first snow of the year – outdoor adventure day
—
first time with sustained snow play for many
running, jumping, sticks, snow angels, footprints, chasing,
snow picnic, snow story, snowballs, duck,duck,polar bear game,
lost mittens, noses running, rosy cheeks
eating lots and lots and lots of snow
one said it was the best snack in the world
and it just might be.
—
“there is no land like the land of your childhood.”
-michael powell
i loved wearing the costumes of my childhood era
and happily ‘suffered for my art.’
recent neighborhood nextdoor comments on the halloween costumes are wonderful:
They were so ugly but if you made your own costume, it wasn’t cool. We had to buy these things…jumpsuit tore easily, and elastic snapped off mask. And the sweat…and trying to breathe through the tiny mouth hole!
Those masks were so HOT! Didn’t hold us back tho! Was so safe then and went out by ourselves.
You couldn’t see out of them, sometimes the parts that touched your face were sharp, the elastic that held it on got tangled in hair. It is a wonder we survived Halloween in these masks!
then the elastic broke so your mom tied it and was even tighter and hotter!
and tangled it whatever hair was still left!
I’m surprised there weren’t thunderstorms inside the mask with all the condensation from breathing too. My favorite was my Hot Stuff costume. I still have a picture of me in it!
I totally had one of these costume with the mask…but this…this looks like a Pink Floyd video.
It was miserable wearing those masks, but we didn’t care, we wanted that candy !!
Looking back at those costumes, they were actually a little creepy!!
How about the little tiny slit near the mouth so that you could attempt to get air? Your parents couldn’t understand why you had to take it off before you went up the steps of the next house. Your face would be drenched with sweat but you would wipe it off and keep going.
Made of suffocating plastic but we loved them anyway.
happy halloween!
—
“when you’re wearing an animal costume and something bad happens,
your facial expression doesn’t change. the animal is deadpan the whole time.
if you’re skiing in a gorilla suit and you fall, you just see a gorilla who has no emotion.
it’s just a stoic gorilla wildly falling down a hill, out of control.”
-dimitiri martin
—
photo credit: vintage pinterest
with the return of the school year
comes the return of our outdoor adventure days.
—
“we could have never loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it.”
-george eliot
“crack the whip’ sculpture – sunset hills, flint, mi
j. seward johnson, sculptor
—
being the youngest in our neighborhood gang
i was often the smallest
finding myself on the end of ‘the whip’ during this game
sometimes it felt like i was flying
and highly likely that i was.
—
“being smart as a whip means knowing when not to crack it’
-vera nazarian
the little ones came to school
most for the first time ever
filling our room with emotion and energy
a few minutes into our day
one had me write
an urgent note to her mom
that read:
“bring the car!”
we’re all tired and mostly all happy
tomorrow we begin again.
—
“be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
-meister eckhart
one of my favorite things
is to go to school shows
i love every kind of kid up there
bored
nervous
awkward
moving
bouncing
spinning
hiding in back
overly enthusiastic
staring straight ahead
giggling
belting it out
faking the lyrics
wearing mismatched shoes
in a fancy outfit
whispering to a stage neighbor
giving it their all
waving to family
looking proud
non-stop smiling
have their own rhythm different from the rest
whether
dancing
singing
acting
playing anything that makes a musical sound
performance art
athletic feats
comedy
any kind of talent show
poetry reading
costumed or not.
i am all in.
—
“sometimes I was in school plays,
but only when the kid they’d originally picked got sick and they asked me to substitute.”
-peter falk
—
“i remember acting in a school play about the melting pot when I was very little.
there was a great big pot onstage.
on the other side of the pot was a little girl who had dark hair,
and she and i were representing the italians.
and i thought: is that what an italian looked like?”
-al pacino
—
“i did a school play when I was 10 where I played a cold germ infecting a whole classroom of kids.
the play was called ‘Piffle It’s Only a Sniffle.’
i’d never had so much fun. It was a thrill.”
-kim cattrall
back in time on a summer’s day
when your parents thought
you and your friends of all ages
were just pedaling around the block for hours
but in that time you really
explored abandoned houses and those still under construction
built your own underground fort
jumped in the mud to see if it was quicksand
left your socks behind
met a new kid
balanced on a a board going over the water to get to the other side
found a golf ball
explored the gravel pit
rolled down a hill backwards
shared snacks that fell in the dirt
had the best day ever
every single day.
—
“keep your children wild, don’t make them grow up too fast.”
– brooke hampton
“there is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything.
negative people find their walls.
so never apologize for your enthusiasm.
never.ever.ever.
-ryan adams
may you all live like this forever. and ever. and ever.
love, your teacher
(who lives like this too)
i can identify with this little one
when i was a child
i believed
when i had
my sunglasses on
no one could see me
now, i’m left wondering…
—
“vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
-jonathan swift
i first crossed paths
with this brave and amazing future author (trish kearney)
years ago on her blog:
“my thoughts on a page”
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/8642668
where she wrote about
her family, her careers, her loves and losses, her daily life in ireland
when i later traveled to ireland
we met in person
(even though her children warned her i might really be a male serial killer)
we spent a great afternoon at an outdoor pub
near the water on a beautiful day
getting to know each other
i had no idea what her whole story was
until she began writing posts about her childhood
floating the idea of writing her memoir
including painful buried trauma she had endured
as a young championship swimmer
over time she gained confidence
decided to tell her story
to find personal peace
to hold her tormentor responsible
to no longer be a victim
to help others who might not be ready to speak.
what followed was
her book, “above water”
a podcast, “where is george gibney?”
and unforeseen consequences
both good and bad.
this is a book of truths
of regaining power over one’s own life
of bravery
of survival
of living to tell the tale
of an unbroken spirit
of healing
of helping others.
i give it my highest personal recommendation
here’s to you, tric, and to all who suffer in silence
you are their brave voice for each and every one of them
and i’m so proud to call you my friend.
—
“you don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.”
-Edwin Louis Cole
—
amazon uk – available now
I didn't have my glasses on.... 