The Plan: pick up my daughter Cassie at her college in Indiana and drive 14 hours to NYC to see my son Luke for Thanksgiving weekend. We will stop each way for a night in a hotel along the way because when Cassie and I drove straight through in 2007 we swore "never again!" Terry will be driving and he swore "never again" after he and I drove 24 hours straight from L.A. to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, for Christmas in 1986.
Highlights: Thanksgiving dinner, cooked by yours truly in her son's "spacious by NYC standards" but tiny for me kitchen. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will pass right by Luke's apartment building on 6th Avenue for the first time this year. Isn't that cool? I will be cooking dinner and listening for parade sounds (from the 21st floor!). I'm sure I will also run down to the lobby at least once and perhaps venture outside on the sidewalk for just a few minutes. Luke's apartment is near the end of the parade route so I'm told it will be impossibly congested. I'll be happy for just a peek.
The plan for dinner: I've been ordering monthly boxes from Angel Food Ministries for Luke this year. The food is delivered to a church a quick subway ride from his apartment and the prices are quite good compared to Manhattan grocery stores. Angel Food has a special Thanksgiving box and I ordered two, which Luke picked up Saturday. It's fun and a bit of new challenge to plan my normal Thanksgiving menu around the Angel Food selections. I will supplement with an order from Fresh Direct, a grocery delivery service. In Manhattan, convenience is everything.
What I'm taking: cooking utensils like potato masher, potato peeler, and whisk. I'm also taking a few odds and ends of ingredients that are needed for just one recipe. I'm taking a lot of foil baking pans because I don't think Luke has too many baking dishes. It will be a lot of fun to cook for Luke and several of his friends who are not going home for Thanksgiving.
What else we may do: pizza at Grimaldi's, perhaps an off-Broadway show, trip to the Met, window shopping, take the family Christmas picture, and go to mass with Luke at the church where he is attending RCIA classes this year. The weekend will pass too quickly, I'm sure.
Thankful, so very thankful.
Sandy
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Buffalo Dusk
From a fourth grade reading book, I got to teach this poem Thursday. I'm sure I enjoyed it more than my students.
I've never heard this one, have you?
I love Carl Sandburg, his Chicago "city of the big shoulders" and "the fog comes on little cat feet." I shared those with my students. Just those lines cause they're all I know.
Notice the alliteration in the middle line? Pawed..prairie...pawing...pageant?
I must confess I never paid much attention to the poetry part of my college lit class. Somehow I got an A in the class, but we all know that doesn't mean I really learned anything. Maybe I need to study poetry from a 4th grade level. Cause I really got the alliteration when it was pointed out to me in the teacher's guide.
The teacher's guide also said to ask the students to close their eyes while I read the poem aloud and ask them to see what pictures the poem brought to mind. They all got pretty vivid pictures of buffaloes. I liked that!
Sandburgh would be glad to know there is a large herd of buffaloes between my house and St. Louis. I passed them on my way to St. Louis once and did a double-take. Of course they're not roaming free like the buffaloes in the poem, but they seemed content grazing on the prairie grass.
I saw the buffaloes.
Blessings,
Sandy
I've never heard this one, have you?
I love Carl Sandburg, his Chicago "city of the big shoulders" and "the fog comes on little cat feet." I shared those with my students. Just those lines cause they're all I know.
Buffalo Dusk
The buffaloes are gone.
And those who saw the buffaloes are gone.
Those who saw the buffaloes by thousands and how they pawed the prairie sod into dust with their hoofs, their great heads down pawing on in a great pageant of dusk,
Those who saw the buffaloes are gone.
And the buffaloes are gone.
Notice the alliteration in the middle line? Pawed..prairie...pawing...pageant?
I must confess I never paid much attention to the poetry part of my college lit class. Somehow I got an A in the class, but we all know that doesn't mean I really learned anything. Maybe I need to study poetry from a 4th grade level. Cause I really got the alliteration when it was pointed out to me in the teacher's guide.
The teacher's guide also said to ask the students to close their eyes while I read the poem aloud and ask them to see what pictures the poem brought to mind. They all got pretty vivid pictures of buffaloes. I liked that!
Sandburgh would be glad to know there is a large herd of buffaloes between my house and St. Louis. I passed them on my way to St. Louis once and did a double-take. Of course they're not roaming free like the buffaloes in the poem, but they seemed content grazing on the prairie grass.
I saw the buffaloes.
Blessings,
Sandy
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Two Weeks
Guess where I'm going for Thanksgiving?
Go ahead, guess.
Here's a few hints:
He will be there.
So will she.
My wonderful husband is the primary driver for the trip.
Our destination doesn't look anything like the land around Maple Grove.
We might see this.
We might go here.
We may eat here.
More tomorrow, if you haven't guessed already.
Blessings,
Sandy
Go ahead, guess.
Here's a few hints:
He will be there.
So will she.
My wonderful husband is the primary driver for the trip.
Our destination doesn't look anything like the land around Maple Grove.
We might see this.
We might go here.
We may eat here.
More tomorrow, if you haven't guessed already.
Blessings,
Sandy
Monday, November 09, 2009
Weekend
We spent an unusually busy weekend here at Maple Grove and loved every minute of it. I've battled a pesky cough all week but didn't let it slow me this weekend.
Saturday afternoon, we helped our good friends pack and move. Terry tells an old joke, "there are friends, good friends, and friends you will help move." We are now "moving kind of friends" with John & Abbie. Their 4 year old son entertained us while we worked and we enjoyed our time together. The adage is true, when you help others you are blessed.
Saturday evening we joined old friends for a birthday party dinner. We used to spend holidays with this family but over the years had drifted apart. We remembered how much fun we always had together as we played "Fact or Crap". (Trivial Pursuit is our old favorite but the hostess didn't have the game.) Good times, good friends.
Sunday morning I went to mass and finally re-introduced myself to a woman I know at church. We worked together on an audit fifteen years ago. When I spoke to her, she said, "I thought that was you, but I didn't think you were Catholic." "I'm not," I replied and then we visited for about five minutes. I'm glad I did. Have I ever admitted how painfully shy I can be?
Sunday evening, Terry and I drove an hour to attend a Buddy Guy concert. Terry loves the blues and this summer spent a lot of time (when he was contemplating retirement, remember?) listening and learning a lot of blues. When he heard Buddy Guy was going to be so close, we had to go. We laughed about leaving our house at 6:00 to go to a concert that didn't start until 9:00 our time. It was wonderful. Guy is a gifted guitarist whose energy and stage presence are incredible. He's 73 years old! He left the stage to come down into the audience and eventually stood within five feet of our seats.
To top it all off, the weather was so beautiful here all weekend. Best we've had in over a month.
Blessings,
Sandy
Saturday afternoon, we helped our good friends pack and move. Terry tells an old joke, "there are friends, good friends, and friends you will help move." We are now "moving kind of friends" with John & Abbie. Their 4 year old son entertained us while we worked and we enjoyed our time together. The adage is true, when you help others you are blessed.
Saturday evening we joined old friends for a birthday party dinner. We used to spend holidays with this family but over the years had drifted apart. We remembered how much fun we always had together as we played "Fact or Crap". (Trivial Pursuit is our old favorite but the hostess didn't have the game.) Good times, good friends.
Sunday morning I went to mass and finally re-introduced myself to a woman I know at church. We worked together on an audit fifteen years ago. When I spoke to her, she said, "I thought that was you, but I didn't think you were Catholic." "I'm not," I replied and then we visited for about five minutes. I'm glad I did. Have I ever admitted how painfully shy I can be?
Sunday evening, Terry and I drove an hour to attend a Buddy Guy concert. Terry loves the blues and this summer spent a lot of time (when he was contemplating retirement, remember?) listening and learning a lot of blues. When he heard Buddy Guy was going to be so close, we had to go. We laughed about leaving our house at 6:00 to go to a concert that didn't start until 9:00 our time. It was wonderful. Guy is a gifted guitarist whose energy and stage presence are incredible. He's 73 years old! He left the stage to come down into the audience and eventually stood within five feet of our seats.
To top it all off, the weather was so beautiful here all weekend. Best we've had in over a month.
Blessings,
Sandy
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Life after Baseball
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
We watched every game of the World Series, at least the first five or six innings. Congratulations, Yankees fans. Luke was at Yankee stadium when they clinched the pennant against the Angels and really enjoyed the celebration. He sat in the bleachers, which he says is a world unto itself.
It was a great baseball season! Wait til next year, Cardinals fans.
I've been busy with my college work and substitute teaching two or three days a week. I've taught a lot of high school classes lately, which is good because it will count toward a college class.
Most interesting recent substitute moment:
I substituted for a first grade teacher last week. I've written before about the younger grades being a big challenge for me. Something I read in one of my college textbooks really helped me. The text had a case study where a teacher took over mid-year for a second grade class with poor discipline. Four teachers wrote suggestions for what the teacher should do to establish control. One of them mentioned taking time to sit down with the class every morning and reinforce the rules and expectations for behavior. The teacher suggested taking lots of time to establish boundaries and discipline in the first few weeks even if it meant not getting all the work done because it would pay off in the long run as the class would settle in to the expected behavior and be able to learn more later.
In the first grade class, there is a "morning math meeting" each day where students review the calendar and other daily routines set up in Saxon math. (I am thankful all the elementary schools where I teach use Saxon. I like it and it is very easy for a substitute to step in and teach because it is scripted and very well-organized.) Before we started the math meeting, I took a couple of minutes to remind the students that I was not Mrs. M, their regular teacher, and I might do things a little differently than she does. I told them I was familiar with her routine but if I forgot something or did something differently, it would be OK for that day. I gave them a signal I would use when they needed to be quiet and I talked about my expectations for a great day. You know what? It worked! We had a very good day and the kids responded really well to the quiet signal. Whew!
We've been enjoying the beautiful fall colors here and the crisp, cool weather. It's soup time in our house! Chili, potato soup, split pea soup, and chicken noodle soup all in the past week. All made from scratch (well, the chili uses canned chili beans and canned tomatoes). Mmm good.
What is your favorite soup?
Blessings,
Sandy
We watched every game of the World Series, at least the first five or six innings. Congratulations, Yankees fans. Luke was at Yankee stadium when they clinched the pennant against the Angels and really enjoyed the celebration. He sat in the bleachers, which he says is a world unto itself.
It was a great baseball season! Wait til next year, Cardinals fans.
I've been busy with my college work and substitute teaching two or three days a week. I've taught a lot of high school classes lately, which is good because it will count toward a college class.
Most interesting recent substitute moment:
I substituted for a first grade teacher last week. I've written before about the younger grades being a big challenge for me. Something I read in one of my college textbooks really helped me. The text had a case study where a teacher took over mid-year for a second grade class with poor discipline. Four teachers wrote suggestions for what the teacher should do to establish control. One of them mentioned taking time to sit down with the class every morning and reinforce the rules and expectations for behavior. The teacher suggested taking lots of time to establish boundaries and discipline in the first few weeks even if it meant not getting all the work done because it would pay off in the long run as the class would settle in to the expected behavior and be able to learn more later.
In the first grade class, there is a "morning math meeting" each day where students review the calendar and other daily routines set up in Saxon math. (I am thankful all the elementary schools where I teach use Saxon. I like it and it is very easy for a substitute to step in and teach because it is scripted and very well-organized.) Before we started the math meeting, I took a couple of minutes to remind the students that I was not Mrs. M, their regular teacher, and I might do things a little differently than she does. I told them I was familiar with her routine but if I forgot something or did something differently, it would be OK for that day. I gave them a signal I would use when they needed to be quiet and I talked about my expectations for a great day. You know what? It worked! We had a very good day and the kids responded really well to the quiet signal. Whew!
We've been enjoying the beautiful fall colors here and the crisp, cool weather. It's soup time in our house! Chili, potato soup, split pea soup, and chicken noodle soup all in the past week. All made from scratch (well, the chili uses canned chili beans and canned tomatoes). Mmm good.
What is your favorite soup?
Blessings,
Sandy
Sunday, November 01, 2009
It's your birthday
Twenty-two years ago, also on a Sunday, my son Lucas was born. Nothing could have prepared me for the cataclysmic change of motherhood. It was wonderful!
Luke,
I wish you peace and happiness.
I wish you wisdom and guidance for your life, so full of promise
I wish you many winning Cardinal baseball seasons
I wish you love, joy, and kindness
I wish you God's richest blessings
Thanks for being such a wonderful young man and terrific son
Thanks for following God's leading, wherever it takes you
Thanks for sharing baseball obsession with me
Thanks for the music in our lives
Thanks for the joy you bring
Love and Happy Birthday!
Mom
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Use it up, wear it out
This post by Headmistress at The Common Room set me to thinking about the oldest things I own. Here are the few oldest that came to mind. Note I am not talking about the age of the object, as in antiques I've purchased at auctions, but the age of the object as in how long I've owned it or can trace it directly to a family member.
Sears food processor circa 1979. I use it several times a year and it still works though it's missing the part that holds down the stuff you are chopping. My brother Alan gave it to me as a gift for my first marriage.
Barbie doll clothes case filled with handmade doll clothing, for regular sized dolls, and two doll-bed sized quilts all made by my mom as a Christmas gift for me in 1965 or '66. I gave them to Cassie in 1996. They are in storage in our basement awaiting her daughters-to-be.
Two dresses sewed by my Mom (seeing a theme here?) when I was a teenager. Cassie wore one for a Halloween costume a couple of years ago.
NOEL candle figurines purchased by my Grandma in the 1940s. How I treasure them.
A tiny photograph of my Dad, taken when he was in Germany during WWII. I have no idea how I wound up with this but I'm so glad I did.
The tea set purchased by my Mom for her brother and his wife in 1947. Aunt Myrtle sent this to me last summer, much to my delight.
Hand-pieced, hand-quilted quilts made by each of my Grandmas. The one made by Grandma H., who died in 1976 and made the quilt at least a couple of years before then, is very worn. We use quilts in my family and this one has been washed many, many times over the years.
Aprons, pillowcases, tablecloths and rugs made by my Grandma Smith. They were made from the 1960s to the 1980s.
All of these things, except the tea set and the things made by Grandma Smith, were packed around by me and moved nine times from 1981 until 1996 when they settled with us here at Maple Grove. There were a few things lost along the way including a set of Grandma H.'s dishes which were smashed in shipment during our move back from California in 1987.
What are the oldest items you have?
Blessings,
Sandy
Sears food processor circa 1979. I use it several times a year and it still works though it's missing the part that holds down the stuff you are chopping. My brother Alan gave it to me as a gift for my first marriage.
Barbie doll clothes case filled with handmade doll clothing, for regular sized dolls, and two doll-bed sized quilts all made by my mom as a Christmas gift for me in 1965 or '66. I gave them to Cassie in 1996. They are in storage in our basement awaiting her daughters-to-be.
Two dresses sewed by my Mom (seeing a theme here?) when I was a teenager. Cassie wore one for a Halloween costume a couple of years ago.
NOEL candle figurines purchased by my Grandma in the 1940s. How I treasure them.
A tiny photograph of my Dad, taken when he was in Germany during WWII. I have no idea how I wound up with this but I'm so glad I did.
The tea set purchased by my Mom for her brother and his wife in 1947. Aunt Myrtle sent this to me last summer, much to my delight.
Hand-pieced, hand-quilted quilts made by each of my Grandmas. The one made by Grandma H., who died in 1976 and made the quilt at least a couple of years before then, is very worn. We use quilts in my family and this one has been washed many, many times over the years.
Aprons, pillowcases, tablecloths and rugs made by my Grandma Smith. They were made from the 1960s to the 1980s.
All of these things, except the tea set and the things made by Grandma Smith, were packed around by me and moved nine times from 1981 until 1996 when they settled with us here at Maple Grove. There were a few things lost along the way including a set of Grandma H.'s dishes which were smashed in shipment during our move back from California in 1987.
What are the oldest items you have?
Blessings,
Sandy
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