Nora - May Birthday

It has been WAY too long since I have even signed on to this blog. I mean, really, November? Since then Christmas has come and gone as well as our birthdays and one very important birthday. Little Nora had her first one! She is a really happy baby and we are so excited to see her in July. Our sons have given us tickets to France for our 40th wedding anniversary. We can't wait!

What a difference!

A month in the life of a little boy makes such a difference. So does a haircut. Just check out my Bow Tie Boy and his previous birthday photo. It's hard to believe Eliott has grown up so much.

Two-Cute

This little guy is now two years old. He has discovered that he has opinions that are not the same as the rest of the world. He found out that he loves to do what he loves to do, and he detests doing what he does not love to do. And the truth of it is, I just love him. Happy Birthday Eliott Ray. May you be a voice to be reckoned with in this world. You are dearly loved.

Banned Books Attract

An English teacher whose blog I follow posted this letter from Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and many other works. I just had to repost!

To the Editor of the Charleston Gazette:

I received an urgent e-mail from a high school student named Makenzie Hatfield of Charleston, West Virginia. She informed me of a group of parents who were attempting to suppress the teaching of two of my novels, The Prince of Tides and Beach Music. I heard rumors of this controversy as I was completing my latest filthy, vomit-inducing work. These controversies are so commonplace in my life that I no longer get involved. But my knowledge of mountain lore is strong enough to know the dangers of refusing to help a Hatfield of West Virginia. I also do not mess with McCoys.

I’ve enjoyed a lifetime love affair with English teachers, just like the ones who are being abused in Charleston, West Virginia, today. My English teachers pushed me to be smart and inquisitive, and they taught me the great books of the world with passion and cunning and love. Like your English teachers, they didn’t have any money either, but they lived in the bright fires of their imaginations, and they taught because they were born to teach the prettiest language in the world. I have yet to meet an English teacher who assigned a book to damage a kid. They take an unutterable joy in opening up the known world to their students, but they are dishonored and unpraised because of the scandalous paychecks they receive. In my travels around this country, I have discovered that America hates its teachers, and I could not tell you why. Charleston, West Virginia, is showing clear signs of really hurting theirs, and I would be cautious about the word getting out.

In 1961, I entered the classroom of the great Eugene Norris, who set about in a thousand ways to change my life. It was the year I read The Catcher in the Rye, under Gene’s careful tutelage, and I adore that book to this very day. Later, a parent complained to the school board, and Gene Norris was called before the board to defend his teaching of this book. He asked me to write an essay describing the book’s galvanic effect on me, which I did. But Gene’s defense of The Catcher in the Rye was so brilliant and convincing in its sheer power that it carried the day. I stayed close to Gene Norris till the day he died. I delivered a eulogy at his memorial service and was one of the executors of his will. Few in the world have ever loved English teachers as I have, and I loathe it when they are bullied by know-nothing parents or cowardly school boards.

About the novels your county just censored: The Prince of Tides and Beach Music are two of my darlings which I would place before the altar of God and say, “Lord, this is how I found the world you made.” They contain scenes of violence, but I was the son of a Marine Corps fighter pilot who killed hundreds of men in Korea, beat my mother and his seven kids whenever he felt like it, and fought in three wars. My youngest brother, Tom, committed suicide by jumping off a fourteen-story building; my French teacher ended her life with a pistol; my aunt was brutally raped in Atlanta; eight of my classmates at The Citadel were killed in Vietnam; and my best friend was killed in a car wreck in Mississippi last summer. Violence has always been a part of my world. I write about it in my books and make no apology to anyone. In Beach Music, I wrote about the Holocaust and lack the literary powers to make that historical event anything other than grotesque.

People cuss in my books. People cuss in my real life. I cuss, especially at Citadel basketball games. I’m perfectly sure that Steve Shamblin and other teachers prepared their students well for any encounters with violence or profanity in my books just as Gene Norris prepared me for the profane language in The Catcher in the Rye forty-eight years ago.

The world of literature has everything in it, and it refuses to leave anything out. I have read like a man on fire my whole life because the genius of English teachers touched me with the dazzling beauty of language. Because of them I rode with Don Quixote and danced with Anna Karenina at a ball in St. Petersburg and lassoed a steer in Lonesome Dove and had nightmares about slavery in Beloved and walked the streets of Dublin in Ulysses and made up a hundred stories in The Arabian Nights and saw my mother killed by a baseball in A Prayer for Owen Meany. I’ve been in ten thousand cities and have introduced myself to a hundred thousand strangers in my exuberant reading career, all because I listened to my fabulous English teachers and soaked up every single thing those magnificent men and women had to give. I cherish and praise them and thank them for finding me when I was a boy and presenting me with the precious gift of the English language.

The school board of Charleston, West Virginia, has sullied that gift and shamed themselves and their community. You’ve now entered the ranks of censors, book-banners, and teacher-haters, and the word will spread. Good teachers will avoid you as though you had cholera. But here is my favorite thing: Because you banned my books, every kid in that county will read them, every single one of them. Because book-banners are invariably idiots, they don’t know how the world works—but writers and English teachers do.

I salute the English teachers of Charleston, West Virginia, and send my affection to their students. West Virginians, you’ve just done what history warned you against—you’ve riled a Hatfield.

Sincerely,

Pat Conroy

Heavenly

Someone recently posted this photo on facebook and I snagged it:

Does it look like heaven to you? 

Yeah, me too.

First Week Finished

What a beautiful week for the first week of school. Temps were in the 80s and the sun shone constantly. September is that kind of month for the Northwest. Even though the trees begin to change color, it's warm and sunny. Makes it difficult to stay in class and teach! Oh well... I love the cool mornings, sunny days, and beautiful evenings in our back yard.

The first week would have been perfect if Ms. Senior Class Officer hadn't come to me on Wednesday afternoon to tell me she was leaving next week for ten days. I was so irritated! Of course she wanted her work and expected me to have it ready for her by Monday. So instead of enjoying this beautiful weather, I spent my evenings preparing lessons. I usually work a week ahead but not the first couple of weeks of school. I need to get a feel for my students, a sense of their abilities, establish a pace. Friday morning Ms. SCO brought me flowers... nice touch. 

Another nice touch was having the Back to School Bash on Friday. Instead of working on that beautiful 85* day, we started with chapel then went to a local lakeside park. Unfortunately students couldn't swim because of a supposed bacterial rating, something that was quickly proven to be isolated and no longer existent, but the lake had to have two clean ratings in a row to be approved for swimming. I guess we should be glad as that meant we didn't have to deal with skimpy suits and raging hormones! Everyone had a great time, playing games, swinging, just hanging out. And because I had worked like a fool on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, I didn't have to work late Friday night, so we barbecued chicken and just relaxed at home. 

All in all, a good start to school. Hopefully it will continue; we will grow in knowledge, relationships, and numbers! I'm praying for that.

First Day

Yes, school has started at ye old high school. I'm actually sitting in first period - study hall. I've gone over my expectation sheet and chatted briefly with each student. Now we all just sit here... they have nothing to study and I am ready to teach next period, Brit Lit. This is rather boring. Hopefully these students will have more excitement as the day progresses.

Already?

How can September have started already? I'm not prepared for summer to be finished. In the NW, our summer begins sometime after the 4th of July and closes near the end of September so it is rather insulting to spent lovely weather days in the classroom. But there's no question, it's time to go back to school. Mornings are cool and crisp; the leaves are starting to change color. Some stores have started putting Christmas stuff on their shelves. That's ridiculous, but it's the way the commercial markets function. There are a lot of things I need to do, but the one thing I would love to do more than any other thing is cuddle with these three children. I have yet to hold little Nora; oh how wish I could change that!

Beautiful Mountain

We haven't been able to get away for a real vacation this year so we have enjoyed a few day trips instead. We have such beauty surrounding us - what a privilege to live in Washington!

Last Saturday, we drove up to Mount Rainier National Park. Once in the park, we still had a long drive to Paradise (that's really the name) where we hiked and had lunch.

 This is the top of the mountain, what we saw as we hiked.

 Here is one of the viewpoints. Gorgeous!

 The Lodge where we had lunch, nestled in the mountains and trees.

Gorgeous wildflowers dotted the mountain base.

On the way home, T snapped this photo, one of our favorite spots.

We ended our day in our own backyard. Perfect.

8-8-88

The day we arrived in Haiti - 8.8.88 - we had few expectations. We had already lived in France for a year and served six years in Martinique. We were pretty fluent in French but spoke no Creole. I never did learn it. My husband and sons picked it up quickly but I never even tried. Part of that was because I was still doing French translation work for Martinique, something that continued for many years. A lot of Creole comes from French, without verb conjugations. That would be disastrous for French which prides itself on all the special verbs for special situations. The other reason was I didn't want to; I was afraid it would compromise my French. Oh well... We lived in Haiti for twelve years, were 'evacuated' twice (unnecessary but unavoidable), and then moved to Miami while continuing to work (off and on) in Haiti for six more years. Both of our sons graduated from high school while living in Haiti, making lifelong friends who continue to shape them as humans on this planet. There is nothing quite like friendships forged in a place like this country. Many people move to Haiti with the thought of doing something great for the Haitian people. I've always been of the opinion that people moving to Haiti were about to learn something very important about themselves and would grow in ways previously unimaginable, or quickly leave the country, unable to handle the pressure of this extraordinary place. I learned some of the most important lessons in life from relatively poor, uneducated Haitian people of faith. And I am quite grateful.

List Making

I consider July 31 to be the last true day of my summer break. Once August hits, I tend to change the way I function. I'm in list-mode. What haven't I done that I need to cram into my final weeks? This definitely reduces relaxation and puts me into a more scheduled attitude.

On my list I find windows that still have to be washed, posters that haven't yet been laminated, a lecture series (two actually) that are unfinished, books that have not been read, a trip to the hazzo house that has been waiting for three years! My list has been around quite a while. I guess it can wait at bit longer, at least through today, the last day of July.

Another Project

If we ever finish designing our yard, we're just going to have to weed rather than create! Today T put twinkle lights on one of the trees. I liked it so much that we went shopping for more. Now our back yard pond is encircled by little lights. It's quite a pretty progression from afternoon to late evening.

Garden Life

My summer break is more than half over. Sadness... I love teaching, don't get me wrong, but I also love the 80+ days I spend outside the classroom. And outside is the key word for me. I spend a lot of time in my garden. I'm a developper... ever take that gallup inventory with strengths finder? My top fiver are developper, ideation, woo (winning others over), positivity, and input. Yeah... that pretty much sums me up. It's not limited to my classroom; I take it into my garden as well. Here's a few photos:

My favorite hydrangea, blue and purple

 Our new flagstone pathway, from the patio to the trails

 Out front: daisies and lilies

Every year I pot geraniums under our front window;

this year I added a white one.

Blooming for the first time, this was planted three years ago!

The front walkway, daisies, black-eyed Susans, white hydrangea, fuschia

The back yard hillside, terraced with trails. Not yet blooming.

It's hard work but I do love it. Seeing chaos organized into something pretty, very satisfying. This is what the back hillside looked like before we worked on it:

And this is after, before we put in the flagstone.

As I said, hard work but I love it!

Nora's Quilt - The Beginning

Several months ago, I sent two squares of white fabric to Haiti so my friend and former employee could embroider them with baby scenes. One was for a baby girl and the other for a baby boy. This was in anticipation of the news we would receive for grandchild number six. And then the announcement came, a girl! I went to the fabric store and purchased what I needed to make the baby quilt. That took about all the time and energy I had. Having just transitioned from junior high to high school teaching, I was still up to my neck in work with little or no time for sewing. But now summer vacation is here and there is time, somewhat... I have helped with scheduling for the new year, hosted birthday dinners, shopped and lunched with my mother - so maybe there's time. I'm taking the time today to sew. Here's the center square, our baby girl square for Nora Elise.

And here is the fabric that I will use to create the quilt blocks. The bright yellow (far left) with the polka-dots is the back. The white with pink polka-dots (far right) is the border. The three fabrics in the center will create the blocks, which will be stripes on the diagonal. The eyelet trim will go around the border. I hope it turns out okay!

 Oh yes, I still have the baby boy embroidered square (not shown) just in case. Right, I think my sons would have heart attacks should another one show up anytime soon.

Summer = Sore

I've decided that the new normal for summer break is being sore! Yesterday was a great day. I went to my son's house and helped K move all the furniture from two kids' bedrooms into a third kid's bedroom so that carpets could be torn up in anticipation of new carpeting. It was a job and I'm a bit sore today, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. My mother got me hooked on furniture sliders. Seriously, a person could put a queen-sized hide-a-bed on these sliders and move it with one hand! Great invention; I hope the guy's a millionaire! After working and lunch, I took my three grands to a park on my side of town and they played until they were ready to drop. It's a big park with lots of fun things for big kids as well as little ones. They had a blast. Limeberry was next on our agenda, followed by cartoons at home. I wore those little darlings out so their parents could rest. That's what a good grandma does!

Other than that, my garden is blooming and I'm loving it!

Soooo Sore!

Yesterday I worked, all day. First I made strawberry freezer jam, then cut up fruit for a large salad, and finally the yard. Oh my goodness, the yard definitely got its revenge. I took advil last night and tried to sleep. About 2:30 in the morning I gave up, came out to get more advil, and roamed the internet for a while. I tried the daybed in the kids' room but couldn't get comfortable. Finally about 4 in the morning, I went back to bed. I think I heard the clock chime 5 o'clock and then I don't remember anything until the phone rang at 9 o'clock. I don't want to just sit around because that makes me hurt more, so I'm doing laundry, vacuuming, and will run errands in a short while. This afternoon, we will attend Colton's last baseball game for the season, followed by a BBQ/bonfire for his team and the families at C's house. That will be fun. I want to see Kayla's room. She (and her mother) splatter-painted it, painted a dark brown wainscotting, and trimmed it out in ribbon. Scott repurposed the wood flooring from his office (which was destroyed by a falling tree during a snow storm) into her bedroom as well. Can't wait to see it all together.

Yard Work

Along with summer break comes yard work. Honestly, I love working in my yard. I love flowers and trails and waterfalls and shrubs and all growing things. I don't like some of the work these things demand. I've done a lot of weeding but there's a lot more to do! Today, the big deal... I finished pruning the rhododendrons and laurels. We have 15 rhodies and 4 laurels. Of the rhododendrons, only two didn't need a heavy pruning. I decided that this was a project I could do while T works all day. There are reasons why I wouldn't want to be an administrator in a school and summer break is one of them. Anyway, today I pruned the last four rhodies and two laurels. My arms and shoulders are so sore that I can hardly type. This means that it's going to be really awful tomorrow! I also put up two batches of strawberry freezer jam and cut up fruit for a huge salad for tomorrow's little league picnic for Colton and his team. I think I owe myself some lunch at a good rest. The sun is shining beautifully so maybe I'll have a little picnic all by myself. I do believe I deserve it!

Proud of my School!

As I previously posted, we attended my nephew's high school graduation. Two of my former middle school students and one of our former high school students graduated from THS the same night, along with over 274 others. Now, there were only 266 names on the program so I'm not sure where the other 8-10 students came from but that is incidental.

There were a few things that surprised me. This school honored their National Merit Scholar who was also one of the student speakers. We honored our National Merit Scholar as well, as our Valedictorian. Yes, we use the title. Oh, and their National Merit Finalist, the one who didn't quite make the Scholar cut, yeah... she was ours for more than half her high school experience but transferred for the big school's drama program.

This school had about a dozen students in the top ten percent category of WA state graduates. So did we... and they had one in the top one percent... hmmm, so did we.

This school hit their all-time-high for scholarships and grants at $1.8 million. Great. We came in just under $1 million... like $986,000 or something like that.

So what's the big deal? That school... has 274+ grads; we had 53 grads this year. 53! Our students came away with virtually the same number of honors in academics as one of the biggest high schools in the county! And we earned more than half the $$$ - even though - wait... (274 ÷ 53 = 5.16981132075)... Right... they are more than FIVE times the size of our school.

There are some out there who say small private schools are just taking people's money and handing out an inferior education. This is not true. Our small, private, Christian school is not cheap but the education is excellent, as demonstrated by the above stats contrasted with one of the most coveted public high schools in our county. We have eight large public high schools in our county and this particular one always has a waiting list for transfers.

I'm not here to rag on the public high school. I am sincerely happy for those students who were able to demonstrate their abilities in such a tangible way, but I would like those in our community who like to say private schools are not very academic to take note of the facts and quit the negative chatter. Because it simply isn't true. I am so proud of our school and our grads!

Last Graduation

At least the last one for this year. Last night a local high school held their graduation. My nephew was among the grads. It was touch-and-go for him to the very end. C has to deal with Tourette Syndrome. He doesn't have the serious version, just the kind that produces small ticks, which for him means his head will twitch every few seconds/minutes, depending on stress. Just try to read with your head jerking every few seconds; it's phenomenally difficult. When C was a little guy, he displayed remarkable observation and verbal skills. We all knew he'd grow up to be someone who would soar in scholastics. By the time he was in first or second grade, the ticks started, accompanied by violent bursts of anger. I can only imagine the frustration he felt not being able to do normal schoolwork because his head wouldn't stay still. Testing produced the diagnosis, and meds helped some with the symptoms but didn't do much to help the anger issues. Between elementary and middle school, I tutored C three times a week in reading and math. Yes, I did say math. I'm notoriously inadequate in that domain but I do have basic skills, and at that time, C didn't. That summer made a huge difference for C. He didn't lose what he had already learned, plus he mastered the multiplication tables and grew exponentially in comprehension skills. From that point on, his grades improved radically. I never had to tutor him again; he knew he could do it. C didn't graduate with honors or any other awards, but he did graduate - and that was a great accomplishment for him. Now we just have to help him find a decent job, and I'm sure he'll do well in the future. He's already learned that life isn't easy, faced down his challenges, and risen above unavoidable obstacles. Congrats C! Your family loves you!

SUMMER VACATION BEGINS!

I have the joy of an extra week of vacation this year. For the past few years, the Labor Day weekend has fallen so late into September that our school started in August. This year, instead of starting with students in August, we will begin the Wednesday after Labor Day. That means I have 88 days of "vacation" rather than 81! Nice! Of course next week I'll be at an educational conference, and there will be those necessary pre-teaching faculty meetings in August, but that's fine. Today the sun is shining, the birds are singing, my laundry is nearly finished and it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. I have lessons to plan, books to read, and letters to get out to students, but this week I'm going to let all of that wait. As a slight breeze blows through my window, bringing the fragrance of new flowers in bloom, I just want to enjoy this day, this moment. I don't do a very good job of taking time for myself, but I will today.