D is for Dragon and Dwarves

Dvalin's Delight is the name the dwarves in Norse Mythology give to the sun. Dvalin was a dwarf who was turned to stone by the light of the sun. So dwarves have a sense of humor. And a deep love of gold and beautifully designed metals. Much of these are hoarded and at times stolen by dragons.

One of the most famous of these hoarding dragons can be found in the story of Sigurd, a Norse hero. Fafnir is found in the Norse tales as a magician's son who's brother is accidentally killed by Loki. Loki pays a hefty ransom for the payment of this killing. Fafnir kills his father for the treasure and becomes Fafnir the dragon.

In The Hobbit, by JRR TOLKIEN, the dragon Smaug has a hoard of dwarf treasure and many of the dwarves named in his book share the names of dwarves in Norse Mythology, (Dvalin being one). Another interesting similarity is the ring that topped Fafnir's treasure which cursed any who held it except its maker, Andavari. A cursed ring is central to the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

C is for Cauldron

The gods were running out of Mead, a thick and potent drink. Aegir was the only one who could make enough mead for everyone but he insisted that the Gods provide the cauldron.The Cauldron of Hymir was the only one large enough to hold the mead needed for a feast for the Gods. Hymir was a giant who really hated the Aesir race (Norse Gods in Asgard), but fostered Odin's son Tyr, the god of war who was able to convince his foster father to let a disguised Thor compete for his favors.

The cauldron features in many stories about witches and magic spells. It is a place for creating medicine that is beyond the understanding of this world.

There is no cauldron in the play I am writing but there is a contest between Thor and some giants. The title of the play will be, "The Contests of Utgard".

The cast includes:
Thor
Loki
Thialfi (a poor farm boy)
Roskva (a poor farm girl and sister to Thialfi)
Skrymir (The king of Utgard in disguise)
Utgard-Loki (The king of Utgard)
Hugi (Thought disguised as a giant)
Logi (Fire disguised as a giant)
Elli (Old age disguised as a giant)
Jormungand (disguised as a grey cat)

My class size is limited so the children may have to take on 2 roles.

Following the theme of Norse Mythology, Baldur is the son of Odin and Frigga. He and his wife Nanna are the embodiment of goodness and beauty. Their son Forseti is the embodiment of Justice (or truth). These are the foundational themes of Waldorf education; Goodness, Beauty and Truth.

Beauty and Beingness

I call her Beauty
Not just because she is but because
She makes me feel it.

But what is that? What does that mean, and why would it matter
Since noone can agree what beauty is.

Perhaps beauty is a sense of harmony with the beingness of that
Which elevates us.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter.
But it seems much of what surrounds us appeals to our lower nature.

The corporate “grim reaper” with eyes that shine like the glint of clean stainless steel appliances,

Or

Chat rooms and comments that solicit meaningless and sometimes violent banter

The face of George Zimmerman
And the defeated look on the faces of the parents of the child he murdered.

I prefer to spend my time focusing on those things that strike a human chord like
The feeling I got when I heard the president singing Al Green,

My students’ earnest explanations,

Or the discovery of a fairy garden made of found natural objects and magpie sparkles.

My stunning-brown-skinned daughter’s idea of beauty is a blond Disney princess and some of my students like to draw violent scenes of zombies and aliens and I am not sure at times how to respond.

But if I think about beauty enough, some of what I DO is beauty because then I am in the being-ness too,

admiring the strong, white teeth of the dead dog laying on the side of the road.

Welcome to the A-Z challenge and please note:

All the words and art displayed on this blog belong to me (unless otherwise noted) and is part of my practice of being a student/teacher/mom/wife/artist who is working out of Anthroposophy (the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner and the foundation of Waldorf Education).

The theme of my A-Z challenge is Norse Mythology as I am in the process of writing a musical play for my 4th grade students. This will be my help-mate.

The gods in Asgard were true artists- All-father Odin most of all as he hung on the tree for 9 days, sacrificing himself for knowledge, which for the gods was not a materialistic gain but a true embodiment of wisdom.


Artist
by 50 foot Queenie

You forgot the time
while the chalk and the glue
and the paint and the newspaper
gathered in increasingly potent arrangements.

The last verse must be left for editing later as the
Moment is not yet ripe.

Do not clean up.
Do not bathe.
Phone ringing is like background music to the meditation
Of this now-ness.

Rehearsal time belongs to the Call.
And when you hear it
All is nothing,
It is all.

Could you be someone else
In five minutes?
Could you transform your whole way
of seeing the world overnight?

This is the work.

After putting my beauty booty to bed I decided to spend the rest of the evening with PJ Harvey. I listened to Terri Gross' interview from last year and downloaded "Let England Shake" which is brilliant and devastating. This is an album about war, death, beauty, country loyalty, home and is a big departure from much of Harvey's previous work in that it seems like she has moved beyond the personal and into the inspired.

War photographer, Seamus Murphy directed 12 short films to accompany the songs on the album.

Here are PJ Harvey's words:


"Death was everywhere,
in the air
and in the sounds
coming off the mounds
of Bolton's Ridge.
Death's anchorage.
When you rolled a smoke
or told a joke,
it was in the laughter
and drinking water
it approached the beach
as strings of cutters,
dropped into the sea and lay around us.

Death was in the ancient fortress,
shelled by a million bullets
from gunners, waiting in the copses
with hearts that threatened to pop their boxes,
as we advanced into the sun
death was all and everyone.

Death hung in the smoke and clung
to 400 acres of useless beachfront.
A bank of red earth, dripping down death
now, and now, and now
in the air
and in the sounds
coming off the mounds
of Bolton's Ridge.
Death's anchorage.
Death was in the staring sun,
fixing its eyes on everyone.
It rattled the bones of the Light Horsemen
still lying out there in the open

as we, advancing in the sun
sing "Death to all and everyone.""

A whole week off from school.
Strange. But not uncalled for. The road conditions since late Tuesday have been increasingly challenging with the latest ice storm impossible to drive in.
We have been told it will soon melt but as of now, 9:30 am we still have an inch of ice covering everything.

Last night we built another fire (we are running out of wood), made popcorn(the last of it) and watched Singing in the Rain. Booty laughed hysterically at the part of the movie when Donald O'Connor sings, Make 'em Laugh.

Our fish, Sophie and Lena (not related to Lena Lamont) are doing very well. They do seem a bit food obsessed but we too have been a little food glutted during this storm. I believe I reached the sugar-saturation stage experienced by most shut ins yesterday afternoon after demolishing a Lindt orange liquor and Dark chocolate bar with a slice of Wednesday's granola crumble apple pie.

Time for us to get out!

Recorded two days ago in Seattle.

Now an ice storm.
Booty is outside on the back pork attacking the ice-crutsted snow with a small rake.
We have an ice phenomena happening today that doesn't usually happen (well snow doesn't usually happen either) in this area.

If you are from the Northeast this kind of thing is commonplace but if you know a little about weather and how it is affected by the geography etc. you know that sometimes events like this are so addictive. I can't get enough information.

For more good Seattle area weather information check out this awesome blog:

Cliff Mass'

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr.!
We have had one seriously exciting week!



We were so excited to see how Booty would react to her first snow. So thrilled that Mr. D was able to witness it, (and take a picture or two).





Tuesday and Wednesday our school called a snow day. We ended up making apple pie, soup, pancakes, setting up an aquarium...



Building a fire, reading and playing lots and lots of Mancala and Uno.



And it feels pretty complete. However, we have another snow day tomorrow. That leaves us with one day of school this week.

Tonight I sang the Martin Luther King song for Booty,

"We bake a cake. We blow it out.
Happy Martin Luther King we shout.
I have a dream, he said
All people hand in hand
Working and singing throughout the land."

Christmas may be over but we are still celebrating.
Today we returned from Portland, Oregon; a lovely 2 day trip filled with lots of good food (Ethiopian, Thai and Organic)and a little bit of Musical theater (Willy Wanka) at Northwest Children's Theater and School and lovely cousin time (with David who has lived in Portland for 20 years). Before the show we survived the Children's Museum (much too crowded to enjoy).
We went to Voodoo Doughnuts and enjoyed the decadence of sweets unholy and then went to Craven Raven for the holy gluten free version.

The weather has been mild and sunny for December. Three cheers for a great New Year! Lets hope we find more clarity and belongingness than ever before!!!!!

Our friend Toni sent us one of these and we were inspired so here is our version:

Jib Jab Christmas song from our family

Happy, Merry and Joy to all you naughty children!

Nutcracker bound. Christmas Revels up next!

Living the days like each day is a vacation
Something special is happening!
Lots of conflict means lots of activity
and possibility
for healing.
The students are naughty
so we can be good.
The students endure
so we can make mistakes.

And learn

of course!

Our school is going through a major crisis and I haven't posted because I haven't been able to write it down. Without blaming anyone it seems that the school is experiencing a potentially lethal fiscal situation. Because of this the school is losing students every day. I am not sure if I will be employed next month but will keep you posted.

Today the weather is lovely with blue skies. A bald eagle flew over the playground and the children cried out to it.

Interesting times.

It has been over a week since we started at The Tacoma Waldorf School. Booty is enjoying it but prefers not to stay for after-care which is unavoidable when I am teaching. Otherwise, students are beginning to adjust and I am beginning to learn how to teach them. Mostly, just re-evaluating my expectations.

Mt. Rainier looms large, the passing freight trains enter our dream-life and the sigh inducing sunsets hold on just a little longer.

Getting up mighty early to make sure to do my practice and be ready to leave the house packed and prepared by 730. When monsoon season starts I am sure everything will shift again.

Mr. D continues to travel back and forth from his crazy work meetings yonder to home. I hope his suitcase does not disintegrate en route. It is looking a little battered.

Booty enjoys whatever she is offered. A patch of flowers, a red wagon, gems, anything really especially engagement. Lots and lots of ENGAGEMENT.

The first known name for Mt. Ranier was Tahoma. Maybe Tacoma is a dirivitive of this name. Booty makes a game of finding Mt. Ranier when the sky is clear and we can see east. Mount Rainier is a stratavolcano.

The mountains in this picture (in the distance) are the Olympics. When the sun is shining we can see these beauties over Bremerton/Gig Harbor way.

Our shipment is due to arrive tonight. We should be geared up by next week.

We like our trees BIG!
However, we are still looking for a decent restaurant. I am afraid Tacoma is still experiencing a bit of a "Townie" attitude toward culinary expertise but my fears may be based in ignorance. We shall see.
Today while checking out the nearby community pool I noticed the swimming instructor overseeing his swimmers while wearing jeans and a baseball cap. Not very promising.
On the upside, Booty's camp teacher is a wonderful young college student (and Olympia Waldorf school graduate) who is studying in India next year. She is a blessing to us all!

We finally found a Waldorf job and home to rent in Tacoma. It is in a residential area and overlooks the Puget Sound (see picture). I am very pleased with the house as it has plenty of space for Booty to play outside (both under cover and out in the open) and plenty of nice spots inside for us all to work and play. We move August 1st. It is going to be a busy month!

It is also very close to Port Defiance ferry which takes us to Vashon Island, and our dear friends.

Our blessings are many. Here are a few of them.
How we love A and H.

On our way to Seattle.
We have had our sun.
And our family.
Now we shall see what else is in store for us.
Above, Pemaquid Beach and Dodge Point in Maine.