Well, today is Sunday. The Yearling stays fresh in my mind, but even more so - the desire to visit Cross Creek for myself. My plans were to go this past week, unfortunately that did not happen.
The class has read chapters 1-3. They are gaining interest in Jody, Penny, and Ma Baxter as the plot starts to thicken (in class we call this "conflict" which would be the "rising action" if we were completing a plot diagram). They get it. The kids are becoming actively engaged in the reading of the book. They look forward to the next page and beg to read if there is a lot of dialogue on that page. They love trying to talk like the Baxter's of 1870 - trying to get those accents down just right. It is fun. I find it WAY too easy to slip into that accent, coming from Appalachia myself. The country-like accent of rural West Virginia is very similar to that of the 1870's Florida scrub as identified in The Yearling. I get a kick out of it too.
I brought a copy of the book home and loaned it to my mother-in-law. She is reading along with us - well, by now, she is reading ahead of us. She is enjoying the book for the first time as well. Too often I as read I am reminded of my husband and how he must have been as a little boy... I bet he was just like Jody. He is quite the woodsman and native to Florida - especially the wildest parts of Northeast Florida.
My pre-intern (visiting student from a local college studying to become a teacher) helped me research some recipes for "sour orange biscuits" found in chapter one. She made some and brought them in to share with me. It was pretty interesting - seemed more like a cookie than a biscuit. While researching the topic I learned that "sour orange" is actually a type of orange tree introduced to Florida in the St. Augustine area from Asia. It thrived in the rural scrub of Florida. My husband and I wonder if our orange tree might be one - it produces oranges but they are sort of bittersweet, full of seeds, and ripen in late winter/early spring. I have opened myself up to a whole world of orange recipes!! I cannot wait to start making some for myself.
In the second chapter we learn a little more about Penny Baxter and how he came to live in the Florida scrub. I searched my portfolio of photos and found this beautiful old oak tree and posted the picture - I imagine this looks like the oaks mentioned by Jody. Chapter three introduces the first conflict which is hinted about in chapter one - an encounter with Ole Slewfoot!! It seems the bear has awakened from his winter nap and has trodden onto the Baxter farm - it killed the "brood sow". Oh, that made Ma Baxter mad! Jody and his pa, Penny, are preparing to begin the hunt. This week should be exciting as we take Julia and the other hunting dogs and go hunting in the scrub with Jody and Pa.
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