Summer Vacation Day 1: A porch with a view

Well, Summer Vacation, the 2017 Edition, is officially underway. There is the minor detail of about 20 student comments that still have to be written, but I have until Monday at 5:00 pm. Hours and hours. At the last minute, I decided to book myself into a writer’s retreat. Remember, in the last post I said I have a new writing project. I also just needed to get away for a few days all by myself. I spend my days during the school year doing for others from 7:30 am until 5:15 pm Monday through Friday. And I am pretty worn out right now. I need some peace and quiet. And I have found it. Just a short distance off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Where I hear birds calling, hummingbird wings beating, and an occasional fish splashing around in the small pond just beyond the porch where I am rocking. The sun is starting to set. The clouds are taking on a pink hue.

I imagine I will see a few lightening bugs soon. I will remember chasing after them as a little girl and trapping them in a mason jar with holes poked in the lid so that they could get some air. I am back in my hills.

This is where I spent the first 22 years of my life, with the exception of a few months spent in France between my sophomore and junior years of college.

Friends/colleagues I’ve taught with here in Durham for many years are beginning to retire. Every year now someone significant will leave.  It began a couple of years ago. It won’t be easy for me. C’est la vie, n’est-ce pas?  JC this year. She will still coach and I will see her as often (or maybe more often) than I do now, but somehow the thought of opening meetings next fall without her make me sad.  Not for her, needless to say. She will find plenty to occupy her free time– sewing, exercising and traveling have been mentioned. All fine ideas. She and hubby are headed to France for two weeks in July. Bravo! They will have a blast. I am so proud and happy for them. Enough of that or I will make myself cry.

I roamed around for a short while this afternoon admiring the flowers in the small town I am near.

I found a little girl to sit next to.  I didn’t strike up a conversation because she was totally engrossed in her book. I thought of this same scene happening in a few years but with Miss K by my side. Joy. I hope she will love to read as much as her Gramma does.

Night has fallen.  It’s getting chilly.  The birds are now silent.  And I am getting sleepy. Day 1 has been a good one.  Tomorrow the writing begins in earnest.  Wish me sweet dreams and luck.

I am thinking of cherry scones.  It’s about time to find ripe juicy cherries in the local grocery stores.  I’ve missed them since last summer! I will go back to a past post for my favorite recipe to share. I recently found another recipe I want to try.  Crumpets. Reminded me of scones. But I digress…

From July 13 2011:

My new friend Teresa Lust (she isn’t in on the friendship yet) devoted a chapter of her book Pass The Polenta to the currant scones that a very good friend makes.  She can’t divulge the real recipe, only her approximation of it.  And, according to Teresa’s research, the scone is a Scottish invention.  Maybe that’s why I love them so much.  As good a reason as any, n’est-ce pas?  But it is difficult to go wrong with butter and cream.  And red juicy cherries.  I’ll try currants another day.

Currant Scones
(from Pass The Polenta and other writings from the kitchen by Teresa Lust, Random House, 1998)
makes 8 scones

2 c. all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, chilled, cut in pieces
1 c. heavy cream, chilled
1 c. currants (I used fresh cherries, pitted and chopped in quarters)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400˚F.  Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Add butter, then toss with your fingers to coat each piece with flour.  Work the mixture with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-sized lumps of butter still remaining.  Drizzle in the cream, stirring the mixture with a fork, until it just comes together.  Alternatively, combine the dry ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor, add the butter, and process with quick pulses until it is just incorporated.  Add the cream in a thin stream, and pulse only until the mixture starts coming together.  Do not over-process.  Turn dough out onto a cutting board, sprinkle in the currants, and knead lightly half a dozen times or so, until the dough forms a ball.  (I had to add about 1/4 c. more flour because the dough was very sticky.  Sprinkle the cutting board with flour, as well as your hands, before diving into the dough.)  Pat the dough into a circle 3/4-inch high.  Dip a pastry brush into the lightly beaten egg and baste the dough-circle.  Cut into 8 wedges.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Bon appétit and happy summer vacation to all!  Bonnes vacances!  May you find a quiet spot to rest and regroup.

The end is in sight

It is the eve of my exam.  Wonder how much the kiddos have studied?  Foreign language exams are last this year… the only thing standing between my students and 10 weeks of freedom is me.  And pages of verbs, adjectives, object pronouns, etc.  You get the picture. Hope you aren’t having flashbacks.  We still have practice for the closing ceremony for the 8th graders followed by lunch tomorrow.  The ceremony is on Thursday. A couple of days of meetings for the weary teachers.  Exams to grade.  Grades to enter into Veracross.  Progress reports to write.  Then freedom for me.

Today I received the beautiful plate of homemade pink macarons from my room parent. One of the 8th grade girlies gave me the armadillo.  I use a website, Tex’s French Grammar, put together by the University of Texas-Austin. The main character is Tex, an existentialist poet who just happens to be an armadillo.

Yes, he smokes.  No, I do not approve.  Yes, he indulges in a glass of red wine from time to time.  The kiddos know that they cannot do this legally until they are 21. The grammar explanations are great.  The kiddos love to listen to the voices, especially Joe-Bob, the squirrel from College Station.

I am partial to Paw-Paw, Tex’s Cajun granddad.

I really want to go to Austin and meet the geniuses who created this website.  And now I have a little stuffed Tex to keep me company in my classroom.  Merci, EM!

I will make a trip up to the mountains to visit the relatives and hopefully see a few friends from the Class of ’76.

Last year, before our reunion, some of us got together at Spoon, a great little place on Upper Street.  It’s the craft cocktail slingin’ counterpart to knife & fork restaurant, to quote the website.  Knife & Fork is on Lower Street, by the way.

We will have our annual family week at Sunset Beach.  We all really look forward to a week when the most important decision we make is who will go back to the house to refill the cooler and make sandwiches for lunch.  Guess it was my turn that day since my chair is empty?

I have a few projects to accomplish around the house.  Organizing the notecards that I have made from my photos, go through bookcases to see if there are some books I can give away, clean out my closet.  You get the idea.  I also plan to write.  I have a new idea.  I’ve taken some notes and have the beginning of an outline.  That’s all I have to say at the moment.

The BFF and I have pledged to get up early and walk before she has to go to work and before it is too damn hot and humid to do much besides sweat.  I am thinking 6 am, but I am an early riser.  We’ll see what the BFF thinks.

I plan to hear some music.  There are several spots around town where the concerts are free.  We went out to Southpoint Mall last weekend to hear Big Time.  Mr. BFF is in the band.  A talented fellow.  I can’t help myself when he is singing Love Shack or Give It to Me Baby.  Just got to dance.  And attempt to embarrass him.  Not possible, but I won’t give up!  Mr. BFF, Tracy King aka Sweet T, was a member of The Castaways back in the day.  I can’t help but post this photo… (top row right)

Last, but by no means least, I will play Gramma and spend more time with the Most Amazing Girl.  She is already 3-1/2 months old.  I cannot wait. Bonding time. Oui, elle est belle!

Today’s recipe, just in time for summer so that you don’t heat up the house by using the oven.

Chicken Salad

adapted from Inside Brucrew Life

Shredded chicken from 1 rotisserie chicken

1-1/2 c. finely chopped pecans or almond slivers (I toast them to bring out the flavor)

3 stalks celery, chopped

4 c. halved red seedless grapes

Salt and pepper, to taste, if desired

1 c. sour cream

1 c. mayonnaise (today I used a mixture of Duke’s mayo and Just Mayo Chipotle flavor)

I c. finely chopped fresh dill, if desired (I left this out)

In a large bowl, toss together the chicken, nuts, celery, and grapes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired.

Whisk together the sour cream and mayonnaise.  Add the dressing to the chicken mixture and gently toss to coat.

Cover and refrigerate.  It’s best if allowed to chill for 2 hours so that the flavors can meld.

Bon appétit and happy summer to all.  Bonnes vacances!  Be sure to slow down a bit, if possible, and smell the flowers.  Gardenias are presently blooming in my corner of the world.  Heavenly.

Looking back, moving forward

This is Waterproof Mascara time.  In my chosen profession, saying good-bye can be overwhelming.  A time of joy and a time of sadness.  All jumbled up.  Moments of unbelievable fun fill up my days and years as a teacher.  As I say jokingly (but not really) at this time of year, I get attached to the little angels (or rats, depending on the day and my/their mood).  It is just plain old hard to say good-bye, even as my heart is filled with love and excitement for them. These two are especially near and dear to my heart.  They graduated on Friday on an incredibly beautiful Carolina blue sky day on the campus of UNC.  Daniel Wallace, an author I admire, gave the commencement speech.  It wasn’t too long or filled with lofty wisdom- wisdom, yes, but delivered in his own way.  The entire graduating class sang.  I cheered as many of them crossed the stage to get the coveted diploma.

These two girls are examples of our best.  Tall Blond has accomplished more already than I ever will.  She went to France twice with me.  I was afraid that she would be snatched up by an agent or designer during Paris Fashion Week when she was in 8th grade. Seriously.  Long legs and an amazing sense of style.  Check out these boots that she told me she saved her babysitting money for and then wore them on the trip. I wish I could pull that off. In my next life.

In the middle of the top photo is my “Macaron” as she dubbed herself one day. Do I love that brave young woman?  With all of my heart.  She came to DA as a sixth grader. Sixth graders with no language experience get stuck in beginning French with moi. (Thank you, Ed the Head.  This class is often the highlight of my day.) It is my job to brainwash them and convince them to stick with me for three years. My Macaron did just that, even when the going was tough. She wasn’t able to travel to France with me with she was in 8th grade, but in 10th grade she asked if I would take her.  Tall Blond asked to go along again as well. I did not have to think twice about that.

Those two had some fun.  They discovered a thrift shop in the Marais and had a grand time.  (My personal favorite way to shop.) I later discovered that Macaron had a suitcase just for her shoes!  Lord have mercy.

I often look back at photos of past trips.  Each trip with students over the past 30 years holds special moments.  The year it snowed and we detoured to Rouen instead of the D-Day beaches.  My first time there.  It was very moving to see the spot where Jeanne d’Arc was burned at the stake.

Paris covered in snow is quite special as well.

The years of exchanges with schools in Senlis and Villeneuve-lez-Avignon.  Trying to fill them up with do’s and don’ts before being whisked away by their French families.

Going horseback riding in the Camargue. I was the only injured one, thank goodness, and not one student witnessed me being thrown from the huge white beast.  No photos exist.

1987.  My first student trip.  Arles.  Foreshadowing, for sure.

Making crêpes with Chef Érick in Arles. A very happy girl, n’est-ce pas?

The trip with Son #2 (Son #1’s class didn’t get a trip… 9/11 happened.)

A couple of the annual countdowns…

I will continue to put on the waterproof mascara (Lancôme’s Hypnôse Drama is my current favorite) each morning for the next couple of weeks as I bid this year’s 8th grade class farewell.  Most of them will make the journey to our upper school, just a couple of miles down the road.  A few will transfer to public school or to boarding school.  One will move to Florida.  I will miss seeing their smiling (or grumpy) faces every day.

Just a week or so ago, I made biscuits for my advisees.  Several of them had never had a homemade biscuit.  Lord have mercy.  Bless their hearts.  They scarfed them down and one girlie asked for the recipe.  Here you go, honey.  Make them your-own-self this summer!  I have used many recipes over the years.  I do not use shortening, opting for butter instead.

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

recipe from Food.com

makes about 10 biscuits

• 2cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board
• 1⁄4teaspoon baking soda
• 1tablespoon baking powder (without aluminum preferably)
• 1teaspoon kosher salt or 1 teaspoon salt
• 6tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold
• 1cup buttermilk (approx)

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour until it resembles course meal
4. Add the buttermilk and mix JUST until combined.
5. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk. It should be very wet.
6. Turn the dough out onto a floured board.
7. Gently, gently PAT (do NOT roll with a rolling pin) the dough out until it’s about 1/2″ thick. Fold the dough about 5 times, gently press the dough down to a 1 inch thick.
8. Use a round cutter dipped in flour to cut into rounds. (or cut into squares using a sharp knife dipped in flour- you won’t have to knead the dough again and you won’t waste any)
9. You can gently knead the scraps together and make a few more, but they will not be anywhere near as good as the first ones.
10. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper- if you like soft sides, put them touching each other.
11. If you like”crusty” sides, put them about 1 inch apart- these will not rise as high as the biscuits put close together.
12. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- the biscuits will be a beautiful light golden brown on top and bottom. Do not over bake.

Bon appétit to the Class of 2017!  Bonnes vacances!  Have fun.  Be safe.