March 22nd, 2009
I think for the most part that spring has finally arrived where we live. The past two weeks have heralded temperatures in the 50’s with drops into the teens at night. It’s a perfect scenario to create quick running sap from any nearby maple trees making our area syrup producers happy. Our snow has been completely eliminated, but the cold temperatures at night have slowed down the run-off to avoid flooding in most places. All in all it would have to be considered an ideal spring thaw and a rare one to have all the snow completely eliminated before the first of April. While I remember birthdays from childhood that were warm enough for bike rides and jump rope I can’t seem to recall any birthdays that warm since I was in high school. I am definitely enjoying the return to what I consider to be ‘normal’ weather patterns and I wonder what happened to our global warming?
The kids have been enjoying the weather as well. The first few days were spent donning galoshes and splashing in puddles. Now that the puddles have finally dried up they’ve been enjoying wearing lightweight fleece jackets and sneakers when they play. Max has been happy to have the return of his baseball cap to his head rather than his winter touque. Yesterday we spent most of the day outside, raking the INCREDIBLE amount of pine needles and pine cones that are covering our yard from the many wind storms we’ve had this year. The kids this year were finally old enough to be helpful. I purchased each kid work gloves and Max happily helped me rake, dragged sticks onto his sled and dumped them into the woods for me. Catherine took a bucket and collected pine cones and spread them throughout the woods as well. I was able to clean out the flower beds and even saw new growth from the perennials I planted poking up through the earth.
Today though seems to almost taunt our hard work yesterday with a dark, black sky, lightly falling snow, and the occasional pierce of bright orange sunshine through the clouds. It almost seems like winter and spring are still battling it out, but I still think spring is going to be the victor.
Tags: kids, seasons, spring, weather, winter
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February 25th, 2009
Previous Furore and Frenzy posts from the month of February.
Frebruary 2007
Maxwell Simon: A post dedicated to Max on the occasion of his first birthday.
Let the Festivities Begin: We host our first family event in our new house
No Infants in This House! : I lament over the dismissal of our infant carrier from daycare
A Generation of Bored: Why are kids ALWAYS bored? Who’s to blame?
A Tribute to Aurora: A reflection on a friend I haven’t seen in a decade
Oblivious to the Universe: A rant about people that don’t notice the world around them
February 2008
Why I Love February: A simple checklist of all the reasons I love the month. This year I’m not so sure I love it.
Happy Birthday Maxwell Simon!: A tribute to Max on his 2nd birthday
For Once There’s A Happy Ending: A retelling of a local accident and some local students who saved the day.
Falling Off The Road: I recount our adventure when our car goes off the road on a trip to my mother’s house.
Enjoy That Daylight While It Lasts: I rant about daylight savings time arriving much to early in my opinion.
Papa Will You Get the Moon For Me?: A reflection on viewing the lunar eclipse, miscarriage, and parenting.
A Plague Upon My House: The flu takes over our house and our lives.
What Will You Do With Your X-tra Day?: Believe it or not, there is actually some controversy involving Leap Year. What do you think?
Tags: archives, blogging, february, writing
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February 24th, 2009
It dawned on me, just at this moment why I’ve stopped blogging. It’s not intentional, I certainly have just as many ideas happily bouncing around in my head during the day that I’ve always had. I pulled out my blogging notebook the other day, the place where I keep my ideas for posts and dusted it off. I thought to myself that even if I don’t have access to a computer that if I keep it with me I can perhaps jot down part of a post to simply type later.
The bottom line? I’ve been busy as can be at work. I suddenly realized this afternoon as I sat literally surrounded and drowning in books, toys, cds, and media to catalog that I used to come in every morning and while drinking my coffee I’d open a web browser and quickly type out a post with a fresh mind. The office would be quiet at that time of day and I could write away unobserved.
Is it a good practice to blog at work? Probably not, unless your job involves such applications.
This school year in general has been chaotic to say the least. I’m down to the wire with preparations for our statewide conference which occurs at the end of April. We operated for part of the year without a budget and have spent the remainder frantically trying to catch up. I find myself taking on many new roles in my work place, that while good for job security do increase any flexibility that I once had.
I hope to blog more soon. I miss it. I really do. I haven’t gone away, really…
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February 20th, 2009
I’m sitting here watching my neighbors pack their belongings into a U-haul. I can only make the assumption that they are preparing to move out of their home. There’s been no indication before now that they’ve been intending to leave, the absence of a for sale sign in front of their house makes me wonder if the house is rental property. I could be nosy and go over there and start a conversation, but unfortunately I hardly know them. Other than a few rare occasions when they’ve brought us a piece of misdelivered mail we’ve never seen them up close. We don’t even know their name.
I realize that I don’t know any of my neighbors, and to some degree I find that unnerving. I grew up with neighbors that were close friends with my parents. They were included in family parties, took turns babysitting and shared fresh produce and meat. I know nothing of my neighbors. What a different world we live in!
I sometimes think back to the time that we moved into our home two and a half years ago. There was no welcome wagon, no neighbors coming to introduce themselves, baring casseroles as I’d always been told would happen. To be fair though, I didn’t go knocking on doors introducing myself either…even though I probably should have. While it seems a little late now to do so, I also wonder how many years I can live in a residence without at least knowing their name?
I wonder if others have had the same experience we have? Have the days of friendly neighborhoods raising children passed? Do we all prefer anonymity and isolation instead?
Tags: neighborhoods, neighbors, society, trends
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