Poetry Friday -- A Fable

The Calf-Path

by Sam Walter Foss. Public Domain.

One day through the primeval wood
A calf walked home as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.
The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bell–wether sheep
Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too,
As good bell–wethers always do.
And from that day, o'er hill and glade,
Through those old woods a path was made.
And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because 'twas such a crooked path;
But still they followed – do not laugh -
The first migrations of that calf,
And though this winding wood-way stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.
This forest path became a lane
That bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road,
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.
The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The road became a village street;
And this, before men were aware,
A city's crowded thoroughfare.
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Trod in the footsteps of that calf.
Each day a hundred thousand rout
Followed this zigzag calf about
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led
By one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way.
And lost one hundred years a day,
For thus such reverence is lent
To well-established precedent.
A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue,
To keep the path that others do.
They keep the path a sacred groove,
Along which all their lives they move;
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh,
Who saw the first primeval calf.
Ah, many things this tale might teach —
But I am not ordained to preach.

Poetry Friday is Famous!

Susan at Chicken Spaghetti has an excellent article about Poetry Friday on the PoetryFoundation.org website! Check it out!

(Thanks to Gregory K. for the link.)

The Castle of Llyr

Book Three of the Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander

In THE BLACK CAULDRON, Taran had to learn to deal with the nasty, mean-spirited Ellidyr. In THE CASTLE OF Llyr he has to learn to deal with a nobleman who is a doofus. A nobleman who is a doofus who is also to be betrothed to Eilowny, Taran's beloved. So no matter how strong and brave and honorable Taran is, he believes all of those qualities to be trumped by an idiot who happens to be high-born. He must learn that "For a man to be worthy of any rank, he must first strive to be a man."

This book doesn't speak to me the way the others do, however, I know it is necessary in the scope of the series. Fflewddur gets his giant cat, Llyan. Eilowny is almost lost to Taran, but at the very end of the book, the reader is sure they will be reunited. And Taran seems to be done looking to others to discover who he really is and what he will really be. He is ready to look within.

A Summer Book Party!

My brilliant friend Maureen called a few weeks ago with a great idea--"Let's get the girls together a few times this summer to read. We'll throw a bunch of books out and just let them have fun reading together."

I loved the idea so together we planned 6 Summer Book Parties for a few girls from the same first grade class this year. The invitation was simple--come for an hour and bring some good picture books--quick books you can read lots of in an hour. The girls were very excited and the party was a hit!

We put our favorite books everywhere (See, that money I spend on books is well worth it-we filled up the whole room with books!). The girls came in read alone, together, in the house, on the swing set...Then we made sundaes to celebrate. This first party, we had 3 girls. There are 6-7 total so we may have more at future parties. We'll have 3 at our house and 3 at Maureen's house. It is quite a fun thing and a fun way to keep the girls reading all summer.

One of the side benefits was that Ana remembered lots of her old favorites because we had them displayed all day in the house. She also found some that she could read that she hadn't been able to read before. It was a great way to refresh her reading and to remind her of the books she has. What better way to spend summer --with friends, books and ice cream!

Summer Goals Meme

It took me a while to think about my goals for summer-I am just settling in....
With the end of the school year, the book deadline, and life in general, most of my goals are about getting caught back up so I can start the school year semi-organized. Here goes:

1. I'd like to get back to exercising 5-6 days a week. Maybe start running.
2. Read lots--kid stuff but I have a pile of good adult books including WATER FOR ELEPHANTS and A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS.
3. See family and friends often.
4. Get organized for the fall--I started a new job and school this year and never felt totally organized.
5. Learn how to make and decorate a few really good kinds of cupcakes. (I have no patience for cake decorating but I have seen lots of cupcake books that look fun, fancy and more fun than whole cakes.)
6. Like Mary Lee, do a better job with my writer's notebook.
7. Clean every drawer, cupboard, and closet in the house.
8. Nap often.
9. Keep up with Weight Watchers.

Okay, that's enough. Too overwhelming to think about for the 2nd day of summer!
We are not going to tag anyone but invite teachers who have started summer vacation to join in the fun:-)

Fuse #8 Open For Business at SLJ

Check it out here.

Second Book Finished

If THE BOOK OF THREE is about Taran's impetuous immaturity and the continuous mistakes he makes, THE BLACK CAULDRON is about how Taran begins to learn to deal with others. His biggest challenge is Ellidyr, a nasty, spiteful, mean-spirited person who acts as a mirror, forcing Taran to look at and overcome his own worst tendencies.

In the end, Ellidyr turns it around and makes the ultimate sacrifice by jumping into the cauldron to destroy it. "He has lost all else, even his steed."

"Or perhaps gained all," Gwydion answered. " And his honor shall be certain." Gwydion goes on to say that a barrow will be raised for Ellidyr, and also for Morgant, who switched sides at the end and who would have used the cauldron for ultimate power. Taran is incredulous that Gwydion would honor Morgant.

"It is easy to judge evil unmixed," replied Gwydion. "But, alas, in most of us good and bad are closely woven as the threads on a loom; greater wisdom than mine is needed for the judging...I honor Morgant for what he used to be, and Ellidyr for what he became."

Worth remembering.

I had hoped for all five books of the Prydain Chronicles in the 48 Hour Reading Challenge Weekend, but two will have to do. The other three will go with me to Colorado.

Marley: A Dog Like No Other

As Mary Lee mentioned, we are participating in Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge but not really the challenge part. We are kind of "auditing" but participating:-) We are trying to get in lots of reading and blogging but can't drop everything else. My youngest daughter has been visiting with my parents for the last few days. Today I had to drive to pick her up. So, I decided to pick up an audiotape. I chose MARLEY: A DOG LIKE NO OTHER by John Grogan--the middle grade version of MARLEY AND ME. It is performed by Neil Patrick Harris. I am not always a fan of dog books but I love this one for middle grade kids. I love that the book goes through the dog's whole life--from puppy 'til death. It is a great story and you come to love the dog and the family. I am putting it on my List of Possible Read Alouds for next school year. There are some places that seem a bit more adult than others but my 7 year old was listening to the last 1/2 with me on the way home and laughed and cried along with me. So, it works for both adults and kids. Regardless of whether or not I read it aloud, I will definitely pick up a copy of the book for the classroom and have the audio available too. I can think of lots of kids who would love the story. I also think that each chapter can almost stand alone and can see using it in Writing Workshop to really look at good writing--good samples of short pieces from real life. So, my first book was an audiobook but I think I used my time well. If it weren't for the 48 hour read,I wouldn't have picked up an audiobook. Made the trip far more fun! I am anxious to pick up the picture book, BAD DOG, MARLEY for my 7 year old since she seemed to love the audiobook of this version. I do love these books that the whole family can enjoy together. I also spent some time on the author's website . And you will be happy to know that he also has a blog .

First Book Finished

I'm not going to be able to read for 48 continuous hours, but over the course of the Challenge weekend, I hope to read all five of the books in the Prydain Chronicles by (and in memory of) Lloyd Alexander.

I wasn't 20 pages into THE BOOK OF THREE before I had to go get my stickie notes. I had forgotten how much wisdom Alexander packs into these books:

"In some cases, we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself." p.18

"Well, that is one of the three foundations of learning: see much, study much, suffer much." p.19

"The task counts more than the one who does it." p.31

"I have never known courage to be judged by the length of a man's hair. Or, for the matter of that, whether he has any hair at all." p. 36

"Every living thing deserves our respect, be it humble or proud, ugly or beautiful." p. 142

"Neither refuse to give help when it is needed, nor refuse to accept it when it is offered." p. 143


"Once you have the courage to look upon evil, seeing it for what it is and naming it by its true name, it is powerless against you, and you can destroy it." p. 211-212

"As for me, what I mostly did was make mistakes." Dallben's reply to this, in part, reads, "If you made mistakes, you recognize them. As I told you, there a times when the seeking counts more than the finding.

Does it truly matter which of you did what, since all shared the same goal and the same danger? Nothing we do is ever done entirely alone. There is a part of us in everyone else -- you, of all people, should know that." p. 217-218

Summer Goals Meme

We've been tagged by NYC Teacher to list our summer goals. (btw--check out the new look on her blog! Way cool! I have banner envy!)

Here are some of my summer goals:

• Read. Lots. Piles. Especially all the professional journals that haven't been touched for months.
• Transfer the yard waste from the old composting bin in the corner of the garden to the new one that will not allow chipmunks to nest there. (did that today)
• Plant the herbs I bought today. (That's on tap for tomorrow.)
  
• Walk to the farm market every Saturday.
• Dust off my bike and go biking again.
• Swim in a one mile open water swim. (Somewhat unlikely, due to falling off the swimming bandwagon in May, but that's what goals are for, right?)
  
• Catch up on letter writing.
• Make bread baking a habit again.
• Blog.
• Scan all of my classroom books into LibraryThing with my new CueCat scanner.
• Read. (Did I already mention that one?)
• Try new recipes.
• Start writing in my writer's notebook again.