My Road

For all of my students... I am sick of keeping two blogs that are primarily the same thing, so, I am only going to keep this one from now on.

(remember, you can click on any of these pictures to make them larger)

(I took all of these today on a little walk down my street)

My Road...

I want to challenge any of you to a "road" challenge. I propose that I live on the complete nicest road in Rutland. I know I do, and I am going to prove it to you. My road has character. It's really, really old and has really cool things about it that those newer roads can't even touch. Things like trees... not just trees though, old, huge trees, and fruit trees. Grapes grow wild on the side of the road and there are pear trees in the old pasture. Apple trees completely line my road.

If you went by in a car, you would never even notice them... but take a walk and you can smell them.

My road is tiny, less than a quarter mile long. There are definitely less than twenty, more like fifteen. Most of them are really old. One of the nicest used to be a tavern in the 1800's.

To top that off, the writer of "A History of Rutland Massachusetts", Jonas Reed, used to live there in the 1800's. It has a cold cellar and a really old barn with a ghost pony.... don't ask, just believe me. It also still has the horse hitch at the front of it.

Alright you say, you think I have won already, I haven't even started yet! My road has the continuation of the old cart road that goes up into the woods after the tarred road curves away. It's is super beautiful, and rocky. We call it "Stony." There is a cart path that heads into the woods from it that goes in around five miles all the way down to the Ware river that runs behind my house. There is an old stone that now rests on the common in the center of town. It is an Indian "corn stone." They found that 100 years ago down that path into the woods behind my house.

I am still going... There is a path that leads to an school house about 2oo yards from my house.

The best is still to come.

Ok, so that tavern, the one that Jonas Reed lived in, has a huge barn that once kept a whole bunch of cows and such. Well, my road has a tunnel under it that no one knows about. The cows used to cross under the road and into pasture through it. I wen't under there today and it is still in great condition.

What other road has a tunnel under it built over 100 years ago?

I love my road.

So, yesterday was my birthday...

It was a good one: lobster rolls, cupcakes, and I'm 39. Last year of my thirties. When I am 50, Henry will be able to drive and Nora will be officially a teenager. When I am 60, they will both be out of college and working it.... 50 and Henry Driving.... why isn't this settling right in my stomach.

Nutter Butter Creme Patties , mosquitoes, and staying up way too late.

We went to the drive ins for the first time this summer last night. It was great. There are some standards that must be met for a successful night at the drive ins. Nutter Butter Creme Patties are one of those things. It is the only time we buy these. Also, jammas and pillows for the kids. There is something really special about taking your pillow into the car, a little piece of personal comfort, and maybe even more than that, a piece of security, to take with you where ever you are going. I remember loving that. We watched Toy Story 3. Henry proclaimed it, "Too Scary" at the end, which really meant a couple things; it was too scary, and too sad. He won't say anything is too sad. I have no idea where he gets this stoicism. I am about the least non-emotive father known to man. But he really resists things like that. Anyway, the drive ins were everything that they should have been. Henry stayed up the whole time and even on the ride home. Nora didn't last so long. She started to get really irritable about 3/4 of the way through and then completely fell asleep two seconds into the drive home. Another nice thing about the drive ins is carrying sleeping children into bed afterward.

:)

Garden post 2

Right, well, the transplanted Brandywines are finally snapping back. It seems that the purple Crims are doing the best out of all of them. My arugula is doing awesome and is getting close to harvest time.I will probably replant the row afterward. My cukes have their first true leaves. I am going to build a trellis for them this year. I got a blister from raking the weeds from between the rows today.... owie.

Garden post 1

Well, it must be the end of the school year if my head is clear enough to blog again. I went out to weed my garden and lo and behold, deer prints. I checked everywhere and didn't see any damage to my tomatoes. A few tiny, helpless, little purple basil plants were crushed to death. But I will accept their deaths if it was in defense of the rest of my garden. Everything seems to be going well. I even have garlic chives coming up, which didn't sprout at all last year. So, 1 point for garden, 0 for nasty invaders.

a sonnet

a leading

This forest shares its secrets with the wind,
Its whispered acorns; deeply buried prayers.
Where ferns glow green and stretch out spongy limbs,
And lichened rocks are holy altar stairs.
Black beetles genuflect and flash their shells.
Moth’s tattered wings reach out to supplicate.
The breath within the soil gently swells,
And lifts up cantillations to the day.
A tree trunk lays itself in feathered moss,
While rings of ivy lash it to the ground.
The ancient Oak knew nothing of it’s loss,
And wears the vines as Hera wears her crown.
I knew all this when I was still a child,
When God still showed His nature in the wild.

quick

dig my feet in

make the earth below me spin

watch the green and snapping branches

coalesce and dim

I am among the light, the barely here,

the about to begin.