Tag: border collie

Mardi Gras

On By Jennie Lee CastrogiovanniIn nature, personal essay6 Comments

 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!

My Mount Kilimanjaro

On By Jennie Lee CastrogiovanniIn personal essay13 Comments

The thing about writing a blog is that you, you meaning I, I write for myself mostly. I write because it’s what I have to do sometimes. Sometimes I write to amuse myself, sometimes to make sense of things, sometimes to challenge myself, sometimes to conquer my sadness. The last essay I wrote was to do all of those things.

            Sometimes (this afternoon), I’ll have a thought while I’m raking the leaves, and it won’t let me go. Then I’ll fling down the rake and I’ll tear into the house and wring out my mind without even stopping to take off my coat. Other times I have to force myself to sit down at the computer. Still other times I say the heck with it and continue raking the leaves while talking out loud to myself. Good thing I live in the country.

            Having explained my egocentric reason for writing my haphazard blog, I also admit that I am thrilled when I see that people have read my words.

            There is a darker, shaded green, side to me that thinks, damn, why can’t I get 100,000,000 viewers like Taylor Swift or Stephen King probably does? LOL! Laughing through my tears of envy. Why can’t I be like those cute little kids on Instagram who say something funny or cliff -dive or something and suddenly they are an overnight sensation?

            I try to walk away from this petty self, but you try to walk away from your uglier self, and eventually you run into the barrier that is your own skin every time. And then you turn back and take a peek at your daily WordPress stats. No views today, rats!

            Or, like today, four views! Hooray! And they are from the United Kingdom. Hmm! Who in the United Kingdom is looking at my humble blog? Could it be…? Prince, no, KING CHARLES? Or Camilla? Or maybe Elton John? Adele? Who knows?  I don’t. I’ll just assume.

            Anyway, when I retired a year and a half ago, another teacher asked me what was I going to do next. Any big plans?  He told me that his brother’s first goal upon retiring was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Holy smokes, I thought. I have no desire to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. For one thing, I am afraid of heights, and from all accounts, it’s pretty tall. My next thought was, well, I do have a climb to make, the treacherous climb up the stairs to my attic where a hellscape of old school projects, discarded clothes, and many, many wicker baskets await rediscovery. I will make that climb, I will purge that attic of all the detritus of the decades, and then I will breathe the rarified air in triumph.

            A year and a half later, and it hasn’t happened yet. It’s still all there, waiting to be conquered. Did I mention my daughter’s ten-year-old wedding bouquet that is hanging from the rafters? Still there, all dried up.  I’ll probably get to it.

            So far, I haven’t really started training my border collie to be a therapy dog yet either. She can sit though. And shake.

            Nor have I gotten in the best shape of my life. I’m still a little bit of a fatty. But I’m now a bit of a fatty who does Yoga. Don’t try to picture that.

            I have come to a realization, though, that I do have a personal Mount Kilimanjaro. My Mount Kilimanjaro is my writing.

             I have made some progress on that path. I’ve kept writing this haphazard blog, I’ve written a eulogy, I’ve written a little children’s tale about a hound dog. I’m writing my Storyworth Memoir, but, alas, I’m slightly behind–by 20 chapters or so. Do you know what Storyworth is?  It’s an on-line enterprise where the mysterious Storyworth people send you a prompt every week, and you answer it or write a chapter of your choosing. When you are done, at the end of a year (plus three extra months if needed, thank God!), they send you a hard copy of your memoir.  You have written a book! This is something a thoughtful loved-one might order for you for Christmas, thank you, Mariah. You know I mean that! I’m doing it in my own procrastinating, easily-distracted-by-a-snowflake way.

             I’m on my way through the foothills; I’m writing!

            Anyway, on this week before Thanksgiving, I am very grateful to you, yes you, whoever you are, who has taken the time to read this little ditty.  A million thanks. You probably didn’t even realize that you made my day just by reading my words.  And if you actually happen to be King Charles, Cheerio, Sir!

Day four of a random week in February

On By Jennie Lee CastrogiovanniIn Uncategorized2 Comments 
I'm walking dogs these days,
one through the streets 
of my childhood: 
a Beagle
named Amy
and I 
traipse up 
Maple, 
left down
 Putnam,
around 
Courthouse Square 
with it's 
red and blue lit
 statue, 
in the predawn quiet
 as lights come on
and the papergirl
glides by
 on her bike
no matter the weather,
Amy, her nose to the ground.


And Mattie at home,
my border collie 
friend, 
up the road,
past the barn, 
through the woods, 
off leash,
sitting still
when  trucks go by.
She never tires 
of chasing sticks, 
racing birds, 
running through
the cornfield stubble.

How I love
walking dogs!

Thank you for reading this!