Happy 21st Birthday S1

In honor of his birthday I am reprinting one of his college essays. (The errors in it are mine like the (1) -I don't know how to make a footnote on the computer.)


I see the world through two eyes; one is reason and one is beauty, and only in the middle do the two visions intersect and join the two ideas into harmony, but only for a moment as I look up into the stars. Through reason I see the world, it's workings, its equations, its method; I feel its temperatures, its textures and it all comes together in that perfect formula, matching up variable for variable. And I see it through beauty and see not form nor frame, but color and composition and the music behind it all. I see the relationship to man, to meaning, and I place it among the sky. But it looks bluer when the two see one and lights the room like candles combining as a flame.

Reason sees the world hollow from meaning and in shades of gray. It sees angles, shapes, movements, changes and answers man's longings. But it is lonely and wishes for more, that unobtainable suggestion to an existence beyond the numbers; the only potential question with no words worth its gold.

Beauty cares little for the grades but makes the body cast itself open so the music feels better. It focuses the senses and guides the mind and finds the rhythm in very object. It's what positions the camera and places the brush in all those aesthetic places which have no reason but to be loved, feeding the anxious heart as it throbs deep in the throat and pushes the tears to dry in sweet salty memory. But too this eye is dimmed without partner and begs to understand the motions of the spheres.

The two seekers meet across the nose and see the world as the shadows part. The grays turn to green, the light grows first scaring the eyes behind the lids but to only widen and thaw the music from man's glory. It rains low through the mountains and where valleys do grow and echo across the plains. In this perfect harmony, both understand the loss once unknown, where Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty (1).

I want music; I want books; I want life. And morning will come, then all will be seen with Reason and Beauty awoken in awe staring across that ocean.

(1) Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats

I am getting

up early tomorrow to head south on an airplane to see my parents.

I love to travel and visit with friends and family but leaving home is hard. When I was little I would stand in my room and say goodbye to everything. I no longer do that but the poignant feeling is still there just the same.

I will be back on Monday. Husband and Heinz will hold down the fort together and when I get home there will be new windows on our back room. More light in a house that can be a little dark. Am looking forward to that.

Advice for my brother.

As the mother of an 18 year old and soon to be 21 year old, I have been thinking about what kind of advice to give my brother - who will become a dad in the next couple of months. As an older sister I feel that I should have some sort of wisdom to give the musician and his wife (never mind that she has 3 sisters to give her advice also!)

The world is full of people who want to give advice to young parents - you must . . . . breastfeed, never use formula, only use formula sparingly, use cloth diapers, never have a child that misbehaves in public (hahaha), never give your child sweets, make your own baby food etc. The list is long and full of possible life long guilt feelings.

So I wanted to think of something that I felt meaningful. There had to be some thoughtful words that my brother has not heard yet from anyone. An experience that I had that he need not repeat. But what?

I have come up with 2.

The first is to keep your deadbolt locks on your outside doors locked at all times and wear the keys in your pocket - keep them out of the lock. Children learn how to open a door faster than you ever imagine they will. . I thought that my boys would have to be a certain age before they could handle a door. Wrong for both of them. Luckily they were both in the front yard.

The second is to never leave your child and his friend out on the front porch painting great works of art with orange paint while you run into the house for just a second. Enough said.

Popular Sunbeam

Glowing in the Sunbeam

Wishbone

Some moments of the week

A little thrifting this week. I came up with a small Easter basket, another basket for sewing and some cloth napkins.
The baby shower for my sister-in-law was today and this is the quilt that I sent. The fabric top was not pieced together by me but instead came from a bolt from the fabric store, I used Warm and Natural batting - which I have fallen in love with and backed and trimmed the quilt with a green and white pinstripe flannel. It was tacked together with white and green dmc floss.

A good day measured by a four year old boy.

**Disclaimer
Teachers with their students are like parents with their children - we find things funny that no one else does. What is hard to convey are the facial expressions, body movement etc that go along with the words - that is what makes the situations truly comical.

Mrs. _____ I have to go pee. - said by dancing child.

Well go then. - replied teacher with urgency as she did not want to clean up the floor.


Child comes back and announces to class with a smile on his face.

Hey everyone - that was a good pee!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today was party day - doesn't every class celebrate being Irish?

We made vanilla pudding and added green food coloring. Then a little Keebler elf cookie was added. Oh so cute. Then there were green grapes, cupcakes, and pretzels that had the word Gold on the front of the bag.

But the cutest of all was that a leprechaun brought us gold. Well, actually he made us find it. After second circle we lined up to wash hands for snack and found a letter on the floor - in an envelope (a few weeks ago we did a letter writing unit). Oh the excitement. The leprechaun had us go outside to see if we could find the gold out there. Then he had us go to two other rooms and ask the teachers in the room if they had our gold. Then at the end of the letter he asked to go and talk to the school secretary (the mom of one of our students). She looked and looked and found the gold for us on her desk.

Oh the squeals. And then the louder squeals when it was discovered that the gold was chocolate coins.

May they always find a little magic in life!!

Winter's Last Gasp?

Snoopy and I went for a walk this afternoon, trying to soak in the warmth before the rain and snow comes tomorrow night. We ran into a Golden out for a walk which very graciously allowed Snoopy a few sniffs so that he could see that this Golden was not Maxine.

Snoopy the Magnificent was still a little upset. He wanted to get to know this dog.

But what he doesn't know is this -

As of last Thursday he is a big brother. For a puppy was born, more yellow than golden. And in about 6 weeks Bella the Beautiful will be coming home ready for him to play with and love on. Can't wait!!

Best Friends

These two spend a lot of time together.

Spring Break

They're back!!!

Choices

Yesterday two guys that S1 knew in high school were on television.

One guy because of a shooting rampage that he went on a year ago. There were 14 counts of shooting into occupied cars, an occupied house and other things. The occupied house belonged to the family of S1's girlfriend. And no, he did not know who lived in the house. It was random. As was the entire thing - random and stupid. Video of him in court - pleading guilty - was on the 6:00 news. His parents were sitting on a bench as they watched their son plead guilty and then get carted back to jail to await sentencing. Minimum sentence - 28 years. Max - 150.

The other guy wants to be a model I guess because that was the show he was on last night. Which one was he? - the one that looked like a deer caught in headlights at the end of the show as it looked like he might be the one going home (but he didn't).

At the end of the day yesterday one set of parents watched all of their hopes and dreams for their son go down the drain. And another set is still looking toward the future

Flat Stanley

My class is heavily into Flat Stanley right now. I started a journal for the class that each child and their family write in when Flat Stanley (which I made) comes to visit their house. It's so cute it hurts. Pictures of Flat Stanley dressed in pj's, FS making snow angels, eating dinner, meeting the family pets, being buckled into the car. The families have just embraced it and one dad mentioned about how much fun it was.

One child felt that FS should have flat food. Makes sense. So she made the food above. The square on the left is about an inch long. It's a ham and cheese sandwich!! I love my class!

Little Walk in the Big Woods

Snoopy and I only walked half the distance today. Ice was already forming on parts of the trail from earlier melting. But it was enchanting.

Snoopy and his Shadow

A Marshmallow World

4-5 inches of snow last night. A dry snow. The wind is blowing it around now.