In my head, it's already Spring. I've been staring longingly at the flower and vegetable catalogs, and they're helping to keep me sane. With fifteen degrees the high today, tomatoes seem a loooong way off...
Gah! That's because they are! Approximately EIGHT MONTHS off. Sigh. Okay, think about the forsythia; they're only about four and a half months off. Good God, winter is long.
While I wouldn't say I despise winter--after all, look at the amazing light and clarity in the air-- I would say that I despise its interruption of my garden. I know, I know. The plants need down time, some have to have the cold to bloom, yada yada yada. But I need flowers NOW.
Besides, it's the gardening that helps me avoid strangling the people in control of my teaching life, who so often seem not to be me. I have to say, it's hard teaching in a place where the things we do frequently have little to do with what is best for kids, and lots to do with what is best for state test scores and our school administrators. The good news is, once I shut the door, I can take back a little of the control and do what my observations show me is good for my students.
I'm going back to school myself, soon. Strangely, I'm feeling a little trepidatious about the whole thing. As if that didn't make me a big enough idjit, I'm feeling most nervous about just getting to class on time! It's going to be a haul from the end of the school day into the city; hopefully the Green Line will consistently show up when I need it to. I'm also a little excited. I can add to the hopefully list the thought that there will be people in my class to talk about teaching with, and from whom I'll learn new things.
I recently read Ghost Map, a look at the cholera outbreak in the Soho area of London in 1854. I love the consilience of the social, scientific, and historic lessons the author writes about. I also love having learned the word "consilience". :) (Though I'm not 100% sure I've used it correctly in the first sentence--my context for the word so far is limited to the book.) It is the perfect descriptor for what I so love about a lot of the non-fiction I've been reading, like Omnivore's Dilemma and the books by Frances Mayes. The drawing upon many fields of inquiry and knowledge to come to an induction/conclusion. Love it! It's what makes learning so much fun. Well, for geeky me anyway.
2 comments:
I always knew you were a real tomato! I'm telling you, you ought to get some worms going so you will have castings for the garden in the spring! Besides, it feels good to put on gloves and dig around in their habitat.
You know, you wouldn't have to wait eight months in orlando. And you'd have Disney too!
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