high school musical: les miserables

i am very behind in my posts as it's been a crazy busy couple of weeks, and now we are all sick in varying degrees. slippery elm tea, lemon ginger honey, apple cider vinegar, avgolemono, the neti pot, eucalyptus steams, vitamin d, cough drops, lots of kleenex, and zinc are in our arsenal.



tashi was in her high school production of les miserables last weekend, and what an amazing production it was. the musical was a huge undertaking to coordinate and direct, and it was really so well done. so many astonishing voices! tashi was in the ensemble, and though acting through a head cold all weekend, pulled it off and seemed to be having a great time. they all worked so very hard on this production, and it definitely showed. i had not known the story until seeing the film in december. it really is a timely tale and is relevant today as much as it was to 1800's france.

so hard to choose between the photos. some here, and many more in this and this flickr set. my girl, sporting french braids, is in a blue blouse and plum colored skirt. can you spot her?

no two flurries alike

snow. my childhood winters were steeped in snow.



i can't say i long for those long, dark, frigid winters where scraping ice from windshields was a morning ritual. but i do love a rare central virginia snowfall now and again. the transformation of all the world's clutter to mounds of white sparkle is truly a gift. there is a fragile grace even to cars slowly making their way along an unplowed road. a bird lands on a snowy branch. a cat carefully paws through the heavy.



i was called to a birth in the early morning hours of our most recent snow. the fifteen mile drive into town was slick and sketchy in places, but very manageable. luckily i was able to pull around a pick up truck that was spinning out on a rise in the road.



i feel so fortunate to have witnessed the purest snow hours of the early morning, and to have that magical scene tied to an equally magical birth. what a way to begin a day! i returned home to a roaring fire in the woodstove, popovers that tristan and tashi had baked, and an afternoon of napping and play. school was canceled and tashi was in her wintry element. even though she was born in california, she has a fair bit of a northern snow maiden in her blood.



and to bring a close to the day, dan and i saw yo la tengo play in charlottesville's jefferson theater. the bitter subteens night was nothing but hot in the theater. they performed a perfect blend of music that mesmerizes and melts. i was blissed out, even in the most discordant moments. it was a rare and beautiful thursday.



the following pictures are from yesterday afternoon, two days after the snow, mostly melted but for a few patches that allowed for a tiny snow baboushka and sneaky snowball fight.

what will this week bring? forecasts call for freezing rain tomorrow, temperatures in the high 60's the following day, a possibility of severe thunderstorms wednesday, and by friday, more snow. is it spring? or is it a new season altogether, one yet unnamed? what ever it may be, enjoy each day, each a reminder of mother nature's power over us all!

kitchen creations: edible acorns

tashi was determined this year to cook up some acorns. she compared various instructions that she found online, and decided this impressed her the most. and so she got to work. she collected the acorns. separated the nuts from the caps. soaked them. cracked them with a hammer to extract the meat. and then boiled and boiled and boiled them until the water was (almost) clear. and then she baked them, salted them, and we all tried them.

like i said, she boiled them until the water was (almost) clear. it was time for bed after all! they definitely tasted a bit astringent. compelling, but only a little. tristan kept talking about how they looked like coffee beans. he seemed to like them the most. perhaps he thought he was eating forbidden fruit. there are still about a cup's worth of acorns in the bowl. i'm wondering if we should grind them and bake something with acorn meal.

what impressed me the most was tashi's determination to do this thing. i have to admit, i wasn't the most encouraging. it just seemed like a whole lot of bother for a potentially disappointing outcome. but that's not the point is it? the point is that she was curious, determined, unstoppable, and totally independent. and now we know how to process acorns. goodness knows we have enough of them around here.

perhaps this is just another early step in survivalist school. may she lead the way!

toward transition

the days unfold. i have few words. we are busy, i am busy, tristan is busy. i have few words because he pulls them out of me all day long. one question tumbles after another. my own observations skitter like grain on the floor as i am called to all that fascinates him. he is my overtime jester. my every gesture. a graduate course in spontaneity and diplomacy.

simultaneously i'm experiencing that dread transition that begs the question, who knows where the time goes? late at night, i consider the passing of years. the change upon us. the moments, the chapters, the much too muchness in so little time.

tashi is graduating from waldorf school in three weeks and no matter how much i might want to, there is no putting the brakes on it. 

she has been in the waldorf system since preschool. 

i blink beautiful wet on wet watercolors. 

as she sprints toward a transition to high school i try not to slip backwards. 

the rough & tumble four year old who galloped into preschool with eager joy is now a young lady, our bright & thoughtful beauty looking forward to expanded horizons.

there is a sadness i'm keeping at bay, for certain, as she moves out of such an ideal haven for learning. 

and while i mourn the fact that all her school artwork and self made text books are haphazardly stored in milk crates and failing portfolios and dank boxes that have lived in basements, garages and crawl spaces, i must remind myself that really it's all in her. a solid crystalline foundation rises within her to greet the new dawn.

i wish this was a more dynamic video, but it's one of my favorite songs by sandy denny and fairport convention: