Wednesday, April 12, 2023

For a second, I couldn't remember what year it was! it is 2023 right?..

Liz is on her way to Tahiti. Can't imagine! This morning I am up early for coyotes, balloons, sun in my face and a day trip with the Women's group I joined. My neighbor asked me to go to it with her and in the spirit of saying yes to things I agreed, but then she got scheduled for surgery today and I have to go with no one I know! Chance to meet new people I suppose. I offered to carpool and have 4 people in my car I don't know. Eek. Tight squeeze in the backseat. I did wash my car so I wouldn't be embarrassed by the dust and bugs. We are going to a fish hatchery and famous birding place. I have seriously entered my retirement years agreeing to that!

The sprinkler project carries on. I was able to turn on the old stuff yesterday so everything got a drink with the warm weather. Some of the trees were looking thirsty. They are back today.

My wasp traps were duds. Paper wasps are not interested in them. Argh. I think I need the exterminator's help. I was just hoping I could drown them!

Anyway, I should probably head out lest I get stuck behind a balloon that has landed on the road...

Take care and have a good day!

CC I love how you dive in and put yourself out there. Here's hoping there's a click with some of the new people you meet to add to your growing group of friends in Arizona.

Imagining Liz, on quite an adventure!

Miraculous weather again, sunny and 80 degrees. After months of below normal temps, it feels earned.

I don't feel sick, which is good for many reasons, but mostly because my work imposed quarantine ends tomorrow. Back to work Thursday.

I went through old photo albums looking for pictures of my friend. I know 18 years old was a long time ago, and yet it still feels so close sometimes. In our small school, he and I were voted Most Likely to Succeed. Through the years, I have thought about the definition of success. My friend succeeded in the conventional sense: he was the founder of several small businesses that did well. His kids are great. My success is less conventional, I don't think it was what my classmates had in mind. I was determined to leave behind the dysfunction of my childhood (which no one on the outside could see, because sometimes abuse and dysfunction are very well hidden). I did succeed, just differently. Looking at the photos, a tight knit group of best friends, our lives still before us... It brings up a lot of feelings.

But returning to the present, I am using some of my housebound time to bring some order to the place. There may be some reading on the porch to take advantage of the spectacular weather.

I weighed myself finally and I gained 2.5 pounds on my trip. They come so fast, but leave so slow. Even so, I am the same weight I was last year at this time. So even though I am at a higher weight than is comfortable, I am happy that it's stable.

Weight stability is good! Mine is definitely up from last year which I am not happy with.

I love your definition of success. I think achieving personal success is more important than conventional definitions of success.

Good for you going on that day trip even without your neighbor. I bet you will get to meet some potential friends. It sounds like a good opportunity for that.

We are here at the hotel we are staying at for the day/night. So tired! But it is beautiful drinking coffee and looking at and hearing the ocean! I ate a bunch of stuff I normally wouldn't (lots of carbs - breads and rolls) as they kept feeding us on the plane and I felt a need to be fueled to make it here. All was smooth getting here but confusing at times and sleeping on the plane was difficult though I think I slept more than I expected.

Lots of kitties and chickens roaming around looking for food dropage LOL. One brave chicken landed on the table so we had to cover the food after we shooed it away.

Time to go sleep by the beach until our room is ready (we already changed into bathing suits). Have a winning Wednesday!

Hope you are having a most excellent nap. The pool is picture perfect, can't wait for all your photos of this south seas adventure!

Greetings all

The sun is out and it's warming up. I was just thinking last night how It might be time to not wear two layers of clothes. Need some T shirts.

Out and about today and picked up three bags of my favorite Gevalier coffee on sale at CVS. On to the studio to do some glazing. Again, hardly any where to park. Classes going on and lots of activity. All good.

CC where I live you have to worry about a fallen tree blocking the road. But balloons!! Gee thats an excuse for being late to work! Enjoy the outing to the hatchery. Sounds interesting. And good for you for pushing things a bit and car pooling with new people. Could be interesting. But wasps - yuck. Not sure what to do about those. Call exterminator sounds best. I have heard you can wait until after dark when they are all in the nest and then grab the nest and burn it. But way too much could go wrong there.

Liz we are all watching with envy as you cruise Tahiti. But who knew there would be marauding chickens and kitties? I am assuming there is wifi on that ship. I was reading about Tahiti on the web and it looks so cool. they grow black pearls and vanilla. hope you get some of both.

DD so sweet to read you are finding old pictures of your deceased friend. We can all hope to be remembered. And you are indeed a highly successful person in my book. Hope you are well rested for going back to school. Cant remember if I have asked before but I am curious about what high school English students are reading. New stuff, old stuff, what?

Not much else. We started watching a netflix series called "Transatlantic". It's based on a true story of smuggling people out of nazi europe to america. The first episode was a bit ragged but interesting. I think it will be good. And it's sure better than exploding aliens.

Diane S

In 9th grade, we read To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet and The Odyssey. All things you would recognize, and probably read yourself in high school. For the short stories unit we have some leeway what to pick. We don't really do a poetry unit, which I think is a shame, but we do introduce sonnets with the Shakespeare unit, and the teacher I team with has students write a sonnet about who do you blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. I think the students surprise themselves every year that they can actually write something in iambic pentameter.

In 10th grade they read Of Mice and Men, in 11th grade A Raisin in the Sun, in 12th Macbeth and Lord of the Flies. 9th grade is much more literature based, the rest of the grades are heavier on writing and research.

If you take AP Language and AP Literature you read a wide scope of more current literature like the Kite Runner, The Bluest Eye, and some classics like Hamlet and Catcher in the Rye.

That being said, Minnesota state standards for English Language Arts is currently being revised. Things may change quite a bit in the coming years. I think we will say goodbye to Atticus and Scout ...