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Cleary is a Stiff

By admin, on June 10th, 2009%

In a pile of old books…

 is one of my very most, new favorites.  I have to show it to you!

Deuxieme Etape
Basic French Readings
Books Six to Ten
copyright 1942

Since I studied French in high school and college, this book immediately appealed to me. Princess of the Universe has also mentioned that she’d like to study French, so I liked it even more!  I bought it and took it home to look more closely.

Upon opening the book, I saw that it belonged to Arthur Cleary who attended Brooklyn Prep.  Hmmm.  Sounds pretty prestigious to me.  I am a detective at heart, so  I had to find out more.  I did a quick Google search on line for Brooklyn Prep.  Ah, it could certainly be that Arthur attended Brooklyn Prep.  What an interesting history.  Listen to this:

The initial group of 226 students were greeted by the Reverend J. F. X. O’Conor, S.J., founder and first president, as follows: “…we wish to make you – Christian, educated gentlemen…Brooklyn Prep men are RICH – R is for Religion, I for Intellect, C for Character and H for Health.” The first commencement exercises were held on June 15, 1909. Tuition was $25.00 a quarter plus a $25.00 entrance fee.

Now, look at Arthur’s address.  1771 Marine Prway.  I am thinking it is 1771 Marine Parkway, and look at this.  Doesn’t it just give you chills?  Located in Brooklyn.  Built in 1925.  For sale in recent years.  Is that where Arthur lived?  Oh, I wonder where Arthur is now, if he still is.  Do you, as I, mourn the loss of that generation of men and women born in the early part of the 1900s?  My late maternal grandmother was born in 1918 and she knew a thing or two about hard work, doing without, frugality, and thankfulness.

I’m guessing Arthur was born in the late 20s.  What do you think?

I can say one thing about Arthur.  He was resourceful.  Look what he did to his index!  He cut right up the sides of the pages, making his index an ABC tabbed index.  Wouldn’t you like to meet Arthur right now?

Thought you might want to see one of the two illustrations in this book.

Now for the fun stuff.  What’s this?  This piece of paper sticking out of the book? 

I take it out.

At first glance I’d say it’s a bookmark.  But wait.  It’s really a folded up piece of paper.  We’ve got to see what it says!

Ha ha!  Cleary is a stiff.  Now don’t you really want to meet Arthur Cleary?  I know I do.  I sort of knew what a stiff was.  My first thought was a stick in the mud, but I did look it up.  A priggish person.  Okay, so I had to look up priggish too.  A prig is “a person self-righteously concerned with the punctilious observance of proprieties.”

I don’t picture Arthur as self-righteous at all.  Do you?  Punctilious maybe, but not self-righteous.  Perhaps my imagination is just out of control, but I picture a beautiful, dark-headed Brooklyn girl trying to get Arthur’s attention, but he’s too busy working on his tabbed index to notice her.  She gets mad and writes “Cleary-is-a-stiff” and throws it at him.  Then he, being the studious and industrious young fellow that he is, says, “Why, this would make a great bookmark.  Thanks, Beatrice!”  (Or Louise or Hallie or Jewell or Eva or any other great 1920s or 30s name you can come up with.)

Or, wait, wait!!  Here’s another scenario.  Arthur likes the beautiful, dark-headed Brooklyn girl and he tells his friend George.  (Or Charles or William or Humphrey or any other great 1920s or 30s name you can come up with.)  George, trying to put his feelers out and get some information for his buddy Arthur, asks Beatrice, “What do you think of Arthur?”  And then he gets the “Cleary-is-a-stiff” note thrown in his face.

Sigh.

I wonder, when I’m gone, if I will have left behind anything quite so interesting as  all this.

Lynn

PS – Arthur Cleary, if you come across this, we’d love to hear the story.

9 comments   Thrift and Antique Store Shopping

Emerging

By admin, on June 8th, 2009%

That’s what I feel like I’m working on.  Emerging.  From so many things.  A lightning fast spring.  End-of-year testing.  Preparing to graduate another child.  A tax time in April that did not go so well.  Another school year for three of my children.  Mailing in test results.  Another round of children’s birthdays. 

I have not disappeared from blog-land.  I’ve been visiting blogs (with never enough time to leave all the comments I want to) and thinking of doing a better job at keeping my own blog up these days.

The garden calls me, though I have not had ALL the time I want in it.  That would be a lot.  Probably more than anyone I know can imagine.

But I am emerging.  I’ll emerge into the garden, like a butterfly into the wild world, and start making, preserving, and enjoying summer, one day at a time, marking off the days.  Summer’s almost here, you know.

My mother was mortified that I might actually let a poke weed plant grow in with the other things.  (You may notice its large leaves off to the right.)  Mrs. Poke Plant doesn’t bother me when I see her there.  Once my mother recovered from the shock of seeing it in the garden, it occured to her that I might try to eat it.  The horror!  

“Oh, Lynn please don’t try to eat it,” she said in her most motherly voice ever.

“I won’t,” I assured her.  (Though it can be a powerful medicine.)

I’ve been eating bright beautiful nasturtiums in my salads.  They are so peppery.  They’ll wake you up on a hot day.  I’ve saved a beautiful olive oil bottle, washed it and dried it well, and it’ll soon be used to store nasturtium vinegar. 

I’ll be sure and share pictures when it’s done.  I want to pickle some too.  They can be used like capers. 

“Bright Lights” chard has been good in my salads as well.

I’m hoping to do some Prairie Tuesday things tomorrow.  I am also hoping to mail out some letters to dear friends. 

Are you emerging from things too?

Lynn

6 comments   Daily Thoughts

Random Saturday Evening Thoughts

By admin, on June 6th, 2009%

I’ve worked all day today.  I am tired.  But I don’t work again until Monday, so I can enjoy the rest of the weekend with my family.  Hubby has already cooked for the day and told me just to enjoy walking outside when my work day was done.  That man gets a foot massage tonight. 


Rosa carolina, taken on a nature walk last week.

I am going out to gather herbs and greens for a salad and to take some pictures.  The nasturtiums are blooming and they are LOVELY.  I need an infusion of some kind.  But what?  I’ll just go out and gather what “speaks” to me.

Updates on that later. 

Hubby worked in the yard some today for me.  There’s an area under a tree where we are planning to put a couple of adirondack chairs.  It’s next to a hedge…

that draws bees and butterflies.  The hedge drops its pretty tiny white petals onto a bed of moss…

Our chairs will be right there in the middle of it all.  Mmmm.

There are more and more butterflies, moths and bugs in the yard.  I can’t move fast enough to record the wonders occurring around me.  I’ll keep what bits I can and just enjoy the ride.


Queen Anne’s Lace

I currently have some pressed in a book, drying, for a place to be taken up later in our herb and plant book.

Today’s Quote

“Differences challenge assumptions.”  Anne Wilson Schaef 

Lynn

7 comments   Working and Homeschooling

School Year’s End 2009

By admin, on June 4th, 2009%

Wow, our school year has come to a close.  Do you hear me, people?  A CLOSE.  Well, offiically tomorrow, but what do YOU think most kids do the last day of school?  I could see Joseph’s and Michaela’s brains slipping out the car windows into the hot summer air as we sped along I-40 on our way home from end-of-year testing on Tuesday.   Get more work out of them?  Yeah, right!

Me?  My mind was on whether or not there was a Goodwill in the town they were being tested in.

You know there was.

Look.  I know I said I was going to put the brakes on.  I said that.  Yes I did.  But what else could I do during the several hours they were being tested? Here were my options.

a) sit in a 100-degree car and wait
b) go shopping at Goodwill

I ask you, what would you have done?

And I think you would be proud to know that I did not shop the entire time they were testing.  For quite some time I sat in the consultant’s parlor and did some reading and writing.   (But that was only because they were not done testing when I got back to her house.)

I am tired.  It’s a happy tired, but tired nonetheless.  Am I the only one who feels this exhausted after working and schooling and keeping house all year?  I think not.  So, this post will contain a bit of everything, but I’ll try to make it coherent.

Hamlet

Yes, we finished Hamlet a few weeks back and it was a wonderful experience!  All I can say is Shakespeare was a genius writer and had great insight into human nature.  Joseph loved it!

We did watch a movie verson of Hamlet, the one with Mel Gibson, and I’m glad we did because I had not pictured Ophelia being quite as insane as she had actually become.  We watched it after we’d read the entire play.    Michaela was not allowed to see it.  She saw a little at the beginning and then was excused.  There are some very intense scenes near the end of the movie that I’m glad she did not see.

Test Scores

In a nutshell, after a whole year of work, Joseph still spells like a third grader.  It just runs in hubby’s family to not be able to spell.  I would take credit for the spelling horrors if they were from my side of the family but I must give credit where credit is due.  It comes from hubby.  Believe me, there are plenty of blundering things that come from my side of the family.   Miss Priss spells like I do.  Two grade levels ahead.  Same with math.  ;)   In other areas Joseph has continued to grow.  He’s made great strides in math.  The amazing thing is that his reading comprehension has only increased.  It was third year college last year.  It’s fifth year this year.   So in spite of Joseph’s spelling woes, I am thrilled with our testing.  He comprehends, he calculates.  And, I still have hope that if we do ONLY spelling this whole entire summer, every day, the way I plan to do it, he’ll be somewhere acceptable by the time I hand him his diploma this fall. 

Why am I sharing this?  Because I know I’m not the only one who’s been blessed with a child who struggles with spelling.  And I fully believe that if God created him, which He did, He has a useful place for him to fill, whether he can spell well or not. 

Gardening

My mind is ablaze with garden ideas, and these days I am nearly ablaze while working in the garden.  It’s been HOT.  Nevertheless, I have forged ahead, moving borders, weeding and enjoying.  We have also been taking nature walks (great “Prairie Tuesday” fun) to cut plant specimens from the roadsides. 


Hops Clover

It is so much fun to place the plants into a book to be pressed while in the meantime we find the names — common and scientific, and write down some information about each plant.  After the plant has dried we place the specimen and the information into a laminating pocket and laminate it for the plant notebook we’re making!

I can’t believe it’s bedtime on Thursday evening.  Tomorrow is a work day, but I’m thankful to have work at home.  (Girls, I tell myself this every week and I’m sure you all are cheering me on.  TYPE TYPE TYPE.)

We had homemade pizza tonight, and Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew.  Yum.   That’s all I can say about it.  It’s real ginger-ale.

My pizza has spinach on it.  The children like meat.  I like veggies.  Some of us are on fire with our spelling skills.  Some of us cannot spell at all.  We are a big genetic jumble.  But we all love each other to pieces.  Ain’t it great?

I’m sorry we did not get to do Prairie Tuesday this week.  I was hoping for today, but this week has just been too busy with end-of-year festivities.   I plan to continue having fun with it through the summer.  Michaela will be required to read and we will keep up with penpals.  Joseph, of course, will be spelling.  :)  

Happy Thursday,

Lynn

12 comments   Cooking and Food, Gardening, Homeschooling

Do You See What I See?

By admin, on June 4th, 2009%

That’s a complex question when talking about anything.   However, as we wrap up our school year and emerge from another session of end-of-year testing done by Lighthouse Educational Services I am even more aware of the fact that every family — no, every single individual – sees things differently.  What do we see when we view our children, their abilities, their potential, their struggles, our reasons for homeschooling? 

I’ll be posting an end-of school-year post later today.  (At least that’s the plan.)  In the meantime, Michaela did this artwork that we all have very much enjoyed looking at! 

It’s pretty large.  Approximately 20 x 14 inches.

I showed her recently how to do this type of art and she really likes it.  We used to call it stained glass when we were little.  You just take a pen or marker and scribble all over the page in big scribbles.  Then you start filling in the spaces with crayon, colored pencil or markers.   It is amazing to hear what different people see when they look at this, and it’s fun to know as you look that nothing in it was planned.  Michaela simply chose random colors to fill in the spaces left by the scribbles.  (Hey, adults, even we can have fun doing this!) 

 So far we have seen a cartoon-y face, a toucan, a dolphin, a mouse, another bird and I’m sure there’s more. 

I am sure there are people who would look on my children, especially my special needs son, and wonder why we homeschool, but those would be the people on the outside looking in.  The view is not the same from their perspective.  They might see a mouse where we on the inside looking out see a dove.

What do you see? 

Lynn

11 comments   Daily Thoughts

A Garden Update

By admin, on June 2nd, 2009%

The garden surely is marching on towards summer.  Lovely spring, that I waited for with such anticipation, is slipping away, her cool blues and pinks and purples splashed over with bright-hot orange, fuschia, and yellow.

Spiders grow up as fast as spring flew away.  They are larger and larger.  And everywhere.

I like to slip away in the late afternoon, when the dishes are done and the dish towel is folded neatly over a kitchen chair, taking my favorite enamelware bowl to hide under the mulberry tree and pick. 

The spiders must wonder, as they ride atop mulberries from tree to bowl and end up in my kitchen sink, what has happened!  These are not the shiny kind of spider, however, but gray and brown spiders that blend in with their mulberry tree.   I rescue them and take them back outside.

A pretty little volunteer.  Probably a “weed” but such a sweet little bloom.  I don’t know her name yet, but will find out some day.

A neighborhood cat watches me as I wander around looking for creatures and new plants.

He meows for food.  I think.  Maybe he’s asking me, “What are you doing?”

We’ve had so much rain lately.  The plants have shot up and the birdbaths are running over.

Potentilla indica (formerly Duchesnea indica).  The mock strawberry or Indian strawberry (from Asia/India) is sometimes called the snakeberry around here.  The name snakeberry can be confusing, however, because there are other plants that are called snakeberry as well.  The mock strawberry, which has a yellow flower, is not to be confused with the wild strawberry which has a white flower.  The mock strawberry has been described as edible but tasteless, edible but bitter enough to turn your mouth inside-out, mildly poisonous, and deadly poisonous.  I  think it is probably not deadly poisonous but is not suitable for eating either.  I don’t eat them.

Roses.  Sigh.

Tomatoes and nasturtiums are taking off!

Bright hot-pink astilbe.

The mass of plants with the dark dirt around is the potato bed.  I keep raising the border and adding more dirt.  I did this rather than the barrel or old-tires idea.  I’ll let you know what happens.  I’ve been fighting with the slugs for my potatoes entire garden.

Blue hyssop seeds sprouting on the kithen window sill.  (Thank you, Marqueta!)

A mix of calendula, dandelion, squash, okra, potatoes, lettuce, nettles, lovage and who knows what else.

Finally, in bloom in the goldfish pond, a water lily.

6 comments   Gardening
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