Riding the train

Hello, June. 

The month of May was typically full. I meant to document more of this busy season, but somehow here it is June 9th, and so much has happened that I'm not quite sure where to begin. 

Perhaps I'll work backwards:

On the first of June, my husband and I celebrated 30 years of marriage.  How can we have been married so long, when our wedding seems like last year, our children's babyhood feels only months ago, teenagers ruled the house just last week, and it still feels like we are learning to love? Time is so relative! 

June 1, 1996

Although we marked this milestone with good cheer, including a Veuve Clicquot toast (my fave because of Babette's Feast, although usually we toast with Cook's, which is what we had at our wedding), it was an understated celebration, like many of our anniversaries. We have a busy summer ahead - see prior post. We'll be celebrating many times over. My gift to my husband was saying yes to spending more money than we should have on a piece of original art offered at our daughter's school auction - so it served a good cause. My husband surprised me with a gift of a necklace with seven pearls, one for each of the kids.  Although we had said the art work was our anniversary gift, I actually love this necklace - and it was on sale! Even better!  My husband has not always had the best of luck predicting what I like in the way of jewelry - not that I don't like what he buys; I just don't always fit the style he choses... This time his choice was spot on.

We were also going to go out to eat to a restaurant we haven't tried, but our college daughter returned home from college that afternoon. Her return was delayed because she qualified for the NCAA regional meet in the 800. Because of that we spent a couple days on the road driving down to Lexington, Kentucky, and back to watch her run. A 5.5 hour drive one way for a 2 minute race.  She had a stellar season, dropping 6 seconds from her PR last year, but she didn't quite hit her PR in this race, and competition was tough to move on to the finals. Fortunately, she has the potential to get stronger next year. Although she raced a lot in high school, her training mileage was low, and she hasn't burnt out like so many athletes who compete at elite levels at young ages.  

Needless to say, we stayed more than 2 minutes at the meet and watched some of the other races, including her teammate's mile run, but we did not spend time exploring UK or Lexington. I love track meets, and this one was large with elite runners running at their peak. I love watching the strength and speed of these athletes, all women on this day.  Other people can have their football and basketball games, but I'll take a track and field meet any day!

We also added a little extra driving to our travel time to stop in to visit our granddaughter, who keeps getting cuter than ever, and we spent the night and morning with my parents before making the return trip in time to get back for school/work. A full couple of days.

I do love a road trip. Just days before our jaunt down south, I returned from a Memorial Day road trip to Montreal with some fellow faculty members on a pilgrimage to see the St. Joseph Oratory and shrine to St. Andre Bessette, and the burial place/shrine to Kateri Tekakwitha.

This was a 14 hour driving journey northeast. Since it was made with friends and coworkers, the time flew by. This particular group was a very easy going crowd, so our stops weren't long, but neither were they rushed. It helps to travel with low maintenance companions. We met once a month during the school year to read and discuss and learn about St. Andre Bessette and his life and miracles in Montreal. 

The oratory itself is stunning, the largest church in Canada. 

The school door where St. Andre was the doorman

View of the oratory from the gardens where there are life size stations of the cross

The original small oratory built by St. Andre and friends. He lived in the loft.

view of the oratory from the side

Sculpture of Angels Unaware

Candles for St. Joseph

St Andre's tomb

In contrast, the shrine to St. Kateri is small and humble. 

 

The weekend prior to that our fourth son/fifth kid graduated from college. We hosted a big party at our house, and I helped plan a big party at a reception place with a couple other moms. It was a bit bigger and more elaborate than I initially planned, but everyone had a fabulous time. The graduation was lovely. The valedictorian gave a very moving speech, and Timothy Shriver, the Laetare medal winner, had everyone in tears with his story of a Special Olympics athlete at the world games in Ireland. The commencement address was given by Sr. Raffaella Petrini, a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist who is the president of the Pontifical Commission and Governorate of Vatican City State. She is the highest ranking woman at the Vatican, and one of the highest Vatican officials - basically the governor of the Vatican state. The baccalaureate was also moving - everyone loves the singing of the Alma Mater. And the Arts and Letters grad ceremony included some thoughtful remarks from the dean and a sighting of a Supreme Court Justice. It was a celebratory weekend. 

 

 

The weekend before that I took my parents to North Carolina and Smoky Mountain National Park to see our daughter run and to spend some time in the mountains (hills for people who are used to Sierras and Rockies).  This trip was a bit spur of the moment, but planned after our spring break trip didn't pan out.  My dad has Parkinson's and is moving slower these days, but this area has a lot of accessible trails that are paved or are well-groomed. For instance, we visited a few waterfalls. The most stunning was a 120 ft fall on Cherokee land. It has a stair climb that has a hand rail and benches just below the falls, so people can admire their beauty. This is not my favorite kind of hike, as I am more drawn to quieter, more remote hikes, but we were there on a weekday before the summer crowds, and its beauty was well worth the climb.  I also had thought an AirBnB would be more scenic, but hotels are easier and more predictable for my dad, so we stayed at a Best Western that was right on a river.  Our rooms had balconies over the water, and the free coffee and breakfast was a perk. It worked out well for visiting the cute little town of Sylva, NC, and the track meet at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.  After our drive through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on the north side of the Smoky Mtn NP, I highly recommend the south side! It was grown exponentially since my trips as a kid. 

view from Clingman's Dome, the highest point in SMNP

 

 

 

 

A little black bear farewelled us on our exit from the park

In between those trips I took the train up to Chicago for the American Literature Association Conference. I love riding the train, which gave me an extra two hours to work on my paper on Wendell Berry's representation of economic forces in Marce Catlett, The Force of a Story, his newest, and perhaps last, novel.  I should not have needed the extra two hours. If I had planned better, my paper would have been done weeks ago, and I'd have enjoyed the train ride even more, but maybe I enjoyed it just as much or more because I was plugged into the wifi typing away.  I didn't have to drive or find parking or pay attention to traffic. The train corridor is moderately scenic - I saw a few deer, was lulled by the sway and rumble of the cars, listened to other people talking and peeked at what other people were reading. I loved not having to drive home tired and exhausted from a long day of brain work. And I love these lit conferences, although I didn't stay at this one long enough to talk much with other attendees. I missed the evening dinner and social because I needed to get home and pack and leave the next day for the trip to Montreal. 

My classes at the college wrapped up well. I think my students improved in their speaking skills and their writing a little, and the rapport between students was good in class, which meant better discussions and more performative speaking.  A highlight was a guest speaker, Jimmy Dunne, who talked about the importance of business and communication, but mostly answered questions and shared life lessons.

My Laudato Si class at the middle school also wrapped up well. I have ideas to make it better, but I am going to step away next fall to teach at class at the high school - Redemption in Literature, which I'm inheriting from another teacher who taught it as a film class.  I'll miss my middle schoolers, and I love the topic of my Laudato Si class, but I also love the idea of looking for redemption in literature/film. I have four chicks in my garage from the class - we hatched chicks again at the end of the year, and while I'm not sure my middle schoolers even remember what Laudato Si means, they will remember the wonder and joy of hatching chicks. I hope they'll also remember our field trips - one to see maple syrup, and one to the ecosystem lab at a county park run by ND where they got to observe the nesting bald eagles and find some amphibians and snakes in the semi-controlled wetland observation area.  I thought it was a cool field trip, if I do say so myself.

So that was May - a full, beautiful month. I also celebrated my birthday while we were in Montreal.  I am grateful for the spring blooms and the opportunities to gather and celebrate.  At times we lead a charmed life. Although the planning and going and returning filled the days, the month didn't feel as chaotic or overwhelming as it has some years.  Instead, while it was full, it felt like one long celebration of life.  I am grateful. 

Peony Season!

Blooming

 Although a frost or a freeze is called for this weekend, spring is in full bloom in this part of the country. Last weekend, I channeled my latent DIY spirit and made some cedar raised beds to put on the side of the house for a vegetable/cut flower garden. My husband cut the boards from cedar fence rails, and I got our 12 year old to help me screw them into place. (I'm hoping to keep her involved in the garden project.) Then we stapled some weed barrier to the bottom - a very simple structure, but it always feels good to make something yourself. The biggest expense is the cost of the dirt, because the weed barrier was from Goodwill and the cedar planks were only $4 apiece. I did fill about half of the bottom with cuttings from our decorative grasses and some other yard waste, but I wish I had kept a bag of leaves from the fall for compost. Something to plan for next year!

 The challenge is going to be sunlight. I'm pretty sure plants will struggle in this location because it is in full shade for most of the day, but there aren't too many other places a vegetable garden can go in our yard. We have various islands of shrubbery in the front and just a small patch of grass in the back. It has been interesting to see what is coming up. More daffodils that I anticipated and a few tulips that I didn't plant in addition to some that I had planted have bloomed. The tulips I planted were the ones dug up by the university after they were finished blooming on campus. These leftover bulbs are given away to faculty and staff. About half of them bloomed, while some of the others sent up leaves but no bud, and a few of the buds were gnawed by the rabbits before they bloomed. At any rate, each bloom was a source of delight. 

Since we didn't see the house in the spring last year, the blooming season has been more exciting than normal. First we had some oriental spice viburnums burst into bloom. They aren't showy but they smell intoxicating. There is a twiggy redbud in the corner of the yard that I'm sure is a volunteer, but I don't plan to dig it up.  We have one sad forsythia bush - I bought another on the clearance rack last week to place near the remains of the one that did bloom a little. 

Then we were pleased to see a dwarf crabapple in the back - could be something else, but the flowers look like a crabapple. Despite having some sort of black fungus, the ornamental plum put out a full show, but a storm knocked these flowers down shortly after they bloomed. The neighbor's magnolia and big old crabapple weathered the storm much better, and they are close enough to our patio that we can enjoy their perfume.  

Now the dogwoods are blooming, and the hydrangeas are leafing out. The peonies have buds - I hope they hold off from blooming for 2 weeks so they are showy for graduation weekend. There is another shrub with buds -  maybe a weigelia? - and one that looks like a lilac cultivar.  A new lilac is on my wishlist, as is a bleeding heart.  The lily of the valley are flourishing, making the backyard smells like a parfumerie. I discovered a few old fashioned forget-me-nots, which I didn't photograph, but was thrilled to see. The combination of those three shade loving spring beauties always reminds me of the courtyard garden in the little stone house where I lived for my first seven years.  How persistent are our aesthetic inclinations toward our first memories of loveliness!

I'm hoping Sunday it will warm up enough to plant some of the garden boxes. I think there are some old storm windows and doors in the attic that I could place on top to make a sort of cold frame, but a friend told me Mother's Day was planting day around here, when danger of frost declines dramatically. I won't ever forget, though, how we had snow on my birthday, May 24th, when we lived north of Chicago.  That was years ago, but with wild weather patterns lately, anything feels possible.  

And I'm hopeful anything might possibly grow in my shady garden boxes! We'll shall see.

The koi and the water plants survived the winter. Some amorous toads visited for a few days, and now we have hundreds of tadpoles as well. 

An iris has bloomed, somewhat dwarfish, to keep St. Fiacre company. Despite losing his head a few years ago, this little statue has accompanied us on several moves.

Fancy tulips planted by the previous owners.

Some late narcissus under the dogwood. The hostas are in full leaf now, too. I was hopeful our dogwood would be pink, but the white is pretty.

My rabbit chaser

Some Solomon's seal

The white tulips from campus. They grow tall and sturdy, while the fancy pinks have drooping stems - maybe from the weight of the multiflora petals?

National Poetry-Military Child- Keep American Beautiful - Birthday- Month

April has brought a flurry of celebrations to our household - and snow flurries elsewhere.  We are enjoying spring-like weather, strawberry picking, birthday cakes, and front porch discussions.  April is also the month of the military child, National Poetry Month, Keep America Beautiful, and Garden Show month. Something for everyone!

Here are our military kids wearing purple to recognize the resiliency and gifts that military kids have to offer.

And here is our birthday girl turning four. After much waffling about preschool for next year, I have decided we'll continue with our co-op and not send her to preschool in the fall. The encouragement of our older kids to home school her influenced the decision.  And she likes playing school. The hardest part will be for me to continue to put off things I would like to do with free time.

Her dad also had a big birthday, number 45, but I don't have as many cute pictures of him enjoying his cake. On his birthday we went to a Crisis Pregnancy Center fundraiser with some friends and heard abortion survivor Gianna Jessen speak. She was funny, frank, politically incorrect, and inspirational.  She had all the men stand up and do a Braveheart yell for "Freedom." We didn't expect to enjoy the evening so much. And we celebrated his birthday again a couple days later along with a friend who has a birthday the same weekend.

Our house got a yellow ribbon in the local garden competition - all the houses are judged. They were generous this year. The annual competition does encourage people to tidy up their yards and plant fresh flowers. Last year I redid our big pots with fresh perrenials - African daisies. They are still blooming this year, although they look a little raggedy.  I wasn't motivated to redo the pots until I went to the local garden store. But I think succulents might make more sense than flowers because of the water issues.  

A broken aeonium growing  babies

Roses in bloom at a park

Someone else's pretty Siberian Iris

Someone else's pretty planter with ranunculus. I want to copy this someday.

Someone else's wisteria - something else I would like to plant. 

Can you see the baby betta fish? The fry hatched but the next day they were gone. Dead, devoured? This was attempt number 3 to hatch baby bettas and the first time the eggs hatched. 

Strawberry picking in Carlsbad. Strawberries really do taste better eaten in a sunny field right off the plant. 

The famous flower fields in Carlsbad. You can pay $18 to walk through them, or park at the outlet mall and take a photo for free. 

April is also beach volleyball and track season.  I am coaching middle school track again this year.  I'm always surprised by the number of kids who come out for track but don't want to run. I have to race from track to class on Wednesdays. Wednesdays are also our co-op field trip day and the day the middle schoolers come home from school early and middle school youth group day. It ends up being an exhausting day, so I look forward to Thursdays as a recovery day. Is there a National Laundry Month? Because that's about how long I need to get all the clothes washed and folded and put away.

And finally, from the Poetry Foundation website, a poem for today by abolitionist Lucy Larcom:

"The Nineteenth of April"       BY LUCY LARCOM

This year, till late in April, the snow fell thick and light:
Thy truce-flag, friendly Nature, in clinging drifts of white,
Hung over field and city: now everywhere is seen,
In place of that white quietness, a sudden glow of green.

The verdure climbs the Common, beneath the leafless trees,
To where the glorious Stars and Stripes are floating on the breeze.
There, suddenly as Spring awoke from Winter’s snow-draped gloom,
The Passion-Flower of Seventy-six is bursting into bloom.

Dear is the time of roses, when earth to joy is wed,
And garden-plot and meadow wear one generous flush of red;
But now in dearer beauty, to her ancient colors true,
Blooms the old town of Boston in red and white and blue.

Along the whole awakening North are those bright emblems spread;
A summer noon of patriotism is burning overhead:
No party badges flaunting now, no word of clique or clan;
But “Up for God and Union!” is the shout of every man.

Oh, peace is dear to Northern hearts; our hard-earned homes more dear;
But freedom is beyond the price of any earthly cheer;
And freedom’s flag is sacred; he who would work it harm,
Let him, although a brother, beware our strong right arm!

A brother! ah, the sorrow, the anguish of that word!
The fratricidal strife begun, when will its end be heard?
Not this the boon that patriot hearts have prayed and waited for;—
We loved them, and we longed for peace: but they would have it war.

Yes; war! on this memorial day, the day of Lexington,
A lightning-thrill along the wires from heart to heart has run.
Brave men we gazed on yesterday, to-day for us have bled:
Again is Massachusetts blood the first for Freedom shed.

To war,—and with our brethren, then,—if only this can be!
Life hangs as nothing in the scale against dear Liberty!
Though hearts be torn asunder, for Freedom we will fight:
Our blood may seal the victory, but God will shield the Right!

Source: “Words for the Hour”: A New Anthology of American Civil War Poetry, edited by Faith Barrett and Cristanne Miller (University of Massachusetts Press, 2005)