Addicted to Alouette

In September we cut off our TV cable. We so enjoyed a quiet, television-free week in Maine after Labor Day without it - the nights feeling longer and the peace feeling fuller - that we decided to go cold turkey. We get Netflix, rent movies, and watch TV on our laptop now when the viewing urge strikes us. It's been a good change for us. HF and I have been reading books aloud together by the fire, even. (Currently Folks, This Ain't Normal by his favorite, Joel Sallatin.) Great addition to our evenings.

One effect has been that the kids more frequently rent DVD's at the library, and a slightly wider range. This month they got their hands on the old Tom & Jerry, which they adore. This episode with a rendition of the old French song Alouette has been a special favorite. The tune is addictive, and we all sing it continually now. We can't get it out of our heads. Suddenly we're newbie francophiles, all.

This led us to look up the song and its meaning. Turns out its about plucking body parts off a dead skylark. Who knew?!

Blueberry-picking

This morning we went blueberry picking at a family farm in Somis, a town about 20 minutes east of us. A friend from my book club had taken her daughter last weekend, and as soon as we heard about it we were sold on the idea. The kids were enthusiastic, at least for a while, and alo more capable than we expected, especially Q (from whom we expected basically nothing). She was quite able and willing to pull the berries off the bushes and clearly understood that it was the blue ones we were after. The precision and mechanical interest she displays in clipping and unclipping buckles and the like were plainly evident in this outing.

We picked 7 lbs in an hour! And were thrilled to spend just $23 on such a large quantity. Y is quite keen to learn canning so this may well provide his first opporunity to have at it...

Blueberry pie-baking is on deck for this afternoon, and tonight I get to discuss nature-related topics with the friend who provided inspiration for the venture at book club... The book is Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, which I found interesting and well worth reading.

Out with the girls...

Last night was one of the most fun evenings I've spent since I moved here.

My friend Annie who lives down the road - whose kids Paul and Claire are exactly the same ages as J and Q and is herself just a cool, dynamic woman - invited me to a kickoff meeting for a new book club. The Evite said: "The hope is that out of this night a group of women will form who'd like to meet four times this year to discuss four titles that will engage us intellectually, emotionally, spiritually and ultimately drive us to action at some level." I went in not knowing what to expect but pleased at the prospect of being in a book club again and meeting some new women.

It was phenomenal. The women who came - ten in addition to me (many unknown to each other) - were all interesting, lively, engaged, and personable. We talked about the environment, faith, mothering, autism, contraception, the intersection between spirituality and civics... All just in bringing up possible books we might read. About 40 titles were suggested, and I have no idea how we'll whittle it down to just 4 - and wish we didn't have to!

It was an evening filled with ideas, energy, and laughter... And I didn't realize how much I'd missed that kind of dialogue and exchange till I was there. We closed the party at 11 pm, and of course today I'm paying for it. The host was pregnant too and no doubt she is as well.

I have always been blessed to participate in groups of cool, interesting women. My NH Bible study group and Rollinsford play groups are just the two most recent examples. It's soul-level thrilling for me to connect with some women like this again, especially since it will also involve ideas and meaty discussions about important issues.

"Readers are leaders"

In November, we get rid of our TV. Our primary motivation was financial, as we wanted to start saving and realized that, among a sea of expenses that are basically fixed, our media bibll can be variable. We'd previously had an all-in-one TV, cable, and phone plan through our cable provider, and we dropped TV and switched our phone to Vonage, saving approximately $500/yr. In addition, we often waffle on our TV-viewing life. We like to stay connected to the world and enjoy following a few shows, but we (especially Y) also fall into the normal trap of watching more than we need to when we have it.

Our next-door neighbors have rabbit-ear antenna to pick up local stations, and they get about 6 channels to a decent level. When we dropped our cable, I signed up for the government-provided digital converter box coupons and planned to get an antenna and the boxes. But in the end, we decided to skip even that. We are just liking life better altogher TV-less. We watch a few shows online (the Office, 30 Rock, Lost) and movies on DVD. That suffices.

And now we are reading. A lot. It's been fantastic. In the past four months I've read probably three times as many books as I did in the full year prior. For me, the quieter life and the slower social schedule that the move has brought have been as helpful, if not more so, than the lack of TV. There is, quite simply, more time in our days, and more energy left over to read. I've read novels (What is the What, Thirteen Tales, Suite Francais); parenting books (several Dobson selections, Shepherding Your Child's Heart, Parenting with Love and Logic, Setting Limits on your Strong-Willed Child); and some miscelleous books like Islam and Terrorism. My dad, who reads possibly more than any other individual I know, always used to tell us "readers are leaders" when we were kids, and it's been fun to pick back up a childhood activity that I was close to losing.