Month: June 2007

I am not afraid of spiders. However…

Here is a picture of my fabulous husband cleaning out my kayak from the winter.

And here is a picture of the fabulously enormous spider that crawled out from under the seat.

EEEEK!!  At least he was cooperative enough to hang around while we went to get the camera and a quarter for perspective.  But still…EEEEK!!  I can guarantee I would have leaped out of the kayak if I’d discovered him out on the water.

After a thorough check under the seat for this guy’s friends and relatives, we went out for a lovely paddle on a calm lake before the winds picked up. Also got the vegetable garden in today, planted flowers by the mailbox, and finished reading TRACKING TRASH by Loree Burns and THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick.  Both amazing and unique, in amazingly different ways.  I’ll post reviews soon, but I’m being summoned for a bonfire now.  Virtual s’mores to my LJ friends!

Robert Frost Challenge

I’m rereading great bouquets of Robert Frost poems now for a project I’m working on, and I’m rediscovering how much I love his work.  So many little gems embedded in simple walks in the woods.  Can any Frost fans out there identify which poems these are from?  (I’ll post answers next week.)

  1. Earth’s the right place for love.
  2. Good fences make good neighbors.
  3. We have ideas yet that we haven’t tried.
  4. So all who hide too well away must speak and tell us where they are.
  5. ‘Men work together,’ I told him from the heart, ‘Whether they work together or apart.’
  6. ‘Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.’
  7. It’s a nice way to live, just taking what Nature is willing to give.

If you live in New England, check out the  Robert Frost Trail in Ripton, VT some day.  It’s a beautiful walk through woods and meadows, short enough for small kids.  You can stop along the way to read Frost verses that correspond to the landscape.  We stopped to catch frogs, too, on a trip when my son was little. The website says it will be closed for work for a few weeks in June but will be open in time for blueberry picking season.

Joseph Bruchac Presentation

What a fabulous Friday!  Storyteller and author Joseph Bruchac visited my school for a presentation to our sixth and seventh graders this afternoon.   I am in awe of this man, who kept 200 middle school kids spellbound for an hour and fifteen minutes.  I can’t say I was surprised, though. If you’ve ever heard Joe Bruchac speak, you know what a captivating storyteller he is.

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Joe’s message, for the kids and all of us, is to honor the stories that are  part of our lives.  Stories can teach us, keep us safe, and give us courage when we need it the most.  My class had just finished listening to SKELETON MAN as a spooky read-aloud this morning (nothing like cutting it close), so the kids loved asking questions about the book right away.  They’re working on their own fictional pieces now and relished the opportunity to chat with such a prolific author about his writing practices. Joe’s advice to writers, young and old, won’t come as a surprise:  If you want to write, spend lots of time writing. If you want people to read what you have written, spend lots of time rewriting.  Joe’s latest book, BEARWALKER, is due out from Harper Collins in July.