Thursday, August 25, 2016

Rascal, by Sterling North

A couple of nights ago we finished reading Rascal, Sterling North's memoir of the year he had a pet raccoon.  He was 12 years old and his brother was away fighting in WWI, his mother had died several years before, and his sisters were all grown up.  Sterling and his father lived in a true bachelor pad, complete with a canoe-under-construction in the living room and an enormous Saint Bernard rambling through the house.  It's a wonderful read-aloud: hilarious, tender, beautifully-written, informative, elegant, wistful, and evocative.  I fell completely in love with and so did Finn.  

I found his dry erase marker rendering of a raccoon family today. And he's already started reading it again to himself.  


This is the perfect book to read aloud.  I am particular about the books I read aloud to my children; they have to be so well-written that I'm not constantly editing in my mind.  (It happens, unfortunately.)  North's book is masterful.  I never wanted to edit it; I believe it is just right.  

Read this book while the leaves fall and the soup is cooking on the stove--it's perfect for autumn!



Monday, August 22, 2016

Summer Frenzy

August is a flurry here.  I haven't intended to take a break from my blog, but it has happened. I'm not even going to list it all, I'm just going to say the obligations right now are heavy and my schedule is epic (and so is the laundry situation, alas).

Once school begins for us, things will quiet down a bit.

In the meantime, I have a sister's apartment to help unpack and organize, school to finish planning, a semester of teaching Shakespeare to other people's children (ie, not just my own) to plot out, many domestic tasks to tackle, a new cat to foster........

Friday, August 12, 2016

Summer Sabbatical

I took an unintentional summer sabbatical from blog-writing because our calendar caught on fire. The flames have died down now. 

The children and I went to Asheville, North Carolina this week!  One of my dearest friends had a baby in July and we went down to help.  I got a lot of baby-holding time, and cooked a lot of meals, and washed a lot of dishes.  I also learned to light a gas stove!

The crepe myrtle was still in bloom. 


We arrived home at dinnertime this evening, and Mr. Polly had dinner all ready for us.  There was a blue heron in the pond and the cattle are in the pasture behind our house.  I'm so happy to be home!