Morning. Good.

This morning is a
dip-pretzels-in-the-jelly-jar-breakfast kind of morning,
a coffee-in-the-hot-tub start
uninterrupted by crows discovering a bit of meat in the compost
or by a Siamese alarm clock demanding food.
We watched the shadows shorten,
the frost disappear from the yard,

Twoey waits

a deer venture into the field,
the crazy starling
bring yet another load of sticks
to the downspout.
Shouting didn't deter him.
Twoey the cat
climbed up the twigging
to investigate the possibilities
but soon gave up.
A beautiful-but-frustrated cardinal

Frustrated cardinal

flew from oak to birch
still hoping for a mate.
He has spent the last two weeks
frightening the identical cardinal
who lives in our window reflections.

The Gouger

May is full of good mornings.
Two bent-kneed hours-old fawns

stagger across the dirt road
following their mother.
The rock man we call Gouger
now stands in a fragrant cloud
of wild pinxter.
Nearby,
a red-tailed hawk
glides over the road.

Dubec Road fog

Yesterday
Den squinted at two eagles,
dots in the sky.
Other mornings,
fog obscures all but the closest branches.

Monday morning
was especially good.
We were awakened

Small visitors

by small voices
and then small hugs
as Anna and Lucy spent the night
so that Bop could take them
to see my first grade's performance
of Peter Pan.
Never was Hook so nasty,
Tootles so endearing,
or Pan so enthusiastic!
Before the show,

Velma's bleeding hearts

Peter introduced each classmate
to his hundred-year-old
great great grandmother
who is living proof
that we DO grow up

Heart, bunnies, earrings, ballet shoes, paintbrush

and that life can be a great adventure.

During morning recess yesterday,
Madeline and Lara
ventured into the wetland edges
to gather huge bouquets
of buttercups.
We dissected them for science,
then compared them
to the pink bleeding hearts

in the vase on my desk.
These flowers from along our walk
were transplanted years ago
from Velma Bargerstock's garden.
When Den was a boy,
he'd walk to Velma's for a visit
and a cup of coffee.
She'd pour hot water
through the same grounds all day.
Her bleeding hearts
have been on this mountain
for over a century.
We pull the hearts apart
into bunny slippers,
earrings,
ballet shoes
and a paintbrush.
There is yellow pollen paint
on the paintbrush.
God's creations are amazing.

Peace,
Sue and Denny

A Peter Pan Quiz

For you adults
that sometimes feel like kids inside,
try to complete these ten quotes from Peter Pan:

1. Boy, why are you _________?

2. You see, Wendy, 
when the very first baby laughed for the very first time, 
its _______ broke into a thousand pieces, 
and that was the beginning of fairies.

3. Mr Darling's response to Wendy 
when she says she doesn't want to leave the nursery 
is "Oh ____________!"

4. Second star to the right, and straight on 'til __________!

5. When in doubt, ______!

6. I'm Nibs. I plan the _______.

7. If you believe in ___________, clap your hands.

8. To _____  will be an awfully big adventure.  

9. Welcome to the ____________, boys!

10. All children grow up, except _______.

Why the interest in Peter Pan?
My first graders are performing it this week.
They have been singing their guts out for weeks.
Pan just lost a tooth
and doesn't really perform,
he pretends.
He becomes Pan,
to the point he has his back to the audience,
whispering to Tinkerbell.
(I use my grandmother's clicker
to remind him
and a few others
that Grandma is sitting in the back
and needs to hear.)
Mr and Mrs Darling
are loving parents
even though Mr D does drag the dog Nana out by her leg.
Their children,
Wendy, John and Michael,
are played by sure-footed children
unafraid to jump from the bench to the radiator
to simulate flight.
The lost boys
and girl
are wild
and charming
and may steal the show.
"I'm Tootles!"
is even better with a lisp.
Princess Tiger Lily is serious
and creative with her dancing.
The pirates are wickedly goofy
and Captain Hook growls out every line.
He is keeping his plastic hook under control backstage--
the threat to make him use a curved finger
seems to be working.
The dramatic battle between Crocodile and Hook
is a fitting finale to Neverland.

The good news is
the play will be wonderful
despite,
or perhaps because of,
whatever mistakes occur.
The bad news is
these performers may never be this cute again.
They will grow adult teeth.
They will become self conscious.
They will grow up.

My advice to you
and you've heard it before:
Treasure.
Each.
Moment.
Well, most of them.

Time flies.

Oh,
and the answers?

1. "Boy, why are you crying?" said Wendy.

2. You see, Wendy,
when the very first baby laughed for the very first time,
its  laugh broke into a  thousand pieces,
and that was the beginning of fairies.

 3. Oh poppycock!

4. Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning!

5. "When in doubt, run!" said Tiger Lily.  

6. I'm Nibs. I plan the battles.

7. If you believe in fairies, clap your hands.

8. To die will be an awfully big adventure.

9. "Welcome to the family, boys!" said Mr Darling.

10. All children grow up,  except one.


...and one last bit of Peter Pan trivia.
Did you know that the name "Wendy"
did not exist before Peter Pan?

Fairies

The beginning of a Great Adventure

We love James Barrie's Peter Pan.
His fairy,
Tinkerbell,
was a nasty little creature
but since 1904
most fairies have become beautiful
and kind.
The Rainbow Fairies books by Daisy Meadows
are perfect for many beginning readers
and five-year-old Anna has read most of them.
Though she is a realist in most areas,
she believes in fairies.
"If I saw a real fairy,
I would be scared,
but only for a little while."

Last Friday afternoon at the swimming hole
Anna and I went for a walk down the creek.
I have been going to the swimming hole since I was a little girl
but only this month
have I explored below the bridge.
It's one of my new favorite places.
(Lucy was not interested in joining us--
it was past nap time
and all she wanted to do
was find a cuddly item,
in this case, a sponge,
and fall asleep in the jeep.)
We held hands as we trudged down the creek,
Anna in all the deepest places
until she remembered
that fish live in water.
"Are there fish in here?"
Not wanting to lie,
I replied,
"This water is very clear.
Do you see any fish?"
"No."
She took a few more tentative steps.
"Let's walk on the rocks instead."
We found rocks
that reminded us
of dog heads
and dinosaurs.
We found a peeper frog
the size of a pinkie fingernail,
so tiny
that when we held him
we could not feel his weight
and carried him along the creek
until he made a brave jump
and disappeared.
As we rounded a bend
where twenty-foot-high rhododendrons were in flower
and a fallen tree
made a bridge across the rippling water
I heard Anna's breath catch.
"This is where fairies would live."
As she looked around
she became even more quiet and serious.
"Let's look for their houses."
"Aren't their houses invisible?"
"They build them in hidden places."
We peered in the tall grass on the creek bank.
No houses.
We crossed the creek on stepping stones
and peeked into a hollow
beneath an enormous rhododendron.
No houses.
We looked down the creek
at a big rock
in the center of the stream.
"If I were a fairy, I would sit there."
Anna gathered up her courage
and crossed the potentially fish-filled waters.
"Anna, I don't see fairies,
but I do know birds have rested here."
Anna thought a bit,
then giggled
at the bird droppings.
"Let's go tell Bop and Lucy."

"...Bop!
We found a place where fairies live!
And birds sit on the fairy rock
and go to the bathroom!"
Bop replied,
"How do you know those weren't fairy droppings?"

May you have a blessed week,
may you recognize magical places
and not step in any fairy droppings.