Christmas Poetry

One of my favorite short verses regarding Christmas comes from Madeleine L'Engle.

This is the irrational season
Where love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There'd have been no room for the child.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

On Not Posting

It's been more than a month.

I have no excuse.

Well, actually I do, but it's lame.

I've been busy. - Right - just like everyone else on the planet.

I've found that blogging is like anything else - if you fall out of the routine it's hard to get back into it - and when there are Christmas plays to go to and concerts to attend and cookies to bake and Christmas card pictures to take - other things tend to fall by the way side.

Perhaps my New Years Resolution will be to get back in the habit of writing (here and my fiction as well.)

But anyway, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth - in case anyone was wondering.

Merry Christmas from our House to Yours

Okay - so this isn't the picture we used for our card - but it does seem to capture the essence of getting ready for the holiday around here - everyone is excited and a little out of focus!

Poetry Friday - Friend Edition

Today I want to share one of my favorite poems - one whose imagery has stuck with me from the time I first read it in high school. And not only is it one of my favorite poems - but bonus - it was written by one of my favorite people.

I Saw God Today
by Liz B

I saw God today.
He reached down
With a hand of ribboned sunlight
Through dark forbidding clouds
To touch the earth.

The light rays pushed back the clouds
To reveal the sun
And its brightness filled me
Then my room
Making me smile inside.

I saw God today.
Gold filtered down
Encompassing the sky and earth
Like loving arms; and with that
He returned my smile.

Now - I'm not going to say when this was written (if Liz wants to share those details it's up to her) - but I do have the author's permission to use it for Poetry Friday. Thanks, Liz.

Simple is Best

The kids and I have been straightening the attic (I know based on the picture from the other day, maybe we ought to concentrate on other rooms - but so be it) and once we cleared a bit of space, they decided it made a neat club house.

Fine - go play in the attic - just don't fall through the ceiling is all I ask (there is not flooring over about half of the attic).

They found a shoe box up there that had remnants of toys from my youth in the seventies. I had looked in it yesterday - it was the flotsam of a generation - some Action Jackson clothes, a vest for a Flatsy doll, a wooden "Dish" from a "Cow Jumped over the Moon" mobile - and a plastic top that once came out of a box of Trix cereal. I had put the box aside to deal with later.

They came downstairs a few minutes ago and announced that they found the coolest toy.

"It's a Trix Top and it does tricks." They said, full of excitement. "When you spin it - it wobbles some and then flips over so it's spinning on it's other side. It's Soooo Cool."

They demonstrated the toy for me.

"You had the best toys," they said with a sigh and headed back upstairs.

They have computer games and stuffed animals that respond when you pet them. Trust me - they have lots of cool toys.

I guess it just goes to show you - sometimes simple is best.

The Day After

So, yesterday I walked into the living room and this is what I saw.

It was like a candy store and a comic book store had collided with each other.

In case you can't tell - there's a second pile of candy under the piano against the back wall.

Oh well, I guess it's a kids paradise.

But - it did get cleaned up.

Trick or Treat

Holiday Creep

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (cue music)

What? Don't tell me you haven't noticed all the Christmas decorations in the stores. And it's still not Halloween yet.

The retailers say they do this so that it will get people in the mood to spend for Christmas. And while I love Christmas and do buy presents, and it's fun to see the first decorations of the season - I don't want to see them in September.

And the same goes for other holidays (and big sales events too.)

For example putting Back To School supplies in the stores the week after the kids get out of school is just plain cruel. At least let them get a chance to sleep in a few days first.

And Halloween candy - it's been on display in our grocery stores since August. I'm not buying my Halloween candy in August - thank you very much.

The problem is that it becomes invisible to me. I have to ignore it because it is just so ridiculous. And then, it's October 20 something and I realize I still need Halloween candy. It becomes such a habit to ignore it that the fact that I do eventually have to buy it slips my mind.

Now, I'm not likely to forget that I need to get Christmas presents - but I would appreciate the first decorations of the season so much more if they were - you know - actually seasonal. Jack Frost nipping at the nose - the leaves off the trees - and ooh look there are Christmas decorations in the store. Instead I find myself sighing and saying "already?" And then by the time Thanksgiving rolls around the decorations are looking faded and old. We're tired of them already - and we still have a month to go.

Oh well. That's just my little rant for the day.

And Merry Christmas - oops, I mean Happy Halloween (so hard to keep track anymore.)

Still Here

I haven't posted in awhile, because, basically I've had nothing too interesting to say. Hopefully that will change soon.

That Grey Area

This evening, my husband was discussing something with me, and handed me an article to read on the topic. "It's a bit of a grey area," he said.

Our son piped up then, "of course it's a grey area, that paper is all in black and white."

So there.

Poetry Friday

In honor of the winds that blew in the cold temperatures last night, here's a little Robert Louis Stevenson:

Windy Nights
Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?

Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

Apple Picking

A couple of weeks ago we took advantage of a relatively free weekend and took the kids apple picking. This has become an annual tradition. One that we've perfected over time. We discovered an orchard that uses dwarf trees and trains them on wires, like grape vines. It makes it so that all of the apples are easy to reach - by everyone. It doesn't take long at all to acquire forty pounds of apples - that's a lot of apple pies, apple cakes, apple pancakes, and just plain snacking apples.



The other part of our annual outing is to take a walk to Pennsylvania.

That's not as hard as it sounds.

We go to Washington Crossing State Park and explore a little history. The park is actually on both sides of the Delaware River, and there is a bridge there with a sidewalk on it. We wander the New Jersey side, discuss Washington crossing the Delaware, sometimes check out the Ferry House if it's open, and then take our walk to Pennsylvania, where there is a little shop selling Revolutionary era goodies - and cheap candy. The kids get candy and we explore some on the PA side before returning home.


The kids on the walk back to NJ.


This year we got a late start, the Ferry House was closed when we got there, and it started to drizzle when we got to the PA side, so the trip was shorter than most. But it was still lots of fun.

And my kids love history - one year we learned that George Washington's favorite candy was rock candy. Made eating it that much more fun.

Why do they save the hard questions till late

when you are too tired to think straight and just want them to go to bed? That was the scenario yesterday, when my son said, "I didn't know the church was a woman."

Okay, I thought of "Holy Mother Church," and I made some comment on how we tend to think of it that way.

And he continued, "because the priest is married to the church."

Right - well, that's pretty true, I suppose, and as the Church as the Bride of Christ was mentioned yesteray at Mass, I think. I said "Yes, it is like he is married to the church, but it is also like he is married to God in a way."

"But a man can't marry another man," he answered.

Ummm - yes, I wimped out on the answer. "Right, I said, now go to bed," I said.

Thanks for the Suggestions

We're off to the library to look up some of the books recommended for S both here and at Liz's place. Thanks to everyone. I'll let you know what ones he likes.

Poetry Friday - Harvest Moon edition

Last night I was washing dishes and looked outside and saw a beautiful full moon. Then I remembered it was the Harvest Moon. I called the kids outside to look at it. It was beautiful. My daughter, who is learning about weather in her Enrichment class said the moon was so bright because of the angle between the moon and the sun.

I decided to honor the beautiful sight with the following poem.

Under the Harvest Moon
By Carl Sandburg

Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers.

The rest of the poem can be read here.

Revision Progress Update

I finished my revision - now I just need to see if it needs any more sprucing up before the novel is out in circulation again and looking for a publisher.

Two things I learned during the process:

1) lots of good ideas for other projects present themselves when you can't work on them - and dissipate when you can.

2) don't read anything by Meg Cabot while in final revision - everything she does is so spot on, it makes me simply want to throw in the towel.

Looking for Suggestions

My son is currently interested in the middle ages. I was wondering if anyone knows of any good boy adventure stories set in the middle ages that are at a middle grade reading level - but have a content appropriate for a first grader. He's read The Arthur chapter book "King Arthur" and the Magic Tree House book set in the middle ages. He's read the first two Harry Potter books, so is up for a challenge. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

Poetry Friday

My daughter does not consider herself much of a poet. She is more of a prose writer - but in language arts this year she's going to have to write a lot of poems. I think her first effort for the year is a lot of fun, so I'm sharing it on Poetry Friday.

My Pencil
by KRM (age 9)

My pencil is tall and new
And unfortunately his brains are few.
I sharpen his dull head to a point.
Now my pencil is smaller,
Not taller.
He likes to write a lot.
Now my pencil needs to get smart.
He sharpens himself again.
If this continues,
Where will my pencil be?
As short as a short fat bee!

I'll try to add links later.

Banned Book Week

It's Banned Book Week - a week during which the ALA tries to raise awareness of books that have been challenged, mainly in libraries and schools.

Now banning books conjures up images of book burning and oppresive regimes.

And book banning is bad.

Okay - that said - this is really about books that parents or community members (usually a small group) don't want their children - or any children to have access to. Focus on the Family protests that calling this banning books is going too far.

But not allowing access to anyone because of a personal problem with something, is not right. No one is forcing you to read a certain book.

Ah - but what about when they are? Some books that are challenged are on required reading lists. If a parent thinks that a book is too mature for their ninth grader, do they get to have a say? Saying "I don't want my child to have to read this" and saying "I don't want my child or any child to have access to this" are two different things.

Unfortunately those two things tend to get lumped together - making it so that some people can point to extreme examples of children being required to read books that have extremely mature content - and others to say that people are trying to ban Clifford the Big Red Dog.

It's really two different arguments. Parents of elementary school children and young teens should have some say in what their children are reading. It's part of being a responsible parent. And notice I say "their children" and "some say". Notice I also said "young teens", I think older teens should be allowed to make their own decisions without interference.

However people don't have a right to say "I don't like this - no one should be allowed to read it."

There are a lot of different views of the world, and a lot of different experiences people have had. Reading about them is one way for our children, and ourselves to learn about the world. If you start restricting what can be read, you restrict what can be learned.

So celebrate banned book week - by reading a book. Any book - and be glad you have the right to.

Fun at the Bookstore

Well, we had our adventure yesterday. The kids and I got to meet Jennifer L. Holm at a book signing. She was promoting her new book, Penny from Heaven, a wonderful account of one girl's growing up in the 50s in New Jersey. That girl, by the way, was based on her mother - who was there last night. Very cool.

We were late for the reading because a make-up Hockey game ended up being scheduled for last night - but we did get to hear the end of the question and answer session.

Jennifer has also written the Babymouse books, which my kids practically have memorized, they've read them so many times.

And Jennifer was so very nice and charming. She signed four books for us and posed for a picture with my son and daughter.

An added bonus was we got to see Liz. It's always a good day when that happens. And, since I was the one holding the camera - that's Liz getting her book signed last night.

So, thanks to Liz for telling us about this event and thanks to Jennifer for being so great and gracious. And thanks too to my Mom who went with us and informed me that the Barnes and Noble in Holmdel had moved to the other side of the street since the last time I was there.