Take Joy, Make Joy

I have a writer friend in Norway who inspires me every day with her unique perspectives on life and God. This morning she wrote in her blog about how Norwegians use the word “joy” as a verb. In her native tongue, “joy” means “to look forward to.” For her, to look forward to a new day fills her with joy. When she writes “Jeg gleder meg til hver ny dag,” it translates literally to “I am joying myself” each new day, but in English, we would say that she is looking forward to every new day

I think Britt-Arnild’s way of expressing anticipation as joy is pretty cool. As I read her meditation today I thought about the things we anticipate in life. For our students, right now, it is the end of the school year. OK, who am I kidding? The teachers are anticipating this joyfully as well =) Truth is, most of us look forward to summertime for many reasons. I enjoy the longer daylight hours, the warmer weather, the brilliant blue skies, the more relaxed rhythms and the (dare I say it) silence of a summer work day. In every sense of the word, I am longing for summer vacation.

And yet, as my friend says, “Every day is a gift from God.” It doesn’t need to be a perfect summer day for us to take joy in the hours we’re given. If we anticipate good things, are they not more likely to come our way? If we wake each morning intentionally looking forward to joy, it seems to me it is bound to be there. If our anticipation is a joyful one at the outset, the tone for the rest of our day is already determined.

So, what joy will you find in the days ahead of you? May you always say “Jeg gleder meg til hver ny dag.”

Photos: Flowers in the gardens at school contribute to the joying of the day. All taken with my new Olympus camera!

A Flurry of Birds

Yesterday morning, I woke up early and went outside to watch the birds. This is a rare opportunity for me, as I don't have a great backyard the way my parents do. I sat on the patio and reveled in the cacophony of bird song that surrounded me. I had my camera in hand, ready to capture as many birds as I could.

I had been watching an indigo bunting flit back and forth in the front yard the day before, but while I was sitting in the back yard, it suddenly appeared. I watched the male bluebird go in and out of the house feeding his mate. I was buzzed by a couple of hummingbirds, I saw both downy and hairy woodpeckers and countless others previously mentioned (yesterday).

What a great way to ease into the day! I'm not sure I'd ever get off to work if I could strart every day this way!

Playing Catch Up

I've been so busy the past week or so that I didn't have time to blog. Every night last week I had a meeting of some kind. Board meeting, Red Sox game (!), personnel meeting (we hired a new math teacher), Parent Appreciation dinner, Science Fair, etc. It was exhausting, although very productive, and often fun. The days were no less challenging. Anyone who teaches knows what the last couple weeks of school are like. Kids are restless, teachers are near the end of their rope. Add in a full moon (the "Flower" moon), and you have a recipe for disaster. Except it wasn't really a disaster. Just a huge test of patience.

The baby robins are thriving. They are covered with feathers now, so much that they blend right in with their nest and I can't get any good pictures of them as there is no contrast between them, the nest and the grid I have to shoot through. The goslings are at least twice the size they were the week before. They've joined up with two other geese families and are systematically working throught the yards in the neighborhood around the school. Every morning on my way to work, I find them in a different front yard, gobbling up whatever it is they are finding there. Always, at any given moment, two adults are standing guard along the sidewalk.

Tuesday night my sister and her family took me to the Red Sox game for my birthday. We were right behind home plate...a place I haven't sat for many years (back when seats were $10 instead of $50...). We had a great time watching the Sox win (although it wasn't as exciting as the night before when John Lester pitched a no hitter). I sat there looking around the park at all the different places I've been there. I think I've probably sat in every single section at least once, except for the newer seats on top of the Green Monster (left field) and in the luxury boxes above home plate (although I've been inside once, on a tour). I love Fenway Park! It holds a lot of good memories for me...

Now, I'm up in Maine at my parents' for a couple of days. They've lived here for 5 years, now, and have worked hard to make their yard a magnet for birds. This year, they have more birds than I've ever seen before: indigo buntings, bluebirds (They come for worms when my mom whistles!), Baltimore orioles, goldfinches, purple finches, robins, mourning doves, meadow larks, blue jays, ruby throated humming birds, several kinds of sparrows, tree swallows, and more...all letting us know through their various songs and continued presence how much they enjoy and appreciated this haven.

Photos: Baltimore Oriole outside my parents' sunroom; Canada goose and goslings feeding in the school neighborhood; Jonathan Papelbon strikes out the last batter to win the game; male bluebird eating mealworms after my mom has whistled for him.

Baby, Baby!

We now have three baby robins in the nest precariously perched on a support beam of our fire escape. One of our long-time teachers told me this is the first time in her years here that eggs have hatched from this spot, despite the numerous times robins have attempted it. We are very excited to have this up close and personal opportunity to watch these babies grow.

Mid-morning, I was giving a test in my classroom when I looked out the window and saw two Canadian geese and four goslings waddling down the driveway from the road! About thirty kids were outside playing at the time, and I was worried they'd take after the geese and chase them back into the street the way the 6th grade boys did the last time the turkeys made an appearance. Luckily, the kids were 3, 4, and 5 year olds and were quite obedient and just watched as the geese made their way across the parking lot and onto the playground and, finally, into the woods.

We think we are lucky to have so much nature around us, even though we are only about 7 miles out of Boston. We have wetlands and woods on three sides of us, so there are many birds and animals that come and go from time to time. It's a real treat for our students, who are mostly from the city.

Photos: Mother robin sitting on her nest this morning; the geese and goslings making their way to the woods; the driveway the geese came down (the bright spot behind the tree).

The Eggs Hatched!

I was so pleased this morning to hear from a couple of students that two of the three robin eggs had hatched over the weekend, or maybe even early today. I was concerned that they might not hatch because every time I checked last week, the mother was not on the nest. I was worried she wasn't spending enough time on it, or had even abandoned it.

Not to worry. Two tiny babies could be seen through the fire escape slats. The mother did a bit of house cleaning and shoved the shells out of the nest, one of them hitting a student on the head!

We have a sign on the door by the nest to leave the birds in peace, but there are a lot of curious students wanting to see the babies. Oh, and one curious blogger principal =)

More beautiful flowering trees

Friday, before going home from school, I decided to drive over to Lake Quano- powitt to see what there was to see there. I got an eyeful, let me tell you! Dozens of amazingly beautiful flowering trees!

Most of these were in the two cemeteries bordering the lake, and it was drizzling slightly, so the contrasts were brighter than usual. I love this time of year!

Flowering Appreciation

Thursday was Teacher Appreciation Day for our conference (school district). Our superintendent invited us all to Tower Hill Botanical Gardens in Boylston, MA for a luncheon. I've been wanting to go here for awhile, so was glad when I got the invitation.

I drove out to my sister's school to pick her up so we could go together. We arrived early and wandered the grounds for an hour or so. It's a little early for a lot of the flowers, but there were enough to appreciate and enjoy.

I'm thinking I'll be going back, now that I've made my first visit =)

Beautiful flowering trees

I had some time to kill this morning (I had to meet someone but was about 20 minutes ahead of schedule) so I took a drive through the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. It had been raining fairly heavily just prior to my arrival, so everything looked so pretty and fresh. The flowering trees were out in full-force, so I took some pictures.

This is a favorite cemetery of mine. I wrote about it a couple years ago here. This time, I was just appreciating the beautiful trees.

Robin's Nest!

Monday morning when I went back to school after a week's "vacation" (not really a vacation since I worked 5 of the 7 days), I notice a huge heap of straw outside the door at the end of the hallway. It didn't dawn on me until later just what caused the mess (the picture shows only about half what I found!).

I went out, look up, and sure enough, there on a bar/ledge underneath the grated landing upstairs was the culprit: a robin sitting on her nest. Every year, we have at least one brave (or foolish?) robin who builds her nest in the same spot. Trouble is they don't realize until too late that the landing is pretty busy with little (and big) feet running on top of the nest.

I don't know what's going to happen to the three eggs in the nest. I saw the mother on the nest this morning, but twice this afternoon when I went out, she was not on the nest. So, I don't know if she's already abandoned it. I hope not!

To be of Use

The year I graduated from high school, Marge Piercy wrote this poem that I shared with the academy staff this afternoon at our faculty meeting. In researching her this evening I found out that she lives on Cape Cod and is often in and around Boston. Cool!

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

A ride around Alexandria Bay and the Thousand Islands Region

I've been tucked away in upstate New York the past three days for Educators' meetings. We do this every April ("we" meaning the principals superintendents of education from my church in New England, New York, and Bermuda). There must be thirty or more of us this time because we have with us the ministerial directors as well. We are planning a convention for all the pastors and teachers in our "Union" for next summer. It's exciting work, to be honest, even though it means sitting and dickering about details for hours at a time. We have had interesting and important conversations along the way, and that has made the time worthwhile, even though it has come during most of my Spring Break (boo hoo).

Wednesday, we stopped at one of our schools, a boarding school on our way to Alexandria Bay. There, we spent about three hours painting the cafeteria and kitchen facilities. We were quite pleased and proud of our work!

We wanted to find something to eat after getting settled in our (very nice) hotel rooms, but as we are here out of season, most everything was closed, so we ended up eating at the hotel Bistro. No big deal, really. All I wanted to do was sleep, which came easily after the long day of driving and painting.

Yesterday afternoon, we took time out to go on a river cruise of the Alexandria Bay area on the St. Lawrence River. It's called "Millionaires Way" and not without good reason. We saw summer retreats of the rich and famous. We saw abandoned castles of the rich. We even saw a pink mansion belonging to an NFL player (so painted because his daughters wanted a pink house)! And we saw one that belonged to an ancestor of mine (via my mother), a Kellogg summer home!!!

I took 230 pictures in all on the cruise, and most of them turned out. It was all but impossible to choose which pictures to share here. Basically, I am just randomly picking a few to give you the flavor of the place. It was a lovely (although a tiny bit windy) day. One we certainly enjoyed.

Earth Day and Marathon Monday

Happy Earth Day! I just heard Tom Brokaw talk about the history of Earth Day. Turns out, I celebrated the very first one...and I do remember it. I was in 9th grade. Our whole school spent the day cleaning up the campus. We worked in small groups within our classes. Part of the fun of the day was a challenge for each group to come up with a rhyme/chant about their class. At the end of the day, a vote was taken on the best rhyme for each class. That made the work fun, and kept us working together. Guess whose chant won for my class? Yup! To this day, I remember the chant my group came up with: "We're tremendous, stupendous, yes sirree! Nineteen hundred and [ends with three...]"

This year, I'm celebrating the day by getting a new bathtub and shower. Hopefully this will help conserve water (and also improve the cosmetic value of my condo). Meanwhile, yesterday was one of those great days that happens only in New England. At least I like to think so. It was bright, beautiful, clear, and perfect conditions for running the 112th Boston Marathon (the world's oldest marathon) as well as playing (or watching) baseball (Red Sox vs. Rangers at 11 a.m.).

I was home working (cleaning) while watching the Marathon and the Sox game, but other years, I've been part of the thousands who start the day at Fenway Park and who end up out on the Marathon sidelines cheering the runners on. If you're lucky, the way I have been several times, the Sox play a quick game and you get out in time to see the leaders cross the finish line.

One year, I went from the Sox to the Marathon to the Bruins play-off game, all within a 7 hour shot. Now, that was a marathon!!!

Photos: A flag along the Marathon route; the Olympic Torch was part of the stsarting ceremonies; some of the 25,000 runners at Heartbreak Hill; Big Papi gets ready to connect with a pitch

Where I am From

Inland Empire Girl has been honoring National Poetry Month (April) by posting a poem a day. Her energy amazes me. Today, she shared a poem she had written based on one written by George Ella Lyon. You can find her poem here along with links to poems she challenged her siblings to write.

Two summers ago, I wrote a similar poem at a writing retreat at Rockport. I remember the extreme satisfaction in putting childhood memories together in poetic form, and the overwhelming sense of comfort and blessing I felt at recalling my roots. I know I am fortunate in those good memories.

Teaching reminds me that more often than not, my good fortune is someone else's tragedy. It's why and how, I think, teachers can make a difference. They have opportunities to mend, to heal, to empower a child to overcome the challenges family can sometimes impose on them. I remember when I first realized the weight of what I was doing sometime in my first year of teaching...at a boarding school...I cried myself to sleep that night. I didn't think I could do it. I didn't think I knew how to make enough of a difference. All these years later, it still frightens me. But I know I have to make the effort. I know I have to at least try...

Anyway, back to the original point of this post, the poem:


I am from wisdom
and Godliness--pioneer
stock and patience.
Scattered wide across the
plains; traveled far across
the sea.

I am from peace-making,
peace-loving, pieced-together
moments of sheer joy
Intertwined with intensity and
purpose and God-centeredness.

I am an educator's heiress--
Twenty-nine years between occupancy,
Destined--perhaps--to follow
in footsteps I can only
occasionally fill.

I am the result of a healer's gentle touch
and example as well. Destined--at times--
to need that touch even as I give it.

I am from music--composer
and composed--making merry
measure, singing soulful songs.

I am from travelers--grandparents
who left home for this
better land; parents who
took me back just last year.

I am from leaders. I have walked
in their shadow and those of others
for years.

Fifty one years in the making,
I am from strength and vulnerability
from longevity and commitment
and from love.

Photos: Field of daffodils in South Lancaster ten yesterday; my mother and my nephew, celebrating his 16th birthday yesterday; my family this past Christmas from the loft above.

Grave sights and a full moon

During my walk around Boston on Tuesday, I stopped in at two famous cemeteries. The first was the burial ground at King's Chapel. Several famous colonists and citizens are buried here, including John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, and William Dawes, the other rider who warned colonists that "the British are coming!" Perhaps the most famous fictional character buried here is Hester Prynne, of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, set in 17th century Boston.

A few minutes walk away is the Old Granary Burying Ground. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Benjamin Franklin's parents are among the notables buried here. I didn't have time to ramble leisurely through this tranquil spot in the midst of a busy city, but was able to linger long enough to think about the importance of each person, not just those who made the history books.

Tonight, there is a full moon, or very nearly so. I always know, without looking in the sky, if the moon is full because things get crazy at school. I love this shot the Red Sox camera man took of the moon over the Sox at Yankee Stadium. The best part, of course, is the score =)