You Never Know When it Will Hit

I was just standing at my kitchen sink draining a thingy of tuna fish, and realized that I was vigorously squeezing the lid against the meat with the dreamiest of expressions on my face. How is this? Tuna fish is many things, but dreamy is not one of them.

It was this way, you see: I was listening to Charlie Zahm's "Caledonia and Me" while I prepared my (oh-so-yummy) tuna melt. "But throughout it all, through desert storm and shower, I have dreamed of home: Caledonia and me." Suddenly I was thinking of those hills again. Hence the dreamy expression. Man, did that place ever get under my skin!

In other news, today one of my fellow teachers found out that I don't really cook. "Well, would you like to learn how?" she asked expectantly. And it hit me. I really don't want to! Not only do I not like cooking, I don't even like the thought of liking cooking! Things have reached an extreme state... But not really, because I'm not that picky an eater, and I'm fine with eating tuna melts!

And dreaming of Scotland...

Tidbits on Apartment Life

I love living in this apartment! There are definitely some things I didn't foresee when I moved here, though...

*Heat is wicked expensive. We have opted for 17 layers and a thermostat set at 60 degrees. It's amazing how 60 is balmy in March when you're outside, but mighty chilly when you're indoors...

*I miss NESN.

*If your landlady carpools to church with her sister, leaving her car parked in front of yours in the oh-so-narrow driveway, forgetting to leave her keys behind, you are absolutely, totally, 100% trapped. There's not a thing you can do until she returns home again (full of mortified apology, bless her heart!).

*The oh-so-narrow driveway is also oh-so-long, and takes a good deal of otherwise-unused muscle come shovelling time.

*Christmas trees actually have to be removed sometime in January (ideally). They don't just go away. Similarly, paper towels and milk have to be bought every single time you want more. Those things used to just happen...

*When you're home alone, it's nice to have a cat upon whom you can blame any noises you may hear in the night.

*I LIVE ONLY 25 MINUTES FROM THE WRENTHAM OUTLETS!

*It's amazing how much you can bond with a new place, and make it your own. And it's amazing how much fun you can have if your roommates are two such great girls as Sara and Melissa!

Wicked Cool Story!

This morning I had a fascinating discussion with my house-mates, in which I wondered if I would have recognized Jesus for who He was, had I been alive when He was on earth. Then this evening I ran across a very small picture of that. If one of the world's greatest violinists played in a subway station, would I recognize him? Or at least recognize the quality of his playing? Gretchen sent me this article, and I thought it was fascinating. Check it out!

Pearls Before Breakfast

Marriage & Resurrection

Four days ago one of my students leaped up from where he was sitting at the lunch table, and before the entire student body loudly proclaimed that the new Latin teacher and I would make a perfect match. The room was in an uproar! Some students were scandalized that he would say something like that, others were protesting that the new Latin teacher is old enough to be my grandfather (which isn't technically true, I don't think, but pretty close). I was amused at his matchmaking, and even more amused by the hubbub it caused.

Two days ago one of my students asked me if I would marry Shakespeare if he was alive today. I said that I would not, because it's dangerous with those genius artist types - they might forget you exist! We joked about the possible scenarios and moved on.

There have been other similar moments recently as well. What is it about my students worrying about my not being married? It doesn't bother me that they talk about it - I think it's rather charming. But still, where does it come from? I guess they, like many others, view single-ness as a problem that they must fix. Ah my dears, fear not. I'm right where I belong, and I'm loving it.

Speaking of people coming to life again, Friday was teacher training and we were reading a book by John Milton Gregory about teaching. It's an excellent book, and has sparked many conversations and a good bit of inspiration in our training times. On this occasion my headmaster said, "I love this man! I wish I could resurrect him and hug him!" I burst right into laughter - what a great thing to say!

And before you can ask me, no, I don't think I'd marry John Milton Gregory if he was alive today.

My Fellow Teacher...

I share a classroom with a man who is such an interesting fellow! He believes Frances Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays, and that the US bombed the Pentagon. But he is SO nice! He's not at all intimidating, and I really enjoy him. Anyway, one day I was feeling exuberant, and decided to decorate the board. This resulted:

Then I turned around and burst into laughter, seeing this in his board:

I am thankful for a congenial co-teacher who makes me laugh:)

Words of Aff in Disguise

I am a words of affirmation person. Sometimes pathetically so. My pathetic example that I pull out to illustrate my patheticism is that when I cooked in Bible School I didn't know whether my meal was good or not unless someone said, "Mmm, good (whatever I cooked)!" It didn't matter that I had the same thing in my mouth, and could taste for myself whether it was good or not. Someone else had to tell me for it to be true.

That being said, I've had some severe non-aff words hurled at me recently. But somehow I remained unscathed. Why? They were words of aff in disguise. And I loved them!

The first instance of this was in a Christmas card, from a girl I've TOTALLY bonded with this year. It read, "Dear Miss Murray, Even though I hate your algebra, logic, and literature class, I decided to give you this anyway. I hope you have a WELL (underlined) Christmas." Hee hee hee! I laughed so much and read it to all and sundry. I usually don't approve of negative joking, but somehow this one just captured my heart:)

The second instance came today in Lit class. One of my students was trying to stump me by giving me initials of famous authors and making me guess them. The first was EAP. I was stumped. One of my other students came up with it: Edgar Allen Poe! Then he asked CD, LB (with the clue that the first letter isn't a name) and RB. I came up with Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, and Robert Browning. (Don't be impressed - I'd just taught all of those authors to him so they were fresh in my mind.) "Aha! You'll never get this one!" he crowed. "JS!" As he was repeating "you'll never get this," I came out with John Steinbeck. And he retorted "I hate you." That saying has been the TABOO-ist thing in the WORLD all my life, but this time it was incredibly gratifying:) It came across as high praise. Of course, what he doesn't know is that he gave me a clue by saying I'd never get it. I knew it must be someone I didn't like, and there are very few of those that he knows about... So maybe the "I hate you" wasn't deserved. But I'll take it anyway.

And now, just like that, after a two-day week, it's the weekend! Hurrah! Basketball game tomorrow night...