The Best Of PA

Ah, the classics. I am becoming head over heels in love with them. Funny how I wanted nothing to do with them as an adolescent. But now that I am older, and much wiser I might add, I see the importance in them. I suppose it began with reading "A Christmas Carol" two years ago with my family, during the holidays. Charles Dickens' writing style, language, historical timeline and message was sent right to my heart. It is one of my favorite Christmas traditions now. Gradually, with commitments to write my own stories and school my children, my desire has grown deeper to delve into the Classics. In the past year I have read with the girls, "Little House on The Prairie", "Farmer Boy", "On the Banks of Plum Creek", "By the shores of silver Lake", "The Wizard of Oz" "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" "The Glass Elevator" (okay these two aren't classics, but fun!) "Alice ...

Life. Beautiful, natural,evolving life. We were blessed with a little nest built by Robins. It sits in the rafters of our porch roof. We have a big window that looks out on it all, and we watch. We saw them eagerly build their home stick by stick with mounds of brown grass and other odd end pieces. When the nest was finished and she moved in , Danny lifted Elly up high to see the baby blue eggs before they hatched. And now at the kitchen table, with every meal, we witness the Mommy and Daddy Robin feed their babies. Their mouths wide open awaiting worms to nourish them. It has been so enjoyable and quite the learning experience for the girls. And there have been a lot of conversations from inquistive girls who ask questions.  Questions like: What is a bird nest made out of? Where do the eggs come from? When do baby birds fly? Oh I love it. Our family has bonded over this occasion and have become more in touch with nature. Life is beautiful.

"Your not mad at me are you?" I swallowed hard and shook my head. But the pit was there. A blackness of shredded fury twisted, folded, grew. And not just anger, but hurt, I felt double crossed, swindled, cheated on. Loyalties were crushed. "No it's fine. No worries." I shouldn't be mad. I could see how excited she was, how this fire burned within her. It was her motivational high and I didn't want to stomp on it. But it was my story . Of course I only had six chapters written and I wasn't sure how long it would be till I got back to it. (unfortunately I am known for starting projects and abandoning them with careless vigor) But the idea was mine. I read her the first chapter and she fell in love with it. She requested she write it with me. I shrugged and agreed to it. I knew there was no real need for me to be so upset. We talked of a joint venture, that never really began. It was too complicated, our outcomes and characte...

The next morning dread engulfed me. I knew what I had to do. I had the best evening in a long while, but there was something lingering. A very important matter was to be attended to and I wasn't sure I had the guts to do it. Josh. There was Josh. Just a sweet southern boy with a cute face and long drawl, and he had no idea what was coming. The sooner it was done the better and so with solemn thoughts, mingled with deserved guilt, I dialed the numbers on my phone. "Hey, how was the dance?" Gulp. He knew I was attending. I had complained to him about my mom badgering me to go. I never thought I would actually enjoy myself! "Umm, it was alright. Not that interesting. But Listen, we need to talk." There was silence on the other end. I could tell he was holding his breath. He knew, at that moment, we both knew. My thoughts were spinning, Danielle don't draw out the rejection and pain any longer. I simply needed to peel off the band a...

Sometimes it's fun to travel...even if it's in your backyard. We may not have oodles of money to fly to Italy, but we can read books, eat native food, color maps, stomp grapes...well okay water balloons and just enjoy life. That is precisely what we did the other day. We learned about the life of Leonardo Davinci. He was an amazing man! Not just an painter but an inventor, scientist, musician, builder. Did you know he would dissect cadavers and all sorts of dead animals and draw pictures of the human anatomy? He tried to build a contraption that would make a man fly, but was unsuccessful. Oh there is so many interesting things to learn about Leonardo, and yes he was Italian. We colored a map of Italy, and noticed its odd boot shape. We studied the stars and planets and glued on our own celestial skies. The study of astronomy as well as astrology was very popular in Italy during the 14 and 1500's. We colored the flag, did a fun maze and words search. A...

I have a struggle. Some call it a sugar addiction, I call it baking and eating the outcome. I know it is unhealthy to eat too many sweets. But the whole experience is sublime. The mixing, the pouring, the aroma of melting chocolate and dripping sugar, forming into a rising piece of perfection. And then as if the experience couldn't get more euphoric, you take a warm bite and allow the flavors to mingle and burst on your salivating tongue. Elly gets to join in on the fun, pouring, measuring, creating a mess. And it is bonding moments. So long as I keep calm when the messes arise, as they always do. We giggle and taste test, check on our confectionary goodness through the dimly lit oven door. And I can't seem to give it up. It makes me happy. And my neighbors are quite pleased when I share. And that warm, rosy feeling radiates within, because a brownie, cupcake, loaf of bread or cinnamon roll spells out "I love you", "I care", "I too...