One upon a time I was a French teacher.

And I must admit, come the grey days of February, I made the most of Mardi Gras. During the week leading up to Mardi Gras, my students and I, first we talked a bit about masks and thought about the various reasons that they are worn; then the students made fancy masks adorned with sequins and glitter-glue, and we displayed them on the bulletin board; we also watched documentaries about the French and Canadian history and the Cajun culture in Louisiana; and we watched (G-rated) YouTube videos about Mardi Gras in New Orleans. In preparation for the Big Day, I would buy a shit-ton (one of the perks of being retired-you can say shit-ton without worrying about the consequences) of cheap Mardi Gras necklaces, purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.

On Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, I would get up at 4:00 am, make crêpe batter before school, haul it to school along with my electric frying pan, strawberry jam, chocolate sauce, and whip cream, and also fruit and cheese and crackers for those who didn’t eat sweets. The morning bell would ring, and all my classes would “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” We would listen to New Orleans jazz and Zydeco music as I fried crêpes and they munched on crêpes.  I felt compelled to justify the fun by also handing out informational packets about Mardi Gras, along with vocabulary lists of associated French words. After the crêpes were made, I would ask questions from the packets and throw a necklace to the person who could answer a question first, making sure that everyone eventually got at least one necklace. All day the smell of crêpes would waft from my room into the hall, and French students would strut around the school bejeweled with purple, green and gold necklaces. Ok, it might have been a little over-the-top, and it might have driven a few other teachers nuts, but oh well, it was great fun and wonderful PR for the French program, and God knows, French teachers need all the PR that they can get.

But now that I am retired, this is one of the days I miss the most from my crazy, hectic career. Mardi Gras was so much fun! It was a golden day.

Today in honor of Mardi Gras, I am wearing my festive lavender and green tee-shirt emblazoned with “Peace, Love, and Mardi Gras!” that my teacher-friend Heather gave to me one year.

 But no necklaces, no smiling students, just quiet here on the farm on this cold, grey-sky day.

To be honest, I’m finding things a bit bleak this February with so much turmoil, hatred, and sadness in the world.  It worries me.

“Nature’s first green is gold” wrote one of my favorites, Robert Frost.

I was wearing the green and purple this morning, but I went out for a walk with my beloved canine companion.  I needed to find the gold midst the grey today.

I found it, of course. It’s always there.  The Gold is there. You just have to look for it.

Thank you for reading this!