from the porches

home

 

Home Again.

Even though I had a king-size bed to myself, with five fluffy pillows, while I stayed in Tallahassee for two nights

There's no place like home

Even though I worked steady and hard for the Department of Education (Department of Education building shown in this photo)

Home is where the heart is.

 

one day down

Finally!  Finally!  Finally, I am at a computer that works, the only one in the Residence Inn in downtown Tallahassee.

It's awfully lonesome by myself, without Mom, without Truett.  Just little old me.

Last night I listened to my ice maker roar and drop one ice cube every hour.  They have no ice buckets here, but they do have a fully equipped kitchen.  This morning I counted 7 ice cubes that the luxury refrigerator spit out!  Hot coke isn't the same as a chilled one.

I am about to go to dinner with some FCAT friends.

Then tomorrow we sit and work hard and intense. . .and at 4:30 I'm headed back to good old Fort White, home of the beautiful Ichetucknee River.

That's all.  My friends are congregating in the lobby. 

I miss everybody!!!!

flying east

On a little drive yesterday Truett and I saw flocks of birds flying East.

 I think they're herons, but for a moment thought they were sand-hill cranes.

It won't be long until I hear that garbling of the cranes.

off again

Tomorrow afternoon after work, Mom and I leave for an FCAT Writing Advisory Committee meeting in Tallahassee. 

If you have read my blog over the past two years, you may remember that my mother believes she is a vital part of my trip. Her main goal:  to make sure I have no quiet time.

Last January when we went to Tallahassee, Mom told a few of my committee friends that I needed her there.  They all think she's so adorable and cute.  Then I whisper, "Do you want to borrow her for an hour?"

I'm not really complaining, because I am still happy Mom is able to travel with me.  I just need to keep my stress level down while I'm driving with her incessant talking.

But one thing I have to do before tomorrow afternoon is repeat my mantra multiple times: I will stay calm, cool, and collected. 

I may take the lap top just in case I see something interesting to post about, but I'm still mulling that over. 

The meetings are usually intense with a lot of printed material to read and decisions regarding student writing to make. 

So. . .you may or may not be hearing from me for several days. 

Now I have to go search for my florescant orange ear plugs.

stumped

I am truly stumped.

Since Truett has been driving me around the countryside so I can take pictures, I've taken photographs of some interesting things.

Things I know nothing about, like the recent tedder I saw on the school grounds.

But I took this photograh last year and have become increasingly befuddled, especially since school has started.

You see, I'm rewarding exceptional writing with 3X5 photographs this year, along with gummi burgers.  And the children are eating the photographs up. . .which is complimentary to me.

Well, to make a long story short, I printed several copies of this photograph for rewards, and the more I printed out, the more I saw the ear tags. 

I hadn't looked that closely at the ear tags before; but now I see one ear is tagged #108 and the other ear is tagged #109.

So I asked the children if they knew why the ear tags would be different, because I certainly did not know why.  After all, a few of their relatives raise cattle.

They gave me answers, alright; but you know nine year olds. . .they'll make stuff up, much like me.   

 These are a few of their thoughts about the subject:

Two people own the cow.  Person #108 and #109. 

 Hmmm.  Could be.

The cow ran away with #108 on its ear and when they found him, they put a tag in the other ear.

Yeah, maybe, but doubtful.

When they kill the cow, one person will buy one side of beef, and another person will buy the other side of beef.

Awww!  That's sad.

Maybe the tags represent the pastures they've been in.

Interesting thought.  More logical and not nearly as heart-wrenching as the previous idea.

Then one child summed it up.

That's the weight of each ear.  One weighs 108 pounds, and the other ear weighs 109 pounds.

My mouth fell open and I gaped.  The weight of an ear?  108 and 109 pounds?  Nahh!  I'm pretty sure that's not right.

Well, that's all the suggestions I got from one class, so I asked Truett.  His response:

This cow had a twin so it's wearing both numbers.

Really???  Did you make that up, Truett.  Could be.

Oh, well.  I'm thoroughly stumped. 

One thing I do know, however, is that this cow resides at the University of Florida agricultural compound. . . or did.

Mooooooo!

rainbows

I saw three rainbows today. 

It's too bad it was misting and I was using my little Cannon Power Shot rather than the Nikon.   This first rainbow was very low to the ground, or so it appeared.

You can see the spectrum ending about on the sidewalk by that sign.  We turned right just before it, so that was my last glimpse of rainbow number one.

 As we traveled only five miles down the road, it stopped raining and rainbow number two  appears.

I do not have a photo of rainbow number three.  But I am totally satisfied that one rainbow would have been all I needed to be happy.  Now I feel blessed.

thursday's child

I know I am a Thursday's child, and not because I'm full of woe.

No, I'm a Thursday's child because Thursday sits next to Friday; and we all know what that means. 

This Thursday's child is taking the grandchildren to swim lessons today and is also looking eagerly to the weekend.

Have a great Thursday.

contemplating

If any of you from Face Book think this is the amusing post. . .well, you are dead wrong.  Just scroll on down until you reach yesterday's posting. 

This post is DEAD SERIOUS and don't let anyone tell you it isn't.  So there!

Now that I've been teaching for weeks in my very last year(47, to be exact)), I have been contemplating what my life would be like when I retire from teaching. 

While, in the meantime, I am having the time of my life. 

 No bars hold. Just what does that mean?  Bars?  What  Huh?

Anyway, my fourth graders have written about a "special person."  And, by the way, they're doing a fantastic job simply because they're using two anecdotes.

ANECDOTES?  wHAT'S THAT?

Exactly.  I taught for thirty-something years before I knew what an anecdote was.

An anecdote is a personal story.

  Once I realized what an anecdote was, I was able to tell the students.  Duh!

So anyway, I am really, really, REALLY getting into the anecdotes this year.  Hey, I have nothing to lose.  It's my last year.  So I'm being very dramatic.

When a child writes,  My mom shouted, "I love you,";  then I read the paper out loud and I yell at the top of my lungs, "I LOVE YOU!"

Of course, the children cringe and I say,  "Was shouted the correct word?"

And they agree, it wasn't.

But, back to contemplation.

What will I do if I can't teach writing?

My sister says I should "sell myself".  You know, write a resume and visit schools in Kentucky.

And I say,  "Nah,  nobody wants an old fat lady teaching writing."

And then I wonder if I did it, if I would be the same as a prostitute... you know selling myself.

did you hear

Hey, George.  Did you hear the news?  That lady that drives around our area taking those stupid photographs got her Acadia back from the body shop.  I heard she was so thrilled to be in a large, sturdy car again that she may not let that husband of hers drive it any more. 

Yeah, old man.  I heard about it.  I heard she kind of loved the gas mileage that little Misubushit got on the highways.  But I heard she never felt safe.  You know.  You never know who's gonna slam into you one day. But hey, Conway.  Did you hear what happened at her school today?

Nah, George.  What happened.

Well, it seems a corn snake slithered halfway into one of the classrooms and the door slammed shut on its belly.

No Mitzubishit!  What happened then?

Well, that pretty woman, Staci, . . .the one that used to be on car-rider duty with her. . .well she picked the poor little thing up with a stick and tossed it in the woods next to the parking lot.  Hey. . .hey Conway!  Where are you going?

CONWAY!  YOU GET BACK HERE NOW.  I LEARNED ABOUT IT FIRST!!!!

 

bubble art

This afternoon Truett and I took a little drive and ended up at a car wash.  I sat in the car while Truett did the washing.

I was already feeling a tad despondent because I had been riding for over twenty minutes and had not seen one different, exciting, or beautiful thing to photograph.  I was looking too hard, and then I calmed my mind down for the seeing to begin.

  It all started with strands of bubbles oozing down the windshield, and then magically shapes began transforming themselves into things.  Cilli and columns and lacy curtains.

Full pink breasts. . .

and a prehistoric mastadon drawing

A hole in a glacier

and an icy shell

Then the soap bubbles began to thin out and I was left with a greyhound running to the West

A sea bird soaring above Alaska. . .

almost reaching his destination. . .the frozen tundra

After that I saw a beluga whale tail rising from the icy ocean

Finally, before all matter of bubbles disappeared under the pressure of the rinsing process, I saw one last dog making his escape down the windshield, only to be dissolved into a liquid puddle on the asphalt.

Now that was fun. 

You may not have seen the things I saw in the bubbles because you bring different background experiences to your mind's eye.  I hope you enjoyed my visions.