Your Weekly Dogwood Report - April 29

Today is cloudy and cool and though the birds are chirping, I would still like some sunlight and warmth.  Yesterday was sunny and warm and I spent some time on the back deck.  The dogwood was looking lovely and that was enough to make for a good day.

Tiny House Tuesday - Baltic Sea edition

In 2014, we celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary with a family cruise in the Scandinavia and Baltic region.  We visited lots of countries but Talinn, Estonia, stood out for the abundance of well-preserved medieval streets and buildings.  JT and I took a walking tour of the city and saw lots of beauty.  I particularly remember the lovely pastel colors of the buildings and the cobblestone streets and town squares.  At the top of a hill in the older part of the city, we enjoyed an expansive view of city and stepped into a small gift shop with a collection of tiny houses.  JT and I each chose one.

Today, they sit on the bookshelf, pastel reminders of happy day spent noodling around a lovely old city.

That’s happy!

Tree Limbs & Blue Skies

One of the blessings of being home all day is that I have time to step out on the back deck when the sun is high and the sky is blue.  I’ve taken the time to appreciate the sunshine in my backyard and check out the bird life around our feeder.  We have two sets of cardinals that visit us and I caught a picture of one of them high in the branches of Old Man Tree on a sunny day.

On Saturday we had some sunshine and I made time to sit outside.  Even in the chill, it was nice.  Old Man Tree has turned his attention to making leaves and I’m looking forward to being outside more often as the days warm.  I’ll be out on the porch with a book before  before school, I plan lunch on the back deck.  But no matter where I am, Old Man Tree and the blue sky will be my companions.

The Family Iris Patch

This patch of iris bulbs are transplants from my dad’s garden.  His bulbs came from his father’s garden.  My grandfather came by the bulbs by way of his mother-in-law.  For that reason, these plants are  special to me.  I like to think of them growing in Missouri, then California, and now New Jersey.  

For several years, though I got lush green stems, no flowers emerged.  But two years ago, lovely purple irises emerged.  Since then, each April,  I eagerly check the patch for signs of flowers.  Last Sunday, I was rewarded.

Three flowers are preparing to bloom.  I expect that the coming days will bring more.  I will keep watch for all the changes.  That’s happy!

Food Friday: Chicken Supper - Home Cookin’

Early on in the pandemic lock down, there were chicken shortages at our local market,  Chicken is the universal favorite food among the inmates of this house and both JT and T got a little panicky about a poultry shortage.  However, as supplies evened out it became clear that we would be able to fill our freezer with chicken for some chicken suppers.  I am the primary cook and meal planner around here and in this season of anxiousness, I’ve made old favorites as a means of comfort.  We’ve had fried chicken.

And chicken tacos.

Not pictured is chicken noodle soup, cowboy chicken, peanut chicken, and chicken cordon bleu....among other family favorites.  Suffice it to say no one has gone hungry around here.  Family suppers are among the blessings of this crazy period of time.  I've been one to take them for granted and it's been nice to have this daily blessing.

Front Yard Tulips

 This patch of yellow tulips with red markings blooms in the front yard.  

One of the advantages of my work-from-home arrangements is that I can spy the tulips all day long through the windows in my study.  I’m enjoying the blooms very much from this vantage point.  That’s happy!

Mother Nature Marches On: Your Weekly Dogwood Report - April 22

Spring has been its usual moody combination around here with days of sunshine and warmth followed by days of clouds and storms.  Today is beautifully clear sunshine but cold and windy because Spring makes her own rules.

Day by day, the warmth and light are showing the dogwood a path forward.  It’s a path of pretty flowers followed by fresh green leaves.  That’s happy!

Tiny House Tuesdays: Little Green House

The little brown clay house lives in the dining room but the rest of my tiny house collection makes its home in the living room, on my book shelf.

This book shelf is one of the happiest corners of Sassafras House because books are that way for me.  This shelf has a collection of treasures; the books here have all been read at least once and have been saved because they are worth a re-read.  Over the years, I’ve added tiny decorations to the shelves.  Tucked among the books, they seem like hidden treasures to me.  Among the treasures is this wooden green house.

Of all the houses in my collection, I’ve owned this one the longest.  I bought it in my hometown when I was in college at UCLA so it is more than 30 years old. 

This kind of Cape Cod saltbox style house was not common in my corner of California.  But here in New Jersey, they are everywhere.  The style is appeals to me know at least as much as it did in the late 1980s when I first acquired it.   These days, it seems less exotic than it did at the time.  Life is that way, I suppose.

Of Silver Linings......

My school has a dress code and as one of the people most often responsible for enforcing it, I feel an obligation to follow it in the first place.  As a consequence,  some of my clothing choices are dictated by the terms of the dress code.

Blue jeans are not permitted but denim skirts fall into a nebulous category.  When I worked in the Upper School, they were permitted.  But in the Middle School, some teachers believe they aren’t allowed.

Now is where I admit that while I don’t care for blue jeans, I love me a denim skirt.  I have several and they are the first thing I reach for when Spring weather seems anywhere near warm enough to warrant it.  But I am wary of wearing them at school (though I will note that the dress code currently makes no mention of them, ahem….) and though I could go an entire week in denim skirts, I confine myself to wearing one every few weeks.  

But working from home means the dress code is out the door.  And a few weeks back, I declared it to be denim skirt week.  This week is looking to repeat that theme.

Denim skirts and flip flops are my work from home dress code and you better believe that I am Ms. Compliance.  Let’s call this a silver denim lining of stay-at-home orders.