Hello, again! How are things going?

Just so you know, I was shocked, too, by the date on my last post.  May 3rd--what?  I could have sworn I had posted something since then!

Well, I had--on my professional blog.  And it was pretty big news, too--I got a job as a librarian!  You can read the details and my first feelings about it there.  I'm still getting used to the idea that I am now a librarian; my son is helping by reminding me at least once a week, usually couched in a witty comment (he's getting good at those, being fifteen and all).

So, what else have I been doing besides getting a new job?  Well, since the last post, I have:

• wrapped up another year of teaching, 
• moved my daughter back from college for the summer, 
• told everyone I knew that I get to be in a library next year,
• visited with the outgoing librarian,
• spent face-to-face time with friends,
• spent a lot of time on Facebook catching up with old friends,
• spent a lot of time on Facebook playing Candy Crush (omigosh, it's addictive!),
• read a LOT of other people's blogs, and commented on them,
• taken a lot of naps on the couch,
• totally rearranged my craft room shelves, and organized/ purged a lot of supplies,
• crocheted a bit,
• gone swimming in my neighbor's pool and walked along the hike-n-bike,
• gone to two workshops already,
• shuttled teenboy back and forth to appointments and horn lessons,
• been READING BOOKS!!

Yes, I have been allowing myself to slip into book comas here and there this summer.  I spent an entire day reading Gone Girl (a grown-up bestseller), picked up a couple picture books from the library including 

 Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break if You Want to Survive the School Bus, a Bluebonnet Book by John Grandits, and old fantasy from Ursula K. LeGuin, A Wizard of Earthsea.

I've read more than half a dozen books since June 1st, motivated by a group I formed on Facebook of like-minded friends who wanted to read more this summer and share reading experiences, too. We've posted intended reading lists, changed them based on each other's reviews and abandonment of books that just don't fit, and talked about our reading styles (I tend to skip around sometimes!).

Have I gone into a book coma every day? Heavens, no! Otherwise, all those other bulleted items in my list above wouldn't have gotten done. But I am reading at least an hour a day, which is more than I could manage most of the school year (though I'm anticipating reading a LOT more as a librarian!).

Any reading is good reading, in my opinion. So even if you have fifteen minutes waiting on your music lesson, or can't quite seem to fall asleep when you hit the pillow, or you need an excuse to avoid doing another load of laundry--grab that book, and READ! Oh, and have fun doing it, please...it IS summertime, after all!

 

    

Just call me Calpurnia!

So I FINALLY got around to reading my graduation gift!  It's been less than a year since I received it, so compared to some of the books in my Mt. Everest of a to-read pile, it had a lot less dust on the cover!

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly was just a hoot to read.  It was given to me by my friend and colleague Mary, who is a history buff and reader extraordinaire.  It's a used edition in perfect condition, signed to a Mister John Sexton by the author herself.  Jacqueline Kelly is a local lady, residing both in Austin and in Fentress, Texas, the location of the leading young lady of her book.  Ms. Kelly is also a transplant, hailing from New Zealand, with several degrees to her name.  You don't become a lawyer AND a physician without some love of knowledge and learning, and she communicates those through the main character, Calpurnia Tate.

Calpurnia is an 11 year old girl living in rural Texas, fifty miles from the Austin capital, in 1899.  The middle child of seven, and the only girl, she is a nature-loving budding scientist before her time.  Luckily, she has a grandfather who is a member of the fairly new National Geographic Society, and he supports her efforts in forging a new path for herself.  There isn't a "pat" ending to the book, but you just know that Calpurnia is destined to be a scientist and explorer in her own right.

I connected with Calpurnia in two ways.  First, I am a lover of learning.  In school, I loved reading, biology, algebra, and art.  I couldn't decide what field I liked best, which is one of the reasons I became a teacher!  The other connection I made was with the snow scene in the final chapter.  I had a hard time coming to terms with adult responsibilities when I turned eighteen, until a freak snowfall in March 1984 in El Paso changed my mind.  I don't want to give too much away!

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate is a lovely read, especially for teachers of girls and of science.  If I was in a general ed fifth to ninth grade classroom, it would certainly be on my read-aloud list.  If I were a science teacher, there are passages I would certainly share with my class to spur their curiosity and observation skills.  As a history teacher, it would be a good start to a discussion of gender role expectations of that period as compared to the present.

A big thumbs-up for this book, and an even bigger thank you to Mary for giving it to me; it's a keeper!

A little of this, a little of that

Ooops, I've been reading, but forgetting to blog about it!  I finished a book a couple of weeks ago, and read a picture book right after...and immediately began thinking of connections between the two.  (We ask students to do this all the time--try and make connections between books they've read.)




The "grownup" book I finished is called Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody, Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert's Search for Spiritual Community, by Enuma Okoro.  It's about a well-educated, well-traveled, deeply spiritual woman looking for a church community to call home.  I'm fascinated with people's spiritual journeys, particularly those of women, and this book called to me with her story.  It wasn't a fast read for me, but it was enjoyable and thought-provoking.  Ms. Okoro and I share similar religious backgrounds, so I was able to connect with the book in many ways.  

After I finished Reluctant Pilgrim, I read one of my latest purchases, Lemony Snicket's   The Dark, illustrated by the award-winning Jon Klassen.  Laszlo is afraid of the dark, and tries to keep it at bay...until one night, it visits him in his room.  What happens next is an explanation of why we need the dark, and an unusual way it helps Laszlo.  With Klassen's trademark spare illustrations, the story opens the door for lots of discussion about the dark and other scary things that trouble children.

Both Reluctant Pilgrim and The Dark talk about the light and dark; the former, in the spiritual sense, and the latter, the stuff that hides behind doors and curtains.  In both books, knowledge comes from darkness, and we know what light is because of the dark.  Both Okoro and Laszlo come to terms with the dark, whether it's the dark night of the soul that Okoro finds herself in at times, or Laszlo's literal darkness; both don't seem so scary anymore, since the light is always a step, or night, away.  

I didn't plan to read these books together, but I'm glad I did.  It was like reading the Cliff Notes on a tough classic novel after poring over the unabridged edition; the picture book put the grownup book into perspective.  What a lovely coincidence!

SOLC 2013 Day 31: Lessons learned

Today marks the end of two challenges I assigned myself this month--the Slice of Life Challenge to blog each day during March, and the Oprah/Chopra 21-Day Meditation Challenge, listening to guiding thoughts and meditating each morning for the last three weeks.

How nice that these goals were met today, Easter Sunday, smack dab in the season of spring and rebirth and new beginnings.  Maybe that's why I'm hesitant to pronounce these challenges as done, met, checked off the list.  Instead, I feel like I've learned a few things to carry me forward.  

Not that I'm feeling all fired up, ready to take on the world.  In my mind, spring is a gentle season, filled with pleasant birdsong, soft rains, breezes and buds just pushing out into the world.  That's how I feel--tender nudges to make small but important changes.  No raging like a hot summer thunderstorm here, barreling out of the gates with missions to accomplish.  Lord knows, I've already got plenty of backlog on my to-do list at work and at home!

So what have I learned?  On writing:

• It is hard to write.  Hard to get thoughts down on paper in a way that makes sense and flows and says what I want them to say.  Hard to know what to put in and what to leave out.  Hard because  what I may be feeling strongly about in the moment may not be appropriate for the forum I'm writing in.  Hard because I'm ending sentences in prepositions, and that bothers my inner grammar police, but the proper way doesn't sound any better.
• I like getting feedback.  I can be a feedback junkie...and I'm not sure that's a good thing.  Sometimes it should just be enough to get it down and put it out there.  Which leads me to my next thought--
• I feel uncomfortable using a blog as a diary.  I really enjoy sharing stories of my past, little snippets of activity like birthdays and baking.  And while some of the best feedback I got was on posts in which I bared my feelings...it felt kinda weird putting them out there for such a broad audience.  Maybe it's because this is really my blog about reading, and this challenge brought out much more that that.  I'll consider having a separate blog if I attempt this challenge next year.
• Writing is hard.  Or have I said that already?

Lessons on meditating:

• Ten minutes is a long time to focus on being still and thought-less.  It helped to have a daily mantra to bring me back from intruding thoughts, but the thoughts kept coming.  
• I really look forward to my meditation time in the morning.  I've always felt kind of guilty for spending most of my pre-dawn alone time playing games on Facebook.  Meditating for some of that time feeds my spirit, instead of exercising my brain cells (my excuse for game playing).  Since I've heard that both can ward off signs of aging, I'm going to try and continue my meditation practice before squeezing in those rounds of Candy Crush.
• Having someone else--or something else--time the meditation is awesome.  I've had a folder full of timed meditations on my desktop for ages...I'm finally going to get around to using them!

So there are no earth-shattering conclusions, no major breakthroughs coming out of this month.  Just a nod to myself for stepping up to these challenges, and a plan to take what I've learned and move forward with it, one babystep at a time.

SOLC 2013 Day 30: The zen of baking

It's been about three months since I last made roll-and-cut sugar cookies.  Truth be told, they're kind of a pain to make, with all the steps it takes to get from mixer to decorated cookie.  For some reason, though, the baking bug bit me this weekend, and I decided to make a batch for our Easter dessert.

I love Penny's Roll and Cut Recipe from Cookie Stories by Penny McConnell and Kathy Sutton.  It consists of a no-chill dough that, as the authors claim, "cuts like a dream".  I added fresh lemon zest and juice to make them taste spring-y, and cut out egg and flower shapes.  

The recipe calls for six cups of flour, and makes dozens of cookies (a fact I seem to forget each time I make the recipe, when it's already too late to cut it in half).  Pretty soon I was in my "baking zone":  flouring and re-flouring the counter as I cut out the shapes, placing them on my silicone-mat-lined baking sheets, re-rolling the scraps to cut more.  Each batch takes nine minutes in my oven, which means I'm turning the sheets every four-and-a-half minutes.  One sheet is in the oven as I'm filling the emptied, cooled sheet with the next batch to go in.  

As the last of the cookies slide into the oven, I realize two hours have passed.  My kitchen meditation done, I wipe down the counters, dump the bowls, spatulas, and cutters into the sink, and wait for the final beep of the timer to sit down and rest...until it's time to make the royal icing and decorate them.

Not my best work...but I don't think my family will mind!

    

SOLC 2013 Day 29: The taste that takes you back

It's dangerous to go grocery shopping on a half-empty stomach.  But these days, it's considered a date for this old married couple we've become.  So off we went to buy food for the holiday weekend.

Halfway through the store, in the aisle with the salad dressings and ketchup, he reminds me that I wanted olives.  I get a jar, and my eyes wander over its neighboring products on the shelves.  There's another jar that catches my eye, full of cauliflower and carrots and red pepper pieces and celery.  Taking a glance at the label--some Italian surname--and reminding myself that I need to slip more veggies into my diet, I place it in the basket.

Fast forward through unloading groceries, making a flower arrangement, reading a bit, taking a nap, waking up to a phone call from my daughter, and then getting the munchies.  The veggies!  I spoon some out for a few bites...

...and realize that this is antipasti.  The antipasti from my childhood, and I'm sitting in a pizzeria off of the Via Domitiana, near the Lago d'Averno.  I'm listening to the grownups laugh and talk as I nibble at the vegetables and ignore the odd-looking meats and cheeses, waiting for my pizza margherita to arrive.  After dinner, if the grownups aren't too tired, I'll be allowed cappuccino served in a tiny white cup on a saucer.

Funny how a jar of pickled vegetables from an HEB in Austin, Texas can send me back to Naples, Italy--no airfare or time machine required.

My grandfather took this picture of my grandmother and our family in front of our house  in Naples, Italy, 1975.

SOLC 2013 Day 28: To widen the circle...or begin to circle the wagons

Compared to many people I know (and popular culture), I was the odd one out when it came to attitudes over two of my "big" birthdays.

I was not enthused about turning eighteen.  For weeks leading up to that milestone birthday, I would lie awake at night and unsuccessfully try to quell my fears over becoming an adult.  Being a grownup did not equate to freedom for me; instead, it meant huge responsibilities.  Deciding where to go to college and what to study, managing money and bills, becoming an informed citizen so I could make an educated vote in the ballot booth that fall...it all seemed daunting, not carefree and fun as many of my friends saw eighteen to be.  I literally cried over the loss of legal childhood status, and the only thing that snapped me out of it was getting snow for my birthday, an unusual event for March in El Paso, Texas.   For whatever reason, it lightened my mood enough to get me out of my funk and let me celebrate.

When I turned forty, I was over the moon.  I was in a good place; my family was strong, I was in good health, and I was happy in my job.  My life was fairly in balance.  I felt gratitude for many people in my life and the experiences they had shared with me, and so I wrote forty letters to both the living and the dead to thank them.  I bought flowers for myself every month that year.  Above all, I finally felt empowered.  I had lived through all that decision-making as an eighteen year old.  I had graduated from college, held a few jobs, married a wonderful man, borne children, buried a parent.  I had lived through losses and gains, and not just in my pants size.  I finally felt like I had enough life experience to completely own my opinions.  Don't get me wrong--my thirst for knowledge is still huge--but I knew that I had something to contribute, too.

What does this have to do with widening circles or gathering the wagons?  As I get older, I love the fact that my circles are widening, both in learning and influencing.  I have reconnected with old friends and made new ones, and their numbers span the globe.  The world wide web has opened up a treasure trove of information and connections with others that excites me to no end.

But when I find myself up against opinions that are so diametrically opposite, I am quick to entertain the thought of circling the wagons.  And I'm not talking politics; as long as you appreciate the freedoms we have in this country, I'll pleasantly (and passionately) debate opposing views without crying foul on our friendship. When it comes to matters of social justice and equality, when others' opinions weigh down my heart because they smack of discrimination, or blame and shame on victims--that's when I entertain thoughts of backing out of their circles.  But then I question myself; am I being too judgmental?  Should I seek to understand the others' opinions, and continue to try to maintain the connections?  Can I just agree to disagree on these matters and move on?  Or should I follow a popular line of advice to surround myself with those who lift my spirits and add joy to my life, forgetting the rest, because life is just too short for more drama?

So much for being the self-assured forty-something...guess it's back to being eighteen again.