The Sun

by Mary Oliver

Have you ever seen

anything

in your life

more wonderful

than the way the sun

every evening,

relaxed and easy,

floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,

or the rumpled sea,

and is gone--

and how it slides again

out of the blackness,

every morning,

on the other side of the world,

like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,

say, on a morning in early summer,

at its perfect imperial distance--

and have you ever felt for anything

such wild love--

do you think there is anywhere, in any language,

a word billowing enough

for the pleasure

that fills you,

as the sun

reaches out,

as it warms you

as you stand there,

empty-handed--

or have you too

turned from this world--

or have you too

gone crazy

for power,

for things?

Love this roof!

March, which for some is a very long month before spring shows up at their doorstep, is sauntering out with its head held high, sun shining on its back. Spring festivities are just around the corner.

last of the winter harvest

With only one week of spring under our belts, I'm listening to the weather reports of snow in Colorado as well as other parts of the country. Here, it's been spring for several weeks (sorry to you folks out there shoveling snow and scraping ice). Some of the trees are done with their pink and white blossoms and have moved through the color palette onto the bright green of new leaves.

We've harvested the last of the winter crops, turned the soil, checked the drip system, and are ready to plant for the summer. I can hardly wait...I am so tired of tasteless tomatoes.

joyous month of march

I'm still here, quite busy with lesson plans, rain-soaked days, and those little things that seem to pile up when one is looking the other way.

March is one of my favorite months.  Spring is just ahead, the sun has magically decided to visit longer, and petals carpet the ground from blooming trees.  I am such a geek that I celebrate "pi" day each year, March 14...ok, for those un-math folks that's "3.14--pi--having to do with the circumference of a circle--C=(pi)xd".  Pi Day:  surrounded by all things circle, which usually means food (doesn't it always come down to food?)...pizza, pot pies, fruit pies, cookies.

This year, something extra appeared on the calendar for the month.  On the third of March, for the year 2009, we had the great opportunity to celebrate "Square Root Day".  This amazing event only happens nine times every one hundred years, where the day of the month and the month are the square root of the last two digits of the year.  My classroom celebrated by eating root vegetables and drinking root beer.  So sweet and so fun!