My Heroes Have Always Been....Mushers

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Not quite a Willie Nelson ring, top ten ring, but I like it better. Someday I'll have to do a post on my obsession with and love for dogsledding, for mushing,  But suffice it to say, tonight, that I am one VERY excited girl. Lance Mackey just won his 4th consecutive Iditarod in Nome today, and I couldn't be happier. There are many mushers I root for, for many different reasons, every year, but ever since I met Lance four years ago in Alaska before his first win, I have been rooting for him. He is the most down-to-earth guy I have ever met. He reminds me very much of my brothers, my brothers' friends, people I grew up with, people around here. He could live here, in Allegany County, and fit right in. There is nothing high and mighty, nothing pretentious,  about him (really, there isn't about MOST mushers - that's one of the things I like most about them) Lance is NICE. Back four years ago, I felt like he really DESERVED a win. He's been through a lot - cancer, among a lot of other tough things. There are just good stories around his life, his rise through the mushing world. He's tough. He's strong. He's a good guy. And I really, really like him, and I'm really, really glad he won the Iditarod today. GO Lance!! He joins the ranks of a few others who have won 4 times, and one other musher has actually won 5 times, but NONE of them have been consecutive wins like Lance's. And I don't think any of those wins came back to back with wins or near-wins at the Yukon Quest, as Lance's have been. Two of the toughest sled dog races in the world, back to back, and Lance has been there. And done that. And done it again. I'm so very happy for him.  And I LOVE the two quotes I just read tonight:

"He could take your dogs and beat his team with your dogs. That's how good of a musher he is," said Hugh Neff, who's currently in sixth place and taking his 8-hour stopover.


Zach Steer (current 12th) said: "He's what our sport needed a few years ago. Came along at the right time. People love him because he's genuine."

He is genuine. A genuine hero, in my book.

    

In Just by e.e.cummings

in Just-

by: e.e. cummings (1894-1962)


IN Just-


spring when the world is mud-


luscious the little


lame baloonman

 whistles far and wee


and eddieandbill come


running from marbles and


piracies and it's


spring


when the world is puddle-wonderful


the queer


old baloonman whistles


far and wee


and bettyandisbel come dancing

 from hop-scotch and jump-rope and


it's


spring


and


the

 goat-footed


baloonMan whistles


far


and


wee




The temperature here has been warming up the past few days. Today was in the 50's! Sunshine has been abundant. I'm grateful it is truly beginning to feel like spring. But all the ice and snow in my back yard? Now turning quickly to mud. Muddy, mucky, wet, dirty MUD. I have four dogs hooked to runs in that said backyard. Four fairly LARGE, farily energetic, dogs who are VERY eager to see me at 3:30 every day, after spending much of THEIR day running around and through those puddlewonderful, mud-luscious spots in the yard! . So, mud? Not really my favorite. But ... who can resist words like "mud-luscious" and "puddle-wonderful" ? Not me. My favorite spring time poem. If my dogs can't resist the mud, I might as well embrace it, and all 16 muddy paws, too!!  :)

What Can I Say?

I am a Girlyman freak. A girlyfan. A "Girlyman Girlyfan."

SYRACUSE, NY

Friday, March 5th, 8 pm

Only 3 hours from home, this time!

Nate is just adorable. Yep, HE'S a freak! Yep, he has sticky up dyed whitish blonde hair, and pink eye makeup. He's gay. And Doris, she's bi. And my favorite, Ty, below, is also gay. Thus, the whole name, Girlyman. And I am a 47 year old heterosexual, monogomous, married-for-22-years-with-4-children, adult. With the hugest, hugest girl crush on Ty, who is way too young for me anyway. But she's SO cute, and she's SO sensitive! But oh my gosh, the music these three people can make. The harmonies. The stories behind the lyrics (Here's one I didn't know til Friday. The song, "Reva Thereafter"  - on their Joyful Sign cd - was written about Nate's grandmother, who was a Psychologist, and who practiced and saw patients up until a week before she died, at age 92. She shot herself at 92.  She was also Gloucester's first female lobster fisherman. How cool is that? Totally makes the lyrics make sense all of a sudden, after all these years.)  Honestly, they could be three headed green vomit spewing extra-terrestrials, but if they still sang like they do now, I'd STILL be making many hour-ed trips to stand in line to be first in the door to their shows.

The picture on the top right, where Nate is holding his hands up. That was their final song, and it is the purely acappello version with three part harmony of "Up to the Sea."  (Click on the Girlyman link, http://www.girlyman.com/ and go to the Everything's Easy cd, find that, and listen - it's not their best song ever, but  just listen for the harmony in it, close your eyes, and picture them standing there, singing their hearts out, just for me. It was AMAZING.

The harmony is also fantastic on the title song, "Everything's Easy." They actually sing in a round, with three totally different parts going. If I knew how to link a Youtube video here, I would do that, so you could just hear it, without having to go find it. But if you have time, go find it. There's also a great song they played on Friday night that is not on any of their cds. It's an old one, St. Stephen's. You can find that on Youtube, also from their recent Cleveland show.

I guess, perhaps in part because I can't carry a tune in a bucket, I am just in love with the sounds they can make. What a gift.

And?  They are coming to a place only an hour from me for an outdoor concert in June, (Livonia) and that means I have 3.5 months to lose three of the extra chins so prominent in my portrait with Ty. Maybe if I lose 50 pounds by June 27th, she'll  return my crush?  Or ask ME for a picture? Yeah, I didn't think so, but a girl can dream, right? I'll try not to post again about them until June 28th, so if you're sick of hearing about them, make sure you skip this place that day!

Cold Days, Hot Drinks

It is often cold in New York in the winter. That's fine with me, as long as I have hot drinks handy. I used to live on hot chocolate, but for some reason, that has not appealed to me this winter. I have, however, filled the void with three new hot drinks this winter.

The mason jar above is all that is left of two full quart jars of elderberry syrup I was able to make this fall. I've never had it before, but I LOVE it as tea. A couple of tablespooons in a mug, a dash of lemon juice to cut the sweetness, and fill it with hot water, and it makes an awesome, sweet berry tea, without the tea flavor.

In addition, it is FULL of Vitamin C, or antioxidants, or something. I swear by it. I have literally not had a cold since a year ago February. Some of that can be attributed to the sinus surgery I had in April, but I KNOW a lot of it is this drink, too. Look it up - elderberry is GOOD for you!

The second drink I found, just by accident, in The Christmas Tree Shoppe, at Christmas time. It is hot spiced cider mix, boiled down to a concentrate. Again, a couple of tablespoons of it, hot water, and you have instant hot spiced apple cider that doesn't taste like instant. I've had those packets of dry cider mix before - umm, yuck? But this is good stuff. I couldn't find more at the CTS, so I ordered another bottle on line, at Gormly's (http://www.gormlys.com/) ( It makes a gallon, for $7.95.  Good deal. And I'm sure it will last me through next winter, or some of it, as well as the rest of this winter. I love it.

And the last of my new "discoveries" this winter: hot water, lemon juice, and spiced honey. I guess this is not NEW to some people - and in fact, I guess if you threw in a shot of some good whiskey, this is probably a really OLD drink. (Is this what is referred to as a "hot toddy"? ) But I made my own spiced honey from a local beekkeeper this fall, and again, since I don't like TEA, this is sort of tea-like, but without that tea flavor. I just REALLY like a hot drink in the evenings, and these three have been my constants this winter.

OH yeah, and then there have been a few days, just a few, mind you, when THIS is the drnk of choice at night. OK, so it's not HOT, but it isn't cold, either. If it can't be hot, I'll happily take room temperature (I don't like ANY drink cold, not even in the summer. I NEVER put my pop in the frig, nor will I drink juice or anything that is cold. I HATE ice cubes in ANY drink...)  This is not my favorite wine, but thankfully, it was at least good. I say thankfully, because I tend to almost always buy my wine based on the label. I bought this one in Maine a couple of summer's ago. Who could resist a bottle with 3 Blind Moose on it? Obviously I couldn't. But it is the ONLY bottle of 5 I bought that week in Maine that I could actually stand to drink. The rest I took a sip, passed the bottle off to my husband, and saved the cool labels when he was done!  If you enlarge the picture, you will see that my VSWG (very special wine glass) is from MacGregor Winery, my FAVORITE winery in the Finger Lakes, (http://www.mcgregorwinery.com/)  they DO have my favorite wines there. It was a particularly bad night the night I took this picture - I had my glass of wine with a 2 Motrin chaser. 

(And? I have no idea why the first words in this post are blue, and underlined. Just one of the many mysteries in my life, for which I really have no time to spend pondering today)

Snow Day- Like Candy for Teachers! :)

 

We had a snow day Friday. It came with a "winter storm warning" for so many days ahead that I was sure we WOULDN"T get one. A friend and fellow teacher of mine was so right when she said, "We only get a snow day if the weatherman is WRONG. The more hype, the less snow."  Even in this case, she was right, because we got SOME snow, even a lot of snow, I guess, by this winter's standards, but it didn't all come at once. It was pretty steady snow, on and off, from Thursday through the weekend. But on Friday morning, it wasn't snowing heavily, as predicted, and it wasn't "hurricane strength winds," as also predicted. Yeah, it was a little blowy, but not too bad. All in all, based on what I saw when I let the dogs out at 2 am, I was totally NOT anticipating a snow day. To the point where, by the time the alarm had gone off at 6:10, and then again at 6:20, I was thinking about getting up, showered and dressed for school. The phone rang, and instead of "knowing" it was the snow tree call, I thought,"Oh crud, my dad is back to making those early morning confused phone calls."  I was DOUBLY thrilled then when it actually WAS the call to cancel school. Usually they come before 6 am, so by 20 after 6, it was totally off my mind.  I was pretty excited sounding, sort of like a kid, when I had to make my two calls to further the snow tree.. Those are ALMOST the best kind of snow days. (The BEST best kind are when there's no weather forecast at all and you get one anyways - the pipes burst, the boilers don't work and there's no heat, the electricity went out during the night, too many people are out of school due to the flu, etc. etc. Unfortunately, I can't even remember the last time I had one of those.) But hey, a day off is a day off, so... I tried to go back to sleep, but Bramble will only "sleep" or let me do so, until about 7, once she has gone out when T gets up at 6:20. And I was really pretty much too excited to sleep anyway.  So, sleeping in was not on the agenda, but snoozing later during the day was, along with some crocheting, and lots and lots of watching Bramble and Annie chase each other around the yard. We have a hill of dirt and rocks that we never moved when the yard was dug up for the pool, and I swear they play King (Queen?) of the Hill. They race and race and race around the yard, and then Annie will grab Bramble and throw her down, and then Bramble will slip out from under her, and take off, and come in from behind to grab Annie's leg and pull it out from under her. Their point, once they gain the top of the dirt pile, is to see which one can knock the other one down.   Anyway, I let them out in the snow to watch them do this several times this day, just to let them burn off their energy, and to get some laughs. I can't help but laugh as they race and race and race. And it makes me especially happy that Bramble PLAYS with Annie. My other two dogs, Abai and Willow, are l-a-z-y, and far too dignified to play with Annie. She used to have her brother, Moose, to run and play with, but since Moose was killed accidentally two years ago, Annie has missed having someone to match her husky energy level. I was really hoping when I got Bramble that one of the extra, good, things about her would be her puppy energy level - that SHE would want to play with Annie. And she does. And it makes me smile. Snow day or not, But especially on a snow day.

Drowning My Sorrows in Fresh Maple Syrup

Cartwrights Maple Tree Inn is an institution around here. For miles and miles. It is only open for a brief two months, give or take, at the end of winter, beginning of spring. When the nights are still cold, but the days warm up, the sap starts running and that means it's pancake time. The MTI is famous for its thin, buckwheat all you can eat pancakes and its fantastic maple syrup. When I heard they opened on the 11th of this month, I've been waiting for one of these nights to run up there for dinner. It's about 16 miles away, 20 if you don't go back roads. I always take the back roads. It's my way through life. But that's another story. Tonight was the perfect night to eat there: 

As an update to my saga of losing my cool and my better judgement a couple of weeks ago when I let fly the F bomb at a couple of students after school after yet another bullying incident  (see earlier post regarding not swearing at your students!!!)  - I received an official "Letter of Admonition" in my permanent file. If I were going to go to another school to apply for a new job, this would probably be a bad thing. But since I only have 9 years left until retirement, and intend to spend them at the school I'm currently at, and have been at for the past ten years, it really didn't end up being a particularly big deal. I was glad that that was the end of it, if for no other reason than to just simply put it behind me. It's not like me, and I am not proud of it, and I just want to forget that it happened (though my student's life seems to be a little quieter lately - not sure if there is a connection? Whatever.) Today it appears that it is NOT done. The mom called the School Superintendent again today. The State Police told her that it was not a criminal matter, that the school was investigating it, and would let her know when it was resolved. When she called today, the Superintendent told her it had been taken care of, but she could not say how or what was done to me, as it was a personnel matter. She was not happy about that. She wanted to come to the Board meeting tonight, and was denied because the agenda was already set, but was told that she was welcome to make an appointment to come in and discuss what she wants from the Board, get on the agenda, and come to the next meeting. So the Superintendent decided that she needed to inform the Board about the situation tonight so that they were not blindsided by this woman in a week or two. So I wrote a brief explanation of the situation to attach to my letter of admonition, not to excuse what I did, but simply so the Board was aware that there WAS a situation to which I was responding, however poorly I may have chosen to respond. Apparently there is another issue - the Superintendent "fears" that she may be required to file something with the State Education Department, according to Section 83 of the NYS Education Law, which deals with the Moral Character of a teacher. Good GRIEF.
     Seriously,. I'm not worried. I think this mother has nothing better to do than this. She doesn't have a job. Her son was kicked out of the previous school district, in which they still live, due to behavior issues there, so that's a big red flag to me. I hope it is to the Board as well. AND, the mom is lying now, also. Today she declared that this took place while her son was on the steps of the school. Totally untrue, and there is tape from the outside camera to prove this untrue - and the Superintendent KNOWS it to be untrue. I would absolutely not have lied about that, and there is taped evidence to PROVE I am not lying. In addition, the mom continues to call this an "assault."  It could, I suppose, perhaps be a verbal assault? More in line with harrassment, I suppose, though I wasn't even harassing them. I simply yelled at them, and drove on. And criminally, this is neither assault NOR harassment. 
     I find it funny that there were TWO students involved, and I have not heard ONE WORD from the other parents. Not one. AND I have their other son in my reading class, daily. THEY were the ones I was afraid I would hear from. And actually, I ams somewhat afraid of them, so...I guess it could be worse, huh?
     All I know at this point is, I am SICK to death of this situation, and sick of it dragging me down every time it pops up again. SO, what better night to go to the Maple Tree Inn and drown my sorrows in sticky, sweet, gooey, fresh tapped and boiled maple syrup and buckwheat pancakes? Tonight was the PERFECT night for it. It was yummy, and good and I was glad I went. And I came home about the time the Board meeting was ending, so...

     Who knows. Tomorrow's another day. That is about the only thing I'm sure of, at the moment! That, and I LOOOOOOVE pancakes at the Maple Tree Inn!

A "GIRLYMAN "Fan Letter

Dear Ty, Doris and Nate,

I know you have lots of fans and I’m sure you get lots of fan letters. Much as I like writing, I’m not a fan letter writer myself. I’m not really sure why. Maybe because it reminds me too much of being like 8? And I’m nearly reaching that scary half-century mark in another couple years, so teen-age girl fan letters are not my style these days? But rarely has anyone’s music really, REALLY soaked into my soul the way yours has. In fact, in all honesty, the only other time in my life when I was in love with music this same way was my love affair with John Denver’s music as I was growing up. In fact, I quite possibly MIGHT have written him a fan letter when I WAS 8.

I “discovered” Girlyman a few years ago. My brother gave me a handful of copied cds that some girl had given him, and he passed on to me those he thought I would like. There were two in there, Little Star and Remember Who I am. Of all the cd’s he gave me, yours is the only one that “took,” and it took in a big way. I have listened until I have had to buy new cd’s, because I wore mine out. I literally listen to nothing else. I was finally able to attend a concert this past year, five hours away was the closest I could find at the time, and was pretty excited by that. I listen at home, I listen at work when I have a free period, I listen in the car. I sing along when no one else is listening to me. I wake up with GM songs spinning through my head every morning. I go to sleep with your music. I get up to let the dogs out at 2 am and “everything’s easy” or “Viola” or “Montpelier is eight miles away” words play in my head while I wait by the door in the cold for them to come back in from the back yard. Your music is the soundtrack by which I live my life. Not a big deal, particularly, I guess. I’m sure there are others who could say the same. But the past three weeks, your music, and the constancy of it, and the words and images to some of your music, have really felt like a life-line thrown my way. While I don’t want to be overly dramatic, I can’t tell you how many times I have thought: “I don’t know what I would have done without Girlyman and their music right now.” I really don’t.

My dad, who is 89, and who has lived alone since my mom died of Alzheimers five years ago, just had a heart attack three weeks ago. The hospitalization actually revealed far more than heart trouble; we were not aware of the extent to which dementia has overtaken him, particularly after dark. Sundowning, they call it.Because I live in a very rural area, his hospitalization for surgery, and now his subsequent cardiac rehab put him nearly two hours away from me. So, I spent a week driving back and forth, and now, while we await a determination about where he will live after rehab is finished, I am trying to go up twice a week, at least. So, given the amount of time I have been spending in the car lately, you can imagine the amount of playing time you guys are getting! Because I am traveling back and forth alone, and because I have a really awesome stereo system in my Jeep and because this situation has been pretty stressful for me, I have been putting on either my New Hope Winery concert double cd, or the Everything’s Easy cd and just cranking them until the music just fills the car, and fills me, and it also blocks everything else out.

The heart attack was mild. The surgery was not a particularly big deal. But this is my DAD. My mom is gone, and I am the youngest child in a family with siblings that are not all particularly close, and suddenly, I am face to face with my dad’s mortality and the limited time he has left to be my dad. And with the dementia, and the new, changed living arrangements, have come his nightly phone calls to me, demanding that I come get him, telling me he HAS to go home tomorrow, that he can’t stay there another day, that if I don’t come get him, he will hitchhike home, saying I’m being mean to him, that I don’t love him, that I have just stuck him there, yelling at me, swearing at me, even. Now, this is man who was the son of a very straight-laced, strict, preacher, and has not been a man to drink, smoke, dance, play cards, or heaven forbid, use “bad language” (I remember the first time I ever said “shit” in my life – I was in 7th grade, and went to the basement to say it, over and over, just to see what it felt like! I wasn’t even allowed to say “fart” or “turd” back then. Oh, for those days. I guess the only good thing about it is, now when I drop an F bomb, it really MEANS something to me! J ) Now he is swearing at me, telling me “GodDAMNit, I AM going home.” Wow. A little tough.

I joke, but the phone calls have been devastating. Knowing that my dad is not going to be able to go home to the house he has lived in for nearly 70 years, and feeling like that is somehow my fault, knowing that he sometimes feels like I have abandoned him, that he thinks I don’t love him – I KNOW that is the dementia talking, not really my dad, but, well, this is hard. Very hard. And it isn’t over yet, not by a long shot. It’s only going to get worse. And so, as I did with my mother when she started developing alzheimers years before she died, I realize that I have started saying good-bye to my dad. I am grieving the loss of the man who raised me and took care of me and loved me unconditionally for so many years. And, while I didn’t mean to go on and on, what I just want to say, my whole reason for writing, is just to let you know that Girlyman is making this sucky time in my life a little better, a little more bearable. It’s been a lousy time, but I’m “not quite lost, not quite found, just somewhere different now…I’m not burned out, not used up, just somewhere different now.” Also, the time alone in the car has given me a LOT of time to reflect on old relationships – the good, the bad, and the ugly, and even the best of them. Thinking back on some of them has also, thanks to you, provided a lot of smiles in my travels. Like I said, you’ve simply become the soundtrack for my life- past, present and, god willing, my future as well. I have not had music get inside me, inside my head, inside my mind, inside my heart, like you guys have done, since I was a kid. It means SO much to me. I feel like words are just so inadequate from me to describe what your music, your lives, mean to me.

Thank you for using the talent God gave all three of you to make the most beautiful music on earth. Each of you has a unique voice, a unique sound, on your own, and to me, the most amazing sound of all when combined. I love how some songs feature Ty, some Doris, and some Nate. I love all THREE of your voices, individually. I love the lyrics, the thoughts behind them, the catchiness to some, and the meanings and seriousness of others. You guys are just super talented at writing lyrics, as well as music, and it all equals a sound that is unmatched, in my world. Thank god for Girlyman. At the best of times, you are just perfection to listen to. At the worst of times, your music has been the lifeline thrown, just in time, to help me rescue myself!

See you in Syracuse in March. Only two weeks - can’t wait. I only have to drive 3 hours for that one. :)

Check out http://www.girlyman.com/, and click on the "have a listen" to hear some of their music.  I'm betting you won't regret it. I really can't imagine ANYONE not liking the sound.