Yessss! A snow day!

Yippee! No school today. Mother Nature granted my wish for a quiet day at home.

No doubt I should be addressing Christmas cards and vacuuming neglected corners instead of blogging, but what the hay.

Our chief dog, Daisy, and her deputy backup, Shea, were excited to watch the birds swoop in and out of our yard as they (the birds) visited our feeders at the height of the storm.

The HH* said I should be sure to publish these photos to prove that Shea does not always cringe, as she did in this October post.

I like this photo because Shea's wagging tail is just a blur.

Thanks to my sister, MEC, and to young friend Matt for encouraging comments regarding my photos. Maybe if I offer to make Matt dinner one night he'll give me another lesson in how to use my camera more effectively...

The best perk of having today off was a good long phone visit with our daughter Molly, now in Tennessee. It's so good to have her back on this continent after months of her deployment in Afghanistan. Can't wait to have her home for Christmas.

Keep warm and safe today, dear ones.

*HH =Handsome Husband

Hoping for a snow day

We had some snow last Saturday and awoke Sunday to some very beautiful scenery.
Below, I just caught the moon as it was setting behind the trees in our little woods.

I was pleased with my photo until I opened Margaret Roach's A Way to Garden blog and saw her photo, below, of the same morning, about 50 miles southeast of us. (How is it that even the tops of her trees look neater than mine?)

But it was indeed a beautiful Sunday morning, inspiring at least two of us to pause and savor it.

Standing on my back deck in the clear cold air, the line from Cat Stevens' Morning has Broken, about God's re-creation of the new day, came to mind.

Tonight, a new storm is predicted to move in. I wouldn't mind a snow day tomorrow...

What's your code? The Christmas challenge, part 3

In the decidedly un-Christmassy (but excellent) HBO series, The Wire, characters Bunk and then Omar had this mantra: A man's gotta have a code.

So as I plunge into the holiday season this year, I ask myself, what's my code? How will my values be reflected in my spending choices?

Here is my informal checklist. With my gift-giving this year, I want to:

• Give things to those who need them.


• Give time, affection, hospitality to those who do not need stuff.


• Try to support local businesses, artisans, farmers.

• Will my purchase support a good cause?


• Think quality. What items will last to be used again vs what will end up in a landfill.?
  
• Can I repurpose existing goods?


• Will my gifts be a nice treat, provide creative or intellectual stimulation? Will they keep someone warm?


• Will the recipient enjoy the gift or feel burdened by it?


• Can I be a wise steward of our family finances or will my heart sink in January when the bills come in?

Armed with my code, I set out today to do some shopping. Here's where I went:

• to three garage sales (made purchases at two)
• one consignment shop (did not buy anything)
• three thrift shops (made modest purchases at each)
• to a very good used book store (bought four books -cough - not necessarily all as gifts.)

I stuck to my code. I purchased from local businesses, I have an eye to repurposing some of the items I bought, I have not sent money overseas, I have not added to the waste stream, and I spent very little money.

Mission accomplished.

Note: One bonus at Old Saratoga Books is Sam, the store cat, who will quite happily sit on your lap while you browse through a book. Much better shopping experience than long lines at the mall.

Photo credits go to Old Saratoga Books, from their website and blog.

Rethinking the holidays, Chapter 2

Having a wonderful time; glad I'm not there...

Just looking at this picture gives me the heebie-jeebies. How did our society become so bovine?

Hey, folks, remember that trade deficit with China? It's in your hands, baby. Ya don't gotta buy all that stuff. You really don't.

To be clear: I think giving small, meaningful gifts at Christmas is a charming tradition, one I plan to continue. But let's pause and think before we grab some piece of foreign-made, possibly toxic, crap just because we think it will make our gift recipient think better of us.

NPR's Planet Money has this take: "Economist Joel Waldfogel says giving gifts people don't want isn't just bad for the recipients, it's bad for the economy."

Check out Mr. Waldfogul's book, Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays. And when I say "check out", that's just what I mean. You do not have to buy it. Use your local library and borrow a copy on inter library loan if they don't own it. You can do this on line in most places.

Here are some other reading suggestions to help you re-think how you will spend your time and money this year and beyond:

There's Bill McKibben's, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For A More Joyful Christmas .

A book that actually lives in our own home library is Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season , by Jo Robinson and Jean C. Staeheli. This book changed my thinking when I read it a number of years ago.

All of these books can be borrowed through public libraries or purchased used at modest prices. A few simple web searches can help you find other interesting books along the same lines.

Yesterday, I asked my youngest son what he might like for Christmas. This 22 year old bachelor who lives on his own in a humble apartment (and to my mind could use a number of things) answered, " A pan of lasagna and a batch of chocolate chip cookies."

Ah, my sweet. Music to my ears.

Stay turned for more holiday suggestions that won't hurt the environment, your bank account, nor the nation's economic trade imbalance.

Making the holidays more green and less red

So come this Friday morning, this is where I won't be. Not that we ever were a family that went overboard for Christmas. My poor children, now grown, not a single video game ever came their way on Christmas morn. Somehow, they survived.

Throughout this season, I hope to share some ideas for making the holidays more meaningful, more green, and more loving. Please feel free to chime in and share your good ideas, too.

Let's call this first installment: Charitable Giving.

Most of the people I know don't actually need very much new right now. My two lovely sisters and I often talk about getting rid of stuff, not accumulating more. Perhaps you know folks like that, too.

So how about putting your gift money toward a meaningful charitable gift in honor of a family member or friend? Think about what your loved one values, and pick a charity that reflects that.


Not sure which charity is a good one? There are some excellent research tools on line. Check out Charity Navigator, or the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Guide, for a start.

So here's my riff:

For that friend who is always a gracious hostess: a donation to a homeless shelter would be fitting.

For the art lover: support a small local museum or an arts and crafts program for needy kids.

For the gourmet cook: donate to a food pantry or a soup kitchen.

For the animal lover: the SPCA could use some help.

You get the idea.

We've all heard that times are pretty tough for non-profits right now. So please consider doing some real good this year. And you won't even have to get in line at 4:00 a.m. in order to do it.


(Hint to my family members: as a teacher, I've had a soft spot for Girls Hope Boys Hope for some years. Also, my little village church is struggling to pay its bills. And their roof needs fixing.)

Moondancing and giving thanks

I took this photograph earlier this month as I was staying at work later than usual. I was attending the induction ceremony for the new National Honor Society students from our high school that evening. Daylight savings time had just "fallen back" and the late fall day had been clear and warm. Seeing this spectacular moonrise, I drove to a nearby overlook behind the high school for a better view. It was so beautiful that I lingered there for quite a while, quietly breathing in the cooling Adirondack air.

For the NHS ceremony this year, the list of new inductees included two of my former students. As a special education teacher, this is not something that I get to see very often. Both boys have worked hard to overcome their very different learning challenges and their induction was indeed a wonderful moment to witness.

I have tucked that evening into my list of blessings to be thankful for this year. With the full moon rising over the lake and mountains, watching the proud faces of my former students and their parents, in that moment the world felt full of promise and beauty.

Turn back the calendar to August 2008 and here is another moonrise I photographed. The setting was San Gimignano, Italy, a medieval hill town in the Tuscan countryside. The HH* and I were visiting and vacationing with our daughter, an army specialist, who was stationed in Italy at that time.

Since then, our Molls has completed a deployment in Afghanistan. She is, as I write now, briefly back in Italy but will very soon be returning to the US. Her safe return from a war zone is quite high on my list of blessings for which I am giving thanks this year. But I will also give thanks for this special memory, for this magical night a year and some ago, as we stood together in the stony plaza of a medieval hill town, watching an eclipse of the moon over an ancient landscape.

Our son-in-law phoned last night to say our Molls is due home on December 2. That just happens to be the night of the next full moon. That will be, in the words of Van Morrison, a marvelous night for a moondance.

For all of the fresh young faces in my life: for my own three grown children, for my daughter-in-law and my son-in-law, for grandchildren Margie Moo and 'Lexi Loo, for our nieces and nephews and their beautiful children, for the students I have been lucky to know and grow with, and for the HH who shares it all with me, I give many, many thanks.

*HH = Handsome Husband

Bee Balm Gal - the comic strip version

We had a staff development presentation at school today.

We sat passively in rows all morning.

The presenter talked a lot. Sometimes, she turned her back on us and read aloud from her power point slides.

Her presentation was about new ways we could get our students
to become more engaged in their learning.

( Sigh.)

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Note: The Bee Lady image comes from:
http://www.whimsicalgardenaccents.com/shopping/start.php?browse=1&cat=17&=SID