CLEANING HOUSE

My plans to get outside this weekend and let the weeds know I'm really ready to take them on somehow just didn't materialize. Two sunny days provided many hours of opportunity, but the interior of the house screamed "CLEAN ME, PLEASSSSSEE!!"

There were all sorts of reasons to listen to the house's pleas:

~a rather obnoxious smell wafting from my closet...

~white cat hair all over the house (from two rambunctious kittens who leave a trail of snow-like fur wherever they go bouncing) that sticks to one's clothes and causes an invasion of sneeze-producing dust bunnies in every knook and cranny...

~ mounds of dirt all around from a month or longer without dusting....

~muddy cat and dog footprints that lend an interesting but gritty, irritating design on the floor...

~rapidly multiplying bathroom grunge that can no longer be overlooked...

The result: I spent the weekend cleaning the house, and the weeds grew another 6". Oh well...

NEWS UPDATE - GOOD NEWS FROM THE FARM

It seems there's been a whirlwind of strong energy here at The Farm this spring, some of which has been so life-changing that it's been a challenge to keep the heart light and happy.. We've managed, however, to still keep our eyes on what's good and beautiful and our hearts open....

RIght now, however, there are some REALLY, REALLY good events to report...Yippee! Here goes!...

Long time farm kid, house sitter, babysitter, and very special sister / daughter, Dana, is ....drum roll please...PREGNANT! She and James will become parents in December, and as the Universe would have it, her due date is December 25th, the same day Samuel was due to incarnate on the planet. I have a hunch this little one will arrive on or around his birthday, December 13th. Nonetheless, we'll have another special little Saggitarian in the farm family....My smile, since learning the good news, just gets bigger and bigger....

And just a couple of weeks from now, Samuel graduates (May 10th) from Appalachian State University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Philosophy and Religion...My little boy is finishing college....It's so great to celebrate this moment in his life...His Papa would be so delighted to know Samuel will be wearing Papa's gown for the ceremony! I couldn't be a prouder mom!!!!!

And then, on June 5th in Duluth, MN, Brett and Betsy will tie the knot before heading to Oxford for the summer for six weeks where Betsy will begin her MA degree. From England, the two will head to Bulgaria for two years to teach in what sounds like an incredible school there. The Farm will become the extended temporary home for their cats, Felix and Oscar. (Eliza and I are already preparing for a feline adjustment period....cats take a while to get used to cats, you know.)

Lori, nanny extraordinaire for the Kruegers of Nickelback, returns to The Farm around the July 4th weekend for her class reunion and a week's visit. Get this...She'll more than likely be flying in from Switzerland, where the Kruegers will be summering with Shania Twain and family. Lori'll take a break from life in the fast lane with the rich and famous to come back to The Farm, see her friends, and perhaps turn a little compost down by the barn. Then, it's back to Europe for her. Can't wait to see her! (Notice the likeness of Lori and Eliza...sisters of different mothers..)



And, earlier this evening, I got a call from Mary Ann, my office mate, with the good news that her father, a career military man, is NOT going to be shipped out to Iraq immediately. The news she received the other day made it sound like he would be on the way to the war zone after a brief visit to some base in Virginia. But as luck would have it, some of his men didn't pass whatever entry exam they had to in order to be deployed, and he has to stay back with them. Thank you, flunkees!

Finally, our vacation plans have come together...Joe'll fly in from Utah in early July, and then he, Eliza, Samuel, and I will head north to Vermont, meet up with Bobbi and Isabella, and spend a week in Danville, VT, in a beautiful summer cottage owned by one of Bobbi's clients. There's a lake for canoeing, an organic farmer's market every day, and easy passage into Montreal. We're getting the passports ready!

Happiness abounds on many levels....Share the joy....It feels so, so good!

Namasté...

WHAT THE CAT DRUG IN

4:00 PM ~ April 22, 2008

Tanya sits at the computer, answering emails and pondering whether or not she'll make it outside this afternoon to work in the yard, take a walk, or whatever.....She looks over her shoulder to see what Cato, her curious, playful, loveable, and mischievous kitten, is up to as he

bounces around and tumbles head over heels in the far corner of the room to her left.

"Oh, how cute. I really love my silly white kittens. Look! He's attacking a striped bungee cord he's brought upstairs. He loves things that twist around, that he can carry all over the house and throw up in the air, " she says to herself.

Shortly thereafter, Tanya thinks, "Bungee cord? Hmmmmm....I don't have any around the house that small, and I sure don't have one that's striped on the top and solid on the bottom."

She turns around to check on Cato, only to find that the bungee cord is, in actually, a desperate, exhausted, petrifed, can't even think about slithering away, ready to meet his Maker.....

juvenile garter snake. Over the years, Tanya has picked up a lot of snakes here on the farm, but she's never, ever heard a little snake voice so gratefully and semi-consciously repeating, "Thank you....thank you, thank you, thank you...thank you...."

"Eliza!" Tanya calls. "Come see what the cat drug in!!!"

Eliza, who's taking her afternoon nap, jumps out of bed, horrified. "Mom, what's wrong? Is the house on fire? Are you OK? EEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!! You've got a snake in your hands!!!!!!" she screams in her sonambulous state, really not aware of where she is in time or space.

Tanya lovingly tells to go back to sleep and gently carries the seemingly lifeless snake outside.

When it realizes it's in the grass, all the little serpent can do is look up at Tanya, as if to say a " WHEW !!!!! I think I've just survived a near death experience." Then it slowly and painfully slithers away.

Meanwhile, Cato, the truly perplexed cat, continues to look for his stolen toy upstairs in the computer room.

The End

THE 1930'S

For some unknown reason or perhaps by divine orchestration, I have been absorbed by the Depression era lately. As the child of parents who were teenagers during that time, I've heard about the Depression all my life, but I've never really had an in-depth fascination with any particular moment in history since my obsession with dinosaurs when I was young.

Perhaps learning more about my parents' childhoods and looking at photo after photo of them around the Depression era have opened the door for my newfound fascination. Certainly Papa's passage has inspired me to find out all I can about his life at that time, and I'm beginning to ask my mom more and more about her recollections of those years as well.

Anyway, when friends recommended the HBO series, Carnavale, to me, I netflix-ed it as something worthy to watch during the winter months. I was immediately hooked, fascinated by the Dust Bowl period, the traveling circus, and the paranormal aspects of the series. Actually two stories interweave and ultimately come together in the second season, and without giving away too much information, I'll just say that there are very dark and haunting events that culminate in a powerful close to season two. I totally understand why a third season might have been too much for television viewers; this series deals with some pretty heady, heavy stuff, including a charismatic minister, Brother Justin, who is possessed by the devil and a young man, Ben Hawkins, who has the power of healing and is adopted by the circus show. The series just might even have been too much for non-mainstream TV; however, I thought Carnavale was engrossing, provocative, and fascinating.

In keeping with the roguish aspect of Carnavale, my lastest read has been Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen). Again, the book centers around a traveling big-top show as told in flashbacks from the show's vet who is now 90 and in a nursing home. It's as sordid at moments as Carnavale, but I couldn't put it down. Jacob Jankowski, a student in veterinary medicine at Cornell who is forced to leave school when both parents are unexpectedly killed in an accident, Marlena, the woman with whom he is deeply in love, her brutal husband, Auggie, Walter, one of the show's dwarf clowns, and Rosie, the elephant who understand Polish, keep popping in and out of my thoughts frequently since I finished the book.

And just this morning, Eliza and I watched Atonement, another 1930's period piece. Artfully crafted and composed, this movie (like Carnavale and Water for Elephants) is a story within a story, and the final scenes define the movie's title. I won't say too much more for those who haven't seen the movie, but it is well worth the watch. Kiera Knightly and James McAvoy rightfully deserve acclaim for their performances, as do the actresses who portray the younger sister, Briony. (I don't recall their names.)

If anyone has suggestions for a good cinematic or literary follow-up to these works, please leave a comment. I'd like to read and see more, and I'm totally up for suggestions.

I hope the sun's out wherever you are....Namasté

FORMER STUDENTS

Yesterday, I was checking Blogs of Note and found the blog of a former student who's been employed by Google for the last five years and who's now off on his next life adventure. Eric Case's blog connected me to Chuck Eesley's blog and Chuck's blog connected me to my beloved Meera's blog. I'm in 7th heaven!

I taught each of these amazing young people at Marietta High School for at least 3 - 4 years. Eric traveled to Spain with me on a tour we did in 1996, went to Miami University (Ohio), majored in the Classics and has trekked all over the world before ultimately landing at Google. Meera and Chuck were students in my Spanish IV class, perhaps the most memorable class I ever taught while at Marietta High. I joke when I say I "graduated" with them, for it was in the summer of 1998 that I was offered a position at the community college where I now teach. That graduating class, along with the class of 1986 (Bobbi, Joe, Craig's class), has produced some stellar and adventuresome artists and scholars--many, many amazing individuals!

Meera went to Berkeley after graduating, and Chuck attended Duke. Both have lived very fulfilling and enriching lives since--Meera spent two years in Uganda in the Peace Corps, and Chuck has been involved in cutting edge research at Duke and participated in meditation retreats all over the country. Now, Meera's back in graduate school at Berkeley working on an MBA in Non-Profit Management (I think), and Chuck's currently living in Cambridge as a Ph.D. student at MIT's Sloan School of Management studying technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

WOW! I hope the blog connection will further re-connect us and keep us up to date on one another's lives. The great joy for me, as I forever hold down the fort here at The Farm, is that they'll continue to check in with me whenever they come back to Marietta, for they will always be a hugely important part of my life.

Since I posted this earlier, I got an email from Chuck who also recommended another classmate's blog. Michael Sieburg, also a member of the famous Spanish V class members has also traveled all over the world and lived in Vietnam. I'm delighted to be able to add his blog here.

Hola to you all from the Señora! I am so honored to have taught you guys and all your peers!

WELCOME MRS. G TO NAMASTE'S BLOG ROLL

The blogging world is full of wonderful spaces where folks express their creativity, their sense of humor, their love of nature, their philosophical musings, etc. My office mate, Mary Ann, has an extensive list of creative folks' blogs on her site, and it is through her that I've come to be a huge fan of Mrs. G, blogger extraordinaire of Derfwad Manor.

There's a great video on Mrs. G's most recent post that I recommend to everyone. It's about cats and engineers. For anyone who lives cats and/or knows an engineer, it's especially appropriate. Check it out, and continue to explore Derfwad Manor. Mrs. G is sure to make you laugh!

Off to go outside and cut the grass....The day couldn't be more perfect!

I BELIEVE SPRING'S HERE TO STAY

The daffodils are waning...

the azaleas are blooming...


the magnolia flower petals are falling all over the sidewalks in town...


the tulips are fully open...


the hyacynths blooms are ever so fragrant...


the grapevines are budding...


the grass is up above my ankle...


the crabapple is about to burst forth into a bright pink...


the redbuds are out...


the dandelions have popped out all over the yard...


mother wren's sitting on her first clutch...


redwing blackbirds strut their stuff in the branches of the tree by the barn...


the dogs have fleas...


the cats are shedding profusely...


the peonies are growing like weeds...


the weeds have already taken over my garden plots....


butterflies are emerging...


moths flock to the lights on the back porch...


All signs point to SPRING (!) and warmer weather......Yippee!!

LETTERS TO A GRANDSON / GRANDDAUGHTER

From the time Samuel was about a month old until three or so years after Eliza was born ( a span of 9 years), Papa wrote letters, first to Samuel and then to both children, about his life, his memories, his thoughts, etc. All in all, I think we have nine volumes, and I'm in the process of transcribing them into electronic form so I can run off some copies for family members and friends. With the exception of sticking in a comma or two, capitalizing some names, and other minor changes, I'm leaving the manuscript just as Daddy wrote it as he sat at the kitchen table and typed away on his old manual Corona typewriter.

I'm not very far into the first volume, but already, I've laughed out loud as I've read along and typed myself. It's been a great way to feel him close to me and hear his voice as if he were telling me the mishaps and adventures out loud. I can hear his chuckle and see his ornery grin as I read about squirrels, fencing, hogs, and life back in the mountains. There will be war memories to come in the subsequent volumes, as well as Papa's thoughts on life.

I am totally absorbed in this so, so special gift Papa left for us.

Papa's beloved mountains

MISSING PAPA

I've always known waves of grief can consume one unexpectedly, and I've had enough experience in my life to know intense saddness can come and go at any given moment following the departure of a beloved one. Today I'm having one of those moments, and I'm having a hard time holding back the tears. I miss my Daddy.

As I was driving onto campus this morning, patches of luscious, bright, happy daffodils greeted me. Daddy and I always talked about what was happening in nature, and my immediate thought was to call him to share the incredible beauty of the morning. I can talk to Papa in my mind-- that's for sure. But today, I'd like to hear his voice. I'd like to hear his chuckle when I'd tell him about my kittens' antics as they played with some turkey feathers I tied onto one of his old fishing poles last night. I'd like to ask him why the crows never come when I use his crow call. (They ALWAYS came when he called them in. Do they know it's not his "voice" behind the calls? ) I'd like to hear "I love you, sweetheart" when we finished our conversation.

I am grateful, almost joyful, Daddy's no longer suffering in a body that had become consumed by Parkinson's Disease. I am grateful he is at peace. I am grateful we had so many good talks before his passage.

But today, I sure would like to hold his hand, hear his voice, fetch him a couple of Milky Ways, and rub his sweet bald head. I miss him so......

HOW'S YOUR DAY BEEN SO FAR, TANYA?

You can surmise from the photo.....

GREEN TARA, A BEAUTIFUL HINDU GODDESS, OFFERS THESE WORDS OF WISDOM...

Like the sun which emits countless rays,

compassion is the source of all inner

growth and positive action.

Its power can transform

ourselves and others

so that our lives become

radiant and light.

Tarthung Tulku

Gesture of Balance

RITE OF PASSAGE

My life continues to take on a new definition since my father's passing. When people ask me how I feel, I can only say that what I've experienced parallels giving birth...a powerful, amazing rite of passage that changes one's life immeasurably.

In list form, here are a few things I've experienced in the past three weeks....

~a deeper understanding of the amazing individual my father was....

~a new definition of "normal"--Papa just lives with me in another form now...

~huge gratitude for my life, my family, my friends...

~a heightened appreciation of my roots, of the importance of calling family together...

~a more defined understanding of surrender, of letting go in all aspects of my life...

~a lightness of heart...a new melody to my laughter....

~a deeper friendship with silence

~clarity in terms of things I want to do for myself and for others...

~psychic acuity and connections...

~a tangible understanding of being on the receiving end of prayer...

~blessing after blessing after blessing from all over the planet...

~a renewed comittment to making all my actions based in love, in the best interest of all...

~a renewed comittment to "do no harm" in every aspect of my life...

~ a lot, a lot of LOVE ...

I am so, so grateful for my life and my many blessings.....

Namasté......T.