Good-bye, Keene!

I went for a good morning, good-bye walk to delightful Robin Hood Park this morning, placing my unfired clay modeling assignments in strategic locations, to quietly dissolve into the landscape. New England autumns are celebrated, and so should be the New England springs--this one was early and splendiferous, with blossoms bursting open like smiles on tree branches, on bushes, and in the grass everywhere.

After whining, in my last post, about being sick so much, I became sick again--so tired and discouraged with getting sick all the time, that I tended to focus on navigating through each day, rather than on my imminent joyful homecoming. But now my boarding passes are printed, my jumbo suitcase is packed to the point of zipper strain, and the rest of my belongings are question marks surrounding my smaller suitcase, open on my bed (will this fit in? will this, too?). I had to slide my big suitcase down the stairs on its belly--tip will be a must, for the taxi driver who will come for me in the morning! Bank account is closed; refund of the cell phone deposit is negotiated; public library and university library books are returned. Books and clothes are in the mail.

Yesterday 'my' Grade Fours gave me gifts, a book of hand-drawn pictures and handwritten greetings, and their individual thank-yous and wishes for me and my own students, to come. Wonderful children, and I learned so much from them and from their teacher! It was perfect to have Rose and Ze'ev visit me in Keene, this past weekend. We ate in restaurants (what novelty!), got caught in the rain on Pack Monadnock, visited the Horatio Colony Nature Preserve, and I couldn't stop talking--Rose and Ze'ev didn't seem to mind! They packed some of my boxes to the lovely house in Wilton that will be my home for three weeks in July, and carried another box to Ottawa, to mail to Edmonton for me. Thanks Rose! Thanks Ze'ev!

Rose and Ze'ev arrived in Keene on Friday, in time to join my classmates and me in a year-end pot-luck celebration--I was thrilled to be able to introduce them to my wonderful classmates, who were kind enough to say all kinds of nice things to my dear daughter and her partner, my dear friend! I'm very glad I will be able to spend three more weeks with my companions-in-learning, in July.

After I publish this post I will cut myself off from the world by packing away this computer. Tomorrow will be spent in that peculiar vacuum of airports and planes that seems to displace the traveler's connections to time and location. I will go heavily armed with novels and knitting (I've decided to take my chances with a pair of short, almost toy-like bamboo knitting needles), so that I can read and knit furiously to distract myself from the noise and hubbub of air travel. I'm expecting a painless but long day, with a big prize at the end of it all--my own husband's smiling face, and a ride in my own car to my own home in Edmonton! The very prospect feels downright magical!

Will I ever visit Keene again?

Today join the French Republicans in a moment of contemplation of the edible herb borage, with its lovely star-like blue flowers, fuzzy leaves, cucumbery taste, and its boundless energy for showing up in your garden year after year, after you first choose to plant it.

For your soul:

There has arisen from its narrow limits
My self and finds itself
as revelation of all worlds
Within the sway of time and space;
The world, as archetype divine,
displays to me at every turn
the truth of my own likeness.

A Change in the Year

To My Sister

William Wordsworth
(1770-1850)

---

It is the first mild day of March:
Each minute sweeter than before
The redbreast sings from the tall larch
That stands beside our door.

There is a blessing in the air,
Which seems a sense of joy to yield
To the bare trees, and mountains bare,
And grass in the green field.

My sister! ('tis a wish of mine)
Now that our morning meal is done,
Make haste, your morning task resign;
Come forth and feel the sun.

Edward will come with you;--and, pray,
Put on with speed your woodland dress;
And bring no book: for this one day
We'll give to idleness.

No joyless forms shall regulate
Our living calendar:
We from to-day, my Friend, will date
The opening of the year.

Love, now a universal birth,
From heart to heart is stealing,
From earth to man, from man to earth:
--It is the hour of feeling.

One moment now may give us more
Than years of toiling reason:
Our minds shall drink at every pore
The spirit of the season.

Some silent laws our hearts will make,
Which they shall long obey:
We for the year to come may take
Our temper from to-day.

And from the blessed power that rolls
About, below, above,
We'll frame the measure of our souls:
They shall be tuned to love.

Then come, my Sister! come, I pray,
With speed put on your woodland dress;
And bring no book: for this one day
We'll give to idleness.

HEAVENLY SPRING DAYS!

No, I don't feel guilty crowing about how spring has arrived in New Hampshire, knowing that all my Edmonton buddies were suffering at minus forty degrees only last Wednesday morning. Edmontonians, rejoice! Spring is almost at your doorstep! I just about squealed when I went for my Beauty Walk on Saturday (walking in the woods,with my camera, that is, spotting the beauty in nature) and saw GREEN STUFF coming right out of the ground! Saturday and Sunday were the kind of early spring days that one dreams about all winter, with the sun's warmth penetrating through the back of my jacket. I went back on Sunday with a thermos of tea, and sat sipping it on a bench among the pines, overlooking the reservoir, smiling inside and out. A woman about my age had her fingers happily dabbling in the earth of her flower beds, and I stopped to admire her blooming yellow and purple crocuses. And there's a particular spot on the way to my Sunday-morning coffee shop, where I have begun to hear the unmistakable call of a mourning dove.

Everything is more fun in the spring, and knowing that I'll be home in two months.

FRENCH REPUBLICAN CALENDAR--Dandelion

Ah, today is the day of the lowly dandelion--one of my favorite flowers! The dandelion figures prominently in my botany project book for my Waldorf curriculum class. I held my webcam above my drawing of a dandelion seedling to show Ken, and his comment was, "Hey! That's a weed!" A Saskatchewan farm boy, he is not fond of the dandelion.

RUDOLF STEINER'S CALENDAR OF THE SOUL--Joy-of-growth is now calling to our human souls!

Thus to the human ego speaks

In mighty revelation,

Unfolding its inherent powers,

the joy of growth throughout the world:

I carry into you my life

from its enchanted bondage

and so attain my truest goal.

Transition Time

NEW ENGLAND: APRIL WEATHER IN DECEMBER
I still see squirrels occasionally, and today a small chipmunk with a very red back streaked across my path--I wonder if they're confused about the season? Monday's high here was -7 C, and this morning (two days later) it was +12 C and raining.

TEN MORE SLEEPS!
Neither buried beneath books, nor home for the holidays, now is a time of wrapping up loose ends and of anticipation. My classes resumed last week, after the Thanksgiving break, with significantly lighter assignment loads. This gives my classmates breathing space to finish their major term projects, but mine are already complete. I handed in my research paper on Leo Tolstoy to my instructor last Friday, one week before the deadline--he thanked me for the 'preemie.' I am learning the tenor recorder part for a few pieces that my class is preparing to perform on December 19th, and I found and stitched some accessories for the three angels in our Shepherds' Play for December 17th. I brought my watercolour painting notebook up to date, and jotted down my ponderings, comparing and contrasting 'touching' and 'beholding,' and my experiences of darkness and light. I registered for my January courses--did you know that we skip winter, at Antioch University? We are coming to the end of our FALL term, and in January we will begin our SPRING term--how convenient! These tasks, and my daily rehearsing, do NOT add up to a full week of work.

I looked after Jan's (my landlady's) dogs while she was away for a few days--fed them, watered them, and gave them attention. Hero and Winnie don't go for walks on leash. I took Safi on two brief walks, but she is quite skittish. She tends to lunge when a car drives by, and she's a big enough girl to provide a challenge for the one holding the other end of her leash! Precious was definitely easier to walk, and you can view photos of her at Robin Hood Park here. (I was mindful NOT to call her by name, in public!)

BOOKS AND STARS
I've read five novels since my last class before the Thanksgiving break, and I've decided I enjoy two Canadian female authors in particular--Joan Barfoot and Gail Bowen. It was fun to read about places in Saskatchewan in Gail's books. I read one of Garrison Keillor's Wobegon books, appropos to living in New England, and I especially enjoyed a new book by Peter Manseau, Songs for the Butcher's Daughter. Its themes include Jewish emigration from the Old Home to Israel and New York, and the Yiddish and Hebrew languages. The Canadian Living web site posts instructions on how to make stars by weaving gift-wrap ribbon, and I've made a couple dozen of these stars, to adorn my bedroom altar as well as the gifts I will wrap back in Edmonton.

FRENCH REPUBLICAN CALENDAR
Several years ago, a local radio station (perhaps CBC) declared, as an April Fool gag, that Canada was switching to 'decimal time.' There would be ten hours per day instead of twenty-four, with ten minutes per decimal hour, and ten seconds per decimal minute. When I found out about the French Republican calendar, I learned that the republicans had proposed this system, and created actual decimal time watches.

The French Republican calendar was used by the government of France for about twelve years, following the French revolution. It seems there was a desire to overturn every possible remnant of previous regimes. Said Romme: "...reason demands that we follow nature rather than servilely continuing upon the erroneous path of our predecessors..." The Republican calendar year began at the autumn equinox and had twelve months of 30 days each, which were given new names based on nature. Each month had three weeks, and each week had ten days. The names of these months translate (approximately) as follows: Grape Harvest, Fog, and Frost (autumn), Snowy, Rainy, and Windy (winter), Germination, Flower, and Pasture (spring), and Harvest, Summer Heat, and Fruit (summer). In England, people mocked the Republican Calendar by calling the months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety. What fun!! The French Republican calendar would make today the twentieth day of the autumn month of Frimaire (Frost). (The first month of winter would not begin until December 21.) Rather than the traditional Catholic saint-days, each day in the FR calendar has a designated animal, mineral, plant or tool (!), and today's special tool is the grub-hoe (tee-hee!).

In my posts of June 18 and August 27, 2008, I mentioned the ancient Chinese almanac from Liza Dalby's book, East Wind Melts the Ice. What is my attraction to these alternative calendars, you ask? I've been asking myself the same question. I believe it is a symptom of nothing less significant than my Quest to find Meaning in Life. A calendar can remind me of the seasons and the rhythms of nature, that nourish the seasons and the rhythms of my soul.

Soul nourishment for this week:

Within my being's depths there speaks,
Intent on revelation,
The cosmic Word mysteriously:
Imbue your labour's aims
With my bright spirit light
To sacrifice yourself through me.

Giving Thanks

CEDAR WAXWINGS
I'm not certain they were cedar waxwings, high, high up in the bare branches of a tree near the bike path last Sunday, but that's my best guesstimate, according to a few bird sites that I visited on the web. They were impossible to ignore--a large flock twittering and carrying on like dozens of squeaky wheels. I hope to see more of them through the winter. We have chickadees here, just like the ones at home, and squirrels are still bustling about, although my squirrel sightings are much fewer and farther between than they were a month or two ago.

AMERICAN THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving in the U.S. is a big deal--my university classes for the week were cancelled--and it is always held the fourth Thursday in November. I helped Jan, my landlady cook up a feast of turkey with gluten-free trimmings for a few of her friends. It felt quite strange to sit down to a turkey dinner with three complete strangers and my landlady (who is only an acquaintance, really). It felt as though I was in a movie about a somewhat odd assortment of people, brought together by somewhat odd circumstances to break bread and give thanks together. I am thankful for having this cosy bedroom in New Hampshire, for having a kitchen in which to cook, and for being able to cook and able to be of help. I am thankful for Thursday's social gathering, which was fun and entertaining.

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving here--the kick-off to the Christmas shopping season (my Christmas shopping is done, thank you very much!) and the busiest day of the year in retail stores in the U.S. I observed Black Friday by exploring a new-to-me bike trail at Ashuelot River Park, here in Keene. The photo above was taken there, and you can see more photos of the park by clicking here!

BEAUTY WALK
Some people refer to getting their 'beauty sleep,' and I rejuvenate by getting my 'beauty walks.' A beauty walk involves walking outdoors in nature, preferably with my camera, and it is done for the sake of both sanity and vanity! A Waldorf teacher from Alaska came to give a recruiting talk to my class a few weeks ago, and she shared the Northeners' Survival Secret with us. To cope with the severe cold and meagre daylight hours during winters that seem to go on forever, northeners get outdoors and get active every chance they get. Those Waldorf kids in Alaska spend more time outside during the school week in the frozen North than students do in the hospitable South. Works for me!

CYCLING THROUGH THE LEAVES
We're not 'dashing through the snow' yet, but in October I noticed with curiosity that homeowners here rake all of their leaves--and there are lots and lots of leaves--into piles and drifts along the sidewalks and curbs, instead of bagging them. My landlady, Jan told me that city crews come along in their trucks and vacuum up these piles of leaves. I even saw people in their yards riding on garden-tractor-vacuum machines. It was fun to ride my bike down the hill from Robin Hood Park, blasting through those leaf piles!

Last weekend it was capital-C Cold for the first time here. I didn't go up to Robin Hood Park, because the back brake on my bike didn't work, and that brake is needed for the ride down the hill. Andy's Cycle Shop seems to be closed down, at least temporarily, so I found another shop a little farther from home, but still within cycling distance--Norm's. I told the bike repair kid that my back brake quit working. He hefted my bike into the back of the shop as if it was only half its weight, and put it up on a stand. Then he turned to me and asked,

"Did you have it outside?"

Outside? I'm not supposed to have my bike outside? The brake worked perfectly well inside the warm shop, and it seems there is moisture inside my brake cable that freezes, and causes my brake to freeze. Jan told me I can keep the bike in her covered porch for the winter, and now I am learning to carry it up and down the front porch steps.

COOKING FOR ONE
Cooking for one is easy and fun! I love using Jan's toaster oven for cooking and for re-heating leftovers (I am a 'microwave snob'). I slap a piece of parchment paper on the baking tray, and cleaning up is no issue. I cook a recipe that serves 4-6 people, and freeze the leftovers in plastic 6-ounce yogurt containers overnight. In the morning, I pop out the frozen portions into freezer bags, to protect them against freezer burn. Each week my shopping list includes a single potato, a single onion, about six pieces of fruit, a fresh vegetable to cook, fresh ingredients for lunch sandwiches or salads, and a box of tea (twenty teabags are in a box, and I drink a bare minimum of three cups of tea per day). For supper tomorrow evening I can thaw out a portion of sweet-and-sour pineapple chicken, squash soup, lentil tomato soup, or mushroom cream sauce to go with either a chicken thigh or some made-ahead meatballs. It's a gourmet selection--a veritable embarasment of riches. More for which to be thankful!

Here is this week's verse from COTS--The Calendar of the Soul:

In secret inwardly to feel
How all that I've preserved of old
Is quickened by new-risen sense of self:
This shall, awakening, pour forth cosmic forces
Into the outer actions of my life
And growing, mold me into true existence.

Walking Around Keene

CRICKET CONCERTO
and TURNING of the LEAVES

My route from the airport to Keene on Friday (August 29) took me across one of the famed covered bridges of the region. It was dark when the taxi pulled up to my house on Fowler Street, and the crickets were kicking up a ruckus (just as they are this evening, outside my bedroom window). From the airplane window, the forests still resemble dark green broccoli, however the tippy-tops of the maples in Keene are crossing over to orange and red, and the first maple leaves are swirling on the lawns and sidewalks.

Today was the fourth of five free days for me, before my classes begin on Thursday. My goal for these days is to teach myself to feel at home in this tidy furnished bedroom, in this sprawling, older home with my new house mates Jan, Gary, Caitlin, Hannah, four dogs and a ball python that eats live rats, and in this charming New England city, with its colonial architecture and its hot, humid weather. I've been walking, walking, walking every day, returning to the house with groceries in my backpack (much heavier than the kind of groceries I carry in the trunk of my car in Edmonton!), and changing my shirt each day in the middle of the afternoon. I visited my new university today and yesterday, to familiarize myself with the route. Unfortunately, Main Street happens to be an unavoidable part of my daily path, and I was distracted both days by the enticements of the intriguing shops along my way.

If you click on 'tidy furnished bedroom,' you will see photos of my room, as well as the house, and shots taken at an Art in the Park show that I visited on Sunday. I fell in love with the art of Don Reed, at the show--it would be wonderful if he would teach his technique in a class, and if I could attend that class! The painting I've included in this post is his work, and you can view more, and read about his technique, on Don's web site.

Jan, my landlady, is a collector, and she has a couple/few bikes in her yard. She offered me the use of one of them, and I walked it down to Andy's Bike Shop today for a tune-up and some extras--bell, basket, fenders and light. I've been reading about derailleurs and how to shift gears, and I'm excited about learning to ride a multi-speed bike, and having one to use during my year in Keene.

It was more difficult than I anticipated, to wrench myself away from The Good Life in Edmonton. I am reluctant to admit to how much fun I'm having here, because I know I am greatly missed by people that I love in Edmonton. On the other hand, they (you!) support my adventure, and hope that I will enjoy it thoroughly. I understand that this is Something Big that I am doing just for me, and my being away demands a real sacrifice from those who love me and who are close to me. I am grateful indeed.

Steiner, from The Calendar of the Soul:

The light from world-wide spaces
Works on within with living power;
Transformed to light of soul
It shines into the spirit depths
To bring to birth the fruits
Whereby out of the self of worlds
The human self in course of time shall ripen.

What fruits from this time in our lives will ripen in due course?