Lesson 942: Dark & Stormy

Hello, Readers!

Oh my!

March handed us quite a night.

The wind is a-howling!

Weekend pop quiz:

Which of Eloise's favorite children's classic books

did Snoopy swipe this line from in 1965?

See the bottom of the blog for the answer.

Fun fact:

The line It was a dark and stormy night 

history goes back even further,

to an 1800's poem.

The line was known as an example of bad writing. 

Bad or stormy history, 

no matter--

it is connected to Snoopy

and his quest to be an author,

so Eloise likes it.

Last Saturday was sunny and bright for a bit.

Erik and I rode to Presque Isle to see the melting snow,

and some boys enjoying the bay side

in shorts.

This morning,

at dawn,

the sky was painted pink and purple.

A few seconds later, rose gold,

And of course,

who else is up at the crack of dawn,

already finishing her 15th task of the day?

Grandma!

She's out and about in the community every day,

often before I even leave for work.

Our community has a bit of a Dark & Stormy past.

If you stop at the roadside park,

near the railroad tracks,

you'll find a marker 

explaining the armed skirmish

at that location in the 1850's.

My students are working on a project about

The Gauge War

and the stubborn band of farmers

who kept ripping up the tracks.

I'll let them work on their project a little more,

and then I'll fill you in.

Bonus points if you stop at the marker

and read about it for yourself.

Here's a snapshot of a Dark & Stormy group--

the Huskies student section

at the Lady Huskies basketball playoff game.

The girls season went one more than the boys this year.

It was nice to see the boys show up to support them.

Kids are fun to watch in the stands.

It's something I'll never tire of.

The Lady Huskies won that game,

but lost later in the week.

Basketball is all wrapped up for the season

with an orange and black bow.

We are now caught in the awkward time

between the end of basketball

and the start of baseball.

What shall I do with my time?

I'll be inside the Lamp Post,

and outside in the Greenhouse, 

puttering.

A Sunny & Bright note

to end this Dark & Stormy blog--

Natalie has reignited her win streak.

She won the Mexican Mint plant

at BINGO on Thursday.

Answer to Pop Quiz:

It was a dark and stormy night

was used by Madeline L'Engle

in A Wrinkle in Time.

Side note:

Some of the books elements are included in LOST,

particularly the character Eloise Hawking.

Have a great weekend.

Eloise

 

Lesson 941: On Thin Ice

 Finally, Folks!

Some warm weather!

This makes your double nickeled blogger

quite happy today.

You can see the tip of my birthday banner in the background

from earlier this week.

Did you figure out my age?

On the wee hours of my 3-3 birthday,

were were supposed to have some sort of lunar eclipse

at exactly 3:33 am!

I don't think the time was correct for our time zone,

but I set my alarm 

ungodly early 

and got up to check it out.

No eclipse that these old bifocaled eyes could see--

but the moon was stunning as always,.

The students got out to the school yard

to shake out the wiggles.

The beautiful ice has melted from my grapevines.

The ice is breaking up on the lake.

And how are the water foul handling that?

 They are walking On Thin Ice!

I moved our winter sown seeds in a location

that gets more sunlight.

Rabbit is protecting them.

Spring is not far away!

Here is the evidence!

I'm tiptoeing On Thin Ice

because I'm not sleeping enough.

I feel prowly at night.

I'm headed to the couch with Theo (of Golden)

until I nod off.

It's a slow book for me,

reminds me a lot of the Noticer.

So far it's a 2.5 out of 5 for me,

and if it knocks me out tonight,

I might bump it up to a 3.

I really loved Project Hail Mary--just finished it this week.

More on that book later,

closer to when I go see the movie in a few weeks!

Goodnight!

Eloise

Lesson 940: Dreaming

 Hello, Readers!

We have ourselves some warmer temps

in Erie, PA today.

The ice is melting off!

It's got me Dreaming of Spring.

Whitford is dreaming, too--

although he has not known Spring,

as we found him last Summer.

I know we'll be burning fires in the woodstove

for a month or more yet,

but official spring is just three weeks away.

Eloise is ready.

The sap is starting to run.

The winter sown seeds are getting some much needed sunshine!

The seeds were about as happy as we were

after a USA Men's Hockey Gold Medal win on Sunday!

Also as happy as Ellen and Charlie

getting their first sourdough loaf to work.

Dreaming of Spring during the 

goodbye,

see-ya-later days of Winter,

makes for some very muddy dreams!

Look at this cool shoe bag from my friends

at Two Crafty Girls!

Perfect for muddy days

or frequent trips to bowling alleys

where wet shoes are a no-no.

CLICK HERE for Two Crafty Girls

(psssst!  Here's the secret---one of the crafty girls

is a student at Clark Elementary!)

What I've really been Dreaming of lately

are all of my garden projects!

There are so many things I want to build--

or in truth,

want Mr. Lamp Post to build for me.

I let the universe decide the first project.

I did the Winter Solstice practice

of writing down 12 things on pieces of paper

(my things were projects but they could be wishes, goals, destinations, etc).

You burn one each evening without opening it.

On New Year's Eve the final two are left.

One is burned 

and the last one left is opened.

Mine was.....

Build a bean teepee!

I saw one when we went to the Erie County Fair 

in Buffalo, NY,

and instantly fell in love.

Here are a few others I'm sketching out

in my 

Plant Lady notebook:

A sunflower room!

I'll put some Bee Boats inside, for sure!

I'd really love this herb spiral.

I'm a potato gal,

so this could be neat:

I just realized I have a lot of stuff to start collecting.

That's what Dreaming gets you, I guess.

The absurdness of this nation's leadership,

has me discussing 

(the polite term, used it a very loose way)

current policies,

past histories,

and the foreboding link between the two.

I've learned that flies can't be reasoned with.

I'll be making my sweetness this weekend--

maple syrup, though,

not honey.

Flies,

you can fly right on by.

I don't have energy to waste on you.

Eloise