Away we go!

We're off and running in a new school year. Thanks to my ambitious nature in the spring, this year's AP class turned in two assignments. Forty students times two makes eighty assignments. At about fifteen minutes each, that's approximately twenty hours of correcting. And, why do I love this job?

It's the students. Really. They are worth it all. No day is the same, and they teach me so much. Besides the two classes of AP, there are the three of English 11 and Creative Writing. Oh, I'm Literary Magazine advisor, too.

So far everything's been rolling along like a well-oiled desk chair. The first day I walked someone to the office to see the principal. I was subbing for another teacher during my prep time, and one the guys, out of four obnoxious ones, wouldn't stop making fun of another kid. Thought he was Eddie Murphy or something. He kept up the chatter all the while we walked. Said I was racist. I said, "Yeah, right. I was Miss America last year, too." (Really I didn't say anything.)

Too hot in my room at 8:00 a.m. so I emailed the responsible people because if it felt that ghastly that early while I was sitting in my chair and no one else was in the room, think what it was going to be like teaching 28 students! Said it was NOT too hot in my room. So, the sweat soaking my armpits and staining my new green dress were a figment of my imagination. A dream, maybe? A hot flash?

Several new foreign exchange students: three from Germany, one from Portugal, and one from Norway. One student who moved here from Miami has never seen snow. Boy, is she in for it! The young man from Portugal says that whenever he goes to a country where it is supposed to snow, it doesn't. I hope his luck continues.

Student quote of the week: "Yeah, my brother tried to catch his fart in a jar once. He's so dumb, you know?"

Today, our dog Angel went to doggie heaven. Her years of chasing rabbits and her pal Brady stay with us. I can see her sitting on the steps to look out the window, waiting for the kids to get home from school, only to be dressed in clothes and played with like a doll. I can see her tail wag like a fly swatter when we come in the room, and then lying by the couch while we watch TV. She's sit on the deck or the front porch like a proud lion surveying her domain, ready to bark and snarl if a stranger set foot on her turf.

She helped raise Brady as a pup, nipping him into submission, training him to behave and leave his annoying puppy habits behind.

We love you, Angel and will miss you every day. Thank you for your seventeen years of companionship. No dog could top your sweetness. RIP

lunch bunch and videos

Part of the fun of a teacher inservice day is getting an hour for lunch instead of 27 minutes. Today we went to Pizza Hut and caught up with what everybody did over the summer. (Good luck having those twins, Liz!)

Also, cleaning the room is part of the get-back-in-the-saddle ritual. I threw out many VHS cassettes, and I'm officially updating to DVDs and Internet videos. Got to get with this century. For the past three years I've asked for a projector in my room to show student projects, videos, and educational YouTube interviews and such---and I never get one. The young teachers all have them, and I guess they think we seasoned veterans won't use 'em. So, I had a hissy fit in the library, complete with stomping my feet, to show I'm not that old. And---I'm getting one!

You know the old saying about the squeaky wheel?

Technology and Thoreau

Ahh, as summer slips away, I'm back to work. First day of inservice includes meetings, meetings, more meetings---and technology training. It takes the year for me to master the new technology, software, hardware, etc., and then the next year they change it again! New laptops are great, but with them comes more new stuff to learn and use. Thoreau was right about technology. It doesn't really make our lives simpler; it just adds to the things we need to learn and do.

"We don't ride the railroad; the railroad rides upon us." ---Henry David Thoreau

Summer is so sweet---the cherry on the sundae, the kiss before bed, the dog's underwear (you know, way better than the cat's pajamas).

Did some serious hammock time today. Glass of iced tea, the New Yorker, and a nap. Heaven.

And, an ice cream cone for dessert tonight.

It doesn't get any better than this.

August 3 Musings

Yup, been awhile, but here I am again. Went to 2-Onion farm this afternoon and hoed the cauliflower, cucumbers, carrots and beets. It was hot, but there was a breeze. Drank lots of water and worked through an aching muscle in my backside. Will either feel great tomorrow or won't be able to walk. Came home and cracked open the best watermelon we've had all summer. Mmmmm! Lots of vitamin P!

Six years ago today our son, Kelly, passed away. I hate how distant he has become. He's forever 25, and we keep aging and changing, plugging away at life and doing the best we can. I see his smile in the sunset as I look out the window right now. He may be frozen in time, but his essence is a part of us every day.

It's August, and soon I'll be back in the classroom. Don't tell anybody, but part of me is looking forward to it. I know; I'm sick. You know, that chalk dust, or white board marker ink gets in your veins and what ya gonna do?

If only winter didn't have to come as the school year progresses. In my bible, hell is cold, not hot.

Plantin' and Pullin'

Last Saturday morning I worked my first shift at a local, organic community farm near Belmont. The payment for this work is a reduction on the price of my family's box of vegetables we receive every other week. The first one comes Friday. Yum!

Six other people were there to work, five from Madison and one from Platteville. We dressed as told: old clothes and shoes, hats, sunscreen and bug spray. My husband and I used to farm, so I had been looking forward to this activity. I am no horticulturalist, but there's nothing I like better than fooling around in the garden.

Our first task of the day was to plant seeds, onion and fennel, into tiny cubes of soil with holes in the middle. We sat on chairs with trays of dirt on out laps, poured some seeds onto an index card, and used a nail file to push them into their respective holes. The fennel was easy, one per hole, but, the onion, ten little black seeds per hole. Tedious!

Next we went out to the field to weed. Chris, the owner, and our taskmaster for the morning, held up an implement and said, "This is what you'll use to weed the eggplants," and he showed us how to scratch along side of the plants without damaging them. I thought he was being a bit patronizing, until---

"What is that called," one of the women from Madison asked, pointing to the implement.

Big pause. We looked at her. I thought she was kidding. I laughed out loud. Turns out she wasn't kidding.

"This? This is called a ho," Chris said, holding it up again.

I never should have laughed and I'm sorry for it. Here she was, brave enough to come out and dig in the dirt and find out where her food comes from, and I laughed. Like I said, I'm sorry.

Later, we were on our hands and knees weeding the broccoli, and the same woman says, "Hey,what's this weird looking plant? It's fuzzy and prickley and looks kind of like a cactus.

Because I was in the row next to her, I answered: "It's a thistle."

I want you to know I didn't laugh this time. The teacher in me surfaced, and I was patient and understanding. Later, I pointed out a pea plant to her, and a tomato plant, too.

Like I said, I am no horticulturalist or master gardener, but that day I felt like one. If only my back hadn't hurt so much the next day.