Dreaming of France -- Nature

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

When people think of Paris, they rarely picture nature. But just a short train ride from the heart of Paris, in an area still considered Paris, we came across some beautiful scenes. We were on our way to the restaurant Maison Fournaise, which is where Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party took place. (The building was beautiful, the food was so-so.)
After we got off the train and began to walk toward the restaurant, here's what we found.
First was this glorious wall of wisteria.

This was in early spring. I wonder if it filled in even more with dripping purple blossoms.

I loved seeing this camouflaged boat and wondered if Johnny Depp or someone equally intriguing might live on it and cruise up and down the Seine. 

From across the river, we spotted this egret fishing for his dinner.

And then we walked down this lane bordered by fragrant lilac bushes. 

Also today, I'm linking to All About France.

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave your name and blog address in Mr. Linky below, and leave a comment letting me know what  you think about my love affair with France, or your own passion for the country and its people and cultures. Also consider visiting the blogs of others who play along so we can all share the love.

Saturday Snapshots -- Early Spring

Join West Metro Mommy for this weekly meme of photos people have taken and share on their blogs.
My morning excursions are some of my favorite times of the day, of the week.
Earlier this week, the sky glowed a beautiful pink as the sun rose.

And then the pink segued into a lovely golden sky. 

I feel fortunate that I can get outside and experience it. 

This morning, I ran with my friends on a bike trail in the country and we stopped along a vernal pool, yes, one of those spring pools that doesn't appear the rest of the  year, and listened to the spring peepers along with some bird song. There isn't much to see, but the sounds are inspiring.

Hope everyone else finds some joy in their weekend. 

Saturday Snapshot -- Nature

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

As the hectic holiday season is upon us, we all need something to steady us, help us remember the improtant things in life. So I've borrowed a picture from my husband's winter camping trip.


Doesn't this look peaceful?
What are you strategies for staying sane in the holiday season?

Anything's Possible

Listening to a radio program tonight as I fixed dinner, the author of the book The Genius in All of Us inspired me. David Shenk talked about things like: there isn't a math gene that makes some people good at it; child prodigies are excellent at their talent compared to other children, but not usually compared to other adults. And all of these skills are things that people learn through practice.
They try; they hit a wall because they don't have the skill; they learn the skill; they go back and succeed.
Truly, isn't that, plus a drive to succeed, all that any of us need.
The ideas this author talked about encouraged me as a mother, teacher and a writer.
I've seen that drive and skill seesaw in Spencer. He loves basketball. The more he plays, the better he gets. He needed a different body type so he spent the summer lifting weights to give him more bulk under the basket. Of course, he's lucky that he's tall. No amount of working out could have added the height to him. Spencer doesn't believe that he can play basketball in college, but if he continues to work at it, who knows? This book says talent is developed, not innate. The example the author used was Michael Jordan, who was not supposed to be as good at basketball as his older brother. What was his name again?
As a teacher, sometimes I feel that students are so disadvantaged they can never catch up. Just last quarter though, I had a student, Paul, in his 40s. He'd been in the military and he was taking my English 101 class. His first paper was bad. He couldn't write in complete sentences. I handed back essays and I gave a speech to him and other struggling students. "The resources are available to help you pass this class if it's what you want." and "It's always easier to move forward now and to pass rather than to take the class again." Paul spent the quarter getting one on one help for each of his essays. By the time we wrote the in-class final, he was writing in complete sentences and his essays were unified. He decided to focus on English and he learned the skills that he never had when he was a teenager in school.
As a writer, well, people have always told me I was a good writer, and that might have been my downfall. Because I already believed that I was good at it, I haven't worked on it the way I should. Now I find myself looking at sections of my novel and I envision slashing through them, rewriting them. I picture the scenes and wonder how I can help the reader see the same thing in my head. I have submitted my manuscripts and had them rejected. That means my choices are to stop writing or to learn more skill sets that will help me succeed.
This book puts to bed the argument of nature versus nurture. Everyone can do anything if they are willing to put in the time and have the opportunity to learn the skills.
Photo from Amazon.com

Hummingbirds and Puffer Fish

I was sitting on my front porch yesterday -- where else? -- when a hummingbird flew up to the hanging plant about three feet away from me. The plant has some purple, bell-shaped flowers along the bottom.
The tiny jewel-green bird, only the length of my finger, explored each purple bloom, circling the plant in hopes of finding more nectar. I felt a little ashamed of the meager blossoms that it had to choose from.
This picture is from http://www.hummingbirdsbymaureen.com/images/07-20-06_Hummingbirds0048r.JPG
As the bird hovers in the air, its wings look like netting. They seem impossibly small to whiz the bird through the air. A hummingbird doesn't even move the way other birds do, as if its body is totally detached from the process of flying and the wings must do all the work. It zooms here then there. The thing it most reminds me of is a puffer fish with its big blue eyes and tiny fins.
This picture is from http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c158/snorris73/puffer_fish.jpgBefore we were married, and even after we were married for awhile, we had a saltwater aquarium. One of the fish we loved was the slow-moving puffer fish. One day while we were gone to work, the cover came off the filter that sucks in water. The puffer fish got caught in the current and was sucked to the pipe. Luckily, he used his natural instinct to puff up so he wouldn't get sucked into the pipe. He was never the same again.
I was telling Earl about the hummingbird encounter this morning and he said the bird needs to head around back where there are plenty of flowers still blooming.
I guess I'll make a sign directing all hummingbirds to the backyard. Does anyone know how to write hummingbird language?

Morning Sounds

Have you ever listened to one of those sounds of nature CDs? They always start off soft with maybe the sound of crickets. Then the crickets grow louder and there comes some running water. A bird calls softly in the background then perhaps louder while fading away.
That was what I heard this morning as I walked out my back door. I was attaching my iPod, ready to plug the earbuds into my ears when I caught the sound of the crickets. I laced the headphones around my neck so I could listen.
As I walked past the Rose of Sharon bushes, the crickets grew louder. Then out my gate down the alley, I passed my neighbor's water feature tinkling. The roads were so still. No cars moved. The air was cool enough that the air conditioners were not clanging to life.
I kept walking, trying to be aware of the sounds around me. A breeze stirred the trees making their leaves whisper and the crickets chirp louder. I turned the corner toward the east. That was the direction I wanted to walk, even though it was downhill, which meant I'd have to come back uphill.
In the orthodontist office the other day, I read an article, I think it was Real Simple magazine, that one way to energize is to face the east for 10 minutes every morning. Facing east was beautiful. The sun was past the point of sending up pinks and oranges into the sky. It was a definite yellow behind those trees and buildings in the east. But the sky was a clear blue and a trace of clouds looked like powdered sugar when it's sprinkled on brownies.
The birds grew louder. A man on a scooter puttered past. A plane engine droned overhead. Then I turned the corner again and the people sounds faded behind the rising sounds of the cicadas waking up for their morning buzz.
When I came home, I gathered my computer and sat on the front porch to continue enjoying the sweet breeze. I watched as a crow was chased by the other birds. He made raucous cawing sounds as the sun continued its yellow path higher in the sky. Like a nature CD set on replay, the sounds started over again with the crickets chirping and the crow harmonizing his protests.

Stars and Sweat

Okay, enough worrying about self-centeredness. (See previous post.) Now, back to me.
I've been in a real exercise slump lately. I manage to run, interspersed with walking, a couple of days each week. I've gone to the gym to do the weight machines a few days each week. Last Thursday though, I dressed for the gym, dropped the kids at school, and came home to take a nap at 8:30 a.m. That is pitiful!
I missed my long run with my friends on Saturday too.
Maybe I'm just overwhelmed with teaching at two colleges and juggling five classes at one of them. But the essays haven't begun to flow in like they will in the coming weeks. Maybe I'm getting old and worn out.
Getting up at 5 a.m. just isn't as attractive as it used to be.
This morning, I didn't set an alarm, but I woke at 5:15 and got up. We had a wind advisory yesterday that was supposed to end by 2 a.m. When I hit the streets at 5:30, it seemed like no one had told the wind that it had a 2 a.m. curfew. It was still blowing gustily between the houses. I ran down to the main street and stopped to chat with some friends who bicycle at 5:45. Of course, I'm thinking that bicycling would be so much easier. Why don't I bicycle? But the wind definitely made it harder today.
So I did my 3.5 mile loop. It wasn't too bad. I do need some new music on my iPod though. Less cowbell.
When I got back to my drive, I looked up at the sky. I hadn't paid much attention to it, instead focusing on the asphalt beneath my feet. I strained my neck to look up, tilting my head far back until I felt dizzy. Then, eureka, I decided to lie down in the hammock for a clear view.
It was still dark, of course, but the sky was more navy than black. Big clumps of clouds skittered across the sky. As I lay there watching the clouds race, stars would wink in between. I could see one -- there -- for a good 30 seconds before another white streak of a cloud covered it. Then a clump of stars there then gone again.
I hoisted myself off the hammock and came into the house. Grace was in the shower. It was time to wake up Tuck. My morning had begun, but at least it started with the wind and the clouds and the stars, and a bit of sweat thrown in for good luck.

Fair-Weather Friend

This morning after my run, the sky was still dark and I lay down in the hammock. I used one leg to swing myself as the sky brightened and I could make out small dark clouds that skittered across the gray.
Sometimes when I run early in the morning, I'll look up and see the moon. It always makes me smile. I'll say, "You're still there?" like the moon is an old friend I haven't seen in awhile, but there whenever I look for it. On Tuesday the moon was just a crescent and Venus was twinkling brightly above it.
I lay in the hammock thinking that I should spend more time outdoors. The outdoors is rejuvenating really, especially now that it's hot enough for the air conditioning. And soon the summer will be gone and I'll wish I'd spent more time basking in the sun or feeling the cool breeze on my cheeks or even running through a downpour. Instead, I'll be in my house ensconced in a Snuggie.
Even as I thought that, yes, my goal for the next few weeks will be to get out and enjoy the weather, a mosquito landed on my upper arm. I turned toward it and blew, forcing it to move on. It landed again on my forearm.
Then the sweat from my recent run trickled down my face, into my ears and started to interfere with my iPod headphones, so I got up and came in the house, to the air conditioning.

What were we thinking?

Sure, it's all fun and games when you're setting up a tent in the backyard, but really who wants to go traipsing along the Applachian Trail in late October? Well, apparently my marathoner friends do and I got sucked in with them.
So, we leave on Thursday. We'll drive 8 hours then walk 27 miles over the next three days before we drive back home.
I am not someone you can picture camping. I'm not a wimp, but you don't really think of me as an outdoorsman or woman. I like early morning runs, but I've never been one who enjoys watching worms wriggle in the dirt or dissecting scat found in the woods. Now I'll be the one with my bright orange shovel, digging a hole and leaving my own deposits.
I feel guilty about going. I've been trying to finish grading papers because I'll be away from my needy online students for four days. I've found subs for my "live" classes. As for my three children, Grace has a concert Thursday night and they are all off school on Friday. My husband, of course, must work Saturday too this week. That leaves my children home alone on Friday and Saturday. So, I'm torn. Should I skip the hike to oversee the children? Should I skip the hike and avoid using a shovel in the woods?
As I pondered my ambivalence, I received a call to fetch my basketball-weary son from practice. I walked out to the car and an ivory-colored butterfly flew along beside me. I opened the door to the convertible and there, in the middle of the driver's seat, was a yellow oak leaf. Nature beckons and tries to reassure me. I guess I'll go and watch the full moon wane.