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Peanut’s Picks: MOTHER GOOSE

Peanuts Picks Lets Read

Mother GooseMother Goose is a large, aggressive bird who sips tea and haunts children’s dreams.  This is something you might not know about geese, but it’s true.  They are angry, violent birds with a talent for making up terrifying rhymes.  That’s why, when my mom asked me what I would like to talk about for National Poetry Month, I picked Mother Goose.  Because what is the point of poetry if it’s not to make children cry and cling to their mothers?  (Their real mothers, not their bird mothers.  As a matter of fact, let’s get this one thing straight right now, before we go any further: Mother Goose, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER.)

Anyway, Mother Goose is a super scary book of horrifying poems.  My mom didn’t want to get me this book because she said it was too scary and she would rather I read A.A. Milne, but my Nana wanted me to taste delicious fear so she bought it for me while my mom was at work one day.  Thanks, Nana!

It’s fun to look at the cover of this book and say “Honk, honk,” because that is what geese say.  But the fun stops there.  As soon as you open the cover you will be assaulted by terrifying images like enslaved mice and children in the process of breaking their heads.

Example:

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

Then up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper.
He went to bed and plastered his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

In case you are dense about poetry, let me explain.  This is not a poem about a boy king, as you might have thought, although that would be better.  This is actually about a botched medical procedure.  Jack is a young peasant and that means that his “crown” is actually his head, because wishful thinking.  He breaks it, then tries to perform head reconstructive surgery on himself.  Unless you like gross medical stories, this poem will haunt your dreams.

Here’s another example:

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well.

This is a good example of how poetry can make you think.  My parents disagree about what this poem is about.  My dad says it’s about infidelity.  My mom says it’s about false imprisonment.  Either way, I don’t want to touch that pumpkin with a ten foot pole.  Just look at the dead eyes of Mrs. Peter in any of the pictures, and you’ll see what I mean.

One more:

Pease porridge hot!
Pease porridge cold!
Pease porridge in the pot,
Nine days old.

Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot,
Nine days old!

This is a tricky one, so let me explain.  Pease Porridge is a poem about a child whose mother is so lazy that she doesn’t go to the grocery store for almost two weeks, which to a child is the equivalent of years.  The child has to eat nine day old porridge (yum?) and it doesn’t say this part but I’m pretty sure it’s implied that everyone gets food poisoning.

Isn’t poetry fun?

Lesson for parents: Save your pennies, because my therapy is going to be expensive.

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Yay, National Poetry Month!  You can go ahead and buy Mother Goose rhymes for your children here, or support your local indie bookstore.  These are not affiliate links, but my mom should probably look into that so she can start saving up because I’m scarred for life.

 

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A Favorite Poem

My favorite family picture snapped this fall... maybe my favorite family picture ever.

I may have dedicated my month of poetry reading to Emily Bronte, but I can’t resist sharing one poem by my favorite poet, e.e. cummings.  I’ve loved this poem for years, but it gets more and more meaningful and more and more special to me.  The reason: two people, and they know who they are.

i carry your heart
by e.e. cummings
Source: The Poetry Foundation

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,mydear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

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Poetry Friday: “Tell Me Tell Me”

Emily Bronte
(Image Source)

Tell Me Tell Me
by Emily Bronte

Tell me tell me smiling child
What the past is like to thee?
An Autumn evening soft and mild
With a wind that sighs mournfully

Tell me what is the present hour?
A green and flowery spray
Where a young bird sits gathering its power
To mount and fly away

And what is the future happy one?
A sea beneath a cloudless sun
A mighty glorious dazzling sea
Stretching into infinity

Happy National Poetry Month!  Have you read a poem today?

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2014 Intention: Update 1

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As you may remember, instead of making resolutions or setting goals for 2014, I decided to set an intention (a la yoga class) and let that intention guide my decisions and actions this year.  My intention for 2014 is: A Better Life.  Basically, I want to take the already-pretty-great life I have going and make it even better.  Here’s how I’ve been working to create a better life for myself, hubby, and Peanut so far this year:

January

  • Started a new habit of drinking a glass of warm lemon water every morning.  This was an idea I saw in Giada’s Feel Good Food and I wanted to give it a try.  Lemon is great for the liver, and warm water is a little less shocking to the early-morning system than cold water is.  I’ve tried, in the past, to get into the habit of drinking a glass of water before I eat or drink anything else, and it’s finally stuck.  (The lemon flavor really helps – and that’s coming from someone who loves water and has no trouble getting 64 ounces every day.)  I keep lemon wedges in a Rubbermaid container in the fridge and every morning, the first thing I do when I get downstairs is pop one in a glass and fill it with some warm water.  It’s such a nice, gentle way to get going and I love that I get two cups’ worth of water in right away.
  • Experimented with a gluten-free lifestyle.  I sometimes feel a little silly trying out new eating philosophies – like, am I a sheep?  Am I succumbing to trends?  But I’ve been doing some reading about gluten sensitivities, and gluten was the only food that gave me trouble when I reintroduced it after my last Whole30, so I think it’s worthwhile exploring whether eating gluten-free might benefit me.  By asking these kinds of questions and looking for the answers, I am working on saying YES to myself and tuning out my worries about what others might think.  (Since going mostly gluten-free, I have fewer headaches and less digestive distress, and I’ve noticed other health improvements, so I think there might be something to it.  I also notice that I feel considerably worse when I am less disciplined about eating gluten-free.  I’m hoping to visit an allergist at some point and get some more concrete answers.)

February

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  • Ran my second half marathon!  Seriously, I’ll bet you’re all sick of hearing about it by this point, and I promise I’ll shut up eventually.  But this was a big thing for me this month.  I loved having the training time be something “just for me” and it meant a lot to me to know that I could chase after this big goal and achieve it.  Running definitely makes my life better in so many ways – it’s good for me, it’s something I can do for myself, and it lets me work to improve.  Now I’m looking to the next step, but more on that later.

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  • Started juicing.  I’ve been wanting a juicer for awhile, but neither the budget nor the kitchen cabinets have space for it at the moment.  So I decided to give juicing in my VitaMix another whirl.  I love the VitaMix for soups, smoothies and baby food, but the one and only time I’d tried to make juice it just didn’t turn out very well.  When I found out that our Stroller Strides instructor had been making fresh juices in a blender, though, I thought I’d better give it another whirl.  (<– See what I did there?)  I’ve come up with a formula for a fresh green juice that I really like, and I’ve been drinking a cup most mornings with my breakfast, and occasionally as an afternoon snack.  I love fresh juices, and I’m so glad I’ve found a way to make them inexpensively at home.  So far, I’m the only one who is really enjoying the homemade green juice.  Hubby says it “tastes better than it has any right to,” but he won’t drink a glass, and Peanut will occasionally take sips from me but she prefers to pirate my morning lemon water.  They’ll come around.

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  • Visited the Buffalo Botanical Gardens – twice!  Hubby planned a Valentine’s Day outing (actually, it was the Saturday after) to Night Lights at the Botanical Gardens – basically, a seasonal event in which the Gardens are kept open late and light shows play in each of the greenhouses.  We all loved the event, but Peanut particularly had a ball.  She discovered the koi pond and was completely entranced by the fish swimming around, and “Pond! Pond! Pond!” is pretty much all we’ve heard since.  So, since she loved it so much, we went back the very next weekend during the day.  Of course it was fun to see her big eyes take in the majesty that is the koi pond (LOLwut?), but I also found it to be a good winter survival tactic (a la my pal Katie).  Spending a couple of hours wandering around in the heated greenhouses, with the winter sun baking down through the glass ceilings, was absolute bliss.  It felt like summer for the afternoon.  You can read more about our Botanical Gardens adventures here, and I’m sure we’ll be going back many times – but especially in the winters.

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March

  • Started a new job!  Although it’s been tough to leave Peanut, she’s in good hands during the day and I know that me bringing in an income is a good thing for our family, and will definitely contribute to a better life for all of us (starting with enabling us to finally start looking for a permanent home, and it’ll feel great to be settled again).  It’s also good for me to get back out there in the legal community, and I’ve been lucky enough to find a position practicing my specialty with a well-regarded firm.  I couldn’t ask for a better situation and I think this is going to be a great thing for our family.
  • Taken several family walks, including one at Tifft Nature Preserve and one with Grandma and Grandpa at Chestnut Ridge (the same park we visited with Zan and Paul back in December).  Even though there was still snow on the ground for most of the month, we were so over the indoors.  It was good for all of us to get out and breathe some fresh air.

Have you set an intention for 2014?  How’s it going?

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In Which We Visit the Buffalo Botanical Gardens Three Times, and Peanut Loves Ponds

Night Lights 1

Continuing on our quest to ferret out all the best family-friendly activities in Buffalo, we’ve got a new winner: the Botanical Gardens!  I’d been wanting to poke around here for awhile, and hubby planned a special surprise visit as a treat for the night after Valentine’s Day: an evening exploring the Night Lights.  The Night Lights are a light show inside the Botanical Gardens (I believe they’re a seasonal special event, but it could be more frequent than that).

We arrived to find the dome all lit up and glowing green from within.  It was bitter cold, so I stood outside in line holding a place for our family while hubby kept Peanut warm and happy in the car.  When I got close to the door I called him and they darted up to join me right as I was about to make it through the entrance.  Once inside, we were immediately dazzled by the green, sparkling lights darting all over the central dome.

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(This picture does not do the dome justice.  It’s gorgeous.)  We drifted along with the crowd, checking out both the plants and the fun lighting.

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Peanut and I were both obsessed with this little rainbow waterfall.  I couldn’t help but think of Fancy Nancy; I think this is exactly the sort of event she’d adore. (Adore is fancy for love!)  And speaking of adoration, while at the Night Lights, Peanut discovered her new soulmate: the koi pond.  (Can a pond be your soulmate?  If not, please don’t tell Peanut.)  She was completely enamored of the fish swimming through the clear water and darting under and around the lily pads.  So much so, that she talked about the pond nonstop all the following week and we decided to make a return visit only seven days later.

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Two things: (1) the Botanical Gardens are even more beautiful in the sunlight than they are at night, and (2) darned if it wasn’t blissful to be SO. WARM.  We all stripped off our coats immediately and basked in the tropical heat – a nice change from the biting chill outside.

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The Botanical Gardens are set up as a series of greenhouses, each one dedicated to a different plant type or habitat.  There’s a room filled with ivy, another with dozens of Bonsais and miniature trees, and my favorite (other than the pond, of course!) was the desert room, where I drifted from plant stand to plant stand admiring the succulents and the cacti.  (I’d love to have a succulent garden one day, but I don’t know if it could withstand our Buffalo winters unless it was under glass like this one.)

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Naturally, we spent a bit of time playing in the “family garden,” which was a room filled with activities for the littles.  There was a sandbox, a few plants that the kids could touch, and a couple of tiny lawn mower push toys.  Peanut went straight for the lawn mower and set up a few spectacular crashes.

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After we spent some time in the family garden, Peanut was clamoring to head back to the pond, so we found our way back there.  Grandma and Grandpa had joined us for the outing, and Peanut spent some time showing them her favorite fish.

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Peanut and Daddy also befriended a giant ivy dinosaur, as one does, you know.

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It’s been a couple of months now, and Peanut still talks about the pond constantly.  We read her pond books (In My Pond and Who’s Hiding in the Pond?) daily, and every afternoon when I get her up from her nap, she greets me with the same description of her dreams: “A pond!  Fish!  Blub blub!”  It’s love, people.  It’s pond love, between a baby and her pond.  (Sung to the tune of “Guy Love” from Scrubs, natch.)

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We’ve since been back a third time, this time with Nana and Grandad, and Peanut had just as much fun communing with the koi and walking the little footbridge.  On our third visit, she also discovered the sand box in the family garden, and narrowly avoided filling her pants with sand, so that’s fun.  😉  I think it’s safe to say we’ll be going back for a fourth visit ASAP.

Do you have Botanical Gardens in your city?  Do you love koi ponds as much as Peanut does?

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Hark! It’s National Poetry Month!

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It’s April, which means rain showers (that’ll hopefully bring May flowers), Easter, warmer days, and… National Poetry Month!  Every year, I like to get in on the action by making an effort to read more poetry and share some of what I’m reading here.  Last year I celebrated by dedicating my month to reading a new-to-me poet, Anna Akhmatova, in what proved to be a very enriching experience.  Peanut also got in on the action, presenting When We Were Very Young, by A.A. Milne, in a special National Poetry Month edition of “Peanut’s Picks.”  The year before, I shared one of my favorite poems, by my very favorite poet, to celebrate both National Poetry Month and Easter, and I extended the celebrations a bit by using another poem to make a very special announcement.

This year, I have plenty of poetical fun planned to celebrate National Poetry Month!  You can expect another special edition of “Peanut’s Picks,” and of course, some e.e. cummings.  And since I enjoyed exploring the works of a new-to-me poet so much last year, I’ve decided to do the same thing this year.  For 2014, I’ve chosen:

Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte!

If you’ve been reading my blog for more than five minutes or so, you probably know that I’m a big fan of Charlotte and Anne Bronte.  Jane Eyre is my favorite book, and I love Anne’s works The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey as well.  Of the three readalongs in which I’ve participated, two have been devoted to Charlotte’s work.  In May of last year, I read Villette with Beth and Amal, and in September I participated in the Septemb-Eyre readalong hosted by Kerry.

So yes, I love me some Bronte sisters.  Except, I just can’t get behind Wuthering Heights.  I’ve tried, goodness knows I have.  I’ve read Wuthering Heights three times now and disliked it more each time.  So much so that when Maggie of An American in France announced that she was hosting a Wuthering Heights readalong, I begged off.  I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it and I didn’t want to spoil the readalong for others.

I really, really want to like Emily Bronte’s work.  I’m tired of giving the caveat “except for Emily,” when I share my Bronte love with fellow readers.  So I’m going to see if I get along better with her poetry.  I expect I will.  The only redeeming quality that I found in Wuthering Heights was its forbiddingly romantic (or romantically forbidding) descriptions of the wild natural world that surrounded the Heights.  Emily’s sensibilities and her attraction to the remote and desolate strike me as a perfect quality for some seriously intense, brooding poetry.  Basically, all of the Bronte, none of the Heathcliff?  That’s what I’m hoping for.  I’ve been flipping through the copy of her collected poems that I acquired for this month (the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets, which is the same edition I picked up for Anna Akhmatova last year) and so far, I’m a big fan.  The challenge will be to read a little Emily Bronte each day this month and hope that by the end of the month, I’m a convert – if not to her one and only novel, then to her poetry.

Here’s a little taste:

The night is darkening round me
by Emily Bronte
(source: The Poetry Foundation)

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below;
But nothing drear can move me:
I will not, cannot go.

Whew!  What wild imagery!  Yep, so far, so good.  I love the rhythm and the compelling words.  I’ll share one Emily Bronte poem every Friday for the rest of the month, so check back next Friday for more from the most enigmatic of the Bronte sisters.
Are you planning to celebrate National Poetry Month this year?
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RILLA OF INGLESIDE

Rilla of Ingleside

Rilla of Ingleside marks the first time the outside world really intrudes on peaceful, idyllic Prince Edward Island.  When the novel opens, young Bertha Marilla Blythe – the youngest child of Gilbert and Anne Blythe, known to all as “Rilla” – is pondering impending womanhood.  What should she wear to an upcoming dance?  How will she get herself noticed by handsome Kenneth Ford?  And will she be able to keep herself from lisping if she does attract his attention?  These are Rilla’s worries.

But Rilla’s girlish stresses are soon chased out of the picture completely, by something much bigger: stormclouds of war, which have gathered over Europe and soon sweep Canada into the fray.  The Great War (or World War I, as we know it) is underway, and soon Four Winds and Glen St. Mary will be all but empty of their young menfolk.  Jem Blythe and Jerry Meredith are among the first to go, while Walter Blythe – disgusted by the horrors and atrocities of war – stays home for a time amidst growing criticism of his perceived “cowardice.”  (There’s a particularly sad scene in which Walter describes being given a white feather, which I didn’t remember at all.  I don’t think I knew the significance of the white feather when I read this book as a child; it was Maisy Dobbs in Birds of a Feather who explained that particularly cruel gesture.)  Of course, Walter does eventually go off to war too, like most of the youth of his time, and (hark! spoiler!) is killed in action, in the most tragic scene of the series, leaving Una Meredith to mourn all her days.

As all this goes on, Rilla is growing out of her self-centered, girlish ways, and into a more serious womanhood.  She brings a “war baby” home to Ingleside in a soup tureen – his father at the front, and his mother dead, little “Jims” has only Rilla to depend on.  Rilla determines to “bring Jims up by the book,” and embarks on a child-rearing adventure with as much rigidity and stress as any new mother.  She organizes a youth Red Cross, deals with a mean girl who seems determined to sabotage Rilla’s attempts to lead her band of volunteers, and wonders if Kenneth Ford will return home and, if he does, whether he’ll remember her.  (I won’t tell you that, nor will I tell you whether Rilla is able to keep her lisp out of any future conversations with the opposite sex.)

Rilla of Ingleside is one of my top four (four favorites out of an eight-book series isn’t too bad, right?) amongst the Anne novels.  I find it fascinating – horrifying, yes, but fascinating – to watch foreign policy and faraway events encroach steadily upon the peaceful little world of Ingleside and its surrounding areas.  I cry when Walter dies, and I cry even more when Little Dog Monday is reunited with his master after waiting faithfully at the depot and meeting every train with tail hopefully wagging.  I cheer for Rilla in her efforts to serve Canada on the home front, and for Faith Meredith, who drives an ambulance in faraway France.  And I mourn with Anne at the loss of her children’s safe, protected world.  This is a strong, often heart-wrenching, ultimately uplifting end to one of my all-time favorite series.

I’m submitting this review to the Classics Club Blog as part of my challenge to read and blog 100 classic books in five years.

Rilla of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery: buy the book here, or support your local indie bookstore.  (These are not affiliate links.)

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Reading Round-Up: March 2014

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for March, 2014…

Snobs, by Julian Fellowes – Edith Lavery is the daughter of an accountant, working at answering phones in a London office in the late 1990s, when she meets the Earl Broughton, heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, while touring his ancestral home.  Edith might have first encountered the Earl on the wrong side of the silk cord, but she soon hops across and becomes his Countess.  But Edith is honest enough with herself to admit that while she likes her new husband, Charles, she doesn’t feel passionately about anything except her new title and social position.  And it doesn’t help that her mother-in-law dislikes her, her brother-in-law is actively sabotaging her, and her husband’s friends are snobs who exclude her at every opportunity.  So it’s easy for her to be swept off her feet by a handsome actor filming a period drama at Broughton.  Will Edith’s marriage survive, or has she lost her position in the social order forever?  I found this book while browsing in the library as I waited for my literacy student to arrive for a tutoring session, and checked it out immediately.  I had no idea that Fellowes (writer of Gosford Park, and creator of Downton Abbey) had written a novel, but I figured it had to be good.  Oh, and it was.  Scathingly witty, perfectly detailed, and a nail-biter almost to the last page, Snobs is a perfect read for Downton fans.  Fellowes clearly knows both the worlds he portrays here – the world of theatre folk, and the upper-crust world of the British aristocracy – and his novel is just as good as his scripts.  Highly recommended.

Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line and Not Lose Your Family, Job or Sanity, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea – I read SBS and Dimity’s first book, Run Like a Mother, when it first came out – before I was even thinking about becoming a mother.  (I’d heard that even if you didn’t have kids, the Another Mother Runner girls were great at helping you find ways to work exercise into a busy schedule and, well, I’ve always had one of those.)  Now I am a mother, and a mother who happens to be looking down the barrel of a marathon in October, so I turned to SBS and Dimity again for motivation and help putting together a training plan.  (I’m not sure I’m going to use their plan, since I’ve always used Hal Higdon in the past and found he works for me, but it was still helpful to see how they recommend training for marathons, since they’re both veteran runners, and Dimity is actually an Ironman!)  I love the “practical motherly advice” they dole out, the hilarious quotes from other “mother runners,” and the down-to-earth wisdom they apply to training, nutrition, tapering, and race day.  If you’re a runner with a busy schedule (whether you’re a mom or dad, or not) let Sarah and Dimity help you get your racing act together!

Out to Canaan (Mitford Years #4), by Jan Karon – I checked this out from the library along with These High, Green Hills and was planning to return it unread, to wait for the next time I really needed some gentle fiction-style comfort reading, but it was there and I have a compulsion, so obviously I ended up reading it.  Father Tim has officially announced his retirement to his congregation, and as expected, they take it poorly.  (Ungrateful!)  Although his time leading a church is drawing to a close, he has plenty to occupy him: worrying over Dooley, who has a girlfriend; finding a buyer who will treat Fernbank (Miss Sadie’s home, which she left to Lord’s Chapel) kindly; helping baker Winnie Ivey figure out her future; searching out Pauline Barlowe’s remaining kids; and (unwisely, if you ask me) meddling in the local mayoral election keep him plenty busy.  A good read for stressful days, of which I did have a few this month.

I am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce #4), by Alan Bradley – Buckshaw continues to face financial difficulties, and to help them out, Flavia’s father has agreed to allow a London film company to use the premises as a movie set.  Soon hordes of actors and other film personnel descend upon the estate – including the famous Phyllis Wyvern, set to star in the movie.  When the vicar proposes that Phyllis and Desmond Duncan, her leading man, perform a scene for the benefit of the church funds, the actress surprisingly agrees.  The entire village turns up for the performance, which means there are no shortage of suspects for Flavia to question when one of the visitors is found strangled with a length of film.  These mysteries get more and more enthralling, and Flavia herself continues to charm.

Speaking From Among the Bones (Flavia de Luce #5), by Alan Bradley – Possibly the most exciting thing is about to happen to the village of Bishop’s Lacey since… well… ever – at least if you ask Flavia.  St. Tancred’s Church is about to dig up the body of its patron saint!  Of course, Flavia plans to be in the front row when the saint’s remains are exhumed, because how could she resist?  Despite the vicar’s attempts to keep her away, Flavia is the first one to see into the tomb – but it’s not St. Tancred she finds there; it’s the body of the church organist, wearing a gas mask but very much dead.  Flavia is determined to unmask the killer and finally get some recognition from Inspector Hewitt and his magnificent wife Antigone.  This was my favorite mystery yet, because I love the character of the vicar, and I just found the premise so intriguing.  The story ends with a bang (spoiler alert!): Flavia’s mother, Harriet, lost in a mountaineering accident ten years before, has been found.

The Dead in their Vaulted Arches (Flavia de Luce #6), by Alan Bradley – (caution, spoilers abound although I will try not to ruin everything) – A week has passed since the events of Speaking from Among the Bones, and Flavia is gathered with her father, sisters, Dogger, Mrs. Mullet and the entire village of Bishop’s Lacey to meet the train that is bringing her mother home.  As Flavia stands on the platform, Winston Churchill appears and asks her a cryptic question.  Then a strange man appears and requests that Flavia pass a cryptic message on to her father – and is immediately pushed under the oncoming train.  Flavia can’t really focus on these events, though, because she is dealing with some very intense emotions surrounding her mother’s return (gahhhhh, I’m trying SO hard not to give anything away) and so she doesn’t do much sleuthing.  She will learn a great deal, however, about Harriet’s history, including what exactly she was doing on that Tibetan mountain, and this information is going to change Flavia’s life forever.  I read this book in a day and was completely absorbed in it from start to finish.  Now I’m simultaneously excited to see where Bradley takes the series from here, and bummed that I have to wait – like everyone else – for the next book.  This series just keeps getting better and better.

Updated, because I’m a spazz and I forgot:

The Penelopiad, by Margaret Atwood – Back in October, when I was on a major Margaret Atwood kick (I read all three novels in the MaddAddam Trilogy, plus a collection of short stories, in short order), my mother-in-law suggested I check out Atwood’s retelling of The Odyssey from the perspective of Penelope, Odysseus’s faithful wife who waits in Ithaca for his delayed return.  Penelope, in Atwood’s hands, is far more than simply the patient wife of the myth.  She is a strong-willed, independent woman who is intensely troubled by events outside her control.  Helen of Troy, naturally, makes an appearance and is a fun character (when is Helen ever not a fun character?).  I enjoyed The Penelopiad immensely, although I know that it will color my impressions of The Odyssey when I finally get around to reading it.  (Team Penelope!)

Sorry to those of you who saw this post go up yesterday in incomplete form and were confused.  I started a new job last week and am still trying to figure out new routines, and a draft slipped through the cracks.  (I know, I know, this shouldn’t be challenging, since I’ve done the working mom thing before – but it’s been seven months and I have to adjust to having much less time on my hands than I did.)  Anyway, March was a slow, but good, month of reading.  As a big “Downton Abbey” fan (indeed, who isn’t) I loved Snobs, and I hope Julian Fellowes has more novels up his sleeves.  The other highlight of the month, of course, was Flavia.  I love a good mystery series, and the Flavia de Luce mysteries are destined for my “favorites” shelf.  That kid is just so endearing, the mysteries are absorbing, and the series is primed for a really fun new direction.  And now, on to April.  I have some library books out and I’m hoping to start a new (to me, although historically popular) mystery series, so stay tuned for more book thoughts to come next month.

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Living BOLD: March 2014… Or, I Did Something Crazy

Cold

This month, I actually did something really bold on the very first day and then figured I could kind of coast the rest of the month.  In fairness, it was really, really bold.  Maybe too bold.  Certainly ambitious.  Certainly audacious.  Possibly nuts.  If we’re friends on Twitter or Instagram, this will come as old news to you, but my bold act for March was…

I registered for my first full marathon.

Gulp.  Yep.  I’ve decided that 2014 is the year I’ll finally tackle the big, bad 26.2.  But let me back up a bit and explain.

The idea of running a marathon is something that has been percolating for awhile, but the timing was never right.  I started running consistently in January of 2010 and, within about 18 months, had worked my way up to the half marathon distance.  I was really enjoying challenging myself with new distances and different races, but then I fell into a months-long funk (for multiple reasons, none of which I like to discuss) and ended up taking a substantial running hiatus.  Finally I worked through the mental stuff that was bogging me down, and started running again.  I ran a 5K turkey trot in November of 2011 and a 5K Valentine’s race in Feburary of 2012, and then ended up taking another running hiatus when I ended up with a high-risk pregnancy.  During these long breaks, the idea of running a marathon was pushed waaaaaaaay into the back of my mind.

I laced up the running shoes again last spring, when Emma and I ran the Healthy Strides Community 5K together.  Still, I wasn’t thinking about pushing it on distance; I was just glad to be out there again and feeling like myself for the first time in a long while.  But after that race, I kept going.  I ran casually through the summer – that was all I could manage while making peace with leaving DC and then getting settled up in Buffalo.  But I started to train more seriously once fall rolled in, because I’d committed to run the YMCA Turkey Trot with Emma and Grace, and I wanted to PR.  I did PR (although not by as big of a margin as I’d have liked, thanks to finish line snarls – grrrr) and I had so much fun training that I started to think about the next thing.  Slowly, very slowly, the long-shelved idea of running a marathon crept back into the front of my mind.

image

But I knew I needed a confidence boost if I was going to take on this challenge.  Fortunately, I had one all lined up: back even before the Turkey Trot, I’d signed up for the Moms RUN This Town “Start Your Engines” winter virtual race, in the half marathon distance.  I trained hard and knocked out the 13.1 miles in early February, and I knew that if I could tackle 13.1 miles in frigid -5 degree weather, through blowing winds, and over a 95% packed snow surface, I could take on 26.2 miles on a (hopefully) lovely October day.  Because I’d narrowed my “big scary dream race” choices down to two, and they were both scheduled for October.

Picking a Race

Back in 2010, when I was running down the trails near my home in Arlington and dreaming of the big one, I figured that if I ever ran a marathon I’d run the Marine Corps.  It’s the big race in a city that attracts lots of big races.  I had many friends who had run MCM over the years and I dreamed of walking up to that start line too.  But when it came down to it, I ended up waffling between two different races.  The MCM is still a “bucket list race” for me, and I hope to run it one day.  But as things turn out, it wasn’t in play when I sat down to consider the question, “Okay, if I really do this, which race should it be?”

Another race I’d always had in the back of my head as a potential first marathon was the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon.  The MHRM has a lot going for it, from my perspective.  It takes place close to where I grew up and where my parents and many friends still live, so I’d have good spectator support on the course.  (I hope, anyway – I’m assuming availability and interest.)  There’s also the fact that the course is heavily downhill over the first 13.1 and pretty much flat for the second.  It’s one of the fastest marathon courses around and generates disproportionately high numbers of Boston qualified runners.  (Not that I’m going for a BQ – hah! – but if the course is really that fast, then I have a better shot of finishing with a not-embarrassing time.)  A bonus: the 2014 race happens to be scheduled for my birthday weekend, and I think running a marathon would be a really cool way to ring in 33.  The only negative (aside from having to travel across the state) is that the course closes after 5 1/2 hours, and I’m not completely confident I can get ‘er done in that time.  My current half marathon PR of 2:37:02 (in hillier, colder, worse conditions) puts me across the finish line before the cutoff, but I’m still nervous about the idea.

There was another possibility, though.  If I decided not to go for the MHRM, I could still run a marathon in October.  (Actually, there are a lot of marathons scheduled for October.)  The Niagara Falls International Marathon (known around the BUF as “the one where you run into Canada”) takes place at the end of October.  The start line is steps from my house.  (The finish line, of course, is in another country.)  I liked the idea of just being able to saunter down the block to the start – I actually ran through the crowd of runners waiting to start while out on a Turkey Trot training run last fall, and got to listen as they played the Canadian national anthem before the gun went off – and the idea of an international marathon was pretty appealing.  It also would give me about two more weeks in which to train and prepare.

In the end…

Marathon

I waffled for awhile, because both races sounded good, but in the end, I chose the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon.  Registration opened on March 1st and I signed up that morning – which was good, because it’s a very popular race.  (The half marathon option sold out within hours of the link going active.)  Naturally, I’ve been in a state verging on panic ever since.

Why Now?

Frankly, I don’t want to put it off anymore.  I’m tired of having dreams on hold.  I want to go live my life, and this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now.  I feel like the stars are lining up for me to go after some of my goals in 2014, and this is the best year for me to try.  I’m fully recovered from childbirth, I’ve got a handle on this parenting thing, and I’m at a point where I like having something “just for me” outside of my identity as a wife, mother, etc.  I have the capability and the time to train for a big event now, and who knows what 2015 will bring?  I don’t like to plan too far ahead these days – Peanut has taught me a thing or two about that.  So 2014 it is.

I’ll talk about training later this spring, and I’m thinking I’ll share snippets of what I’m doing to prepare for this insane task I’ve set myself.  In the meantime, just picture me hyperventilating as I sift through marathon training plans and try to set up a schedule that works with the other races I’m planning for the summer and fall.  Much more on the marathon to come, in good time.

If you chose a word for 2014, how did you live it this month?

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RAINBOW VALLEY

Rainbow Valley

“Rainbow Valley” is the rather romantic name, given by aspiring poet Walter Blythe, to the hollow behind Ingleside.  It’s the favorite haunt of the Blythe gang, where they play games, read, pick flowers for their mother Anne, and fry up fresh-caught fish.  The Blythes are happy playing together in Rainbow Valley, but they soon have company in the form of the Meredith kids.  Jerry, Faith, Carl and Una Meredith are the children of the new minister.  The minister is widowed, the manse is run-down, and the Meredith children run wild under the indifferent supervision of a spinster aunt.  Along the way, they pick up a runaway: Mary Vance, whose occasionally sharp tongue hides a heart of gold.

The Blythes and the Merediths quickly become “bosom friends” (as one romantic redhead would say), while Mary drifts in and out of their lives (she occasionally falls out with the crowd, but is always welcomed back).  The Merediths are the focus of most of the storytelling in Rainbow Valley.  They’re much on the minds of the local gossips, who alternate between worrying over the lack of nutrition the children receive, and trading scandalized tales of childish bad behavior in the manse.  For the Merediths can’t seem – for all their good intentions, and they are sweet, kind-hearted children – to stay out of trouble.  Even when they form a family club dedicated to the promotion of good behavior, they manage to set tongues wagging.

What the villagers all agree the manse needs is a mistress.  Reverend Meredith desperately needs a wife, and the children even more desperately need a mother figure.  The village is relieved and hopeful when the minister begins calling on Rosemary West, a local beauty who – for reasons known only to Rosemary and her sister – has never married.  But the courtship seems doomed and everyone assumes it’s because Rosemary doesn’t want anything to do with those wild Meredith children.  It’ll be up to the Meredith kids themselves to convince Miss West to give their dad a chance.

For reasons unknown to me, I enjoyed Rainbow Valley rather more than Anne of Ingleside.  Perhaps because I expected, going in, that Anne would be no more than a background figure and even that the Blythe kids weren’t the heroes of this particular installment.  (I’d apparently forgotten that Anne wasn’t the central figure in Anne of Ingleside, no matter what the title says.)  I love the story of Reverend Meredith’s curtailed courtship of Rosemary, and the ending is, of course (this being L.M. Montgomery) very satisfying.  But the best part of the book for me, by far, is the character of Faith Meredith.  Oh, I love friendly Jerry, sweet Una, and little Carl.  But it’s bright, spirited Faith who steals my heart anew on every page.  Whether she’s braving the church biddies by sitting in the manse pew without stockings (after giving her Sunday pair away to a poor girl) or marching into the home of a notorious curmudgeon and unceremoniously ordering him to return to church and contribute to her father’s salary, Faith’s heart is always in the right place even if she seems a bit brash and heedless.  Of course she desperately needs someone to gather her up and mother her – just as her siblings need – and I’m glad that (spoiler alert!) they have that in Rosemary, their new, and immediately beloved, stepmother.

Rainbow Valley is a sweet, cheerful little romp, but there are ominous moments that signal a troubling future ahead for the Blythes and the Merediths and everyone else.  Reverend Meredith talks foreign policy with Rosemary’s sister Ellen West, and the foreign policy they discuss is shadowed by gathering storm clouds in Germany and the Balkans.  But let’s not talk about that, now.  Let’s just let the Blythes, the Merediths, and Mary Vance enjoy their fresh fish, cooked over an open flame in Rainbow Valley.  The real world will intrude soon enough.

I’m submitting this review to the Classics Club Blog as part of my challenge to read and blog 100 classic works of literature in five years.

Rainbow Valley, by L.M. Montgomery: available here, or support your local indie bookstore.  (This is not an affiliate link.)