Reading is the new plant blogging

Maybe its because I'm super sick and suspect I'm really just suffering from super awful allergies, but I can't bring myself to do a plant post right now. I did go shoot a bunch of things yesterday and then had to go to bed a 8pm - coincidence? I think not.

Instead, I've been reading like a fiend. Thanks to my super sweet friend I had the afternoon to myself yesterday, to blow my nose in peace. Between naps I finished 2 books which I were so good I want to stop strangers on the street and insist that they read them. Immediately. But since we don't do that here in the genteel South, you get to hear about them instead.

First, I Am An Emotional Creature by Eve Ensler, of Vagina Monologues fame. What I wouldn't do to be able to go back and give this book to my 14 year old self! I can't wait to give it to Caitlin, although I am grateful that homeschooling and our vagabond life has preserved her childhood innocence a bit longer than most American girls. Ensler, as ever, has captured the potential, the pain, and the incredible beauty of female existence and presents it in gripping narrative, haunting poetry, and fierce war-cries. I'm buying a copy now, for me, and another, to save, for the right moment, for Caitlin.

Second, Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Chris was fortuitous enough to meet Kashmira years ago when she and her daughter engaged him to tutor them in Sanskrit. Kashmira had three books out then, and was gracious enough to visit our homeschool book group to talk with the kids about her works and career. All of her novels address the experiences of Indian children, albeit in very different circumstances. (She has also published 2 picture books, My Dadima Wears a Sari and Monsoon Afternoon, which beautifully portray the very special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.) Boys Without Names introduces us to Gopal, a boy from Maharashtra (the second state we lived in in India) who is kidnapped and forced into slavery in a factory in Mumbai. Now before you skip ahead in disgust, let me assure you that Kashmira has a rare gift and is able to portray ugly realities in a way that is safe and appropriate for young readers. Her other books have dealt with the immigrant experience, arranged marriage, and child widows. Each is as accessible, absorbing, and gentle as you could hope, and offers a chance to learn about and develop compassion for children whom on the surface may seem very different, but who are in reality, just like the children reading the books. She is not only broadening horizons, she is opening hearts, and I am grateful to have such books to put into my children's hands.

Though not finished in the last 24 hours, I also want to mention A Young People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, with Rebecca Stefoff. Caitlin has asked for it for a birthday gift (yay, homeschooling!) and I'm looking forward to reading it (and re-reading A People's History of the United States) along with her this summer. Zinn describes the book best himself:

My history... describes the inspiring struggle of those who have fought slavery and racism (Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bob Moses), of the labor organizers who have led strikes for the rights of working people (Big Bill Haywood, Mother Jones, César Chávez), of the socialists and others who have protested war and militarism (Eugene V. Debs, Helen Keller, the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, Cindy Sheehan). My hero is not Theodore Roosevelt, who loved war and congratulated a general after a massacre of Filipino villagers at the turn of the century, but Mark Twain who denounced the massacre and satirized imperialism.

I want young people to understand that ours is a beautiful country, but it has been taken over by men who have no respect for human rights or constitutional liberties. Our people are basically decent and caring, and our highest ideals are expressed in the Declaration of Independence, which says that all of us have an equal right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The history of our country, I point out in my book, is a striving, against corporate robber barons and war makers, to make those ideals a reality — and all of us, of whatever age, can find immense satisfaction in becoming part of that.*

Last, I want to mention two novels that I have recently loved. Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko and Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. There are the obvious similarities - both written by Native American women, both unrelentingly dark and both pulsing with the aftermath of the European theft of the Americas, but the differences are worth noting as well. Almanac is truly an epic, while Shadow Tag is gaunt and sparse. Where Almanac is fantastical, Shadow Tag is grittily, brutally real. As the reviews surely point out, neither book is for everyone, but for me, they are two of the best I've read lately, and perhaps in the case of Almanac, ever. (Bear in mind though that I love Wolfe and Bukowski and Garcia Marquez and Fuentes, and that magical realism will never ever be a dirty word in my house...)

*Roll your mouse over the Zinn quote and you'll discover all of the people he mentions, plus the Declaration of Independence and the Filipino massacre are all linked to the appropriate Wikipedia article - just in case you want to brush up on your history right here and now!

Rhododendron Tsutsuji*

*There are something like 10,000 named varieties of azalea, and it is far beyond my capabilities to figure out which we have. However, azaleas are divided into two sub-genera - deciduous and evergreen. As far as I can remember, mine are all evergreen, hence the "Tsutsuji"

At long last, azaleas! The drive-in, Charlottesville, and a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party were all a bit much and I needed to lay low and recuperate these past few days... Also found out I have to get my wisdom teeth out. So not so much with the plant posts.

At least a month ago, in hot pursuit of admittance to the UW, I was talking to a woman in a now-forgotten administrative office who asked me if the azaleas were blooming when she heard I was in Virginia. At the time they weren't and I couldn't fathom why she'd be asking. Like so many other plants here, I'd never knowingly seen an azalea before. (It occurs to me that I may have had a rather sheltered horticultural youth... that, or perhaps my strengths lie in other areas?) Anyhow, the azaleas are now very much in bloom and I can understand why she asked. The sight of huge hedges in brilliant color is not one I'll soon forget.

We have maybe 4 big azalea bushes out front - a bit hard to tell since they all grow together. And then another big bank of them in the back, just below Chris's office windows. Various shades of pink, plus red and a lovely light purple too. The red ones bloomed first, then the pink out back and just in the past few days, the purple guy. Such loveliness - I'm afraid my photos are not equal to the task...

I learned that in Korea folks make a liquor from azalea blossoms - something called Dugyeonju. (Tugyongu? Seems to be some disagreement about how to transliterate Korean into English... welcome to my world.) The liquor is moderately potent, but one has to be careful to use only the petals as the other reproductive structures are toxic. Especially to horses. Best of all, dugyeonju has been designated "Important Intangible Cultural Property 86-2". (I feel a Korea-theme bubbling. Did you know there are Korean wines made from all sorts of flowers? Acacia flower wine, anyone?) I think I'd like to live in a country that had Important Intangible Cultural Property. Wouldn't you?

"an ambivalent art"

Tonight I don't feel like plants or photography or plant photography. I feel like a poem.

Poems, even. At least, sort of.

But lest I stray to far from my self-imposed blog structure, I googled 'azalea poem' and found something so lovely, I had to share. This is by the Korean poet Kim So-Wol.

"Azaleas"

When seeing me sickens you
and you walk out
I'll send you off without a word, no fuss.

Yongbyon's mount Yaksan's
azaleas
by the armful I'll scatter in your path.

With parting steps
on those strewn flowers
treading lightly, go on, leave.

When seeing me sickens you
and you walk out
why, I'd rather die than weep one tear.

Now, even better is the page where I found the poem. Please go have a look. You'll find an article first published in Modern Poetry in Translation. If you're not one of my many word-wonk readers, just scroll down to the various translations, read and compare. But if language or literature is at all your thing, the article will be five minutes well spent.

Tomorrow, if Charlottesville and the drive-in (first ever!) don't do me in, I'll have real live azaleas for you, and not one of them strewn beneath the feet of a departing, disgusted lover. (They're so much lovelier that way...)

Phlox stolonifera/subulata

Today, another plant I had never (knowingly?) met until coming to The South. Lexington is just brimming with phlox, especially the older, stately homes in town. I think we have both Creeping Phlox (P. stolonifer) and Moss Phlox (P. subulata).

These white guys live around the corner from my house and are my nominee for Creeping Phlox.

And these pinky-purple guys adorn my pond - Moss Phlox, I think. (It really is a challenge to identify particular species of plants, or worse, cultivars, using only photos and Google. Anyone have a good plant ID scheme to share?)

There are roughly 60 species of phlox, and all but one are native to North America. The oddball is native to Siberia, of all places.

And speaking of oddballs, there is a Star Trek character named Dr. Phlox. He is (was?) Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise, and is Denobulan. He has 3 wives, 5 children, and like all Denobulans, only needs 6 days of sleep each year. By the looks of him the good Dr. Phlox seems like a right jolly fellow too, even if he isn't getting enough sleep.

Prunus sargentii

From across the street, a cherry tree.

Being as common as it is, I won't bore you with too many pedestrian facts about the cherry. You know they came originally from East Asia, and are particularly revered in Japan. You also know about the famous cherry trees in Washington DC.

But did you know cherry blossoms and leaves are edible? They are. They most commonly appear in Japanese sweets, but are also sometimes crafted into a sort of tea that is imbibed on special occasions.

And did you know the blossoms are associated with the Japanese concept of "Mono no aware"? It means literally, "the pathos of all things", but can also be understood as an empathy toward all things, or more specifically, a sensitivity toward the ephemeral nature of all things. The phrase was coined by Motoori Norinaga, a Japanese scholar and cultural critic of the 18th century.

(Funny how a desire to learn the names of the plants I see everyday has led me so far afield... lovely, though. Let's hear it for autodidact-ism!)

coming soon...

Wisteria sinensis

Growing up in the midwest was a wonderful thing, but I realize now that it was not without its drawbacks. 34 years without ever meeting a wisteria, for instance.

See what I mean? I'm completely bowled over by these guys.

And I'm not the only one. A friend here naively planted two wisteria vines alongside her garden trellis a few years ago. Now she has a big wisteria heap, and no trellis. The wisteria crushed it. Wisteria have been known to pull down fences and posts, pry up shingles, collapse roofs, and even lift a house off its foundations.

The house above is on the market - wonder why?

Folks around the corner have chosen a safer path and planted their wisteria far away from everything, in the middle of their gargantuan yard. Pretty, huh?

But these guys must be gamblers...

The wisteria is related to the pea, although its seeds resemble beans. It is said to have been brought to Europe from Asia by none other than Marco Polo. The wisteria figures prominently in traditional Japanese kabuki dance. The world's largest flowering plant is a 250-ton, 500-ft wisteria vine in Sierra Madre, CA. Just like the wisteria in my neighborhood, the record holder is said to flower most vigorously when a cold winter is followed by an unusually warm spring.

Hoo boy!

Syringa vulgaris

Today, the common lilac. We are fortunate enough to have a number of large, exuberant lilac bushes which form a leafy, fragrant hedge along the south side of our yard, save for a reasonably sized gap, just right for calling through to the neighbors. (Especially handy if you have some extra Fragaria ananassa** to unload.) (Or the desire to write windy run-on sentences.) (Lucky you!)

They smell divine. (The lilacs, not the neighbors. Or the Fragaria ananassa for that matter.) Especially in the morning. Especially in the morning when one has a few moments to sit quietly, drink coffee and read, alone. In the warm sunshine. I proudly take my place among the countless other Virginians who have delighted in their lilacs; the first were introduced in my fair state in the early 1700s, and perfected here by John Custis, in Williamsburg, of course.

In researching the good old lilac I discovered nothing all that intriguing, but did happen upon Phillip Miller. Miller was a Scottish botanist who lived from 1691 to 1771. He was the head gardener of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, the second oldest botanical garden in England. He seems to have been a bit of an obdurate old chap and rejected Linnaeus' new-fangled nomenclature for most of his life. In the end he did embrace the new binomial system, but Miller's nomenclature lives on, as evidenced by the many plants that bear his authorial citation. (There appears to be a rather complex world of plant-naming which I realize may not fascinate my readers as much as it does me. Please do dive into the above links if you so desire... though be warned, a love of Latin may be required.)

I'll leave you with a po-em, by Emily Dickinson

The Lilac is an ancient shrub
But ancienter than that
The Firmamental Lilac
Upon the Hill tonight --
The Sun subsiding on his Course
Bequeaths this final Plant
To Contemplation -- not to Touch --
The Flower of Occident.
Of one Corolla is the West --
The Calyx is the Earth --
The Capsules burnished Seeds the Stars
The Scientist of Faith
His research has but just begun --
Above his synthesis
The Flora unimpeachable
To Time's Analysis --
"Eye hath not seen" may possibly
Be current with the Blind
But let not Revelation
By theses be detained --

**QUIZ! Who knows what Fragaria ananassa is? No fair googling it... Post your guesses and you could win.... um, nothing! But we'll think you're cool, at least.**

Oxalis stricta (?)

From my own back yard, one of the over 1000 species of Oxalis, commonly known as wood sorrel. It has set up shop beneath our gargantuan rose bushes, along side the garage. I would've written it off as a weird looking clover and ripped it out had Colleen not clued me in to its deliciousness.

(As with the dogwood, I won't be able to tell exactly which species I have until it moves along a bit, producing something besides leaves.)

Oxalis gets the name wood sorrel from the fact that it tastes a bit like true sorrel - nice and sour/tangy. A bit much to nibble straight, but lovely in a salad I'd bet. Oxalis comes from the presence of oxalic acid, which provides the distinctive taste.

Oxalis species can be found everywhere in the world outside of the polar regions. There is even one that in endemic to the deserts of Namibia.

And I thought it was just a weed!

Sassafras albidum

I met my first sassafras plant today, a bit far a field, but still worth including in my catalog of intriguing local flora.

Our friends live on nearly 100 acres between here and West Virginia, and one of the kids was enterprising enough to identify and uproot a young sassafras plant.

I had of course heard of sassafras before and knew it had some relationship to root beer, but that first whiff of the roots was wild! Like sticking your nose in an A&W factory or something. Dee-lish-us.

I'd also heard of sassafras tea and there was much discussion of whether the girls would brew some up. Enthusiasm and maternal endorsement of the project waned fairly quickly, much to my dismay. But there were peas to weed, fruit trees to cage, chickweed plants to pop, and soon enough, hungry hordes to feed.

Turns out that sassafras roots and bark are the primary source of safrole, a weak carcinogen. Safrole is banned by the FDA for use in food, and root beer is now flavored artificially. The International Fragrance Association has also banned the use of safrole in soaps and perfumes.

Now, lest you begin to worry over-much, safrole also is found in things you have in your kitchen like cinnamon and basil and black pepper, and its consumption is believed to raise a person's overall risk of developing cancer as much as consuming tomatoes or orange juice does. (Which is to say, so little as to be not worth worrying about at all.) Also bear in mind that a study done in 1977 cast doubt on whether safrole is carcinogenic to humans (earlier studies were done on rats and the ban was enacted as a result of those rat studies).

Safrole may also be used in the manufacture of MDMA.

Should we start a movement to legalize safrole? I bet honest root beer is far better than the chemically flavored stuff we're drinking now...

Totally unrelated, but just as awesome as sniffing sassafras roots: Super groovy podcast to tap your toes to (Ne'ke, I'm looking at you!).... I went to high school with this guy - thanks FB.

Cornus florida

We have two white dogwoods in the front, two more in back, and I think another somewhere along the edges somewhere.... I should know that, shouldn't I? It was a cold gray day here - not one that encouraged me to spend lots of time in the yard gazing on trees.

There are many sub-genuses (geni?) of dogwood and I won't know for sure which we have until they produce berries. Dogwoods usually have white flowers, but also occasionally pink, as can be found in my neighbor's yard.

Dogwood trivia: Those beautiful white (or pink) "flowers" are actually not flowers at all, but bracts. Bracts are specialized leaves associated with a plant's reproductive structure. The dogwood's flowers are tiny yellowish green guys - you can see them still tightly closed in the top picture.

Azaleas, Dogwoods and Lilacs, Oh My!

A (huge, momentous, life-changing) chapter is coming to a close here at Chez SLNC, and somehow in light of that, I decided to start up a new blog project. They're completely unrelated, but I like symmetry and confluence and whatnot, and in its own weird way, this makes sense to me. (And its my blog, so I get to draw what ever connections I want!)

So, allow me to present Azaleas, Dogwoods and Lilacs, Oh My! a series of posts about all of the lovely, unusual and tasty plants in my little corner of the world. I'll post a picture of a new plant everyday, along with some basic info and hopefully some little know facts, if I can find them. Not sure how long this will go on, but there are at least 2 weeks worth of blog-able plants in my yard alone, so we'll have a good run I think.

I have to credit two people for helping to get me thinking about local flora: First, my dear friend Colleen who walked all around my yard with me today, telling me the names of everything and who then proceeded to sit down and weed my soon-to-be strawberry beds for me. And then a woman in the L&S Dean's office at the UW, who's name I don't know, but who, upon hearing I was in south-western VA immediately asked me if the azaleas and dogwoods were blooming yet.

Stay tuned, we'll start with the Virginia State Tree tomorrow!

"Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

So far, this Sunday morning has been full of lovely surprises...

... a handful of young men in a corner of the coffee shop playing wistful gypsy-esque violin. Perfect soundtrack for a very grey rainy morning.

... Caitlin's classmate, Kyle, catching a ride across town with us, and telling us all about his Buddhist dad. Sounded pretty familiar. Nice to know that her closest Hebrew school buddy is having such a similar upbringing.

... cleaning out the blog and discovering a post Ben dictated over a year ago, about Manju, our cook in Varanassi:

Dear Friends,

I hope you like this post about Manju. She speaks Hindi so I can't understand her very much but sometimes she speaks English, so I can understand her sort of. She teaches me Hindi, but I don't know why! Her saris are very pretty. She cooks us delicious food!

I'm itching for another trip - DC, New York, Brazil, Goa, Varanassi and Switzerland top the list right now. But the children informed me (on our last road trip) that they do not like to travel and would really rather just stay at home all of the time. (Irony anyone?) So between that very emphatic opinion and a husband who needs to single-minded-ly dissertate for the next month of so, we must stay put. (Counting the days til Seattle though!)

Until then, I'll console my self with pictures of warmer days and sunnier places, and encourage you to do the same. Also, brigadeiros will help! (I met some Brazilian exchange students yesterday who suggested a few excellent tweaks to the recipe linked above - more chocolate, less butter, and eating it all straight out of the pot instead of waiting for it to cool... o YEA.)

A deal with the Devil

I find myself at an interesting juncture lately, debating whether or not my family will have anything to do with Liberty University.

In case you don't have to know about such places (and living as I did in the best hippie bubble on the planet, I had no idea what Liberty U was until I moved here), a bit of background. Liberty University is located in Lynchburg, VA, a lovely 45-minute drive from here. Jerry Falwell founded Liberty U in 1971 and today it boasts a total enrollment approaching 60,000. It is a Baptist, Evangelical Christian institution and a bastion of right-wing conservative Christian culture. Students are expected to adhere to something called "The Liberty Way", a code of conduct that dictates a strict dress code and prohibits such sins as swearing, dancing and watching R-rated movies. (Interesting side-note: You cannot access The Liberty Way via the LU website unless you have a campus login and password. What's up with that? But since I am a helper, I found it for you HERE.) Not exactly the kind of place it would ever occur to me to go, even if Jerry Falwell wasn't involved.

And just in case you've been under a rock, refresh your memory about good ol' Jerry HERE. Or just take a look at this:

So. There's pretty much no way on earth I'm ever going to find common ground with anyone who feels like any of the above is a good idea. Is hate too strong a word to use here? Jerry Falwell must be one of the most evil people to have lived. His university is a sickening symbol of so many things that are wrong with our culture. I want no part of it.

But Ben wants to play hockey and Caitlin wants to rock climb. And you can't do either in Lexington.

But Liberty U has an ice rink. And a climbing wall. In a big beautiful facility which welcomes thepublic. The free skate hours are plentiful and a perfect match for our schedules. Same for the climbing. Their facilities are the closest and far and away the best in our area.

And I moved them here, to this dinky little town in the middle of nowhere Jesus-ville, USA. They talk about wanting to go "home" all the time and they mean Madison. They miss it so much - our family and friends, our community, but also all of the opportunities and resources we had there.

So after months of having to tell them that no, we can't do x, y or z here, I have finally discovered an opportunity for them to do two activities they've been yearning for.

But it means going into the belly of the beast. Giving my money to Jerry FREAKIN Falwell's hate machine. Willingly subjecting myself and my children to people who may actively hate us because we are Jewish, Democrat, ACLU members, etc etc etc. I think I'm just an abortion away from being the poster girl for everything "The Liberty Way" is against.

So what to do? There is no logistical or financial reason why skating and climbing at Liberty University can't work for us. Ideology is the only barrier. And is that right? My kids have had to give up so much since we've left Madison, and while they've gained oodles, is it fair to deprive them yet again just because Mommy hates right-wing Christian nut-jobs?

What to do? I think I know what Falwell would do. What would Jesus do? What would you do?

What I Can't Say

Dear Residents of Rockbridge County-

Is your school in danger of being closed? Are your kids' art/music/gym classes going to be cancelled next year? Class sizes ballooning? Is your school going to run without a principal? Is bus service going to be cut? That stinks. Your kids deserve so much better.

But is it really the school board or county supervisors' fault? Who controls education funding around here?

The state legislature.

Did you vote for a Republican? Do you know what their voting record on education funding is? No? Maybe you should check.

"Values" are all well and good, but maybe next time you should check to see if that Christian Republican you're voting for values your kid's education as much as you do.

If you fail to do your research and vote for people who cannot be relied upon to help you and your children, you get what you deserve.

You chose these men and you should've seen this coming. Don't blame the school board, the superintendent or the families who pull their kids from your local schools. We are not the ones who are 'robbing' you of much needed education dollars.

Look to Richmond. Look at voting records. Demand change.

And for God's sake, vote for a Democrat already.

Hippie Jewish Freak Love,

Maggie

In which I crumble

For 11 years 8 months and 23 days I have held the line, stood like (dare I say it?) a stone wall.

Today I cracked. I took one of my children to that unparalleled den of youthful iniquity, Chuck E Cheese.

Frankly, there is only so much one can do with a five year old in Roanoke, for two-plus hours, on a Sunday, during the snowiest, coldest winter this part of the world has seen in decades, if not centuries. And let me tell you, we've done it all. Museums? Closed. Library? Closed. Zoo? Small and cold. Bookstore? Corporate and packed. Fun, yummy coffee shops? Only one, and its gotten old. Parks, trails, creeks etc? Few and far between, not to mention covered in snow and mud.

Chuck E Cheese has not changed much at all since I last went, some nearly 30 years ago - still incredibly loud, jam-packed, and home to awful pizza. The stage show is still creepy (giant animatronic singing things? WHY!?) and the whole place is a fascinating window into American society.

One new feature is the preponderance of 'games' designed to require no skill and separate children from their tokens faster than ever before. Variations on the theme of dropping your token in a slot and hoping against hope that it'll fall in to some tiny hole and you'll win a zillion tickets. Its like the minors for future gambling addicts. The games seem to pay off just often enough that the kids see one person win and then want to try it themselves, only to sink too many tokens and still lose.

More disturbing then the fact of those games in and of themselves was the demographic of the people playing them. I saw only extremely obese children playing, and those kids only played that sort of game. Maybe it was just a weird confluence at the Roanoke Chuck E Cheese, but it made me wonder...

Sadly, there were far fewer Skee-Ball lanes than I remember, and about half of them didn't work. Ben and I did manage to find a good lane and really Skee some excellent Ball (what in the world to you call the act of playing Skee-Ball?!). I heard an interview with the newly crowned Skee-Ball World Champion on NPR recently so I was ready with some new techniques which really paid off - first 100,000+ round ever! (Tip: over 5'4"? CROUCH) (So that's another thing - when I was a kid Skee-Ball was just 10-50 pts - now its all multiples of 10,000. Why?)

Ben and I also dominated the basketball game. Homeboy has a wicked jumper.

Strangest of all was the pirate ship video game Ben played. The controller was a big ship's wheel, with buttons on the ends of the knobs, to shoot with, and a big button in the center to fire "Special Attacks". The special attacks popped up randomly and all but one were fairly normal - thye froze the enemy or made you invincible for a time or what ever. But one was called "Summon Bible" and it made a whole phalanx of blue-ish green glowing things materialize around you and then fly forward, shooting at your enemy. No other aspect of the game was remotely religious. And the "Summon Bible" attack didn't have any apparent religious content either... so. weird.

Caitlin was extremely disappointed to be studying Hebrew instead of Summoning Bible so we're going back again on Wednesday, after her Bat Mitzvah class. Just making up for lost time.

Plus, maybe I have a shot at the Skee-Ball championship next year.... just sayin.

snip!

It was time for a change...

it was also time for me to learn how to take pictures of myself in the mirror! (Note to self: Turn off the flash!)

And here's the inspiration...

short-haired Maggies unite!

Relatedly, if you're thinking of seeing Crazy Heart (the movie, above), I whole-heartedly encourage you to do so. Jeff Bridges is a dream and Maggie G is at the top of her game. Best, perhaps is that it takes a level look at alcoholism and recovery and the fall-out - not at all emotionally manipulative like so many other films, but unflinching and real. And the music. Hot damn, the music...

Wahoo!

Just heard I squeaked in to the Madison conference, so its time to plan the road trip and get ready for John Taylor Gatto! Debating whether we'll go through Cleveland again, or just get a cheap motel halfway... the dog complicates things a bit. Madison peeps - we'll be in town about a week so if you want to get together, get in touch!

Thanks to all who have chimed in about the vaccines. We're still reading and thinking, and very grateful to be able to add your ideas and experiences to the mix.

Our homeschool Girl Scout troop is just about ready to begin and I'm so excited. And Caitlin. Caitlin is excited. This is for her, of course. I'm just leading, again, just to, um, be helpful, right? Its not that I totally love Girl Scouts and wish I was 11 again and could be earning all those cool badges and going to camp and everything. (Ok, yes, Mom, I did quit when I was 11 and cried through my entire Girl Scout camp career... but don't we all deserve another chance?) Love. It. All.

Swim team is also up and running (swimming?) now. Caitlin had her first meet last weekend, which was a challenge. She's never been a fast swimmer, and a year and a half out of the pool didn't do anything to change that. She was disappointed. Really disappointed. But she seems to have tuned-in, smart, sensitive coaches who helped her adjust her attitude about her times and set some realistic goals. And lucky for me, a good friend from knitting has an older swimmer and she helped me get through the meet. [One of the many things I love about getting older is how much more I appreciate all of the older (even just a tiny bit older) women in my life - its like I'm suddenly finding all the big sisters I always wished I had.] Anyhow, swimming continues and I'm motivated to get my butt in the water now too, which can only be good.

Ben continues apace, and the spouse-person keeps insisting he'll come up with a finished dissertation sooner or later. Here's hoping our trip to WI will help speed that up.

Vaccines

(First, welcome to new reader Jill! Glad you found us and I do hope we'll be able to connect in Madison in Feb... still waiting to hear about the conference. I'll keep you posted!)

Good people of blog-land, today I turn to you for a wee bit o' help.

We just got back from the pediatrician's and (as always) the subject of vaccinations came up. When the kids were little this was easy as either, with Caitlin, I just did what the doc said because I was naive or, with Ben, we did all the vax because we knew he was going to India in the near future.

Now India is behind us and looming are puberty and life with H1N1. The doc recommended Guardasil for Caitlin and H1N1 for both...

And I'm in a bit or a swivet. No easy answers anymore. India is a given, but the vax for that are a moot point. We've never done any flu shots, and I've never thought about Guardasil at all.

Thoughts? Things to read? What has your family done? I'd love to hear from everyone who's willing to share. You can leave a comment if you like, or if email would be more your speed, maggiehaskettATgmailDOTcom (make the obvious changes).

Thanks in advance.

You know what I think?

I think I'd like to go back to India. I really miss it and have been thinking about our old hometowns and all our friends in them quite a lot lately. I don't want to live there again, mind you. Just have a good long extended visit. At least a month in Ladakh - ok, a whole summer - and then onto Varanasi for as long as I can stand it and then Delhi, Pune and Goa until I am good and done in all regards. Or perhaps I'd like a 3-month tour of all the places we didn't get to, but wanted to visit. Ghost of Sen. Fulbright, can you hear me? The magic word is f-u-n-d-i-n-g...

Also, I think I ought to find out who Thomas Keller is. I have a recipe for his brownies taped up to my cabinet and as I wander the interwebs I keep bumping into "Thomas Keller's Pot Pie" or "Thomas Keller's Spaghetti Sauce" or "Thomas Keller's Peanut Butter and Crackers". What's the deal? Who is this guy and why do we care how he makes the most basic of dishes? (HIS brownies are iffy. Not as good as mine, even without salad dressing.)

I'm psyched to be a Girl Scout leader again, and double psyched that I don't have to have anything to do with managing our cookie sale.

I have to learn how to better interact with people who tell me quite seriously that they love global warming, and that maybe its just the earth finally getting back up to the "right" temperature.

Tracking our every expenditure for the entire month is simultaneously excruciatingly painful, satisfying to my meticulous-saurus side, and oddly liberating. (See! Its all the damn food! Not the little treats I buy myself! If only we ate less! More treats!) (Oh lord. I need such help.)

I'm curious to see what "Lee-Jackson Day" is all about. You guessed it - a Lexington-only holiday to commemorate our to favorite biggots OOPS! I mean heroes. A friend pointed out that L-J Day falling just 2 days after MLKJr day meant the two sort of cancelled each other out - like holding a Nazi Pride Fest just after Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Rememberance Day). There are American flags out all over town and nothing of consequence closed on Monday... wonder what tomorrow holds?

Caitlin has started swimming again, on the local winter team at the community pool. She's pleased with the shape she's in, having a blast, and thrilled to have the chance to swim 4 nights a week. Rockin. Now Ben wants in too.

I've slipped from conscious competence to unconscious competence with a lot of my baking/cooking. Vegan dinner is now a given, and loaves of good ol' sandwich bread issue forth from my oven at the drop of a hat. It is totally standard for me to crank out, from scratch, a baked dessert, bread and a full vegan dinner most days of the week. Cool.

The exterior of the house however, has gone to pot. The kids are so excited about the warm weather that they are outside all the time, which is awesome. But their crap is everywhere, which isn't. They are also building a club house and trying to thaw out our upper pond with some rather creative tools.

Today there were 12 youths at my house for the better part of the day (2 under 2). Awesome.

I need to get better at not wishing my current homeschooling group was my old homeschooling group. The new group has some lovely people in it, including some dear friends. It is what it is. Got to stop going to that hardware store for my loaf of bread.

And I'm hoping and wishing and squeezing my thumbs so hard that I'll get one of those last few spots at the Madison homeschool conference next month. But even if I don't we're still going home for a week or so.

And last, I toyed with declaring the 2009-2010 academic year my Year of Selfish Knitting. But I have some plum-wonderful sisters-in-law and they need some baby alpaca love. Sure hope someone can give me a ride to knitting tomorrow night.

So. Now you know!