Miscellaneous Missives

As I was sitting in my spiritual memoir class this morning listening to two of the four people talk about their ADD, I noticed the writing left from Sunday school on the board. I was thinking how I don't have an attention deficit since I was able to pay attention to their conversation, read the board, and listen to the hand dryer from across the hall. It seems I have the opposite of attention deficit since I can focus on numerous items all at once. Actually I was also able to text my brother about the writing on the board. The writing stated, "Halloween costume". It made me think about a picture of my brother and I dressed as die, so I sent a text to see if he had a copy of the picture. For some reason I remember the picture in front of a neighbor's house, but I was excited that he had this picture. He also sent a picture of him in a tiger costume and I in a clown costume. Since I look fat from my belly to my hands, I am not posting that picture. This afterno...

First, my honors class is typing final copies. While I am looking at one student's title, I remind the class of the importance of capitalization. When he still didn't make corrections, I asked him to look more closely at his title. A few seconds later I heard him tell his friend, "Fine, then I'll just capitalize all of the important words." Of course I couldn't help but share this with the class. "Yes, capitalize all of the important words... that's what you do when you capitalize a title." Later in the same class a student is not paying attention and being distracted, so I asked him, "What are you doing?" His answer was surprising. It seems he was playing Rock, Paper, Scissors by himself. Finally the students' quick write today was to write a Halloween story. When they were finished I asked them to star their favorite/best line. Next I chose seven students from each class to read their starred line. In four of the five ...

Start at 3:22 to see the level I'm posting about. If anyone is still stuck on 6-14, they should start at 2:37... give and give... that's all I do... It seems I am stuck on level 6-15 in Angry Birds. Is this worthy of a post? I would say it is since I spent 47 continuous minutes on Tuesday night playing the game. Wednesday I took a hiatus from the game yet am addicted enough that I actually Googled it this morning while drinking my juice. Although I can't play, check e-mail, and Scrabble, I have found some hope. Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to break through this level.

The Love of October by W. S. Merwin A child looking at ruins grows younger but cold and wants to wake to a new name I have been younger in October than in all the months of spring walnut and may leaves the color of shoulders at the end of summer a month that has been to the mountain and become light there the long grass lies pointing uphill even in death for a reason that none of us knows and the wren laughs in the early shade now come again shining glance in your good time naked air late morning my love is for lightness of touch foot feather the day is yet one more yellow leaf and without turning I kiss the light by an old well on the last of the month gathering wild rose hips in the sun. Each Wednesday the students write about a poem in their journal to start class. They have questions (What do you notice about the poem? What is the mood of the poem? What questions do you have about the poem, etc.) to help them. Today they journaled about the poem The Love of October by W. S. Me...

Honestly I am enjoying the evening thunder and rain. It fits my mood. I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself even though I know I should be thankful. Rain and thunder at the end of October is similar. Even though it's a bit gloomy, one should be thankful that it's still pleasant outside and the trees still have color.

What Can I Say "What can I say that I have not said before? So I'll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is the face of patience. Inside the river there is an unfinishable story and you are somewhere in it and it will never end until all ends. Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest. The song you heard singing in the leaf when you were a child is singing still. I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four, and the leaf is singing still." Although I know of parents frustrated that their children are home "for no reason" in the middle of October for MEA, I look forward to it every year. The four day weekend is always a time to finish tasks that were not finished over the summer and to catch up on school related work. As anyone who reads this knows, I have been frustrated by school this year. Although I love my job in the classroom, I am easily frustrated by the antics outside of th...

I have a Saturday routine, and today Dad was a great sport about following this routine. We awoke early and went to the farmer's market. Then we had breakfast and found supplies to recaulk my tub. I left to walk Uptown to workout while Dad took care of the tub. When I returned from working out my trip to Mager's and Quinn, we continued my routine by having sandwiches for lunch. While I did typical Saturday chores, Dad even took care of fixing some of my cupboard doors. Of course college football was on in the background as the Cyclones beet the Longhorns. It was a fabulous day!