Good Morning!
5 Days!!!! 🙂
Today’s header photo is from Kare.
*It’s now Sunday the 21st, so I believe someone has a birthday today.
Happy Birthday Linda. 🙂
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On this day in 1790 the first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, RI.
In 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union.
In 1879 Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ.
And in 1968 author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66.
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Quote of the Day
“Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.”
Dale Evans
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This one is a request.
And this one is because I like it. From King’s College Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0aL9rKJPr4&feature=player_detailpage ______________________________________________
Wandering Views 
When we moved, which we did a few times while I was growing up, my parents’ philosophy was that it was better for the child to be dropped into a school year already in progress, and get to know his or her fellow students that way. Kind of like a sink or swim situation. They thought it would be harder for my brother and I to make friends in the summer.
Fortunately for our teachers, we were good kids who wouldn’t give them any trouble.
When we moved from Tennessee to Ohio, when I was in the middle of second grade, they sent me to school on moving day, and picked me up when they were ready to leave. I was told in later years, as I didn’t see it myself, that my teacher started to cry after I said goodbye and walked out. I loved Mrs. Davis, and would write her little notes telling her I loved her.
Now that I think about it, I remember that we moved to a new town in the summer before I started high school. I was happy to find another “new girl” on the first day of school, in one of my morning classes. She and I became best friends. (And then we moved again in the middle of my sophomore year.)
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My dad reported moving a lot of times through his school years but four times in high school, including halfway through the senior year. But he does not view it as a negative, just as what it was. I doubt he gave teachers any problem as those boys knew to respect authority and their elders. Most of his brothers went on to become teachers.
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Just realized – that should have been “my brother and me” (last sentence of first paragraph), not “my brother and I”. Didn’t catch that before. 😦
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I believe I is correct.
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But I am wrong.
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it would be harder for me to make friends. You are correct that you were wrong, I was wrong that you were correct.
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Along with having this different face due to the Moebius Syndrome, I was also very shy. I got picked on a lot, and bullied as well (particularly in middle and high school). I somehow would still end up with at least a couple good friends, even if it took a while.
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I was very shy. I probably still am but I am a hermit so it does not show as much.
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Speaking to adults, other than my parents, never happened. I could not talk to aunts or uncles even, and even though they were teachers and incredibly nice people who enjoyed children.
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I always give children space to be quiet and just observe. My problem with all these new ones is two of them really do not belong in my class. They will probably be in next years class. So it is hard to meet their needs when they are nowhere near where the rest of the class is. One speaks very little English. the other is just so young.
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Ten days left. I keep telling myself that this is a sweet class. There are just some difficult elements in it. Like the boy I can’t figure out who I think is missing his family too much to be here. Away from mom and brother and sister.
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That’s very sad, Jo.
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Only four more days of public school. We will continue with some school throughout the summer. I don’t know what public schooler has planned.
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The Boy’s last day of first grade is June 25th. We had a lot of snow days that need to be made up.
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Only 8 days left. Bad boy was bad today. I am not sure what to do. Then God gave me an idea. Our back verandah, where we eat and do painting, is rather dirty. Paint smears and cobwebs. I think that will be my new punishment. They will have to get a section shining clean. At least we will have something to show for the punishment.
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Would this be a Mumsee idea?
By the way, I plan to buy my next couch from Costco.
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I’d better go pack some cleaning supplies in my school bag.
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Well, it does sound somewhat like what happened yesterday with recalcitrant twelve year old. Is that even a word?
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Husband had an especially bad day yesterday. Today’s plans include going to Lewiston to complete passport applications for two youngest so they can have the possibility of going truck driving. Then husband heads off to Boise to fix daughter’s gate and then fly to Florida with his sister to visit their dad, back to Texas for fourth daughter’s graduation from Corpsman school, back home next week, a highway commission meeting for him, truck driving, and a cruise with our son and his wife, husband’s folks, some others. He is one busy guy. I am glad he does that part so I don’t need to.
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Well, he upped his prednisone as the doc had told him to do as needed, and is off to Boise.
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so glad that Mike got some help. That sounds like quite a full schedule. I am using heat and advil to help with my back.
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Grades are done, now I will spend tomorrow on the comments. One of the grades asks if they can spell cvc words, so I made some up. Being able to spell nonsense words tells if they are really hearing the sounds. Let’s see: yux, jef, git, dav, and something else.
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Husband took son in for a hearing test and they said he had excellent hearing. I still say you are correct and he is not hearing the sounds. I don’t think the test was as in depth as we were asking for.
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Just received an email from the teacher who is overseeing the people in the special metalworking on line course. It is supposed to be an apprenticeship opportunity to get the children through high school and into local jobs of metalworking. Making jet boats, rifle sights for the military, equipment for mills,etc. Son got himself into it but apparently has not done much work on it while in class. He was given one hour a day at school to work on it with a teacher looking over his shoulder. There are something like eight units in a quarter, supposed to be one week per unit. School is over and he has four units to go, and seven days to get them down. Actually, he has eleven but four of those will be at football camp. And he is “working” all day. And has no computer access from home. Sounds like he has dug himself a hole. It is a pass fail course and the incentive is some large amount of money. I don’t know how much. And the obvious idea of a job right out of high school And the idea that if he gets another F, his life will continue to be less fun.
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Praying for wisdom for that young man, and for God to get a hold of his heart.
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It makes me mad that the school is not doing their job. Hold him accountable! I just spent all day holding the boy aaccountable. At the end of the day he was going out the door, but had left his sweatshirt on the hook. Another sweet, little boy said, M, you forgot your coat. He turned and yelled at the boy, ‘that’s not a coat!’ I brought him back inside and told him, when someone is being kind to you, you don’t yell at them, you say thank you. Not sure that he got it.
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Sounds like they are going to promote the other young boy that I have only had for six weeks. The principal feels that things might just start to click with him. I don’t want to tell him that I don’t believe in that. This boy is very young and immature. He has some strengths, but is not ready. They are also looking at his birthdate, instead of his maturity. Oh, well, not my decision. I am kinda relieved not to have to continue to deal with his immaturity.
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In part, I hold them responsible, but in reality, I would not care to have somebody so unable to complete a task, building my jet boat. He will be seventeen in a bit over a month. They are expecting him to start participating in his life and letting him learn the hard way. Which is fine. But the message they send continues to be “we will bail you out”
Somebody gave him a pair of new Nike’s yesterday, according to him. We do know he orders things over the internet and has them shipped to other people’s homes. He had been eyeing them for a while and should buy them himself if he wants them, rather than all the junk food he gets from the store. He acts like a fourteen year old.
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It is interesting how people have different perspectives and view things differently. Seems like they might more heavily toward the folk that are most involved.
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Now that makes a lot of sense. seems like they might weigh their decisions more heavily toward the folk that are most involved.
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I’m probably too old and look at things differently than they do.
Only one day left. I kept them all busy today. We even experimented with water the last hour. I showed them how to use an eye dropper. then they looked at a drop of water. Then, in pairs, they got to count and see how many drops a penny would hold.
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I suspect you see the children in action. One of the reasons, perhaps the biggest other than needing to be available to my children, for me to have such a difficult time volunteering in VBS or Bible Club anymore, is the totally out of control behavior that is currently accepted. I doubt all the teachers find it acceptable, but they think it is the way it is so they let it go. My sensibilities cannot handle that kind of chaos for even a short time. And, being a hermit, it is difficult to counter the norm. And that has little to do with education but a lot to do with children being able to hear what is presented.
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New smartphone user here. Testing this in the secret room first…
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Who art thou, Anonymous?
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And why am I talkin’ like that?
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Someone who needed some smart arrows to help mom with her phone. 🙂
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Hi Six.
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Hi Mumsee, Kizzie, Jo. Good to see you ladies continuing the conversation over here.
It’s nice to imagine that this thread might continue until our Lord’s second coming. Really — that thought came to mind last night after I’d posted the 7:18.
In any case, I like peeking into this room now and then, reading your comments, even if I don’t say anything most of the time.
Enjoy your chats. 🙂
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Here’s a frivolous comment so I can get a certain number. (People don’t really do that, do they?)
The number we should be at with this comment is, I think, 5445. A certain symmetry to that, wouldn’t you say.
Ah, 5445. 5445. 5445.
See ya. 😉
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and back to our regularly scheduled programming. Step in anytime, Six, we have plenty of tea and crumpets.
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Reminds me of A Beautiful Mind. Never read the book but enjoyed the movie several times.
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Jo is on vacation.
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I saw “A Beautiful Mind” several years ago. Later, I read that his hallucinations (if that’s the word) were auditory, not visual, but they made them visual for the movie because it is easier and more dramatic to portray.
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Mmmm, tea and crumpets.
Hmmm, I can’t seem to see where they are…
Here’s my “And now you know the rest of the story” story:
I took my smartphone back today and am back to using my regular “dumb” mobile phone. It’s good enough.
The smartphone came with about 10 or 12 apps already on the phone. Then I added three more. By yesterday, two days after my purchase, there were, somehow, 62 apps on that phone! I have no idea how they got there.
Another thing: Third Arrow sent me two different texts — but only one got to my phone.
The person who sold me my phone couldn’t explain why either of those things happened.
I thought, that’s enough of this. I don’t really need that phone, especially when there’s already trouble with it within the first 72 hours of owning it.
Call me (ha, ha) a former smartphone user.
And now you know the rest of the story. 😉
Now back to your regularly-scheduled conversation. Carry on!
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I keep forgetting to come over here for a visit. I get the comments in my inbox, so I keep up. That is funny about the phone, six.
So sad with this haircut. I am doomed to look bad for another three months. How could they possibly think that I wear my hair this short.?????
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With this class and with this one boy, I learned to be firmer than I have ever been before. I was careful not to be mean or unloving, but I was very firm. Kept asking, did you get permission to be there? Had to round him up. Children need to be taught how to be respectful and polite. he was not that to my aide. She needs to learn how to be firmer. She is sweet and kind, but tells me when they are very bad.
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I suppose I’d better start cooking the mango chicken as I am having another teacher for dinner. I did all of the cutting up, and mixing, but not the cooking.
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Firm is good for a lot of children, though some can actually hear the first time you say something. The more they get away with things, the easier it becomes.
VBS starts today. Once again, we will try but I doubt twelve year old will be very long. Most people feel that he just needs extra freedom so he can make the right decision. But he gets frustrated when people don’t understand him, so he bops little people or otherwise bullies them. That is not okay. Nobody should be afraid to go to VBS.
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oh, sweet twelve, may he have a teacher who understands and gives him limits so he can enjoy VBS and the others can too. My boy was usually fine on the mat when I was teaching, just couldn’t handle freedom.
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My spies tell me he was coloring on other people’s papers and talking during the story time. Not good. But he did not bop any other children. I told him that is not acceptable to do to any teacher, especially not to volunteers.
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We will pray him through the week. It is a very unusual time for him.
I hear a plane coming in. It was a torrential rain just ten minutes ago, so glad the plane is coming now. Lots of flights this week as folks leave. They call it cry week.
Some of these children will never see each other again and they know it.
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He does this every year at VBS but I usually take him out by the third day and put him back at the end. I will let him go today, he did better yesterday. I told him the volunteers are there to teach children about Jesus. He knows Him so he can stay home and let them learn or he can attend and learn more and meet new friends and do fun stuff.
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Another better day at VBS. But their behavior at home is deteriorating as they pick up new skills from their new friends…. At least he is making it into day four this time.
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Mumsee – What kind of “skills” do you mean? (I realize you are referring to behavioral “skills”.)
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Woke up at 7:30 and looked at the clock. I instantly remembered that it was market day so got dressed quickly. Market is over at 8. I had totally forgotten. It was a misty rain, but has cleared off now. Back is still hurting, but this feels like muscle instead of bones out of place.
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Next Friday morning I am heading to Australia for ten days! Hooray!!
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Going to watch the kangaroos and wallabies?
Kizzie, skills like, how to be mean to each other, how to use new words that are not allowed around here, how to not listen to authority. Just the usual.
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Mumsee – I think they call that “socialization”. 😉
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Yes, I do try to keep my children unsocialized. We kind of figure they are supposed to spend twelve years with their peers and then never again. So we just go straight to never and get them to associate with people of all ages
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I remember reading a little debate on Facebook, about whether or not a school district should implement requiring school uniforms. One of the commenters was against it, saying that then the children would not be able to express their own individuality in their choice of clothing.
I pointed out that most kids were more interested in fitting in with others, so as not to be picked on, than in expressing their own individuality. There are always some brave souls who buck the latest trends, but they are either mercilessly picked on/bullied or are amazingly confident in themselves.
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I always prayed for mine for that one good friend. In high school I had no one to eat lunch with. The girls in my classes were such a tight click I couldn’t break in. I came from a small, 12, eighth grade class to a large high school.
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There were two lunch periods when mine went to the same high school that I did. Another mom from church and I prayed that our girls would have lunch together. They did and are still best friends many years later.
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My children have at times, complained of their lack of friends. I have told them that, in reality, not many people in school have as many friends as they want you to think. Having one or two good friends makes all the difference.
I am still in contact with my one real friend in school. She had other friends but she was always kind to me. She is off to China for six weeks of teaching ESL and looking for God moments.
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Working on a newsletter. It may take a while. I am not sure that I will get it done before going to Australia. The pictures of me with my first and most recent class will fill the first page.
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It is nice to get away from it all. Good if you can get the odds and ends tucked away (like the newsletter) so you can just relax.
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Well, depending on time and all, you should be off to Australia for another ten days of relaxation! Enjoy, Jo!
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An interesting history of Australia is a book called “The Fatal Shore.”
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oh, no, we fell off the top posts list.
So…. I will make a bunch of short posts
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It is dangerous to let me in a mall. I saw several folks that I wanted to mention, did you forget to wear something? as what they were wearing was so short, etc.
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I am here with a fellow teacher. She is young, but I have a great deal of respect for her and admire her. She is working with two different youth groups and is going to oversee the junior high group this year. Taught fifth last year and now going to fourth as that is where the need is.
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I know she is an introvert, she calls it an outgoing introvert. But, she is not saying anything to me. She is pleasant and kind, but doesn’t volunteer anything. I am also an introvert, but I generally talk. This is a little strange.
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Took a shower this morning and just enjoyed water coming at an angle, easy to clean your face. In PNG all of the showerheads are straight above you. hmmm… maybe I should purchase a shower head, never thought of that.
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oh, and smooth roads and paths are simply amazing
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Well, that blew my plan. I was going to come on here today and talk behind your back as you seemed to have forgotten us, again. Now I suppose I will need to talk about the weather instead. Nice weather.
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It sounds as though you are having a lovely time. What language do they speak there? I have heard it on things like Crocodile Dundee, and it does not appear to be English.
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i sent son off early this morning. He is refusing to be home by five so I decided to let him get up at five and head on out. He did not take the bike that husband picked up for him yesterday. Perhaps because he did not think of it. Perhaps because he owes about one hundred fifty on repairs. Who knows the mind of this boy? God does.
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I see Kizzie is sneaking around this morning so we can’t talk about her….
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!!! How did you see me? I hadn’t even come here yet! !!!
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moms have eyes in the back of their heads, did you not know that?
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Another cloudy day, but I am seeing bits of blue. My friend went with another family scuba diving. I would have enjoyed going on the boat, but not diving. Unless they had a certain kind of mask that you don’t have to put in your mouth. Praying for nice weather for them. This family is/are my Uka neighbors.
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This hotel is on a hillside out of town past the airport. Very, very quiet and peaceful. You can look it up on the internet. Tree Tops Lodge, Cairns
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Finally we are on our rightful place on the top posts.
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hmmm…. must be time for my second breakfast, am I in the land of hobbits? or close to their land?
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Check your feet, if they are hairy….
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I enjoyed scuba diving but did not enjoy the motion sickness that came with it. On the boat, on the water, under the water. I went to the Keys to get certified with my class in Georgia but sea sickness got the better of me and I ended up certifying in a reservoir which had problems of its own.
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I heard about the scuba diving trip. They had a glass bottom boat that I would have enjoyed. But I also heard that it took an hour and a half to get out there and they went fast through the choppy seas. So… many of their passengers got sick. I would not have enjoyed being around that.
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rain here, but looks like sunshine is trying to break through.
We ate lunch with the other family yesterday, which was delightful.
But, my friend announced that she wanted to go see Juraissac World this afternoon. The other family’s kids do too. However where does that leave me??
I think I will just take the car and head for the Tablelands.
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Sounds like you are having an enjoyable time. I would not have enjoyed the boat trip. I love water and boats, but I like slow boats where I can enjoy the trip and not be sick.
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We have had plenty of rain in just the right amount for me as everything is coming up lush and beautiful. I don’t know how the rest of the area feels about it. Sometimes rain is good and sometimes not, for the farmers.
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We are getting some good rain today, which started last night. We need it, as it’s been pretty dry lately. As I was waking up this morning, there was a loud clap of thunder, which followed the puzzling flash of light I could even see through my sleep mask. The thunder clued me in to the flash of light having been lightning. I had thought I imagined it. 🙂
(I wear a contoured sleep mask at night to help my dry eyes, since they don’t completely close. It also helps me stay asleep during the seasons when the sun comes up early.)
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Today is a train ride through the cane fields and the rain forest. Several hours in a sorta village with lots of shops. Then we take the gondola down. Lots of rain in the night, but it seems to have stopped.
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My friend came over with a movie to watch last night. I watched it by not looking.
Too scary and suspenseful for me. It was called ‘A Quiet Room” Extremely scary. But… the family values were strong and the message of a family caring for each other was wonderful.
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Then we watched ‘The Showman” to get the first one out of my head. I got wise and asked her to turn on the subtitles as it was hard to hear with whispers in the music. With the subtitles, it was great. I wanted to see it as at the end of the year concert the kids had done a number of songs from this musical. One especially powerful piece.
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I believe “A Quiet Room” was covered in World. Is that the one where everybody has to be quiet so the monsters don’t get them?
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I heard that’s a good movie.
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I watched a movie a few months ago. Or maybe it was a year or two ago. Or sometime.
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I’m with you, Mumsee. I almost never watch movies. I read, everyday, all the time.
Abby came over and asked if I would like to watch a movie with her. Movies are what she does. She is also a musician, though now it is painful as she seems to be developing arthritis.
The family values in the Quiet Place were incredible. It was very scary, yet they even had a quiet prayer and valued each other. The love among the family members was so beautifully portrayed. Yet it was too terrifying for me.
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I suspect most of us who don’t watch many movies, get more emotionally hit when we do. Our senses are not use to or benumbed. Kind of like taste buds.
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I enjoy reading every day, and I enjoy watching a movie, sometimes once a week, sometimes every other week. I tend to like the more independent or small films, as I’m not into the more popular romantic comedies or action thrillers.
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home again, home again. It was a very different trip. I was with someone, but they kinda weren’t with me. No sharing of thoughts at all. rather strange.
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okay, it is getting late, better head over to school for a while.
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oh, we are all invited over to someone’s home for a fourth of July celebration complete with handmade fireworks, ie. steelwool on a metal hangar and you twirl it. Quite impressive.
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Welcome home, Jo! I hope you are somewhat refreshed and ready for the next leg of the journey.
That is an interesting idea for fireworks. Lots of sparks? Probably won’t try that around here. Would not want to be the one to start a fire, though it looks green, it is quite dry beneath.
I have movies I would like to watch but don’t seem to get to it. It is always on the get to it later shelf. Probably due to the children around though I don’t remember watching much when we were between children either. I used to watch a lot when my first children were small, but somewhere along the line, I realized that was not in their best interest. They all watch a lot more than I do now.
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I made a post, but it disappeared.
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so, I was bummed on my trip because I saw some nice cards in the Png international airport and they were too expensive so I didn’t buy them. But… I have lots of thank yous to write and really should have bought those cards. I like to send something that gives a glimpise of PNG.
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but, God always has something better. Today I went to the finance dept. to get some cash. While I was waiting I saw a poster advertising PNG 8x10s and also cards. They are made by someone I know and will be just right. God is good.
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oh, they cost less than half what the others cost.
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God does seem to enjoy giving us those little surprises!
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Did your frozen cheese arrive in good condition?
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A cheese popsicle? No thanks.
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oh, you are funny, Kizzie. Yes, the cheese arrived just fine. I made a large pan of lasagna and will be freezing that in portion sizes.
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Over the school break they are giving employees Fridays off. So, I asked my aide if she wanted to come work in my yard and she said yes. She is here today with three of her children. She knows just what to do. We pay someone to do our yard, but they are from the construction dept. and seem to mostly do just edging. Lots had grown up and needed weeding out. Just made them rice for lunch and took out a couple of cans of tuna. Give them biscuits and peanut butter for snack. And then they can take the rest home. I am also giving her a large gift to help with her sons last year of college.
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That is nice that you can get capable help for where you need it. I have not found that around here at all. People want to be on their phones instead of work.
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I agree. Just a few hours of work makes such a difference.
This week I am having a haus meri over to work. Every few months it is so good to have someone do the deep cleaning. I do all the everyday stuff, but she will wash windows, etc. These windows are the louvered ones, so you have to wash both sides of each pane and it is a pain. Not that I have done it.
I also hate to vacuum. Actually I don’t hate vacuuming, but the noise.
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I do sometimes wonder about all of the calls that Wendy gets during work hours. I never know what is going on.
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I met this lady last week on the small plane up from Moresby. She and her husband were coming to visit their son and grandchildren. I taught their grandson last year. Anyway she was telling me that she works in the schools and does a program with kids. It has to do with bouncing balls and crossing the midline. She said that she brought the book with her. And then when I saw her two days later she said she was teaching her grandchildren. I want to learn and see if it would be a good thing to do in kinder. And…. I happened to buy six, small bouncy balls in Cairns.
We are meeting at school tomorrow. I wonder if she will sell me her book??
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God does seem to arrange things.
We had a house helper in Okinawa but I always felt bad about having an older woman cleaning my house. So we had her cook for us and iron husband’s uniforms. But she would do more because she could see I did not have a clue on housecleaning.
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yeah, me too. I do the dishes and even some dusting, but the deep cleaning just gets left. Did I tell on the other thread about the gal who came today? no, anyway, I purchased 4 dozen tortillas and they were supposed to come this morning. I was figuring more around noon. Well, the gal was here at 8:15. I heard a noise, but when I am in my office there are three closed doors between me and the outside. And others live here, so I might hear noises that have nothing to do with me. Anyway, finally realized that I was hearing knocking. So pulled on sweat pants over my nightie and vest. When I got to the door, the first thing she said was, you sleep tumas. I had been up for an hour and a half or close to that. I told her I was on the computer, but she was upset. Said she had my tortillas, so I went to get the money. Then she told me that next time I would have to get them at the store. I said that these will last me a long time. There was a guy with her by then. How to begin your day by being yelled at. I may never buy from her again as she is so intimidating. I was almost shaky afterwards. I take things personally.
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I would find other ways to get my tortillas. Being yelled at is not something I do well.
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That would make me shaky, too, Jo.
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Random thought, inspired by the word “shaky”: When we lived in Ohio, when I was a child, there was a pizza place called Shakey’s. It had long picnic table type tables and benches, and played old silent movie comedies sometimes. I think you could watch them make the pizza, too, unless I have them mixed up with another pizza place.
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I didn’t grow up in Ohio, but in my home state we had a Shakey’s pizza parlor, too, Kizzie. It looked very much like your description, IIRC. There was many a Friday night in the summer during my teen years that I ended up there. A family I babysat would invite me to go to the stock car races with them (the husband/dad raced), and we’d frequently stop at Shakey’s for pizza after the races. Great fun and memories from those days — good pizza (and free for me!), great camaraderie. Thanks for reminding me of that. 🙂
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Jo, on Saturday I recalled our meet-up from last summer as my family and I were driving on the bridge over the river that was near to the restaurant where we met up. The thought suddenly occurred to me that our meet-up had been on a Saturday in July, and I was pretty sure it was the Saturday after the 4th of July that we had met. So I took out my phone, looked at the date listed on the two pictures I have of you, and saw that it was indeed that weekend (July 8 last year).
Fun to reminisce about that day. A most pleasant experience to meet you, one that I know I’ll always fondly remember. 🙂
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Oh, this is funny, but about a week ago I was wondering where one of the PNG bookmarks was that you gave the kids. One of them is being used to mark the spot in the Bible we’re using for home Bible readings, but the other one seems to have been missing for quite a while, like months.
Then a day or two after I started thinking about that missing bookmark, I pulled one of my volumes of Beethoven Piano Sonatas out of my music closet and sat down on the piano bench, opening up the book to one of the sonatas.
When I found the page I wanted and moved the open book to the music rack on the piano, something fell out of the book. I looked on the floor between the piano and bench, and there it was…
…the missing PNG bookmark!
I guess I shouldn’t have been neglecting Beethoven for all this time. 🙂
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Wow, that bookmark has good taste, hobnobbing with Beethoven!
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Yes, our meet up was fun and that was such a lovely place to meet. We could have left out the snake part, but the rest of the walk was fun.
Wish you would have told me not to forget to get gas before I left town.
Driving with an empty tank made the rest of the day rather stressful. And it was the next day that I found my iphone. Which would have made it a lot less stressful to find you.
I didn’t realize that once I crossed that bridge, there would be no more services for a while.
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You saw a snake? Ewwww. The children saw a snake on the basketball court when they went out to walk the dogs. Twelve year old raced in to tell me, as they have been told to do. I went out, picked up a weapon, and discovered that sixteen year old had forgotten the part about one staying to keep an eye on the snake and had gone off to the dogs. Sixteen year old son arrived home about that time so he joined me in looking for the snake. We found it and learned it was a small , maybe fourteen inch, bullsnake. Well, they are good snakes but can get testy as it heats up so I move them further from the house. I explained to son how to stop it so it could be moved easily, with a shoe lightly on the head or back very close to the head. He could not do it so I did. Then I explained again to him how to pick up the snake by the neck to avoid getting bit. He declined saying snakes bothered him. So I picked it up and moved it out to the field explaining that the snake would probably beat us back to the basketball court and that I don’t particularly like handling snakes either but definitely don’t want my children getting bit, so I move them one way or another.
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Mumsee, wouldn’t you be “testy” if someone wanted to step on your head in order to move you?
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Yep, the bookmark was keeping company with Beethoven, but it can’t top the other one — tucked into the pages of the Word.
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Well, our produce market is closed due to some turmoil in the area, which we won’t mention. But there was a lady in my yard today working. First at 8:15 she brought me some rather overripe bananas. Not sure where she got them. She works for the construction dept. But I wondered if she was working for one of the other flats. Later she brought me some flowers, huh! Usually if they give you something, they expect something. Then when I went out later, I found a whole stalk of bananas outside my door. At least I know that those came from my yard. Now what to do with some many very green bananas. They are in the entryway now. Which is fine as long as no rats find them.
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Market will be open on Monday, yeah! I hear that closing it brought about necessary results. I need to make bread today for a school lunch tomorrow. But… it is still pretty chilly in here, about 60 degrees. I am not sure that bread would rise if it is cold. Just went over to the neighbors flat that I have a key to, I was looking to see if her oven had a light. I heard that putting bread to rise in an oven with just the light on would work. No luck. However she did have a really nice oven. I should consider getting a new one as mine is probably 40 years old.
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However, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
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Got out my lunch at school yesterday and the whole box of crackers that I had was missing. What?? Not sure what happened. Perhaps I left them on the counter? One place on the counter is where folks leave things that they are giving away…..
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I have heard you can use the pilot light but I have not had one so I just turn the oven on enough to get it warm at around ninety degrees or less, turn it off and let the bread rise in the closed oven. I imagine putting in a jar of hot water would do the same, just to make the little box warm enough. Or behind the wood stove in the winter.
Maybe you have really large ants that like crackers?
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I have noticed more activity in various ant nests outside. They must be getting ready to swarm. I am not fond of flying ants.
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Well, I am about halfway done with scything my little field. It is not very big but has been feeding the goats and sheep for several days and looks like it will continue to up into August at least. I scythe, it dries, ten year old rakes it up and gives some to the animals each day. Good system. I only scythe about thirty minutes a day but consider it to be a better exercise than going to the gym, for me. Of course, I don’t go to the gym except upstairs in the winter.
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Jo, my own advice (since you asked) is that if you have a 40-year-old oven that works, keep it!
When we moved into this place, we had to wait on having a usable stove, because one of the men laying the flooring wasn’t thinking and he pulled on the oven door in attempting to move the stove, and in so doing he broke the glass. He ordered a new door and replaced it, and we had to wait several weeks to get that new door. My husband told him we were willing to wait, that we didn’t want him to have to order a new stove . . . because this stove is from 1980 and thus a better stove than newer ones. Further, it should last longer than a newer one. This one should still be working in ten years, but if we got a new one, we would have to replace it in five to seven years. The newer ones are also made of more flimsy materials, with stove tops that really move under any pressure. Plus, if something breaks on the old ones, you can just get a new part; if something breaks on the new ones, generally you need a whole new stove.
The one I had the last three or four years up north was new with several fancy features I had never had before, and we got an extended warranty, so it was still under warranty. I’d take this 38-year-old stove in a heartbeat. It’s simply a better stove. And I’d be willing to bet money that one will be replaced three times in the next twenty years (twice for sure) and this one not at all.
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whoops, forgot to come over here and we have fallen off the list.
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Lost my pocket knife on the trip to Australia. I will have to write my son and ask him to get me another for this Christmas. I had it in an outside pocket and I believe that someone took it.
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You know when you have that favorite tool?? Well this was the micra Leatherman, I think and it had a very strong pair of scissors. I used them all the time, even to cut my toenails. Had to find something else as I don’t think I can wait until Christmas to cut my toenails.
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clear and beautiful here this morning. You have to realize that this only happens rarely. The last week has been very gray and misty. I told my aide once that in my part of California we could go for six months and not get any rain. Her eyes got big, she could not even imagine such a thing. Here it rains every day or two.
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Mumsee, I would like to learn how to use a scythe, unless there were snakes around.
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That is the beauty of scythes, you have a sharp instrument clearing the way ahead of you! I have not seen any snakes though I have seen mice scampering out of the way. The visiting dog is supposed to help me with that but I have never seen her actually catch anything.
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I do understand a favorite tool. I still have my pocket knife from Girl Scout camp. Unless I replaced it along the way because I liked it so much. Campking or some such.
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my hands are cold, maybe I should put my gloves on??
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So much easier to come here when we are on the top posts list. The clear, sunny sky is so different from the gloom of last week. Quite cheerful, if it wasn’t so cold.
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My favorite tool is a little gold-colored hammer that once belonged to my mom. It’s about maybe eight inches long, with the head being about two and a half inches across. But I don’t like it for its hammer, I like it for the varying sizes of screwdrivers that are hidden in its handle. The head of the first one is close to “normal” size for a screwdriver, and then there are others in decreasing size. You have to unscrew the end of the hammer, then unscrew the part that comes out a couple times or so before getting to the littlest one.
I keep it in the kitchen, and it comes in handy when the oven door handle gets loose and needs a small screwdriver to fix it, and for other things with screws in the kitchen that get loose.
For cold hands in the winter, I keep a pair of fingerless gloves by my seat in the living room. The first pair I had, in pink, was a gift from Mom, and the pair I have now I bought this past winter, choosing a cute pink pair with bows on the back of the hand.
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Long ago, I gave up trying to keep tools in a convenient place. For years I kept a tool box in my room because my tools would disappear so quickly.
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Scissors and tape are what disappear around here.
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Kizzie, looks like you got 5555. Wow, impressive
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so very tired, I think that it is time to sleep.
Good Night
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Good morning! It is off to morning chores and the gym. Well, scything.
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Okay, we are back, well, I am. She is watering the horses still. But she sure had a pleased expression on her face when she realized how much was done and I told her that the others would be getting the hay and taking it to the hay barn so we would have hay to feed the animals later. Cause and effect. Effort and reward.
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Thanks for pointing that out, Jo. I hadn’t noticed.
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So that makes this 5561. 🙂
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Wow, I just looked at the date. I hadn’t really thought about it being 3 1/2 years since this began. It was cloudy this evening which means it will be warmer tonight.
At school we made a cute moose for the letter Mm. It was a little harder than I thought, but we did well. The kids love seeing their work on the wall. We will do a spider for s on Friday. I am trying to decide if I just send them home or make them an alphabet book.
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Voting for making them an alphabet book. My husband still has a class book from more than 50 years ago, either kindergarten or first grade I forget which. Next door to their classroom a building was being constructed, and the teacher had them draw pictures of what they saw out the window over several weeks as it was constructed. My husband the artist had the most detailed picture of the scene, but the teacher put together text and everyone’s picture, along with his or her name. For instance, “The men wear hard yellow hats on their head” next to a picture of two men, and the name of the girl who drew that picture. In some cases she had two or three pictures on a page (sometimes more than one picture for the same sentence, I think–I’ve only seen the book once and don’t really remember details). I think the teacher just photocopied it in color, and put a spiral binding, but it’s a really cool keepsake for the class even decades later.
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A beautiful day in the neighborhood. I hope school is going well for you, Jo. Are you enjoying your frozen cheese?
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I only froze the grated cheese and it will keep for a while.
School is going well and consuming my time. Getting to know this class. Some need some clear limits as are trying a few things. Not okay. Others need encouragement. A few are showing that they are a little too young, but I don’t get to determine that. But, when you have been a mom, and a grandma, and a teacher, you know.
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one boy was going to be in my class and then was going to be homeschooled and then finally they decided on my class. I feel it is my job to show him he needs to obey and do what is right.
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That is the type of teacher I would look for if Tony was going to school. Somebody who could see through his communication problems and realize he needed help staying focus and could go far. Sort of like for Marc, who does not have a communication problem but comes across as exceedingly nice (not the sickly sweet type, but seems genuinely nice) but would see that as the manipulation it is and make him accountable for his work or lack thereof. Not happening in this school, though one of his adult acquaintances is waking up after three years of being duped.
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From all you have written, Jo, it seems that you are a very good, caring, and wise teacher. Your students are blessed to have you.
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And the same goes for you, too, Mumsee. Your children are blessed to have you.
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I just stopped to pray for both of you, and ended by asking God to bless each of you abundantly.
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Why thank you for the compliments and prayers to brighten my day. A cold and sunny Sunday morning here. almost time for my shower, but it is cold in here.
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Thanks, Kizzie. God uses the weak, and the weak need prayer.
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I agree. A book I read last night got me thinking. I am the middle one in my family and wasn’t really a part of any family friendships. I have been alone for a long time. That aloneness is hard, but it also makes me look to the Lord. Not many folks actually communicate with me and I don’t communicate with very many. But, God is good.
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Lots of things that I would like to do, but I would like to do them with someone. God knows.
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I do have lots of grandchildren. maybe that is who I will be able to do things with.
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That would be neat if one turns out to be your traveling companion!
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I just heard from our boy in San Diego, he was letting me know that Marc was on instagram talking to him at eleven o clock last night. The lie continues. He did say he had a device but that it stays at a friend’s house, which I did not believe. And one of my children told me he thought he was on a device that could not get internet without our password, but I think he must have a smartphone. Disappointing but not surprising.
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There is a loneliness I have now, since I lost Hubby, that cannot be filled with other relationships. I am not alone, but I am alone. And yet, spiritually, I have more of a sense of God’s presence in my life.
Although I usually did talk to God at various times in any given day, I find I talk to Him even more now, talking to Him about the things I might have talked to Hubby about. Often, I will start off talking to Hubby, knowing full well he can’t hear me, but then turn my words towards God, knowing full well He does hear me.
And yet there is still that sense of being alone without Hubby. But I know that this feeling will probably slowly dissipate as time goes on, and as being “single” becomes more a part of my identity than it feels now.
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Good that you are still getting information, Mumsee. To know the truth is powerful and, of course, you already see past the lies.
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I know what you mean, Kizzie, but I never had that. I am glad for the memories that you have and that things were so sweet at the end.
Still, becoming a single is hard. Friends go to see the latest movie as couples and don’t invite singles. Not that I usually see movies. We each need that one good friend.
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Today was rather a chuckling day. I had something on that the elastic had given out so it kept slipping down and then I would have to find a corner to readjust. Must have looked pretty funny if anyone saw me.
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Please pray as I witnessed some bullying today that disturbed me. I plan on talking to someone about it tomorrow.
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Praying with you, Jo.
The need for a friend is huge. Somebody to talk to about anything. For me, it is my husband, of course, but other than you people, I don’t have any female friends. Or males besides my husband. But daughter and I are developing that a bit now that she has children.
We often hear that we were made for relationship, but vertical and horizontal, God and people. I think it is more difficult in our society with people spread far and wide, families spread out. But I don’t know. Gathering around the well and milling grain together would probably have been just as hard for me.
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Jo, I prayed for you.
Kizzie, I’m sorry. I suspect that widowhood is a far deeper aloneness than single-for-the-first-time loneliness is–and (Jo) that being divorced against one’s will a starker loneliness still, since rejection enters in and it sours what would otherwise be the good memories.
In my single days (most of my life), I found I could not go to restaurants alone (fast food, sure), and I had no desire to see a movie alone. (Not that I had no desire to see a movie, but that going alone sounded lonely–but then, I didn’t grow up in a “movie-going” culture, either. I saw my first movie at 18 and have seen on average less than one a year since, though some years I have seen several.) However, in both Chicago and Nashville I had friends with whom I could do those things. Individual friends for movies (a single friend in Chicago, a married friend and a family with two boys in Nashville) and for restaurants both individuals and groups (church group, work group, a single or a married friend). Since being married, I have only ever seen movies with my husband . . . but what that partly means is that I’ve missed several I would have liked to see, because I had no one other than him with whom to go. Here I hope to make such friends again.
Married women need friends, too, and at least in my experience it isn’t always the case that married women make friends only among others who are married. In Chicago, I was single and most of my friends were single (one of those divorced), but I also stayed in touch with a college friend who had married and had children (and who was eventually abandoned by her husband); they were a one-car family and her husband worked second shift, so she would invite me to hang out with her and her children, to have supper with them and then watch a video. In Nashville I was still single and my closest friends (one local and one distant) were both married. In northern Indiana (married), I only had one person I’d really call a friend, and she is about 20 years older than me and a widow. But I occasionally had lunch with a couple of other women, and one was a lifelong single and one a married woman with many children. My sister was married for 15 years while I was single, both of us were married for a year and a half, and she is now single with me married; but whichever one is single, I’m the one who keeps us in touch.
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I was able to speak to the principal before school. She was very understanding and will take just the right action. She taught the boy last year, so should be able to listen to him.
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On my walk this evening, I stopped by to welcome a returning family and to meet their child who will be in my class. The little girl is eager to come. Fun to live in such a small place that you can do that.
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Tony is a bully. I don’t see any way to stop him from it. But God can. I will continue talking to him about it and his need to treat people as Christ would. He gets frustrated with his communication issues and other children can be mean. He retaliates and that won’t work.
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I had suggested that the principal speak to the smaller child and I saw her come talk to him during lunch recess today. They sat together in the haus win. The teacher thinks that everything is fine as she asked them and neither complained.
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Some children are easily influenced toward good behavior with a word in the ear from anybody. Others, not so much. I hope the first is the case in your situation.
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Actually this wasn’t the bully, this was the one I saw getting hurt. Just to have someone he trusts talk to him is a step in the right direction.
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I am thinking that I need to make an eye doctor appointment for when I come home at Christmas. I can read clearly and all that, but the edges of my vision are looking smoky. Just not very clear. It has been smoky here so I wondered if that was it, but I don’t think so.
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I am typing the onscreen keyboard as my big keyboard is on strike. I am not fast.
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Well, more tears today. He cried when mom and dad left which was before the bell rang. Took me a while to get him up the stairs and inside. After that he was fine. I told him to come with a smile tomorrow. He is very strong willed.
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Assessed two boys today. One knew everything and we are already considering should he move up. He knew all but one of the words on my sight word list. He is also almost seven. The other didn’t seem to know much of anything. He needs help.
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We have three or four families with children that are from the Netherlands. The children don’t know much English and are not doing well in school. I have two in my class and one more that will be returning. As some other teachers and I were talking over lunch, I realized that we all have the same problem. So, I had a few minutes with the vice principal later to propose that we have a joint meeting with the parents. The three families, the teachers, and the admin. Then it can be seen as a larger problem and not just one child struggling. What we need is the parents to work with them nightly. We do not have an esl teacher. We do have a sweet gal who is from the Netherlands and it doing mother tongue studies with them. I suggested they needed English help, so she will work on that some days.
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Mumsee, is your keyboard still sick??
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Just had some sweet rain, oh, so, nice.
you see it has been so dusty on our roads and all the rocks have come up out of the ground with no rain to push them down. Dangerous for walkers. We may get some more as the clouds are very dark out there.
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We’re having a rainy weekend here, with the possibility of thunderstorms. And I am childsitting all weekend. Thankful his other grandmother took The Boy for a while today.
Connecticut is known for being rocky. I remember in reading John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, the two brothers get fed up with trying to farm in the rocky soil and decide to move to California.
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Actually, here, the soil is incredibly rich and will grow most anything. The rocks are large gravel tht we have put on the roads and it is too large and comes back up when it hasn’t rained. Making for very treacherous footing.
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Yep, still typing on this little Chromebook.
I was wondering about the people in Venezuela. It seems they are in a climate that should grow things well, I wonder if the people are at all able to grow their own food in this difficult financial time for them. Seems like that would be much better than starving. But I don’t know anything about them.
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Husband is still on the road. He had said something before leaving about bringing down a different keyboard but I figure the computer has so many viruses going on, it is probably time to just retire it and adjust to this thing or, worse, my phone. Maybe we will connect it to the internet when he gets home. Not what I wanted to do but I might have to step into the future.
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Tony has eaten over forty plums in the past twenty four hours. I know this because I had him bring me the pits when I saw how many he was taking and then he did it again. And then this morning, he had two more in his mouth. If it was me, my stomach would be fighting back. Perhaps, because he is such a forager, his stomach is cast iron and no effect. They are cherry plums, by the way, not the big ones.
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New room! Hi, Mumsee.
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Mumsee – That reminds me of Zimbabwe. From what I understand, Zimbabwe was once considered the Bread Basket of Africa. Then Mugabe took over and stripped ownership of the farms from the white owners, giving them to inexperienced black farmers who did not farm the land well. (I do not mean this in a prejudiced sort of way. Those black farmers were inexperienced to begin with, and there were probably other factors that kept them from prospering.)
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Oh! I had not realized we had a new room, and was referring to Mumsee’s comment at the end of the last room.
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Lovely room, you all. So nice to have this nice place to meet for almost four years.
Mumsee, I agree that those plums sound deadly to the system.
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