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OMG so busy
1. Emma's graduation is next Saturday, and all our family is coming (both sides), many of whom will be staying here. So the past few days have been a whirlwind: deep cleaning the house, going through all Fiona's toys and clothes and culling, beautifying the yard, going to town yesterday to get Emma a dress and shoes and get her hair done. I am annoyed that I had to buy her a dress and shoes she will never wear again, but at least I found a cheap one at Old Navy that I will take from her as a housedress when the ordeal is over. I cannot wait until she can get out of this puritanical place. The world might end if she wore slacks under her graduation robes, am I right? *eyeroll* And next week is going to also be a whirlwind: more cleaning and yardwork, finish revising my conference paper, conference admin and set up, getting a few assignments set up for a student who took an incomplete and then grading them, Josh getting his summer class ready to go, running the conference Thursday and Friday, and then everyone shows up on Friday afternoon a few hours after the conference is over. *faints*
2. Most of Emma's teachers have been on the continuum from lackluster to crapola (for the latter, exhibit A is her AP Environmental Science teacher who spent all year only teaching them twice a week because he doesn't know how to use the internet to teach and primarily talking about baseball and right-wing conspiracy theories; she took the AP Environmental Science test Friday, and we may as well have dug a hole, thrown the exam fees in and set them on fire, but I digress). However, each year she's had at least one teacher that she really clicked with. One of those teachers is retiring this year, and he unexpectedly gave her a very nice pen as a gift. She was so touched. It's unbranded, so I don't know much about it, but it's metal and decorated with a floral pattern all over, and it came with a refill (which is super handy). It was so nice to see her so happy.
3. Fiona got super into Mother's Day. It was utterly adorable. She gave me a spa day (brushing my hair and rubbing lotion on my feet and arms). It made me feel so loved; I am smiling right now just thinking about it and how proud she was to do something to make me feel good.
4. So much nature observed. We had a friend over to dinner this week who is an avid birder. She was able to identify most of the birds for us. While she was here, we saw downy woodpeckers, a tufted titmouse, black capped chickadees, wrens, cardinals, and the coup de gras: the indigo bunting! Now there's a female indigo bunting in the yard, too. *excited* Yesterday, a family of pileated woodpeckers was messing around for forever in the side yard; they are huge. And we've got the hummingbird feeders up, so they're hovering in front of the window all day now.
5.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I absolutely loved this book. Blew through it in two days because I couldn't put it down.
El is such a great POV character. I love all the political machinations of the students, the way magic functions, the way the school functions--all of it. So much fun.
I literally laughed out loud when I read the last line of the book because *chef's kiss* what a perfectly wonderful cliffhanger ending for the first book. Just so much fun.
View all my reviews
The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa by Chika Sagawa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I haven't read any surrealist poetry before, and I don't think it is my jam on the whole.
I did like "Rusty Knife," "Black Air," "Portrait of Winter," "Shapes of Clouds," "Climbing to Heaven," and "Afternoon of Fruit."
I really liked these lines from the prose poem "Prelude": If the past is to be thrown away like a worn-out piece of air, I wonder what kind of conversation would be the most comforting to the aged. The reason why people look back into the fading distance until their scars shine with brilliance is because we hold in our hearts the belief that our youthful adolescence lies in the direction where the flowers are blooming."
The collection ends with some (maybe all?) of her extant prose writing. Most of it reads like notes to herself, but I like the glimpse into her personality. The diary entries at the end when she is dying in the hospital of stomach cancer are particularly poignant.
In one prose piece, she writes of a friend, "when she is acting lighthearted I find myself copying that, and before I know it, there is something that wasn't there before that has steadily made its way inside." I love that; what a wonderful way to describe the power of a friend to lift the mood.
View all my reviews
Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up by Herman Parish
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Super cute.
I love the way these books emphasize civic engagement and the idea that community is important.
View all my reviews
2. Most of Emma's teachers have been on the continuum from lackluster to crapola (for the latter, exhibit A is her AP Environmental Science teacher who spent all year only teaching them twice a week because he doesn't know how to use the internet to teach and primarily talking about baseball and right-wing conspiracy theories; she took the AP Environmental Science test Friday, and we may as well have dug a hole, thrown the exam fees in and set them on fire, but I digress). However, each year she's had at least one teacher that she really clicked with. One of those teachers is retiring this year, and he unexpectedly gave her a very nice pen as a gift. She was so touched. It's unbranded, so I don't know much about it, but it's metal and decorated with a floral pattern all over, and it came with a refill (which is super handy). It was so nice to see her so happy.
3. Fiona got super into Mother's Day. It was utterly adorable. She gave me a spa day (brushing my hair and rubbing lotion on my feet and arms). It made me feel so loved; I am smiling right now just thinking about it and how proud she was to do something to make me feel good.
4. So much nature observed. We had a friend over to dinner this week who is an avid birder. She was able to identify most of the birds for us. While she was here, we saw downy woodpeckers, a tufted titmouse, black capped chickadees, wrens, cardinals, and the coup de gras: the indigo bunting! Now there's a female indigo bunting in the yard, too. *excited* Yesterday, a family of pileated woodpeckers was messing around for forever in the side yard; they are huge. And we've got the hummingbird feeders up, so they're hovering in front of the window all day now.
5.
A Deadly Education by Naomi NovikMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I absolutely loved this book. Blew through it in two days because I couldn't put it down.
El is such a great POV character. I love all the political machinations of the students, the way magic functions, the way the school functions--all of it. So much fun.
I literally laughed out loud when I read the last line of the book because *chef's kiss* what a perfectly wonderful cliffhanger ending for the first book. Just so much fun.
View all my reviews
The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa by Chika SagawaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I haven't read any surrealist poetry before, and I don't think it is my jam on the whole.
I did like "Rusty Knife," "Black Air," "Portrait of Winter," "Shapes of Clouds," "Climbing to Heaven," and "Afternoon of Fruit."
I really liked these lines from the prose poem "Prelude": If the past is to be thrown away like a worn-out piece of air, I wonder what kind of conversation would be the most comforting to the aged. The reason why people look back into the fading distance until their scars shine with brilliance is because we hold in our hearts the belief that our youthful adolescence lies in the direction where the flowers are blooming."
The collection ends with some (maybe all?) of her extant prose writing. Most of it reads like notes to herself, but I like the glimpse into her personality. The diary entries at the end when she is dying in the hospital of stomach cancer are particularly poignant.
In one prose piece, she writes of a friend, "when she is acting lighthearted I find myself copying that, and before I know it, there is something that wasn't there before that has steadily made its way inside." I love that; what a wonderful way to describe the power of a friend to lift the mood.
View all my reviews
Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up by Herman ParishMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Super cute.
I love the way these books emphasize civic engagement and the idea that community is important.
View all my reviews
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I was given two pens at graduation. Both were Cross; one of them has disappeared, but I still have the other. The clip has pulled out kind of wonky, and it needs a refill, but I still have it.