February 1, 2013

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood . . . (/salute Mr. Rogers)  This morning the sky had low clouds and when the sun came up they were streaked with all kinds of colors, from a dark bruised purple through luscious pinks, from the palest citron to an orange so deep it bordered on red, all a contrast to the palest blue sky high up beyond the clouds.  A spectacular sunrise . . . one worth seeing even at that hour, never mind you could only see it at that hour.   No wind but it has been rising steadily, and again we have birds.  Two big male blue jays having a screaming match in the crepe myrtle and the maple, a male cardinal sounding like a squeaky door opening over and over.  Several little flock of the tiny brown birds that just cheep . . . A real feast of birds . 

In class today another example of the creativity these kids have.  One of my students was trying to make a pop-up card, remember these cards are 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.  The first one he brought me had issues:  he had taped the card at the narrowest point of a spiral because it kept breaking, but he had figured out how to get it to fold up out of the card.  We discussed perhaps making the parts a little wider might help with the breaking.  We had tours again today, and in the rush to get cards traded and things cleaned up, he brought me another one.  This one was a pop-up bicycle, wheels, a seat, handlebars!  I was amazed.  I don't think I could have done it, actually, I am sure of it, as I often don't see how things fit together.  I was amazed!  He is going to do cards like that for his project, and I will be very excited to see what he comes up with!  I never had a student try that before. I would have thought these cards are just really small for trying that out but he obviously didn't think so!

The Almanac of Last Things 

From the almanac of last things
I choose the spider lily
for the grace of its brief
blossom, though I myself
fear brevity, 

but I choose The Song of Songs
because the flesh
of those pomegranates
has survived
all the frost of dogma. 

I choose January with its chill
lessons of patience and despair--and
August, too sun-struck for lessons.
I choose a thimbleful of red wine
to make my heart race, 

then another to help me
sleep. From the almanac
of last things I choose you,
as I have done before.
And I choose evening

because the light clinging
to the window
is at its most reflective
just as it is ready
to go out.

Linda Pastan 

 Do you think that is true?  Light is at it's most reflective just before it goes out?  I can see it, as I get older I have more time to think about things, but what I love about this poem is what she chose as last things, flowers, poetry, wine, and both January in the depth of winter and August in the height of summer, and someone she loves.   Though I understand the choice of evening, I still would choose morning where the whole day is ahead of me and who knows what might happen.  When I got up, I could not imagine the beauty of that sunrise, or that boy making a pop-up bicycle on such a small card, or that at this moment the sky is ringing such a clear blue it makes me feel that all the birds yelling at each other was from an excess of high spirits!  The maple is already hazed red with new buds!  Any day I expect the fruit trees will flower, buds like popcorn, white explosions along every branch! 

What would you choose to put in your almanac of last things?  A day like today would fit nicely into mine!