Starry Early Morning Sky

6:29

6:48

Log Bridge at Dobbins Woods

Moss Ridden Downed Pine

Snow 

It's just before 6:00, as I make the coffee, turn on NPR and walk outside to get the paper, the sky filled with stars, the air chilly(23 degrees) but invigorating, the start to a lovely day, I hope.  I'm back inside, the sky off to the East, high above the horizon, is beginning to lighten, perhaps a cloud bank hangs over the shoreline along Bemus.

Yesterday was chilly most of the day, though sunny in the afternoon, and I was able to get quite a bit done outside.  I cleaned out the garage, put all the summer toys I could up in the attic, so that I can now put my Honda Accord in the garage when we leave for Thanksgiving.  I also raked the yard again, as there were lots of branches down from the heavy winds this weekend, filling three garbage cans with twigs and branches.  This is the second time I have had to do this in three weeks.  It's a cheap way of trimming the trees, I suppose.  Late afternoon, I decided to walk Dobbins Woods, about ten minutes away.  It was a great time to walk, the shadows lengthening as the sun was heading west.  No one had been on the trail for a while so I had to move lots of branches and climb over a couple of downed trees.  Most of the leaves were off of the trees, except for the yellowing leaves of the larch.  Oaks, Beech and Sycamore or Plane Tree tend to keep their brown leaves all winter. It seemed like a number of trees were recently downed by the wind storm two weeks ago.  I could only tell for sure that a couple of tall pines were down because they obviously still had their needles.  I also walked the road for about twenty minutes, up to Butts Road and back, making it just over an hour.  Evie stayed home and worked around the house most of the day, making phone calls to her sisters and Dot, taking up a good part of the morning,  and got dinner ready late afternoon, one of our favorites, garlic spinach, rice and salmon with a soy/mustard/marmalade glaze.

We watched a great movie Monsieur Lazhar, set in Montreal in contemporary times. The film begins in an elementary school, where two students, before class begins, glimpse their teacher hanging from the ceiling, a suicide.  In steps Monsieur Lazhar, to teach this class after the tragedy.  His hiring is improbable but this is film, so we don't question it.  We learn he's a refugee from Algeria, where his wife and children were killed in an apartment fire, set by rebels upset with his wife's writings.  Thus, we have the children, traumatized by their teacher's suicide, and Lazhar, coming to terms with his own grief.  Because he's Algerian (and lied about having been a teacher), he does not understand many of the rules(like you cannot touch or hug a child).  He is naturally demonstrative but is cautioned to not touch.  But his empathy and compassion win out, as he brings the class around, gains their confidence, and guides them towards a healthy outlook.  He gets in trouble when he tries to help a young boy who feels responsible for the teacher's death. He allows the class to talk about why the teacher might have committed suicide and the boy blurts out it was his fault.  Lazhar hugs the boy, comforts him, tells him we never know why someone commits suicide, perhaps saving the boy's life.  Unfortunately, because of this talk with his class and other facts, he loses his job(they find out he never taught).  He teaches for his last day, says good by to the class, and the film ends with him hugging a young female student he has befriended, a way of saying good bye.  It may not sound that compelling but the kids are wonderful as is Lazhar, sensitive, caring, and selfless, a victim like the kids, of events outside their control.  Like the boy,  Lazhar feels guilt for his families death and must learn to forgive himself.