All posts by Nichole

Diversions

Since last we spoke

  • We joined the YMCA. The kids love it there, which I’m hoping will be an extra incentive for me to start exercising again.
  • The children continue to have conversations I don’t understand. Par example:
    “There’s three babies in here!”
    “No there aren’t. It’s just an illusion.”
  • I started reading “Don Quixote.” It’s a slog, so far.
  • We’ve been doing some light gardening. I’m going to need to do some heavy gardening to get all of the flower beds into shape.
  • We’ve painted with toy cars.
  • I’ve lost to Poppy in tetherball three times.
menu plan Monday, National Blog Posting Month

On losing and the perpetual menu machine

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Well, my silly sestina didn’t win BlogHer’s contest. You can pop over there to read their top pick. They’re taking on the villanelle in the next BlogHer poetry contest. Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” is probably the most well-known villanelle, but Theodore Roethke wrote my very favorite example of the form.

THE WAKING
by Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me; so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

Theodore Roethke, “The Waking” from Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. Copyright 1953 by Theodore Roethke.

“This shaking keeps me steady.” That just slays me. And I still haven’t been to the Roethke house. Anyway, villanelles look less complicated than sestinas, I think, but I’ll bet they’re harder to write. I’ll tell you what I will try my hand at, though: Dinner. Here’s what we’re having this week.

Monday: Fajitas

We used to have fajitas pretty frequently, and then we didn’t. I don’t know what happened, but I’m glad they’re back.

Tuesday: Crockpot Orange Chicken

Is this the week we finally eat this? I’ve had it on the menu for at least two weeks now.

Wednesday: Honey-ginger beef stir-fry

Sometimes I make my own stir-fry sauce. This will not be one of those days. I bought a bottled sauce, and I want it to be delicious.

Thursday: Burgers

I know I’ll spend Thursday evening wanting to buy a Big Green Egg. Our grill is falling apart.

Friday: Pizza

Mighty List, Screen time

The movie where everybody calls Mr. Potter “Grandpa”

I forgot to cancel my Amazon Prime free trial, so now I have Amazon Prime for the year. Turns out they have movies! That I can watch! For free! On my computer! So I went searched for all of the remaining movies on my Best Picture list and found that eight of them are free for Amazon Prime members.

This afternoon while the kids were down for Quiet Time, I fired up “You Can’t Take it With You,” the 1938 Best Picture winner. And I watched an hour of it, then turned it off. And later the kids wanted to watch some TV so I set them up downstairs and watched some more of it. And then when the kids were done with their shows they came up and watched the end of it with me, and Poppy wanted to know why there were so many grandpas in the basement. (Which would entirely make sense if you’d seen the movie, which is heavily peppered with white-haired men.)

The movie was directed by Frank Capra and starred Jimmy Stewart (my favorite) and Lionel Barrymore. Here’s the Amazon synopsis:

Lionel Barrymore is the eccentric patriarch of a clan of frustrated artists who decided 30 years earlier to retire from the rat race and use his fortune to encourage friends and family to pursue vocations that really interest them. At the center of his family is his granddaughter, Jean Arthur, who is carrying on a romance with her boss’ son, James Stewart.

It was like a not-as-good version of “It’s a Wonderful Life” featuring a whole houseful of Uncle Billies.