A Second Look--Early Addition, October 16, 2012

This is an early edition of a Second Look that features the first frost of the season. The regular Second Look will be posted tomorrow.

Here's What I Saw One Morning This Week

Notice the white on the hill. That's all frost.

Frosted Japanese Maple Leaf

Frosted Sedum Bloom

Frosted Violet Leaves

Frosted spider web

Frosted Marigold Bloom

Frosted violet leaf.  Notice the drop of dew to the right of the leaves.

School Days--Wally's Field Trip, Part One

  School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here.

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This week will be a little different with an account of Wally's first grade field trip instead of an interview. I wrote this soon after we returned from the trip so there's no looking back with nostalgia here. The story is fairly long so it will be posted in three installments. They will follow each other weekly on School Days Mondays.

Wally's First Grade Field Trip 

Part One

Wally with his teacher before loading the bus.

Wally came home from school one day excited about some papers he had for me. It was time for the first grade field trip to the zoo, and he had a permission slip and a volunteer form. This was just the opportunity I had been dreading waiting for—a chance to ride on a bumpy school bus with 50 first graders, and then chase them all over the zoo as they showed a life size example of Brownian motion. However I couldn't ignore Wally's enthusiasm, so I filled out both forms and waited to learn my fate. There were only had a limited number spaces for the trip, so the school used a lottery system to pick the chaperones.

I was given a false sense of relief when Wally brought home a note saying that I had lost the lottery and my services wouldn't be needed. My relief turned to dread  excitement when two days later, I got a call from the principal that one of the chaperones had canceled, and I was the next lucky person picked to go.

Quickly I went to work on finding childcare for Theodore and an attitude adjustment for myself. Maybe the trip wouldn't be so bad. The kids had matured a lot since kindergarten where my attitude about school field trips had been formed. Maybe the trip would actually be fun. Certainly the general population seemed to think so. “Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun!” was the universal response when I mentioned the trip to anyone. Perhaps they were right. I hoped so.

After a lot of effort on my part, I arrived at the school Thursday morning of the trip with a positive attitude along with some Kleenex, extra band aids, a blanket, and a bottle of aspirin. (As positive as I was trying to be, I still had to be practical about the situation.) The day was looking promising. The rain had stopped  and all of the kids had remembered their lunches. After group assignments and a bathroom trip, we loaded the bus at nine o'clock.

We were off and not a moment too soon. The kids were ready to explode with excitement and essentially did once the bus started moving. The sound was deafening as 50 six year olds started screaming with excitement. As their squeals got louder and louder, the mom in front of me looked back with an expression of horror and said, “We're not even out sight of the school yet!”

The first half of the hour-long ride was filled with the kids calling out the name of every eating establishment we passed. “There's McDonalds!” There's Jack-in-the Box!” There's Ci Ci's!”  The second half of the trip was teeming with questions like, “Why are we going this way?” and “Are we there yet?” During the bus ride, trying to keep a positive attitude, I reminded myself that the kids had matured a lot since last year. I saw very little running up and down the aisles and no fighting as I had seen on the kindergarten bus.

We arrived at the zoo at ten o'clock.

Tune in next Monday to see what happened at the zoo.

Thankful Sunday--October 14, 2012

I am thankful for this kind woman who explained the quilts at the Apple Harvest Festival quilt show.

Last weekend Miss Landers and I attended a quilt show. As we were looking at the quilts, this woman struck up a conversation with us. She is a member of one of the local quilting groups so she knew a story for every quilt. She not only told us about the different patterns and techniques used to make them, she told us about the people who made them. It was the highlight of our day.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Oct. 12, 2012

 It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

 This Week's Food Waste

After many weeks, we finally have a week with no waste. Hooray! In the past, produce always seemed to be our nemesis, but not this week. All of tomatoes that were ripening on the counter are finally gone, so I think that helped. Also, we didn't bring any new produce into the house except apples which also helped.

This Week's True Food Confessions

"Once again, plans to cook a grand dinner were dashed on the rocks of apathy and proximity to a Chipotle."

I borrowed these words from Eddie's Facebook page because they perfectly explain our day yesterday. No one was interested in cooking, so we had Chipotle. However, I will say that we are having fewer of those days than we used to. We went away for the weekend to Miss Landers' cabin and planned ahead for our food there. It was nice to come back from the Apple Harvest Festival and find chili in the crock pot and wake up the next morning to bacon and eggs. Although we didn't have a menu planned this week, we managed to cook a big pot of tuna mac which, along with leftovers from the weekend, kept us at home for our other meals.

Letters of a Pioneer Homesteader

or A Book Review

"When you think of me you must think of me as one who is truly happy. It is true, I want a great many things I haven't got, but I don't want them enough to be discontented and not enjoy the many blessings that are mine."

I discovered these inspiring words recently when I read  Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. This nonfiction book is comprised of letters that Stewart wrote from 1909 to 1913 to a former employer. During this time, she was trying to establish a homestead in Wyoming and gives a good snapshot of life during these frontier times. The letters are published just as she wrote them except for an occasional omission or name change.

Although Stewart had no formal education, she is a good storyteller and writer. She tells stories about her life, her neighbors, and adventures she had when she was traveling throughout the vast area. At that time in Wyoming, your neighbor could be days away by horse or wagon and she thought nothing about gathering up her babies and heading out. Though usually not the main emphasis of her letters, you also get a good idea of what every day life was like. 



What did I think of the book?

• I enjoyed this book more that any others I have read for a while. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next in her little community.
• Stewart is clever.  She made me smile more than once with a joke or humorous word play.
• I highly recommend it especially if you like to read personal accounts of history.

The book also gave me some food for thought.

• Oh, my goodness, people were isolated during those times.
• They had so little access to things, they really took pride in what little they did have.
• Life went on even when the snow was over their heads or mountains were hard to cross.
• When letters were the main form of communication, everyday writing was rich.
• Hard work and determination were very important assets.
• A positive attitude can help you survive most anything.

In conclusion:

• When I grow up, I want to be like Stewart. She lived life trying to better herself, working hard, and having a positive attitude. A winning combination if there ever was one.