The Big Coffee

Claire coined this spin on the Big Apple, and I liked it (sorry, Claire)and therefore stole it. Remember the time when I went to Seattle? Well, here I am, back to tell the tale! Quite an amazing place, really... I agree, Linds -- I kind of want to live there. It suddenly dawned on me at some point on the trip how incredibly rich I am in travel experiences. Here I was in a brand new corner of the country, taking in new sights while at the same time being reminded of Jerusalem, Northern Galilee, London, and Boston. Wow. What a variety of places God has put me, without my even realizing it.

Okay, so instead of launching into a full blow-by-blow account of our (my immediate family, that is-- sorry I forgot to mention that detail before) adventures, I'll try to just hit the highlights.

1) MOUNTAINS. REAL ones. I could harly believe it from the plane -- all these massive, craggy ranges, complete with honest-to-goodness snow on top. We're not in [my small, flat hometown] anymore, Toto. Mt. Ranier was the most impressive, of course. It kept popping up and surprising me around every turn (enough so that T and A got sick of me saying "Look! A mountain!" every 5 seconds). It was really weird to travel by typical stores and strip malls and suddenly see this majestic panorama towering above a Michael's like a fake backdrop meant to garner business. On one day we went to Olympic National Park and wound around impossibly steep cliffs with no guard rails (a little like the ascent of Akrabim only with trees). What a vista. On top we found some leftover snow and some feisty park rangers who were very diligent about protecting the dead pine needles on either side of the path. I thought of Brandon's Adventures in Yellowstone and of course appreciated their keeping us all safe. We didn't see one single buffalo...



The white stuff is snow. They must have had some crazy drifts this winter, because it was HOT and there were still piles lying around.



Here's A. leaping into the great beyond. This was before we saw the "please stay behind the wall" sign. Oh well. It wouldn't have been the first time we ignored such warnings on our trip. I think we killed a rainforest by the side of the road earlier in the day.... It brought back fond memories of Kingdom History trip.



2) "Only in Seattle" moments. There are always some signs of foreignness on trips like this. Just the fact that we were on the West coast was kind of weird. At one point A. said something about what we do "out East" -- do they say that in Washington? Or do they say "back East," since everything began here in the first place? hmm... Anyway, that's beside the point. The point is that people here really are majorly obsessed with coffee. At least that's what I gathered from the fact that we kept seeing espresso huts in every other parking lot. They were around the size of the old snackbar on the ballfield -- some even smaller-- with the one word "espresso" emblazoned on the front to assure weary passersby that they would survive until the next Starbucks. I didn't see very many people actually stopped at them, though, which made me wonder.... Personally, I missed Dunkin' Donuts (although that one green tea raspberry frappucino I had from Starbucks was pretty stinkin good).

Here's another oddity that I found highly amusing. I guess this fully-illustrated warning makes it very clear to potential lawbreaking truckers exactly what terrors they have to face if they DARE go over 30. I think I found my calling as an artist.








We also went to the famous Pike Place Market, which reminded me a lot of the souq. Part of it is an open-air type affair, with little booths of fruit, nuts, flowers, hot, melt-in-your-mouth donuts, and fish. The fish stands are particularly famous, I guess, because they throw the things around and tend to make a giant show of it all.


3) Friends. There are so many cool people in Seattle! We went to the A's house the afternoon we arrived (relations of Penny, Brad, and yes, Craig -- somehow that connection slipped my mind. so many family trees to remember...). We were treated to some FABULOUS raspberry pie made by Kristi, and enjoyed a tour of their beautiful home and backyard garden (I think we should hire out Mrs. A to come landscape for us). I'm afraid we weren't very thrilling company since our bodies were telling us it was around midnight... but it was a nice visit nonetheless and we got some good advice about what to do with ourselves in Seattle.
We also saw Luke and his fiancee (who was super nice and we all liked a lot). We met them at Safeco Field (more on that later) and watched the game with them, then went out to dinner later on. I had a great time chatting with Luke, getting caught up on our goings on, filling him in on the who's who of the 2006 Red Sox (kind of hard to stay on top of things way out there) and even launching into a very interesting discussion of politics. We covered a lot of ground during batting practice. :)
Finally, I got a chance to meet up with 4 friends from high school. I wasn't totally sure how it would go, but I ended up having a fabulous time and wish that they lived closer. It's kind of cool to relate with friends from long ago who are still the people you remember, only more grown up. If that makes any sense...

4) The Game.... Sigh. It really was a fabulous game, but such a killer loss. Safeco Field is really nice -- very big, and very new and therefore clean. One thing that struck me as being different from Fenway was the fact that we looked DOWN on the field when we walked in from the street level. Not the same glorious impact.... But there were plenty of reminders of home. The Sox fans were out in droves, and the camaraderie was all the more spectacular being so far from home. There was this instant bond with every 3rd person we saw, it seemed. I even sat next to a guy from Boston on the plane who was going to the same game we were, then heading to Oakland to catch the series there. At batting practice I chatted with a guy from Worcester; he showed me a picture of his daughter w/ Curt Schilling that he was going to try to get signed. What other team can boast such fabulous fans... I love it. During the game itself I was torn between reveling in The Nation's numbers and cringing at how loathed we were by the Mariners fans around us. There were some pretty hearty, stadium wide "Let's Go, Red Sox" cheers. I get the impression that it takes quite a bit to get the few Seattle fans whipped into much of a frenzy (though they got pretty frenzied at the end, which made the walk-off loss all the worse. But then there was that great guy who came walking past holding up his Boston hat and nodding to his comrades in the stand, "it's all right; we've still got it!")


Here's where we got our seats. Those tiny specks are apparently ballplayers. The depth perception was totally off from up here; we couldn't even tell which way the ball was going -- it was weird. An interesting perspective, but of course we fell back on our old ways and moved to some seats T scouted out for us about 30 rows up from the first base side of home. Nice. We didn't even get kicked out once! A new record!

As you can see, we got within pretty good picture range at batting practice. Alex Cora tossed a ball that Luke, being very tall, snagged. Someone near him asked who had thrown it...good thing I had just told him who Cora was :) At one point T was hanging out near where the pitchers were warming up and Manny Delcarmen tossed a ball into the stands. T reached in front of some girl and caught it, then felt bad and said he'd give her the next one. Sure enough, Craig Hansen threw him one, and he handed it over to the girl. Papelbon saw it, and yelled up, "WEAK!" to T. haha. T. tried to explain that he already had a ball, but "Papi Jr." just shook his head and yelled "weak!" again. Ah, the momentous brushes with fame.

There's plenty more I could write, such as the fact that we did in fact see the first ever Starbucks (and the awesome a cappela trio out front), and the Space Needle, and lots of art galleries (yay for me! poor everyone with me!), including one in the Experience Music Project building designed by THE Frank Gehry (oooh, ahhh... who's Frank Gehry? Look up the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. wowzers). However, this post is a veritable beast already, and I'm tired. Thanks to all you well-wishers out there -- we had a really good time. You can see more pictures if you ever run into me someday.

The end.

Reading Like Crazy!

I have approximately two weeks left free for the rest of the summer. Gasp! Where does the time go?! So I've designated it as reading time - as in, reading the books I'll be teaching next year.

Yesterday I read H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine." It was actually quite a fascinating read! I liked it better than "The War of the Worlds," which I'd finished just before. And it reminded me of this hilarious bit of writing.

Today, on a vastly different note, I read "The Pilgrim's Progress." Wow! I was sort of familiar with it, I guess, but hadn't read it in years (if I ever did read the whole thing). There are some really deep things there. I'd recommend it to all! It wasn't exactly a page turner, and I did skim some, but it was well worth the time. (I read just the first half - about Christian - and skipped the second half about his wife...)

I'm taking a break for the Sabbath (doing some P. G. Wodehouse or something), but then I'll be tackling such things as "Silas Marner" (has anyone read it? I haven't yet. Obviously.) and "Paradise Lost." Woooo!

Oh. Before vacation I massively skim-read "Frankenstein." I had no idea what a horrible story it was! Oy vay! Barely a drop of good cheer to be seen anywhere! I decided not to make my kids read it:) But I did learn something valuable: Frankenstein is the name of the guy who made the monster-ish guy, and not the monster-ish guy himself. Who would have thought?

When I wrote my PC English profs to let them know I was an English teacher, one wrote back with the bad news that it's a lot of work, but the good news that the work is usually reading, which is why we got into the field in the first place! Hurrah for books!

Weeohd!

The other night I needed a book (I hadn't really brought vacation books on our vacation - a serious blunder), so I rummaged in Aunt Laura's attic and found one I'd never read. I forget what the name and author are (it's waaaaay upstairs, and heaven forbid I leave the couch for investigative research), so sorry about that. But anyway, I picked it up and started to read and it was the weirdest thing. The book kept reminding me of myself!

It wasn't a particular character - it was more the author. She put in things that sounded so much like me. For instance, she had a character who got really mad when he walked outside and felt the cold air. That's ME! When I walked out on the way to school early early in the morning, and was hit by 20 below winds, I just wanted to punch something. Angrily.

And there was also the dislike of talking on the telephone - an inability to really communicate without being able to see the other person. Yup. That's me! Hate phones.

And then there was the guy who was feeling annoyed because he'd figured out the world's most beautiful word the night before and he'd forgotten it. I love beautiful sounding words! I've never figured out the world's most beautiful before, but if I did I'd surely forget it (if I didn't write it down immediately).

It's kind of uncanny, really. So many peculiar little things that made me think of me. That doesn't happen very often. I think there was another thing, too. And ALL of that was just in chapter one. Phew! At this rate, the depths of my soul will be in chapter 12!

"A man said Why, why does traveling
in cars and in trains make him feel sad,
a beautiful sadness.
I’ve felt this before.
It’s the people in the cities you’ll never know,
it is everything you pass by,
wondering will you ever return.
The colors of rowboats, the greens and the blues.
Orange grove side streets you only see halfway.
And beaches in winter
and when kites are flown.
It’s the people in the cities you’ll never know,
it is everything you pass by,
wondering will you ever return."

-Innocence Mission, "Song about Traveling"

Happy Golden Birthday, man. Find some good spots today.

Girls Week Flashback

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Girls' Week!


These two are at the ocean in Newport...



We had a lovely, sunny, chummy, and creative day!




Then there was ice cream in Newport...
And here is a sample of the AMAZING drama that came about because of the long van rides. Hurrah!

(Thanks Steph and Diane for the pics you left on my computer:)!)

Coffee, Rain, and Some Big Needle...

...is pretty much all I know about Seattle. But that is about to change! This is Melissa, by the way, back from the netherworld of summer school. Biology is over FOREVER! Huzzah. I still don't really have time to be posting anything, of course, since I haven't packed one speck and we're leaving the house at some horrible hour tomorrow morning(like 4:45 or something... is it even POSSIBLE to wake up that early?). But yes... I now declare to the blogging world that we are going to Seattle. My dad had Sky Miles that needed to be used up, so we randomly picked that unexplored corner of our fair land. Some of my friends from high school live out there, as well as cousin Luke and the um... people who are relations of Penny and Brad (there's my occasional burst of Internet Anonymity Consideration coming through), so it will be nice to see people who we haven't seen in forever. AND, what is more, we're going to our first Red Sox game on the road! Everyone be sure to watch every second of the game until you see us. I'm curious to see how many Sox fans there will be that far afield. No doubt a whole host... I love The Nation.

Maybe I'll figure out how to actually post some pictures one of these days so I can share the natural wonders (such as the aforementioned attractions) with the world. Okay. The end.

p.s. We're going to Sunday's game... kind of forgot that little detail.

24 - AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Okay, this post isn't really about 24. But MAN is that show intense. We have only two episodes left of season one... AAHHHHH!!!

What this post is really about is this: try to remember waaaay back to 7th grade. What was your favorite book of those you had to read in school? Or 8th grade? Or 9th? In the next few days I'm hoping to finalize the list of books we'll be reading in the lower grades, and I'd love some suggestions. I can only remember a couple of the books I read then, but I figure that if all of you remember one or two, I'll have quite a list to work from...

So how about it? What books did you enjoy as a junior high school student?

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my father's birthday!

He is my all-time #1 hero. If I was allowed to have an idol, he would be it.

I was a little limited in my selection of photos (not being a digital camera person, myself), but I liked this one that was on my computer from Girls' Week. He is looking inspiring, and I am looking adoring:)

I love you, Daddy!

Literature Prep

I've been working on getting ready for teaching my BRITISH LITERATURE class next year (woooooooohoooooooooooooo!!!). My preliminary preparation has been reading up on the history of England. What a tale! I never took a British History class (shame on me), and things are beginning to click left and right!

"Ohhhh, THAT'S what the 100 year war was! Ohhhhh, THAT'S why Bonnie Prince Charlie should have been king! Ohhhhhh, THAT'S where the word spinster comes from! Ohhhh, THAT'S what "Tudor" and "Stuart" and all that is referring to!"

I love learning things!

But as I'm going through history like that, I have to brace myself for my strange alter-ego tendencies to emerge. I am such a conservative, and such a fan of tradition, that I just side with the Kings and Queens as a matter of course. So I'm reading along about such and such a king that was living in horrible excess, and I get annoyed when Parliament tries to check him! Weird. I really had to stop and get hold of myself when I was siding with the King against the MPs who wanted freedom of religion! Good grief. This conservative thing can go a bit too far. I mean, I'm an American, after all! I DO believe in freedom! So I decided that the Kings were pretty cool, but sometimes they did have some, er, issues.

By the way, I'm doing this study out of "A Children's History of Britain and Wales" or something like that. It's perfect! It's written for older children, who are really supposed to be learning, so there is actually serious content there. But it's not filled with humongous words, dry passages about currencies and such, or political nuances (or blatant agendas). Very nice! More history books should be written that way.

The Homerun Derby!

Oh my WORD!

Okay, remember (those of you who have any kind of maturity of years) the '94 baseball strike? Everyone wondered if baseball had just lost all of its support, if it would ever recover, and all that stuff.

Well, we're talking big-time recovery tonight, boy howdy!!! MLB.com (that would be the Major League Baseball) is streaming the home run derby on the Internet. I'm sitting here typing this blog while I watch it! What could be better?! Who needs cable?! David Ortiz is definitely going to win, that's my prediction.

Baseball. Ahhhhh. What a beautiful thing.

The NE Curse

For those of you who may not read my blog all that much - and even for those of you have picked up on the fact that I kind of like teaching, but haven't yet picked up on other nuances of the Dreweyfern Blog, allow me to enlighten you to the fact that I love New England. I think it is one of the best (if not THE best) places on Earth. It is beautiful - historical - characterful - idiosyncratic in a most endearing way - and pretty much perfect in every possible way.

However (as we learn in the Little Elba song), there has to be something to remind us that this world is not our home, and that we're bound for a more perfect place. New England's particular reminder is mosquitoes.

Daddy set up the hammock: the place of joy and peace and relaxation. Hurrah! However, I kind of forgot (during all those winter months) that evening is not the best time for hammock lounging. I happily read for a little while before noticing my back was kind of itchy. As was my arm. And there were some mosquitoes and mayflies buzzing around. I decided it was time to go inside.

And THERE I discovered that I had not been victim to a bug here or there. I had been absolutely GNAWED upon! I had been out there with a blanket, but the weasely bugs had figured out that they could access my back and arm from the backside of the hammock. I HAD 15 BITES!!! Grrrrr. And some of them were huge! My prize winner is about the size of a quarter.

Being the socialite that I am, I went from family member to family member showing them the monstrosity on my arm, garnering all the sympathy I could. They did a good job being sympathetic. But I needed MORE sympathy. So up to Shawn and Gretchen's I went. Ian let out a particularly gratifying exclamation of awe when he saw the bite. Little boys know all about bad bug bites.

In the famed words from years gone by: poor, poor, pitiful me!

“All that Mattered”

I was glancing through a Guidepost article about Bonhoeffer recently, because it happened to be lying open on the counter at the Brown’s.

[Side note: Isn’t it amazing how God can work through “chance” occurrences like that? So often He will bring just the right thing along at just the right time. It’s like He knows us or something!]

Anyway, as I was reading the article it had a little sentence that ran something like this: “God was all that mattered to him.” I have thought of that SO often since then. That’s what I want to be true of me!

After reading that phrase, the importance of a real, vital relationship was emphasized to me by something I chanced upon on the Internet: some guy’s disillusionment with fake Christianity. I realized that I need to be absolutely real in my Christianity – connected with the source of Life. I can’t rely on past inspiration. I need to be up to date – constantly seeking – constantly getting closer.

[Side note 2: Isn’t it amazing how God brings along something to reinforce the lesson He’s taught, so it’s really cemented? It’s like He knows us or something!]

This summer I have more time than I have during the school year (though I’ll be quite busy preparing next year’s classes!), and I want to make it a summer spent in the pursuit of God. That’s what matters!

The Sanguine and the Melancholic

Last night at about bedtime I decided I wasn’t sleepy. So, anticipating Kimberly’s taking my car to work in the morning, I thought I’d empty all of the junk out of it for cleaning the next day. I had moved all of my stuff up from RI for the summer, but hadn’t unloaded it yet. So I began tackling the job. And it was quite the job! What a mountain of disorganized rubble met my eyes.

My car has a strange leak in it, which means that after there’s a hard rainfall there’s standing water in my car for days. This time the water was beginning to smell stronger than usual. Grim.

I began cleaning up a storm, picking things up and dumping them onto the driveway for transport. But alas, the more things I picked up, the worse the smell became. Uh oh. A bad sign, indeed. This must mean that it was NOT the standing water stinking up the place.

I delved deeper, through a smelly book, some smelly CDs, my smelly jacket (the shoulder was damp – gulp), some smelly potatoes (which were left over from the Girls Week), some smelly flour bags (ditto), and discovered, to my dismay, a Lipton Tea bottle, somewhat damp. Ahhhhhh! One of the girls bought it during Girls’ Week, and it must have leaked out. And WHAT a stench!

So back into the house I went to retrieve dry rags, wet rags, and club soda. After several soakings of various kinds I decided that I’d done all I could do. I began carrying things back into the house. A few loads later, and after I’d hung my smelly coat on the line to air out, I grabbed the potatoes to take into the house.

PEW!

It was then I realized that the potatoes, not the Lipton Tea, had created the problem. Oy VAY! Those things stank. For some strange reason the potatoes had not withstood 5 days in a roasting hot car. Odd. In any case, they were rotting and fermenting to beat the band. Gross potato juice had accumulated in the bottom of the bag, and that what is had leaked into my car. Alas!

I left them, as well as the tainted flour bags, outside, and put the book and CDs on the porch. I left the car windows open to try to air out the car, and decided that I was, finally, ready for bed.

The next morning I came downstairs to find a note on the counter that Kimberly had left before she went to work. It read like this:

Some early morning observations:
1. Found a book and 2 CDs on chair outside on porch
2. Noticed side door was unlocked
3. Fern’s coat on clothes line may get rust on it that way
4. Andrea’s car windows are open
5. Saw bag of potatoes and 2 bags of flour outside downstairs door way.
6. I LOVE MY FAMILY!

I read it, and was somewhat amused, but then, as I thought more about it, I just laughed and laughed. On one hand were my frantic endeavors in the middle of the night, combating decay and ruin in the midst of chaos, and on the other Kimberly’s pristine, unhurried chronicling of the results of my frenzied activity.

What a great juxtaposition! The only thing that might come close to that kind of black and white comparison is the fact that she had time to make such a list on a work morning, where I would be dashing out the door with my hands full of things I couldn’t take time to pack up in my bag.

We certainly are a strange pair. But fortunately, despite our dissimilarities, we have a great time together!

Girls' Week Report

For those who prayed, THANK YOU! It was a stunningly wonderful time. I had a group that was fun, interesting, enthusiastic, cooperative, thoughtful, friendly, and spiritually alive. They all got along with each other, and seemed to enjoy everything I threw at them. They even worked happily! My goodness.

We took trips to Newport, Boston, Wrentham, and Concord, MA. We saw amazing sights! We had an amazing amount of fun!

The girls learned the Virginia Reel, made up skits and radio dramas, sang, laughed, played games they'd never played before, and generally kept themselves beautifully and wholesomely entertained.

We also had some rich times in morning devotions and in the meetings. Our theme was "Intimacy with God," and I think we did more that just talk about it - we deepened our intimacy with Jesus. We had some marked times of hearing the call of God to our hearts. Praise the Lord!

And the most startling part of all, for me, was the fact that I was feeling sad about the week coming to a close. Generally, I have a great time, but I'm exhausted by week's end. This time I was feeling blothpicky about it ending. That was quite new!

Hurrah for Girls' Week 2006!

ps. Well, I valiantly struggled to upload pictures to accompany this post. But I am at Fairwood, and thus am trying to maneuver with dial-up. Sigh. Sorry. Maybe another time...

Girls' Week!

The Girls' Week has officially begun, folks. So no lengthy posts or brilliant essays. Just wanted to pop in to say that it's going SO WELL. Fabulous group of girls - fabulous schedule planned. Huzzah!

I would appreciate any little prayers you might shoot up on our behalf. I really want God's anointing to make it more than just a fun time. And an absence of rain would be just wonderful. Especially on Wednesday when we're going for a hay ride type thing:)

Thanks, all!

Sightseeing in Kentucky! (And Cincinatti, sort of, in an Across the River Kind of Way)

I have become quite enamored of this bridge. I love it! I guess I have a thing for beautiful bridges, like I do for arches. It must point to some deep spiritual truth or something. Anyway, this is fast becoming my second favorite bridge (After the Newport one, of course)!
..


This is beautiful 2nd street. So historic. So lovely. I loved the little gardens in front of each house. They were exquisite. I wish I had a close up shot, but Renee was telling a story and I didn't want to interrupt her any more than I already was:)


...

Here is a cute little arched door we found. It was so very wee!

And lastly, Cincinatti at night. Ahhhhhhh. (Note the beautiful bridge in the foreground!)

Looky Looky! I'm in Cincinnati/Covington

Renee (my wonderful fellow teacher) and I have now arrived at our hotel. It is AMAZING! Here are a few pics of the room itself (Renee is by the window, working diligently). Note the sweet laptop. That's mine:)


.....


Here is the lobby. There is a player piano in the middle of the, um, canopy thing. It's playing tunes as we speak. There is a tile fountain behind it which is hard to see, unfortunately.



.......



Here is the Red's Stadium! I took this picture from my hotel room window.

Woo woo!

So far this conference business is great!

Explanation of Truancy

I'm so sorry I haven't posted for the past couple of days. I even have something I want to write about! But I've just been too jolly busy with social obligations and partay-ing and such. And today I've been preparing for tomorrow's adventure to KENTUCKY (of all places - who goes to Kentucky?) where I'm going to be attending a teaching conference (all expenses paid by the school - what fun!). So, ya, I'm not blogging. But I am taking my laptop to Kentucky, so hopefully I can find a few moments there... But no promises:)

PS. Happy Anniversary to Shawn and Gretchen! One of my all-time favorite couples, for sure.

Day 4: Why the Problems of the World Can't be Solved by Talking

Short Answer:

Because not even the problems between two people can always be solved by talking. How could 6 billion even remotely think of talking it all out?

Long Answer:

When our church was undergoing some, er, tension, back in the mid 90s or so, I had this dream of peace. I would just go up to Pastor X (whoever he may have been) and say "Hey, let's talk..." I would explain how things stood, he would see the light, and all would be well! Sigh. I never did get the opportunity to do so. So much for my saving of the day.

And yet, somehow methinks a little sit-down with all the Pastors Xs in the world would have done little. Because no matter how much I talk, or how loudly, people still have this irritating habit of having their own opinions! And (gasp) talking to me in reply! There was nothing in my scheme of saving the world that included a dialogue. I talk, they see the light, world saved. It's very simple. Bother these people with their own opinions! Obviously what this world needs more of is totalitarian dictatorship. By me of course. Under anyone else disaster would ensue.

Hm. My days of teaching US Government are wafting back to me from the mists of the past. Perhaps a totalitarian dictatorship is not the best plan. Even though I would be an awe-inspiring dictator, I'm sure.

Okay, Plan B: NOBODY should talk about ANYTHING! We should all adopt the "Ostrich Mentality." If there's a problem, ignore it. Bury your head in the sand. You know, the more I learn about the Victorians the more I like them. Not only was Tennyson among them (moment of reverent silence), but they had this method of surviving the tensions of the times which I find refreshing: Muddle Through. Just keep on going, not addressing the tension, and probably somehow things will work out. Or if they don't, at least the results may be ignorable.

There. I think I've solved it. If the problems in the world can't be solved by talking or by dictatorship clearly ostriching is the way to go. Rest easy, dear readers. I have found the answer.

Day 3: The Emergence of the Smiley Face into the World of Punctuation

When I was young, maybe 12 or 18 (I can't remember which), my Grandfather (FSM) told my Father (TFM) that he was impressed by a recent letter I'd written him (FSM). It was well-written without any spelling or grammatical errors.

(I had written the whole letter with a dictionary at my side - I am a terrible speller. It took me years to convince my sister that this was because of some genetic fluke and not because of a low IQ. I am quite sure that some of the great geniuses of the past couldn't spell either. I mean, look at Shakespeare!)

I wonder what my grandfather would think if he could see the e-mails I write now. Terrible punctuation! She keeps putting colons at the ends of sentences, and then closes parentheses on them as if she had opened parentheses earlier in the e-mail. Which she hasn't! What is this younger generation coming to?!

I admit, the whole :) as punctuation thing can be overdone. I have to go back over my comments on other people's blogs to edit for them. I usually put in a ! or a hee hee hee instead. Once in awhile a . will suffice.

But really the merits of the :) as punctuation are notable. Have you ever noticed that it is almost impossible to include inflection in the written word? One simply cannot add a note of humor to a sentence. If you choose the right words you can give the reader a sense of irony or even sarcasm. But the gentle smile? Hard to recreate with the written word. But with the :) all is solved! No fear that a reader will misinterpret your subtle humor.

Note the difference:
- Admit it: it was an excellent movie. (Tone implication: You must bow to my opinion. I am right. And I am therefore superior in every way. You should probably grovel now.)
- Admit it: it was an excellent movie:) (Tone implication: Wasn't I right in recommending the movie? Wasn't it worth your time? Your valuable time? And aren't we chummy?)

The :) has saved me many times. There is no mistaking it. I try to use at least one per comment. Well, okay, I really don't try. They just pop out. But I try not to use them so much in my regular posts since they are very e-mail-esque to me. Although I have caught myself using them when writing with a pen, or even a pencil. I've even put them in my journal.

Hmmm, it's sounding like it's taking on epidemic-like proportions. I'm going to have to watch it.

Also, while I'm talking about inflection (which I was talking about a few paragraphs ago), have you ever noticed that it is impossible to add inflection to something whispered? Try it. Whisper "and her name was?" and then "and her name was." They sound identical! I noticed it when my Mom and I were trying to carry on a conversation in whispers and I thought she was making a statement when really she was asking a question. The dialogue that followed was momentarily reminiscent of Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First?". Remarkable the role that inflection plays in communication.

:)

Day 2: The Stages of Paper Grading (kind of like the stages of grief, only different…)

* Stage One: Optimism

Thought Process: Of course my students learned from the comments I carefully wrote all over the last papers they submitted. I am about to witness the transformation that comes about as a result of my revolutionary teacher comments.

Timing: Right at the beginning of the paper grading process, after just sitting down in an oh-so-comfy chair with a crisp stack of papers in one hand, a pencil in the other, and a mug of cocoa in whichever hand can take the extra load.

Visible: The top cover page in the stack of papers: Title, Date, Name, Teacher's Name

* Stage Two: Disillusionment

Thought Process: Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! What is this?! I corrected this exact thing in the last paper! Grrrrrrr.

Timing: While reading the first sentence of the first paper.

Visible: "Ancient Greek literature was written on the risings, apexes, and downfalls of the different cultures and epochs of Greek history."

* Stage Three: Anger

Thought Process: Those kids (grumble grumble). Don’t they know that words mean things?! What in the blooming world are they thinking? Didn’t they ever learn to write?!?!

Timing: All throughout the first several papers.

Visible: Sentences like "Because of the war, peace, community and philosophy written by these great authors, Greece has become what is is today," and "Oedipus at Colonus was written during the High Classical Period when there were a lot of Polynesian wars between Athens and Sparta accompanied by severe Greek civil fighting.

*Stage Four: Resentment

Thought Process: What in the world were their past teachers teaching these kids?! How dare they pass them along into high school with writing abilities like these?!

Timing: Following hard upon stage three’s commencement.

Visible: "This is what Homers next writing encouraged Greece to do to live how they were living like back in the peaceful times of the Minoan era."

*Stage Five: Audible Grumbling

Thought Process: If I complain aloud about the ridiculous errors my kids are making, surely my grumblings will be validated by the poor person occupying this room with me.

Timing: Alongside stages three and four.

Visible: Melissa's sympathetic and kindly patient face.

*Stage Six: Awakening

Thought Process: Hey, these kids aren’t really evil, plotting specifically to ruin my evening. They just don’t have quite the same passion that I do for essay writing. Yet.

Timing: Right after the poor person occupying this room with me says, “Hm. It’s weird to be on the other side of the paper from the ‘I really don’t care, I just want to get this done’ perspective.”

Visible: The folly of my own optimism.

*Stage Seven: Acceptance

Thought Process: --------- (not a lot of thought going on, just a grim determination to get through the stack as efficiently as possible)

Timing: Just after awakening.

Visible: A never-ending stack of, um, 3 more papers (sorry, Chad).

Day 1: Sports and the Human Spirit

"I have long believed that competition in sports is detrimental to the human spirit." So says Debra Herrera in the most recent issue of Reader's Digest. Is she right? Does competition hurt humanity?

Herrera, doubtless, is writing from a totally secular worldview. She probably buys into today’s philosophy that no man is better than any other man, no viewpoint better than any other viewpoint. Thus competition is pointless. My worldview is opposed to such a philosophy. Belief in God means belief that the world was created for God, that there is a right way and a wrong way, that there is absolute truth. And there is something in every man that knows he was made for more than this temporal, fleeting existence. There is something in man that desires God.

So where do sports fit in? Does competition in sports help or hinder this aspect of human nature that ultimately desires God? For the casual on-looker sports may appear to be neutral ground. It neither helps nor hinders man in his search for deeper meaning.

However, to the not casual on-looker it quickly becomes apparent that competition in sports can actually help in man's search for truth, because sports are allegorical of what God has created man for.

Sport, of any kind, demands the best out of its players. There is nothing of today's apathetic, relativistic spirit in sports. To be remembered, to be honored, one must be among the best. The precision and speed and strength demanded of today's top athletes is stunning. Similarly, there is something in the human spirit that is crying out for the best. The culture wants to stifle that, to encourage mediocrity. Christianity says no, there is a best; there is a right and wrong. Where else is that truth reflected in today's culture better than in the sporting world?

Herrera claims that it is the competition in sports that is so detrimental to the human spirit. But that competition - that thing that will pay almost any price to defeat the opposition - is allegorical of what is going on in a cosmic sense all around us. There is a war going on for the hearts of men. It is a life and death struggle. And men must be willing to align with the good against the evil. Yes, the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry is not exactly cosmic, but it certainly illustrates the passionate desire to conquer the enemy. Our culture seeks to blur the lines between good and evil. There are no "bad guys," it says. But rivalry in sports helps to keep alive the all-important idea of good vs. evil.

Lastly, sports promote unity, both among teammates and among fans. There is an instant kinship between people wearing the same sports jersey. There is a common bond that is at its height when the competition is the fiercest. This, too, is allegorical of what God intends in man. God has built into mankind the need for fellowship. What is more strengthening than communion with a fellow-pilgrim of "like precious faith?" Again, sports provide a clear reminder of that truth.

So let us not say that competition in sports is detrimental to the human spirit. Rather sports serve as an allegory to truth - a representation of the world as God has created it. Sports are about striving for the best, overcoming the enemy, and finding unity. These are the things our culture needs more of.

Certainly sports are a very dim reflection of truth. I do not advocate going to sporting events as one would go to church. But God has filled the world with symbols and allegories of Himself. "The heavens declare the glory of God!" Might it not be that other things in the earthly realm declare His glory as well? Sports have been around almost as long as humanity itself. Competition is not new. There is something there that is part of the human spirit. And I propose that competition is a part of the human spirit in order to remind man, in however small a way, of what he should be in this cosmic struggle.

Summer Time = Post Time!

Okay, here's the deal. I just want to write! So I'm going to write.

I want to try posting a post every day this week (starting tomorrow) about random subjects that go beyond just what's going on in my life. Okay? Okay. Here we go.

(This may not last past tonight, just to warn you.)

Last Day!!!!!!!

Today was my last day of teaching. One year complete. Wow. God is so good. I LOVE TEACHING!

And then I came home, exhausted, after cleaning out my room for TWO hours. I was up in my room when Uncle Paul called up, "Ummm, Andrea, I think you have a flat tire." "Oh," I said. I wasn't really computing, since my mind was on a project I was working on, and I am kind of used to random things going wrong with my car. "And I think there's a dent in your fender." "Oh," I said. "Do you want to come confirm?" he asked. Oh, I got it at last. I was supposed to go down and look.

Down I went, and Uncle Paul greeted me with a "I know you didn't really need this right now..." And he opened the door to the great outdoors.

AND THERE WERE LINDSAY, AMY, KATIE, CRAIG, AND KIMBERLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They came down to party with me in celebration of my completed first year of school!

Sooooo, I can't write right now, must go party.

PS. I feel SO loved. It's amazing. I have the world's best friends!

What Does it Mean?!

Has anyone else noticed the recent rash of Princess Bride allusions in the blog-o-sphere?! It's been on Karena's blog, Aaron's blog (via Meredith's comment), and Craig's blog. And now it's on my blog! The Princess Bride is EVERYWHERE! I think it's a sign. A good omen, as it were. I mean, it might be a bad omen, but how could a movie that classic be a bad omen? So it must be a good omen (I might be teaching logic next year, can you tell?).


So I'm wondering if there is any way to analyze and interpret this phenomenon. What can it all mean? There must be some deep, cosmic reason for it. Any ideas?

Perhaps there is an adventure in store, and we are being prepared for it: some adventure of revenge and betrayal and pursuit and love and courage. Or maybe someone is going to be poisoned and this is the cosmic warning. Maybe we've reached the saturation point for bad news in the world and our coping mechanism includes dwelling on fairy tales. Maybe we are just due for a laugh. Maybe the end of the world is at hand! Hmmm, anyone have any creative ideas?

Wheeeeee!

I'm typing this post on my brand new laptop!!! It's beautiful! It's speedy! It's fun! It's mine!

All year I've had in mind the fact that eventually I'll have to stop bumming off the Brown's computers, and finally, when my family decided we'd put our England trip off for a year (which meant I had money in the bank) the time was right. So Shawn scouted out the best possibilities on-line, and Gretchen went to town and brought home MY LAPTOP!

I'm having such fun personalizing it. First, Shawn helped me go through the initial business of putting in your name and agreeing to something-or-other in the Terms & Conditions. But NOW I get to do the more fun personalizing.

First things first, of course. I set Google as my homepage:) Then I zipped over to Webshots.com to get beauuuuutiful pictures for my background. Then I downloaded itunes. And now I'm blogging! My next step will be to start adding people's blogs to my favorites list:) What fun to have my OWN favorites list, and not be just a folder on someone else's (a very kind someone else, at that) computer.

YIPPEEEEEE!!!!

Blessings upon the heads of Shawn and Gretchen. Boy oh boy, did Gretchen every marry well:)

Emily Would Be Proud!

Yesterday, in our poetry unit, we read Emily Dickinson's fabulous poem, "I'm nobody, who are you?" If you aren't familiar with the poem, google it right away. It's so charming!


Anyway, I taught the class second period, and the day progressed as usual. Then, at the very end of the day, as the kids were coming from their classrooms and heading to the end of the hall to wait for their parents, I saw one of my students accosted by a younger student in a silly mood.

"Who are you?" asked the younger student, feigning amnesia, or something.
"I'm nobody, who are you?" responded my student with a knowing look toward me.

WOW!!! I have an 8th grade boy quoting Emily Dickinson!!! My little heart swelled with joy as I acknowledged his wit.

I love teaching!

(PS. Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the high school. We're going to be partying like crazy... With "Ice Age" and chocolate!)

(PPS. Happy Birthday to my nephew, Michael, who is six today! He holds an inexpressibly precious place in my heart. I love you, Misha!)

Another World...

I have just returned home from Florida, and have this weird feeling that I was in a strange and amazing dream-world, or even parallel universe, for the past couple of days.

In this parallel universe, that had almost zero relation to most of my life, except for some of the principle characters, I was in blazing sunshine, on green grass, next to the blue, blue ocean. I was surrounded by a host of friends almost non-stop (you can't get much more blissful than that in my book!). With these friends I was playing volleyball on the beach and watching the sun set over the ocean and going out to eat and bowling and playing games and talking and laughing a lot. And burying treasure in the sand, of course.

Oh ya, and two of the said friends were married! (Small detail there...) They were married in a beautiful, meaningful ceremony that celebrated the sanctity of what they were embarking on. And the music was killer (hee hee hee). I rejoice in the goodness of God, in bringing Jeff and Fritha together, and I trust for His continued blessing on them!

Most of you have probably already seen DJ's post w/ its link to an abundance of pictures (good job, Steph!). If you haven't, check it out!

Teaching Poetry

I'm teaching a wonderful poetry unit to the 7th and 8th grade now. I am discovering that junior high is not exactly the time when one's literary analysis skills are at their peak. This is good news for college professors, but it makes for some interesting moments for me. I love teaching middle school - I'm just discovering that I have to teach on a very basic level. There are some moments where light dawns. Those are wonderful and exciting moments in my teaching world. They usually happen with the 7th grade girls. The 8th grade boys are much more literal. Note the juxtaposition of these two classes last Friday.

7th Grade Girls

Me: So, girls, what do you think of this Raven in Poe's poem? What do you think it could represent?
Girl #1: Maybe death?
Me: Okay, good! We know that someone has died, and the narrator is thinking about that a lot. What else? Why do you think he asks the Raven questions that have such sad answers, when he knows the raven will answer that way?
Girl #2: OH! Maybe he WANTS to keep on feeling sad! He doesn't want to be happy!
Me: Exactly! He is so sad about the person who has died that he thinks the grief will last forever! Good! So now what do you think the Raven stands for?
Girl #1: sadness!
Me: Very good!

8th Grade Boys

Me: So, guys, what do you think of this raven in Poe's poem?
Boy #1: I don't get why he's stuck with it forever.
Boy #2: Ya, why doesn't he just shoo it out the window?
Boy #3: Or hit it with a broom or something?
Boy #1: He could move to a different house!
Boy #3 (with an evil glint in his eye and a sly grin which I instantly and accurately interpreted as the look associated with guns) OR, he could SHOOT it!
Me: Umm, well that's true... But maybe Poe didn't really want to write about a literal talking bird. Maybe he was using the bird as a symbol... (My voice fades as I look nervously at the clock).

I love teaching!!!

Qualifications on Nature Loving

(Editor's note: I may be mixing two nature stories together here. But hey, it makes for a better story.)

As the weather turns warmer, more and more of America is pouring out of doors to enjoy the sunshine. I happily joined them, recently, taking my blanket in one hand, my books and notebooks in the other, and traipsing out to the lawn to do lesson plans in the presence of Nature. I sat down and began to work.

Hm. I kept having to switch positions. The ground was really quite hard. No sofa cushions in the grass here. And no back of the easy chair to lean against either. I had to hold myself up, and try to keep my legs from falling asleep. Wheeee. Nature.

And I seemed to have plunked myself down right in one of those ant paths. I had to keep flicking the things off of me. And sometimes they would crawl in between my toes and suddenly feel intimidated and randomly bite me. Grrrr.

And THEN I looked down and saw that my book was covered in tiny little reddish brown bugs that hopped when you touched them. I quickly realized that if they were covering my book, they could be covering everything else in sight, too. That would include me. Ahhhhhh! I sprang to my feet and forsook nature. Enough was enough!

Nature is full of bugs and hardness and crawly things (oh, I forgot to mention the spider that was on me!) and sun in the eyes and probably many more gross and annoying things that I didn't even detect. Blah on nature.

However, the call of the sunshine is a strong one. So I got a rocking chair from the porch and carried it out in the grass to a place I could put my feet up on a convenient rock. I will enjoy nature on my own terms (a. comfort, b. no wildlife near my person), thank you very much.

Sigh. Thoreau would never have approved of me.

Just a Small Grammatical Note

(or a large one, as the case may be...)

A LOT IS TWO SEPARATE WORDS!!!

...A................LOT

ALWAYS

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Okay, my tyrannical inner grammarian is appeased...for now.

Ahhhhh.....

I hope nobody checked this blog in the past 5 minutes, because I accidentally posted only the title. Oh well -- it pretty much says it all anyway.

Right now I am sitting on the couch in our den with four sleeping puppies in my lap, watching the Red Sox winning over the... well, you know who... and I'm NOT WORRYING ABOUT SCHOOL!!! How much better can life get? I have NOTHING due! I keep thinking, "I should be painti... no....I should be resear... no... studyi.... no..." NOTHING! After my math exam today I joined Lisa in that Universal Grin of Release. I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh, or cry, or scream, or jump, or what... but oh man, what a spring in my step! (especially after returning my 10 or so spoot library books that I'm so sick of looking at)

Hopefully I will post more soon after being cut off from all civilization for a while, but I do actually have to go to bed earlyish tonight... I have an intense faculty vs. student art department volleyball match tomorrow, and I have to be in prime shape.

Life is good.

Community Living

RI is, as you all know, the smallest state in the union. And yet, it's not as if a short stroll will take you from one side to the other. I drive an hour to get to work! But little by little I am becoming more familiar with the state, its highways and byways, its quirks, its people (who might fall under the category of quirks in some cases).

But last week I experienced a moment that brought the state into focus as a cheery neighborhood full of dear friends. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but hey, it sounded good. In any case, I did have one of those bonding-with-strangers moments that makes me so happy.

I was in the McDonald's drive-through (getting a fruit and yogurt parfait - yum!), stopped and waiting for my food, while listening to sports radio (now THERE is a subject for another whole blog - I love sports radio!). All of a sudden it was as if my radio had gone into surround sound or something. Huh? And then I realized that the Fed-Ex truck that had pulled up nearby was also blaring sports radio! Yay! We were so of one mind!

It reminds me of the time Lindsay started singing a song in the car, and the lady next to us at the stoplight sang the next line! Or when I walked out of the main house singing a song about summer, and a voice wafted down from up near the women's dorm with the next line. Or Claire's recent sneezing story on her blog. So many nice things that bring people together.

Oh! I thought of another one! I was sitting at a stoplight waiting to go, and there was an advanced green for the people coming our way. There was an elderly driver next to me who assumed his light must be green if theirs was, and he went! The car behind him drew up beside me, looked over at me, and shrugged in a mystified and amused way.

Of course, then there are the times in which the whole world seems to be a community, but you are on the outside. Okay, I really only have one example of this. Yesterday I was driving home from work, and suddenly realized that I hadn't gotten hung up in traffic yet, even though I was at the place where traffic usually slows. And then it began to be uncanny. There was no one going under the speed limit in the fast lane! What was going on?! People kept moving into the slow lane when I gained on them. What?! I began to wonder if there was some weird conspiracy going on. Where were all those people who go 60 in a 65? Was there some state-wide event everyone but me knew about? The mystery was never cleared up. I guess it was just a light day for traffic. Strange. But I'll take it!

MA Tax Dollars Put to Excellent Use

Last night saw the first Sox/Yankees game of the season. Big news. Also, it saw the Johnny Damon, now in pinstripes, playing against his old team. Even bigger news. But all of that was overshadowed by one of the most exciting/unusual outside-the-game moments I've seen in baseball.

Tim Wakefield is a knuckleball pitcher, and knuckleballs are really hard to catch. The new catcher was having fits trying to hold onto the pitches. It was starting to be a real problem. So yesterday, the Red Sox re-acquired Wake's catcher from last year: Doug Mirabelli.

Problem: Mirabelli was in San Diego when the deal went through. And Wakefield was pitching that night. Thus the mad dash.

Doug jumped on a plane and flew across the country (and three time zones), landing at Logan Airport at 6:48. The game was scheduled for a 7:05 start. A police cruiser was waiting (here's where the tax dollars come in), traffic was stopped, and Doug flew through the streets at maximum speeds (the radio guys said 100 mph, but I don't know if they were being literal or not). Doug's uniform was in the vehicle, and he arrived at Fenway all suited up, and ready to catch Wakefield, a little after 7:00. How dramatic!

The Red Sox beat the Yankees 7-3, and Doug didn't allow any passed balls.

[Bonus info: Veritek was going to catch if Doug didn't make it in time, and the back-up pitcher (in case anything happened to Veritek) was going to be Alex Cora. Cora is a utility infielder. He said he hadn't played catcher since he was 14 years old. But he wasn't worried. Instead he gamely pointed out that that was what 'utility' meant! I thought that was so cool!]

This morning the radio guys were arguing about whether Mirabelli should have had the police escort. Feel free to leave opinions on the matter if you so desire (I'm sure you can't guess where I stand).

Regaining Sanity One Laugh at a Time

I have a fellow teacher, named Bev, who is an absolute treasure. She's southern, with a fantastic sense of humor, an easy-going personality, and a non-intimidating conversational style. We totally clicked, very early in the year. I love her! She's the science/math teacher, so, as you will know if you read my last entry, she is the one who was out last Monday.

The catch is, she asked her husband to call the school to let the headmaster know, and her husband forgot to do so. Consequently, no one knew where she was. Calling her cell phone wasn't working, and we didn't know her home phone number. Despite my generally optimistic outlook, I couldn't help wondering if something awful had happened and she was dead or something. I was relieved to see her the next morning.

Today was parent/teacher conference day (yes, these two things will tie together eventually). I only had ONE conference scheduled, so the day was practically a day off for me (I lead a charmed life). I popped in to talk to Bev after my conference, and we ended up having the best chat ever!

And in the midst of said chat, I had a very "Tuesdays with Maurie" moment, because I remembered that during that past Monday, when I thought she was dead or something, I was really horrified at the thought that I'd never let her know how much she meant to me. So I told her the story of how I thought she was dead (with a lot of laughter on both sides), and then I told her how much she has helped me this year.

Being a first year teacher, I'm still getting used to my co-workers as well as the way things work at the school. In recent months my patience has been short when it comes to some personality quirks and people's blunt ways of approaching things. I grit my teeth in the teacher's lounge much more often than I do in the classroom. But what has helped me immensely is Bev's approach. Over and over my blood pressure would be rising, and I would hear her laugh. I would suddenly realize that I don't have to be irritated by this! I could laugh it off! The personality clashes were becoming a big deal in my mind, and she saved my life repeatedly. She is like oil on troubled waters: a peacemaker without even knowing it.

As I told this to Bev, she seemed quite surprised, as well as happy to hear it. She told me that her first year at the school she'd also had a hard time dealing with the other teachers. But it got better once she adjusted. And then she blessed me so much by telling me that she had noticed I was bothered a couple of times when things were said to me (this kind of scared me, actually, because I thought I hid it pretty well. She and I are pretty similar in some ways, though, so maybe that has something to do with it.), and she had prayed for me those days! Can you believe it?! It was my turn to be surprised and happy. I had no idea she'd prayed for me! I had a secret ally!

I came out of the room loving her even more than when I'd walked in. I passed on a compliment to her, and got back a whole new understanding of God's goodness in providing us with people like that.

Just wanted to share my happy tale:)

Speaking of Choosing a New Identity...

WHO AM I?!?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD ME!?

What brought on this identity crisis, you may ask. Well. I will tell you. Monday I got back from Spring Break to the news that the math teacher was out, and I was the lucky one who was subbing for her. I walked into class expecting to monitor a study hall, and found lesson plans instead. And then... (gasp) I TAUGHT MATH. And what's more, I really enjoyed it.

Really!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

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Here I was, I who had disparaged math for so many years, enjoying the fact that parallel lines intersected by a transversal always create equal angles at points 2, 4, 6, and 8. Always! I think what got me was the absolute-ness of it all. There's no saying, "Welllll, you could have phrased that better" on a math problem. It's either right or wrong. But even better was the whole mystery solving part of it all. You get this weird picture of lines all crisscrossing each other, with only a few angles filled in, and by breaking it down into smaller parts you can fill in the missing angles bit by oh-so-sure bit. Wow! What a treat!

.

My school is looking for a new math teacher next year (since our present one's husband is being restationed. Waaaaah!). Maybe I should apply! Of course, I can't promise any ability past about the seventh grade level, but still...

.

Hurrah for the discovery of new delights!

Craig's Recital!!!

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(words won't do it justice)
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But it might be close to say: PRAISE THE LORD!
And: Yay Craig!

FRIEND!

I found this picture on another blog, and it might be totally weird to post a stranger's personal picture on my blog (if any of you blog etiquette people are screeching in horror, let me know and I can take it off). But the reason I snagged it is this: this is a picture of a game of Catch Phrase, and LOOK at the GIRL! BOTH hands over her mouth. She had ANDREA SYNDROME (n. the irresistable urge to help out the other team if you figure out the answer before they do). Obviously the guy is guessing, and the girl is trying with all her might to refrain from Andrea Syndrome. Hee hee hee. I AM NOT ALONE!!!

Choose your own Identity

????



I was just going to comment on Penny's blog when I spotted something that made me forsake it to come over and post on my own (sorry Penny! I did love those Easter eggs a lot!). What I spotted, or rather what finally registered on my brain, was the little phrase "choose an identity." (Side note: speaking of registering on brains, during our shopping day I said to Katie, seemingly out of the blue, "Yes! You should go to a Red Sox game!" This was because the night before she had said how she needed to get to one some day. And it took about 18 hours to finally sink in! Oy vay.) Anyway, finally the phrase "choose an identity" caught my attention, and amused me. Cool! I can comment as anyone I want to!

I could choose someone else's identity if I wanted to. I might decide to comment as Shakespeare and be wicked eloquent. Or maybe Gerard Manly Hopkins and sound really, really complex yet beautiful. Or I could comment as Ann Coulter and sound incredibly biting but smart. Perhaps I should choose a generic athlete and say the same exact trite phrases again and again no matter what the post is about.

Or, I could choose an identity with a totally different personality. No longer would I be easy going and people pleasing. I could come out with rude and blunt statements. Or I could be totally shallow, and treat everything as a huge joke, no matter how meaningful the post was. Perhaps I should be an ultra-blond and miss every point.

Speaking of ultra-blonds, perhaps I could choose an identity that is based on stereotypes! I could comment as a southerner, a liberal, a hick, a "person of ethnicity."

And speaking of "persons of ethnicity," I could post as someone who embraces every aspect of political correctness! Now that would be a fascinating experiment. I could take offense at so many things that weren't in the least offensive.

The possibilities are endless! Blogs are so much fun!

The Shopping Extravaganza!

I am taking a little break from my preparation for teaching Greek Philosophy next week (and the week after) to proclaim to the world that I (the one who gets incredibly frustrated after 1 hour of shopping) spent MOST of the day yesterday in the most productive pursuit of clothes I've had in ages! Maybe ever!

Katie and I, weeks ago, decided to do a shopping day together, in hopes of finding something suitable to wear to Fritha's wedding (a.k.a Jeff's wedding, in case you were confused). Both of us also needed warm weather clothes.

I was driving Mrs. L home from church Sunday, and told her that we were hoping to find lots of beautiful, cheap, modest clothes. She laughed.

And indeed, as I awoke on the morning of the BIG DAY I barely dared to hope that we would come away with anything. Many's the time I spent hunting, hunting, hunting to come away with 1 item or less. But we piled into the car in good spirits nonetheless. Katie, I should add, is not a big shopper either. Somehow both of us missed out on that part of the feminine stereotype.

We arrived in Wrentham, MA, where there are a bazillion outlet stores, an hour later. We began the dance: into the store, circle around, shrug your shoulders or raise your eyebrows, out of the store. BUT the bookstore proved the first great hit. I found copies of the Aeneid, 3 for $10! I snatched 6, because we'll be doing that book at the end of the year.

Shortly after that, the FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN OPENED! Well, actually, we each found a few things at another place, and THEN the floodgates of Heaven opened! And in this instance, the floodgates were pouring out J. JILL items! For those of you who haven't heard me rant and rave about J. Jill, both how beautiful and how expensive the clothing there is, I will just mention briefly that it is a clothing company that specializes in beautiful, feminine, linen-type, classic clothes. I love it! But I've never really been able to justify spending that much money there. But lo, here was an outlet store with reduced prices!

Katie and I giggled and squealed our way around the store, as if we had hit the jackpot. We both came away with many beautiful purchases! I couldn't believe it. After the giggling and squealing, came the looks of disbelief as we realized what we had just done. We'd shopped at J. Jill, and found beautiful, semi-cheap, and modest clothing! Unbelievable!

And that wasn't the last of the purchases, either. What an incredible day. And wonder of wonders, neither of us got grumpy, tired, or discouraged, despite the fact that we were in and out of stores for hours on end! That is pretty miraculous right there.

Bring on the Wedding! Bring on the Summer! Kate and I are ready.

On Break!!!

Ahhhhh, life is good. For one thing, the weather is incredible. For another, this is the first day of my Spring Break! (Well, technically I have it off for Good Friday and next week is spring break.) And just in case that isn't enough to convince you that life is indeed good, I just finished filing my tax returns! Amy P tipped me off to turbotax, and I must say that was incredibly easy. So now I'm breathing easier. I'm not usually one of those push-it-to-April-15 kinds of people, but this year, well, I was.

Spring break should be fun: I have to read the Aeneid, Greek philosophy, My Antonia (not the whole thing), and a lot of poetry. Then I should be able to cruise for the rest of the year! I only have 5 or 6 weeks left. Incredible.

My last day before break was great: I read "Epic" out loud to my high school, and showed the movie of "A Tale of Two Cities" to my junior high. Not too shabby. I also got all of my grades recorded on report cards, which was a huge relief (especially since I kept waiting and waiting for one kid to get his act together and turn in the two papers he owed...).

And the last event of the day was one of the fathers at school getting home from Iraq. That made me feel kind of weepy and sentimental all the way to Fairwood.

Which is where I am now! I love Fairwood. I think I breath more deeply here than anywhere on earth, if you know what I mean. And, as I said at the beginning, the weather is incredible.

And again I say, life is good.

Happy Opening Day!

Ya, ya, I know - opening day was yesterday. But I didn't post last night because of extenuating circumstances (like, ummm, sleep), so I'm doing it one day late.

Happy Opening Day!!!

It was a fabulous day for me - kind of like Christmas only different. I was so excited all day: decorating the chalk board, making sure the teachers knew (the one drawback of the school: no huge Red Sox fans amongst the staff), and (for the crowning moment) turning on the radio during literature so that we could all hear the first pitch. It was a ball. To Crisp.

Then I got to listen to the game all the way home, and watch it once I actually arrived home. I got to enjoy a fabulous victory (the first on opening day in 5 or 6 years I might add), and then enjoy an hour or so of interviews afterwards. I am definitely in the Crisp camp, after hearing him say he'd done alright, but made a couple of "blunders." Hee hee hee. Not among those blunders was the FABULOUS centerfield catch he made. Damon couldn't have done that (cough cough).

Then the game was being re-broadcast, so I watched the pre-game show! I might have started watching the game all over again, but it was getting later and later...

This morning, as I was getting off Rt 24, I practically burst into tears of joy when I remembered, "HEY! They're going to be playing AGAIN! TONIGHT!" Ahhhhh, baseball season. It's like the missing piece has been found or something. Part of me that was dormant and languishing is vital once more. Hurrah for baseball season!!!

The One and Only Uncle Paul

Now that the comment record on my blog has been blown out of the proverbial water, I would like to let you all know that the last post was Uncle Paul's idea. He woke up mighty early in the morning to ask me if I would post it before I went to school, thus securing the highest possible number of readers in the day. Isn't he a good Dad?!

And I would like to add, at this juncture, that he is a might good uncle, too, and a mighty good every other role he plays. I feel so blooming lucky to be his niece, living in his house, under his pastorship. He is an amazing man - funny, kind, sensitive to the needs of those around him, generous to the extreme, fun, and tenderhearted to the things of God. I've sat in his meetings and practically felt like crying for the poor rest of the world because they missed out on the sermon. He has ministered to me in so many ways - from the spiritual to the car-ful:) He has come out in the morning, just as I was about to drive away, to pray for me. He has instigated many a fun outing. He has jumped my battery many a time. He has sat Melissa and me down for long and interesting discussions. He has made me feel secure. He has made me laugh innumerable times. He has cooked me dinner. He has checked up on me, to make sure I'm doing okay in hard times. He has demonstrated what it is to lay down his life for others. He has been the most incredible uncle anyone could ask for.

So let's have three cheers for Uncle Paul!!!

ANNOUNCEMENT (of great importance)

LOOKING FOR 23 VOLUNTEERS

TO WISH MELISSA A HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY

ON THE 23RD OF MARCH!

The Latest Post (hee hee hee)

I SHOULD have a picture of my beautiful new nephew Jamie,

but for now here's a picture to symbolize new life:) Welcome, dear Jamie!

This time I have a good excuse for not posting for so long...

I was officially sick enough to stay home from school! For TWO days! Real alive sick days. Another first in my teaching history. I must say, though, despite the nice break and all, I felt rather discombobulated being away from school, knowing someone else was teaching my angels. It all worked out quite well, however. I was able to e-mail my lesson plans in, and give them work they could do on their own. Then I was able to get right back in the groove when I returned. It was worth the sickness to hear the happy welcome-backs. Ahhhh, I love my students. They didn't even mind that I taught sitting down for the whole first day back.

It turns out that I don't have to do lesson plans at all anymore. One of my 7th grade girls has it all figured out. I walked in to Lit today, and she said, "Miss Murray, today we need to practice our Psalm memorization, work on our stories, practice our song for chapel, and then... whatever you have planned." Oh! Okay then! I had other plans, but if you think that's best then we'll go right ahead with your ideas. Hee hee hee. I was amused. Instead we did the Psalm and then... what I had planned. Kids these days.

Another of my students, the son of the principal, told me he had been going through the messages on the answering machine at home, and had heard my message saying I was sick. He repeated the beginning to me, "I'm afraid I'm sick, alas." And then he added, "'Alas!' Who says that?!" I laughed a lot:) I guess it's not exactly what you would call 21st century lingo.

My kids are really getting into Oedipus Rex, and I'm so happy about it. The last play was a bit slog-ish, and we were reading a difficult and dense translation. But this translator did an excellent job making the language accessible, and my kids are getting it. They even gasp at the appropriate places! Yay!

In other news, Ryan Gomes, my very own PC classmate (I saw him more than once!) is doing so well on the Celtics! Two starters are injured or something, so he's been starting, and he's all the rage! He scored 27 points two nights ago and 29 points last night. Sports radio loves him. I'm so proud! (Because, yes, I had a lot to do with it all.) Go Gomes!

Speaking of him, there was a popular t-shirt at our school while he was dominating the college scene which, sacrilegiously, said "In Gomes We Trust." Wouldn't it be weird to be Gomes and pass people wearing a shirt like that? Strange but true.

Okay! That's the latest from the teaching/PC alum front!

Snow Driving

1 hour and 50 minutes after leaving school, I pulled relievedly into my spot at home. And you know what I noticed today? New England drivers may have bad reputations, but they sure get polite in the snow. Nobody is tailgating, everyone uses blinkers, and everyone is going 15 or 20 under the speed limit. My, my. The southerners would fit right in!

Of course, the southerners might not care for the whole slippery roads, barely making it up that hill after the full stop at the bottom, ice on the windshield wipers thing. Even I, northerner that I am, don't like too much of that. But I have a fairly relaxed approach. I stop at Dunkin Donuts, get a hot chocolate, turn on some music or sports radio (I'm becoming such a fan!), and settle in for a long, slow ride. Any aggressive tendencies I may be accused of in fair weather flee, and I become a right lane driver. Until the right lane gets too slow, of course. But I'm perfectly content to take twice as long getting home.

Part of this relaxed attitude has to do with the close encounter between my car and the guard rails on both sides of the road a couple of winters ago. I don't take snow lightly - and ice I take even less lightly. At the same time, I'm not scared about driving in snow. I have to be an authentic New Englander, after all. It's just all about taking it slow and leaving room for the car ahead.

So there is your tutorial, and more, on snow driving. And now, let's hear it for the remote possibility of a snow day!

"I WELD! I'M A WELDER!!"

No, cool as they were, the sea dragons did not offer welding lessons. This is Melissa, back in the frigid north while Andrea basks in the glorious warm fuzzies of a GA vacation. But Monday's high is supposed to be 20 degrees, so she should be consoled that she won't have missed much :). Thankfully I've been too busy this week at school to have to spend too many hours in the deathly silence of her non-presence.

What did I do at school, you may ask (having no idea since you skipped over the above title)? Well, I'll tell you! I WELDED things! WOOOOOOO!!! I feel like I'm in that movie that was mentioned in some random midweek meeting video series in Bible School, which ended up being an answer that Claire got in a trivial pursuit game -- something about a woman welder who was also a ballerina or something (the more I write, the more this sounds like some very strange dream...or a very bad speech. Help me, Claire!). Anyway. yes. We've been making a bunch of quick models in my 3-Dimensional Synthesis class, but now we're moving on to a four-foot sculpture. Apparently the direction I chose in the models will translate best into steel rods and thick wire mesh. Joy. I was quite skeptical at first, but I picked up some short rods from Home Depot (haha... Despot... B&C, you're awesome) and pretended I knew what I was doing in the huge and intimidating Sculpture Room. I rolled them into curves on some steel-roller-machine, and then I got my welding lesson. It was hard... but I persevered. I was comforted by the story my prof. told about a girl who caught on fire and didn't realize it (and was thus confused when her professor started hitting her). hmmm... And it was a little freaky having to stand behind a curtain and wear a pitch-black helmet to avoid blindness. And I kept messing up, and the machine kept jamming, and my professor kept having to fix it (most of the time it wasn't my fault, I was relieved to find). But once it finally started working again it was so comparitively easy that I picked it up pretty fast. I got some sweet beads going, let me tell you (that's a little insider welder language there...). Then I got to actually start welding my sculpture, and now I'm excited. It really works! I can make things out of steel! Now that I'm fully empowered, there's no going back. I have six or so twelve-foot rods just waiting to be bent and welded into submission. I will be holding a drawing for potential buyers of my finished product (No, it won't look like anything except steel rods and wire... but oh, what tremendous forms and activation of space! :).

Okay, that's all I want to write about that.

The Aquarium!

Okay, so back to the aquarium. Folks, if you ever have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. I had so much fun! But, as you probably gathered from Claire's blog, I recommend going on a slightly less crowded day. Oy vay.

Probably the coolest part of all was the fact that you get to touch various and sundry creatures. So here, for your viewing pleasure, are the creatures I, personally, myself, touched with my own fingers!


This, awed readers, is the shark that I touched. Well, not this one specifically, but this kind. This was my favorite moment of the day. I stroked its side as it swam by, and was pretty awestruck that I'd touched a shark. It felt sand-papery. I think I'm going into marine biology in my next life.






Next I touched a ray. That was pretty cool, but it was kind of gross because it was squishy. I'm not a big fan of squishy things. Unless they are things like marshmallows or jello. But those are squishy in a good way. Rays are squishy in a gross way. But still, I'm glad I had the experience. I mean, how many people get to touch rays? Hm, I guess a lot now. But I'm one of them!







Next on the agenda were the shrimp. I'm not a huge fan of shrimp. They are weird looking, bordering on scary looking. But of course I still wanted to touch one. I discovered that they are very dart-y. As in, they dart away when you touch them. This resulted in a sort of very high pitched "eeep!" from me when it happened. The scientific discoveries go on...










I think the last creature to be greeted by my finger-tip was the star fish. As you can imagine, it felt kind of poke-y. That was pretty cool, but I was kind of distracted at this point by Claire's sudden realization that her watch was not waterproof, but had been quite underwater while she touched the starfish. No worries though, the watch was soon off, dried, and as good as new. Phew.




And then of course there were the other fascinating creatures there, many and many a creature, that were off limits for fingers. Like the pirahnas, for instance, which are deceptively beautiful. I enjoyed the mammal population: the otters, seals, penguins, etc. But the most intriguing find of the day (as Claire mentioned on her blog, and continues to mention on a regular basis off her blog) had to be the leafy sea dragon. Incredible. I had no idea such a thing existed! I thought the tank was just full of vegetation, until one began to move about, and then another and another. WOW! Talk about great camouflage. Here are some pictures, so you can see for yourself:

























Amazing, are they not? More evidence for the incredible creative power of God! So, once again, I urge you all to add the GA Aquarium to your lists of things to do someday!

Gasp!

Wonderful, wonderful day today: GA Aquarium and all. Everyone should go. What incredible fun!

But the real reason for this post is immediate inspiration from the paper I'm grading right now. (Yes, I'm actually being productive.) Penny just came downstairs as I was finishing up a paper, and I was commenting to her that this girl was the queen of run-on sentences. I joked that she averaged one period a paragraph. I thought I was joking until I looked at her closing paragraph and found exactly 2 periods!

So here, my friends, is the prime example of a run-on sentence (the assignment, by the way, was a short historical fiction piece. This story was about working in the mills).

"So with my mother dead I got so mad that without thinking I asked the person in charge to give me better pay or I would quit and before he could answer a few more people came to ask the same question and before I knew it there was a mob around him and me and he yelled, afraid he'd have no workers, "you get a raise of a dollar," and after that I was more happy than ever before because I could support my sister and myself and still have a little more money and with the money I bought a better house that wasn't as polluted."

Whew! And there you have it!

The Travel Log of Andrea and Diane's Roadtrip to GA

(some fanciful, some accurate, I'm not bothering to distinguish which is which)

February 18, 2006

5:00pm Mama sees us off, calling out things about coats, and making sure we have them. I tell her I have one in my suitcase. I don't tell her it is a little, dinky, spring jacket.

7:00pm We are booking it from the rental place inside the airport to the car pick-up spot. I am wishing I had more than a little, dinky, spring jacket since the 13 degree winds are causing me to think bitter thoughts about New England - something I rarely do.

8:00pm We have said good bye to Melissa, and are on the road! I squeal about how excited I am.

8:01pm I say again how exciting this is.

8:02pm I once more exclaim about my excitement over taking a road trip to GA.

(Let's cut to the chase here, and just admit that I talked about how excited I was a lot, throughout the whole trip. Diane is a very patient soul.)

8:03 pm I confirm directions with Aunt Laura, and it was a jolly good thing, since I was about to take the wrong road.

9:00pm We've found Rt 95 which we'll take for hours and hours. We're home free!

9:01 pm We break into a rendition of "On the Road Again" - this was repeated often over the course of the trip.

9:02pm Diane begins reading "True Courage," the suspense story we've decided upon to wile away the hours.

9:12pm I am hooked on the story.

10:00pm Lindsay calls! She laments the fact that we'd forgotten to pray for Craig during our birthday party for him that afternoon. Diane calls him, we both put them on speakerphone, and we all pray for him!

11:00pm Diane tries to get a little sleep so she can spell me in a couple of hours.

12:00am I am getting a little bit sleepy, but I sing along to the CD I have in and that keeps me going.

12:04am I see the moon at its waning gibbous stage! I am wide awake now, thinking about how happy I am to be a science teacher and how I know so much more about the moon and its phases than I ever thought I'd know.

12:30am The excitement of the waning gibbous (as incredibly exciting as that is) has worn off and I'm feeling really sleepy.

12:45am I pull off for gas, and Diane takes the wheel.

5:45am Andrea wakes up from a remarkably good sleep, ready to spell Diane, who has just driven the entire "graveyard" shift single-handedly. WOW! Let's have a round of applause for that heroic effort.

6:14am Beautiful sunrise! I am starting to feel alive again, and really happy to be behind the wheel. I enjoy driving our little Chevy Cobalt!

9:00am We start looking for breakfast places. We are in the breakfast buffet mode, and call Mrs. Randall to see if she can look on-line for places along our route. Who needs on-star when you've got Mrs. Randall?! (What good is on-star anyway, if it doesn't provide eatery information?)

9:30 Mrs. Randall informed us that we have just passed the last Shoney's for hours. Sigh. We decide on the Cracker Barrel.

10:00am Diane and I "go to church" by listening to Diane's Statler Brothers CD:)

10:00am We enjoy a FABULOUS breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. I hear many southern accents, feel a bit like a foreigner, and am comforted by the glimpse I catch of a Red Sox hat!

11:00am We are back on the road again (breaking into song once more), with only a few more hours to go.

11:01am At the VERY next exit we see a breakfast buffet! We bellow at the irony of it all, but confess that we are really quite full.

1:00 pm We enter Atlanta. I am driving, Diane is reading our very exciting book. I am getting a little nervous at the sight of about 14 solid lanes of traffic!!!

1:10 pm Still a bit nervous, but realizing that the laws about being in your own lane and stuff apply on this super-highway just as much as they did on the mere shmere 6 lane highways of 95.

1:30 pm We're all through Atlanta! Safely!

2:00pm We arrive at Brad and Claire's!

2:01 pm No one answers the door - we decide Claire must still be at church. We call her. No answer. We wonder how long these Southerners spend in church anyway!

2:02 pm Claire calls us back, and apologizes for not answering the phone. She'd been upstairs and the phone had been downstairs. "So you're still at the parsonage?" Diane asks. "No, I'm at my house," Claire replies. "Well SO ARE WE!" Claire is dumbfounded. She comes rushing down and opens the door to see us standing on her doorstep!

2:03 pm We are happy she's so surprised, because surprises are nice, but we're a little mystified as to the reason she's quite this surprised. Then we find out she wasn't expecting us until tomorrow! The source of this confusion is unclear.

2:04 pm We get a tour of her BEAUTIFUL home! I am full of praise. It really is lovely! I am very happy for them.

2:15 pm We zip two minutes down the road to Penny's house to surprise her!

2:17 pm Sure enough, she is dumbfounded to see us:)

2:18 pm The truth comes out! I had called Penny last night to say we'd started at about 8. She didn't get the message until this morning, and thought we'd left at 8am instead of 8 pm! That would be quite the record-setting trip indeed!

2:20 pm We get a tour of Nate and Penny's BEAUTIFUL house!

2:25 pm I'm nearly overcome with euphoria! Ahhhhhhh vacation and GREAT friends. Who could ask for anything more?

Results of a New Valentine's Day Pen

This morning a dear student came in with a Valentine's Day pen for me. I was so enamored of it (it was one long plastic tube that became two hearts at the top) that I decided to take notes in Chapel just so I could use it. But instead of the topic of the day, the following list came out of the pen:


Things I love about Teaching:

*the chalk dust that seems to permeate my existence (colored chalk dust, that is!)
*the 15 minutes in the morning in which the students have to be in the room, but classes haven't begun yet - we have such fun chatting about sports, movies, strange experiences, etc
*lesson plans that work out just right, schedule wise (i.e. I really need this to take two days instead of one, and it does)
*students using something from Literature as an inside joke! (this really happens, much to my delight!)
*those opportunities that sometimes arise in which I get to pass along to the student some truth that I treasure
*my grade book
*walking in in the morning and tossing my keys onto my desk
*teaching new vocabulary - even when it is met with skepticism (they didn't believe that "spartan" is used as an adjective all these many years after the Spartan warrior civilization!)
*when students hear something in assembly that reminds them of something I said in class, so they look over and catch my eye
*when students ask me if I like teaching, thus opening the way for much effusive speech-making!

Oh ya, and I also happen to be partial to teaching itself.