I miss our classroom. And I miss you! Our great discussions, our hugs, our moments of silliness. That's how I'm feeling today.
Hiking Teawaddle Farm Trail yesterday, our friends the donkeys had to come over to say hello! We may have taken a little too long on our hike and over proofed our bread. I've definitely made better. It probably doesn't help that I don't have any strong flour in the house--just regular. It does make a difference. It is still yummy! Imagine this scene at dawn this morning with a cardinal, juncos, several white breasted nuthatches, black capped chickadees, tufted titmouse and an entire flock (10 or so) of American goldfinches all eating seed in the many piles I've set up for them along the deck railing and the pan of water for drinking and bathing. Oh my! it was quite the scene, and they didn't even mind when I stepped out among them all. Beautiful! So, all year I've been engaging in professional development on writing and teaching writing. It's been a lot of work and a lot of learning. Mostly, it's been fun! As part of this work, I just finished reading this book, Story Genius by Lisa Cron. Not only has it been helpful with my own writing, but it helped me design the lessons I've been using this week with my Artistry of Writing students. I love when my investment in one thing provides for multiple outcomes. Below is some of the work on my own writing. And, a photo from my daily hikes in the woods. I'm grateful for living in such a rural area. There are so many hikes out my back door where I don't run the risk of running into anyone. Which is important because a lot of my neighbors and townspeople are elderly. Okay, that's enough, I hear those of you snickering thinking I'm one of them. The first signs of spring I always look for are sap buckets hanging from the trees; although, of late these have been replaced by blue plastic bags due to lead content in those classic metal buckets. The second sign is the return of the Red Winged Blackbirds who were so loud in the field the other day! But, this is one of my favorite sounds. And, third is the return of the spring peepers. And now, we have the first spring flowers--hyacinth, snowdrops and daffodils. I even saw green leave sprouting from a bush yesterday. So, get outside and take it all in. It's beautiful out there; plus, how long can you sit in front of a screen. On another note, here's my attempt at homemade ravioli. Homemade means I made my own ricotta, my own pasta, my own pesto and my own tomato sauce. Let's just say I have a long way to go towards perfection. I still need to roll my dough out a lot thinner. And, it might look a lot prettier if I had the right tools. But, it still tasted good! Went out tracking in the snow today. Don't get too excited about that track in the lower left corner. Why? Your clue is in the human tracks right next to it. Yup! Those are just dog tracks--with my little dog's tracks next to it. These should be familiar to most of you. That's right deer tracks! Pretty common around here. The real problem here was that I waited until the afternoon to go out, so many tracks already melted. Therefore, these are not a good set of clear tracks. But, I'm pretty sure I know who they belong to. Clues: the track is about 3 inches, but that's probably a bit bigger than the original--due to meltage. This is a direct register track, the back foot steps into the track of the front foot. The tracks are in a straight line, more or less. This was in the woods and not a field. If you were thinking Red Fox, I think you're right! Go here to read more. The New Moon is a great time to set intentions. Since this New Moon is in Aries, the first month of the astrological calendar, it's actually a good time to set intentions for the year. Not sure what your intentions are? Sit for a short meditation and no doubt, the universe will tell you. You just have to listen. |
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