May Faire 2009

Friday, May 1, was sunny and warm. Sunday, May 3, was fairly pleasant as well. On Saturday, May 2, the day of May Faire and the May Pole dances, it rained for almost the entire day. It takes a lot to rain out a Waldorf school event, so everything went on as planned. We made garlands in the morning:



Then, each grade did their May dances. Here is a video screen capture of Lucia dancing:



I presented a story and song performance in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I can't share the video clips because there are recognizable children's faces in the video shots. For blogs, backs of heads are best. It was a wonderful storytime because the audience was so responsive. They laughed in all the right places and they sang along with all of the songs, even the ones I had made up. This was the first gig in which I've actually worn a flower crown akin to to the one I'm wearing on my website:



Lucia was wondering about books that had Maypoles in them. Just from memory, I could think of two:
Ellen Tebbits, by Beverly Cleary, in which there's a Maypole in the class play about the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and Blue Willow, by Doris Gates.

Do you know of others?

May 8 Addendum: In the comments, LoneStarMa refers to a particular picture of my childhood in which I am wearing a garland of yellow flowers. Here is a copy of that photo:

Allusions and oatmeal

While I applaud everyone who does features for April is National Poetry Month, I must admit I've never felt the particular call to follow suit. For me, it's like eating steel-cut oatmeal 4 times a week for 48 weeks and then participating in National Steel-Cut Oatmeal Month. I know I'm one of the lucky ones, and there are people who have scant exposure to steel-cut oatmeal, but I have full confidence that other bloggers will make up for my slacker attitude.

I will be celebrating April Fool's Day with Minh Le of Bottom Shelf Books and whomever else participates in our contest next week. The "April Fool" is not that we're pulling your leg about putting your creativity to work and winning fabulous prizes, but that we want you to have a silly, fun time doing it without feeling like a fool. We're very serious about that. We promise not to tape a paper fish onto your back.... or at least, attempt the resist the urge. Stay tuned for details to come in just 5 days.

In the meantime, here's a diversion:

Presenting the "Interview With Your Daughter" Meme conducted on Thursday, March 26, 2009. Lucia's answers are in italics.

1. What is something I always say to you?
I love you.

2. What makes me happy?
You hugging and kissing me.

3. What makes me sad?
Being grouchy.

4. How do I make you laugh?
We would watch silly things together.

5. What do you think I was like as a child?
With brown hair and brown eyes and a black dress.

6. How old am I?
36

7. How tall am I?
This tall. [Hands stretched up]

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Tell stories.

9. What do I do when you're not around?
Say grownup stuff.

10. If I become famous, what will it be for?
Being a composer.

11. What am I really good at?
Playing guitar.

12. What am I not really good at?
Doing magic tricks.

13. What is my job?
Making dollies.

14. What is my favorite food?
Pizza.

15. What makes you proud of me?
You hugging me and kissing me.

16. If I were a cartoon character, who would I be?
Cinderella.

17. What do you and I do together?
Sing.

18. How are we the same?
We both have brown hair and brown eyes.

19. How are you and I different?
You having pierced ears and me not.

20. How do you know that I love you?
Because you often hug and kiss me.

21. Where is my favorite place to go?
Your favorite place to go I think is California.

23. What do I love about Daddy?
Him working with the computer.

And there you have it!

Julia Larios of The Drift Record is hosting Steel-Cut Oatmeal Friday this week.

Michaelmas: September 29

From a German manuscript, circa 1300

Next Saturday, September 29, is the feast of Michaelmas. The day commemorates the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael and their victory in casting the dragon (that is, the Devil) out of Heaven. Some universities in the United Kingdom use Michaelmas as the name of the first school term, too.

Lucia's school holds a Michaelmas festival every year to welcome the arrival of Autumn. Grownups and older children press fresh apple cider, bake bread and cook hearty root vegetable soups. Outside, the school-yard hosts a number of different games with the theme of "defeating the dragon." Unless the weather is absolutely miserable, families and friends share picnic blankets and eat dinner together. Lucia is looking forward to wearing the new apple-print dress for Michaelmas that I made at her request.


The old apple dress (now too small in the bodice)

Lucia's teacher sent out an email this morning with a description of the Michaelmas festival in the Waldorf school tradition:

Michaelmas is an old European harvest festival that is celebrated in Waldorf schools around the Western World. The story behind the festival is, briefly, that a dragon wanders the earth, devastating life on earth. St. George, with the help of the Archangel Michael, defeats the dragon, bringing peace to the earth and its inhabitants. The dragon can be seen in the process of the earth (in most places including Seattle in most years) at this time of year when the crops are ripe and mostly harvested, the rains have not fallen for months, the earth is dried and scorched and it seems as though the rains and winter will never come again. In the past people had to wonder at this time if the crops still growing would be brought in before the rains fell, if what they harvested would last through the long winter- who would survive? Who would not? In addition to this, autumn is often the time when our own inner dragons, who have been slumbering away during the lazy and fun days of summer, rear their ugly heads again. It is with the courage and might of Michael that we conquer our own inner dragons that we may go into the solitude and slumber of the winter in tact and with a certain amount of inner peace.

I looked online for various ways in which to celebrate Michaelmas with food, and decided that while we wouldn't cook a goose this year, I could make something with blackberries (tradition has it that the Devil landed on blackberry brambles after he was kicked out of Heaven, thereby rendering the fruit inedible) and something akin to a St. Michael's bannock. I appreciate Michaelmas as the festival to mark the beginning of Autumn. I can tell that people are itching for some sort of celebration by the proliferation of Halloween candy that appeared right after Labor Day. If you are so inclined, I encourage you to create a Michaelmas party of your own. And yes, all you Oktoberfest fans, I'm sure beer as well as hard cider will be fitting beverages for the grownups.


Aster novi-belgii, a.k.a. Michaelmas daisies

This post was updated at 8:00 am.