Now I'm in England!

Hello again! Well, we've finally hit another B&B with wireless Internet... They seem to be few and far between. But that's okay - it gives me a chance to get some choice gems photographically:) I have over 2000 pictures on my computer right now. Oy vay! And I've deleted much more than I've kept.

(NATE - THANK YOU FOR FINDING ME MY CAMERA!!!)

We've finished our stay in Scotland, and have now crossed over into England. I love this place, too! Oh my word. Tonight we are in the Lakes District, where WORDSWORTH wrote! Wheee! I'm getting into the Literary places big time. Two days ago was Sir Walter Scott's place (and wow, it's awesome - everyone needs to go to his house, Abbotsford), yesterday Wordsworth's birthplace, today his grown up home, tomorrow the Bronte sisters, then it's on to Dickens and Shakespeare... WHEEEEE! What wealth.

Okay, now for some pics from the last four days:

This is beautiful Melrose Abbey, established by Scottish King David I, and closed down by Henry VIII. We saw several Abbeys, and I think this was my favorite. Okay, maybe just one of my favorites:)
This is another favorite abbey, the one connected to Holyrood Palace!
And THIS is Sir Walter Scott's home, which he designed and decorated. I LOVED it. I'm so inspired about reading his work now:)
Here we are at Hadrian's wall. We got there just in time to see this Pict sneaking up on the diligent Roman.
This is Blair Castle, the seat of Clan Murray. Whooo! (Liane & Gretchen, I'm thinking of you and how you were there. Awesome, eh?)

Beautiful Edinburgh! This is taken from Calton Hill where we got some great shots of the city.Here we are, officially crossing from Scotland to England. A momentous occasion...
And now we're in Wordsworth country! We even saw a rainbow, and I was delighted. I mean, how appropriate is that?! Especially considering this Wordsworth poem:
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.
Etc.

I'll leave you to look up the rest on your own:)

I'm so thankful for this incredible opportunity!

I am in Beautiful Scotland!

Hello from Scotland, everyone! We Murrays are having an amazing time. I am so in love with this place! I have a new regard for that line from the song Scotland the Brave: "Land of my heart, forever." Oh ya!

Here are some pictures, to give you a small glimpse into what we're experiencing.

Kilchurn Castle, which KJ and I had great fun at - we climbed around in a nearby copse of trees to get this picture (and many, many other pictures, too!).
Eilean Donan - definitely one of the most beautiful sights I've seen thus far. What an incredible castle! We got to go inside and explore it today - my favorite part was the banquet hall. Well, favorite on the inside. Obviously this view is my favorite part of it!
This is Flora MacDonald's grave. I've been thinking of the Bonnie Prince Charlie story a lot this trip, obviously, and was inspired by Flora's loyalty and giving of herself to a cause. It inspired me to be that way in my walk with God.
This is a view from the Isle of Skye (one of my new all-time favorite places on Earth!). We hiked across moors to this northern point to pray. See the tiiiiny white spot between the crags? That's a seagull. We were way up there!
And this is Duntlum Castle, also on Skye. We were supposed to have rain this day, and God, in answer to prayer, gave us sun. What a blessing! Skye was one of my top destinations, and I was so thankful to be able to see it in all it's glory!
This is Inverness - the "Capital of the Highlands." We didn't spend too long here, but enough for me to enjoy the charm and beauty of the city.
And here we all are, in the Highlands (near BEAUTIFUL Loch Lomond - which you can just see in the background), totally smitten with the beauty of Scotland, and having a wonderful time. Praise the Lord!

I'm Going to BRITAIN!

I've been getting more and more excited about our trip! You know, the one we're leaving for in 15 hours!! I'm so in the groove now. I just finished formatting the poetry I want to print off to take, and collecting song lyrics to sing ("Scotland the Brave," "Will Ye No Come Back Again," etc.). And I'm listening to "Loch Lomond" as I type. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

And the closer I get, the more I realize that this is a dream come true. Ever since I was old enough to think about a desire to travel I've wanted to go to Britain. It seems like I've been in love with Scotland all my life, and the more I learn about Literature, the more I fall in love with England. And now I'm going there! I'm going to where my ancestors came from - I'm going to see my homeland. It's amazing!

And now, to climax this beautiful moment with a quote from The Emperor's New Groove, "See you [or write to you, anyway]... on the other side."

One of those This and That Posts

*I'm was planning to be all packed for Britain at this point in the day. HA! (Sigh)

*I was going to get some Internet stuff out of the way while my clothes dried in the dryer, and ended up spending FOREVER trying to update my expired virus protection program. Grrrr. The happy news is that I finally worked things out before actually buying the thing all over again. Yay for me, saving money!

*I can't believe I'm going to ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND AND IRELAND AND WALES AND FRANCE! OY VAY!

*My family and I have been getting into the groove. Saturday night they waited up for me to get back from Lindsay's so that we could look at Dad's past England slides. It was awesome! I kept howling "are we going there?!" Wheee! Then, on Sunday, we watched "The Longest Day" (we're going to Normandy one day) and also went over the Kings and Queens of England (I learned this awesome poem during Brit Lit: "Willie, Willie, Harry, Steve / Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three / Edward One, Two, Three, Dick Two / Harry Four, Five, Six, Then who? / etc.) and the roles of the heroes of Scotland (William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, Bonnie Prince Charlie). I'm SO ready for this trip!

*And to get even more ready, I've been working on getting a collection of poetry to read at opportune moments along the way. You know, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, etc. Then, when we're at some poet's birthplace or something, I can whip out a poem! Kimberly's wicked excited about this... I just read one to her and said "Isn't that beautiful?" and she responded "did you think I was listening to you?"

*KATIE ADAMS IS COMING TO FAIRWOOD TONIGHT AND I'M SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT!!!

*I've dreamed about the youth convention every night since it ended. Oh my word. My subconscious is still wicked processing. Peace out, subconscious!

*I'm hoping to be able to post now and then while oversees! Apparently some of our bed & breakfast places have high speed. Yay! No promises, but high hopes:)

*OH MY WORD! KATIE'S HERE! WHEEEEEEEE!!!

The Past Two Weeks!

Hello again, dear readers! Long time no write, eh? PHEW have I been busy. But also having a blast. As you probably know, since my last post I have been to California, led 15-17 girls in Girls' Week, and seen four of my students through their first ever youth convention. Praise God all of the events were wonderful, and I couldn't get over how my two worlds - school and home - meshed so smoothly. My kids had a WONDERFUL time. Oh, and CA was an AMAZING trip. So rather than go into detail on it all, I will post my past two weeks in pictures! If you scroll down, you will find one post of CA pics, another of GW pics, and the last of convention pics. Enjoy:)

Youth Convention Pics!

Here is Melissa rallying the troops - what a great leader!
Craig masterminded an incredible amount of really fun activities,

including this game of tossing rubber bands into a bowl,

his own variation on field day, including this team long-jump competition (go Ben!), and a hilarious skit activity!
I enjoyed the kids, without having any big responsibilities. Yay!

Here are the kids awaiting the next great adventure.

Oh ya, and we had meetings, too. :) Actually it was a really good, spiritually rich time, I thought. Notice how we're standing on our chairs here - we're singing the song "Higher Ground." (I am in awe of Uncle Neil and his good ideas!)

And of course, things wrapped up with the annual last-day picnic. Hurrah for God's blessing on the youth convention!

Girls' Week Pics!

Here is my LOVELY girls' week group. We had such a good time together!
This year the girls asked to sleep outside one night - daring girls...

We had a wagon ride...
Followed by strawberry picking.
We made amazing strawberry shortcake!
They had fun doing daring exploits (you should have seen them getting out there!),

and playing lots of games together (this is Moose). We had a great time! Thank God for a really good, blessed week!

CALIFORNIA!

Here we are in the middle of the night (more or less) waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport. We look pretty happy for having between 0 and 3 hours of sleep (depending on who you asked...)!
We hustled right to the beach that first night and had an smashing time!
The lighting got more and more amazing. Hurrah for sunsets at the beach!

The next day we saw our dear Matt-ay again! It was so good to see him!

The last day we were there was the wedding - and I'm happy to report 2 things: the wedding was very God-centered, and I really liked the bride. Hurrah! A wonderful time was had by all.

The Effects of 24

I'm closing in on finishing Season Four of 24, and I can definitely tell that it is affecting me.

I was driving to school (back when I was actually teaching - woooo for summer!), and I saw this white van on the side of the road. It was one of those work vans with no side windows - the kind bad guys on 24 are forever using. It pulled on to the road just after I passed by. Oh my word! My hand was practically on my phone before I realized that the 911 call would be really strange. "Um, ya, there's a white van on the side of the road. Only it just pulled onto the road again. GET OUT HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN! Don't you know it could be housing kidnapped government officials or endangered secret agents or nuclear weapons?!" I settled down, laughed at myself, and continued on my way to school.

Later on I was driving home from school and passed a car with all of its windows down, and someone's sleeves flapping in the wind out of the back seat. OY VAY! Gunmen on the highway! I could practically see the sniper rifle emerging from that back seat and leveled at my head, and I could almost feel the bullets whizzing by me. It's a dangerous commute out there, people! I really need to consider some bulletproof glass.

Of course, then there are the positive, if also somewhat odd, side-affects, like the grin that appears on my face all of a sudden in the grocery store parking lot, as I recall Tony behind that pistol at the crucial moment, or the great hoots of joy I want to break into when I think of Chloe getting that bad guy. Wheeee!

And I think of how safe I feel when I remember Jack Bauer is on the job... until I remember that he isn't. But I console myself by thinking that Jack Bauer-ESQUE people are on the job.

The craziest thing of all of this is that as totally hooked as I get on 24, I haven't watched an episode in over a week! And I only have one and a half left until I finish the season! Oy vay! I've been so ridiculously busy that the nuclear bomb that is whizzing toward some unsuspecting US city is just sitting there in mid-air waiting for me to get back so we can resolve this thing. Phew!

I'm hoping that tonight I'll finally be able to see Jack Bauer save the world yet again. Hurrah!

Help!

People, I need advice. What shoes would be best for kicking around England?! I don't think we're going to be doing much hiking, but we could potentially be on our feet a LOT and I'd like something supportive but not screaming "tourist!" Any seasoned travellers who can weigh in on the issue? Any people who know good footwear? Anyone? Anyone?

GRADUATION!

Last night my dear senior graduated from high school! I was so proud of him, and so thankful to God. I've been so stressed out in the past couple of days, and if I've been stressed I'm sure he must have been going crazy! But it went SO well, and was SUCH a beautiful and worshipful evening. HURRAH!

One reason I was under a lot of pressure was that I was helping him with his graduation speech. Gulp. He refused to let his parents read it (and were they ever blessed when they actually heard it last night!), so the responsibility was mine and mine alone. I did read it out loud to Melissa, though, to get some further input. (As I was reading aloud the line "Now I close the door on my past high school experience" I put my head down on the counter and wailed aloud. I'm going to miss him SO MUCH!) And she had excellent input which I rapidly e-mailed off to my senior. The dear boy had left the writing of his speech for the day before graduation, so things were a little tight:)

I went over to his house a couple hours before the ceremony to put the finishing touches on it, and LO, it was beautiful. He'd done a REALLY good job. Melissa and I had tweaked, but he had done the bulk of the work. Yay for him!

Dad, Mom, Gretchen and KJ all came down for the graduation and I was so happy to have them witness such a big moment in my life and in the life of the school. And then, after the ceremony, they mingled and mingled with all my school people and I shot picture after picture. "Oh my goodness, Dad's talking to a board member!" click click click. It was great fun:) I loved being able to introduce people I've talked about over and over. They really enjoyed it, and they were so blessed by the wonderful ceremony.

As I was driving back home, and they were heading back to NH, I called them and KJ put me on speakerphone and we "debriefed" for a wicked long time. It was such a good time! "What did you talk about with ..." "So and so said this..." "I loved the part when..." "Oh you're right, that student is adorable!" Etc. FUN TIMES!

But most of all I am full of gratitude for God not only for an amazing graduation ceremony, but also for his faithfulness in the past 13 years as He crafted the school and led it along step by step. This was the first ever graduation in the history of the school, you see. They've been adding grades little by little as they went along. It was often a hard journey, but last night saw one of the biggest evidences of fruit to date. May my senior be the first of many!

Closing in on the end...

Saturday I had my First Annual Senior Cookout at the Browns. It was so much fun!! Of course, we have only one senior, so I invited the junior, too, to keep him company. We had a MARvelous time. They were very them, which made me happy. I was afraid they'd clam up around strangers (you know that Melissa...), but instead they leapt right into the conversational fray with stories and jokes and banter with the best of 'em. Hurrah! I'm so thankful.

And now I have ONE more day of teaching! OH my GOODNESS! That went by soooo quickly. I'll still have a bit more work to do in terms of grading and such, but no more classes to teach. Wow.

And yup, that's all I'll write for now. Sorry it's short! Papers (and other things - heh heh heh) are calling.

Recovering...

So, right after Anna's wedding I started feeling a bit odd... and spent Sunday night and Monday quite sick. Last night I went to bed planning to teach in the morning, because I just hate missing days - especially this close to the end of the year (one week from today is my LAST DAY!). I went to bed niiiice and early, and lo, couldn't sleep for hours. I'm pretty sure I got no more than 5 hours of sleep.

AHHHH! This is such a boring post! Nobody cares how much sleep I got!

Oh well, I'll cut to the chase and say that I had a wonderful day today - an answer to fervent prayers for help. Thank the Lord!

Okay, more interesting topics. Let's see.

Mixed metaphors. Those are so much fun. I totally almost committed one by nearly typing "I'll cut to the quick and say I had a wonderful day today..." Hee hee hee.

But my recent favorite came when I told my kids they had to know some material cold for their test. They said "Hey, our last teacher just told us we had to know some material cold turkey!" Hahahahahaha. That's so much fun. I know there was another one I came across recently, but I can't remember what it was. Do you remember, KJ? It seems like you were the one I told...

Kevin Youkilis hit an INSIDE THE PARK homerun last night! That was pretty awesome. Oh ya, one advantage to not sleeping last night was that I actually heard the end of a Red Sox game. That's pretty rare for me.

This morning I was pretty wide awake at 4:50. What is that?!

Oh, my 9th grade boys were so funny today. I laughed so hard. They have this habit of saying something shocking and then instantly asking "what?" in innocent wonder as if they had no idea what they, themselves, had just said. For example, "Why does Miss Murray always tell us how much sleep she got the night before, what?" (Okay, I really don't tell them - they're usually the ones telling me.)

Have I expressed in this format how incredibly adorable it is that I have been accidentally called "Mom" TWELVE times by my 8th and 9th grade boys?! I'm sure that says something about how I need to be harder on them. Sigh. But I think it's totally endearing.

Yay! I want to play tag, too!

I was tagged by Penny (whom I love!), so I must share seven random facts about myself and tag seven other people, listing them here on my blog and leaving comments on their blogs so they know they've been tagged.

My seven random facts:

1. I just successfully made my own Del's by putting lemonade in the freezer for about 4 hours. YUM!

2. I have three scars on my face. This makes me feel like I must be an adventurous person. But I'm really not...

3. I help my students way too much on their math tests. They are going to be in trouble next year when they have a real math teacher.

4. My political science professor at PC is now the finance minister for the new government in Afghanistan. He was asked, back in the day, to join the Taliban, but he disagreed with their policies.

5. I took something like 43 pictures of my students dissecting squid at Mystic Aquarium last Monday.

6. I really enjoy washing dishes in pretty kitchens. I love the warm, soapy water, and the satisfaction of before and after.

7. I have this friend named Derrick who LOVES this kind of thing, so I'm definitely going to make sure he gets tagged next...

People I'm tagging: Derrick (obviously), DJ, Xeo, Dero, Mr. Anime, Deej, and DRJ. Have fun you guys!

Just Because I Feel Like Posting...

Guess what I was interested in for the first time in my life last night? The NBA draft! What?! you query. Ah yes, I reply. These are the effects of listening to sports talk radio (WEEI) every single day during my commute.

Speaking of effects, I finally learned, after I started teaching, a fool-proof way to remember the difference between effect and affect. Effect is a noun. Affect is a verb. It's so simple!!! Why didn't someone TELL me?! Actually, I did figure that out one time, but then I couldn't remember which was which. When I started teaching, however, my dear senior (I'm going to miss him so much!) said he remembers it by the saying "cause and effect." In that case it's a noun, and in that case it's spelled with an "e." And now I can always remember! Yay!

So. NBA draft. Apparently if you are REEEEALLY bad, you are nearly guaranteed a good draft pick. There's this lottery, with ping pong balls, see. And if you do badly your chances increase. This year everyone wanted pick one, so they could get this young phenom named Odin. Well, out of five picks, the Celtics got..... FIFTH! Poor souls. Just when they needed it the most I jumped on the bandwagon, practically guaranteeing them the worst possible outcome. Sigh.

Speaking of sports radio, my students are aware of my strange listening habits (classical and talk radio? are you serious?), and it comes up every now and then. A couple of months ago I was following the basketball team to their game, and saw them put up a handwritten sign for me to read. Sadly, I couldn't quite see what it was without rear-ending the coach. So I zoomed up to pass him, and they put it in the side window. "Sports radio?" it read. Hee hee hee. I nodded, got back into my lane, and giggled away to myself for the next ten minutes or so.

I'm reading "Much Ado About Nothing" with my SEVENTH AND EIGHT graders! And, what deserves even bigger letters, THEY ARE ENJOYING IT!!! It's so awesome to see them laughing and comparing things to their own experience!

Don Pedro and Claudio talking behind Benedick's back, and tricking him into loving Beatrice by saying things like "he's way too awful to be worthy of loving her," made one of my students say "Hey! That's like when I want my older brother to play a game with me, and I do it by saying 'There's no way you could beat me...'" What a clever comparison! Hee hee hee. I love it! I can't believe they like Shakespeare at such a young age. HOOKED!!! Mwahahahahaha. :)

YIPPEE! What a beautiful world.

Ya Nevah Know

Recently I heard a testimony from someone pretty close to me. It was about a period of darkness and struggling and depression. And I sat there, shocked. I'd had no idea. It had gone on for about three months, if I remember correctly, and there had been only one time in that period where I thought "hm. She seems down." I think (and hope!) that I prayed for her at that time, briefly. But for the rest of that time I was clueless.

This really struck me, and made me think. We can never really tell what's going on in someone else's heart. There's no way to know, really. But we can be consistently loving and supportive! We can uphold each other regularly. I know I have the tendency to get really tunnel-vision-y, and focus on the things I need to accomplish, and on myself. And I'm also not a very observant person. Not a good combination. I need to stick my head up and peer around now and then. And I need to love others as Christ loves.

It made me think about this literary argument held in the early part of our country's history. Writers like Franklin and Emerson believed in the autonomous man. The individual is all, and he can accomplish anything on his own. And, furthermore, no individual can every truly connect with another individual. Writers like Melville, Hawthorne, and Poe believed the opposite: man needs his fellow man in order to survive and flourish. As Melville said, "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow man." And that's why (incidentally) Poe's characters were often mad. They had fallen into madness because of isolation. His characters' madness wasn't because he was crazy, it was because he was conveying a warning to his readers.

Anyway, before I get into too much detail, I will go on to say that this argument really intrigued me. I heard it at a time when I was feeling isolated and was really needing re-connection. So of course I sided with Melville, Hawthorne, and Poe. And I was desperately hoping they were right. But I really didn't know for sure.

But then, three years later, I was thinking about this testimony, and about the fact that I need to love everyone, all the time, because you never know (and because God tells us to!), and I was talking all of this over with Amy P, when I realized, hey! M, H, and P were RIGHT! I don't agree with them because their view is nicer, or rosier, or whatever. I agree with them because they agree with God! It's the whole idea of the Body of Christ! And unity! Etc. YES, God created us to be connected with other human beings. And therefore, it is possible, and it is right, and it is worth striving after. Whew! What a relief that I had the Bible to assure me, and not just human authors.

So, all this is to say that we don't necessarily know what's going on with other people, but as members of the Body of Christ, we can support and love no matter what.

And the other encouragement was that even though I had no clue what this other person was going through, God did. And His Spirit brought her through into victory. He is always faithful in the lives of each one of our loved ones! And that is a wonderful assurance.

Why Mom is My Hero (Reason #13984)

Okay, so if any of you don't know, I'M GOING TO BRITAIN THIS SUMMER!!!

Dad, Mom, KJ and I are taking off on a loooong dreamed of adventure to our mother-land, as it were. [Which reminds me, someone at school keeps saying 'if you would' instead of 'if you will' as in, 'our mother-land, if you will,' and it's driving me crazy. Should I be driven crazy? Or is that a legitimate expression?'] HURRAH!!! The anticipation is so much fun. And I can't wait to actually experience it!

Anyway, Mum decided to hire someone over there to deal with the itinerary and bed and breakfast reservations and stuff. It would save hours of work, and the price was waaaay cheap. So we hired this nice lady, Jill, and told her how much we wanted to spend [or rather, how much we were willing to spend] and where we wanted to go.

After some e-mails back and forth, tweaking of the itinerary, etc etc, Jill finally had to back out. Finding prices as cheap as we wanted was just too big a task. I don't blame her at all. And Mama was actually excited - she'd been kind of wishing she could do it herself!

After all, nothing is as exciting to Mom as a good bargain!

And hunt she did. WHEW! She has more drive than my entire generation put together, I'm pretty sure. Well, excluding Mary, maybe:) [Did everyone see Clyde's graduation cake?!] She spent hours and hours hunting on-line and making phone calls. She practically filled an entire notebook with notes and directions and numbers and descriptions. I am in awe of her.

And you know what the result was? She compared the final price and the price we had given to Jill initially, and she had saved us

Hundreds of Dollars!!!

Now THAT is doing your homework, people! And you know what was awesome about that? We saved hundreds of dollars! Okay, what I should have said was you know what ELSE is awesome about that?

I believe it was that very morning that I actually got concerned enough about my money situation to pray about it. I had the money for England, but I also needed to fund an excursion to California for Matt's wedding! So between the two I was a little concerned. I thought I could probably foot the bill, but it would pretty much clean me out. Soooo, ya. I prayed.

And then that night Mama told me how much I'd need and it was hundreds of dollars less than I'd thought! Thanks to HER!!! They say everything costs either time or money. But in this case I saved money, and spent MOM's time! What a deal! :) But really, I appreciate it so much! Now it's okay if my car breaks down or something. Wait. No. That's not okay. But I would survive it if my car broke down! :)

The point is, I appreciate Mama's relentless pursuit of the best price, and I appreciate God's showing me that He cares about MY finances! It was a pretty awesome moment. The Lord doth provide!

It's Like Riding a Bike

I'm sure you've all heard that saying "It's like riding a bike; once you learn how you never forget." Well, this post reminds me of that. It's about a subject that's closely related to bike riding. Because recently I got my BIKE out and RODE it! Ya, first time in years... SO MUCH FUN!

Rediscovering bike riding has been most interesting. Here are some tid-bits:

*It's really disgusting to ride one's bike through a cloud of bugs. There are these little clouds along our road, and there is no clear way to avoid them. I just put my head down and plow through. I hope they don't stay in my hair. Ewwwwwwwwww.

*I don't remember the seat being so hard when I was a kid.

*Biking is way more fun than running. You don't have to kill yourself quite so much, and you get to go much faster. I never rejoicing in the wind when I'm running, but I love it when I'm biking.

*Day One I didn't put my hair back. Consequently, when I checked over my left shoulder to see if a car was coming, all my hair promptly flew into my face. There was a car coming. And I was riding blind. If he'd checked his rear-view mirror he would have found a Chewy-like beast trying hard to avoid the ditch with one hand, while swooping hair out of the way with the other. I have put my hair back every subsequent day.

*I don't have a helmet. And I never wore one growing up so it seems like a foreign concept. But I passed these little kids riding with their helmets and I felt like a millstone should be hung around my neck. I can just imagine their poor, frazzled mother shooting daggers at me, the proof that not EVERYone wears them...

*Also on Day One I didn't wear my glasses. When I called out to Aunt Laurie, who was walking down the road toward me, that I was reliving my childhood, I realized that it wasn't Aunt Laurie after all. It was a stranger whom I knew slightly, and hadn't seen in a loooong time. Ya, that's how I usually greet people like that. I still don't wear my glasses though.

*I REALLY love it! It's exhilarating and childhood-ish and fun! It almost seems like cheating to count it as exercise.

Oy VAY!

I KNEW I loved Curt Schilling for a reason!

I'm getting ready for the day listening to a Curt Schilling interview on the radio. The announcer guy was asking about Schilling's blog "38 Pitches." What word does Schilling use to describe it?

CATHARTIC!

Oh my word. There is a Renaissance Man in our midst...

:)

I am Really a Teacher!

Okay, you know how teachers are supposed to find tacks on their chairs and cruel notes on their chalkboards? Well, I don't find those things. I did get a "thanks for nothing" once, but that's about the worst it's ever been...

But now I know that I'm a real teacher. I have been poked fun at. How? In a rather circuitous fashion. They don't deface pictures of me, they take the tactic of defacing pictures of those I love.

Here is what was hanging on my wall, until I was finished taking pictures of it:

So you see, no one is immune from the persecution due a teacher.

(Actually, I was right there while he was putting it on the poster, and I let him do it:) But it was all his own idea!)

Why I Live in New England

I'm pretty sure I know why God made me a New Englander. He wanted to bless me with Spring every single year! See, I have such a short memory that I forget where I left my glasses ten minutes ago, let alone what happened a year ago. So every single year Spring is like this fantastic surprise!

Oh my goodness! It's getting warm! EEEEK - there are actually little flowers coming up! OY VAY - there are teeeny tiny green leaves on the oak tree! I've never seen such a magnificent green color!

Ya. So every spring I'm blown away with how nice it is out. This would be wasted on someone who remembers exactly what it is to feel the air growing warm and see crocuses and admire that green color. Well, no, not wasted. It would still be enjoyed. But it might not be met with the same level of awe and wonder, almost as if it was the first time it had ever happened.

Recently I was amused at the New England tendency to think that it really can't be that warm yet - as I wore my sweatshirt on a day that was in the 70s. It really can't be that warm at the end of April. I will trust my knowledge of the past over the actual evidence on the thermometer. No my dear, it really IS in the 70s! Cast off the sweatshirt! Enjoy the warmth!

Hurrah for SPRING! And hurrah for MAY! I decided this morning that May is my absolute favorite month. Happy May Day, everyone!

Breakthrough!

I've been dreading the end of this school year for a long time. I'll be losing one of my favorite students, and I will be gaining a bunch of punk sixth graders. Grrr. I figured I would probably adjust, but I'm just not a huge fan of adjustments. I mean, when I was a senior I didn't want to graduate, when I was in Bible School I wished it would last forever, and I thought that college was the pinnacle of life. And you know how I feel about teaching...

So ya, not a big fan of change.

Yesterday was parent-teacher conference day. I had no conferences with parents of my own students (they are all satisfied with their grades... surprise surprise), but there were two mothers of 6th graders who wanted to talk to me. Their sons are both first-borns, so this "junior high" is a biiig unknown. (I have a feeling that next year is going to hold a lot more in the "high maintenance mom" department. Sigh. Maybe even "wicked high maintenance mom.")

Anyway, we got talking and both moms (I LOVED the first one - she reminded me of Linda Holscher when she smiled - and she brought me CHOCOLATE!) said something about how their sons were really looking forward to having me. BOTH of the boys had said something to their mothers about how they wanted me for a teacher. OH MY WORD! I got an instant high on their words of affirmation, and now, suddenly, I'm really looking forward to having those 6th graders!

(I am ridiculously dependent on words of aff - it's quite pathetic sometimes. But hey, look how much it helped here!)

It's really funny, because these boys have no idea what I'm like as a teacher. Their first-hand experience of me is from one field-trip, passing in the halls, and the two times I led music in chapel. They don't know that I'm actually a little more demanding in the classroom!

It reminds me of the conversation I had with a second grader, who said some similarly positive thing. I asked her how she knew, since she'd never had me as a teacher. "I can hear you through the wall!" she said cheerfully. Ohhhhh noooooooooo! No wonder I have to have those periodic talks with the headmaster. Siiiiiigh.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I've had quite a turn-around in my spirit about next year, and I'm very thankful. And the second point is, dear readers, you never know when a word of encouragement here or there will really turn someone's day or attitude around! Especially when dealing with words of aff people...

The Golf Course Bridge

Okay. Here I am at LAST with lots of blogging ideas but little patience to write them all out right now. Sigh. But I DO want to post the pictures of the collapsed bridge. Enjoy the drama!

Randomopolis (my favorite city)

So. It happened like this.

I was listening to the Red Sox game on the radio a week or so ago, and Matsuzaka was pitching. The announcers were talking about how the games were broadcast live over in Japan, which is 13 hours ahead of us. Or behind us. I’m not sure which. Here is my thought process:

Wow. His first appearance was a 1 o’clock game, which means it was 2am over in Japan. I wonder if people stayed awake to watch it. Probably his family did, anyway. They’d want to watch it live.

It’s like kids in the Olympics or something. But wait, those broadcasts aren’t always live. Maybe an athlete would call home and tell his parents whether he won or not, and then the parent would watch it on tv later on.

What if he had lost, though? Would his parents still want to see it? What if they watched his whole performance knowing that in the end he was going to lose?

HEY! That’s EXACTLY like Dramatic Irony in Greek Tragedies [Dramatic Irony is when the audience knows something that the characters in the play/story do not know]! OH MY WORD! I’ve got to remember to tell my kids this tomorrow. [Pause to enter it into phone so I won’t forget.] It’s perfect! I can just see the parent watching this incredibly gutsy performance, seeing it come down to the wire, yet knowing that his child is inevitably going to lose. How painful is that?! They’d want to just yell for him to stop trying. Oooo. Like that movie. What movie is that where the girl yells “stop!” in such a despairing way? “Stop!” “Stop!” “Stop!” [That’s me replaying the scene over and over again trying to place it.] Oh ya! It’s in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” when the girl yells from the balcony for Jimmy Stewart to stop before he kills himself or something. What a poignant scene. Perfect! Anyway, the Olympic parent thing is JUST like the audience in Oedipus Rex! STOP trying to find out who DID IT! You’re pursuing your OWN RUIN! AAAaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Cool.

Hm. That was a really bizarre thought process…

Spring Break Update

I am having SUCH a great Spring Break! Yippee! I came into it without a ton of school stuff I needed to accomplish... but just enough to do that I wouldn't risk stagnation. Perfect.

A lot of the things on my list involved non-school obligations - the kind of thing I'd never really get done while lesson plans were priority #1. So I went to get my car registered and inspected (yes, yes, I know my birthmonth is December. Let's not talk about my horrific memory and absence of all organization skills. And let's not go into detail about how another thing on my list of things to do was "pay that ticket..."), I got tons of pictures developed (249, to be exact...), I made a return to a store (I'm so bad at multi-tasking while teaching, and those kind of things loom o'er me - hurrah for vacation!), I got some lining material to go with my dress that I bought for Matt's wedding (in case he actually sends out the invitations - hee hee hee), and today I went for an eye exam and ordered new glasses.

The eye exam was funny. I forgot how they shine incredibly bright lights in your eyes, and ask you not to blink while they do so. I forgot about the tears streaming down my face. I forgot that they say "okay, open your eyes nice and wide" and then POKE THEM with strange blue sticks of light. I felt strangely (Katie, brace yourself) like I was in the Matrix or something. I mean really! I'm all stuck into this weird contraption where my head is locked in, and then (Claire, brace yourself) slowly, slowly, this blue wand of light comes closer and closer until PONK it makes ever-so-slight contact with your eye. I wonder if he's ever had anyone jump up screaming "What are you DOING?!?!" That would be awesome. Sometime when I'm older and all my inhibitions are gone (another advantage to getting older, Rachel!), perhaps I'll try it. Then again, while inhibitions may depart, Victorian ideas of propriety, I think, will always be with me.

And I'm having great opportunities for enjoying my dear family (oo! Like when Shawn and Gretchen and the boys came zipping into the driveway, poured into the house, and filled the home with little boys' incredibly excited shouting of the news that the bridge at the golf course had collapsed!!! Dad and I - the only ones home - jumped into the car with them and whizzed down to see this great sight. Impressive!), and enjoying friends (I played some of the best vball in AGES last night - it was SO much fun - complete with two games of doubles with Craig against Shawn and Kayla - totally fun!) relaxing, and reading, and even doing Sudoku with Mom! What a great invention Spring Break is. May it ever be so!

Death is Only an Horizon

This quote was on the front cover of the program for Dr. Delasanta’s funeral. I love it, and want to share it here.

“We give them back to You, O God, who gave them to us. Yet, as you did not lose them in giving, so we do not lose them by their return. What You give, O Lover of souls, You do not take away, for what is Yours is ours also if we are Yours. Life is eternal, love is immortal, death is only an horizon, and an horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. Lift us up, O Lord, that we may see further; cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly; draw us closer to Yourself that we may be nearer to our loved ones who are with You. And while You prepare a place for us, prepare us also for that happy place, that where You are we may also be for evermore. Amen.”

Beautiful, is it not? I was blessed by the emphasis placed on eternal life and reunion throughout the funeral service. I wasn’t sure how those things are handled in Catholic services, but evidently they are central. I’m so thankful that it is the truth!

My Tribute

This past week Dr. Delasanta, whom I often referred to as "Dr. Delasanta-my-favorite-professor," passed away. He had been in poor health for quite awhile, so it wasn't a huge surprise or anything, but it is quite a profound loss to all who knew him.

He was a brilliant man. Talk about someone who knew literature! He scorned the post-modern way of interpreting literature (as in, what does it say to YOU? Forget what the author meant...) and went with the old technique of figuring out what it actually means.

I had him for two classes: Western Civilization and Literature of Spiritual Crisis. Both classes impacted me, the former intellectually and the latter in deeper ways. But the main force there was his teaching - I trusted him, and I was inspired by his own obvious love for the material.

But I got to know Dr. Delasanta best through working for him. I was his "office assistant" for three years, doing photocopying, filing, and greeting. Most of the time I just did homework while I sat in the outer office. It was the perfect college job:)

But it was greatly enhanced by the fact that I could chat with him, and overhear his conversations with others. I was amazed over and over at the thoughtful discussions going on in that inner office. And it was through hearing him on the phone one day that I learned the joke: "Descartes walked into a McDonald's and ordered a hamburger. 'You want fries with that?' the cashier asked. 'I think not,' said Descartes. And he disappeared." I sat there for about five minutes until I finally got it, and then I thought it was HILARIOUS!

But perhaps what impresses me most about his life is the way he was able to be so brilliant, and yet not make those around him feel dumb. He made me feel smart! That's a gift. He was not high-handed in his scholasticism. I was sitting in the outer office while he was grading Western Civ exams - the final exam after two years. Oy vay - talk about pressure! But he suddenly shouted out to me, "Andrea!" I zipped in. "You GET it! Not everyone gets it, but you GET IT!" I floated around for the rest of the day.

His philosophy about teaching was (and I quote): "Without first having experienced the joy of learning, the teacher cannot reduplicate that state of academic grace for his or her own students. The trick is to generate gladness and then sustain it." He absolutely did that in his classroom, and even out of it.

Dr. Delasanta was a good man. He was a devout Catholic, and lived his life accordingly. I was talking with Mom about going to the funeral, and wondering how hopeful a Catholic funeral would be, if they believe the soul is now suffering in Purgatory... And then I suddenly said, "What a pleasant surprise for Dr. Delasanta!" Imagine thinking you're going to Purgatory, and suddenly finding yourself in Heaven! That made me happy:)

So today I want to honor a great man who had such an impact on my life. It's hard to encapsulate it here, really, but I loved him and respected him, and I'm so much looking forward to seeing him again so I can tell him so in words that will be less faltering than these are.

That Ann Coulter

I love Ann Coulter. I know she's incredibly abrasive and hasn't a tactful bone in her body (well, chooses not to use those bones anyway...). But I just love her! She's smart and clever and so very right wing:)

Near the beginning of the Iraq war she got into a lot of trouble for saying that the best way to win the war on terror is to convert all the muslims to Christianity. OH, the uproar! But hey, she's so right! It's just WAY to unpolitically correct to say that.

A lot of publications dropped her after that, but fortunately I ran across a site where you can sign up to have her articles e-mailed to you. Sign up I did!

So here is a little gem from her article from last week, "If at First You Don't Appease - Cry, Cry Again."

"In uplifting thought No. 57 about the war, liberals keep telling us that Iraqis are genetically indisposed to freedom, which I would characterize as the hard bigotry of low expectations. On this week, let us remember the message of Passover is that freedom doesn't come easy.

Moses had to grab Jews by the scruff of their necks and drag them to the desert for 40 years to get a generation capable of living in freedom -- and even then the Jews were complaining about it being too drafty. The first "stiff-necked" generation didn't even want to leave Egyptian captivity.

Even in the desert, the Jews would not stop with the golden calves. God nearly let the whole lot of them perish in the desert, he was so angry about their idolatrous ways. Only when he had a new generation, born in freedom, that didn't complain about the food, did he lead them to the promised land. For you liberals still reading, this is all extensively covered in a book known as the "Bible."

(Also this week, we celebrate a fast-track to freedom that doesn't require 40 years in the desert, but as I recall, the suggestion that we convert Muslims to Christianity was shot down early on in this war.)"

Isn't that GREAT!? It made me laugh out loud. Keep up the good work, Ann!

A Thought-Provoking Moment

Yesterday I watched the Masters (golf tournament) with Grandpa and Jeannette. It was so much fun! I actually worked on lesson plans and slept during most of it - but I was there in the room, and I really enjoyed it. Golf can actually be interesting, believe it or not! Especially with such good company.

Anyway, I was basically going for Tiger Woods because he was the only one I really knew much about, and Grandpa and Jeannette were rooting him on. He was doing well, made some great shots and stuff, but he was behind this other guy named Zach Johnson. Soon it became clear that Johnson was the guy to beat. He was young, and ranked 57th in the world (or country - I'm not sure which!). He finished the 18th hole, and was interviewed by the little interviewer guy. He gave a great interview, complete with talking about Easter and Jesus! That was pretty awesome. And then it showed his wife and little three month old baby. So sweet.

Then the shot switched back to Tiger Woods, who hadn't finished yet. The announcer was talking about what he'd need to do to win. And now comes the moment of which I'm writing, so pay attention. Jeannette said she hoped Tiger would do well, but that he wouldn't beat Johnson.

I was intrigued. We'd all been going for Tiger a minute before, but that interview had changed all of our minds! Now we wanted Johnson to take it. And what had made the difference? That moment where he was more than just some guy on tv - he was a person. It was the personal touch that made us all switch allegiance to him! I thought that was so interesting.

It makes me think about my American Literature class, and how Dr. Barbour brought out the two schools of thought through Am Lit history. On one hand you have Franklin and Emerson with their ideas of self-reliance and the autonomous man. On the other hand you have Cooper and Melville with the firm belief that "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow man." Melville's very idea of salvation included fellowship between men. Fascinating!

I lean toward the Cooper/Melville school and not the Franklin/Emerson school, in case you were wondering:) We do need each other! We need others for fellowship, but also to keep us on the right track spiritually, mentally, emotionally... And we are blessed, in this fellowship, with a network of people who love us and whom we love. I'm so thankful!

And all that from a simple comment during a golf game...

Make New Friends, but Keep the Old

The CD player in my room, after serving me valiantly for many and many a year, has pretty much given up the ghost. I can coax music out of it if I reallly want to, but usually it's not worth it. And now that I have a laptop I hardly miss it. My room is filled with the strains of iTunes or Pandora and all is well. The result, though, is that I haven't really listened to classical music in ages. My iTunes purchases are more along the celtic/folk lines, and my favorite Pandora station is "Lisa Kelly" (from the group Celtic Woman).

This morning, however, I really felt like some music with depth. So I switched my clock radio from 96.9 (Boston talk - what a way to wake up in the morning!) to WGBH Boston where I was greeted with the familiar strains of Mozart. I smiled. Good ol' Mozart. And NOW I'm listening to Grieg's piano concerto! It's like getting together with my oldest and best friends. "Ah, Grieg dear, how AHH you? Mozart, it's been forEVah!" I enjoy my celtic/folk stuff, but this music is engraved on my soul, and has been since childhood. I know this music. It's part of me. It's like that going home feeling, where you breath more deeply and everything seems to fit.

Ahhhhh Grieg.

Aging...

Do you realize that my friends and I are nearing 30?! Some of us are nearer than others, but almost all of us are closer to 30 than 20. OY VAY!

And I would like to declare here and now that I AM NOT AFRAID! :) Some young people have a phobia about getting older, but not me. Nosireee. I have heard from multiple sources that it just gets better and I believe it!

From personal experience, I thought when I was 17 that 17 was the perfect age. HA! 27 is even better!

So bring on them 30's...

(If anyone isn't convinced, I can write lots more!)

Opening Day!

HAPPY OPENING DAY!!!

Hurrah! I'm watching the RED SOX in a REAL GAME at LAST! Ahhhhhh - does the soul good. There's nothing like baseball... especially with Schilling pitching.

I saw such a great "get you all psyched for opening day" clip on ESPN last night - inspiring music with a shot of a stadium's roof opening up to the sun, and with the announcer talking about waking up to spring after a long winter's nap. So lovely. I even read my sports book "The Games do Count" last night, so caught up was I in the fervor of the moment (actually, I read it because I left my other book in the car... but hey, it sounded good).

So the point of all of this is to say: Hurrah for baseball! GO RED SOX!

Picture of a Stranger

Ohhhhh boy. All day long I was wondering how on EARTH I was going to get a picture of a stranger. Good grief, what a scary proposition! And my day was going to consist of "go straight to school, go straight from school to Fairwood." Not a lot of stranger material there. Well, everyone on the road... So I have some really pathetic shots of people in the drive-through at Dunkin Donuts, some kid riding his bike across traffic, and basically things that showed my intimidation at the thought of approaching a stranger with camera in hand.

Thus it was that I found myself on the way to Fairwood without a good stranger picture. But I had my camera in my lap as I drove, just in case... As I was approaching the NH line, I saw a couple of girls broken down beside the road. Hm, thought I, this is probably at least as good as the DD drive through picture. So I surreptitiously held my camera out beside me and took a picture as I rolled to a stop at the red light. I clicked the little button to see how my un-aimed shot worked. Here is what I saw:

(I recommend aiming. The results are generally more satisfactory.)

Suddenly my peripheral vision caught the two girls approaching my car. I figured they were going to ask if they could use my phone or something...

Until I realized it was MELISSA AND SARA!!! They, too, were driving to Fairwood, and Sara's coolant was leaking profusely due to (we suspect) a burst hose, which is why they were stopped. Oy vay! So I dodged over to the side with them. I had "happened" to drive by about two minutes after they stopped... and they had "happened" to notice me (which is a jolly good thing, since I just saw "two girls broken down." Oh my word - I know I'm not observant, but this is a BIT MUCH!).

Shortly a policeman pulled up to help, and I saw my golden opportunity. I mean, it doesn't get much more golden than that! So, Sara dear, I'm really sorry about your car and all (luckily she had great AAA and got a free tow to Fairwood!), but THANK YOU for allowing me a legitimate picture of a stranger!

And so, I submit my picture of a stranger (sorry it's a bit late...):

a

Outside, Looking In (Ya, I can't read...)

I spent all day thinking I was supposed to find an "outside looking in" picture. And so devoted was I to this challenge that I even took my camera to my students' family's house where I'd been invited for dinner. While there, I took this shot, looking through the fence into their back yard.

Black & White

This light fixture has got to have been photographed at least 200 times, by more people than just myself. You get a digital camera in your hands and you are inexorably drawn to it!

GOOD ENOUGH! (she decreed after many varied attempts)

Self-portraits are funny things... But that's what Liane's photo challenge dictated, so I'm rising to the challenge! (And again I say, Yay Liane!)

OOOPS!

Ya, so I was writing a blog post and suddenly realized that this is Liane's photo challenge week (yay, Liane!). So here is my contribution for yesterday, which was "Corners of my home" day:)

The Lessons I've Taught, Etc.

First of all, I just want everyone to know that new blogger and I have a more peaceful relationship now. He hasn't lost any of my posts for quite awhile, and I haven't verbally abused him so much. So that's nice.

Now, for the topic of this post:
I took a day off of work last week to go to the Feast, and the seat-work I left for my 9th graders was to write a mini essay on someone who has influence their lives. This was supposed to tie in to Faria's influence on Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo. When I returned from the Feast I found that one of the students hadn't been able to decide who to write about, and his classmates had told him to write about MY influence on his life! The results made me laugh out loud:) Here they are:

"Throughout my life I have been influenced greatly by many people in many ways. One person who inspired me greatly is my teacher Miss Murray. She has inspired me mostly in two ways. These two ways were being nice to my friends and to not look at the keyboard.

First, she has influenced me to be nice to my friends. Every day when I teased my friends she would tell me not to and give me a Correction Sheet. By doing this it was like she was trying to show me that “Everything has an equal and opposite reaction” as the great CJ once said. This was like how Faria influenced Dantes because he tried to tell him he shouldn’t kill his betrayers because sooner or later he would get in trouble.

Lastly, my great teacher Miss Murray influenced me to stop looking at the keyboard while typing. This has influenced me greatly and has made my grade constantly rise. This relates to how Faria influenced Dantes because the Abbe kept trying to explain that you don’t have to do what you feel like you’re being forced to do. In Dantes’ case however it concerned whether or not he should kill the betrayers or if he should let them live.

In conclusion, my life has been influenced greatly by my teacher Miss Murray. She influenced me to be kind and considerate to the people around me, and to not look at my keyboard while typing. Like the Abbe influenced Dantes, my teacher influenced me. Thank you!"

There you have it, people! You can't get much more inspiring than "Stop looking at the keys!" So, I urge you, continue to inspire those around you not to look while typing. You never know when those words will sink in and affect a life forever! Be encouraged! :)

And now, speaking of inspiring, I leave you with some pictures of people I love and admire for being wonderful people and wonderful parents!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Happy Birthday to my

favoritest, bestest, dearest

Melissa!!!