peacefulreader

Mini-weekend getaway.

(Freedom Park-butterfly bench)

I left my family for two days (one night) to attend the anniversary party of family friends. These are the kinds of friends that have know me since I was knee-high through my terrible teen years, have been there for me through many major life events, and still unconditionally love me. So nearly family, yes?

They had a beautiful afternoon church service that involved husband and wife speaking and then their three children stood and spoke about their parents’ love and respect for each other. It was a perfect tribute to this couple. It was wonderful for me to visit with family and friends; some that I hadn’t seen for years. 50 years of blissful marriage is something to celebrate and I was so happy that I could road trip to Prescott, Wisconsin for their event.

Oliver; The Musical opened the same weekend of which both my husband and Groovy Girl are involved with so I had to go solo. I don’t mind except road trips generally mean reading and napping in the car for me. Not so this time~I had to stay alert and drive. Makes me remember to appreciate my husband’s willingness to drive me other times; like this Wed. when we head back to the Twin Cities for a play at the Guthrie.

(The St. Croix River)

The oldest son, Erik, spoke eloquently about his parents and I found myself taking notes; after all aren’t we supposed to learn from the wealth of knowledge at hand.

Here’s what he gathered from his parents and passed back to us:

Erik said he’d learned three skills from each of his parents and shared short quips about each one of them to us. I’m going to share them out to you without the quips.

From his mother, Marcia, he learned:

1. Show up; you’ve got to at least show up, being there is half the battle.
2. Look for opportunities; doors close, others open in a new direction.
3. Stay positive and interested. (He talked about her amazing ability to engage others easily in conversation which showed him later how to cross-examine-he’s a lawyer.)

From his father, Marv, he learned:

1. A do-it-yourself attitude; after all “how hard could it be?” Marv tried to build a boat using my dad’s boat as an actual model. Need I say more.
2. Be Flexible; don’t worry about the small things.
3. Intellectual Curiousity is a way of life.

And from both:
1. Mutual respect
2. Be optimistic.
3. Don’t be afraid to fail; the power to embrace failure is the key to success.

All great advice, right! It is wonderful to have such love spread back to you from your children. I’ll be well in to my eighties if I ever am to celebrate 50 years of wedded bliss but it will be worth it to see what my children have to say!

A little lending library at the park was my favorite site. I want one now out front. You can see me reflected back in the glass instead of the books but it was filled with a wide variety of books.

Even though I was gone for only one night my family was ecstatic to have me back. I got lots of hugs and kisses from big and small. It warmed my heart to make it back and forth safe and sound and receive such love from my family. I guess I’ll have to leave more often!

Flipping pancakes-summer fun!

(She likes a little maple syrup with sprinkles of powdered sugar)

Summer time is all about time for me. Oh, don’t get me wrong-I’m still beyond busy but I take time to do things like make pancakes and waffles for my children because I’m not rushing off to work. They sleep in a bit more also so I can get up do a little writing, then make something fun for breakfast.

I made these pancakes just the other day and still have a small stack of leftovers in the fridge for random snacks. Leftovers~what a great idea!

(adapted from)The Vegetarian Epicure
by Anna Thomas (she wrote this book while still in college!)
(1972)
Vintage Books/Random House

Simple Breakfast Pancakes (186)
serves 3-4 pancake eaters

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups unbleached white/wheat flour mix
1 T. turbinado sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 T. baking powder
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter

Sift the dry into a mixing bowl. Beat the egg yolks with the milk and melted butter, and stir into the flour mix. Beat the egg whites until they are fluffy, but not dry, and fold them into the batter. Heat a large skillet or griddle and oil it lightly. Drop pancake batter on by large spoonfuls and brown nicely on both sides. Serve immediately with butter, syrup, honey, yogurt, jam, applesauce, or fresh fruit.

“Fresh fruit and yogurt are especially recommended for a festive and satisfying breakfast.”-those vegetarians-always ahead of their time!!

What do you take extra time for in the summer?

He looks like he should eat 20 pancakes…
love that he is reading while eating.

Weekend Cooking; Green Grad Party!

(Two young party-goers)

We had a spur-of-the-moment party two weekends ago now to celebrate Teenage Boy’s graduation. For the last few years he’s attended a laboratory school attached to University of Northern Iowa and the president of UNI decided to close this wonderful school for budget reasons or because they didn’t believe in it anymore.It wasn’t feasible for the school to stay open. It’s all the same end to an awful equation but the outcome is that given a choice to enter the only other local high school or graduate early he chose the later. His school was funky and small and the other high school is big.

These decisions did not come down the hill until February. Teenage Boy started one of two online courses he would need to take to graduate early. I find that fact alone amazing-his school gives them a full load every year so much so that he only needed 2 classes to fulfill state level graduation requirements! Wow. After a very rocky start, he adjusted to this on-line Language Arts class and as he got closer to finishing we decided we needed to plan a party. He only needed to finish one of the two courses to participate in the ceremony. The physics course he will have to finish by June 18th to get his diploma.

After attending many grad parties in the past we had some ideas of what we wanted from ours. We also had a limited budget to work from but didn’t want to skimp. You only get one chance at a true high school graduation. We wanted to offer Teenage Boy’s favorite easy foods in an eco-friendly fashion.

(the food spread-inside away from the bugs)

We celebrated with turkey hot dogs purchased from a local butcher shop (96 dogs total), popcorn freshly popped that morning with chocolate treats sprinkled throughout-very festive-, Bugles (blechh-but he LOVES them),homemade brownies, freshly chopped coleslaw, freshly baked buns and the best part…Root Beet Floats made with a keg of 1919 root beer. We are not big soda drinkers here but we love an occasional glass of good root beer and this is some of the best!

(me enjoying my own float with my friend, Lynne)

The menu was easy and we didn’t need many tools to eat but we wanted them to be green. I searched a few local stores for paper plate and cup options either made out of recycled materials or compost-ready. I couldn’t find anything in town so I turned to my global market-AMAZON-and found just what I wanted and for reasonable prices. I hate not buying things locally and if I’d had more time I might have spent time convincing a local market to order these items for me but I was in a time crunch.

(TB with his Grandma Janice-she and Gpa Dean flew in from Colorado to surprise him)

The Eco-Section…

All the materials we used were either reusable like the spoons, which were local purchases, and the plates, cups, and napkins (made from sugarcane/corn/wheat). After attending other grad parties we just knew we couldn’t have this large trash can overflowing so we found a way around it. We had a small plastic tub under the outdoor table where the root beer floats were served and had explanation cards on the bins; one was for the compost items and a small one was for the spoons. I have all the compostable stuff in the same bin now with water in it to help it break down before I add it to our own compost ball. A few plates and cups made it into our regular garbage bin and that’s okay as I know eventually they will break down as well. The spoons we have set aside for camping and next year’s home-to-school lunches.

I’m so glad our party is done-it was exhilarating and exhausting! Score one for green grad! Now if we could just find a physics professor for free tutoring we’d be in great shape!!

(Future Graduate or two down one to go..no hurry though!.)

This post is loosely linked to Beth Fish Reads weekend cooking meme.

Click on the link to see many other real food-related posts.

Picture Books delight! (quick they're overdue!)

Ollie the purple elephant by Jarrett J. Krosoczka (2011).

The McLaughlin children have always been promised that if they came across a purple elephant they could keep it and one day while strolling in the park they do! “”Well… a promise is a promise,” said Mr. McLaughlin and the children ask Ollie to come home with them. Everyone’s happy except the family cat, Ginger. Ginger hates Ollie and plots with the downstairs neighbor Mr. Puddlebottom to get rid of Ollie. Their plan works and Ollie is sent off to perform with Mr. Puddlebottom’s cousin’s circus! Will the McLaughlin family ever see Ollie again…? The illustrations are lively with bright vivid colors. Watch this short video of Ollie by Random House.

Otto Carrotoo by Chiara Carrer (2000).

Otto muses about his rabbit siblings and their quirky habits. His sister will only wear red shoes and his brother is obsessed with his blue roller skates. Otto isn’t obsessed with anything until he decides one day to eat only carrots; carrots for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, carrot soup, carrot pizza, carrot cake…he eats so many carrots he doesn’t pay attention to his appearance until his brother and sister start munching on his carroty ears. He swears off carrots and switches to spinach! What will Otto look like after too much spinach? Great for sharing food stories with children. Maybe if Otto loves carrots and spinach, picky eaters might give them a try-but just a little. Too much of even a good thing can be bad. The illustrations in this one are funky collage pages that will appeal to children.

I had a whole big beautiful bag of picture books to read and these were the top two favorites. The entire bag was a day (or two) overdue. Yikes. So today took them back and paid my $10.00 fine! How do I so easily let that library date escape my mind? Any tricks to remembering to return books on time…?
Please share.

Relaxing Summer? Yes!

I’ve had plans all laid out around the time of the time of Teenage Boy’s graduation we “remodeled” the backyard, making way for this very quiet corner to read in or work on the computer. I’m about two weeks into summer and I’ve only had the time to sit in that chair twice-yes, exactly twice. A positive like myself might say “Well, at least you’ve had the opportunity to recline elegantly twice!” Right. But I want to do it every day!

I have tended my garden and spruced up other areas of our yard. You can see three squash plants, lettuce,

three tomato plants, and five basil plants growing there.

We’ve attended a fabulously gorgeous wedding of a friend. The wedding and reception took place at a local bed and breakfast, which was a perfect setting for this down-to-earth young couple. They planted a bonsai tree together during the ceremony. Ahh, it was lovely.

I’m taking two classes for re-licensure this summer and one is an on-line course about Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s). We’ve learned about diigo, twitter, RSS Feeds, and Google Readers, all of which are to help us set up a community of “friends” we can learn together with. I already had experience with each of these social networking tools but I’m sure to learn more as we keep exploring. Even as we set them up I can’t help but wonder about the effects of reaching out to a cyber-community instead of real people in our schools, neighbors on our own blocks, and retailers in our own local stores.

I discovered this article through another classmate about the Waldorf school sans any technology at all. Hmmm. I have to admit I love the idea of waiting to give youngsters any technology at all until middle or high school and this article explains it perfectly. My own daughter reaches for my school issued tablet like it’s a drug and wishes to play with that more than anything. I think it saps her creativeity just having it in the house. She spends all day playing with the idea that she’ll later be able to get her hand on the tablet for a few tries at Temple Run to beat her “top” score.

What say you? Should we leave technology for later or is an Apple iPad the perfect learning tool for young students?

A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay

(2010)

St. Martin’s Press

Tatiana De Rosnay

I read Sarah’s Key a few years back and liked it. It had an interesting mystery to it and the back story was historical fiction which was great for me, a lover of historical fiction. I didn’t enjoy the modern story as much I liked the Holocaust and the same goes for A Secret Kept, De Rosnay’s second book.

Synopsis:

“It all began with a simple seaside vacation, a brother and sister recapturing their childhood. Antoine Rey though he had the perfect surprise for his sister Melanie’s birthday: a weekend by the sea at Noirmoutier Island, where the pair spent many happy childhood summers playing on the beach. It had been too long, Antoine thought, since they’d returned to the island-more than 30 years since their mother died and the family holidays ceased. But the island’s haunting beauty triggers more than happy memories; it reminds Melanie of something unexpected and deeply disturbing about their last island summer. When, on the drive home to Paris, she finally summons the courage to reveal what she knows to Antoine, her emotions overcome her and she loses control of the car.” (jacket flap)

When I read the flap at the library the intrigue over what scandalous thing would make someone lose control of the car piqued my interest. The Parisian setting, the analysis of Antoine and Astrid’s marriage, the teenage strife, Antoine’s girlfriend, Angele, the back story of June and Clarisse, and the Rey’s family all add to what could be an interesting and uniquely done story.

It doesn’t work though. Antoine is filled with such painful agony over his recent divorce and his relationship with his children. His sister Melanie who worked in publishing before the accident seemed like an unique character but turns out to disappoint. I found very little redeeming qualities for this family both past and present. I’m not going to spill the story of what exactly happened with Antoine and Melanie’s mother but it sadly goes no where. I wanted some kind of resolution. Perhaps Antoine should have had a conversation about his mother with his father to fully understand and maybe through that conversation some family healing for both men could have occurred. This would have tied things together for Antoine to move forward with his future life, having connected with his father about their happier days.

More than the story’s elements it was De Rosnay’s writing style that made me cringe. It was stilted, repetitive, and overly dramatic. Instead of telling a simple story she gives us complex with too much blah-blah. She tells us so many times that Antoine and his father haven’t gotten along since their mother’s death that I felt De Rosnay must think her audience dense.

“Melanie has opened her eyes. Our father grabs her hand, hanging on to it for dear life, as if this were the last time he will ever touch her. He leans toward her, half of his body on the bed. The way he clasps her hand moves me. He is realizing he has nearly lost his daughter. His petitie Melabelle. Her nickname from long ago. He wipes his eyes with the cotton handkerchief he always keeps in his pocket. He cannot say a word, it seems. He can only sit there and breathe audibly.Melanie is disturbed by this display of emotion. She doesn’t want to see his ravaged, wet face. So she looks at me. For so many years now, our father hasn’t ever shown his feelings, only displeasure or anger. This is an unexpected flashback to the tender, caring father he used to be, before our mother died.” (79)

As a budding book blogger “psychologist” I would say their father has been angry for so long because his first wife, their mother, the love of his life died tragically! And they never talk about it, never attempting to heal themselves or their father. Everything De Rosnay tells us is that the he was an adoring father and husband but yet Antoine stays angry with him throughout, never discussing any of his new knowledge. And Melanie completely shuts down and tells Antoine she doesn’t want to know anything more, tucking her head in the sand, choosing to live in limbo about her family instead of knowing at least some of the truth.

The Garfield Review

Another point-of-view at

Brain Candy Book Reviews.

*just a quirky note-did anybody else notice that both De Rosnay books have similar titles (Sarah’s Key, A Secret Kept) both S,K* Odd to me or just odd I don’t know. You be the judge.

Calling Invisible Women; A Novel by Jeanne Ray

Calling Invisible Women

Jeanne Ray

2012

246 pages

Jeanne Ray’s latest contemporary women’s fiction novel has something to say about how we allow products to heal ourselves whether they are expensive drugs prescribed by our doctor or Botox-type enhancers that lift money from our wallet for temporary solutions.

Clover Hobart, a fifty-something wife and mother, wakes up one day and discovers she cannot find herself in the mirror after her morning shower. Her first disappearance lasts only a short time but she’s concerned because her son says he can still see her. She thinks she might be losing her mind. When it happens again she locates a group of invisible women that meet at the local Sheraton Hotel. Clover learns that a combination of three medicines all made by Dexter-White, a pharmaceutical company, is what causes many women of a certain age to become invisible.

Through this group she begins to take action as the reporter she once was spurring others to get busy by exploring what they can accomplish as invisible women. Because of her new bravery she stops a man from harassing a woman outside the grocery store, she un-arms a robber in the midst of bank robbery, and she and another invisible woman ride the school bus to corral bully behavior. Eventually she takes on the Dexter-White.

This is a light-hearted look at how easy it is for older women to become invisible in society as what’s young and hip steals focus. I enjoyed the characters, the topic, and I felt more empowered as I raised my fist in solidarity with them as they crafted a plan to bring down Dexter-White.. It is an easy read-it only took my three days to read the book. Ray is the author of Julie and Romeo.

A quote:

“No one is interested in us,” Mrs. Robinson said. “When I look back on my life, I was invisible for so many years before I became invisible. I never did stand up for myself. If you don’t stand up before you become invisible, what chance do you have of making people pay attention to you when you aren’t there?”
“Amen to that,” a voice said. (66)

Reviewed at Dear Author

Super Imaginative Picture Books!

I dropped by the library for mere moments the other day and found a plethora of cute picture books on the “new” shelf.

I’ve read them by bits and pieces all through the week and I have three absolute favorites. All three while different have sort of a connection about imagination and comfort.

Naughty Toes by Ann Bonwill; ill. by Teresa Murfin (2011) Tiger Tales

Chloe narrates this tale about life with her perfect ballerina sister, Belinda. She’s not jealous, which is the first thing I noticed and loved. When their mom takes them to the ballet store to pick out leotards and shoes Belinda picks classic pink and white. Chloe picks a wide array of bright colors. The two sisters head to Madame Mina’s dance class where Belinda has “good toes” and Chloe “naughty toes” while Mr. Tiempo keeps the beat on his bright yellow piano. Before the next class Dad does their hair; Belinda’s hair folds elegantly into a beautiful ballerina bun while Chloe’s pokes and struts refusing to be tamed. This illustration is great, showing Dad with bobby pins peeking out of his frown. Back at class Madame Mina gives directions and Chloe continues to flounder. On the day of the big show Belinda gets a bouquet from Madame Mina and Chloe receives a box from Mr. Tiempo- tap shoes with a note that reads…”follow your feet.” The message is clear and abundant. Every character in the book celebrates their own path. Chloe’s never scolded for marching to the beat of a different drummer. Each parent participates in their own way.
This is a perfect score!

Princess Super Kitty by Antoinette Portis. (2011) Harper.

Simply narrated by a little girl with short cropped dark hair who is pretending to be a kitty. My own children did this often, asking for food on the floor, as they purred and scratched their way around the house. Most memorably my two oldest loved to pretend they were wolves. Oh, those were the days. Such an abundance of imagination! This young girl shifts from kitty to Super Kitty, ready to save the world by rescuing her baby brother. She even delivers his bottle in “zero seconds”. Super Kitty quickly morphs into Princess Super Kitty as she marches around the house for her family to adore. Each new character allows her the freedom to make a new choice about doing something helpful like taking a bath or playing nicely with her brother. From the tone we can easily hear that she is not a demanding or shrill princess character. I adore Portis’ other books, Not a Stick and Not a Box and this is another one to add to my collection.

Goodnight Dragons by Judith L. Roth; ill. Pascal Lemaitre (love his work!). (2012) Hyperion Books.

This is a “boy” book filled with wonderful imaginative play. This little guy wants to tame dragons so he gathers his tools and fills his wagon. He traipses off to the forest with his trusty “horse” dog. The book at this point hadn’t stirred my creative soul just yet but then this line hit me: “With a voice strong as hawksong, I call them to me. Come you heartbreakers. Come, you brokenhearted. Come put your fire with sweet chocolate milk.” he repeats peeking through the treetops. That line is magical to me-this little boy in the trees, offering comfort to the dragons, who come swarming for his call. Instead of sword play he offers them blankets, and a sleepy time treat. Magic. Simply shows how little boys can be nurturing and creative as well.

Sprinkle these extremely peaceful stories into your bedtime routine for lots of hugs and love!

Graduation Day

Today is the day. Our junior is graduating with all the seniors. He is one year ahead of schedule but due to unforeseeable circumstances he realized it was more important to graduate from his school than to spend one year at a new school. The above photo shows him (first photo without braces which came off at the beginning of this week) with his Colorado grandparents who flew in for the event.

Until I see him walk across the stage it won’t really seem REAL to me. I’m not emotionally prepared for this event. We’ve only been talking about it for a 2-3 months. We did have a casual backyard party yesterday in celebration. The party was fantastic and happy which allowed me to just enjoy that moment but today, well, this ceremony is a whole other BIG moment. I’m bringing a box of kleenex.

Guacamole; A cooking poem by Jorge Argueta and Margarita Sada

One day over at Jama Ratigan’s fabulous blog, Alphabet Soup, I entered one of her drawings and I won!
I almost missed my opportunity to win this book because I missed her email message to me and she nicely emailed me a second time. Thank you Jama!

Groovy Girl and I were both home when the post person brought the package from House of Anansi Press with this very green poetry food book inside the yellow bubble wrapper. We actually sat down in the grass and read it right away.

The first thing you notice are the gorgeous illustrations that show the young children interacting playfully with the food. The second point is that the story is told bilingually with Spanish and English. It begins:

“Today I’m going to make you guacamole,”
I say to my mother and father
and my little brother and sister.
They stare at me with their big eyes
that remind me of the green avocados
in the basket on the red kitchen table. (1)

and it continues with vivid colors and words used to describe the process of making a delicious bowl of guacamole! I adore how this young chef sings and dances around the kitchen with her apron on. She continues with:

I wash them in the fountain of the sink
and then, dancing and singing,
I put them on the red kitchen table. (6)

This is a treasure of a book for the kitchen or the library. It is a celebration of food and fun and this young girl celebrates the simple process of making a family tradition. I think I’m going to add it to my school library collection but I’m not ready to part with it at home yet. I am waiting for some beautiful avocados to slide my way so I can give this recipe a try. Thanks again to Jama for offering such a great poetry giveaway!