I have been “silent” for many months, working very hard at school and just trying to keep ahead of the work. I love my students, and spend most of my energy on them during the school year. It’s hard to keep that “work-life” balance sometimes. But as things calm down and become more predictable I […]
Category: housefire
Memories
A year and a half ago this evening, I was planning the pizza party for the class that had “most improved” in behavior and academics; and deciding to have cookies and juice for the other classes, who had been working very hard as well. Tomorrow will be the 18 month anniversary of the last day […]
Memories… Dreams and Wishes (Pollyanna speaks)
One year ago today I went to teach on a beautiful, sunny day. I left early, telling Lucky I would be home and we would go for a walk in the evening if it was nice. Tom was still asleep. So was Grant. It was a lovely, sunny, warm day. A few hours later, Lucky […]
Taking shape: House construction!
I haven’t made it home in a couple of days. Hoping there is progress beyond the verbal agreements and discussions we had with Jon-the-Plumber and Oivind-the-Overseer (which I will call him just for alliterative purposes, he is a nice man), and Jeremiah… and and and. Here are decisions we have made: recycled glass for the […]
Lessons Learned
Many people have written about things to do after a fire and before. Here are three things I wish I had done before the fire that would have made things a LOT easier in the first couple of months afterward:
The poem I wrote (caution: dark)
Shortly after the house fire, I wrote a poem. I think it’s time to share it.
Stepping Forward, Stepping Back: The dance of change
In the wake of the fire, Tom and I are still working on finding equilibrium. The size of the apartment, the distance from my gardens, the lack of comfortable space and privacy, the noises of the city — and our neighbors — all conspire against the comfortable routines and patterns we used to have. He […]
What’s left, and moving ahead
The house is gone, the land is bare, but enough remains that we can see where we have been. And there is “just enough” of a hint of where we may eventually end up. Here are a few pics, and apologies to my friends who were looking for these two days ago — my energy […]
Thirteen years…
Almost fourteen years ago now, the house was placed in the yard (September 1999). I planted trees in front and on the sides the following Spring. Flower beds in front the year after that, if I remember correctly. And gradually the yard and the home took shape. A few years into the process, I started […]
What I am “up” to
Here is the post I made on facebook this morning: Today is my first official day of “vacation” — the last almost three months have been hard; I didn’t work so many days that I would have (and might have), but they weren’t restful. It wasn’t even close to a “vacation” for me. It was […]