All clear

The tree that fell on me is gone. Once the machines started working it didn't take long for the huge tree to become chips and logs. And what does the yard look like without the tree?
It just goes on straight to the trees at the fence line.

The drought ends

It’s raining today.
Really, it is raining.
That sound on the roof, that’s rain.
Look out the window – everything’s wet. Haven’t seen that in a while, have we?
Umbrellas – we need umbrellas.
When was the last rainy day? July 11, wasn’t it?
The stiff straw-like grass is softening. Do I see a green blade out there already?
The dog dashes out, is surprised. She gives a great shake so that the person under the umbrella is even wetter.
It doesn’t matter. It’s raining.
Finally.

Waiting for kids

Early in the morning I walk into the school. The halls are empty, quiet, waiting. In just a few minutes children from countries all around the world will pour down this hall, a few spilling into the library with book returns. They will hand me their books shyly, and smile, and I will say "Thank you", knowing that these are two words they will recognize no matter what their native language might be.

As busy as...

In keeping with other nature-themed blog entries (see "Land of Ducks" http://bloomingtonautica.blogspot.com/2007/09/land-of-ducks.html) I've decided to share a phenomenon I've noticed here , and to propose a new metaphor.

You perhaps can't see all the wasps, bees and little insects. I counted over 15 wasps in this one picture - in real life they are moving around too much to count. SO, when describing a place that's really humming, one could say "as busy as goldenrod in September".

Sparkly Gold

All right, there should be a picture - but in the absence of one, use your imagination. Imagine a little boy, four years old, wearing an Hawaiian shirt and a buzz cut. I've been talking about cooperation and the group is tracing their hands to decorate the wall. In the jumbled box of very much used crayons, he discovers one special one - sparkly gold. He is delighted. The sparkly gold does not show up much on the dark red paper as we trace his hand and cut it out. He proudly prints his name across the palm in sparkly gold. It also does not show up very well. He glues this red hand to the very middle of our group mural. He searches through the box to find another piece of sparkly gold crayon and shows me that there are two parts of this wonderful color. As we eat our snacks he sings quietly to himself "sparkly gold, sparkly gold" over and over. When his parents come in it is the only thing he tells them about our session: "Look -that's my hand, the one with sparkly gold on it!"

Weather Report

For those of you not in Indiana, the seasons have changed. Abruptly.
On Tuesday it was still late summer and I sat outside eating with friends at The Basil Leaf. We talked about swimming and it still seemed possible. On Thursday we called each other to say "it isn't going to happen, is it?" Two clear cool nights and one-not-too warm day and suddenly it is now early Fall.
I wear a jacket out to fill the feeders and the air is different - clearer somehow. I spot the song sparrow on top of a spruce warming up in the early sunlight - but he doesn't sing. The quiet backdrop of cricket hum is now the only early morning sound.
It's time to think about leaves and pumpkins and apple cider. Time to close the pool and start walking in the woods. Time to enjoy once again the slow swing of the year towards winter.

We are the World

The library curriculum for the older classes is: "We are the World". I'm trying to support it with the display case.

Maps from everywhere are pinned on the back of the display case. Globes and atlases sit on the shelves. If you look closely, you'll notice a lizard in there...

Why? He just spoke to me.

Granddad opens a box

"Are there any boxes from home around here?" he asks as I am moving the old brass bedstead out of the boiler room.

"There might be, " I allow.

"Well, if you happen across one I'd like to see it" he says. The very next box I moved was marked "family pix- Ashland" so I carried it upstairs. It disappeared into his study and the house was quiet for a long time.

The next thing I knew the dining room table was covered with interesting pictures. What happens to all those school pictures that you didn't trade to friends or that didn't get sent to relatives? They end up in a box like this.

Some of the pictures are amusing, some sad, and some just downright puzzling. Granddad comes in to show me a baby picture of "Sue Ann". "Who's Sue Ann?" he asks. I don't know, it's not my family. He returns with her 3rd grade picture to ask again. I still don't know. Finally he finds a portrait of her as an adult...and I still don't know who she was.

I am more interested in the young person my husband was (and he doesn't know who Sue Ann is, either). Maybe his little brother will know....

Snacks

There are six preschoolers in my class on Sunday, five little girls and one little boy. They are quiet, shy, unsure of their new teacher. After the story we have snacks - animal crackers and grapes. Slowly they begin to talk, naming the animals and playing at sneaking up on the bowl to grab a cracker. The little girl sitting next to me is wearing a purple dress with ribbons. She takes one grape at a time, very precisely, and as she separates it from the stem, part of the skin pulls away. She looks at me and as she raises the grape to her mouth she whispers"I like to take the peeling part off". "Umm" I say. I look away to smile at the little boy who is creeping his fingers up to the bowl of animal crackers. When I look back she is grinning and holding up a green glob of grape which she has carefully peeled with her teeth.