MaeLyn's Musings

Yesterday I said if I ran the zoo, yesterday would have been a snow day. I guess a lot of other people had similar thoughts, and so a little after noon, the school district came out with an explanation... We’ve received inquiries about why a 2-hour delay or snow closure was not called today. Our process calls for announcing a delayed start or closure by 5:30 a.m. At that time, weather reports were still indicating we would receive an inch or two of snow through midday, and temperatures and wind would not be a significant concern. As you know, the storm ended up delivering much more snow in a shorter amount of time than forecasted for our area, making for challenging road conditions. Despite our best efforts, sometimes our decisions do not play out how we would like. We regret that this unexpected change in weather conditions led to a challenging commute for many families and our bus transportation team. Parents always have the right and the responsibility to do what is best for th...

If I ran the zoo, today would so totally have been a snow day. No school, everyone gets to stay home and build snowmen and drink hot chocolate. If I ran the zoo. But I don't. And there was school today. The forecast called for some snow, maybe 1-3 inches. Not a big deal, right? We woke this morning to snow that still had tips of grass poking out of it. This happens often enough. We sent the boys off to seminary as usual. The boys generally pick me up on their way from seminary to school between 6:55 and 7am. I went out around 6:55 to watch for them, and realized that the snow was coming down thick and fast. It wasn't until a few minutes after 7 that the van finally pulled up. As I hurried to get into the car, John hopped out with the snow brush to try to clear off the windshield. He said the wipers weren't working very well; they were just smearing. I suggested turning on the defroster to melt the ice that had accumulated on the wipers, and that helped a lot. I wondered...

Just an hour ago, the sidewalks were barely wet, and you could only tell it was snowing from the occasional wispy flake coming down. Now look at it! Sorry about the poor quality photo... I took it with my phone. Peter and I trudged through snow at least an inch deep to get him to school. The wind tore at my umbrella trying to lift me like in a scene from Mary Poppins. I didn't bother taking my long walk this morning, and my finger tips were still frozen by the time I got back home.

This morning, I saw Peter wandering around wearing only one shoe, and instantly I began quoting "Diddle diddle dumpling my son [Peter]..." That led to other nursery rhymes, and as Peter and I were walking to school this morning he commented, "That reminds me of that one YouTube video I watched." "That one video you watched?" I blinked at him. "How many YouTube videos have you watched in your life?" I asked him. He rolled his eyes at me. "I mean that one video that talked about the origins of the nursery rhymes. Like, did you know that Humpty Dumpty wasn't really an egg?" "He wasn't?" "No. It was a cannon in a war somewhere." Interesting. Of course I knew that nursery rhymes supposedly refer to events in the past. Like Ring Around the Rosies refers to the black plague. But what do the other nursery rhymes refer to? So when I got home, I did a bit of research. What does Wikipedia have to say about the origins o...

It began Monday morning. Spray painted lines appeared on the sidewalk and grass and even on the snow. There were little flags, too, in different colors - red, orange, green. Later that afternoon a couple signs appeared in one place where the trail crosses the creek: Warning, sewage leak. Keep out. Was someone digging and broke a sewage line? On Wednesday, wooden stakes appeared here and there, along the trail, along the creek. This morning, men in orange vests were busying themselves among the reeds in one area of the creek, maybe a hundred yards downstream from where the supposed sewage leak was announced. Other men in bright vests were winding rope from metal pole to metal pole, effectively fencing off one side of the trail. There were also large construction vehicles and a "concrete works" truck parked on the wild grass on the side of the trail. My normal peaceful morning walk, communing with nature as I watch the birds and squirrels was not as peaceful as it nor...

Snippets of lace sift from the sky, Settling silently into woolly stillness Flawed only by the footsteps of the brave. Sparkling suds covers the ground: Like a dish washing accident going awry, Squishing and sloshing and turning to mud. Streams and rivers coursing down hill, Changing white to transparent like magical bleach, Freezing at night into slick icy slides.

I have a child who does not like to read. He never has. I don't know if I just didn't read to him enough as a child or if it was something he was born with, but he doesn't enjoy reading. He can read. He completes his assignments for school. But he chooses not to. And that is his choice. But I can't help but think of all the wondrous worlds that he is missing out on. But he doesn't see it that way. Harry Potter? He saw the movies - the first few anyway. The Ranger's Apprentice? Boring. Fablehaven ? Nah. Artemis Fowl ? Nope. Lord of the Rings ? Are you serious? A  Series of   Unfortunate Events ? You read that to me years ago.. Been there, done that. Maybe I'm too ambitious. James and the Giant Peach ? The Phantom Tollbooth ? The Indian in the Cupboard ? No, no, and no. To be fair, he has read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books - the first series anyway. And he will read Captain Underpants books and comic books. Yay. We were discussing this a little...