fire y ice

I had too much air going into the stove and the resulting flames were easy to photograph. I thought it would be interesting to do some photo sketches in fire and ice since we were in the middle of a snow storm at the moment - which was why I had the air going through the fire too high. (It's usually because I've left the room and forgotten to turn it down.)
On the way to Eau Claire that evening the snow had blown in rather large drifts across the road. We attempted to plow through said drift and found ourselves off the road in the middle of the drift. A warm week had left softened snow that had frozen with this storm, resulting in slippery, difficult-to-get-traction berms and ditches. I quickly decided that when you ask before you leave the house if you should grab your boots (mittens, snow pants, real winter coat...) - the answer is a resounding 'yes' - and perhaps a shovel.

Dad dug out the car with the long-handled ice scraper, Mom kept the engine from dying, I sat back and took pictures of the hazards blinking on the snow. I laughed at the images of the firey snow. I had gotten both of the images I had wanted in one!
A truck-load of helpfuls showed up and helped us push. I found that I did much better standing in the snow (in my mother's boots) while I was leaning against the stuck car. After slipping several times I succumbed to the ice and gravity and found myself flipped boot-side top-side. I had a wet bum for the evening but wasn't nearly as chilled as Dad ended up being. I suppose in the right Little House episode this would all end in pneumonia and Mom keeping every one alive with lots of boiling water. As it is, it's just a few pictures on the internet and a disconnected muffler.
We weren't even late for our Christmas dinner. (Which was, by the way, amazing. My sister has been an incredible cook for years - lucky Mark.)

my grandmother has a parrot

Today for Sunday School, the kids ages Pre-K to fifth grade came together to practice for the Christmas skit. The organizer told the kids about their roles in the performance, the time requirements, and the upcoming practice schedule. She then asked if there were any questions. G.W. raised his hand, and when called on, asked, "Do you have any pets?" After a few additional points she again asked if there were any more questions. G.W., ever-participating, had another - "What are their names?"


('my grandmother had a parrot' is a line or a segment from Mike Perry's Population 485)

thoughts on toast

I noticed tonight as I buttered my toast (supper was not going to last the night) that buttering toast while it is hot means that it will end up being higher in calories. I find it icky to butter toast when it has cooled to room temp, so it's lower in calories and unappetizing. (I find this is true of so many things - like dairy products and desserts)
I think this is the 'deepest' thought I've had all weekend.
It's gonna be quite a week.

the weekend

At jobs I've had in the past, the big Friday celebration was the minute hand hitting the 5 o'clock hour which was then followed by a tiring commute home, making supper and finally getting to tucker down in front of a movie and try not to think of everything I had to jam into the weekend.
Yesterday I decided the epitome of the weekend is in the moment Friday night that I turn off the alarm clock for the next morning. Come what may, I won't be woken up for it (probably).
Not to mention that my alarm clock radio, which I've had for about 20 years, only gets in one station and I wake up every morning to raunchy radio. I know I should switch it to the beeper, but canned laughter stills beats the incessant beeping.

class assignment

I joined in doing a class assignment. I liked my sketching better than I thought I would. I don't think I could quit my day job, nor am I looking to, but I like my drawering. More on the assignment later, but it was built on our initials.

slippery classroom management

Last week while reading Rascal to the kids I read (or attempted to read)- "Your bread is the best I ever ate." I mixed together the two 'b' words in the sentence and had the class rolling in the aisles. Those who missed the breast slip the first time have all now heard it numerous times from those who were paying attention.

Yesterday I asked the students to complete their workshits, rather than worksheets. Again, half the class were asking their red-faced, giggling neighbors what I had said. I could only follow up by stating that no matter what they thought of their homework, they would still have to do it.

I hope that the students will decide to listen up just to know first-hand why their teacher is changing color. But it may be that they will just disregard what I've got to say as a bit silly, or downright obscene.
For the record, fifth graders find breasts (especially in that sentence) more awkwardly funny than shit.

not quite clear

Of my photos, about 2/3 of them are actually in focus. Of those, another quarter are focusing on the wrong thing. So even if they are clear, they are clear in the wrong place. It may also be possible to have the focus in the 'right' place, but then I just shouldn't have been focusing on a slug at all.


The passenger door of my car is hard to close and it has a scratch along the length of it. Four years ago, I backed up a driveway and didn't quite clear the retaining wall that was behind me. It was a short wall and I couldn't actually see it, but I did hit it for quite a while.

Within the classroom, it is one of my biggest challenges to write instructions that are clear to all of my students. We don't all see things the same way and my expectations have to been seen the same way to each of them.

Last night I stepped over a chair in the den and didn't quite clear the arm of it. I caught my middle toe as I went. I hoped that the cracking, popping sound was just the knuckle, but it hurt more than it usually does to pop a knuckle. Last night it didn't swell much, but it hurt all evening. After a night of persistent, localized, sharp aching pain, I was a bit more that the toe may have cracked. The pronounced purple-rose color along one side of it was enough for me to confirm the cause of the popping sound.
I feel that I should attempt to learn to approach chairs from the front. It may also become necessary for me to clear my bedroom floor if I hope to keep from furthering injuring my poor toe. I also ask that people would refrain from stepping on my feet for the next 2-4 weeks. (4-6?)

*next day note* - I have rediagnosed my injured toe. It is now that it was dislocated. I didn't know that a dislocation could bruise the way that it did, but it is doing so much better that it can't be cracked. I still would not mind if people would refrain from stepping on my feet.

Wisconsin friends

You know you've got friends in Wisconsin when the missed calls on your cell phone are all to invite you to see two dead deer.


Actually by the time I got there, I just saw the heads of the deer.

I didn't know how much I appreciate venison until I was told that the beef stew that I had last week (with the really tender meat)
- wasn't beef stew.

I've been invited to join in the fun, but I'm still not sure how I would handle the time between the first shot and the last breath. Best-case-scenario that's not a long time, but worst case and I would be worst-case too.

not without my dog

The church is putting together on online directory. My picture would be incomplete without Penelope Lane.
It was a bit windy - hence the no bangs and Sir Didymus impression.

zoo of a day

We had a grand time at the zoo. It was a bit cool, but we were there for such an abbreviated amount of time that we didn't miss anything due to weather.
Here are the pictures of our day.

Here are my favorites of the day.

warming trends

There was a summit of world leaders focusing on concerns regarding global warming. The summation of a battle plan to combat the rising danger would be that something should be done and action is necessary. (This coming from the owner of how many Humvees?) It is ironic that the hypocrisy of Schwarzenegger making statements about acting against global warming is more obvious than the complete lack of an actual idea of what do about it. Pretty good summary of why I just can't get into politics and global meetings and such. Check out the graph

vs the news that doesn't get on msnbc.

This wouldn't conclusively prove that there isn't global warming either, but it certainly makes a person look twice at the data and wonder why this is all such a big deal. Apparently there were other things to worry about in the 30s.

teaching tunes

You had me at hello.

You're like comin' home.

Teaching is like coming home. (and I think they 'had me at hello'.)
Planning is sometimes a pain (since I'm easily distracted and would rather do something else), paperwork is a chore (since I'm easily distracted and would rather do something else), but teaching is a joy. It's not just the reactions of the kids when they 'get' something or the amazing connections that they sometimes make. It's the whole of it. It's the love of learning and the daily marvel and glory of the curiosities of life on earth. It's the praise and adoration of the Maker of all that is who opted to put life's pieces together in ways that are simultaneously thought-provoking and beautifully simplistic. And it's spending days with people who revel in their own curiosity and quests for knowledge.

That being said:
We're going to the zoo tomorrow!

Fall

This was a tree that we had to get through - we all made it.


Pene got a sticker, or at least she thought she did.



I didn't split this photo overly smoothly, but the right side is really washed out without doing something.






It was a beautiful day, in so many ways. Beautiful color, beautiful weather, beautiful family and a couple of good pictures.

He hath provided the lamb

or sandwich meat in today's case. I had been wanting sandwich meat of any type to simplify the making of my lunch for school. Today when I came home, there was waiting for me - pounds of thinly sliced roast beef. pounds. Due to letting needs be known and a bit of luck, we had been graced with leftover meat that needs to be eaten ASAP. I can work with the 'as soon as possible part', and now have more meat than I will be able to consume before it takes on the roast-beef-is-past-prime-greenish tinge. I am laughing at this fortuitous event in light of scripture that states that we only need ask to receive or that God gives us the desires of our heart. I think about the things in my life that I do regularly and even with emotion ask God for that I have seen no evidence of His having heard the request and I have to laugh at coming home to more meat than I can eat. Perhaps it is that in not knowing my own heart as well as God does, He knows that roast beef is much more what I desire than all the rest.
Whatever it is, I'll take this beef gift and enjoy my supper - and lunch - and supper.

Give us this day our daily sandwich and teach me to be thankful for it.

lessons on the horizon

The weather forcast extends further than my lesson plans do. Granted the weather doesn't take into consideration the needs of each of those it rains on, but still - I feel like I want to be ahead of the weather.

looking for adventure

I found myself needing adventure today. I wanted to go out to the lake - but it's Labor Day weekend and that's not the type of adventure I'm thinking about. I also need to take Pene for a walk because she doesn't get out even more than I don't get out. So we went up to the tree farm. I don't know who maintains all these trails, but they are beautiful. I also don't know if Pene can be on them, but there weren't any signs with slashed out little dogs. We went on a picture hunt, looking for textures and ferns and little shots that tell a bit of a story. I found more texture than story, but it was beautiful, and life is good.

I began my camera sketching looking down - which I often do. I also really like this moss. The light comes through it and it seems to glow a bit at the tips.

pine cone in the mossy stuff


This is where we were going.


fern II


texture hunting


I neglected to bring a mirror with me on this adventure, so I was trying to use my camera to find the gnat in my eye. I didn't find the gnat (it was definitely there), but you can see the camera pretty well.


looking at the detail in the bark


forest decomposition


itty bitty beauty


sunlit birches


fern III


I couldn't bring myself to lie in the cut nettles to gaze up into the birches, but I could crouch, flip the view screen around and still get the picture. (I needed my wide angle lens though.)


I suppose technically this is a prickly fungus - that doesn't sound quite right.


no one can say that I didn't know where I was (and no one was)- I knew exactly where I was, there was a sign.


what it looked like


since I am always take pictures of my treasures 'in hand' - I was trying to get a picture of my feather treasure 'in pocket' - I had a bit of difficulty with the actually getting the feather part.


took this picture because I missed the back of me.


finally got what I was trying to get, still no indication of why I was trying to get the picture, other than being proud of my tail feather


this diagonal was intentional - doesn't make me feel like I am actually doing much when I get the same results whether I'm looking or not.



Pene is mostly patient with me, but she started thinking that she really needed a drink.


from under the ferns


And back again.

august of the peach

In the last two years I have learned that I must be cautious about the fruits that I choose to eat. I have been learning that some of my health problems or debacles have been an adverse response to chemicals and various foods. It is to my own discomfort that I choose to eat pineapple, avocado, banana, coconut, cantaloupe, or strawberries. Through the summer this seems to be a bit of a cross to bear. This summer I have discovered I can eat peaches. I can eat peaches, smell peaches, and dream of peaches until all of life is, well, 'just peachy'. As Nicki noted while I sat in the yard smelling that morning's peach - "There is nothing like the smell of a ripe peach, the candles don't smell anything like 'em." (Candles, by the way, specifically most scented candles, are one of the chemicals that I react to.) So this month's sweet song of the peach is ending- just as all of nature ebbs and flows, so must my joy of having a fruit that I can enjoy with no fear of the consequences.

night before the night before

From some perspectives teaching looks a lot like being a student. There was less stress being a student for a couple of reasons. 1)I had been one for a LONG time and I was pretty accustomed to it. 2) If I missed a deadline, assignment, or type-o it only affected me. 3)At this moment, chemistry is more familiar to me than fifth graders. After having met my class I am certain that fifth graders are ultimately more interesting and more fun - but at the moment they are more unknown.

improving the view

There are some things that improve the view off the dock at Tainter. (referred to here)

Brook went back to Ohio for the school year more than a week ago. Sometimes I miss the most important pictures because by the time I get home from the family get-together I've forgotten that I took them.

bottoms up

I'm told that much of the art of teaching is finding new ways to look at things.
So I'm practicing.

series of today

The wall was determined to be dry enough to put the book shelf back up. I needed to know where the the stud line was down the wall - hence the dangling potato masher. I suppose a slotted spoon would've worked just as well. The fish tank is back in place and hopefully I didn't siphon out so much gunk that I lose the biological filtration.
All in all I'm quite happy with it and now we figure that the basement is 1/10th the way done. But it's a tenth that I spend a lot of time in - my desk.



For the rest of today's series of photos please my 'Photo Files' - the link is under 'Other Folks' Blogs' (even though it isn't) on the right side of the screen. The pictures are posted today too.