Two monarchs are fluttering around the backyard.
The chickens just returned to their coop after pecking around outside while I did yard work. I left them alone for five minutes to go to another part of the backyard. While I was gone, one of them perched on the open door to the coop, which then swung closed. When I came back to check on them, the hen was hanging upside down by one toe. The other hens had gathered around her, watching what looked like a public execution. All of them were completely silent.
Many times, a breeze, or a disturbance I can’t detect, sends the flock squawking and flying awkwardly around the yard. This time, when one of them actually needed help, none of them made a sound.
I’m dropping a few titles off here from my Black History Month reading, which is ongoing.
1. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe
My tenth grader recommended Things Fall Apart after she read it for English class. The book tells the story of an Ibo man who lived in a Nigerian village. “When [Okonkwo, the protagonist] walked, his heels hardly touched the ground and he seemed to walk on springs, as if he was going to pounce on somebody. And he did pounce on people quite often.”
Dear Jane,
I went to a tea held in honor of your birthday yesterday.
I wore the same gown as I did last year, which you would appreciate. You would also probably identify with the sensation I had after last year’s tea, when I realized that I had cut the gown’s hem too short and therefore had worn in public the 1790’s equivalent of what my generation would have called high waters (this is a term that came into use in the 1850’s, apparently, but it feels biblical, so I hope you will have a sense of what I mean).
I was walking to the library with my two youngest kids on a brisk evening in December when one of them noticed a bus nearby that said “Happy Holidays” below the route number on the destination indicator. “Why not Merry Christmas?” one kid wanted to know.
I described as many of the holidays I could think of that happen at this time of year, and realized we needed a little education around the topic. So while we were at the library I picked up a couple of books on Hanukkah to get us started.
My first post here was in December, back in 2017. It’s become a habit to come back to this space each Christmas season to reflect on how we’re observing the traditions of this time of year.
