It didn't start with Lady Macbeth...

"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it"
Lady Macbeth to Macbeth

Some well-known folks and some less so have bought in to this duplicity of maintaining a lovely, shiny, pristine surface that hides dastardly innards. Lady Mac urged hubby to do it and ended up being one of the victims. HAMLET is filled with characters whose exterior belies their interior. Even people in my own immediate world are attempting the cover-up of their true intent. It turns my stomach to be among the targets of their attempts that are so obvious to everyone but themselves, but in some cases, I'm driven, to a lesser degree, to some of the same behavior: covering up my true reactions to their smarminess. "It's all a big game." "It's just politics." What a great way to reinforce the concept that people should always be cynical for their own well-being. I grow weary of constantly being on guard against the two-faced folks.

Issues at work make me welcome the end of this school year with more genuine enthusiasm than in many other years. I plan no summer college courses at this point, and I have zero plans to do summer curriculum work after several years of it. I hope the changes instituted this past year are allowed a second year, one of stasis, to settle in and be judged as truly working or not. I've felt much frustration at the stated philosophy of Expect Excellence and its split from the reality of the current grading system. I think a lot of "brown stuff" will hit the proverbial fan in the next few weeks and again in the fall as a result of mass testing. It'll be interesting to watch the reactions.

On a lighter note, the turkeys are back in sizable numbers, and I see them several times a week on my way to school or back home again. They're a sign that, at some level, things are all right.

Waldo dog had a bath this evening and he's looking handsome....shaggy but handsome. It's almost time for him to visit the groomer.

Thunder and heat lightning preceded this rain storm, so sleep should be easier tonight. Between the cooler air and the a/c unit in the bedroom window, I shall sleep like the dead.

May (it not snow today) 9, 2010

Mother's Day was celebrated with Sis2 and Mom (and her bf Bob who is rarely more than a few feet away from her at any given moment) yesterday with a gift of cut flowers from me, a small Chinese red velvet purse complete with tassels and embroidered dragon-bird from Sis2, and a trip to Friendly's for ice cream. Mom shuffles along, her gait being stiffer with elastic stockings to her knees, and shoes that, to her, don't feel as if they're laced up quite tight enough, but she can still get from here to there. Her mental focus slides from one place to another and sometimes the past is the present, but then she'll remember something I'm sure she's forgotten, like the fact that my shop is usually open on Sunday afternoons. It's an interesting trip, and the nice part is that she's more mellow in this part of the journey than she was for most of my life.

The rest of this entry is an assortment of random thoughts:

I wonder sometimes if I weren't so helpful, would I be less memorable?

My brother is even worse than I am about getting to the post office.

What's the deal with people who get the rules, read the rules, agree to the rules, and then in the first 30 seconds expect to be the exception to the rules?

Today I'd have a tough time choosing between caramel and chocolate.

47.0 mpg That's my Prius.

We're using the wood stove on Sunday, May 9. That's a little later than I'm used to needing wood heat. Usually by the time the asparagus is sprouting up, the ashes have been cleaned out and the stove has become dormant for the season. Not this year.

Do I really need a cellphone?

NBA basketball: it's just a game.

Beads are calling my name. I think I'll allow myself to be lured by them. : )