laurushka.org/blog

In honor of National Poetry Month, here is twenty-year old Laurushka’s favorite poem.

WHAT SHE TELLS HERSELF
BEFORE DIALING THE NUMBER
SHE NEVER HAS TO LOOK UP

All through the fall I would
say, I love him more than he
loves me. I know it, I
acknowledge it, but he does
love me somewhat, he loves me
somehow and that has
to do. Besides, loving
is the better part of it,
the richness is in the loving
and I choose to do it
freely, I choose. Anyhow
I couldn’t bear not to
see him, I couldn’t rise
in the morning if I did
not know I would be fed
eventually with his presence.
Moreover it’s not important,
it’s trivial that I love
him, it’s just a sidecar
to my wheeling life. I can
afford the folly, I work hard,
I can afford the silliness of
loving him passionately. Anyhow
maybe he’ll come to love
me, he has to come to love
me soon or after a while, and
besides, I can’t help it.

Marge Piercy
(from Painted Bride Quarterly, Summer 1977)

Whoa, I almost went to bed without posting today.
I found this book tonight at the library and had an instant flashback. I didn’t remember the story (which is super cute!) but I definitely remember the pictures.

Do you remember this book? Do you have any favorite childhood books that no one has ever heard of?
Off the top of my head, here are two that I still have and LOVE:
Sloth’s Birthday Party by Diane Redfield Massie
and
How Joe the Bear and Sam the Mouse Got Together by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers.

I’ve been boring my faithful readers with my writing… I know what you really want… you want Lilia posts!

While I worked through three summer courses, poor Lilia got very familiar with PBS Kids and a stack of DVDs I checked out from the library. She likes absolutely everything that is geared towards kids. If I change the channel to news, she gets very sad– we haven’t watched much of the Olympics, but she was interested in the actual events (diving, gymnastics), and when Bob Costas (ugh, do I dislike him!) would come on, she thought we had switched the channel on her! Her favorite shows: Curious George, Teletubbies, Sesame Street, and Barney. *Edited to add: we don’t have cable, so we don’t get Phillies games on TV often… but there is one tonight, and Lilia is very excited!* The videos from the library were my favorites.

A Tomie dePaola collection with a story called, “Charlie Needs a Cloak“– he shears the sheep, cards the wool, spins the wool into yarn, dyes the yarn with berries, weaves the yarn into cloth, and sews his own cloak! This is one of those cases where the video is better than the book… they are both great, but seeing it come to life is more entertaining than my reading of it, I’m sure.

I also loved Sesame Street: Old School, Volume 2 (1974-1979). I loved it so much, I bought it, and have just ordered Volume 1 (which the library doesn’t have). Our favorite clip: Two little dolls (enjoy!)

And Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and other stories, which had Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins and The Foolish Frog by Pete Seeger. Pat Hutchins is great! We have Good-Night, Owl! already, and I just checked out The Wind Blew, which is a new favorite. Lilia loves wind!

Speaking of Pete Seeger, did I mention that Lilia recognizes the sound of a banjo? Seriously, I spend most of the day in awe of Lilia. I don’t care how she compares to other little kids– it just amazes me that in less than 2 and a half years on this planet, this little girl can hear a couple strums on a banjo, and say “Banjo”!

The “Fall” semester starts Monday, and I anticipate we will be watching more PBS and checking out more videos from the library. We did manage to get out of the house a bit during my classes, and more after I finished on August 9th.

Walking with Daddy at the Schuylkill Center

Lilia STILL loves swings!

Driving the Trolley at the Please Touch Museum

Last Saturday, we went for a drive and saw three beautiful hot-air balloons in the sky. We managed to catch one of them landing!

On Sunday, after a really nice brunch at a restaurant Bonnie Mac recommended (Ida Mae’s Bruncherie), we went to a playground and a community garden. Look at this goldfinch chowing down on this flower:

Well, I hope that satisfies all you Lilia fans for now! As I said, classes start again on Monday… but my anticipated graduation is December!

On a dark October evening, the gravedigger’s wife was sitting by the fire with her big black cat, Old Tom. They were waiting for the gravedigger to come home. They waited and they waited, but still he didn’t come. As the fire grew dimmer, the gravedigger’s wife and Old Tom started nodding off to sleep.

Finally, he came rushing in, and in a wild manner, called out, “Who’s Tom Tildrum?”

Startled, his wife and cat stared at him in fright. “Why, what’s the matter?” said his wife, “and why do you want to know who Tom Tildrum is?”

“Oh, I’ve had such an adventure. I was digging away at old Mr. Fordyce’s grave when I must have fallen asleep. I woke up when I heard a cat’s Meow.”

Old Tom looked up and answered, “Meow!”

“Yes, just like that!” said the gravedigger. “So I looked over the edge of the grave, and what do you think I saw?”

“Now, how could I know?” said the gravedigger’s wife.

“I saw nine black cats, all like our friend Tom here, all with a white spot on their chests.
And they were carrying a small coffin covered with a velvet cloth, and on the cloth was a small gold crown, and they walked like this, one, two three, and at every third step they took they cried all together, Meow — “

“Meow!” said Old Tom again.

“Yes, just like that!” said the gravedigger; “and they came nearer and nearer to me, and their eyes were shining out with a sort of green light. They all came towards me, eight of them carrying the coffin, and the biggest cat of all was walking in front, and he looked for all the world like…”

Suddenly, the gravedigger stopped. “Just look at our Tom, how he’s looking at me. You’d think he knew all I was saying.”

“Never mind Old Tom,” said his wife, “Go on, go on.”

“Well, as I was saying, the nine cats came towards me slowly and solemnly, and at every third step crying all together, Meow –”

“Meow!” said Old Tom again.

“Yes, just like that!” said the gravedigger.

“The came and stood right opposite Mr. Fordyce’s grave, where I was. They all stood still and looked straight at me. I did feel odd, that I did! But look at Old Tom; he’s looking at me just like they did.”

“Never mind Old Tom,” said his wife, “Go on, go on.”

“Where was I?” The gravedigger continued. “Oh yes, There they all stood, looking at me, when the one that wasn’t carrying the coffin came forward. Staring straight at me, he said to me — yes, he said to me, in a squeaky voice, ‘Tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toldrum’s dead,’ and that’s why I asked you if you knew who Tom Tildrum was, for how can I tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toldrum’s dead if I don’t know who Tom Tildrum is?”

Just then, his wife screamed out, “Look at Old Tom, look at Old Tom

And he couldn’t help but look, for Tom was swelling and Tom was staring, and at last Tom shrieked out, “What — old Tim dead! Then I, Tom Tildrum, am King of the Cats!”

And Old Tom rushed up the chimney and was never seen again.
————
From:
Galdone, Paul. King of the Cats. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.

Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales and More English Fairy Tales. Ed. Donald Haase. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2002.

Shepard, Aaron. King o’ the Cats. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004.

Notes: Joseph Jacobs wrote this English folktale down in 1894. I like the Paul Galdone version best—it’s almost word-for-word the same as the Jacobs’ version, except he changes sexton to gravedigger (probably for definition problems and to make it spookier). It could be used as a picture book read-aloud. Shepard’s version is expanded, and there is a video of him reading it on his website.

Radio
Saturday mornings mean listening to Saturday Weekend Edition on NPR with Scott Simon. I have harbored a crush on Mr. Simon for several years now, and confessed this to my in-laws at Thanksgiving. It turns out my love for Scott Simon was not shared– and my husband and his father actually dislike… or even hate Scott Simon! How could this be? They don’t like his guffaws– they sound fake. They don’t like when he puts on his regular “I’m a sports fan” voice. But what about his sensitive essays? And now, their dislike has poisoned my opinion of him– today as he guffawed with the Annoying Music Show guy, I understood! How could I have been so wrong? But then, Mr. Simon redeemed himself with another insightful essay, and my crush was validated.

Television

Having no cable really limits our choices. But we still get all the regular networks (albeit with snow), and even some hidden gems. Last week, we spent four hours watching the Temptations docudrama on the Ion network. Oh, poor doomed David Ruffin! Oh, the dramatic Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone scene!

We also watch Jeopardy! almost every evening. The past two weeks were Jeopardy! Teen Challenge, and I was rooting for Zia, who won $50,000 in his first match. But he was no match for sophomore Rachel, who just blew everyone away.

We are watching Lost this season. Wow, things are actually happening! We started watching it during the 2nd season– caught up by watching DVDs of all the episodes within a couple weeks. This made us unprepared for the slowness of the next few seasons! We almost gave up on it. I just keep reminding Joe– there are only 2 more years (is that right, even?). It has an end date. We can watch it, it will be over, and then we can throw our TV away when the country converts to HD, and we can be TV-Free. (Well, this is what Joe wants… I happen to enjoy the dumb box.)

The Internets

I think I’m an Internet addict. In addition to Friendster, and LiveJournal, and MySpace, I have recently joined the Facebook world. Why are there so many ways to waste time? I need to read more.

Books

I’m in the middle of reading forty books for Young Adults. I will share my reviews with you in April, after I turn them in for class. But I do want to recommend Whirligig by Paul Fleischman. It’s about a metamorphosis– “He was lodged in his own chrysalis but had no idea what he was turning into”…

Film

Oscars tomorrow. I used to know all the nominees. I used to try to see all the movies. I would put serious thought into guessing who might win. I’d make popcorn and enjoy the show. Joe has no patience for Hollywood or awards shows. If I watch it, I’ll watch it alone (although Joe is camped out sick on the couch, so he may be an unwilling viewer). In the past two years, I have seen two movies in the movie theater. The first one,Neil Young – Heart of Gold , about a week before Lilia was born. The second was this summer. The film was not nominated for an Academy Award. Can you guess what it was? Out of all the movies in 2007, what did we see?