the dirigible plum

I was born the same year that Watership Down, my favorite book when I was a teenager, was published. Since I’ve had to give up chocolate, I adore extra-premium vanilla ice cream smothered with sea salt caramel sauce. I buy far more books than I will ever be able to read during my lifetime. I […]

Polka dots. Before school started, I bought a few packs of colorful polka dot stickers to decorate the institutional walls of my classroom. Polka dots bubble up the wall over my desk, rainbow arc across a corner, and spiral like garland around a large column. The color burst is essential to my happiness in my […]

We don’t have many extra duties at my school, but we are tasked with clearing the halls of the dozens of kids who tend to linger and chat well after the bell rings. Three times a day (six on non-block days), I postpone starting my own class so that I can get other teachers’ students […]

I love being a person who easily finds joy in lots of things. Sometimes I feel like a perpetual toddler–eyes wide to take in the dazzling world, unreasonably pleased by all the small things. Here are a few things that have brought me joy lately: The astonishing colors and patterns of tree bark How bright […]

Since last March, we have added two kittens, Sweet Potato and Pomegranate, to our family. When they were just one week old and quite sickly, their feral mama moved them into a shelter in our garage. I love to tell them the story of how I met them before their eyes were even open. Before […]

It seems somehow fitting that I end my month of Slicing with another list. This idea comes from Terje at Just for a month. I spent the month of February angsting about whether I would participate in the slicing challenge this year. I hadn’t blogged since August, and I wasn’t sure I had the time, […]

photos of Chipotle that should be a meme flowering trees in Detroit (in the order they bloom) books I bought in March books I bought during the pandemic books I had every intention of reading but instead of reading I bought more books things to remember about March things to remember about today ten poems […]

I got the idea for this post from arjeha’s slice about prices in the year he was born. His post got me wondering about books in my birth year. What was published? What were the most popular books? 1972 was a very good year for books. I can’t speak for the year’s bestseller, Jonathan Livingston […]

“My Ten” is a New York Times column where creative types are asked to share “their top 10 cultural must-haves.” The Learning Network turned it into a lesson of the day, and Ms. Chen turned it into a Slice. Thanks, Ms. Chen, for the inspiration! Caternet. Ok, I made that word up, and I don’t […]

I borrowed this format from Leigh Anne at A Day in the Life and Trina at Trinarrative. Thanks for the inspiration! What I’m reading: For bedtime comfort reading, I’m rereading all of Barbara Pym’s novels in mostly chronological order. I’m three-quarters through Excellent Women right now, and it’s superb (and quite a bit better than […]