Snow, Sun, and Moon

When we woke to the unlikely news of a snow day this morning, I knew just what to do (after going back to sleep for a couple of hours).

The first to rise at 7:30, I completed the morning chores and then looked up a recipe for Sally Lunn, a yeast bread enriched with eggs and butter that my mom used to make for us on snow days. In no time at all, the sticky dough was turned into the big aqua Corningware bowl (aka the popcorn bowl) and rising on the back of the stove.

As I waited, I read the bottom of the recipe that addressed its origin. Sally Lunn is either English or French, it said, which was news to me, because I recall visiting the tavern in Bath which claims to be the first place the bread was baked. There it is said that Sally Lunn was a Huguenot fleeing the intolerant Catholic French regime who landed in Bath and made her living baking and selling bread on the street.

This particular recipe had another theory, though. It seems that "Sally Lunn" may not be a person at all, but rather an Anglicized version of "soleil et lune" or sun and moon, which refers to the shape and golden color of the bread.

Either way? It's a good story, and an excellent slice of bread, particularly with butter and hot tea.

On the Sly

A couple of rowdy boys were nudging each other and pointing to an iPad during class. "What are you guys up to?" I asked.

"We're just looking at something about the book I'm reading," answered the most mischievous one in an innocent voice.

"Really?" I said. "Let me see."

He flipped his iPad around to show a beautiful photograph of a fox. "It's my screensaver," he informed me. "I was asking him if he liked this one, or this one," he paused and hit the home button to show his wallpaper, which was another super-cute picture of a fox. Both seemed a little out of character for this tough guy.

"Did you put those on there because of Pax?" I asked him, naming the book that happens to have a fox as the title character which we are reading together in my boys' group

"No!" he shrugged, "I just like foxes." Then his voice softened. "They're so cute."

"Since when?" I demanded.

"Okay, since Pax," he admitted.

"That's awesome!" I said. "And I agree. They are adorable!"

Teachable Moment

"Son of a bitch!" a boy I didn't know swore loudly when confronted with a locked door across the hall.

I tapped sternly on the window. He looked at me hopefully and came to the door. I grabbed my keys. "What do you need Cussy Cusser?" I asked.

He looked confused, but then his cheeks brightened. "That wasn't me!" he said. "But I need to get into that classroom-- my phone's in there!"

"Then you're going to need to own up to what you said," I told him, jingling my keys.

"I said, Dang it!" he tried.

"That's not what I heard," I said.

He stood uncertainly.

"What I heard started with, Son of..." I prompted him helpfully.

"Well, usually I say Son of a mother!" he replied.

"Maybe," I answered, "but not this time."

"Oh, okay!" he said in desperation. "I said it, I said it, okay? And I shouldn't talk that way in school, I know!"

 "How are we going to make sure it doesn't happen again?" I asked as I opened the door.

"It won't!" he assured me. "This was way too much trouble."

Unfortunately, his phone was not in there. "Oh sh--" he stopped and looked at me. "oot!" he finished.

"Nice save," I said. "Maybe your phone's in the office."

We May Be Hazardous to Your Health

"I'm going to have to be the mean nurse and ask some of you to go," the very sweet nurse in my cousin's ICU room told us this afternoon. She looked meaningfully at me, Heidi, and my Aunt Harriett, who were having a very animated conversation indeed. "His blood pressure is up and it's just too stimulating in here."

"That's okay," I hugged my aunt. "We have to run anyway." And to the nurse I said, "No worries! Believe it or not, everywhere we go they tell us we're too stimulating!"

"Yeah," Heidi added, "it must be because we're teachers. Stimulating is our job!"

Luke Star Wars

Well, we finally saw the new Star Wars movie this afternoon, and it was pretty good. I have spent the last few weeks actively avoiding spoilers, but even so, I was well-prepared for the ending, both because it seemed inevitable and also due to a garbled conversation I overheard between two sixth graders on the Monday after it premiered. I guess "Skywalker" and "Star Wars" do sound kind of similar.

Keep Those Rags and Machines Humming

After 8 hours on wintery roads yesterday, our car was encrusted in a thin film of salt. Of course, I had no idea that was true until I brushed the new-fallen snow from it this morning. At any rate, a trip to the car wash was definitely in order, and so this afternoon on the way home from the grocery store I made a quick right into an express outfit and waited in line to pay at the kiosk, but not before turning down two offers of unlimited daily washes for 25.99 a month.

Next we pulled around to the entrance where employees literally danced and bounced with signs reading first Pull Forward and then Put it in neutral and step off the brakes. Oh, they laughed at my indecisiveness, but the existence of the signs reassured me that I was not the only clueless client. I could not think how long it had been been since I rode through the car wash, but it was like a sudsy amusement park attraction with flashing blue and red lights and giant rags and brushes and soap and water squirting everywhere, so thrilling that it made me giggle.

"Maybe I will get the unlimited pass!" I told Heidi and Elaine as we drove out into the cold evening in our newly clean car. "That was kind of fun!"

The Night Closes In

After several hours of driving through sub-zero temperatures on the way home from Buffalo a bit of road fatigue hit me somewhere on I-70, and all of a sudden NPR was making me a little sleepy. "How about some Name that Tune?" I suggested to Heidi.

Ours is a road trip-ready version which involves hitting scan on the radio and racing to identify whatever comes up on the next station in range. Of course the tunes vary considerably depending on where we are, which is all part of the fun. At that point in the trip there was a lot of country music, both classic and contemporary, some current pop, some straight up rock, a little classic rock, and... then there was Max 92.9 broadcasting from Buddy Lou's restaurant in Hancock and playing deep cuts and hits from the 70s and 80s.

It turns out that there's nothing like recognizing Exile's Kiss You All Over in 2 bars after several decades to reinvigorate a weary driver in her mid-50s, folks.