Peruvian lilies from my yard (photo by moi) Once upon a time, I was lucky enough to land at a K-8 school where a bunch of amazing students, teachers, parents and staff attended, worked, played and learned. That is how I met my friend L*, a person who was great, funny, smart, talented and steady Eddie. She passed away last year and thanks to the generosity of her kids, I inherited a load of her books. Some of the collection is going to the bookstore, for resale; some titles are going to Little Free Libraries; some will go to my students, and friends; some will stay with me. How blessed are all of us, to have books around? #blessed #loved #friends. Here are some lessons L* left behind for not just her students, but her family, neighbors, friends… and me.

1. Breathe. Inhale/exhale, inhala, exhala.
2. You probably can speak more Spanish than you think you can; give it a try.
3. Throw a lot of love around and see what happens.
4. Learn when to keep a secret and learn when to tell someone off. Learn when to hug tightly and learn when to give someone space.
5. Drink tea, stay hydrated, try to eat healthy foods.
6. Start each day with a poem.
7. Turn on the sprinklers for the birds and the critters, especially when the air is smoky and it’s hard to breathe
8. Send letters and be open to receiving letters.
9. Call when you can.
10. Teach people to read.
11. Give away books.
12. Pay attention to the bugs and flowers.
13. Garden and work in your yard.
14. Take your dog(s) for a walk and visit the neighbors.
15. Let your kids know how much you love them.
16. Smile.

She. Was. Amazing. I’m a better person, because of her. I mean that. I’m not including links, but I’ll include a list of some of the books she left me. They’re all pretty cool. Be well, leave a comment if you’d like, and don’t forget to read and write. And write and read, and then to read and write some more. XO WM Dick King Smith’s “Alphabeasts,” illustrated by Quentin Blake Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” “Arctic Memories,” by Normee Ekoomiak “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Joseph Schindelman; “The Roald Dahl Treasury”; and “D is for Dahl: A Gloriumptious A-Z Guide to the World of Roald Dahl,” with illustrations by Quentin Blake “Desert Dog,”  by Tony Johnston, with paintings by Robert Weatherford “Fables,” by Arnold Lobel “Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices,” by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Eric Beddows (This is one of my favorite books in the universe, I’m happy to say. And my friend L* introduced it to me. We loved to celebrate National Poetry Month every April, and we liked “Poem in Your Pocket” day. You know it? You keep a poem folded up in your pocket, and all day long you read your poem to people you run into, and they, in turn, read their poems to you! Perfecto! My poem is one that my sister and I like. Our great-aunts taught it to us many, many, many years ago. It goes like this… ready? “I love you little/I love you big/I love you like/a little pig.” — anon.) “Little House in the Big Woods,” “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” “By the Shores of Silver Lake” and all the “Little House” titles, written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, pictures by Garth Williams “The Magic Hummingbird: A Hopi Folktale,” collected & translated by Ekkehart Malotki, narrated by Michael Lomatuway’ma, and illustrated by Michael Lacapa Caldecott Medal Winner “Many Moons,” by James Thurber, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin (who also provided the drawings for “The Hundred Dresses,” by Eleanor Estes) “Pizza, Pigs and Poetry: How to Write a Poem,” “The Dragons Are Singing Tonight” (with pictures by Peter Sis) and “If Not for the Cat” (paintings by Ted Rand), by Jack Prelutsky, Children’s Poet Laureate “Salmon Forest,” by David Suzuki & Sarah Ellis, with illustrations by Sheena Lott “Scruffy: A Wolf Finds His Place in the Pack,” by Jim Brandenburg “Thunderfeet: Alaska’s Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Critters,” by Shelley Gill, illustrations by Shannon Cartwright “Where the Buffaloes Begin,” by Olaf Baker, with drawings by Stephen Gammell Books that I found last week in my wanderings: “Across the Stream,” by Mirra Ginsburg, pictures by Nancy Tafuri “Are You My Mother?” written and illustrated by P.D. Eastman, my hero “In My Mother’s House,” by Ann Nolan Clark, illustrated by Velino Herrera “The Little House,” by Virginia Lee Burton “Madeline’s Rescue,” by Ludwig Bemelmans “Love Songs of the Little Bear,” by author Margaret Wise Brown and illustrator Susan Jeffers “Ninja Red Riding Hood,” by Corey Rosen Schwartz, illustrated by Dan Santat “Olivia and the Missing Toy” and “Olivia Forms a Band,” written and illustrated by Ian Falconer Hans Christian Andersen’s “Thumbelina,” retold by Amy Ehrlich, with pictures by Susan Jeffers Grownup books: “Awakening Creativity: Dandelion School Blossoms,” by Lily Yeh “The Book of Delights,” essays by Ross Gay “Emperor of the Air,” stories by Ethan Canin “Messages on Stone: Selections of Native Western Rock Art,” by William Michael Stokes and William Lee Stokes “Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs,” by Caroline Knapp “Rescuing Claire,” by Thomas Johnson “Ten Poems to Change Your Life,” by Roger Housden “To the Nines: A Stephanie Plum Novel,” by Janet Evanovich “Teacher Therapy,” by Karen Katafiasz, illustrated by R.W. Alley

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Doesn’t Steve take pretty pictures?

My baby is a teenager now. My other teenager came to school with me and volunteered, ohmyGod the babies love her. Love. One of the kinders flung herself, as kinders are wont to do, into Wacky Girl’s arms.

I love you! (hugs one of the other aides, then me, then the other aide again.) I love you! And I love you! I love everyone!

Runs down the hall. Runs into us later, loves on Wacky Girl some more.

She is my friend, she tells two of the other littles. Runs down the hall, yells, Bye, friend!

#bestthingsinlife #free

ps #missingmydadbutsmilinganyway

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

“We are the night ocean filled
with glints of light. We are the space
between the fish and the moon,
while we sit here together.”

— Rumi

“Bottom line is we’re all flawed in this world. No one’s perfect,” film director Richard Linklater, accepting his Golden Globe award for directing, “I want to dedicate this to parents that are evolving everywhere and families that are just passing through this world and doing their best.”

I’ll see how many categories I can hit here… Ready? Ready-steady-go!

* Pacific Ocean: It’s beautiful. It makes me happy, i love my negative ions i get from the ocean, and the wildlife is so fun to watch. The sea lions in that picture are making what’s called a “raft.” They all hold onto each other and float around. Hippies :)

* Book review? Here’s what on my nightstand (and on the Kindle): Re-read “Wild,” re-reading “Torch,” re-reading Carol Shields magnum opus, “Unless,” reading “Quiet” and learning all kinds of stuff about introverts, extroverts, high reactives and the modern age, just finishing Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy,” genius, and… that’s all I can think of.

* Recipes:

Oven-Fried Spuds (excellent, best potato recipe ever)
Soup! (Steve’s recipe. This one clears up your head, fast)

1 onion, sliced thin
1 bulb garlic
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
6 cups water

Saute onion and garlic (I like whole cloves, but you can chop or press) on low until soft. Add bouillon cubes and squish. Add water and bring to boil. Can be garnished with fresh slices of jalapeno for an extra sinus kick. Wasabi would be good, too.

Reduce water and bouillon by half to thicken.

* Work… is going well. Super well. I love working at a school (computer lab again this year), I’m with the best staff and boss in the universe (no I’m not saying that because they might read this — they really are gifted, funny, smart, wonderful with the students and everything else I was hoping for) and I love that my students are willing to work on my Spanish with me. #yohabloespanolmasomenos

* My own kids… are great. Whoever said, “Eh, you think that when they’re little they really need you, but when they’re teenagers? That’s when they really need you,” that person was so smart. (Seriously, probably 20 people said that to me when the kids were toddlers, and I thought they were joking.)

* Nekkid Neighbors — remember them?

* Sex? Not at work, people, keep that in mind, always. Or with the Nekkid Neighbors. Just a bad idea, aight? Lol. We’ve been watching Californication on Netflix, and swear to God, every time I watch it, I feel like I’ve been in an orgy, and it was kind of great, but equally horrible. Yeah.

* Speaking of pop culture… movies. We saw “Wild,” loved it, “Nebraska,” also great, “Boyhood,” one of the best movies I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously.

* Holidays: How can 2015 be a real year? It’s so space-age sounding.

* And in the category of Pets, Stupid… Our sweet, loving, funny Wacky Cat 2 passed away last month. I keep looking for him, thinking I see him, missing him. It just sucks.

* Houses & Homes: We’re cleaning & rearranging & opposite-of-hoarding like mad right now because we’re moving again.

In five years.

But, as one of my 80-something-year-old neighbors told me after New Year’s, “Every year, I don’t know what it is. The days go slower and the years go faster.” Then he gave me a big smile, I smiled back, and he pedaled off on his bike. I know just what he means.

All for now, xo,

wm

I love payday, that’s right. Especially since I’ve been off work for a year and a damn half. Sweetness of finally getting paid… and buying groceries! and sweets for Diwali!

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Here’s a question:

Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tell us about your favourite pet.

I’m pretty fond of the cats. They’re extra snuggly now that the weather has turned.

Reading this week:

And for NaBloPoMo:

Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Talk about the last compliment you received.

“You are a good teacher.” — one of my students

(happy, happy, thank you!)

Feeling a little more grateful today, especially since Steve has the day off, too. I saw that it was 11:11, and, as always, yelled, It’s 11:11 make a wish!

Steve: It’s 11:11 on 11/11/11!

Woot. So that was a very cool moment for our entire family, as we are geekier than geeky.

Grateful today for: Steve (who understands me, even as I’m being a baby and accusing him of not understanding me). The kids. Our three crazy cats. Nutella Cake (thank you Debi and Gabriele, you hazelnutty kids you), the new Rosie O’Donnell show on OWN (Phyllis Diller at 94, Mrs. Brady tells all, Debi Mazar!!! and a funny, funny interview w/ Turtle from Entourage), the weather (not too rainy, for an Oregon fall).

And last but certainly not least — I’m grateful for the Occupy movements that are happening all over the world, including our very own Portland, Oregon. To those of you who are calling names, saying that Occupy is a pack of dirty hippies, “They should get jobs! Dirty hippies!” etc. Here is my question: Do you have a job? Because I don’t. Not one that pays, anyway.

I have been the following, since 1998: unemployed, underemployed, half-time employed, on contract, and/or temp, with no benefits, or with inadequate benefits that I paid through the nose for, with a disappearing 401k that was tiny to begin with.

1998 was almost 14 years ago.

Meanwhile there are a lot of people in this country taking advantage of a bad situation, and bankrolling. In the spirit of my daughter’s first-grade teacher, they’re keeping all the Crayolas stashed in the cupboard and telling you to go buy your own. What Crayolas? We have no Crayolas here, close the cupboard! You are a loser if you can’t afford your own.

At the same time, there are a whole lot of people worse off than my family, believe me. We’re fine. Steve has a job, our medical insurance is all right (thank God, because we have chronic asthma and thyroid issues over here — no medical insurance is not an option). I didn’t “work” for years because it put us in the red, every time I did. (Paying for daycare, aftercare, beforecare.) Now that the kids are almost ready to solo… guess who’s rusty? My advice to mommies now: Don’t quit your job. Go in the red, pay for daycare, juggle your sked w/ your partner, other moms, family, roommates, whatever it takes, but don’t get off that treadmill, little hamster. Cuz once you do? Good luck getting back on.

I’m so grateful for my two kids — I love them to infinity and beyond. I don’t want them to have to make these kinds of decisions, when they’re older and perhaps having families of their own. Whose career to sacrifice. Deciding who’s got the “more important” job. Whose work is “less critical” when it comes to sick days, school holidays, spring break, etc. I don’t want them to be constantly in the red.

You want to know a secret? I like to work. I find it satisfying. I like being part of a team. I like a schedule, and wearing grown-up clothes. I really adore getting that paycheck every week or every other week or every 30 days. Whenever it shows up is fine with me. I just want it to show up.

I would like it if our country somehow found it in ’em to help pay for daycare, or subsidize it, or something, so we weren’t so desperate for a schedule, any schedule, and a fee schedule, along w/ it, that doesn’t kill us. I would like if the work of a teacher was valued in a monetary fashion. (I’ve also worked as a social worker, freelance writer/editor, and in a ton of clerical positions. Never the big bucks; once in awhile the “cool bucks” — but those don’t pay for groceries.)

I interviewed for several jobs this fall; didn’t get any offers. I actually had my hopes up for a job that was 1.5 hours a day (something, anything, to get my foot in the door). Didn’t get a call back. OK, that’s all right.

Saw the job posted again (it was actually three positions, all temp). They had reduced it to 1.2 hours per day. One point two. That’s what, an hour and 10 minutes a day? I can’t even count that low. (And it was clerical scale, so the hours weren’t the only thing low about it.) Didn’t get a call. So I remain “retired” and writing, hoping to sell some words, at least. It could happen.

Occupy, if you’re reading this? Thanks.

–nancy

Civil rights hero. Rest in peace, brother. And thank you for your hard work.

…when I told her I did not get the full-time job I interviewed for (adding that I have not been offered full-time work since 1998):

“I think you forgot that you have been working more than full time since 1999. Yes it’s unpaid and undervalued but you have been doing the essential and invisible work of mothering since you got pregnant. After the revolution, mothers and elders will be revered properly, but until then we have each other to remind us that making breakfast, feeling warm foreheads, remembering the asthma meds, folding laundry, etc. is THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK ON EARTH.”

So those of you who need to hear this today? Yes, it is the most important work on Earth.

Thanks, my friend. I needed to hear that.

You’ve heard of a reading sprint? I don’t see that I’ve ever written about it here. My daughter invented it, and has perfected it. You make a stack of anywhere from 3-7 books, read a chapter or two from each, and rotate, rotate. Pretty soon you’ve read a stack of (1-2-3-4-5-6 or 7) books! It’s especially perfect for those of us who are (or are just feeling) a little ADD. Also good for people who are voracious readers (like my girl) and for kids who are struggling readers. When I’m helping kids learn to read, we pick out anywhere from 2-5 books. Perhaps a short chapter book; something non-fiction — anything about animals is generally a hit; a picture book — with or without words; a harder book; maybe a dictionary. It makes you feel Smart and Important having a big stack of books next to you.

Next thing you know, reading isn’t so scary.

One of my former students was really into the dictionary — I spent most of the school year procuring and distributing dictionaries and thesauri. By the end of the year, every kid who wanted one had one. Epic success. He was one of the kids who had grabbed a spare dictionary early on. I want to learn every word in here, he told me. I told him, Great, start with A.

So he did.

End of the year, we were tallying up success stories, and he raised his hand.

“I read that whole dictionary you gave me!”

“Fantastic! How many pages?” (I knew that he would know.)

“752!” (It was a dictionary for middle grade students — he was in second grade, if I’m remembering correctly? Wait… I may be getting him confused with his older brother, who was in fifth grade. They were both really motivated kids. And their little sister? Following along in her brothers’ footsteps.)

Spectacular. Moments like that make you know you’re in the right line of work.

Speaking of… yeah. I’ve been home for about six months now, and every six months I need to re-invent myself. Again. So I’m interviewing again for library jobs. (i miss the kids.) Fingers crossed. it-is-what-it-is.

That string of books pictured above? That’s everything I’m reading right now.

* Celebrity Detox I just finished — really moving work by Ms. O’Donnell. Brave woman, writing it, and kudos for putting it out there the way she does. Not everyone in this world is that brave.

* Me & Anna Karenina. I started reading this book in college. Was almost to the end, my then-boyfriend and I were spending winter break with his parents at their stupid Rustic Cabin in Woods, and his mom sez, Oh, in the end when, y’know…!!! blah blah. (I realize that everyone and his great-aunt Smoochy knows the ending to Anna Karenina, but believe it or not, until that moment in Stupid Rustic Cabin with people who thank God did not become my in-laws, I didn’t.) My response: “Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!” Her response, all sweetness and big cow eyes: “Didn’t you watch the PBS mini-series?” Me: “No, I generally read the book first.”

Since that time, lo these 20-plus years ago, I have been trying to finish Anna Karenina. This translation (can’t find the image, but it was done by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) is stellar. The footnotes are great, the translation is quite good. Not that I’ve read it in the original Russian (ha) but you can tell that they retain the flavor and style of the original work. How? How can I tell this? I have no idea. But it’s good, and I’m enjoying it. And trying to forgive the witch who (nearly) ruined the book for me.

* Anne Lamott… Anne Lamott… I have been mean to her in the past, but “Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith” has changed my mind about her. It’s funny and sharp and she really opens up and doesn’t mess around. I appreciate that.

* Walter Deans Myers’s bio, “Bad Boy” is good. Everything the man does is good, so I think it’s sweet he calls his memoir “Bad Boy.” Incredible man — go give him a read if you haven’t already. My students love him, too.

* Another one they love is Sharon Draper (Sharon Draper for the girls, Walter Dean Myers for the guys), and after starting “Romiette & Julio” I can see why. I never had the chance to borrow any of her books from my old libraries, because they were always checked out! So props to her. Oh, I did read “Fire from the Rock” when it came out and loved it. The girls also love Sharon Flake, so check her out, too.

* “The Graveyard Book” is freaking me out. This one is not for the little-littles. Sixth grade and older, I would say. Neil Gaiman (“Coraline”) has a dark and twisted gift.

* Jordan Sonnenblick is another new-to-me author. So far, so good on “Zen and the Art of Faking It.”

Sad thing for my kids, having a book-junkie mother. Because whatever I read has got to be uncool. And all of these books are pretty cool. I’m ready to start covering everything in brown kraft paper.

In other news: It’s finally summer in Oregon, woot. Got to 95 yesterday. This morning Steve and I woke up early, then walked in the nature preserve by our house and picked blackberries. We saw a covey of quail at the pond up the street. It was so cool. I baked a berry crisp and pinned out the laundry; he watered the garden and I watered the front yard. It will be thirteen years of marriage for us in a couple of weeks. It’s good. It’s a good life.

I’m going to remember this day, the simplicity of it, the happiness of it, forever.

Love you, Steve.

xo

me

Here’s another point of view.

Peace.

— wm