Is it Spring Yet?

Hearing this variation on “Are we there yet?” from my internal gardener, I wake up each morning and wonder when the snow will be gone. It’s been melting nicely, assisted by a light rain a few nights ago. The garden plots will be moist and well-watered before I even get the rain barrels set up.

A few days ago I announced to the family that I was going to play in the dirt. They looked outside at the still snow-covered backyard and expressed their disbelief. I tricked them; I was going down the basement where I had seeds, a package of potting soil, and a variety of containers. Now I have tiny, and I do mean tiny, tomato and pepper plants doing their best to reach for the sky. If we have decent temperatures, I can start putting the seedlings out on the deck by day and bring them in every night.

It’s a simple pleasure, really, this watching the plants grow. Every spring brings with it the potential for growth, literal and figurative. I watch the seedlings get taller and stronger and eventually put forth fruit. I see my own growth in planning, planting, and following through with the long-term process of watering, weeding, and caring for the plots. The personal growth also comes from the act of slowing down. Teaching is a fast paced, high stress job, and I enjoy every minute of it. When a school break arrives, I take the time to slow down physically and mentally. During summer, the longest break of our agrarian school calendar, the garden reminds me that some things can’t be rushed. These biological processes will happen, and they will happen at their own rates.

Meanwhile, I’ll relax with my laptop and blog about it. Okay? Okay.

Tomatoes, can't you tell?

Tomatoes, can’t you tell?

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Reliving Election History with Daisy

I began my Voter’s Voice series during the Wisconsin Governor’s recall effort in early 2012. Some new readers have expressed curiosity and a wish to read earlier posts. To make that easier, I posted a list of those posts, complete with links and excerpts, on the page titled Voter’s Voice. I planned for this series to run until the first Tuesday following the second Monday in November, 2012. Once in a while, though, the ever-opinionated Grandma Daisy character returns to share new insights.

The most recent posts are on top. If you want to read posts chronologically, start from the bottom and work your way up.

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More Joy of Less along with Mother Nature Network

I skipped blogging about last month’s Joy of Less topic: cutting down on energy use. We’re in a position right now that it’s really, really tough to make changes in the appliances we plug in and the hours the heater runs. Later -perhaps much later – I’ll be able to walk to work again, and we’ll use the car less. That will be a good start in lowering our energy use and in turn our carbon footprint.

This month, Mother Nature Network’s Joy of Less project features a topic close to my heart: growing your own groceries. MNN’s goal includes “plan and grow a garden that can replace part of your food bill and give you a healthier diet.”

We noticed recently that we rarely have empty jars any more in the O.K. Chorale kitchen. We usually keep one to collect the grease from bacon or ground beef or other meats that leave a little fat behind. Last weekend, Chuck noticed we were completely out of jars for that purpose. I found something for him, but that’s not the real story.

The story is one more sign that we’re buying less as we make our own. Pickles, tomato sauces, salsa, jams, applesauce – these are all things I make and can myself. We no longer need to buy the commercial versions, and therefore we no longer have commercial jars left over. Take that one more step and realize that if we’re not buying those products, our grocery list is shorter and therefore we’re spending less. In all honesty, I don’t think we’re spending less as much as we’re buying other things, like better cuts of meat and more seafood. In the end, we are using the garden to adjust our bill and edge our diets to a healthier level.

MNN calls it a “DIY Food Revolution.” This movement label reminds me of the burst of Recession Gardens several years back. Friends, I was gardening before it was trendy. My family has enjoyed DIY tomatoes on our BLTs and salads for years and years. I fit the statistical profile rather well. The typical American gardener is female (54%), age 45 or older (68%), and college educated (79%).

Many of this month’s feature stories are aimed at beginning gardeners. I read them anyway because there’s always something new to learn. Their indoor herb garden is similar to mine. The feature on body mechanics and gardening for fitness reminds me to take care – I’m still slowly recovering from last fall’s stroke-like experience. I can build strength gradually and get my seedlings in the ground little by little, too.

Growing your own groceries – I’ve started planning and planting (indoors) already. I still browse idea – filled articles that address small-space gardening, organic gardening for kids, and easy vegetables for various zones.

All this makes me crave spring. Despite the low temperatures during this spring break, I do see the backyard snow melting. It’ll be the OkayByMe Swamp for a little while, and then I’ll be out doing what I do to grow our own groceries.

This is not a sponsored post in any way. I enjoy Mother Nature Network and subscribe to their newsletters. There’s always something fascinating on the site.

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Awareness Again – Can’t we do Better?

It’s April, again. Autism Awareness Month. Now that autism numbers are estimated at 1 in 88, shouldn’t we already be aware? Shouldn’t we as a society be moving on?

Moving on beyond awareness means learning about each other, neurotypical or on the autism spectrum. Even under the old numbers of 1 in 166, the estimates indicated so many children and adults with autism that “normal” needed redefinition.

Awareness, people, is not enough. Awareness is a low form of knowledge, and knowledge itself sits down low at the base of the learning pyramid. Awareness means knowing that the student sitting next to your child in class might have autism. Knowledge and understanding come around when that child responds to gestures of friendship, perhaps awkwardly, yet making a step toward joining the social peer group in some way.

Awareness? Awareness means slapping a multi-colored puzzle-design ribbon magnet on the back of the family minivan. Understanding means that when the minivan next to yours at the red light is moving back and forth propelled by the rocking of the teenager in the front seat, you notice but don’t judge. You might offer an understanding smile to the driver if the opportunity comes up. By refraining from negative comments, a parent provides a role model for the rest of the minivan passengers.

The “R” word is also still active, unfortunately. The word Retarded hasn’t been in active use for educational professionals in decades, but it still turns up in verbal put-downs. Awareness means knowing the label Retarded is unacceptable. Knowledge and comprehension would show that anyone with limitations in learning faces enough challenges without getting their diagnosis tossed around as a playground insult.

I wore my “R” Word t-shirt on the appropriate day. That’s my awareness activity. To bring it to a higher level, I vow to stop and comment when I hear the word used: stop and educate those who would otherwise redefine a person in narrow boxes.

Now it’s time to take Autism Awareness to a higher level, too.

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The Holiday Roller Coaster finds a Level Track

We, the whole family, have been on a roller coaster of emotions in the last month. This is one of those roller coasters that turned us upside down, swung our feet in the air, brought our stomachs to our throats and then suddenly dropped them down again. Then came a holiday weekend.

We decided to keep it simple. No travel, no major dinners, no large family gatherings.. Comfort food. Relaxation.

Chuck, the family Iron Chef, agreed on keeping it simple. He planned to get out the grill, weather permitting, and create a surf and turf. I baked a plain yellow cake in two rounds, and then Chuck made it into a bunny shape. Amigo enlisted La Petite and her friend to dye eggs. And that, my friends, was plenty.

Bunny!

Bunny!

Sometimes the best way to handle a potentially stress-filled weekend is to simply step away from the madness. We took a collective deep breath, said No to anything complex, and took care of ourselves.

That, my friends, is priceless.

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Art Unexpected

You never know what kind of artistry will turn up at the O.K. Chorale. Easter brought a cake of Chuck’s design.

Bunny!

Bunny!

Bunny! Bunny!

Bunny! Bunny!

La Petite and Amigo and company colored eggs.

Eggs-actly perfect

Eggs-actly perfect

La Petite and company created a Jackson Pollock inspired work using the melting snow and the egg dye.

Performance Art, Ever Changing

Performance Art, Ever Changing

Easter was entertaining. I wonder what Mother’s Day will bring?

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The Back Story in Storage

Chuck enjoys watching Storage Wars. I have mixed feelings. The “stuff” they find can be fascinating, and yet – these collections of stored possessions once belonged to someone, someone who  cared enough to stash their possessions in a “safe” place. I always wonder about the back story on the abandoned units.

Tonight a unit contained a small kiln and a pottery wheel, neither looking very used. Did an artist make the investment and then have a financial disaster? Medical crisis? Self-employed artists aren’t known for having good health insurance coverage. Job loss? Maybe the day job that paid the rent fell through, downsized, or went out of business. Loss of space, home? That’s possible, too. A pottery wheel and kiln wouldn’t fit into a homeless shelter or transitional housing very well. There’s no way to know, and I wonder.

Another unit contained a unique set of tools for ice carving.The ice carving tools looked nearly new and must have cost the original purchaser a fair amount of money. An investment in their future, they may have thought at the time, never dreaming the tools would be lost due to non-payment on a padlocked storage facility.

This episode could have been nicknamed “Picking up the remains from the starving, broke artists.” Two artists: one with clay and the other with ice, both lost or broke or homeless or all three. The show’s premise, making money off of another’s misfortune, just isn’t sitting well with me. I can’t keep a potter or ice carver in business, but I can continue to appreciate and buy from local artists. And most of all, I can stop watching this depressing show.

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Re-calibrating

Life changes all too quickly, it seems. Amigo moved home from his training program early and unexpectedly. Now we are searching for other training opportunities so he can enter the working world and be a productive young adult. We have a few leads, and the whole family is re-calibrating and setting forth on a new route.

Teaching in Wisconsin is insecure at best. In the current political climate, none of us are certain if or where we’ll be teaching in the near future, much less the long term. Talks at the lunch table and coffeepot reflect this.

On one hand, I continue to seek out opportunities to teach summer school. I attended an online meeting Friday that explained a lot of the ins and outs and details of teaching online summer school. La Petite, if I get hired, your old room converts totally to office space.

On another hand, a coworker suggested I sign up to review books written for young readers. Every time I review, we get a set of books free. As I submitted my first review, I noticed a check box on the form asking “Are you interested in writing children’s books?” I checked yes. The response was “Please call!” with a phone number.

But on the other hand (teachers have many hands), the latest virus (human, not computer) caused a persistent cough that led to laryngitis.

Re-calibrating! I sent a return email saying I’d call as soon as I could speak and included a potential project idea. At the very least, it will be fun. Even if it’s only a few bucks, the exposure will be priceless.

 

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Nothing to see here, folks, nothing to see or hear.

Sorry for the sorry posts, blog-reading peoples. It’s been both physically and emotionally exhausting around here. A few random updates, maybe.

My television interview for school PR probably didn’t air. My feeling is that it won’t. PR rep claims it already did. I’m okay with it either way.

My cough echoes at least two others in my little cubicle world. I think we’re all coughing a little less. I think. Maybe. Picture me grasping onto straws of hope. 

Three – not one, but three – teachers sent out emails saying their virtual class attendance had disappeared from the printer. My theory: these papers are hiding out with the mismatched socks that disappear from the dryer on laundry day.

Meanwhile, I saw yet another great PR piece for punctuation. Petunia, I know which will be your favorite.

Comma chameleon?

Comma chameleon?

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Signs of Home

You might be in my home if you see a pile of shoes and an overflowing bookshelf. There will be a laptop computer nearby, too. The refrigerator contains several jars of home-canned goodies such as pickles and jams and applesauce and… I’m hungry.

Any place Amigo lives, a singing fish is likely to follow.

In a corner of La Petite’s apartment —

Bitty Bear is a traveler!

Note: since I took this picture, La Petite stenciled birds on the wall in the corner. It’s lovely. The ballooning bear must be very content. 

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