The Gang

This is the gang that gathered at a restaurant in downtown Manchester, NH last Friday night:
Lil (or Camry a.k.a. me), AhClem, Short-and-Sassy, and ARB.

We four "weirdos" as ARB called us have known each other for a few years online. I met ARB and his wife for brunch in Tucson a couple of years ago while my husband and I were out there visiting his brother and sister in law. AhClem and I have met a number of times in Boston where he worked in the theatre district and when he's brought his family up to my neck of the woods for family outings. Sassy is the only one I hadn't met before offline, and she's as bubbly and vivacious as I thought her to be. She also pointed out how accurate her nickname is. Their spouses and ARB's sister and brother in law joined us, and we had a wonderful time talking, drinking, talking, eating, and talking.

Another and very different gang arrived today: the freshmen. This is a larger than average class (about 120) but they were pretty sane and civil during meetings in the auditorium and at lunch when some kids go wild. I'm not sure if it's just the demeanor of this group or if the Bridge sessions held in the summer helped tremendously. Either way, it was a good day. Tomorrow they get the day off and the upper classmen return. That's when my year will really begin. Today I spent time getting my student teacher oriented and answering some of her questions. She's a note maker and question asker, a habit that I see as an excellent sign. She wants to jump right in, but I won't let her bite off more than she can chew. Right now she feels a sense of accomplishment in seeing the big picture regarding British Literature, and that's fine, but there are three more course outlines to attack. I'll let her slip into the stream of World Lit once she's wet her toes with the seniors.

A few moments of quiet

Wednesday through Saturday have been on-the-go days, so now while I sit alone in my online community help desk, I have a little quiet time to catch up here.

Wednesday and Thursday were days of meetings when teachers and sometimes support staff (office, kitchen, custodial, paraprofessional and special education aides) sit and watch or listen to administrators who have attended some kind of new training over the summer proclaim the excellence of it all and explain that this is the new focus of the agenda for the year. This year it seems to be data: we have lots of data but we don't use it to our advantage, so that's what we'll need to do this year. I guess there are some folks who are excited about that. To me it means another task added to what we already do but without more time to do it. Time and payment are two issues in short supply, so when either of them is being manipulated by someone else, it makes me a little nervous.

The positive side of that is that our building admins did take the data fed back to them via a survey and they say they intend to make some notable changes that should allow teachers to feel that they're back in control of their classes and the academic wings of the building. Last year we had a few nasty students who were disruptive, uncivil, uncooperative, and even threatening who, for reasons teachers weren't allowed to know, were kept in school, ruining the atmosphere and taking inordinate amounts of time and attention that should have been spent on the students who wanted to participate and learn. (One of them was made to stay in a class next door to my study hall, and each day I thanked my lucky stars that he wasn't assigned to me. I could hear the kid as he regularly swore loudly, destroyed items in the classroom, defaced property, refused to do his work or take tests, belittled other students, and threatened the teacher before walking noisily out of the classroom to wander who knows where.) The discipline system is supposed to be tighter this year, and some of the angry, disruptive ones will be taking at least some of their classes in isolation via a Distance Learning program, supervised by one of the special needs staff. It's a good start. We'll see how long the plan lasts.

Both days my student teacher absorbed it all, and at the end of a viewing of a film by Dan Habib about inclusion of special education students into mainstream classes, she asked, "Did they show that to us because the school doesn't do that? Will that be a new thing for us?" I just shook my head and told her that we've been using inclusion for at least the 20 years we've been in the current building, so I wasn't sure why we were shown the film other than the fact that the people showing us probably went to a workshop over the summer and were given the film to share with coworkers. It's good to be reminded of the impact of our open-arms policies on kids who can thrive as a result of them, but to show us an hour-long film in a warm dark room after lunch on a day with gorgeous weather is poor planning. Most of us could have used the time to better advantage, setting up classrooms and collaborating on new courses that we're teaching.

Friday we worked in our classrooms, and since I'll be teaching in two different locations this year, I spent some time in the other classroom making it a kind of home away from home. I've had a study hall in there, and a very small class of mine met there three years ago, so it's not unknown to me, but I'll need to move quite a few resources to the room, ones that supplement the textbook and give us a wider view of British Lit. Of course my set-up time was interrupted now and then by the needs of others ("Does your laptop get the wireless signal from the library so you can take attendance in the cafeteria each morning?" "I gave you the teacher workbook for this series, right? Do you mind if I take it over the weekend?" "Do you have enough grade 12 vocab workbooks? I don't.") and by a meeting to figure out which interactive computer course would be more equivalent to ones we teach, so by the end of the day I was glad to get out of there. The highlight of my day was yet to come.

After taking a shower, changing my clothes and catching my breath, I headed an hour south to meet some friends for dinner. Known as ARB, Short-and-Sassy, Ah-Clem, and Lil, the four of us have been internet chat pals for years, and while ARB was in the general vicinity (he and his wife live in AZ), we decided to get together. I'd met ARB and Mrs. ARB for brunch in Tucson a few years ago, and Ah Clem and I have hung out together in Boston (theater stuff) and up here (craft fair stuff), sometimes with his wife and son, numerous times. ARB brought his sister and brother in law, and Short-and-Sassy brought her husband, and the nine of us had a wonderful time catching up and talking about everything from birthday parties and politics to the Red Sox and the Olympics. Half of us are or have been teachers so of course we talked shop, but not for long. The Italian restaurant that "Sassy" chose served us delicious food, and we never felt rushed by the waitstaff, so the three hours flew by. As in the past, I found that Sassy was, offline, exactly what I knew online, something that more often than not happens. Once in a while online friends are somehow different - taller, having unusual gestures or ways of walking, lighter or heavier, laughing in unexpected ways - and that can be interesting, but mostly we're just what we present ourselves to be, and that makes gatherings like this one very comfortable right from the start.

Saturday was the Old Home Day craft fair that was so complicated to enter. Before it began I headed to the nearest Staples store since it was their Teacher Appreciation day, and I gathered up a basketful of goodies, some free and some for pennies apiece. Their gift this year was a 512MB flash drive in its own case, as many clips and oversize tacks as you could fit into a 4x6" plastic bag, and packages of pencils free to teachers. Then I dashed to the craft fair where I set up beside someone I know from many local fairs, a quilter and knitter who kept a stream of conversation going for the entire day. The day was warm and sunny, but I managed to find shade and a breeze that kept me going. As Old Home days tend to be, the event was more social than lucrative with lots of current and former friends making the rounds after the parade and the display of old cars. Some pretty good music (that is, stuff I knew and could sing and boogie to) played at a level of many decibels, and a local organization ran the lunch wagon conveniently close to my tent. I managed to sell a few things, some that I made on the spot, and I didn't fry in the sun, so it was a good day. My spouse came early to set up my tent and tables while I went to Staples, and then he had his fund raising relay with his cross-country team at the high school. He came to help me break down and pack up, but so many friends saw him and had to say hello that his help was with the final items, the tent and tables being tucked away in his Explorer. That's okay: he grilled some really good barbecued chicken and snipped a pound of string beans for dinner. My job was to gather the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from the garden which required two trips. This is one of those bumper crop years for cherry tomatoes. I'm not sick of them yet!

Time to close down here and head out to my shop where I'll sit on the porch, the smell of freshly mowed grass in the air around me, and a little breeze keeping me cool. Customers? Probably not, but that's fine. I'll enjoy my quiet anyway.

Back to school

Eight weeks flew by and we're gathering at the brain factory again to start the process with renewed vigor. That's the cover story. Actually we're getting together so we can listen to administrators reminding us how to teach and how to be enthusiastic "guides on the side." (The phrase comes from some advice I heard years ago: Instead of being the Sage on the Stage, be the Guide on the Side to help kids learn.) Uh huh. And if you believe that, there's a lovely large bridge that you might like to buy from me, too, for a song. In reality, most of us teach because we like helping people learn things, especially if it can improve their lives somehow. Most kids get that but some fight us all the way. Since I have a remedial class this year for the first time in ages, I may get to see more of the latter clientele than I've had in my classroom in a long time.

Country Living

I'm here in the heart of rural New England, and because of my location, I have the pleasure of enjoying certain country situations that city folk just don't experience.

Yesterday I had a table at an Old Home Day celebration held at a town hall that was erected in 1806. (Old Home Day is like a yearly reunion when current and former residents of a town gather to enjoy the day through a variety of events.) In terms of world history that's certainly not ancient, but it's long before I can remember, despite what some of my students might claim. Part of their annual event is the making of the bean hole beans, a process that begins the day before they're eaten. Navy and kidney beans are soaked and par boiled, combined with other ingredients usually including maple syrup, brown sugar, molasses, and spices, and put into large covered vats that rest in pits in the ground on beds of coals for about 24 hours. The Boy Scouts keep the coals going overnight, and they help to serve the tasty food for lunch during Old Home Day. Other events include races and games for the little ones, the raising of the flag, the group photograph on the steps of the town hall, an annual town meeting (which, oddly, includes the singing of hymns from some very old hymnals), horse and pony rides, and food and craft tables inside the town hall. I'd never attended this particular Old Home Day, and I found it pleasantly laid back, (especially compared with the next one I'll be attending for the 8th year in a row and that's been made inordinately complicated. More on that later.) and the people friendly and mellow. Homemade doughnuts, zucchini bread, and muffins, cucumbers, flowers, and zucchinis (yep, people are always trying to get rid of their surplus), framed pastels and unframed watercolors, unique water bottle carriers, aprons and potholders, ceramic dishes in the shapes of various leaves, peacock feathers donated by the local bird that was molting, notecards and jewelry were offered for sale. About a dozen former students and their significant others wandered through and said hello, and I met some other interesting and creative folks as well. I didn't sell a lot, but the day was relaxing and pleasant. I'll probably go back again next year if I'm invited.

Another but not so pleasant happening here in the boonies is the death of a mouse. I assume it's a mouse. I can't see it but I can surely smell it. We don't have a cat, so sometimes the little critters get into the house and they somehow meet their end, usually in a place that's out of human sight, often in a wall. The sour aroma is one that turns my stomach, and it lasts for a few days. Most of the time it's a fall/winter/spring occurrence when the house is shut up and the odor is strong and disgusting. This time the weather is mild enough that a few windows can be open a bit in the part of the house where the smell is the strongest which happens to be the den, my newly claimed space. I'm happy today to sit out on the porch of my shop to write this away from the nasty fragrance. I hope it clears out soon so I can get back to enjoying my comfy little room without having to spray air freshener every so often.

The dragonflies are out in force and busy this week. Is there a difference between the fat bellied ones and the little slim ones? I like sitting on the porch watching them do their dances, darting around the yard, and I'm careful to guide any that stumble into my shop back out through the open doors so they can continue to do their good deeds by consuming those nasty bugs.

BBQ tonight: marinated steak, fresh potato salad, cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden, and fresh raspberry pie. Mmm!

38

Today is our 38th wedding anniversary. We're celebrating it mellowly on a day about 30º cooler than it was when we were married. Breakfast in bed was followed by each doing our errands. We had lunch - tuna salad subs, chips, and cherry tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden - out on the deck. He gave me a beautiful purple vase filled with a variety of fragrant purple flowers, and I gave him a half gallon of his favorite rum. Tonight we'll used gift certificates given to us to go out to dinner at the Common Man restaurant, one of our favorites for celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. The atmosphere is country but classy and the food is always delicious there. We usually can't do this because our anniversary typically falls during cross country season, and once that officially begins, the practices and meetings take priority over our private life events like having dinner at a reasonable hour or going out to the movies, so I'm thrilled to have this time and my husband all to myself so we can look back on the crazy, funny, wild and meaningful stuff of our married life.

Peach yogurt

I'm finally back on track after the whirlwind of the time away in Colorado and getting us back to the world of audio communication after being without phone service for three days.

I don't think I had jet lag as such but there's always lots of energy spent when I'm in a new or different location that depletes whatever rest I've accumulated. While we were out west, I was fine, but I dozed a lot on the flights home, and since then I've slept very soundly. Maybe that's been, in part, because the house phones were dead so things were fairly quiet around here.

We had no phone service when we arrived at home, and I chalked that up to the nasty storms we've had around here. My husband mentioned an article in the paper about continuing phone outages and attempts to find the cause, and when I called the cable company on Monday, the recorded message while I waited referred to outages in our town and three others, so I sat tight. I figured it would be taken care of soon. However, when Tuesday rolled around and we still had no phone service, I decided to pursue the matter. I chatted online with tech support, answering their questions about the sound that I heard when I picked up a phone, what the lights on the modem looked like, and if a phone plugged directly into the modem was able get a dial tone. I was told to bring each phone to the modem to listen for a dial tone to ensure that there wasn't one bad phone among the extensions we have, and when I found the bad one, to take it out of commission. Trouble is all five extensions worked correctly. I returned to the online tech chat and I described getting a dialtone when one working phone was plugged into its own jack, but that a minute later the modem showed the phone line to be in use when it wasn't. Sheesh! We went through a series of tests until TimP assured me that the trouble was not in our phones but in some aspect that needed hands-on investigation by a technician, and that I was to call a number to schedule an appointment for a tech to visit. I wasn't happy that we'd apparently have to wait another day, but I did as I was instructed. The voice recording told me I had a ten minute wait and that I was 5th in the queue, but if I wanted to leave my number, a tech would call me back. I tried to do that, as instructed, but it said the person at that number had rejected my attempt to call and it bounced me back to the dialtone. Okay. I took a breath, told my husband what happened, and tried again, but this time the projected wait would be 19 minutes...so I tried the leave-your-number process again but this time it simply bounced me out of connection. That was enough. I took my car keys, grabbed the grocery list, told my husband I'd be back in a little while, and took off in my car.

There IS a happy ending to this story. While I was gone, my husband called a former student (Howard) who is a middle level person in the cable company and he left a message for him. In less than five minutes he received a phone call from another former student (Mike), an installer for the same cable company wanting to know if he could come to the house to try to remedy the problem. He arrived shortly thereafter (he lives about 2 miles away), and while he was bringing his tools up from his truck, Howard called to make sure his tech had arrived. Talk about service! By the time I arrived home and saw the cable company truck in the driveway, work had begun. It turns out that the wiring inside the wall jack wasn't up to snuff (he could tell who had done the installation by the way the wires were knotted, almost like recognizing someone's handwriting) so Mike cleaned that up and reseated the jack. All five phones were tested and found to work perfectly. Woo hoo!

It's nice when people in our community can help each other out beyond the formal procedures that exist in so many places, and it was very nice when the head of Customer Service called the next day to ask for the details of our experience and I could praise Howard and Mike for their willingness to help us out in such a swift and professional manner. I think Mr. Customer Service was annoyed to hear that their phone service didn't work as advertised while I was waiting in the queue but he was grateful for the feedback. The various cable, dish, and phone companies in the area are vying for business and there are gentle price wars going on to gain more customers, so any information about their reputation as observed by customers is a help to them. Their VIP (video/internet/phone) package isn't cheap, and they know they need to do a good job as people look around for the best deal in these not so friendly economic times.

I've done some cleaning and rearranging of furniture, some jewelry making, a little reading, some baking, and I found that an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier works perfectly with the iMac. The Canon scanner just wouldn't, and I was mourning its loss, but this machine that had been sort of extra baggage, took its place. That allowed me to clear off part of the cabinet where the old technology had sat, move the current piece (epson stylus CX7800) into place, and place my paper cutting board in the newly created space. I'm a happy camper.

I finished my copper pendant in class on Monday. It came out pretty well, looking almost exactly like what I expected. I'm glad I learned all the techniques we were taught because I'm likely to use most if not all of them in the near future to make pieces that are different from what I now make. Soldering is a technique that I need much more practice with if I'm going to use it correctly, but I'm regarding it as being much like my ability to drive a manual transmission: I can do it if I need to but it's not my preference. Using the mill to impress texture onto metal is something I enjoyed doing, but the creation of hammered texture and the shaping of those pieces is what I really want to continue doing. I have a few questions about tools and techniques for the instructor who gave us her email address and encouraged us to keep in touch with her, and I need to find a good source of plate metal for my projects. I'm looking forward to my travels in this direction.

While we were away, we ate out for every meal, and because the food was so good, I certainly didn't lose any weight. Once we were home, we ordered takeout twice, and I began to realize that I'd look like a barrel by the time I had to try to fit into school clothes if I didn't do something about my eating habits. (I'd intended to walk every day to get "back into shape" but that lasted about three days. Walking around the pedestrian mall while shopping and eating ice cream does not count.) I'm reverting to an old plan that I learned probably ten years ago from Tom, the colleague who inhabited the classroom beside mine. He'd found that if he ate 5 or 6 small meals a day, his weight dropped nicely. He'd breakfast at home, have a piece of fruit between 2nd and 3rd periods, eat half a sandwich at noon, eat the other half at the end of the school day, have a small portion of dinner, and something light before bed if he wanted it, and it worked for him. I've tried downing liquids all day, skipping meals, avoiding "anything white," and other measures, but the one that seems to help me most is a version of Tom's plan: breakfast (coffee and 1/2 muffin), morning snack, stuffed celery at lunch, lowfat fruit yogurt in the afternoon, small dinner, and a small oatmeal cookie or a piece of something sweet in the evening (I inherited an insistent evening sweet tooth from my Dad). The snack, crunchy celery, and yogurt tide me over and are good for me. I feel less bloated and sluggish, and once I've felt better for a few days I'll feel more like moving around and exercising which is, after all, the other half of what I need to do.

Back from the Mile High City

Five days away in Colorado was just enough to get a sense of being away from the usual routine and the typical concerns, and to get a taste of an area we'll probably visit again. Each town has its own atmosphere, from charming, well laid out city and clean, commercial suburbs and tourist traps to the relics of the 1960's and 70's college towns. The motel where we stayed was in suburban Westminster, the wedding and reception was in Brighton, the restaurant and the home where our former student/former runner/friend hosted us are in Denver itself, and the best funky shops and cafes are in Boulder. We did make the trip to Estes Park, but with my vertigo, trying to traverse so many tortuous switchbacks with sheer dropoffs would have been torture, so we didn't go beyond the town up into the Rockies. We did travel in the Flatirons and some of the first tier mountains, and when we were in Estes Park we could see some of the second tier of the higher peaks still clad in their winter snows. Seeing those amazing crests we found that even at that distance, their magnificence still makes us feel small and insignificant.

Becky and Eric, the bride and groom, had planned everything with an eye to the comfort of their out of town guests. His family came from the North Dakota area, and her family came from New Hampshire, Colorado and Montana. Friends from New York, New Hampshire, Florida and Massachusetts filled out the guest list.  All of us were well taken care of with driving  directions (although we were directed east once by the mother of the bride when we were supposed to be driving west), help with lodging reservations, and invitations to meals three nights in a row. 

Mary (mother of the bride), Nancy (mother of the groom), and the bridesmaids did the whole routine of bachelorette night, getting temporary tattoos, manicures and pedicures, and going out for drinks and other fun that they just giggled about. I guess the boys went out, but I never heard details. Since the couple is in their early 30's, the parts of the celebrations are a little tamer than they would have been ten years before. At the wedding, Becky looked lovely in a strapless gown embellished with deep red trim and gold embroidery, and Eric and Bryson, Eric's son, wore spiffy black tuxes. Parents of the bride and groom and the attendants continued the red/white/black theme. The ceremony was fairly short but there were several readings from familiar sources, Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Kahlil Gibran to the Bible, and the lighting of the unity candle by all three members of the new family brought the groom's son into the event. As one of the attendees noted, there were more children at this wedding and reception than are usually seen, but family is important to Becky and Eric and they wanted their son to have kids to hang out with during this celebration. The family theme continued during the reception through the table favors: small maple-leaf shaped bottles of maple syrup made by the bride's aunt and uncle, and lefkes fashioned by the groom's family. We brought the syrup home, but we passed on the lefkes, not being fans of crepes filled with mashed potatoes. Much dancing followed a delicious dinner, and fun was had by all.

We had a good time, too, visiting Keith and his wife Stephanie and their daughter Maisy. We've known Keith since he was in seventh grade, so it was terrific to see where his life had carried him. Several years ago we'd attended their wedding in Vermont, and we'd followed him from a distance through his mother who still lives around here and from occasional emails he'd send. It was wonderful to find him a secure, happy, mature man who owns two successful restaurants, a lovely home in a historic district of Denver, and a few vintage cars that are his hobby, and who has really found joy in his family. Maisy is a cute, good natured baby of 9 months, and Stephanie is a lovely, creative, passionate woman who complements Keith as they manage their home and their work in a kind of balance that works well for them. We've invited them to visit us when they're in this area for his class reunion soon, and I hope they can fit us into their schedule.

Boulder...Pearl Street ped mall...gorgeous handmade jewelry...four flavors of Rocky Mountain Fudge...a half gallon of locally brewed ale in a special Ball jar...Pay & Park machines that stumped us until our last visit...street performers...and the best ice cream west of the Mississippi.

Estes Park...river walk...small shops with any kind of tshirt you'd ever want to buy...Native American art...spectacular views of the mountains...hummingbirds...fresh, crisp air.

The trip back started at 4:30 a.m. (after someone's wrist watch alarm went off at 2:30) without our daily trip to the hot tub, but we'd packed carefully the night before so we were ready to stumble out the door at 5 to drive to the airport. The car - a small SUV that was pretty good on gas mileage - was returned, the shuttle took us to the airport, we had juice and muffins while we waited, and we left on time. We like Southwest and will take them again when possible. On of the attendants was a young man who had quite a sense of humor in his broadcasts, something that made the flight pass quickly. Once we were in Baltimore, the real fun began. We had time for a bite to eat and then we boarded the plane up to Manchester....and then we sat for two hours due to nasty weather. We ended up flying past some impressive clouds and feeling a few bouts of turbulence, but it wasn't bad. The caution of the airline and the expertise of the pilot were essential to that. The passengers all applauded when we landed....and then we were met by probably three planefuls of delayed passengers waiting in crowded, stuffy conditions in Manchester airport. Even though it was raining and we had to trundle our suitcase and other bags down drenched sidewalks to get to the special free parking area that we were allowed to use, we were glad to get out of that mess. 

The second load of clothes that went from suitcase to washer are now clean, dry, and folded, so it's time to call it a night. We had a good time together, and now we'll need a little time to ease back into our lives.

During a pause in the action...

We're back from Vermont where we attended services for my brother in law. The weather held during the outdoor ceremony at the cemetery, and the rain that did fall during the reception and then the gathering at their home was light and intermittent. I figured that was my brother in law letting us know he was right nearby with us all. There were lots of people, friends and family I did know and some I'd seen before, and a few were new to me, but we were there with the same desire: to recognize my brother in law's effect on us all and to celebrate his life. It was a good day.

The rest of the day will be spent packing for tomorrow's trip. We're going to try for one suitcase and a carry-on for each of us. Southwest is the airline we'll be flying, the ones who advertise that they won't nickel and dime us for things that they should provide free. It remains to be seen what they do offer us for the cost of the fare. I'm not bringing a laptop with me so this will be the last post until at least Sunday evening. I'm sure those of you who read this will be fine in the interim and will hardly miss my pearls of wisdom. ;-)

Yesterday I moved a few steps closer to completing my pendant, but there are more steps left so I doubt I'll have time to start another project. I'm looking forward to finishing this one, though, and will wear the piece with pride. I do plan to find out from the instructor some details about making hammered pieces including cuff bracelets. I just need to know if they're harder or easier than I think they'd be to make.

Time for a nap and then back to packing. See you next week!

Just another Sunday

Yesterday morning I delivered a large collection of Lake items and repairs to the bakery/gift shop (and there were more tasks waiting for me, but that's another issue) and picked up a nice check for my efforts. The new keychains will be a success because they're unisex and for anyone who carries keys, so that was a good item to develop.

I came home and opened the shop, and as usual no one but my spouse visited. Although I use the time to sort through and pack away new purchases, polish the tarnish from silver items, and make a few new pieces, I also get restless now and then even with the radio on for company. Saturday was one of those restless days. I knew we'd be visiting a couple at their new home that overlooks a nearby lake for dinner, so I didn't want to start anything that would absorb my attention, knowing I'd probably not have time to finish it. I meandered around the yard, checking the garden plots, sauntered indoors to the computer to check email, and sat out on the porch doing the crossword puzzle. Back down in the shop again I took a mental step back to see if I could figure out what's making me restless. I think the answer is twofold.

First, it's August. Each year I promise myself a July free from thinking or doing things associated with teaching. After all, this is supposed to be the vacation time that lets me recharge my batteries by doing something different, and then I'll be fresh for a new start when the school year begins. That means as soon as the calendar proclaims the fact that August has arrived, I have to shift gears toward school. I have a paid summer project regarding the way we teach new vocabulary to students, a student teacher to meet again for some planning, and a colleague to contact about a class that she's taught, and now I'll be teaching a second section of it. I enjoy being the master of my own time and the freedom with which to spend it, so the prospect of giving up those pleasures to people who are sometimes unreasonable or unrealistic in their expectations is not always a happy one. This feeling is similar to the "pre-Monday blues" I've described in the past that strike me on Sunday afternoons during the school year. I recognize this beast easily.

Second, and more of a challenge to describe, is change that's occurring in some aspects of my interpersonal life. 2007 and 2008 have been years of some pretty nifty highs and some dark lows, and at this point the lows are beginning to win. For highs I've been fortunate to renew and cement some valuable friendships, and I'm looking forward to two class reunions in the upcoming months. The other side of that coin is the change in status and the loss of some relationships in the past year and a half. I'm not good at grieving, so I carry it with me until I can figure out what to do with it. I'm still working on that. And this change thing...well, it takes away my sense of control which unsettles me. My brain knows it's an okay thing, but another part of me pouts. I know the only person who can change this is me, so after I've figuratively kicked my butt around for a little while and told myself to shape up and get on with things, I'll be fine. Yeah.

The visit with friends was nice. We've known them for about 30 years and we get along well even though it's months between visits. They have decided to go organic for 90% of their food, so we had bison burgers, sausages of deer/venison and bison, and spare ribs from a local organic farm. They'd picked up a fresh blueberry pie that wasn't made at the farm but for the shop by someone nearby, and putting two and two together, I realized that it was my bakery gal who'd made it. She bakes twice a week for them and the son who substituted for me last fall makes the delivery. Small world! I'm not crazy about her cherry or apple pies, but this pie was delicious. Topped with a scoop of ice cream from a local dairy and creamery, it was superb. Over dessert we discussed our respective travel plans, theirs to see the Grandy Canyon and ours to Denver, and we could make suggestions for each other which was welcome. We'll get together in a few weeks and compare notes on our excursions.

Today I did my help desk duty for two hours and then went out to my shop. I'd thought about taking a jaunt over to the craft fair that I thought I was doing but decided against it. I didn't really care what they had there, and I'm sure I'll hear from some people who did stop by. Instead, I made a pair of earrings and a necklace for the bride, ones that have Chinese symbols for "double happiness" and a pearl that I hand wired to the charm. I think she'll like them. I also made some jade jewelry for myself from some beautiful dark green beads I'd been saving. They'll go nicely with the dress I plan to wear - a dark olive background with large flowers of a muted beet red and gold - and with other outfits I'll wear in the fall and winter. Again, no one visited the shop besides my husband so I was able to spend my time making what I wanted to.

I think the plan to make a 'dry run' to the airport to find a special parking lot we've been given permission to use is scrapped ... again. We've gone back and forth on this one. I know we'll be able to find it by the map my friend drew for me, and he even admitted that if by some chance we can't find it, we can always park in the garage or the main lot, but he's one who feels the need to make a trial before the real thing so he's wavered back and forth. The last time he tried to 'bribe' me into going with him he said he'd treat me to dinner anywhere I wanted. Well, that sounds great but that's on top of half a tank of gas, and these days that's a pretty big consideration. I said I would go, but common sense prevailed and he changed his mind for the third time so, at this moment, we're staying home, throwing 'dogs on the grill, enjoying locally grown corn on the cob, and saving money toward the trip. It's almost time to start packing!

Busy times

I spent most of yesterday making and repairing jewelry for the bakery/gift shop that sells my things each summer. I'm done seeing green and blue millefiori beads for a few hours, I hope! Before I deliver the sizable collection of items, I'll put together a few anklets because that's what sells well only in the warm months when people like to wear them.

This week will be, for me, the busiest of the summer:

=> Saturday and Sunday - open my shop and also begin packing for the upcoming trip
=> Monday - the jewelry making class at the state Institute of Art, and hanging out with the friend who's also taking the class for lunch and a little shopping
=> Tuesday - the funeral for my brother in law and spending much of the day with family
=> Wednesday (before dawn) - flying to Denver
=> visiting two young friends and their families, attending a rehearsal dinner and wedding, sightseeing in the Estes/Boulder/Denver vicinity
=> Sunday - flying back home again, arriving sometime in the middle of the day
=> Monday - the final jewelry making class

Now that it's August, I also need to begin some of the summer work for my job. I make myself stay away from school as much as humanly possible for the month of July to give my brain a rest from it with the offset that in August I will catch up, and that plan usually works pretty well. I have to confer with a student teacher for first semester, get together with a colleague who has taught the new class I'll have this year, put in 20 documented hours of work toward a new approach (without workbooks) to vocabulary enhancement, and look for a different young adult or other suitable novel to replace one that I'll no longer be teaching. Those endeavors will help me move my mind toward the upcoming year..... and they'll keep me from spending an inordinate amount of time shopping online for new school clothes.

Sometimes I browse online looking at the current "gotta reads" and trends in clothing, jewelry, footwear, hairstyles - all that vitally important stuff - and once in a while I give in to the temptation to possess one or two of them. After all, I'm saving time and gas by ordering online and paying minimal or no shipping fees! However, I'm still spending the money and acquiring more stuff than I need. I should get rid of about half of the items hanging in my closet or at least retire some things that I'll likely never wear again so the garments I do wear and any few new ones (I usually pick up a couple of new things in September, when the back-to-school rush is over and the sales begin) have places to hang.

Applause to:

my friends Brick and Mieja on their 5th wedding anniversary yesterday;

my friend Jamie, the guy in San Francisco, my Mac guru and long-distance tutor who introduced me to the delightful world of the RSS and helped me set up Google Reader;

Sis2 for continuing to drive up two hours one-way to see my mother every other weekend to help her with her bill paying and minor attempts at organizing that disaster of a lovely but overfilled apartment.

Also the letter N and the number 7.