Miscellaneous Missives

"The heat sandpapers his skin. Don't scratch , my grandmother warns.  Be he does and the skin grows raw beneath his fingers. The pollen leaves him puffy eyed, his small breaths come quick, have too much sound around them. He moves slow, sickly now where once he was strong." ~Jacqueline Woodson    brown girl dreaming   p. 64 I started getting a rash on my face Friday.  It's hideous and itchy.  Since I am also feeling "under the weather", not necessarily sick but crummy, I decided to go to urgent care to see if the two are related.  It seems the two are related, and my allergies are a bit out of control.  The doctor gave me a prescription for some cream to use and recommended to keep taking the Benadryl.  He says the rash is Eczema.  I don't really care what it is, but I would like it to leave my face. Today I read Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  It's an autobiographical novel written in verse.  Althou...

Bookmarks:  For Everyone Who Hasn't Read Everything Bookmarks is a magazine that comes out once every two months.  It always causes me to order at least one new book.  Recently, it was said that I'm tough when it comes to my five stars on Goodreads.  As I have mentioned before I think my scores would be kinder if I could do the 1/2 star.  Today I noticed that I typically give one star lower than the average.  When I looked at Bookmarks  tonight, I realized my grading fits their scale. 5   Classic          A timeless book to be read by all. 4   Excellent      One of the best of its genre 3   Good             Enjoyable, particularly for fans of the genre 2   Fair               Some problems, approach with caution 1   Poor              Not worth your time Yep, I think it's fittin...

These train conversations are passing me by And I don't have nothing to say You get what you paid for  But I just had no intention of living this way I need a phone call I need a plane ride I need a sunburn I need a raincoat Raining in Baltimore  by the Counting Crows Although it's been a busy week, I've found time to ride my bike twice.  The first time was yesterday morning, and it was absolutely beautiful.  Since we had conferences at night, we had a flex day and had an 11:30 start.  Today's weather was a bit misty, but I had my raincoat and was able to avoid any downpour.  The biggest problem with workshop week is the amount of sitting required.  A bike ride at either end of the day is the only real sanity. I can always hear a freight train, baby, if I listen real hard 'Cause I'm lonely for the big towns I'd like to hear a little guitar I guess it's time to put the top down I need a phone call I need a raincoa...

Today was the second day of workshop, and although we were given some room time yesterday, today was about meetings.  During our morning meeting, I sat and cut out pictures of the Seedfolks characters and glued them on bright paper for my bulletin board.  When that was done, I check school and home e-mails.  Next, I moved to my Feedly and looked at the news and blogs of the day.   KC posted pictures of her wonderful room.  When I saw the last picture, I was super impressed.  In fact it led me to steal and other bad behaviors.  Not only did I steal it.  I started printing out pages with words and left the meeting to get my copies.  Finally, I cut out the words and pasted them on more bright paper.  Some would say I was a bit of a distraction to those around me, but I love my new bulletin board made from the idea that I filched while sitting in a meeting.  Thanks KC!

Today was the first day back to school, and it was a bit overwhelming.  I think it went well, but I stayed too long.  Instead of leaving at 3:15 as I should have, I stayed to do one more thing and another.  If I would have left at 3:15, I may have been able to get a bike ride in on this beautiful day before my Connected Learning meeting.  Instead I've been sitting at home (with windows open) pulling together some activities for the first day of school. What have I been working on?  Thanks for asking.  I've solidified my plans for next week.  Tuesday we'll talk about community, prejudice, and culture.  Although it's a bit of an introduction for Seedfolks , I think it will be a good way to discuss Ferguson and its effects on our students.  Wednesday and Thursday students will write a letter to themselves.  I changed the format this year after seeing signs on the Midtown Greenway.  What's your story?  Where are you headin...

Everyday I see or hear something that more or less kills me with delight, that leaves me  like a needle in the haystack of light. It was what I was born for- to look, to listen, to lose myself  inside this soft world- to instruct myself over and over in joy,  and acclamation. Nor am I talking  about the exceptional, the fearful, the dreadful, the very extravagant- but of the ordinary, the common, the very drab, the daily presentations. Oh, good scholar, I say to myself, how can you help but grow wise with such teachings as these- the untrimmable light of the world, the ocean's shine, the prayers that are made  out of grass? by Mary Oliver Respect = to see things a second time.  I like this definition! Yesterday I sat at the end of the dock with a dear friend.  We discussed everything from family to politics.  We were serious, silly, and sarcastic.  For three hours we talked about our world, b...

One of the preparations I needed to make to go back to work on Monday was to get the plants ready to go back to school.  Since I already had the mess, I decided also to attack the Clivia which needed to be separated into two plants.  The plants are now ready to go back to school.  They are sitting in bags next to the school supplies in the garage.  Also, the Cliva has been separated although I'm not quite sure how either plant (original and/or separated plant) will do in the future.  From the looks of the roots, I may have waited too long to perform this operation.  It's happening people.