Monadnock Waldorf School

Here is my Monday-to-Wednesday world, as an intern in the Fourth Grade Class at Monadnock Waldorf School. The individual lined handwork baskets sit in a row on their shelf, and a class photo is posted on the classroom door. Miss Marshall has a blackboard drawing of all-father Odin, from Norse mythology, with the two ravens Hugin and Munin on his shoulders. The display on the nature table changes gradually with the seasons, and the penguin diorama was done by Miss Marshall's daughter, when she was in fourth grade. The weekly schedule is on its own chalkboard, and the spelling word list is posted by the water-drinking cups. My pen and folder, thermos of tea and backpack await me at my student-sized desk tucked under the window. The yellow tissue stars glow by recess time, as the morning sun streams through the windows! The universal Waldorf morning verse, for Classes 1 to 4:

The sun with loving light
Makes bright for me each day;
The soul with spirit power
Gives strength unto my limbs.
In sunlight shining clear
I reverence, O God,
The strength of human kind
Which Thou so graciously
Has planted in my soul,
That I with all my might
May love to work and learn.
From Thee come light and strength;
To Thee rise love and thanks.

--Rudolf Steiner

When Icicles Hang by the Wall

When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,	5
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tu-whoo!
Tu-whit! tu-whoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all around the wind doth blow,	10
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl—
Then nightly sings the staring owl	15
Tu-whoo!
Tu-whit! tu-whoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Poetry by Wm. Shakespeare, of course . . . and 'keel' means skim (not scrub or stir, as I assumed). I suppose she's called greasy Joan because she likes to slurp the rich yellow globules of oil from the top of the simmering soup! Oh, yum!

The ICICLES are phenomenal, in size and number, on almost every building here in Keene. I have never seen so many icicles! They had to cordon off a section of playground at Monadnock Waldorf School, where I am interning here in Keene, because of those monstrous daggers of ice growing from the roofline of the two-storey brick building. When one of the teachers was able to knock the icicles down, some of the fourth-grade (they don't generally say 'grade four' here) students salvaged a wide group of fused icicles. They installed it in their snow fort, and it's the spiffiest snow fort window I have ever seen.

The self-portrait above is meant to be an indication of the height of the snowbanks in Keene. Schools closed on several different days in December and January, for 'Snow Days.' Apparently they build a few extra days into the school calendar each year, to allow for these impromptu days off. I'm very glad I took these photos last weekend, as the weather has been warm for a couple of days, and all the snow and ice is now shrunken and gray. I don't think there's a by-law here (as there is in Edmonton) mandating that homeowners keep sidewalks shovelled in front of their houses. Riding a bike earlier in the winter was a very bumpy experience. I arrived home after shopping one day with broccoli crumbs and flakes of onion skin all through my bag of groceries. Now I stay primarily on the roads--the very narrow roads. Snowbanks here are not picked up by trucks and carted off to snow yards, as they are in Edmonton.

ROBINS & SQUIRRELS
In the third week of January Miss Marshall called her fourth grade students to the classroom window to observe a tree full of robins. They were unmistakably robins, and you'll never see a robin in Edmonton in January! I've only ever seen them singly or in very small numbers (or else I haven't been very observant). For a couple of days, the schoolyard was inhabited by a great flock of redbreasts. And I guess the squirrels don't hibernate here, for I've noticed one or two scampering about recently.

STUDIES
Won't this blog be a lovely remembrance for me, when I return home to Edmonton? My posts are likely to be fewer and farther between this term, as compared with the fall term, for two reasons. First, I am required to keep a journal of my internship experiences, and I sometimes feel 'all journalled out' after spending Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Miss Marshall's fourth grade classroom. Second, it's a busier term, and that's a happy reason for me! I'll be doing less whining about not having a life--nothing to do, and no one to do it with, that sort of thing. I am having to be very sanguine, in terms of the topics I am exploring for my classes. Here's my list:

• Fourth Grade: Norse myths, compound words, possessive nouns, fractions, 'the horse' (for Human & Animal), and the history and geography of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
• Waldorf School Administration: encouraging reluctant leaders, reincarnation & karma
  
• Waldorf Curriculum Preparation: Gilgamesh, Demosthenes, The Gulf Stream, Charlemagne & Harun al-Raschid, and a major project on Botany (Curriculum for fifth to eighth grades includes a number of topics about which I am utterly ignorant!)
  

The deal is not to cover the facts, but rather for the teacher to 'live into' the topic, and weave a story that encompasses its essential significance in lively pictures. I love this quote (from Dr. Grohmann's The Living World of Plants): "No single subject, whatever it may be, is without meaning for the development of the child's soul and spirit. It would perhaps be better to say that each subject has a very definite task to perform, which far exceeds its value as information."

CALENDARS
By golly, according to the Chinese almanac, spring arrived on Thursday! It will peak in March, and give way to early summer on May 5th. At Antioch University, September to December was the Fall Term, and the current one is the Spring Term. Isn't it fascinating how they have cancelled out winter altogether? Ken and I figured out that New Hampshire is receiving about an hour of daylight per day more than Alberta is, just now. Everybody's equal on the Equinox, and then Alberta begins to surpass New Hampshire in the race for the most sun time.

According to the French Republican Calendar, today is the day to give thanks for the lowly billhook. (No, I had no idea what it was, either.) Wikipedia tells us: "The billhook is a traditional cutting tool used mainly in European agriculture and forestry, but also common in other parts of the world where it was introduced by European settlers. It is used for cutting smaller woody material such as shrubs and branches." There's a photo of a billhook on the net, and it looks very much like the tool I bought from Lee Valley called a 'crack weeder'--not an elegant or mysterious name at all, is it?

To ponder in your soul:

My power of thought grows firm
United with the spirit's birth.
It lifts the senses' dull attractions
To bright-lit clarity.
When soul-abundance
Desires union with the world's becoming,
Must senses' revelation
Receive the light of 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.

I Survived the Ice Storm of '08!

Here's the email message I sent to my loved ones yesterday morning (Friday, December 12) from Antioch University:

I wanna go home! I checked the weather report on my computer yesterday morning before heading to the university on my bike--it was raining; raining, and there were patches of ice here and there on sidewalks and roads, but it didn't seem that bad! By late afternoon, slush was falling from the sky and freezing on the roads. Antioch University was shut down, and we were sent home early. I left my bike at the school, and a classmate drove me home. Early this morning the power went out in my house. I had cold bread and milk for breakfast, but as I headed out walking into the melting slush, I was cheered to see that a lot of places in Keene still have power. I bought a decaf latte for my thermos on my way to the university. My 8:30 class had been rescheduled for 11:00 this morning, but I turned on my cell phone when I arrived, and there was a message telling me that all my classes today are cancelled. I phoned Ken and pouted!

I'm told Keene is situated in a protected little valley, and that the surrounding areas are in very bad shape. My instructors and several of my classmates live in the surrounding areas. Last night a tree came through the roof of the living room of two of my instructors, and this morning trees continued to split and fall, tearing down power lines as they went. Driveways and roadways are blocked with fallen trees, and major highways are closed.

So, here's what I'm visualizing for myself: I'll ride my bike home this afternoon, and be greeted by a delightfully warm house, with lights shining through the windows!

I'll be able to use my computer, and phone whomever I like using Skype, and my little blue bed will be cosy and warm!

_____________________________________

Not being a spontaneous kind of gal, my initial concern was, "What am I going to do all day, now that my classes are cancelled?" The faculty advisor for my class recently emailed us some reading assignments to complete by mid-January, so I bought one of my 'Spring' term textbooks, and went ahead with the prescribed readings. I chatted with a couple of my classmates (Edith and Astrea) who are out-of-towners, hanging out at the university for the day, because they were staying in Keene for our Shepherd's Play dress rehearsal, scheduled for today (Saturday). I began to worry about the night, (long; dark; chilly) when I called my landlady at 3:00 and learned that there was still no power in our house. She has a broken barbecue and a misplaced camp stove, so we had no hope of so much as a hot cup of tea while the power was off. My plan was to stay at the bright, warm university until suppertime; then eat at a bright, warm restaurant, and then . . . walk around the block or try some bedroom Tai Chi by candlelight to warm up, bundle up and make the best of it in a chilly bedroom.

At suppertime Edith received a call from our drama instructor--no play rehearsal Saturday. She and her husband (another of my instructors) had no power in their house, a broken window, and a blocked driveway--they were essentially prisoners in their cold, dark house. They hadn't been able to sleep during the night because of the snap, crackle, and pop of tree limbs succumbing to the weight of the ice in the forest surrounding their house. This is the couple whose living room was invaded by a crashing tree at 1:00 a.m. While Edith emailed our classmates, Astrea and I went through the class list, calling people on their cell phones to tell them not to travel to Saturday's rehearsal venue. A call came through on my phone from Gary, my housemate, to tell me that the electrical power was restored in our house!

Oh, Joy! Oh, Bliss! Goddess is in Heaven; all's right with the world!

Edith and Astrea drove home to their families, and I realized my visualization: I rode my bike home to a warm house, lit up like a Christmas tree. I cooked myself a hot meal, and celebrated with a Seagram's Ice. (Tee-hee--ice storm Ice!) Oh, the miracle of light switches; furnaces; cooking applicances; hot water! (It's jolly COLD outside this morning--I don't think I would have lasted the night in an unheated house.) Prayers to those who are still without power in their homes.

Seven more sleeps--count 'em! I have three fine, fat novels from the library to tide me over until our dress rehearsal and performance on Wednesday, and biking or walking outdoors every day will help to keep me occupied, as well. Our last full day of classes is Friday, December 19, the day before my flight to Edmonton.

Here is the Solstice verse from Steiner's Calendar of the Soul:

To carry spirit light into world-winter-night
My heart is ardently impelled,
That shining seeds of soul
Take root in grounds of worlds
And Word Divine through senses' darkness
Resounds, transfiguring all life.

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.

The Mist and All

The Mist and All

by Dixie Willson

I like the fall
The mist and all
I like the night owl’s lonely call
And wailing sound
Of wind around

I like the gray
November day
And dead, bare boughs that coldly sway
Against my pane
I like the rain

I like to sit
And laugh at it
And tend my cozy fire a bit
I like the fall
The mist and all

I have always enjoyed this poem, and have used it with my Heart & Hands classes, although in Edmonton November days are more likely to be crisp, clear and frosty, rather than misty. But the poem has sprung to mind this week, riding my bicycle to and from the university in Keene. I've arrived at Antioch and home again wet every day. In Edmonton, if the puddles in the road are still, it isn't raining. In Keene, the rain can be sneaky. The puddles can be still, but when I begin pedaling my bike the 'mist' seems to begin moving vertically, and my ride becomes decidedly drippy. It's been wet, but warm this week--18 degrees Celsius, this afternoon! It seems rainy here because it is rainy; I looked it up and Keene receives 41 inches of precipitation per year, on average, as compared with Edmonton's 18.

FISHING IS SUCH HARD WORK
Last week, as I rounded the reservoir at the end of my customary Sunday-afternoon stroll, there was a car parked by the side of the road where it runs along the edge of the water. Two men stood by the car; one wielded a fishing rod, and the other was there for moral support, I suppose. I watched the valiant fisherman cast his line, and follow the hook and sinker with his gaze as they struck the water's surface. Then he laid his rod upon the pavement behind the back wheels of the car, and the two energetic sportsmen entered the vehicle and closed the doors, waiting, I imagine, to see whether anything would bite! Such exertion!

COMFORT ROUTINES
I am such a phlegmatic creature of habit . . . I take comfort and satisfaction from establishing little daily and weekly rhythms for myself. Perhaps they help to make me feel at home, and give me the sense of having some degree of control over my life away from home and loved ones. Thursdays, Fridays, and sometimes Saturdays are class days, and I look forward to spending time with my classmates and instructors. I tend to linger at the university after my last class each week, feeling just a tiny bit reluctant to go back to the solitary portion of my week. Every Friday marks the passage of one more New Hampshire week, bringing me ever-closer to Edmonton. Sundays and Thursdays are bath days; on Mondays and Wednesdays, I do bedroom Tai-Chi. ('Bedroom' Tai-Chi involves a lot of repositioning and shuffling around, as I would need about ten feet by twenty-four feet of clear floor space to do a proper set. I don't know of any Tai Chi club within biking distance, and I'm too shy to perform a set in public!) I usually cook a recipe on Mondays, and freeze it in individual portions for future meals. I do laundry on Tuesdays, and wash my sheets once a month.

To set the weekend days apart from my regular Monday-to-Wednesday homework days, I celebrate by serving myself a Guinness or a Mike's Hard with Saturday's supper, and taking myself out on a breakfast date each Sunday. This involves a decaf latte, fresh orange juice and a pastry at one of the coffee shops on Main Street, where I linger over one of my class reading assignments. (I have to do the coffee-shop thing--I used to notice students with their books or lap tops in the Second Cup in Edmonton, and picture myself as one of those, so I now make a point of studying in the coffee shop, although I must say I am more comfortable and less distracted, working at my own little desk in my bedroom on Fowler Street.) I pick up groceries, and head home for more school work and then lunch; then I cycle and walk uphill to Robin Hood Park for my outdoor beauty-walk treat at the reservoir. My assignments are worthwhile and interesting, making schoolwork an effective way to mitigate that whisper of loneliness that hovers close by, here in graduate-school land.

But the best comfort routine of all is my daily evening phone call to Ken--thank you, dear Skype Angel! Ken reads me my mail, and we exchange all the inconsequential news of our respective days. We communicate anything that needs to be communicated to each other, but mostly we just simply hang out together, sharing the same ear space, so to speak. I grouse at him if he has the TV on, or rustles papers near the microphone, or tries to walk around while we're connected, but we often look things up on the net (since we're on line with Skype, anyway) or email things (like photos) to each other while we're 'together' on Skype. I love talking to my kids as well, and to Kaliana! It is incredibly reassuring to be able to access home so cheaply and easily!

The soul's connection this week:

I feel my own force, bearing fruit
And gaining strength to give me to the world.
My inmost being I feel charged with power
To turn with clearer insight
Toward the weaving of life's destiny.

Holiday Weekend

OAK FOLLOWS MAPLE
Two and three weeks ago the maples here were exploding with flaming colour; now those leaves have mostly fallen, and the oaks are a most delicious shade of honey-bronze. We breathed it in as we walked around the reservoir at Robin Hood Park this past weekend--my daughter, Rose, her partner, Ze'ev and yours truly. Rose and Ze'ev drove down from Ottawa on Hallowe'en for a visit, and treated me to a delightful weekend of exploring a bit of New Hampshire by car. We 'touched down' in nearby Roxbury, Monadnock State Park, Peterborough, Portsmouth on the Piscataqua River, and Newcastle, where we glimpsed some of New Hampshire's sixteen miles of seacoast. See all about it by visiting my web album! The three of us were blessed with a brilliantly sunny Sunday for driving about, although it was much chillier than you would guess by viewing the photos. And no wonder, for WINTER begins in two days, according to Liza Dalby in East Wind Melts the Ice. The season of frost peaks around the December solstice, cold strengthens as days begin to lengthen, and early spring follows close upon the heels of Brigid's Day, which is February first.

My Rose and her Ze'ev are the cute couple in the photo on this page. My generous landlady, Jan, welcomed them into her home, and put them up in one of her rooms which is conveniently, temporarily vacant. Jan introduced Rose and Ze'ev to her gentle pups Precious, Safi, Hero and Winnie, and they all seemed to enjoy meeting one another. Jan also treated us to a visit with her ball python, Diablo. You can see by the photo of me that Diablo is a charming fellow. The oak leaves were photographed at Strawbery Banke, an outdoor historical museum of vintage houses and gardens in Portsmouth. The Piscataqua River is nice, but we were hoping to see the Atlantic Ocean in Portsmouth. We drove a little further on to Newcastle, and the scenic view above was shot by Rose, as we admired the late afternoon sunlight at the real, true seacoast. On our way back toward Keene we ogled the multi-million-dollar homes along the sandy beaches of Hampton.

Rose and Ze'ev were intrigued by some of the presidential election preparations here. Saturday morning, there was a rally at Keene's Central Square. Saturday afternoon, we saw crews setting up in Peterborough for John McCain's Sunday visit there. Sunday evening, driving west from the coast back to Keene, there were police cars with flashing lights at regular intervals all along the highway. Some access ramps were blocked off, and we were barred from making a necessary turn toward Keene. Ze'ev drove a little further along the highway; then turned around in time for us to see the black McCain campaign bus make the turn toward Peterborough, followed by a couple of campaign support buses. McCain Blend and Obama Blend coffee beans are offered for sale in Keene, and we were invited to join 'the action' at Obama's campaign headquarters this morning as we drove in search of a downtown parking spot. Tomorrow is voting day for American citizens, and the rest will be history.

I felt just a little sad and lonely to see Rose and Ze'ev head back to Ottawa this afternoon, but oh, what lovely memories! I would NEVER keep track of my time away from home, but I've done nine weeks in Keene since the end of August, and I have seven left to go until my trip to Edmonton for Christmas. I booked my flight home for May 2009 as well, so I can go ahead and write countdown numbers in my daytimer--a number every Friday, to track the weeks until returning to Edmonton. Oh ya, I said I wouldn't track my time away, didn't I?

KEENE PUMPKIN FESTIVAL
Between 1992 and 2003 Keene chalked up eight world records for the most pumpkins appearing at their annual pumpkin festival. I do believe this is the biggest public event that Keene celebrates each year. Riding my bicycle to and from the university the weekend of October 25, I 'participated' in this year's festival by admiring the tall scaffolds loaded with rows of jack-o'-lanterns, and crossing paths with crowds of festival-goers. The Saturday-night fireworks were splendid, viewed from my second-storey bedroom window!

COURSE WORK AND CLASS VISITS
To fulfill our drama requirement, my class of thirteen is learning The Shepherd's Play, a musical play telling the Mary, Joseph and Jesus story, that is traditionally performed in Waldorf schools. We will be presenting it in a nearby community hall in mid-December. I have been cast as the hallowed Angel Gabriel, and I have a glorious solo to sing. I continue to keep up with assigned readings, reports, drawings, and my research paper on Tolstoy. It was my turn to introduce 'my philosopher' in class last Friday. Rather than impersonating the novelist himself, I chose to present myself as Countess Sophie Andreevna Tolstoy introducing my husband. Don't you know, my Lyovochka and I had thirteen children together, ten of whom survived infancy and early childhood. I ran the household, nursed my babies and tutored them myself, transcribed War and Peace and Anna Karenina from Leo's illegible scribbles into my own clear handwriting, felt that I was participating intimately in the lives of his wonderful story characters, organized the publication of the novels, and translated my husband's work into French and German!
. . . just an ordinary housewife . . .
A favourite assignment of my Waldorf instructors is to have students create a 'notebook' or 'journal,' including notes taken during class, personal reflections on the material studied, and in some cases, illustrations or some form of artistic rendering of the course content. For my painting class, my watercolour notebook includes miniatures of our class painting assignments, illustrating the steps along the way to completing each painting. Re-copying my notes makes my arm ache from time to time, but it's an excellent review, and keeps the learning fresh in my mind.

Thanks to classmates willing to drive me to schools in different towns, I have completed my required visits to various Waldorf elementary classrooms, and have come to the conclusion that there are have and have-not teachers. Some teachers have their classes--the children are focused and engaged, and teaching and learning carry on in a lively, interesting fashion. Other teachers have not 'got' their classes. Children fidget and squirm frightfully, rock or jump with or even fall out of their chairs, and receive 'strikes' so that they have to serve penalties by standing motionless beside their desks. The have-not teachers struggle continually to earn the attention of their charges, and this is all quite uncomfortable for the visitor (me) to observe. I would like to offer a single tip to the have-not teachers out there: After making a request of the children, such as, for example, 'Leave the chairs alone,' wait for all hands to come off of the chairs before proceeding with your activity. The waiting is the indication that the behavior is required, in order for the lesson to continue. It is simple and effective.

Here we are, part-way between Michaelmas and Winter Solstice, in the thirty-first week of the soul year that began at Easter. Consider Steiner's seasonal verse for us:

The light from spirit depths

Strives to ray outwards, sun-imbued;

Transformed to forceful will of life

It shines into the senses' dullness

To bring to birth the powers

Whereby creative forces, soul-impelled,

Shall ripen into human deeds.