Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 89

The golden apples of the sun

I've probably used that exact subject line before. Every year around now I go to get some Baldwin apples from Cold Spring Orchard, because they are The Best for pies, and every year, I also pick up some Roxbury Russets (America's oldest apple type) and some beautiful, and delicious, Golden Russets.

This year, probably because of the drought, they are very tiny. Little baby apples--you could eat one in three bites. But as beautiful as ever.

You might mistake them for ripening tomatoes, by their...

"It's hard to take your eyes off the fire that burns deep under our feet"

A Werner Herzog movie premiering on Netflix on Friday. I am very, very looking forward to seeing it.

"It's hard to take your eyes about the fire that burns deep under our feet"

A Werner Herzog movie premiering on Netflix on Friday. I am very, very looking forward to seeing it.

Brianna's House of Horrors

Hello everyone. I wrote you a Halloween story! It's approximately 1900 words.

Brianna's House of Horrors

“It’s just gonna be the usual stuff,” said Josh, who’d caught a glimpse through the partially open door of what Brianna had in store for everyone in her House of Horrors. “Peeled grapes for eyes, spaghetti for intestines--” He broke off when Brianna appeared.

You have to give Brianna credit. It isn’t easy to move to a new town when you’re in high school, and it takes definite guts to issue an...

A fall of golden leaves

Just for you to enjoy looking at--I'll be back with interactive content in a day or two.

What's missing from Season One of Orange Is the New Black

So I've finally started to watch this show. Some stuff I nod at vigorously--I've seen things like it during my volunteering, or my students have told me stories that support it. Other stuff, not so sure.

But the thing that really struck me, the thing the show totally misses, is CHILDREN. I've worked with about a hundred people closely over the past four years, and I'd estimate that 90 to 95 percent of them had kids. It was *very* rare for someone not to have kids. And while some of my students...

Multiplication of beings

When my kids were little and required a watchful eye, I would sometimes have dreams that duplicates of them would appear. So for instance, I'd dream I'd just helped the ninja girl into the car, but here is another ninja girl. It was bewildering. It wasn't a case of one being a fraud, or of my somehow overlooking that they were twins; it was just pure duplication. It was like when you add a stitch accidentally in knitting. There was just one of her, but now there are two of her. Occasionally I...

An Angel for Mariqua, by Zetta Elliott

At the jail where I volunteer, there’s a small bookshelf next to the front desk that says “free books/libros gratis.” It has a varying mix of picture books through middle-grade books, and I try to drop off books there periodically.

So I was really excited to learn about An Angel for Mariqua, a middle-grade book by Zetta Elliott about a girl whose mother is in jail. Mariqua lives with her grandmother now, and she’s angry at everyone and everything, and also lonely. Then two good things happen....

writing in ripples and grass

wakanomori ran a marathon this past weekend, in Portland, Maine (and did very well!) While he was running, I was admiring the salt marshes in the bay. When I started walking, the tide was out, and I was feasting my eyes on all the colors, and on the wave-tufts of the semi-flattened grasses:





I liked looking at all the treasures in the tideline:




feathers...



and a little crab


But what was most mesmerizing and enchanting was when the tide started coming in--insistent ripples pushing in on the grass:



A...

An afternoon choose-your-own-adventure

You have to get a document signed at an activist organization in the center of Springfield. When you get to the destination, you see that there's no on-street parking. The organization is located next to a condemned building. Behind the condemned building there appears to be some parking, but it looks full. There's a Burger King across the street--one could park there. Further ahead, there seems to be a parking lot.

Do you (a) attempt to park behind the condemned building, (b) park at the Burg...