Discovery Drafts

Two weeks ago, I brought in my houseplants and dug up my hibiscus and geranium plants that had enjoyed a nice summer outside.  We get strong morning sunlight, and I have my picnic benches strategically placed so that these plants can make the most of the light from where they sit.  The geraniums have been in a state of shock, but the hosta, which I bought in the spring from BJs Wholesalers, said all was well with this blossom.   I hope these plants survive the winter, which the Farmer's Almanac says will be a doozy. Today's Flowers

This is a follow up to my " About That Bullet on the Stair " post.  A week after Nonnewaug High School Principal Andrew O'Brien assured us that it was no big deal that he found a bullet on the stair at my daughter's school, another school district functionary sent out this note: Region 14 Families, The first day of hunting season is tomorrow, Saturday, October 18.  With the number of staff and students who are hunters, we want to send a gentle reminder to check your pockets, backpacks and cars and remove any hunting related items that are not in keeping with school safety and/or district policies prior to returning to school. Thank you. The sender of this message was one Eric Bergeron, the assistant principal of my daughter's middle school, aka, Woodbury Middle School.  During her seventh-grade year, Adella earned herself lunchtime detention during which she was required to write an apology to her math teacher for.  Well.  I still don't get

Not a pumpkin harvester, this fellow, he enjoyed the straw while autumn revelers got in line for some corn maze and pumpkin-picking fun.  When you're cute, you can stand around and eat all da! Our autumn revelers figured out that the best way to get through the maze was to follow the smart people.  Which we did. These gourds left one fellow in a college sweatshirt visibly and audibly bemused.  "What do you do with it once you buy it?" he asked everyone.  A guy.  Possibly an engineer.  Without children.  These are my guesses, anyway.  He was funny. Our World Tuesday

Today's Flowers

This morning I came upon a white heron who would have been happy to not have been come upon.  Off the beautiful bird went to the other side of the pond.  A beautiful bird, a beautiful moment.  I was lucky.

            Sometime today, a security officer at my daughter’s school found a bullet on the stairs to the cafeteria.             A bullet on the stairs to the cafeteria.             So the principal sent an email to teachers and made an announcement that they should check their email and business continued as usual.  Students had early dismissal, and they went home at the appointed hour.             And the principal sent an email letting parents know a bullet was found on the stairs to the cafeteria but everything was fine.  Business as usual.  This is America.             Later that night, while I waited for my daughter’s concert to begin, my father emailed me to find out what happened at school.  I work in an urban school, so my first move was to google my school to find out what happened.  Nothing.  Of course—and I knew that .  Urban kids don’t get up to the completely fucked up psychological bullshit that rich suburban kids with shrinks can get up to.  Down in the city,

We trooped out to Sleepy Hollow, New York, on Friday for a lantern-lit walk through the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.  The light onf the lanterns gave the family a suitably ghoulish glow. We had a nice little walk around Sleepy Hollow before the tour.  Actually, we were looking for a public restroom, but none of the business people in Sleepy Hollow were big fans of creating a hospitable feeling by sharing their potties with us.  Not even the guy in the gift shop.  It was a tough half hour before we made our way to the cemetery, where there was a public restroom.  Why didn't we think to check in with the dead first?  Silly us. The bathroom was in the building.  (Remember this in case you ever go there.) These were some of our lanterns.  The image is blurry because my phone didn't want to be a camera after hours on a Friday.  Anyway, they had real kerosene in them, but nobody burned down the garden cemetery. Here in the receiving vault was some vampire paraphernalia.  Som

We had some heavy rain Saturday.  Before it came, I brought in the three roses that had bloomed during the week.  The rain was less than was promised but just what we needed.  These were fragile little cast-of plants when I brought them home from K-Mart in the late spring.  These double-discount deals sure did endure! Today's Flowers