Monthly Archives: February 2007

Gone-Away Lake

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I just finished reading Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright to the children and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We listened to Gone-Away Lake, a 1958 Newberry Honor book, on audio tape during December and couldn’t wait to read on.

Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away are the type of books my children seem to love. Each book describes everyday children having adventures which are quite believable but just out of the reach of most city children. There is a lake to discover, a deserted town to roam around and eccentric but welcoming old people to form firm friendships with. There is a club and a clubhouse to set up. As A10 explained to me, “There are the right people with the right people.”

Julian and Portia are two of the right people, they are cousins who spend their summers together. While exploring the country side near Julian’s home one afternoon they venture further than ever before and meet two more of “the right people” Mrs Minnehaha Cheever and her brother Mr Pindar Payton. That is their introduction to Gone-Away Lake which was once Tarrigo, a lakeside resort town. After the lake turned into the a swamp the summer residents stopped coming and the elegant homes fell into varying states of decline. Minnehaha and her brother grew up coming to Tarrigo every summer, and returned to spend the rest of their days in two of the dilapidated houses, cut off from the rest of the world.

The houses and surrounding countryside are full of things to discover and that is exactly what Julian, Portia and her brother Foster do. In following their adventures we are amused and intrigued. As L12 said to me Elizabeth Enright describes the little things. Aunt Minnehaha dresses herself in the clothes left behind by her mother and sisters fifty years earlier and Elizabeth Enright describes the outfits with just the right amount of detail.

In Return to Gone-Away Portia’s family have all come for the summer to live in the Villa Caprice, which they now own. There is much for Portia, Julian and Foster to discover as the house is restored, repaired and lived in. The story meanders around the country side as the children pursue different adventures and mysteries. The spotlight stops on the boys, or the girls, Aunt Minnehaha, Uncle Pin or the house itself. The story’s ending is quite satisfying but we can’t help wishing Elizabeth Enright had written just one more.

Meanwhile back in Ecuador

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Last week I wrote about the first week of our new group of four. We met again yesterday to continue our simulation game based in a farming village in the Ecuadorian rainforest. The children are beginning to role play a little more. The session started with more discussion about the possibility of beginning an Eco-tourism project and the eco-tourism specialists were asked to address a village meeting so questions could be asked and proposals be voted on.

The village members voted to try the eco-tourism project and the with the help of the specialists were able to raise the initial investment money. Some of the children are keen to try eco-tourism because they are concerned about the rainforest, but many are simply hoping it will be more lucrative than farming. As the adults discussed the session afterwards we wondered if some people are so poor that thinking environmentally is not a luxury they can afford.

The eco-tourism specialists asked for two workers to join their team and run the project with them. Six out of the eight farmers applied and were given thirty seconds to say why they would be the best choice. Those chosen then had to change their farming plans as they would be working full time with the eco-tourism project. Final decisions were made and round one ended. The children spent some time making clay sculptures and eating South American snacks while the mums calculated each player’s income for the “first year”. Income included money from crops, return on eco-tourism investment, wages for the eco-tourism workers and an education rebate for those who had their children in school.

The feedback we, as mums, are getting from the children is positive and the development in the discussion shows us that the children are beginning to consider the implications of their decisions on the village as well as their own families. The children are very keen to know how they went financially but they will have to wait until the beginning of round two.

Left or right

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Snow has been falling gently for most of the day, fluffy snow, inviting us to go out.  After lunch we answered the summons and headed out to ski with friends. It is a great Friday afternoon activity and I find myself looking forward to it all week.  Last week it was -20 and sunny so we were very rugged up but once we were in amongst the trees it was not too cold.  This week it was a warm -4 so we just had Tshirts under our ski jackets and it was beautiful.

We took a trail none of us had taken before and did not think to look at the board at the beginning to see if there was a map. I guess we thought we would do what we did last week and ski until we wanted to turn around and head back. Once again we were skiing in a wooded area and with no wind snow was piling up on fallen logs and settling on pine cones. Chickadees were flitting around from one side of the track to the other and we stopped several times to hold our hands out to them. They alighted on our hands whether we had seed or not.

There were eight of us spread out along the track and we chatted and sped up and slowed down as we wished. Eventually we came to a junction and had to decide whether to head back, go left or right. We could hear traffic in one direction but thought it was not the road we had parked near. One said, “Let’s just go back, I’m tired.”

A few thought right, a few left, most said,”I don’t know.” So we went right and right again and eventually the path led the way back to the car and the hot apple cider in the thermos.

Snow is falling more heavily now and I have that warm tired feeling from exercising outside in the cold. There is beef stew nearly ready on the stove, so it is time to sit down together and enjoy the end of a busy work week.