With Family

STORYLAND VALLEY ZOO
Nice shot, isn't it? I took it during a raptor demonstration at the zoo, on a magical day with daughters Rose & Laura, Rose's sweetie Ze'ev, and grandbabies Kaliana & Kai. Here's another one:

So proud to be riding on a pony!

A whole family life greeted me in Edmonton, in August, including days at the lake with Rose, Laura, and the two little 'Ks.' I got my nails done, got my hair done, and SCHOOL began to happen big time! (Is it obvious that I'm trying to catch up on my blog posts?) Meetings, home visits, watching with admiration as the WESE worker-women scrape and paint, saw and hammer, scrape and sew and transform three ordinary old classrooms into Waldorf places of wonder. Lesson planning, you may wonder? Mmm . . . I'm well behind in that department. And then, last weekend, a glorious mother/daughter retreat with my beloved singing sisters at Labyrinth Lake Lodge. (Oh! I didn't go as a grandmother, or even as a mother--I went as a DAUGHTER, with Kay as my other mother!) I was honoured with a ceremony (surprise!) recognizing my year away and my role in launching this new Waldorf program into the world.

My new students came to school yesterday afternoon to check out our new classroom, in preparation for their Big Day on Wednesday--so wonderful to see the classroom come alive with children!

Hey, today is watermelon day, in the French Republican Calendar--reminds me to be sure and enjoy summer's last juicy treats during these last few days of August!

This week Rudolf Steiner tells us:

I feel strange power, bearing fruit
And gaining strength to give myself to me.
I sense the seed maturing
And expectation, light-filled, weaving
Within me on my selfhood's power.

My soul and the great World are one.

GLENDALOUGH
Such a peaceful photo, taken the evening of July 4th. You would never know we had just enjoyed the best/worst hailstorm I have ever seen at our cabin at Lake Wabamun. It was the last night of a five-day retreat with my daughter Laura, and my two grandbabies, Kaliana and Kai. We hiked through mud, we did a temper tantrum at the pancake breakfast, we ate a picnic lunch by the playground at the beach, we soaked in the hot tub every day before breakfast and before bed, and we even made our own cheese! I had forgotten how daily activities have to be wedged in between all the naps, sleeps, meals, and snacks that little ones need. Kai cut his first tooth, and Fiona the cat became less ornery and more tolerant of the kitty-loving Kaliana. Was Baba all worn out after her days with two active tots? Does Baba admit to being just a little-itty bit cranky? And how did Baba ever manage with four tots of her own, back in the day? A mystery, indeed.

NEW WALDORF PROGRAM AT AVONMORE SCHOOL
Try to imagine how excited I am to be preparing for the brand-new grade 1 & 2 class of a brand-new Waldorf program, in a new-to-me school, with a wonderful new-to-me principal! I began to imagine bright, shining, eager faces sitting in desks just as soon as I read their names on the class list! I will have 24 young charges, and will stay with them all the way through until at least grade 6, and possibly to grade 8. I have begun meeting them in their homes, and I'm struck with what a diverse group they are, with family origins from around the globe, and beginnings ranging from having been home-educated, to having attended WESE's playschool, to having attended Waldorf schools elsewhere, to having attended kindergarten or grade 1 in a public school. My dear friend Lynda, who is also one of my new Waldorf parents, asked me 1)what I am most looking forward to, and 2)what I feel my greatest challenge will be.
1). . . the oh-so-exciting First Day of School, September 2!
2). . . how will I manage my energy levels, teaching teach full time?
I feel very strongly that 'my' new 24 children have orchestrated this amazing endeavor from beyond the beyond, and I imagine them each making their way toward September 2, along their individual, unique paths, from 24 different directions. I feel that I am meeting my personal destiny, in this auspicious new beginning. Steiner must have written the following just for me:

The wishes of the soul are springing,
The deeds of the will are thriving,
The fruits of life are maturing.

I feel my fate,
My fate finds me.
I feel my star,
My star finds me.
I feel my goals in life,
My goals in life are finding me.

My soul and the great World are one.

Life grows more radiant about me,
Life grows more arduous for me,
Grows more abundant within me.

CALENDARS
The Chinese almanac has us into the last month of summer--enjoy it, folks, autumn rustles in on August 5th! Today the French Republican Calendar honours mint, glorious mint. There are more than 600 varieties of this clean, fresh smelling and tasting herb. My favorite salad uses a dressing flavoured with fresh chopped mint leaves and curry paste.

LAST TASTE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
Just one last day in Edmonton; then I'm off for my second three-week summer intensive term in New Hampshire. Singing, games, eurythmy, the science curriculum, the adolescent, speech, and the study of 'man' (meaning everybody). Yes, it's hard to leave home again, even for three short weeks, but it will be lovely to see my New Hampshire friends, and I'm looking forward to a road trip home with Ken, after my graduation.

Rudolf Steiner's summer meditation from The Calendar of the Soul:

Surrendering to senses' revelation
I lost the drive of my own being,
And dreamlike thinking seemed
To daze and rob me of my self.
Yet quickening there draws near
In sense appearance cosmic thinking.

Happy New Year

ANOTHER STORM
I don't understand New England weather, and I don't understand ice storms. Yesterday evening I checked the weather forecast for Keene, and read:
A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 6 am EST Thursday.
This warning is in effect for southwest New Hampshire.
Snow mixed with freezing rain and sleet may change to all freezing
rain Wednesday afternoon. Significant ice accretions of one third to one
half inch are expected during the daylight hours tomorrow. Wednesday night will
continue to be slippery... as mixed precipitation changes back to snow
or snow showers.
The expected storm total 3 to 6 inches of snow and sleet accumulation... in
addition to the glaze... will result in slippery travel on untreated
surfaces.
On my way to Monadnock School this morning, for my first day interning in the Grade Four class, I imagined outdoor recess supervision might be a little challenging. It was a delightful walk--the temperature was very mild with no wind at all, there was a soft, fresh snowfall, and a fine mist in the air. But the school windows were dark, the door was locked, and there were no cars in the parking lot nor footprints in the snow. Sure enough, back at home on Fowler Street, there was a message on my cell phone that school had been canceled due to a 'snow day.' The on-line edition of Keene's newspaper reports:

Another winter storm hits the region
Snow and ice are hitting the Monadnock Region today. Schools in the area are closed.

They call this a STORM? Oh, come ON!!

SHEPHERDS' PLAY
The photo above is the church at a town called Westminster West, where my Antioch University class performed the traditional Shepherds' Play before the holiday break. Some of my classmates and instructors were without power, after the December 12 ice storm, and our performance was in peril due to a heavy dump of snow happening the day of the presentation. But everyone pulled through, and the event was magical. We all seemed to do our best, the story came together beautifully, the audience was appreciative, and we had a wonderful, joyful time together. Lesley, Eileen and I were angels, and my heart melted when Eileen's daughters, Anna and Caitlyn, bestowed upon me their sweet, little-girl hugs after the play.

HOME!
Try to imagine how delightful it was for me, just to be at home, for two weeks at the end of the year! Ken spoiled me with a dozen red roses, I had time to spend with my kids, and I met my grandson, Kai, and my daughter's new boyfriend, Gregg, for the first time. The photo is of me with the dearest little boy and girl in the world--Kai and Kaliana. There were other reunions too--my cousin Darrell and his wife Karen brought together my aunts, uncles and cousins at their home on Boxing Day, and the Luscious Women of my singing group, In Her Voices, cooked up one of our fabulous pot-luck celebrations at the home of Dorothy and Meg, on the morning of New Year's Day. I had lunch with my Argyll friends Maureen and Starla, at Maureen's retreat in Leduc. I ate rich food, got together with loved ones every day, and collected memories and hugs to last my next four months in New Hampshire!

TRYING TO BE PATIENT
I am SO looking forward to my internship--i.e. student teaching--and my classes this term. I've been peeking at my new required course books, doing some preliminary reading, and anticipating the assignments that one of my instructors sent out by email. For his Waldorf Curriculum Preparation class, I will be presenting on Mesopotamia and the Gulf Stream (not that they're necessarily related!), and modeling a Greek temple, a spiral, and two Platonic solids in clay. But these classes don't start until January 16--that's AGES from now! And it looks as though the first day of my internship, originally booked for January 5, may not happen until the 12th, due to interruptions at the school caused by a record five 'snow days' already this winter. I'm raring to go, but I'm facing another 'nothing-to-do-and-nobody-do-do-it-with' weekend to pull myself through, with whatever positive attitude I can muster.

Hey! I rode my bike Sunday and yesterday--my goal is to ride it every month through the winter (though not every day in every month).

According to the French Republican Calendar, today is Octidi, 18 Nivôse CCXVII--the eighth day of the week, the 18th day of the Snowy month, associated with the mineral limestone. Take a moment today to appreciate the roles of limestone in your life, in geological formations, building blocks, cement, white pigment, toothpaste, and as a source of calcium in bread and cereals!

Here is Steiner's Calendar of the Soul verse for this week:

And when I live in spirit depths
And dwell within my soul's foundations,
There streams from love-worlds of the heart,
To fill the vain delusion of the self,
The fiery power of the cosmic Word.

Oh, Baba!

My daughter Laura birthed a baby boy, Kai Parker, at 1:05 a.m. on Thursday, October 2. He arrived within ten minutes of her arrival at the hospital, and weighed in at seven pounds, four ounces. I am holding my breath until Christmastime, when I will get to hold my grandson for the first time!

I heard of this blessed event in an email from Laura's sister, which I received while in the computer lab at Antioch University. I was all pumped up, with no one to hug! I attended my classes vibrating inside, and finding it difficult to rub two thoughts together in my Proud Baba brain.

I thank Laura for bringing this wonderful new life into the world, Rose for bringing this wonderful news to me, Laura's father for providing a reassuring update on mother's and baby's well-being, and Christina for caring for Big Sister Kaliana and for sending out the photos that made it all seem real.

Hallelujah, and joy to the world!