winter break at home

For are not all places at once both the ends of the earth and home? --rupert isaacson The Horse Boy

a morning walk with hannah and wendy. brilliant sunshine, but cold wind, until we turned our backs to it on the way home. wendy relished the wind and snow, checking back to make sure we're on our way.


correspondence with readers of wake robin has me thinking about teaching and education, so i thought i'd write a bit about a very special school. eagle rock school and professional development center is nestled into a high mountain meadow near estes park, co. it is the only campus i know of where a teen student, noticing you as a visitor, will approach you with a greeting and will send you in the direction you need to go. or take you there! but that's just the beginning. if you sit in on a morning "gathering", especially on wednesday, you will feel at home. criteria for entrance include agreeing to follow their code, agreeing to several simple, but clear rules. it's a school for students who are not experiencing success in their current environment. my son clearly fit that requirement as he was a bright, energetic, difficult kid, who needed a huge challenge. his sister, a national honor society/music/sports/good student was nevertheless unhappy in local public school. ers nurtured them both. visit their web site and you will see a bit about the magic of a place where students and teachers live, work, learn in community, with intention. eagle rock is place my kids and i always feel at home.

my house came with a plethora of chimneys, several defunct, this one is possibly functional, but is so crooked as it travels through the attic of the house, it's crazy. hasn't been hit by lightning, either. i looked up into the blueness this morning, dazzled. the very crooked chimney is a metaphor for us. we can be crooked and still function beautifully. and we can look fine (it's not crooked above the roofline or in the backroom) and be crazy crooked. 

 every snow flake, they say, is unique. maybe a little crooked?