Snoodle

This Day Last Year it Wasn't

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November.

All the rest have thirty-one

All except the second one

Which alone has tweny-nine

When comes Leap Year in its time.

Every four years, I try to remember why we do this Leap Year thing.  It's the ancient Egyptians who figured out that the the calendar-year and the wonky Earth-year don't match up.  It takes 365.2422 days for the Earth to orbit the Sun.  That's 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to be exact.  So, Julius Caesar and his astronomer Sosigenes came up with a 365 day calendar with months alternating between 30 and 31 days.  An extra day was sometimes added to the last month of the year which was February. 

What's more interesting is why February is such a short month now.   Julius Caesar's calendar had a 30 day February.  When Caesar Agustus became emperor, his month (August) only had 30 days while his predecessor Julius' month ( July) had 31.  The Senate decided that the two months should be equal and took a day for August so it would equal July.  To even things out, February got the short end.

Here's how I like to think of things:

Thirty days hath September.

All the rest I can't remember.

The calendar hangs on the wall;

Why bother me with this at all?

"Leap year is never a good sheep year."  - Old Scottish saying (Baah)

 

Happy Birthday, Jim Henson

 

Few people have left a legacy like Jim Henson.   I wonder if I would have been a teacher without knowing at a young age that it was possible to have fun while learning.  At every age, there was a special fondness for Muppets.  When my parents bought a color console tv, I was thrilled that I would get to see Big Bird - BIG and in color!  I attribute much of my early learning to catchy Sesame Street tunes.  

 

 

 

 While "too old" to see Follow That Bird  I recall the excitement of my big sister taking me to the movie theater and I'm pretty sure I was her excuse to go.  The Labyrinth was by far the coolest movie I watched as a teenager.  While dating my now husband (who taught me that the Goblin king actually had other material), there was a lot of Fraggle Rock watching. I think I fell in love discussing the finer points of the Minstrels.  

Then, we got married and had a baby who had this poster in her room since before she was born.

and her first plate was mine as a child.  She used to point to the letters of her name in the alphabet around the rim.  I thought it was funny that I could find it in this old photo.

When Nora was a young child, there was always an internal struggle with my desire to keep her media-free and my desire to share the Muppets with her.  Ultimately, the Muppets won and the first television that she ever watched was The Muppet Family Christmas just after we had decorated our tree. 

She didn't watch Sesame Street until the Old School DVDs came out and we've nearly wore a hole in them.  She still doesn't watch much television... lately, there's been only The Andy Griffith Show and The Muppet Show.  She loves Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Orchestra.  Just this afternoon, she was  rocking out to Can You Picture That?  Oh Yeahhhhhhh!

 

..and mama has a blog *Snoodle*  A word I learned from Jim Henson's The Storyteller (Hans My Hedgehog).

The mother  in the tale says,

"I want a baby to wrap in a bundle and sing to and snoodle with and hug to bits"

Later Hans says,

"I want you for my princess of sweetness and cherry pie.  I want to catch you up and sing to you and snoodle you and hug you to bits."

Here's the whole episode:

 

As Nora describes it:  "A snoodle is an important kind of cuddle."

It's important and cuddly to those who need it - from a baby to an adult.  We all could use a little snoodle now and again.  Thanks, Jim, for inspiring so many snoodles, so many happy memories, so many lives from the young to the old.

Happy 75th Birthday, Jim.

From,

The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

 

Oh Yes, the Blog.

Some people are daily bloggers.  I imagine them waking up, brewing some coffee or tea, feeding the cat, and settling into a husband-made wooden chair to muse on life by the glow of the rising sun and the computer screen before the children wake and their day is filled with serene knitting, joyful trips to explore ferns and mushrooms, and cooking something gluten-free.  They're out there, but I'm not one of them.  I would love to be a daily blogger, a stay-at-home mother, a master seamstress, someone who knows what to do with a spatula.  But I'm not.  I'm not a daily blogger, or a weekly blogger, and as I look at the date of my last post,  I don't even know if I'm a monthly blogger.  But I'm willing to do better.  I'm not sure if I could be any worse! 

While I have not posted any evidence since the seasons have turned, we have indeed been having a fabulous summer.  For the fourteenth year, we cooked for the Millbrook Bonsai Society's Bonsai BBQ.  The weather was perfect.  It was a Spring of record rain, and it remained dry for the whole event, but it wasn't too hot behind the grill.  Nora used her camera to take pictures of nature: coy and bonsai trees... not your Vermont flora and fauna, but she also made careful notes in her nature journal about the lilies and the snake we discovered by the hoses near the greenhouse.

We also took a trip to visit with my nephew who was on leave.  It was a great opportunity to see the goats and the new little goatlings!  ...and the rabbits, the chickens, the quail, the horses, sheep, and the labrador.

We celebrated Father's Day by stating the obvious...

from the Bold Banana on Etsy

Of course, we also went to the Vermont Quilt Festival.  Nora's favorite was the horse quilt (who would have guessed?!) called "Summer Dreams" it was quilted by Angela Miller of Williston, VT.  

Another mutual favorite, which Nora dubbed the "confetti quilt," was crafted by Philea A. Spear of Waitsfield, VT in 1909 when she was eighty-four years old.  She recorded (thank you, Philea!) that it took 12, 976 pieces of material.  Those are some teeny pieces!  The quilt was donated to the Vermont Historical Society by Lettie Belding Palmer.

We celebrated an exceptional graduation.  My sister-in-law, Wenda, while growing the farm as seen above, working as a dental hygienist, mothering 3 children,  caring for her own mother, interning at a vineyard, and remaining pretty much awesome, maintained a rigorous university schedule and graduated in plant and soil science.  Yea!  She chose not to walk with her class, so the family surprised her at the annual Fourth of July celebration with a graduation!  She was, indeed, surprised.  Eleanor was thrilled to be the "flower girl" and present her with a bouquet.  We couldn't be more proud of this accomplishment... and are quite pleased that she will continue working at the vineyard!

My other sister-in-law, from New York, brought big ol' rocks from a quarry where she has been regularly been digging for fossils.  All of the children got a chance to carefully tap into the layers to find fossils.  There were many to be found, and Nora came home with a box of 'em.  Yup, that's what this house needs:  More rocks!  Nora has been especially interested in the trilobites and has them proudly displayed throughout the house.  David is abundantly happy that she shares his love for archeology.

Being Independence Day and considering that it's been years (yes, plural) that I've been on the sailboat, I finally got my chance!  Unfortunately, before we even got out of the mooring, David untied a sail, hit me in the face with it, and my sunglasses sailed in the air and landed in the water.  For a moment of insanity, he considered diving in for them.  But alas, they are gone.  I like to imagine that there is some sturgeon under there who is now wearing them and can more easily see her fishy world as they were, of course, prescription.  But it was one of those moments when it's quickly clear that there's nothing to be done (with the exception of a bit of squinting) and it was far too beautiful a day to complain.  It was a glorious sail!

My favorite part of Independence Day (besides the freedoms that we still enjoy) is the fireworks!  We saw a glorious display at the Burlington waterfront which curiously happens on the third.  That allowed us to see more on the fourth from my parents' back deck.  Sadly, they lost a large tree in the yard last year, but it really opened the sky to view.  The fireworks were set off in the neighboring town, and I was still able to capture some great images.

We took yet another trip to the Shelburne Museum.  Nora wanted to visit Nora, the blacksmith, who we've seen the past couple of years.  She wasn't working, but the blacksmith who was shared copious information about horseshoes...and bees!  It turns out that he is a well-known beekeeper and after reflecting on it, we realized that we had seen him before at the Fair parading with a bee smoker.  He was easy to remember as he's a long-gray-bearded-blacksmith-looking-guy: everything you want in a beekeeper!  He talked about his teaching style -who knew there were different beekeeping teaching styles?!  I totally want to take a workshop with him.  He warned me that I'd have to learn quickly and keep up.  Oh yeah, I like this guy!  Seriously, I do want to keep bees.  I think it would be smart to take a year to study the subject and start the bees when we're settled into a more permanent house.  (we're getting there!)

There is a new exhibit at the museum called Lock, Stock, and Barrel.  There were some beautiful firearms.  I especially liked the concealed guns including carriage rifles and a cane gun likely used by poachers!  The furniture was lovely, and Nora must have been looking very carefully as she spotted a little patch box on the side of a rifle with a rabbit on it!  I didn't mention that it was most likely a hunting rifle.

Did I mention that this man likes naps?!! 

Castleton jail built 1890

By far, my very favorite exhibit was In Fashion: High Style: 1690-2011.  Click on the link and check out the gallery.  There was an actual dress by Christian Siriano of Project Runway! Fierce!  I loved seeing so much history in the gallery.  I played at determining when each dress was created.  My big "oops" was the Oscar de la Renta dress.  I thought it was old.  It wasn't! 

Eleanor was enchanted by this velvet Emile Pingat and in a voice similar to Veruca Salt informed me that she wants one for Christmas!  Hmmm.  I'm not sure if that's in the budget this year, dear.   Though, like a crazy person, I did look at the sewing patterns at Joann's: maybe if I use a pirate costume here and that steampunk pattern there...  Maybe by Christmas.

 So far, it has been a great summer especially because these are the only leeches that we've seen so far.

Okay, till tomorrow or some time in Autumn... we'll see.

All Hallows

 Today is All Saints' Day.  In the Roman Catholic Church it is officially called the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows... that's why yesterday (Halloween) is also called All Hallows Eve.  Eleanor has been studying the lives of female saints in her Little Flowers Girls Club.  Each saint that they study is accompanied by a virtue which they also study and represented by a flower. 

Since she has asked me, I've taken a moment to reflect on my favorite saint.  My confirmation name is Mary Magdalene.  What an important woman!  Her feast day falls on my birthday... and had the best part in Jesus Christ Superstar.  Well, it's true!

But there have been quite a few years since my confirmation day.  I've had a little more time to contemplate.  Today, I often think of Saint Anne, the mother of Mary and therefore Jesus' grandmother.  I think of her especially- probably because she is the patron saint of so much that pertains to my life today:

• women in childbirth
• mothers
• grandmothers
• equestrians
• Canada
• France
• lost articles
• SEAMSTRESSES
• old clothes dealers (patron saint of upcycling?)
• poverty
• homemakers

 

The lives of the saints are fascinating.  Who is your favorite?

Happy Hallowe'en!

We finished carving our pumpkin just in time for trick-or-treating.  Happily, Nora's costume was done with a couple days to spare.  This is a rare occurrence for me.  Projects are usually done with only seconds before they have to "perform," but I was able to get a few photos before darkness fell tonight. 

I used McCall's 4547 that I found for 99¢ at JoAnn's Fabric - love those sales!  I was considering some other patterns and would have preferred one with a pinafore, but I'm pretty sure that this is not the first little pioneer costume that I will make.  This pattern also has a sweet chemise that has lots of nightgown potential... and pantaloons!  Let's all just say "pantaloon" coz that's fun!  I think Nora will need a pair of those.  So, I'm not done with this pattern yet. 

Eleanor picked out the fabric for the dress which really surprised me.  I was looking for more color, but she insisted on this.  I'm really liking it now, and it was probably the most "historic" choice at ol' Joann's. 

I didn't want the bonnet to be in the same fabric, but had a hard time finding a coordinating fabric until I found this perfect little woven check.  The drape really worked so it's more floppy than stiff allowing it to hang nicely in the back.

These buttons were in my stash- nice and rustic.  The ribbon that I used is that cheap-o ribbon that you get for 50¢ a spool.  Someday, I'll find a fabulous source of high quality ribbon. 

The pattern called for eyelet at the neckline, and on the bonnet's brim, but I obviously left that off.  I like it simple and I don't think the eyelet or lace would have worked well with this fabric.

Amy from Angry Chicken used the same pattern for her daughter's dress.  Her photos are a great example of what the dress would look like with the eyelet and a little more color!  (No, really, Nora, you're choice is great!)  She lengthened the sleeves of her dress, and considering the cold wind and hail that fell while we were trick-or-treating, I'm glad I did, too!

Now, I must rake those leaves!  Maybe I can convince Nora to don her apron and do some chores.

Paper Highway

When you think "urban planning", you probably don't think "art."  However, Bren Alverez did and went on to create a satirical monument to... beurocracy.  While a suitable medium for this sculpture could have been a whole lot of red tape,  Bren used filing cabinets.  Lots and lots of filing cabinets. The result is that we have a 40 foot tall filing cabinet in our neighborhood.  It's the world's tallest.  

The placement of this sculpture is the key to its satire.  It sits on the centerline of the Southern Connector a.k.a. Champlain Highway... or Parkway.  Though, I'm still not sure what a Parkway is.  The idea of this highway which would ease traffic in our city, especialy truck traffic, was conceived in 1965, but to date there is more paperwork than roadwork.

(All photos by Jeremy Fortin)

The lengthy process also inspired Marylen Grigas to write a one act farce about what is in all of those files:  the neighborhood improvement advocate, the business leader, the homeowner who must listen to the roaring trucks, the homeowner losing her house to eminent domain, the EPA agent, and even the paperboy... and the paper boy's son.  Seriously, it's taking generations to get this thing done.  And according to Marylen's story, it probably won't be done even in the year 2552 which is when my character, Patricia: CNN NowNews reporter, is from.  I was in the original 2002 performance as the neighborhood improvement advocate which is such a fun role.  But I had a great time as Patricia working with old friends and new.  I wonder if the play will be performed again in another eight years... or if we'll actually have a highway.

"It's filled with ancient manilla folders!   Wow.  June 3, 1965. That's over 550 years ago!"

"We must stand behind this proposal and make sure the study goes through immediately!  Are you with me, boys?!"

"Southern Connector Hotline.  Hello.  How can I help you?"

"My Home!  My Home!  I won't leave.  There are 21 families and we won't go!"

"Your routing the highway through the Barge Canal cannot be allowed as it would stir up all the contaminants."

"I can't hear you!  The belching trucks! The belching trucks!  What we need is a highway!"

"Let's beautify!

Please drive carefully in our neighborhood!"

"I think it's only a metaphor.  It's more like... Plato's Hydra."

"More delays on Southern Connector.  Highway may have reached a dead end."

"The boys in archeology are going to kick up a fuss over this."

A Trip to the Wilder Homestead

How much do you love Little House on the Prairie?  As children, my sisters and I used to play "Little House" all the time.  We watched the TV series together (loosely based on the books!)  My mother made us mob caps, and I've passed mine on to Eleanor who wears it regularly.  I used to love the idea of climbing a ladder to get to bed (as seen on TV) and envy Nora just a little bit when she climbs up to her loft in her nightgown and eyelet cap.  Needless to say, I've read all of the books in the original series... and the Rose years... and the cookbook... and biographies.  We just read Little House in Brookfield about the childhood of Laura's mother, Caroline.  We were very disappointed to find out that the series is no longer in print and quite expensive used... especially frustrating after realizing that there are six more of the series!  There are also stories of Caroline's mother, Charlotte and Charlotte's mother, Martha.  Oy, that's a lot of books!

I love Little House in the Big Woods for it's simplicity and explanations of daily life in the mid-1800s, but Farmer Boy is my favorite of the series.  This book packs in many stories of Laura Ingalls' husband, Almanzo's Wilder, when he was a boy.  I recently mentioned to my sisters that I wanted to visit his childhood home, and a road trip was planned.  He grew up in Malone, NY which is only a few hours from where we live.  We took a ferry across the lake and had a fun drive in a car filled with my twin sisters, my 10 year-old nephew, and Eleanor.

Oh, how I wish I could share photos of inside the house, but there was no photography allowed inside.  It was so lovely!  Each room was furnished and decorated as it would have been when Almanzo was a child.  In the attic, reached by a steep staircase, we found Almanzo's bedroom that he shared with his brother, Royal.  They had another brother, Pearly, who was born after the "year" that Farmer Boy took place.  However, the house is set up to mimic when book took place so he was not represented.  However, the only object that is original to the house is a bedspread donated by Pearly that Mrs. Wilder wove.

To one side of the boys' room is an unfinished attic space where Father would have made his shingles.  Eliza Jane's and Alice's room on the other side was bright and much larger that I imagined.  (There was one older sister, Laura, that would have been grown and out of the house when Almanzo was a boy.)  There were two windows allowing in lots of natural light and *gasp* a weaver was weaving on a loom between them!  We spent quite some time talking about weaving with her, and my nephew had some impressive questions to ask her.  He is such a math whiz and had a very intelligent conversation about calculating the materials needed for the weaving and how to warp the loom.   The girls' beds were on either side of the loom.  Because weaving would have been done during the winter months (when the garden did not need tending) the loom would have been dismantled and put away in the unfinished attic space to make room for visiting cousins to sleep on the floor.  This bedroom was also impressive for its time because it had two closets.  This would have been rare as they would have been taxed for these closets as additional rooms.  One of the closets had a display of towels belonging to Rose Wilder Lane, Almanzo's daughter.  They had little roses on them as she was fond of her name.  Almanzo called her his "Little Prairie Rose."

Downstairs was much like I expected and felt like walking into the book with a couple of exceptions.  One of them was the small bedroom off the parlor.  We couldn't figure out who it belonged to.  A guide told us that it would have been a guest room which made sense when thinking back to the book.  They would have had to have a room to board the cobbler, the peddler, the school teacher.  It also would have been used to isolate anyone who was ill, and being on the main floor, it would have been easier to keep an eye on that sick person, too.  The other thing that we hadn't quite figured out was the set up of the parlor. {Spoiler Alert!}  We discovered that the wood stove was between the parlor and the dining room.  with a low doorway over it.  The door to the parlor was beside the stove "door".  Using our best CSI skills, we figured trajectories, the height of a nine year old, and the shoulder height of his big sister to try to determine where the blacking brush hit the wall.  We inspected the walls hoping to find a patch of wallpaper.  Alas, we found nothing!  However, I did notice a shelf in the unfinished attic that had a roll of the parlor's wallpaper on it.  I like to imagine that is where Eliza Jane found it when it was necessary.

The reconstructed barns were a real highlight.  It was fun to imagine it full of animals and the longing that Almanzo felt to pet the young horses and colts.  In fact, as part of the "Hay Days of Summer" event, there were demonstrations of beautiful Morgan horses.

There were fine examples of farm machinery and tools in the barns.  I got to use a water pump which I've always wanted to do!  I feel like we take for granted turning on the tap.  There's something really powerful about pumping water.  I think I could have some serious biceps using one of those daily!

There was, of course a cross cut saw for ice fishing (excuse my sister's hair!  It was a little crowded.):

Once two Irishmen were sent out to saw ice with a cross-cut saw. They had never sawed ice before. They looked at the ice and they looked at each other and they looked at the saw, till at last Pat took a penny out of his pocket and he says, says he "Now Jamie, be fair. Heads or tails, who goes below?"

-Farmer Boy

We wandered a bit through the garden looking for something in particular and were delighted when we found a milk-fed pumpkin raised similarly to how Almanzo grew his blue ribbon squash.  We were disappointed to hear that last year's pumpkin was only slightly bigger than the others (it was grown separately from other pumpkins).  Then, we learned that they used 2% milk!  Imagine!  This year, they are using whole milk, but I suggested that they use raw milk.  I might just give that a try myself.  I think I have a new garden plan!

As part of "Hay Days of Summer," we had the pleasure of meeting William Anderson, a Laura Ingalls Wilder historian (he's in the first photo!)  We chatted about traveling the "Laura trail", our experiences in using The Little House Cookbook, and the other series of books. I was happy to get an autographed copy of Laura Ingalls Wilder Country which I will cherish with his other books already in my collection.  Also, hitching a ride home with me were Little House Paper Dolls and A Tribute to Charles "Pa" Ingalls and County Fair.

It was a truly worth while trip and more fun with the company of my family  Maybe we will make it to the big woods of Wisconsin one day!

 

We Are Free

Happy Independence Day!

Today was a good day to remember our trip along the Freedom Trail.

a good day to remember what makes us free.

And for the support of this declaration,

with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence,

we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Happy Birthday, America.

 

Vermont Quilt Festival 2010

Oh, how I love the Vermont Quilt Festival!  What a perfect way for Nora and me to enjoy our weekend.  There is so much to see and learn.  I try to look at the quilts as sources of inspiration and something to strive for because if I didn't, I might just have to put away my needle and thread forever!  The quilts vary so widely.  There are traditional quilts, first quilts, hand pieced and quilted, machine pieced and long arm quilted, antique quilts, innovative quilts, applique quilts, whole cloth quilts, painted quilts, theme quilts, and life story quilts.  Really, considering that a quilt is 2 layers of fabric with batting in between, the possibilities are endless which is what makes the festival so much fun.  It is a peek at those endless possibilities.  This year, Nora's favorite quilt was this one called Midsummer's Eve by Nina Klink.  It captured the fantasy that is such a big part of her world.

Once again, I'm enchanted with a bee quilt!  My favorite of this year is Hope Johnson's The Hive in Winter. *Sigh*  She captures the geometry of the hive, flowers, and snowflakes beautifully.  I love the design, the theme, the balance, the colors...and the bees are entomologically accurate!

Nora seriously caught the quilting bug!  How could you not after seeing all this loveliness?  Many of the  vendors and even passers-by asked her if she had started quilting and she beamed as she answered "yes!"  I seriously think she's going to put some work into creating a quilt for next year's show.  I can't imagine anything more thrilling than helping my little one with quiting.  I bought her her first little thimble and she is so proud of it!  She won't be the youngest child to enter in the show.  This amazing quilt was created by six year-old, Ivy Buck, who described her color choices as "garden colors."  It's lovely.

One of the highlights of the day was meeting Beverly Vollaire Ferro the inventor of Tiger Tape.  This is the fabulous tape that Nora has been using along the edge of her quilt pieces to keep her seams straight and her stitches even.  She told Bev about using her invention and Bev appropriately gushed!  She took a lot of time to talk to Nora about quilting, how excited she was to meet her, and that she looks forward to someday seeing her work in a magazine! (Thanks, Bev!)  Nora has been telling everyone that she me a real inventor and that she would like to invent a new way to quilt one day.  What a great moment for her!

The quilt that stopped me in my tracks was this one:

Can you see why?  It was hard to get a great photo of it as there was a throng of people around it.  I tried to move Nora out of the way, but folks near me asked her to go back and look at it so that they could get an idea of the scale of this thing!  Okay, so earlier I wrote that a quilt is two layers of fabric with batting in between... and something about innovation. This has a lot of both!  It is called Come and Follow Me by Dominique Ehrmann and you certainly do!  It is deep enough to peek your head in and look at little details.  The border is reinforced with pipes, but it is all otherwise "quilt."  The girl is part of the front layer and is held up with only filament.  You can see the details a little better below.  The girl's head is in the lower right corner.

At lunch, we enjoyed looking around at "Quiltmaking That Saw US Through the War Years: 1941-1945"

This quilt was made in silk which surprised me because I thought that much of the silk was commandeered by the federal government at the time.  So, I wonder where this silk came from.  This pattern was called Victory Quilt from a pattern in Workbasket Magazine. I especially like the prairie points around the edges.

There were a couple of examples of quilts created out of pillows that soldiers sent home to their loved ones.  The sentiments were absolutely endearing and brought a tear to my eye... even if they were purchased, as I can't help envisioning, alongside a girly magazine and a pack of cigarettes! 

This quilt was most likely wrapped around a child who had a daddy serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

If you were moved by the quilts of this exhibit, I would recommend checking out "Quilts of Valor" (an organization unrelated to the exhibit).  They create quilts "to provide troops who have been wounded or touched by war with a small token to show we support, honor and care for our troops."  Your level of donation can vary from creating a quilt or top to fabric or monetary donations.  What a perfect way to add your "piece" to our history.

 

 

 

 

St. Joseph School 1863-2010

All of us experience change in our lives.

There are changes that we look forward to and changes that we fear.

When a life change occurs, we have two choices in how to respond.

We can despair that a change has come and assume that things will be worse,

or we can look with excitement at the new possibilities that the change presents.

.

 

Our beloved St. Joseph School closed it's doors for the last time on Friday.  In the morning, the students were given a yearbook and they spent time signing them for each other.  The parish priest gave them bookmarks with a photo of the school.  The lunch cook/ secretary who has been working various jobs for over 20 years presented each child with a marigold.  They also came home with a cross made from the old pews left after the 2001 renovation of the school's parish.  While I know that Eleanor will cherish these mementos for years to come, right now, she is holding on to the memory of playing a school-wide game of"steal the sticks."  The connections that she made with the students, especially the eighth graders, is something that I cherish as uniquely special about this school.  For myself, I'm cherishing my own memories... and a lovely oak teacher's chair from the school.  I wonder what year it's from.  I wonder which Sisters sat in it.  I wonder if it is the one that I used when I taught there.

 

Thank you, St. Joseph School, for teaching my grandmother, my mother, my daughter, and me.  Thank you for teaching me not to end that last sentence with "I".  Thank you for teaching me to write in cursive, to do long division, and to read.  Thank you for introducing me to friends who would shape my life.  Thank you for offering my first opportunity to be in a play.  Thank you for tomato soup with elbow macaroni and no-bake cookies.  Thank you for instilling in me the values that I will continue to share with my daughter.  You joyfully saw my beginnings.  I am sorry to see your end.