Bird and Little Bird

Down Stream.

April showers, indeed.  Over the last week we have had incredible amounts of rain, most of it associated with big, loud, dark and dramatic thunderstorms.  On more than one evening, the rain was so loud that it woke me from my deep jet-lag induced sleep.  The result of all this rain?  Water.  Everywhere. 

The lake level is at an all time high, and unfortunately, this has meant road closures and for some people, flooding of their homes.  I was nearly forty minutes late for work this morning because the roads I generally drive were apparently underwater.  

Earlier this week, we spent a few extra minutes after school enjoying the sparse sunshine with some of Mariam's classmates.  The kids immediately became wholly absorbed in the process of building a dam across one of the impromptu streams that had appeared in the wake of all the rainfall.  Watching them puzzle out which rocks, sticks and balls of mud to add and where to place them was pretty enjoyable, and in the end I was glad that we took the bit of time to play in the mud.  

Now, any suggestions for removing tons and tons of mud from frilly pink dresses?  

Salt Water.

I make no secret of the fact that I love Vermont living.  The green, green hills.  The blueberry summers.  The enormous thunderstorms that shake the windows and light up the night.  The one thing that I have had trouble getting used to, however, is living so far from the ocean.  I lived twenty years with the ocean in easy driving distance, and now somehow find myself in the only landlocked state in New England. 

 

 

So when we flew out to Washington for spring vacation, the first thing that I wanted to do was to get out to the water.  Of course, being on The Sound isn't quite the same as being on the wild, open ocean, but it is a pretty close second.  And I was more than happy to take it. 

 

 

 

Sea carrots (are they really called that?) and little shells and various smooth pebbles and rocks were found.

 

 

My mom and Mariam made some small rock sculptures to leave on the beach for the next visitors.  

 

 

Mariam had wanted to build a house out of driftwood and stay (I'm not sure for how long), but then she realized that she was actually really hungry for lunch.  So we hiked out and went to get some pretty decent Thai food.  Which is another thing that I really miss living in Vermont.  

Library Monday: Tulips.

 

In honor of our visit to Skagit County, Washington to see the tulip farms last week, I thought that I would share a recent picture book discovery of ours, Tulips by Jay O'Callahan.  Tulips is the story of a mischievous little boy, Pierre, who spends his school vacations visiting with his grandmother in her cavernous French mansion.  Pierre considers himself an accomplished trickster, and puts a good deal of time and energy into the planning and execution of mildly annoying pranks.  His grandmother's house staff find his presence exhausting, but his grandmother, who Pierre has never dared play a trick on, thinks her grandson is perfectly delightful.

Other than her naughty grandson, Pierre's grandmother has one other source of joy: her picture perfect and seemingly endless tulip gardens.  Each year the gardens are planted all in one color of tulip, and when Pierre decides that the tulip gardens are the perfect place to play his first ever prank on grandmother, he gets a surprise that neither he or the reader ever saw coming.  Pierre's grandmother not only proves that she can more than keep up with his trickster ways, she manages to get the last laugh in a very satisfying way.  

I should say that I would agree with some reviewers in saying that the building of this story feels a bit slow to start, and that the character of Pierre is not terribly sympathetic. But, I also think that there is a good deal that can be said about such a well-conceived conclusion to a story, especially when it is a picture book; a genre of literature that is notoriously predictable.  The element of surprise in the ending of this book is really what makes the story, and I think that it makes it rather delightful.  

Now, a few photos of the tulip gardens that we saw on our trip last week.  Happy Monday!

 

On the Sound.

an unusually friendly peacock

Greetings from The Pacific Northwest!  We have been having a great time riding ferry boats, visiting family, beachcombing, birdwatching and of course, eating lots of great food not normally available in small city Vermont.  We made it up to Skagit County to see the tulips blooming, and I'll share pictures of that when I have a chance to upload them, but I thought I would at least pop in and share a few of the beautiful (and mostly very big) birds that we've seen so far.  

 

a bald eagle

a golden eagle (I think!)

 

a white peacock

 

Apparently we missed the migration of the trumpeter swans by only a matter of days, which is really too bad.  As surly as they are, I do enjoy a nice looking swan.  

Okay, then.  We are off to spend the day in Seattle.  I'll try to pop in with a few more pictures when I get a few moments.  In the meantime, have you been following the Earth Day posts over at The Magnifying Glass this week?  Great stuff! 

The Week That Was.

 

During the past week: 

- Dan finished up his neurology rotation.  And, effectively crossed neurology off his list of possible future specialties.

- I found myself very relieved to see the list of possible future specialties shortened, even if just by one.

- The cat learned how to open the bathroom cupboards by himself.  This is as much of a problem as you might imagine it would be.

- We finally ordered the rest of the seeds that we will need for this year's garden.  Red Kuri, edamame and two kinds of kale.  Plus a thousand other things.  Annie 2.0 and I are signed up for a community plot again this year.  

- Annie 2.0 and I realized that the frost free date for Vermont is still about six weeks away.  

- Dan and I decided that we could use a manageable family building project.  We took advantage of this sale, and ordered a few birdhouse and feeder plans to try out.

- I started teaching Mariam to knit again.  This time with yarn that I think will be better suited to her little fingers.  Also, I had some help from my friend Sarah.  Sarah is a super knitter and is also not me, so her help was well received on Mariam's end.  

- We packed our suitcase.  Mariam and I are headed to Seattle very early in the morning tomorrow.  We will spend the week visiting with my mom as well as with my biological father, who also lives in the Puget Sound area.

- I realized that I don't think I've ever told you that I'm adopted.  We should talk about that sometime.  It's at least marginally interesting.  Or, at least I think it is.  

Salamander Hunt.

 

I've been promising Mariam an afterschool salamander hunt all week long, and this afternoon I finally decided it was time to make good.  Armed with mud boots and hot chocolate, we set out to a favorite pond of hers, where she had already logged a confirmed salamander sighting earlier this week with her classmates.  

 

 

 

The amount of mud involved in our little excursion was pretty stunning.  In fact, at one point Mariam got completely stuck and we had one of those moments where one foot was dangling mid-air with the boot that belonged to it wedged into a mud pile some inches below.  We did manage to get her out though.  In case you were concerned. 

 

 

 

Apparently this little dock on the pond is a vantage point for tadpole and salamander spotting that is quite well known among the seven year old set.  But Mariam reports that it isn't normally surrounded by quite so much water and the fact of its being the one place we visited today that wasn't a complete quagmire of mud and muck was actually not a good thing.  

 

So, no luck today.  But according to field-guide Mariam, we will definitely be making further attempts. She also recommends that we search on days "above forty degrees and when it is raining." Hmn.  I see more mud boots in my future.  

Party Favors and Giveaway Winners.

We finally got around to having a proper birthday party for Mariam this past weekend. Any longtime readers are probably aware of my feelings about party favors, particularly the semi-disposable plastic variety.  If not, you can read my past  mini-rants here and here. Anyway, for this year's take home gifts for guests, I decided to make everyone a bracelet book a la Alphabet Glue.  Mariam picked color combinations from my pile of wool felt and then assigned them to the friends who she thought that they best suited. 

 

 

We put each bracelet inside a little muslin bag stamped with the recipient's name.  I had wanted to include a tiny set of crayons or colored pencils in each bag as well, but my local supply of these turned out to be out of stock the Friday before the party.  A fine reminder of just exactly why planning ahead is generally a very good thing.

In other news, winners of the 500th post giveaway have been chosen.  They are: Jill, C, K, Sarah, Edwina, Jo, MzTallulah and Michelle.  If your name is on the list, you should have received an email from me with further information.  

At the risk of being a bit repetitive, I did want to offer my sincere gratitude to you all, just one more time.  My heart was completely warmed by the sweet comments, compliments and reassurances that came in your responses to my 500th post, and I feel so very lucky to have found such a caring and supportive audience for my random outbursts.  You all are the best.  For sure. 

Puddle Jumping.

 

Spring has arrived at long last, and I believe that she plans to stay.  

We had thunderstorms yesterday morning; our first of the season.  We woke up to skies so dark that it looked like the sun hadn't even risen, and about thirty minutes later the lightning began.  Mariam isn't so much a fan of thunderstorms; she is still at the age where they can be a little bit scary.  I absolutely love them, however.  One of my favorite things about living in Vermont is the fact that we do have these huge thunderstorms that suddenly roll in and remind you that the world is much, much bigger than you are.  Come to think of it, Mariam probably dislikes thunderstorms for much the same reason.

Another upside to all this rain is the fact that our mud puddles are now much more puddle than mud.  To celebrate, some good puddle jumping was done yesterday afternoon after violin group.  Pretty good for the Monday soul.  

Puddle jumping, kite flying and wild flower gathering are all high on my list of officially endorsed springtime activities, by the way.

Library Monday: If You Find a Rock.

 

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a review of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig as part of my regular book sharing gig over at The Magnifying Glass.  This led to a bit of a discussion about stones, rocks and good books about them, which led one reader to reccommend If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian and Barbara Hirsch Lember.  

As soon as I took one look at If You Find a Rock, I knew that we would need to have a copy for our own repeated reading pleasure.  It is really and truly a lovely book.  A collection of softly colored and slightly grainy photographs paired with poetry-like prose, If You Find a Rock is a sort of alternative field-guide.  Each page focuses on a type of rock, pebble or stone that you might find, and shares an inspired idea for what to do with that particular rock.  Some rocks are skipping rocks, others are for wishing, and still others are for slipping through your fingers or for hiding delicate creatures beneath.  

I immediately loved the idea of classifying the natural world not according to common or scientific attributes, but instead according to the way that it feels when we hold it in our hands or slip it into our pockets.  This is, afterall, the way that children so often just instinctively approach their experiences of nature, and I think that we could all benefit from doing a little bit more of the same.  The beautifully chosen words and images in If You Find a Rock are excellent reminders of this.  

The Week That Was.

This past week...

- I decided that if it were offered, I would probably eat gnocchi for dinner every night.  Ricotta gnocchi. Beet gnocchi. Potato gnocchi.  Sigh.

- We saw the last of the snow in our yard melt away.  At last.  

- I drove to work behind the driver's education car from the local high school.  The bad news? I was very late for work.  The good?  America's youth are extraordinarily cautious and obey all posted traffic signs.  

- Mariam and I decided that we might just go on a serious Cynthia Rylant bender.  Finish up the Cobble Street Cousins, read the rest of the Lighthouse Family series and round the whole thing out with Gooseberry Park.  Our own version of an author study.

- I began to think a bit more about what it really means when I say that I will be leaving my teaching job to go back to graduate school in the fall.  My friend Evan, who is at the trailhead of a similar journey, puts it all in perspective much better than I ever could.  He's good like that. 

- I did one-hundred-thousand loads of laundry.  Okay, maybe not.  But it certainly felt like it.

- My friend Natalie sent me a copy of this amazing new cookbook.  Just because.  Friends are kind of the best.  And friends that know exactly what you like and send the perfect surprise at the perfect time?  Even better.  

- We discovered this live webcam.  It is from the nest of a pair of hawks who have built their home on the twelfth floor of the library at NYU.

- I had my heart totally stolen by this wonderful post from the Juniper Moon blog.  Goodness.  

 

How was your week?