And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

We Won! We Won!

2012-01-23T22:48:00.002-06:00

I have the great privilege of being the assistant coach for our school's Academic Decathlon Team and they ROCKED THE HOUSE at our regional competition this past weekend. It was fantastic!!!
We rode the big yellow school bus down to Lufkin (in East Texas) and spent Thursday-Sunday in a lovely Holiday Inn Express there. The kids have worked soooo hard, and it really paid off. We won our region and now we're prepping for state next month in Houston. Here is the official rundown of all our medals. A GREAT WEEKEND!

As you will see if you read the results, AD competes in 10 categories. We won medals in 8. In Lang/Lit, every member of our team won a medal. Read the results and be impressed with the terrific kids at Grand Prairie High School.

Medals won at Region 12 Competition by the GPHS Academic Decathlon Team:

Overall Team: Gold Medal—first place for the GPHS Gophers

Individual Overall Ribbons and Medals:

Varsity Division:

4^th Place: Derric Edwards

2^nd Place: Jamilla Obsiye

Gold Medal: Lupe Regalado

Scholastic Division:

5^th Place: Ana Rodriguez

3^rd Place: Houston Chapman

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali (this is the second consecutive year that Kaelin has been the number 1 Scholastic competitor at the regional competition

Honors Division:

5^th Place: Christopher Sherrill

2^nd Place: Christian Rodriguez

Gold Medal: Martha Alvarez

Science:

Varsity Division:

Gold medal: Derric Edwards

Scholastic Division:

3^rd Place: Houston Chapman

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali

Super Quiz—Individual:

Varsity Division:

2^nd Place: Lupe Regalado

Gold Medal: Jamilla Obsiye

Scholastic Division:

2^nd Place: Ana Rodriguez

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali

Honors Division:

2^nd Place: Martha Alvarez

Gold Medal: Christopher Sherrill

Super Quiz—Team Relay:

Gold Medal—Grand Prairie High School

Super Quiz Team—Combined Relay and Written Test:

Gold Medal—Grand Prairie High School

Economics:

Varsity Division:

3^rd Place: Lupe Regalado

Gold Medal: Derric Edwards

Scholastic Division:

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali

Honors Division:

Gold Medal: Christian Rodriguez

Language and Literature: (every member of the GPHS team won a medal in this category—nine out of nine)

Varsity Division:

3^rd Place: Derric Edwards

2^nd Place: Jamilla Obsiye

Gold Medal: Lupe Regalado

Scholastic Division:

3^rd Place: Houston Chapman

2^nd Place: Ana Rodriguez

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali

Honors Division:

3^rd Place: Christopher Sherrill

2^nd Place: Christian Rodriguez

Gold Medal: Martha Alvarez

Music: (GPHS won 8 medals in this category)

Varsity Division:

2^nd Place: Derric Edwards

Gold Medal: Jamilla Obsiye

Scholastic Division:

3^rd Place: Ana Rodriguez

2^nd Place: Houston Chapman

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali

Honors Division:

3^rd Place: Christian Rodriguez

2^nd Place: (tie) Martha Alvarez and Christopher Sherrill

Art: (GPHS won 8 medals in this category)

Varsity Division:

3^rd Place: Derric Edwards

2^nd Place: Lupe Regalado

Gold Medal: Jamilla Obsiye

Scholastic Division:

2^nd Place: Ana Rodriguez

Gold Medal: Kaelin Cali

Honors Division:

3^rd Place: Christopher Sherrill

2^nd Place: Martha Alvarez

Gold Medal: Christian Rodriguez

Speech:

Scholastic Division:

2^nd Place: Houston Chapman

Essay:

Varsity Division:

Gold Medal: Lupe Regalado

Honors Division:

Gold Medal: Martha Alvarez

Talking to Strangers

2011-08-02T22:23:00.002-05:00

I had the most fun experience last week at the doctor's office. I realize that's an unusual thing to say, and it really had nothing to do with the doctor, but rather with some very nice people I talked to in the waiting room. As always, I had a book with me and I was prepared to read while waiting. But the lady next to me smiled and said hello, so we struck up a conversation. It's easy enough in an Ob/gyn office, you just ask the lovely young woman when her baby is due. However, this young woman was accompanied by her teenaged sister and I always enjoy talking to teenagers. So I asked her what grade she will enter this fall. She's a senior and I teach seniors, so we had an immediate connection. Poor girl, I soon found out that her AP summer reading for English is Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It's a wonderful book, but (in my humble opinion) not one to tackle on your own. So we talked about it, about the symbolism and the characters and the "meaning" of the work. It was great. I also told her about a book I assign my kids--How to Read Literature Like a Professor. It was the waiting room reading I had brought along, so she had a chance to look at it and realize what a big help it could be in her studies. We talked until I was called back to see the doctor, and when I met up with her again outside the lab, she had found the book online and the first 80 or so pages were available for free. She was already reading.

It felt so good to help someone, and she was a delightful, bright young lady. I am so thankful that I seem to have a friendly face, because people just tend to talk to me. Years ago, Heavenly Father told me very clearly that one of my gifts is being friendly and He expects me to talk to people. I just love people! I love talking to them and learning about them and I especially love helping them. It was a terrific morning, and I think I really did some good.

A Caveat (did I spell that right?)

2011-07-27T19:01:00.002-05:00

I will add that I'm sure Kara now counts Skyler as her greatest, greatest gift, but it is lovely to see sisters who love each other, support one another, spend as much time as possible together, and are so hilarious as a group. Kara and Skyler are embarking on a great adventure and we're all planning to come along.

Kara's Tribute to Her Sisters

2011-07-27T18:54:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, Kara wrote a wonderful essay about me (made me cry...but they were happy tears). And now, she has written a beautiful tribute to her sisters. I'm just so proud of all of them and it's a joy to see how well they get along and how much they love each other. We are a blessed, blessed family (even though the girls do admit that their collective IQ drops significantly when they are all together due to the silliness factor). Because of their wonderfulness, and with Kara's permission, I include here her thoughts about Julie and Lauren. I will also attempt to include a lovely photo of my three wondrous daughters.

The Greatest Gift

What is the greatest gift you have ever been given?

I've been thinking about the best gift I've been given a lot lately.

Now, just so no one thinks I'm a heathen, yes the Atonement would have to be number one along with the truth of the gospel and the gift of the Holy Ghost, but with that disclaimer aside, there is something else in my life that could never ever be replaced by anything or anyone else. And maybe this gift will change someday when I have kids or something, but I kind of doubt it because it has shaped so much of who I am.

I am incomplete without this gift. I would be a entirely different person had I never been blessed by it. And I'm extremely grateful to those who made this gift possible which must include both Divinity and my parents.

The Greatest Gift I have ever received in my life is actually two amazing gifts. My sisters.

I've been missing them a lot lately, and it really is hard to be so far away from them.

So, Julie & Lauren, you are my favorite people. I am most me when I'm with you. I suppose our siblings could have been anyone. But I can't imagine what my life would be like if we didn't have each other.

We haven't all lived in the same house now for about 12 years, and it will probably be about 50 more until we're little old ladies, wearing matching outfits and wide-brimmed hats sipping lemonade on our big porch (probably with binoculars close by for bird watching), but won't life be a fun adventure? People say they can't wait to grow old with their spouse, but I can't wait to grow old with my sisters. We'll be as crazy as those who came before us and I don't give a hoot. We'll have earned that right.

Someday, I'm sure we'll bury one another. But we know we'll see each other again, because no matter where life takes us, we're stuck together:) And it won't be sad because our lives will have been full, because we have each other and many others to love. Plus we'll have hilarious stories to share so people will remember what we were like when we could still touch our toes. And at the awesome party we'll have (because we'll celebrate the life each of us had, not mourn that one has started a new journey) Lauren will show off her awesome moves and say "In my day we danced like this."

I love you. Both of you, an insurmountable sum.

My sisters are the Greatest Gift I've ever gotten.

We're Adding Another Boy!

2011-07-26T10:48:00.004-05:00

The wonderful news of the past week is that Kara is engaged to the terrific Skyler Thiot. They are planning to be married December 30 in the Dallas Temple and we are all totally thrilled. He is such a good man and treats her like she is a queen. I so appreciate his constant care--especially during school last year when she was traveling all over Utah working on new stories. He was right there with her much of the time, watching over her and making sure she was safe. Mom's are endlessly thankful for good men like Skyler. With my minimal computer skills, I will try to add some pictures of the happy couple and later I will add details about the trip Michael and I took to Salt Lake City/Provo in early July and the fun times we had with Kara and Skyler. First, here are the pictures.

Beat the Heat

2011-06-10T12:55:00.002-05:00

Two meanings for this post title:
It's so incredibly hot here in Texas already, that I decided my blog needed a cooler background;
AND
The Mavericks are up 3-2 on the Heat and may just win the NBA championship!

A Few Days, But Not All Ten

2011-06-09T20:55:00.007-05:00

I thought I might enjoy writing these 10 days of messages, but I find that I don't really want to do day 1. The only thing I can think of to say to 10 different people is "I love you!" and while that is wonderful, it is a bit repetitious. So, I shall move on to the other days, and perhaps complete them all at once. (Perhaps this will help me to kick-start my engine so that I write here on a more regular basis--hope springs eternal....)

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
I love you!

Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
I would rather read a good book than do almost anything else.
I love to travel and meet new people and learn new things.
I love poetry, and find teaching it a joy.
I enjoy trying out new foods and being a bit adventurous.
I could spend days watching BBC costume dramas (North and South, Pride and Prejudice, and the like).
I am an Anglophile--a total British history freak.
I can name all the English kings and queens in order from William the Conqueror to the present.
I love teaching! It is more fun than any other job I can possibly imagine.
I'm trying to be like Jesus....every day....
And one more: I love learning--every single day I want to learn new things.

Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Hmmm....Smile at me
Give me a hug
Share your testimony of Jesus Christ with me
Be kind to my children or grandchildren
Teach me something new and interesting
Tell me about yourself
Share some wonderful food (or chocolate) with me
Share a great book with me

Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
I do tend to worry quite a bit about money, but that's not really helpful....
That Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and that they love me all the time
That the gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and I can learn more every day
That my husband keeps my life fun and lively and interesting
That I have the greatest family ever
That I have wonderful friends
That I have the world's best students
That I have the world's best job

Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Oh dear....what can one say in public on this topic....I guess if you know me, you'll have to ask for more details....
Opened the door on that fogged-up car with the lights on
Mistakenly used a poison-ivy leaf for nature's TP
Gotten in a car with an unknown person (but it turned out fine--he just gave me a ride and dropped me off--could have been scary though and it was a stupid move...)
Stuck my foot in my mouth more times that I can possibly remember
Thought unkindly about someone who did not deserve it
Failed to speak up for myself when I should have done

Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Not possible to list only five....this list would have to include my immediate family (with all in-laws and significant others), my birth family (again with all in-laws etc), all my Brown family relatives (too many to even count these days), my friends from childhood on (now scattered around the country and including everyone at church), all the students I have ever taught, and all my friends in education (GPISD, BYU, UTA, SMU and everywhere else). And that's just the beginning! I love people; I love meeting people; I love learning about people... If I absolutely had to choose only seven (five is totally impossible) they would be Michael, Julie, Lauren, Kara, Kelly, Shannon and Jamie, but they are just the top of the long list of people I love....

Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Badly written books (or papers or essays or any bad writing)
Stupid television programs or movies
Disgusting or obscene language
Immodest dress and behavior

Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Big smiles
Hugs
Delicious food

Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.

Well, I'm not very clever, so my pictures seem to be loading only at the top of the page....
The first is of the Salt Lake Temple spires above the clouds because I see all of us in that situation these days. The gospel takes us up above worldly cares and troubles and problems, but we are still here and we still have to deal with this world. However, we have light and a view that is incredible.

The second picture is of SMU because I am going to graduate school there and really enjoying it. Remember how much I love learning....well being a teacher and being a student is about the best combination anyone could ever have....

(apparently they have loaded with SMU first and the temple second, but I think you can tell the difference.....)

Day Ten: One confession....Nope, nada... not from me....

Ten Days (but not 12)

2011-01-05T21:28:00.002-06:00

I'm thinking about completing this list....but for now it's just here for contemplative purposes....

Day One: Ten things you want to say to ten different people right now.
Day Two: Nine things about yourself.
Day Three: Eight ways to win your heart.
Day Four: Seven things that cross your mind a lot.
Day Five: Six things you wish you’d never done.
Day Six: Five people who mean a lot (in no order whatsoever)
Day Seven: Four turn-offs.
Day Eight: Three turn-ons.
Day Nine: Two images that describe your life right now, and why.
Day Ten: One confession.

Kara wrote this about me!

2010-11-04T18:18:00.000-05:00

I Love My Mom

I was born to my mother for a reason.

I used to dwell on our differences, that she was emotional and that I'm not. She doesn't like to cook; I love it. She hate shopping while it's my therapy. We have a very different style of accomplishing things as well. My mother's theory is "if it's only worth half doing, half do it." While mine is "if it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing right."

But recently these differences are not so important to me. They are no longer how I define our relationship to another. Rather, I have been noticing similarities.

My mother and I are both journalists. We are both interested by people and the world around us. We have no problem talking to others, and I believe we both feel that making connections, learning new things, gaining new stories validates us, makes us more interesting, accomplished people.

My mother and I are both intelligent and witty. We are also exceptional writers.

My mother instilled a great love for BBC dramas in me at a young age. I'm the only one of her daughters that ever got really into them. I remember hating them when I was very small, but something changed at some road marker and now I can't get enough of them.

My mother and I both love to travel.

We also both love to eat. This hobby works beautifully well with traveling.

Neither my mother nor I like "things." We don't like souvenirs- they're just more things to dust.

My mother and I have both suffered with depression. There is a despair so great associated with depression that those who battle with it have an unspoken understanding. It is a painful understanding of woe, but knowing that you're not alone even in your depth of lonely grief is a strength.

My mom actually listens to me. I used to think she didn't, but she does. She is the most supportive person I have. The most caring, the most involved.

My mom seems to think that I'm incredible. I hope that someday I can recognize in myself what she sees.

My mom doesn't try to sugarcoat my situation. But she has experiences that help strengthen me through difficulties.

My mom has faith in me. Faith that I will be okay. Faith that there is a better plan for me.

My mom loves me.

I love my mom.

Brandenburg Gate reflection

2009-08-22T10:58:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note on a picture of the Brandenburg Gate I saw the other day. In the photo, the Wall went right behind the gate and there was absolutely nothing near it--just a gigantic no-man's land of emptiness. It was surprising to me because now the entire are is filled with shops and office buildings and people and activity. During the communist era, it was a dead zone. Amazing how things change.

Europe: Part 4--Prague

2009-08-03T00:32:00.002-05:00

Writing about it is taking longer than the actual trip

When we left Berlin, we drove through Germany (I'm afraid I fell asleep and missed some of the countryside) to Dresden. It is a beautiful city that was firebombed into total ruins during the waning days of World War II. Apparently the Nazi's had bombed Coventry, England early in the war and the bombing of Dresden was a kind of payback. Neither city had any real military value--no military bases, no factories, nothing of value except beauty and history. So, both were destroyed. I understand that Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse Five is his take on the bombing of Dresden (he was a POW there when it happened) and I think I'll read the book as soon as I can make space on my "to read" shelf. In any case, today Dresden is rebuilt and lovely. We wandered through a former castle, now an art museum, enjoyed the fountain-laden hideaway where the local ruler used to chase girls, and saw a now-ironic East German mural depicting the ultimate triumph (not) of communism. We also had a delicious lunch at a Dutch restaurant (I know, we were in Germany, but it was handy and yummy) and then went on our travels.

We made an afternoon stop at Terizen or Theresenstadt, a show-place concentration camp that was established near Prague. It was the camp that Hitler opened to Red Cross inspectors, the place where Jews were well-treated and happy. Not. Behind the facade were cramped quarters and daily death; it just wasn't on the vast scale of Auschwitz or some of the other camps. I saw many members of our group wiping tears as we quietly filed through rooms only about twice the size of my classroom that held 600 prisoners and looking at the closet-sized solitary confinement cells. It was a very somber place, one that makes you think deeply about the inhumanity wars bring. I did think to ask our guide about the hometown of some of my ancestors, Brno, which is in the Czech Republic, and he told me a bit about it.

We had a quiet ride from there to Prague, where we were greeted by a rather fierce thunderstorm. We got drenched just trying to collect our luggage and get into the hotel--and this one was disappointing, just as the one in Paris was. Berlin had a great hotel, but Prague, not so much.

Our first evening, we just went to dinner and tried to settle in and dry off.

The next day we took a long, loooonnnnnggg walking tour of Prague. It's a gorgeous city--beautiful medieval architecture, but they won't let buses into the city center, and you must walk quite a distance. I was worried about my friend Trudy, who had some nasty blisters, and we just kept walking and walking and walking. But, we did see some beautiful sites. St. Vitius cathedral on Castle Hill was stunning, and I actually remember it because it had several windows done in the early twentieth century by an immensely talented art nouveau artist. It was gorgeous in the sunlight. (I have to say, after you visit a lot of Gothic cathedrals, they sort of begin getting mixed up in your mind--big, dark, you know--but this one definitely stands out). I believe the original glass was destroyed, but it could not have been more beautiful than what is there now.

Then we walked (and walked and walked--you get the picture) across the Charles Bridge and into Prague. I was most impressed with our guide, a small man who obviously has an immense pride in his country. You forget sometimes, when you're an American and you live in the world's main superpower, that people in small places also have reason for pride and patriotism. The city is lovely, and its history is fascinating. I learned so much on this trip about the history of central and eastern Europe. For example, I did not know that at one time the Holy Roman Empire had it's headquarters in Prague. This was because the rulers had to leave Vienna in the 1500s and 1600s when the Ottomans (Muslims) were invading. Prague was a bit more off the beaten path, (and not located on the Danube), and was therefore a safer place.

In the castle, we also walked down Golden Lane, where goldsmiths once worked (and Franz Kafka lived for a time) and it's now filled with tiny shops just waiting to help you spend your money. I bought a bookmark for Lauren with a Golem, a creature brought to life by a Rabbi supposedly to protect the Jews (it's a story from the middle ages). By the way, the Czech Republic is not on the Euro yet, but they were willing to take them, so it worked well. You just tended to get your change back in Czech Kronas, which you can't spend anywhere else......The lady in the shop also told me that Sobeslav, another city of my ancestors, is a beautiful, farming area south of Prague. I didn't get there this trip, but maybe I can return one day.

And, we learned about the feisty Bohemian people who inhabit Prague (this area of the Czech Republic is known as Bohemia). And, by the way, Bohemia is a part of the county and it became an adjective for odd or offbeat behavior because people thought that Gypsies came from Bohemia and they also thought the Gypsies were strange. So, there's a bit of trivia for you. But Bohemians aren't strange, they're just natives of the Czech Republic.

Now, back to the feisty people. At one point in their history, the Bohemians and Czechs got tired of the Hapsburgs ruling them from Vienna. So, on one occasion, they literally threw the rulers' representatives out the window. I thought it was pretty funny and we saw the actual tossing window. It was a long fall.....

After lunch, Trudy decided to find a park bench to rest and wait for us, and Kara, Ashley and I wandered down Parizka street (yep, it's Paris street and it's filled with expensive shops: Prada, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Versace, if it's expensive, it's there on Paris street in Prague). We also walked through the Jewish district, but didn't go inside the synagogues because the tour of the whole district was 30 euros and we just didn't want to spend it. We wandered past the Franz Kafka cafe and one of his houses and also The Metamorphosis hotel. I told the girls that after reading the book I don't think I could stay there. I don't want to be Sherry the beetle.

We had a fun time shopping for souvenirs and found a shop run by two crazy Turkish guys where we bought several items emblazoned with "Czech Me Out." Too funny.....

After all the walking, Trudy and I were happy to rest for the evening, but Kara went with all the other kids, Ms. Crane, and Alyssa's grandmother Joann to the Black Light Theater and then to the biggest dance club in Central Europe. From the pictures and their descriptions, it sounds like everyone had a great time.

The next day, we headed out again, this time with a stop in Bratislava, Slovakia and then on to Budapest. I loved seeing the Czech countryside. It was rolling hills covered with trees, much like Virginia or Tennessee--absolutely beautiful. Then I thought of my ancestors who left that gorgeous country to settle in South Dakota--the great plains, big, flat, and not a tree for miles and miles and miles. Brave people, those Bohemians.

By the way, if you missed London, Paris, or Berlin, they are also here (just keep searching).

Next stop: Budapest!

One more thing about Berlin

2009-07-24T21:36:00.003-05:00

Oops, forgot something. The East German, communist, government built a giant television tower in Berlin--a monument to their greatness and their expectation that communism would last forever. At the top of the tower is a huge ball--it's kind of like the one atop Reunion Tower in Dallas, but covered in silver metal, not lights. Anyway, as you know, communism is atheism and all religious observance is firmly discouraged. In one of life's great ironies, when the sun strikes that giant metal ball, it forms a cross pattern, towering atop the monument and visible for miles and miles. Pretty funny.....

Europe Part Three: Berlin

2009-07-24T21:33:00.001-05:00

I really don't like night trains. They're noisy, crowded, the toilets get nasty, and it's not a restful experience. Plus, the cheapie compartments (where touring high school kids and their teachers end up) have six bunks in them, three on each side, stacked vertically. This overnight train journey didn't start out well because our group had four of the bunks booked, but the two bottom ones were occupied by a couple of unknown teenage girls. And they didn't speak English. Nor did they speak French, German or Spanish (and at that point we had exhausted all the language skills of our group). Eventually we discovered that one did speak a smidgen of English and that their native language was Polish, their grandparents were in the next compartment, and they wanted very much to be with their family--not with us. (Apparently the bottom bunks are considered the choice spots and people book them first, but this time they weren't pleased with their roommates--us.) So, an exchange was made, our other teacher and one student ended up with four Poles and my compartment was filled with me, three girls and two boys from GPHS. (I teased Rene and Eddie that they could go home and tell people they slept with three girls--or even more frightening, a 51 year old woman!) Based upon my experience last year, I was not looking forward to trying to sleep on a train, but I actually did sleep a few hours, and I was thankful.

Because....in the morning we arrived in Berlin and were expected to be functional enough to explore the new city. We started out with a tour by guide Kevin Kennedy, and he was the best guide we had all trip. Berlin is a beautiful city, but very different from London and Paris. Since for many years it was actually two major cities, Berlin is very spread out, with the major sites quite distant from one another. You can't see everything on foot; you must go by bus or subway. More than once Kevin mentioned the tragic history of Berlin and it's true--you see something beautiful and then just around the corner, there is a reminder of something horrific. It must be difficult for a people to live with such a dichotomy.

One of the biggest parks in the city was completely demolished after WWII as the people were forced to cut down all the trees for firewood. Today, it is lovely, and one thing I will always remember about Berlin are it's Linden trees. They bloom and smell delicious. The scent is everywhere, wafting through the entire city. It was something very special.

The Brandenburg gate, which Reagan stood in front of for his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" speech, was beautiful--gigantic and impressive. Nearby, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe was a stark gray remembrance of genocide. It's a city block filled with stone rectangles of varying heights. Pathways run between the blocks, but it's totally gray and cold and somehow dead. Visitor are left to interpret the memorial in their own way, but it feels menacing. I learned that when building it, they found bunkers belonging to some of Hitler's henchmen, and they know that Hitler's own underground bunker is nearby, but they keep those locations secret to prevent them becoming Neo-Nazi shrines.

We also visited the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building. In front are 96 slate slabs, placed vertically in the ground (it actually looks kind of like a bicycle rack) each with the name of a parliament member who was sent to his death for opposing Hitler. Each also notes the concentration camp where the man died and his death date. A quiet memorial to Hitler's first opponents, those with the courage to speak up in the German parliament during the 1930s.

If you go to Berlin looking for the wall, you'll be disappointed. Twenty years after the fall of communism, all sign of the Berlin wall is pretty much obliterated. One section remains, and we did see that, but the no-man's-land, guards and guard towers are long gone. You can get a good feel for it all at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum though. So many people concocted ingenious schemes to escape communism. It was impressive, and depressing--especially the stories of families who tried but failed to escape. Afterward, the government would often take away their children to be raised by "good" communists.

In the evening, we met up with Kevin again for a walking tour in the trendy Prenzlauer Berg district. Most of the buildings have been renovated, but every now and then you see a row house that remains in a state of disrepair. Kevin explained that after World War II, when the communists took over, they owned everything. Then, when communism fell, the huge task of determining who originally owned the buildings began. Many buildings had belonged to Jews, whose entire families perished in the concentration camps. Finding descendants has been a major problem, and now, 60 years on, the ownership of some properties remains in dispute. He said other countries, such as the Czech Republic handled things better, placing a deadline on property claims, after which, land and buildings were sold on the open market. But, Germany didn't do that, and disputations linger. In any case, the neighborhood, in former East Berlin, is lovely and we also got to see the only synagogue in Berlin to survive the war. Apparently some important Nazi leaders lived in the area and burning down the synagogue would have placed their homes in danger, so it was saved.

We ended our evening in one of Berlin's oldest beer gardens. It was cool and green and shady and they did serve soft drinks so the Mormon girls and underage teenagers were welcome, too. Plus, we found some yummy ice cream just around the corner. (Ice cream became one of our quest foods--we ate it whenever and wherever we could find it.)

On Monday, we participated in the Domino Project, an activity designed to memorialize the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. After an interesting tour and explanation about the fall of communism and the wall, our students painted a design of their own creation on a giant block of canvas--about 7 feet tall, three feet wide and two feet deep. It was in reality, a giant domino and many of them will be lined up in front of the Brandenburg Gate this November, then knocked down, like a row of dominoes, to commemorate the fall of the wall 20 years ago. Part of the background information was a history review of the events of 1989. I had remembered that Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Albania and Romania (I think those were all the eastern European countries under Soviet domination) broke free as the Soviet Union collapsed, but I had forgotten that the protests in China occurred at the same time. Sadly, China chose a violent, bloody "solution," while Europe embraced freedom. I think the other Soviet satellites were gaining their independence then, too--Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbajan and all the -stans that I can't remember. I also learned about previous attempts to throw off Soviet domination. I knew that the Hungarians had tried in 1956 and the Czechs in 1968, but I didn't know that the people of East Berlin also staged a revolt in 1953 (so, apparently, they were the first). It, too, failed, but you see again and again how determined people were to gain their freedom. In most of the countries, that freedom has led to peace and prosperity (Yugoslavia being the main exception), and it was fascinating to learn more and actually be there.

Speaking of being there--I tried to explain to Kara how amazing that simple fact was to me. When I was growing up, Americans did not visit East Germany or Czechoslovakia or Hungary, yet there we were. When I was her age, Russians patrolled those streets, and secret police spied upon and oppressed the people. Today, East Berlin still has a Karl Marx Strasse, and a park with statues of Marx and Engels, but Lenin and Stalin are definitely out. In fact, with the wall gone, the best way to tell you're in the former East Berlin is the streetcars. West Berlin got rid of them, but they remained in the East, so if you see tracks on the street, you're in East Berlin, otherwise, you're in the West. The pedestrian lights at intersections also used to give it away--in the east you had Ampelmann who wore a derby hat, while in the west, you just saw a plain green man when it was time to cross--and they had planned to change everything to the more utilitarian west-type signs, but people loved Ampelmann too much. So, now he helps people cross in both the east and west and is a beloved symbol of the entire city of Berlin. By the way, there are Ampelmann stores all over the city and you must bring him home if you go there to visit. You can find him online if you search, I'm sure.

My main regrets regarding Berlin are the two museums I missed. I really, really wanted to go to the Pergamon Museum and see the Ishtar Gate (I saw it in my college Humanities book and have wanted to see it ever since--it's a giant, blue, tile gate from the Middle East, stunningly beautiful), but it was closed on Monday and that was our main day in the city. I also missed the Jewish Museum, said to be the finest in Europe. We had a missed connection and a shortage of time, and it just didn't work out. I doubt I'll get there again, but maybe someday......

And so, on we went. Our travels next took us to Dresden, Germany; a show-place concentration camp called Terezin; and the beautiful city of Prague. More in the next installment.....

By the way, if you missed London and Paris, just keep scrolling down in my blog and you'll find them.

Europe Part Two--Paris

2009-07-12T20:31:00.001-05:00

Ah, Paris. The city of light and one of my favorite places on the planet. It's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, but our stay there didn't start off well at all.

We arrived in Paris on Thursday night and the bus took us directly to the restaurant for dinner. Nothing wrong with that, except that we were told our bags would be safe on the bus and most people left everything there except for small purses. Well, they weren't safe.

When we returned, two backpacks were missing--both of them were black and both had been sitting on seats near the front of the bus. One belonged to our tour director, Eve, and the other to my student, Ashley. It appeared that someone had somehow boarded the bus (even though the driver swore it was locked) and took the bags. It was, at least momentarily, a stunning blow. Ashley had left her money belt in the backpack and lost her credit cards, quite a bit of cash, and her passport, as well as her cellphone. Eve lost her laptop with all her trip and work info on it, plus her camera and other important personal items. It was hard to see Paris in any kind of positive light after the theft.

Then we went to our hotel. Not a nice place. We stayed at a lovely hotel in London, but the one in Paris, while located next door to the metro stop and very convenient from that perspective, was pretty much a dump. Plus, the air conditioning was, shall we say, anemic at best?

Still, we settled in as best we could and Eve spent ages on the phone to the police and EF offices and began getting things in order.

Next morning, my first job was to accompany Eve and Ashley to the local police station. Thankfully, Eve's French is excellent (much, much better than mine) and she took care of making the report. However, she eventually had to go and take care of the rest of the tour group (it was their morning on the bus with a guide and a sightseeing tour of Paris) and Ashley and I stayed to finish up the paperwork. I am so thankful that if this had to happen, at least it happened in Paris, where I could be of some use language-wise. I would have been totally lost in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary or Austria, but in Paris I knew enough French to muddle through the remaining questions at the police station and get the report completed. The police officers were so nice. (I know what people say about the French--especially Parisians--but I am here to tell you that I met only nice, helpful people in Paris and one was truly an angel, but more about that in a bit). I was able to understand enough to answer the basic questions and at the end, when our officer was trying to give me some advice that I couldn't figure out, she found another officer who spoke a bit of English. Between his bit of English and my bit of French, we understood that they were advising us to put our valuables in the hotel safe. We thanked them for their help and kind concern, and headed off to the U.S. Embassy.

Another blessing--we were in a capital city, with the embassy located right there. Plus, I've been to Paris six times now and am very comfortable with getting around on the metro. I could easily get Ashley and myself anywhere we needed to go--and I knew exactly where to find the embassy. So, as I told Ashley, even though the Lord does not necessarily always prevent bad things from happening to us, He certainly helps us cope with them. He blessed us a lot in taking care of a very trying situation.

Whew.....security at American embassies is impressive. They went through my purse and took pretty much everything except some tissues. Cell phone, toothbrush, comb, lipstick...all into a plastic bag to be saved until we completed our mission.

In we went, to take a number and wait, and wait, and wait. Finally, it was our turn and we explained Ashley's lost passport and the need for an emergency one. Then paperwork and more waiting. But, after three and a half hours (and a mere $100), we had it. A new passport, completed and in Ashley's hands. Again, very nice, helpful people. (The wait wasn't their fault; the place was mobbed with people). They even let me use their phone to call Eve and give her an update on our status. We got the passport, picked up my phone, etc. and finished just in time to join the rest of the group on a visit to the Louvre.

It was another madhouse filled with people, but when in Paris, one must visit Mona and the gang. It's truly a beautiful place. Probably my favorite is the Winged Victory, beautifully displayed at the top of a staircase and lit by sunlight streaming in from above. It's always breathtaking.

We wandered around, visited Mona, saw the Venus de Milo, and admired the other paintings by Leonardo da Vinci (there are about five others in the hall on the way to Mona, but most people just pass by them in their frenzy to see the famous lady). Of course, the Louvre is so enormous that you could stay there for weeks, but we saw some beautiful things and then it was time to go.

From there, we hiked along the Seine to Notre Dame. I'd been in before, and Kara was starving (and she must be fed regularly or she literally gets sick), so we went for food, but some of the others visited the cathedral. It is beautiful, as is the walk along the Seine. We even went down the steps and walked along the water for a bit. Every city we visited had a river, but I think I like the Seine the best. It seems more friendly, perhaps because the French have put it into what amounts to a large concrete culvert. It's lovely, but tamed. The Thames in London seems much more powerful and intimidating. The Seine is intimate, crossed by many, many lovely and elegant bridges. It's definitely more romantic than the larger rivers.

Dinner required a metro ride to the north side of Paris, but we had no more "lost" people after that one episode on the tube in London. The kids were soon veterans of subway travel, making connections, following the twisting, turning tunnels to our next platform. Kara soon took the lead and guided us through, since she was there last summer and was quite familiar with it all. Sometimes you have to walk a long, long way underground just to find or change trains, but I surely wish we had such a system here. You can go anywhere in Paris quickly and cheaply on the metro.

After dinner, we headed to the Eiffel Tower for our trip to the top. We already had tickets, so we skipped the endless lines at the base, and headed up. You have to change elevators at the second level to ascend to the summit, so we had quite a wait there, but eventually we made it to the top. It was already about 8 p.m., but in the summer, the sun doesn't go down in Paris until about 10, so it was light and clear and we could see for miles. The city is in a river basin, and it is truly beautiful--white and cream colored buildings, a river winding through it--what's not to love?

When we reached the second level on the way down, the kids (Kara, Paige, Alyssa, Brennan, and Ashley) decided to walk down the 200 or so stairs to the bottom. Trudy, Joann and I waited (again) for the elevators, and the kids actually got to the bottom first. Apparently they were singing Broadway show tunes as the went down and were belting out "It's Raining Men" as they passed two British ladies, whose response was "Hallelujah!"

After La Tour Eiffel, we boarded tour boats for our cruise down the Seine. It was lovely. We were in the outside seats (not having to look through cloudy plexiglass) and had a great view. It was a relaxing trip down the river, past Notre Dame, around the Ile St. Louis and back. The girls all sat quite far in the back of the boat and had a great time as well (except when two fellows on the bank mooned them....) We arrived back at the Eiffel Tower just as it began to get dark and the strobe lights came on at 10 p.m., making the tower sparkle madly. It's a beautiful sight. Then, we stopped by a crepe stand and had delicious crepes on our way back to the metro. Street food in Paris is yummy!

So ended our first full day in Paris--passport taken care of, money still to come.

Eve had arranged the schedule so that we had almost all of Saturday as a free day, so we got up fairly early and tried to get to the Musee D'Orsay when it opened at 9. We were only a bit past that, and the line was short, the museum wasn't mobbed yet, and I was very happy. We spent about an hour and a half there, and it is one of my favorite museums in the world. If you love Impressionist paintings, you must, must go. Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, Manet, Sisely, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Seurat--all there. It's amazing. Trudy and I loved it. I'm not sure if the girls did, but I hope so. At least there was a cafe with refreshments when they were tired of admiring the art.

Then we went in search of a Western Union office. Ashley's parents had wired her some money, which we needed to pick up. Eve gave me an address in the 8th Arrondisement and off we went. It was an area new to me, so I was consulting my map as we came out of the metro station. As I said, "I think we need to go this way," another of those wonderfully helpful Parisians, said (in perfect English) "Yes, it's that way." (I'm telling you, the Parisians have been getting a bad rap all these years). So, off we went. As the trek looked like it might be a bit longer than we anticipated, we found some lovely benches under trees (the Parisians plant trees everywhere along their streets and often have benches, too. It's a great place, Paris). So, everyone else sat, while Ashley and I continued our search. However, when we finally found the correct address, it was not a Western Union office. We knocked and tried, but the door was locked and things were not looking good. I was about to give up, when I turned around and saw a lady behind me walking her dog. I thought I'd try to find out where the office actually was located. "Nous cherchons Western Union" (we're searching for Western Union) I told her and (wonderfully) she answered in English, saying this was not it and she didn't know where the office was. Now, here's where our angel comes in. Out of nowhere, a man came walking up. He also spoke perfect English, and he had a cell phone with internet access. In short order, he had googled Western Union in Paris, found two offices on the Champs Elysees, and walked us back to join our friends. There is no way this just "happened." I am convinced he was sent by God to help us poor little lost Americans in Paris. He even told Ashley, "Don't let this (the theft) spoil your experience of Paris." I'm telling you again, Paris is filled with lovely people. (Eve, a skeptical Brit, said I must have met the only nice people in Paris, but I think she was joking).

The Champs Elyssees is one of the most elegant and beautiful boulevards in the world (when we got to Budapest, they even said their main avenue was modeled on it). We had lunch in an Italian restaurant (Alyssa got to choose because it was her birthday) and enjoyed it greatly. Then Ash and I went to find Western Union--and it was practically across the street. The lady there (again!) spoke perfect English, was very helpful (again!), and in short order Ashley had cash. All in all a great day.

We finished our free time with a quick trip to Napoleon's tomb. I just had to see it again after visiting Lord Wellington's in St. Paul's in London. And, as I mentioned, Wellington's does mention Waterloo, while Napoleon's does not. Nonetheless, it's a very impressive tomb. Stop in at Les Invalides if you're ever in Paris. Napoleon lies eternally and magnificently dead underneath a gold-encrusted dome.

Then it was time for us to get back to the hotel, gather up our things and head for Gare de L'Est (the eastern train station) to catch our night train to Berlin. I am not a fan of night trains, but that story comes in the next installment.......

Europe 2009 Part One

2009-07-10T08:58:00.002-05:00

I know I haven't ever written about my 2008 trip to Europe, but I'll get to that sometime..... Today I need to begin the saga of the 2009 trip. So, here is Part the First:

You may ask, "Hey, Sherry, what did you do in Europe?" Well, let me tell you.......

Our first stop was in the great city of London. We arrived at Heathrow, met our tour group and took the bus to our hotel, which was in the suburb of Croyden, south of the city. We took the train and the tube in to town and went on a short orientation walk. I really enjoyed walking down Whitehall--it was one of the things I had planned to do anyway. It's the street with the U.K.'s monument to all the soldiers who died in World Wars I and II. The cenotaph sits in the middle of the road, and people leave wreaths of poppies to remember the war dead. I read once that if all the soldiers from the British Empire who died in World War I were to march down that street, four abreast, the parade would last two weeks. That's a mind-boggling thought.

We also passed the Queen's Horse Guards, very impressive in their shiny helmets and boots and riding very fine looking horses; the Banqueting House designed by Inigo Jones where King Charles I stepped out on a balcony in the 1600s and was the only British monarch executed by his people; and the intersection with Downing Street, where the British Prime Minister lives. I love, love, love British history, so London is one of my all-time favorite towns.

We stopped at Trafalgar Square--a very impressive monument to Lord Nelson who defeated the French at Trafalgar, then strolled past the National Gallery and the church called St. Martin in the Fields. I really want to go there for a concert someday, but didn't make it this time. From there our group split up and some of us decided to hike to St. Paul's cathedral via the Strand. It looked great on the map, walking past the famous tea shop, Twinnings, and past a pub where Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens used to hang out, but in reality it was a looooonnnngggg walk. I'm afraid I overdid it for my companions on the first day and I felt guilty about that ever afterwards.....Still, St. Paul's was gorgeous inside and I'm thankful for the opportunity to see it. I was particularly impressed with the tomb of Lord Wellington, who finally and decisively defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. His tomb lists his many battles, and of course mentions his great triumph at Waterloo. Interestingly enough, Napoleon's much more lavish tomb in Paris fails to mention his final defeat. Hmmm.....

We ate dinner at a little restaurant near St. Paul's (and also near the Millenium bridge) dining on fish and chips with mushy peas (this is actually a well-loved British dish and it's pretty tasty, even though it really is mushed up peas--with mint no less).

I liked our hotel in London and the using the Underground and the train was no problem at all.

Our second day began with an attempt to visit Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, it was closed for a private service, so I still haven't seen all the wonders in it that I want to see. Looks like I'll have to go to London again! Afterwards the three adults in my group set out to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Couldn't persuade any of the kids to join us, so they all went with Ms. Crane to climb the 200 or so steps at Tower Bridge. We really enjoyed the pomp and circumstance at Buckingham Palace. The British certainly do ceremony well. The soldier's uniforms are quite impressive, as are the matching horses of the Horse Guard. It's something everyone should see if they're in London.

The three of us had lunch in a lovely cafe near the Thames (I have a firm rule--I always sit down for lunch, relax and enjoy the local food). Then we met our bus for a tour of the city. It was well-done and interesting and we even had a few minutes to race through the British Museum at the end. Not nearly enough time, of course, but that gives me another reason to go back. I did get to see the Elgin Marbles and that was something I had long wished to see, so it wasn't a total loss.

We ate dinner in Soho, my first experience with Indian food--it was delicious. Then we traveled to Tower Hill to meet our guide for a Jack the Ripper walk. Once there, I realized that one of my students was missing. Paige had not noticed when we all turned in to the underground station, and was left behind. Luckily Alyssa soon received a text from Paige explaining what had happened and she was able to send instructions on how to find us. Just to be certain that Paige was okay, I took the tube back to the previous station and searched for her, but Kara then texted me that Paige had arrived and I rejoined the group, which had already begun the walking tour. That was problematic as we had already walked too far for the first day and Trudy was having trouble with her feet. I felt so guilty about it and there didn't seem to be anything I could do except keep trudging on. So, on we went and were most grateful when we finally reached the tube station. I think Trudy would have gone home that night if she could have, but we made it through. After the tour, she went on back to the hotel, and Joann and I took Kara and Kayte shopping on Oxford Street. We also thought about going to the London Eye, but decided against it. Shopping was pretty fun, and we had an easy route home from there.

On Day 3, we left London and began our long journey across much of Europe. Our final stop in the U.K. was at Canterbury, the city where Thomas Beckett was killed, and where pilgrims later came to visit his tomb. The tomb is not actually there any more, as it was destroyed in the 1500s when Henry VIII confiscated all Catholic properties in England and had the shrines destroyed. By the way, docents at the Cathedral told me that Henry VIII's men took 26 carts full of gold, silver and jewels from Canterbury Cathedral. (Makes you wonder if his motivation for ditching the Catholic church wasn't really Ann Boleyn after all, but the money and property he could confiscate from the church. I know, I'm such a cynic). Still, the Cathedral is the place of Thomas Beckett's murder, and a very historic cathedral. Canterbury is a pretty little town as well. Our lunch there at Pret a Manger (a salad/sandwich chain that is all over London--and probably everywhere else as well) was excellent. I highly recommend the chain, particularly since one seems to lack fruits and vegetables when traveling and they have wonderful varieties of both. Several of us got to participate in a brief prayer service in the cathedral and it was a peaceful, moving experience. I think I may just teach the Canterbury Tales this year, since now I've been there, too.

We then traveled onwards to the English coast at Dover, where we saw the famous White Cliffs, and boarded a ferry across the English Channel. It was my first time on an ocean-going vessel (even if it was just across a 20 mile channel) and I found that if I watched the water out the window, I felt fine, but if I focused on what was happening inside the boat, I tended to feel dizzy. Weird.....

Upon our arrival in France, we boarded our coach and drove to Paris. And, as Paris is a long story, I'll write about it in the next episode.......

It was a fine time at Lucille's

2009-04-19T22:26:00.003-05:00

I know, I know, long time--no hear from. Oh well. Things, shall we say, have been hectic. But.....I did have an absolutely lovely day yesterday in Fort Worth with my best friend. We talked for a while then had a delicious, yummy, fantastical lunch at Lucille's. We both ate the intensely flavored, marvelously creamy, I'm-hungry-just-thinking-about-it, lobster bisque, accompanied by fresh, hot bread. It was heavenly. Then we topped it off with decadent desserts. She had key lime pie with an oreo crust and I had a truly gigantic slice of deep, dark chocolate cake sprinkled with walnuts. (Hungry yet?)

Best friend lives in the arts district of Fort Worth, which is my absolute favorite part of town. So many lovely restaurants to sample, so many world-class museums to visit, so many tiny shops to explore. Arlington is truly boring by comparison, so I go to visit her rather than inviting her over here. I love Fort Worth. Downtown is also wonderful, just for moseying (that's a good Texas word, don't you know) around. Dallas is too East Coast for my taste; give me jeans, boots and the friendly faces of Cowtown any day. Plus, you gotta admit, some of those cowboys look mighty fine in their jeans and boots........

It was a hectic, stressful week at school, but I've learned more about who is reliable and dependable and I truly appreciate those who are dedicated to the kids and go above and beyond the call of duty to help our students. The ELA department put on a "carnival" of games in the gym this week to help kids review for the upcoming math, science and social studies tests. Several teachers were there both days, working diligently, cajoling kids into participating, making sure we did our best to help them. I so appreciate their dedication and am in awe of their devotion to kids. Our students are truly blessed by some of their teachers. I only wish I had a better way to express my appreciation. I have a couple of ideas, but I need to ponder it some more.

I also appreciate those who stepped in when I was overwhelmed. They kept things running and moved us from chaos to success. What great people to work with.

This week should be a slow and serene one, but next week we'll spend most days administering the dreaded TAKS tests. You cannot imagine how boring it is to watch people take a test. Teachers must "monitor" at all times, so we cannot read or write or use the computer or do anything even remotely interesting. We must watch the kids to be certain they do their own work. This goes on for hours and hours.......zzzzzzzz...... Sorry, dozed off for a minute......
I would so much rather take the fool tests than watch the kids take them. Not my favorite week of the year, needless to say.

Lauren is in Provo this week to participate in BYU graduation. I wish I could have gone, but I'll be here keeping the twins so that Julie can go (I'm also funding Lauren's trip, so I guess I'm doing my part). If only BYU had commencement in December, I could have been there when I went up to help her drive home. But, nooooooo. They only have it in April and August, so she had to go back up to walk and, as I can't afford for all of us to go, I'm helping her and Julie. I've been promised lots of pictures, and I'll try to post some when she returns.

We were thrilled to spend a couple of weeks with Josh when he had R&R recently. He looks great and seems to really enjoy his work in Iraq. I'm so proud of him for serving our wonderful country, and also proud of Julie and the boys for dealing with his absence so well.

Speaking of the boys, you've got to hear this one: Kelly and Shannon have let Julie and Josh know that they want a baby sister (they already each have a brother, you see). This conversation apparently led to Shannon's concern that Julie doesn't have any brothers (only the two sisters). So, his solution to the problem? "Grammie can have another baby!" Good thinking for a seven-year-old, but there will be no more babies for grammie. Sorry.......

I've been reading lots of wonderful books. Just finished a trilogy by Sharon Kay Penman on Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. (When Christ and His Saints Slept, Time and Chance, and The Devil's Brood) It was so totally absorbing that for a while there I lived in 12th century England and France (the books are about 700 pages each). I learned a lot, while enjoying a great read. If anyone wants to talk British history at any time, I'm ready and willing (and mostly able). Now I'm reading a young adult novel called "The Goose Girl" for a book group I'm thinking of joining. It's pretty good and a very quick read. We'll see if I fit in to the group; I think it's mostly much younger women and they may not want an old lady like me......I do love books though.

Don't know if I mentioned that I LOVED Willa Cather's book Death Comes for the Archbishop, and I've bought several other books by her that are now on my "to read" list. I also want to read Victor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning. I've heard really good things about it and I want to check it out. So many books, so little time.......

Not much else to talk about today, so I'm off to bed.

La Boheme

2009-02-24T18:47:00.002-06:00

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful evening. Last Wednesday I went with my friend Trudy to the Dallas Opera production of La Boheme. I have enjoyed the other operas we've seen, and I loved Porgy and Bess last year (who can resist Gershwin?) but now I understand why La Boheme is so beloved--it was fabulous. Of course it didn't hurt that the guy playing Rudolfo was gorgeous and that he had an equally gorgeous voice. It also helped that the story is set in Paris, my favorite city on earth, but still, it was a magical evening. Even if you're not an opera fan, sometime in your life, you've got to see this one.

My baby is 28!

2009-02-21T18:05:00.002-06:00

A few years back, I told my students that it was Julie's birthday. One delightfully oblivious fellow asked how old she was. When I said "25" he said "you must be really old." It was priceless and he didn't even realize that he'd been semi-insulting until I noted that he might not make 17. Yesterday I realized that many of my co-workers are younger than my child. Ah.....I'm old......Oh well....as they say in "Spamalot" "I'm not dead yet." So I shall continue to have fun!

Our school spent the week doing Waiver Days--time to give more individualized help to those who have not yet passed the TAKS test and give a week off to those who passed all four sections of the test last year. I think it's a terrific idea, but our implementation of it needs refinement. Of course, you always learn from doing and we will definitely make improvements for next year. I particularly hope that we can help the seniors who are retaking the test spend all their time focused only on the subjects in which they need help. I hate to see them spending time with ELA or something else they've already passed, when they are struggling with another subject. Still, I felt very pleased with the effort we made and I know that many students benefited from it. That's what really counts. Plus, I learned a lot and am even more determined to push reading, reading, reading on our campus. I would really love to see us read a book as a campus. Everyone would read it and all content areas would create lessons including information or situations from the book. We could have small group discussions, after school activities, maybe even get the author to come and talk to the student body. I think it would be a wonderful thing and a great boost to our reading efforts. So many of our students speak English as a second language and I am confident that more reading will definitely help them in their language acquisition. Plus, if they read and comprehend English better, they will perform better in all of their classes. Sorry if I sound like I'm on a soapbox, but this is really, really important. I also want to propose some new ELA electives for next year--certainly creative writing, but also readings in various genres. I'd love to see us offer a Latino Literature course, an African-American Literature course, a women's lit course. I think we could get kids who "don't read" to do so by presenting them with works that really interest them. If anyone has an opinion about this theory, I'd love to hear your ideas....

So, back to Waiver Days. Yesterday the ELA lesson was planned to be on test-taking strategies. Rather than spend another day in class, the teachers tasked with planning the lesson came up with a "show" filled with skits and silliness and ELA teachers making fools of ourselves while making some important points and sharing some helpful tips for the upcoming ELA TAKS test. I was in two skits, in the first I was a sarcastic teenage daughter (the kids in the audience got a laugh out of a gray-haired lady as a teenager) who didn't want to try on the TAKS test, and in the second I was a burnt-out teacher who wanted to give up on test day. I was also one of a trio who sang a crazy TAKS version of "We Will Rock You." It was all zany and fun and silly and I think we actually did make some very important points. I think the kids had a good time and I know I'll never forget the tune to "TAKS Rater." In our final performance of the day, I even did a cartwheel onstage, amazing the kids who don't seem to think that "old" people can do such things.

Then last night, our whole family, along with Kara's boyfriend, went out to dinner to celebrate Julie's birthday. It was fun to be together and Mike and I got to have Kelly and Shannon ride with us. They are wonderful little boys. Shannon told me what he's been learning about Abraham Lincoln. I was impressed--both boys are reading well and doing very well in school. They're smart and curious and eager to learn and I love spending time with them.

So, next week we're back to "normal" classes. I'll be happy to see my usual crew of kids again, but it was nice to get to know a few new faces this week and I hope I helped them and that they will be successful on the upcoming tests.

President's Day-Who was the Best?

2009-02-16T20:54:00.004-06:00

I really enjoyed this evaluation of our presidents on National Review Online. In case you don't have time to look at the whole thing, here's my favorite part (it's about Grover Cleveland): "Honesty was arguably Grover Cleveland's only policy. It was the prism through which he saw the world and conducted his public life. He saw attempts to secure special favors, privileges, or subsidies from government as fundamentally immoral. In his view, taking from some and giving to others was not something an honest man in or out of government would ever do. He rejected the notion that the Treasury should be up for grabs by the mob, so he vetoed more bills than all previous presidents combined.

"Not only would Cleveland never recognize the Washington of today, he would surely expect God to either raze it or extend His deepest apologies to Sodom and Gomorrah."

That last bit cracked me up....Love it! (I know, I've become a terrible cynic...)

And now for my report on Paris.....

2009-02-15T22:52:00.005-06:00

Assyrian Art in the Louvre

The Winged Victory--a beautiful spot for her on the stairs in the Louvre.

Yes, I did go to Paris in January. And it's just as lovely in January as it is in April or June. And, yes, I am finally going to write about it. I have no clue yet how to send the pictures I took with my phone to my email to post here, but I will try to find some appropriate ones to include.

I left DFW on Thursday, Jan. 15 and the flight over was terrific--mostly because the lady sitting next to me was a French woman who taught in the United States for many years. She was just delightful and we had a wonderful time talking about France and the U.S. and education and our children and our grandchildren and all kinds of fun things. Finally we did try to sleep a bit (not very successfully--at least for me) and soon we arrived in Paris, and bid each other Bon Voyage. I never even got her name, but she was a great companion for the trip over.

I was impressed with EF (the tour company I'm traveling with this year) because even though our flight was an hour early, there they were, waiting for us to arrive. After waiting in the airport for other flights to come in, we boarded our bus and headed to the hotel.

We stayed in a Mercur hotel--quite nice--about 15 kilometers south of Paris but right on the train line. We had time for a short nap (most appreciated) and then my roomate arrived--Jan, from Oregon. She was tiny and fun and we had a great time together over the three days in France. We dashed out to find some lunch at the local boulangerie and it was yummy--quiche with champingnons (mushrooms). I was pleased to see that my rather basic French skills still work fine--we had no problem ordering and the food was easily transportable and delicious.

Then we all walked to the train station and headed into the city.

Our afternoon activity was a visit to the Louvre. I've been several times before, but it is the most enormous place and even though I always see The Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa, the museum is filled with new things that I haven't seen yet. So, every trip, I get a new experience along with visiting old friends.

This year the new section I visited was the Etruscan, Roman and Greek Antiquities. Jan and I went to see them along with Martha (also from Oregon who Jan met on the flight over) because she was really interested in that era, and I really didn't have a strong preference on what to see this time. The Louvre has rooms and rooms of antiquities and wandering through was fascinating. We eventually also found the Assyrian exhibit as well--quite impressive.

After the Louvre, we met our group, and our tour guide, Tom, outside I.M. Pei's famous pyramid and took a quick walk through the Tuilleries gardens. Then off to dinner. It was delicious--my first time to eat duck. Afterwards I'm afraid the jet lag caught up with most of us and we went back to the hotel. Some of the younger members of the group stayed to visit a few clubs in the city of light, but I was exhausted and grateful for some rest.

Saturday we spent most of the morning in classes, learning how to conduct our tours and getting tips on the best ways to handle all sorts of situations. Two experienced EF group leaders, Don and Wanetta, were there to share their wisdom with us, as well as several members of the EF staff. All were terrific and the information was very useful.

After lunch, it was back to the city. We did a walking tour on the left bank, wandered past the Musee de Moyen Age (museum of the middle ages), saw the Sorbonne, and trekked through some tiny, winding streets. We also created our own human flying buttresses, saw a demonstration at the Place St. Michel, and dropped by Shakespeare and Company, an English-language bookstore famous as the publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses. I had heard of the store, but never located it on my previous trips to Paris. It is actually just across the river from Notre Dame Cathedral, so it should be easy to find again.

Most of the group then visited the cathedral, but I waited outside with a few others who had been in before. Everyone I met on the tour was interesting and enjoyable to be with. When Jan and Martha came out of the church, we were joined by Popy (short for Penelope) a delightful Greek woman from Washington state, and a really fun woman, orginally from Barcelona, who now teaches in L.A. but I can't remember her name.....Our little group decided to have dinner on the Isle St. Louis, the tiny island just behind Notre Dame, filled with shops and restaurants and the most expensive residential real estate in the city. It's really nice.....

We window shopped and did some actual purchasing. One store was filled with bright, colorful, ingeniously clever kitchen gadgets and I just had to buy the Eiffel Tower grater. (It's a rappe in French and it's now hanging in my kitchen). Jan got a very colorful squid whisk and we all had a great time.

We found a tiny (and I do mean tiny) restaurant for dinner and ate delicious crepes. When it was time to use the facilities, the others came back to the table laughing. I got the joke when I went back to what has to be the smallest toilette I've ever seen. Several of them got pictures, but I didn't. I will admit that anyone very overweight would not fit in that room.

After dinner we wandered and shopped and eventually made our way back to the hotel. The food was great, the company was convivial and it was a lovely evening in Paris.

Sunday morning we boarded the bus for a driving tour of Paris. Our guide was excellent, and after seeing Paris, we headed to the chateau at Versailles. It is a bit nicer in the summer, simply because the wind that day was brisk and I couldn't enjoy the gardens because of the bitter cold. Still, the chateau is nice, and the gift shop provided some lovely earrings for me to bring home to Kara. Plus, in January, it's a bit less crowded inside and I could look around more. I was also really impressed with the excellent job they did of guilding the front gates to the palace. They were covered last summer while the work went on, but now they're brilliantly gold and quite impressive.

After Versailles, we had a little free time, so Jan and I ran up to the Musee D'Orsay to see the Impressionists--my favorites. Just looking at Renoir's masterpieces takes my breath away. I also love Monet's work, and Van Gogh's and many others. It's overwhelming to be in rooms filled with such beauty.

Our farewell dinner followed the museum visit, then I went with several new friends up to the Sacre Coeur on Montmartre. Tom (our tour guide) had suggested that we take the metro to the Abbesses stop--that way we would be halfway up the hill before we even began. What he neglected to mention was that you have to climb about 200 steps just to get out of the metro station. I was exhausted......I really have to get in shape before the trip this summer. I was with Popy, and two ladies whose names I can't remember, plus Tom and David from North Carolina, and Ezra, from California. They were great sports and seemed quite appreciative that I could speak French and buy our metro tickets with ease, and I really appreciated their patience with my need to stop and catch my breath. Montmartre is the only hill in Paris, but it's pretty steep and the church is at the top of the hill. Thankfully, Dave was kind enough to wait for me, and he even carried my coat when I got too warm.

I wasn't sure which way to go to get to the church, but we just kept climbing, knowing that it would be there at the top, and sure enough, it was. I had been up there before, but the view at night is spectacular. The church is beautiful too. Built in the 1870s, it doesn't have the gothic stained glass, but it does have a very impressive mosaic of Christ that was quite moving. Quiet and peaceful inside, it was an inspiring place to visit and commune with God.

We shopped a bit near the Place du Tertre (completely deserted in January, but filled to overflowing with artists and restaurants in the spring and summer) then wended our way back down the hill to the Moulin Rouge (you can't go to Paris and miss that photo op).

We had planned out our route back to the hotel, but luckily Popy noticed that there was some problem at the Gare du Nord and we quickly revamped our plans to avoid it. She speaks French, too, and I'm so glad she noticed or we might have been in a mess. I had my handy dandy Paris metro map, so we were quickly able to find an alternate route, ended up at Chatelet/Les Halles, the biggest metro station in the city, and looked for our train. The trains to the suburbs sometimes don't stop at every station, so you have to look at the board to make sure that your station is lit up. If not, you wait. We lucked out, our train came fairly quickly and we went "home."

I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet so many very lovely people on the trip. They were all friendly and helpful (even the ones who stayed out drinking too late Saturday night, couldn't speak French and couldn't get a cab and didn't get back until 4:30 a.m.--one lesson to learn--never stay out after the trains quit running). I am lucky to be a teacher and to meet so many other people who are excited about the world and learning and doing new things. I so enjoyed talking with Jan and Popy and so many others. It was an experience I will treasure.

Lovely, Lovely Day

2009-02-15T22:42:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was one of the best Valentine's Days ever.....I spent a couple of hours in the morning visiting with my best, dearest, most wonderful, fun, talented, funny, non-judgmental, supportive, and all sorts of other good things, friend in Fort Worth. I love her cozy cottage duplex, love the part of town she lives in and love, love, love to visit with her. So, it was delightful. I had dropped Mike off at the gun show on my way to her house (another story in and of itself--gun purchases have apparently skyrocketed since the Democrats took over and the line for the gun show was blocks long. Plus, I've never seen so many pickup trucks in one parking lot in my life. And they don't park only in designated spaces--grassy medians--actually any open space--work just as well. And who's going to say nay to a man in a big F350 toting an oversize shotgun?) But back to our story.... After our delightful visit, in which she also measured my feet to hand-knit me a pair of socks, we picked Mike up from testosterone central, and all went out to lunch at a yummy soul-food place called Drew's. I had a smothered pork chop that was so tender it fell apart when touched by a fork, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, crispy, tasty fried okra and a most delicious Italian Cream Cake for dessert. (best friend and I shared). All in all, it was truly one of the best Valentine's Days ever.

I know, I know

2009-01-26T20:00:00.001-06:00

Yes, I should be telling all about my trip to Paris, but I'm tired so I'll just share this wonderful story from today's Dallas Morning News. This kid was in my AP English class last year and I wrote some of the recommendation letters that helped get him into Rice and MIT. I'm so proud of him--I hope you will be, too.

We're all God's Children....

2009-01-08T22:54:00.001-06:00

Just a quick post today, but I thought you might enjoy reading this story. I certainly did.....

Describe the process your family used to get a Christmas tree when you were a child...

2009-01-04T19:35:00.002-06:00

This is another of those loooonnnnggg time ideas I've had that have taken a while to commence. Several (more than a few, you see) years ago, a friend gave me a mason jar filled with strips of paper. Each one had a question or prompt on it. The instructions say:

Write your personal history the easy way--answer one question a week, and in a year, you will have a (fairly) complete history. And, be honest--remember--this is for posterity.

So, I'm going to be writing about these prompts every week--if not more often. I'll use the prompt as the title to each blog entry, and you are more than welcome to borrow the ideas for your own history.

To today's topic--Christmas trees........

When I was a kid, we spent every Christmas in Fairfield with Nannie and Papa. They lived on a farm and relatives gathered there to celebrate the season. Sometimes when we arrived, Papa already had a tree up in the living room, but a few times we were early enough that we got to go with him to pick one out. Now, Texas is not known for it's lush fir trees; in fact, the only evergreens we had available were cedar trees. So, that's what we used. I actually never knew any other kind of Christmas tree existed until I was an adult. And hey, when you cover them with silver icicles and lights and treasured family ornaments, they look amazingly good. Of course, cedar trees do induce terrible allergic reactions in sensitive people, but they smell good and we just kept plenty of tissues on hand.

Since cedar trees grow all along the ditches and roadsides in that part of the state, we would drive along the back country roads, looking for just the right tree. It had to be the perfect size and shape. Eventually, we made our selection and Papa cut it down. Then we dragged it to the truck and wrestled it into the back. All the way home, we talked about decorating it and all the presents that would be stuffed underneath.

For some reason, a cedar tree always seems to have a "bad" side, so we would have to position it in the corner of the living room just so, to hide the less lush spots. It sometimes listed a bit to the side as well, so Papa or one of the uncles would wrap a bit of string around the trunk and nail it to the wall for stability and better aesthetics. But we didn't care. We flung icicles all over it, decked it with strings of old-fashioned, multicolored, big-bulb lights, hung the ornaments and rejoiced over its beauty. No expensive fir tree could ever have looked any better to us.

Bohemian

2009-01-04T19:29:00.003-06:00

My ancestors came from an area called Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic, and I've long been curious as to why people with eccentric, or offbeat lifestyles were called Bohemians. Certainly all odd people did not come from this one tiny corner of the world. This season I'm going to see the opera "La Boheme" and it's about artists in Paris, not people from Bohemia...plus, the musical "Rent", based on the opera, is much loved by my daughter. Anyway, for whatever reason, I've been puzzled. So, today I looked it up and am now here to enlighten us all.....Apparently people in Europe thought that the gypsies, with their unconventional ways, came from Bohemia, so they took to calling all unconventional people "bohemian." There--questions answered, puzzle solved.

New York, New York

2009-01-02T20:58:00.006-06:00

(hmmmm....I tried to put these pictures in the middle of things in the post, but I can't seem to figure it out yet...)

Chrysler Building Times Square

For a long (loooooonnnnngggg) time, I've been meaning to write about some of my travels. Well, now appears to be the time. So, if you're interested, read on; if not, take a break (or a nap, or whatever).

In June, 2007, Mike, Lauren, Kara and I spent a week in The Big Apple. Yep, New York City. It was amazing, but it almost didn't happen. We had a terrible night-before-the-trip and barely made our flight. Still, we did get on and off we went. We had booked a hotel in Queens, one that was reportedly near a subway station, because rooms in Manhattan cost the earth. So, we flew into the Laguardia airport (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) and a nice shuttle driver from the hotel picked us up. From the plane we were able to see the city as we were landing, and let me tell you, it makes Dallas look miniscule.

We got settled in to the hotel, found the subway stop (a several-block walk away) and headed for the big city. Since Kara gets migranes, and then gets sick when she doesn't eat regularly, and airlines no longer serve food, and we (like idiots) forgot to take any snacks along, our first order of business was to find food and a bathroom. Luckily, New York seems to have lots of pocket parks in their neighborhoods and we spent a couple of hours there resting and recuperating. Then we took our first stroll through Times Square.

What a place......I have never seen so many people in one place in my life. And the lights, and the buildings, and, and, and....It was overwhelming.....Lauren loved it. When we came up from the subway, she took in a quick, deep breath and said "this is where I belong." As for me, nice to visit, but don't want to live there. Dinner was at an Irish pub and it was delicious.

The next day, Monday, we spent most of our time on the trip to the Statue of Liberty. It's impressive and everyone who goes to New York City should see it. I felt very proud of my country. We also visited Ellis Island, where immigrants were processed during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It, too, was very interesting. After getting lost in the warren of streets that covers lower Manhattan, we found the World Trade Center site. I was moved by the bronze relief sculpture on the fire house next door, but the site itself just looks like a giant construction project now. Still, I'm glad we went.

We walked a lot during the trip, and one hike took us past the courthouses that we see all the time on Law and Order. It was kind of a deja vu moment, even though I really deja didn't before. We ate dinner that night in Chinatown at a Malaysian restaurant--yummy.

Tuesday we visited the NBC studies and shopped in their store, tried to go up the Empire State Building, but had to put if off because of lightning storms, had dinner at Macy's and went to a Broadway show--"Spamalot--" at the Shubert Theater. It was hilarious. You should definitely see it if you have the chance. One of the big production numbers is all about how a show can't succeed on Broadway if it doesn't include Jews. Well, at intermission we had met the kids from a Jewish school sitting on the row behind us. Their presence, and laughter, made the whole thing even funnier. After the show we toured Times Square by night--even more impressive than in the daytime. And even more crowded (if possible).

Wednesday we did the complete tour of NBC and got to visit the Today studio. Kara has decided that she wants to study broadcast journalism and eventually work in New York. Why not??? She's certainly smart enough and pretty enough to do it.

We also made it to the top of the Empire State Building where the view is stupendous. Since Macy's is next door, we had to shop, and Mike bought the wonderful Belgique cookware that we'll probably use for the rest of our lives. (the store shipped it home for us). For dinner, we met Lauren's old teacher, Holly, who now lives in NYC, and ate at the Cafe de Charbon. Holly teaches at a high school in the Bronx and lives in the East Village, and we had a good visit with her.

On Thursday, we started out by walking down Fifth Avenue. It's an impressive place, particularly for shoppers. On one side street, we came across the Jimmy Chou shoe store and Kara had to have her picture made outside it. We walked through Grand Central Station, gawked at the gorgeous Chrysler Building (I would love to go on an architectural tour of NYC with a well-informed guide), ate hot dogs from a street vendor, admired the jewels at Tiffanys and the clothes everywhere, and finally arrived at FAO Schwartz, the famed NYC toy store. I was exhausted and one of my travel rules is: whenever you find a bench, sit down. So, I sat and Mike and the girls shopped. Soon my phone rang and Kara said, "you've got to come in here." I could not imagine why I needed to come in, but she insisted, so in I went. Lo and behold, there were two of my students, from my Texas high school, standing there in the middle of New York City! It was amazing. They had seen Kara, recognized her from when she visited my classes, and asked "Aren't you Mrs. N's daughter?" Yep, she was, and we all had a grand reunion in New York. They were there with a church choir group. Before the visit was over, another student appeared (along with a student I would have that fall) and they all had to take pictures to prove they'd seen me in New York City. It so much fun. I had been feeling a little down, being in such a huge city and realizing that I didn't know a single soul outside my family. But indeed, the Lord does watch over us, and I knew several wonderful Texans in that giant metropolis.

We then wandered through Central Park for a bit.....it was lovely and peaceful and a welcome oasis in the big city.

That evening we ate in a section of town called Chelsea and then visited Times Square--yet again.

On Friday, we spent the morning in Chelsea, visiting the building where The Food Network has its headquarters. We also tried out a highly-recommended brownie shop there--The Fat Witch. The food was good, but not as good as Kara's brownies, and (like most things in NYC) it was expensive. The building was once a factory for Nabisco, and it's old and quirky and fun. We also went to Union Square, Lincoln Center (where the kids relived scenes from "Center Stage") and the LDS Temple (across the street from the Lincoln Center). It was a great comfort to see the Angel Moroni up on top of that temple, there in the middle of crazy traffic and the controlled chaos that is New York City.

And of course, we had to take the subway over to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk at least half-way across. And, we had to see the New York Public Library and its famous lions out front. We had our final dinner in Little Italy (and it is little these days, as most of the Italians have long since left Manhattan), then made one last night-time visit to (where else) Times Square. My family became addicted to that place. For me, it was too crowded, and I spent most of my time watching Mike's back pocket, trying to make sure no one took his wallet......Actually, I spent most of the trip at the back of the pack, just making sure everyone was together and accounted for. Watching them all have a good time was priceless. Lauren, of course, had to call everyone she could think of to share the experience. Walking, gawking, talking, we were the quintessential tourists.

I am really glad we made the trip. I wish I had been able to convince somebody to visit a couple of museums with me, but I guess that will be my good excuse for going again--I still need to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (can you believe no one would go to see Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" there with me????) and several other collections. I could spend weeks just visiting museums in New York, so I'll have to go back.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T17:27:00.003-06:00

Had a great New Year's Eve with family and friends. Lots of friends joined us at the Institute Building for an evening of games and food (delicious and lots of it) and bonding. For many years we spent New Year's Eve with a group of friends, but sadly, their mom passed away last year and the rest of the family has moved. So, we had to start a new tradition. I miss my old pals, but we did have a good time Wednesday night with members of our family and our ward, and hopefully we can build on this. There seems to be activities for the youth and young adults, and plenty to do for the drinkin' crowd, but for us sober folk, not so much. So, we're creating our own and having a marvelous time.....

One of my resolutions involves exercise, so yesterday I took a nice walk with the twins. I'm going to try to continue this at least every weekday if not more often. They enjoy being outside, Julie gets a nice break, I get some much needed exercise--a winner for everyone!

Goals for 2009

2008-12-31T14:10:00.002-06:00

Okay, so here are the goals--any support and help will be much appreciated.

1. Daily personal and family scripture study and prayer (Conference issues of the Ensign also count).

2. Keep the Sabbath day holy

3. Live the law of the fast

4. Regular Family Home Evening

5. Attend the temple weekly--after work on Thursdays

6. Family history--research and work

7. Regular blog/journaling

8. Work on photo albums during spring break and over the summer

9. Share the gospel daily in at least some small way

10. Regular calls and visits to mom

11. Work on budgeting and saving

12. Save for Kelly and Shannon missions

13. Fulfill my church callings

14. Exercise daily--walk with twins on weekdays

15. Container garden

16. Continue my reading plan on biographies of the presidents

17. Go back to school or at least audit online classes in the fall

Bigger picture--I hope

2008-12-31T14:07:00.003-06:00

Here's a slightly larger picture of the nativity...

Beautiful Nativity

2008-12-31T14:00:00.002-06:00

I forgot to mention a few other delightful gifts. Mike got me a beautiful nativity. It's by an artist named Jim Shore and all the characters in the scene are wearing outfits that look like elaborate quilts. I know that Best Friend would love this--I'm going to try to put the picture of it in here.

My mom also gave me a lovely nativity that lights up--the twins love it! Plus, she gave us a wonderful, red, enameled cast iron pot. I know I can cook up some yummy stuff in it.

Christmas was lovely and peaceful and I'm now trying to get my mind going on the new year.....

A low key Christmas

2008-12-30T21:01:00.002-06:00

Hmmm......How to describe this year's festivities? First a bit of background--I was sick for the first three weeks of December. Oh, I made it to work (only missed one day) but I hacked and coughed my way through the period when it was "beginning to look a lot like Christmas." I couldn't sing a note, felt dreadful and did absolutely no decorating. I just went to work, tried to talk with my pitiful, croaking voice, and went home to rest. So, this was the year of no tree, no decorations, presents wrapped in gift bags, but not Christmas paper, and no Christmas cards. I feel a bit like a failure, but there it is. Then, once I felt better, I went to Utah to drive home with Lauren. By the time we got home, decorating seemed like kind of waste of time, plus it was very cold, I'm a wimp and I didn't want to go to the storage unit, get everything out, and freeze to put up a tree for only a few days. Plus, there was one more compelling reason to forgo the tree--Zeke--our wonderful, impish kitten. I know that Julie fought Bear over her tree, and Karen and Bob found their Jack perched on top like the Christmas star, so I decided that was the final, and perhaps most compelling, reason to skip the tree this year. I may be called a Scrooge, but that's that.

So, we enjoyed Julie's tree and opened presents over at her house on Christmas morning. The boys were so much fun to watch--their enthusiasm more than makes up for the lack of it in some of the older folks. I gave the girls cash, because I can't seem to pick out anything they like any more. Julie and Kara were thrilled --they love to shop, but Lauren, not so much.....Oh well.......

I know it's unfair, but I got the best Christmas presents. Mike bought me a bunch of beautiful shirts at Jones New York--they have gorgeous clothes, he loves to shop, and he doesn't feel guilty spending money. I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun buying them for myself. We also bought a new car--it's another PT Cruiser, this time in white with automatic transmission. He will actually drive it for the next 10 months or so as he attends a police academy in Mesquite, but after that, it's mine. Kara gets the purple PT to use now and to take to college, and Mike will keep the truck and his motorcycle. I'll drive the truck while he attends the academy. The new car is beautiful and if you're going to buy one, now seems to be the time, better deals are available now than have been offered in many years.

What else...I finally joined the 21st century and got a page on Facebook. My main goal was to keep up with my students who have graduated. I just love those kids and then they graduate and completely disappear. This way, I can keep track of at least a few of them. I've already received several emails from former students and hope to find more of them as time goes by. I also tracked down two of my favorite people from high school and have heard from both of them. It's amazing to think we've been out of high school for more than 30 years. But hey, I still get to hang out with the kids and have fun while doing it. I know I've said it before, but teaching is the most wonderful thing I've ever done. I love the kids and I am blessed to know them.

So, now we march on to 2009. I've worked out my goals and I'll post those next. I figure if I tell everyone about them, maybe I can get some encouragement to actually accomplish them.....

Travel Adventures

2008-12-30T20:37:00.002-06:00

On Thursday, Dec. 18 (almost two weeks ago.....my how time flies) I was supposed to fly to Salt Lake City to meet Lauren and then help her drive home to Texas. She has just graduated from BYU, and is moving back so that she can live with Julie for a few months, find a job, save some money, and then strike out on her own. Anyway, the trip started badly, as my flight was delayed some three hours, then we found out that we would all miss our connections in Denver. Being stranded in Denver didn't sound too fun, even though I knew I would get on a flight to SLC the next morning, but luckily, I have wonderful relatives!!! My cousin Diana went far above and beyond the call of duty in coming to the airport, waiting more than an hour on me because I was trapped in a line with all the other delayed folks trying to get our boarding passes for the next morning's flights, then taking me back to the airport at the horrendous hour of 5 a.m. She deserves great kudos and thanks and accolades and I am so appreciative. So, I spent the night in Denver, saw Greg for about 5 minutes, had great visits with Diana going from and to the airport and finally arrived in SLC on Friday morning. I did meet some nice people on the plane, all of whom sent best wishes to Lauren on her graduation (that made me feel really good) and I'm glad I had a chance to visit with Diana, even if the circumstances weren't ideal. I was hoping that our trek south could take us back through Denver, so that we could have a real visit, but the weather did not cooperate. Interstate 70 looked bad going over the mountains west of Denver, so we took the more southern route home, just hitting the corner of Colorado as we went from southern Utah into New Mexico. Once Lauren picked me up and we got some breakfast (I love the bacon, egg and cheese bagels at McDonalds--try them if you get the chance), we headed south. We saw lots of snow on the side of the road, especially in southern Utah near Monticello and all through that southwest corner of Colorado, and we had some blowing snow on the roads in that area, but overall, the roads were clear and dry and great all the way home. We made it to Albuquerque by 8 p.m., found a reasonably priced hotel and hit the sack. I was especially pleased by the help given from several people in Cortez, Colorado. I had thought we might go on east to Durango, then catch highway 550 south into New Mexico and take it all the way to Albuquerque, but I was advised by three friendly people to instead go south from Cortez to Shiprock, turn east there to Farmington and catch 550 in Bloomfield. The folks in Cortez said the snow would get dramatically deeper if we went to Durango, so we took their advice. The road from Bloomfield to Albuquerque is a nice, four-lane divided highway that I had never been on before. Always in the past, when we took the southern route, we went all the way south from Cortez to Gallup, through the Indian reservation, then hit Interstate 40 to head east. This route took miles off the trip, and was a better road. (Once I got home and told Linda G. about it, I figured out why I'd never gone that way before--the road is only about five years old). Anyway, the trip went really well. Our only major delay was for a wreck on I-40, somewhere out in the boonies. It looked bad and had trucks and cars backed up for miles. Some people were driving across the median and heading back the other way, but we had to go east, and wandering around on the back roads of New Mexico didn't seem to smart. In the end, we crept along for about 45 minutes and then got clear and zoomed on.

We were amused by the Cadillac ranch just west of Amarillo, and then tired by the time we finally got to Arlington. You think you're nearly home when you arrive in Texas, but no....it's at least six hours from Amarillo to home....Big place, this Lone Star State.

That's it for our exciting trip.....another post for Christmas coming up.

You've Got to See This

2008-12-21T19:23:00.001-06:00

Lots and lots of things to share, but I'll do it tomorrow when I'm more awake. In the meantime, you've got to see this....Love, love, love it.

Off to get the Lauren

2008-12-17T22:17:00.002-06:00

Just to keep everyone in the loop, I'm flying to Utah tomorrow and will be driving (with BYU graduate Lauren) home to Texas on Friday and Saturday. Please keep us, the roads and her car in your prayers. I'm so proud of her for graduating and hope that you are, too.

More info when we return!

This sounds a little weird......

2008-12-08T14:43:00.003-06:00

It looks like the creators of Southpark are now working on "Mormon Musical." It probably won't be anything decent folk can see, but it's definitely an interesting concept. Here's the link--see what you think.

More Defenders of Faith

2008-12-06T20:22:00.002-06:00

After my post regarding Prop 8 and the backlash against people of faith, particularly those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was very pleased today to find this ad that ran in the New York Times. You'll have to click on the ad a couple of times to enlarge it, but I think the writers have some important things to say.

Trying to figure out how to add links

2008-12-03T19:23:00.002-06:00

Here is the link for the Jonah Goldberg column. Oh! I think I've done it!!! (I'll try it out and see) I feel so proud of myself.......

At least someone is defending us!

2008-12-03T19:13:00.002-06:00

I don't know if you've paid much attention to the Proposition 8 conflict out in California, but here is the Reader's Digest condensed version. In June, the California Supreme court "found" that the state constitution allowed for gay marriages. So, California immediately began issuing marriage licenses and 18,000 gay couples tied the knot over the next five months. Many people in California opposed the idea that five judges should make the final decision on this issue for the millions who live in the state, so they started a movement that eventually got the issue on the ballot in the Nov. election. Come November, the citizens of California voted 52% to 48% to prohibit gay marriage. Well, you'd think the gay rights folks could accept a legal and lawful election, but noooooo. They've been protesting and interrupting various faith's church services and picketing the LDS temples and sending white powder to LDS temples and beating up old ladies while stomping their crosses into the ground, etc. ever since. Last week they picketed the temple here in Dallas, and security personnel had to lock the gates of the temple to keep them out. A bit much don't you think? Today Jonah Goldberg, who writes for National Review (my favorite online political site--I highly recommend it if you are of the conservative persuasion--and even if you're not, it's a good read) stood up for us Mormon folk and his column is quite good. Here is the URL:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWZiMzYwZDNjOWI1NGVlZTk5OTg4Y2E3YzIyZTllZTg=

I'm not clever enough to figure out how to put links in here; maybe someone can show me someday. Anyway, I was pleased that a nice Jewish fellow stood up for us.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T19:58:00.005-06:00

First--I'm so thankful that Lauren made the trip to and from California safely. Against my advice (amazing that you cannot pray away other people's agency, isn't it?) she decided to spend Thanksgiving in San Diego with her old friend Kat. Off she went. traveling 700 miles each way. The trip south was quite eventful. She called me from Victorville, California, to let me know that one of her back tires was completely shredded. Lovely, my beautiful daughter is stranded, alone, on the side of the highway more than 1,000 miles away from me. Luckily, we have the road hazard insurance on our cars, so she called GEICO, who promised to send help within a half hour. The California Highway Patrol also stopped to help; she got the donut tire put on, was advised to drive no more than 60 miles on it, and she went on her way, searching for a tire shop as she went. Unfortunately, no shop appeared, and about 100 miles along the way she stopped at a gas station and realized that the other back tire was shot. So, another call to GEICO followed by a tow to Kat's house. The insurance only covers a five mile tow, not a 60 mile trek, so it was an expensive outing, but she was safely there (albeit with one donut tire and two shredded ones). She had a lovely Thanksgiving feast with Kat and crew, then bought two new tires on Friday. Thank goodness, the return trip to Provo was totally uneventful--no problems at all, and now she's back where she belongs. Mike said that perhaps the whole thing was a blessing in disguise--she and I could have had the tire problems later this month when I fly up to Salt Lake City and then drive her home--to stay this time. It was a worrisome time for old mom, though. I pray and pray and pray, but somehow I seem to lack faith because I still worry about my kids (and grandkids). I'm just thankful, thankful, thankful that she made it back safely. And I hope the two of us have a much less exciting trip Dec. 19 and 20.

Our Thanksgiving celebration was lovely. The food turned out well--I even managed to make pretty good cornbread dressing this year. It's not as good as grandma's yet, but I'm steadily improving. Julie, Kelly and Shannon joined Mike, Kara and I and Nana came, too. We also invited our friend Joe (he's Mike's home teaching companion) and an old friend, Jeff, with his seven-year-old daughter, Holly. We had a fine meal, good company, great conversation--what more could you ask? Then, Julie, Kara and I topped off the day with an outing to the movies. It was perfect.

In fact, the whole week was restful and lovely. I had the entire week off, so I relaxed, read, slept, accomplished almost nothing, but had a great time doing it. I'm very thankful for vacations and time to be still.

Other things I'm thankful for:
Today Mike helped pull a man from a burning car. The accident happened right in front of him on the way home from work and he, along with two other motorists, ran to rescue the unconscious man from his burning car. I'm thankful to have such a good, kind, brave husband.

Terrific, fun, thoughtful daughters. I am blessed with three of the world's best.

Grandsons!!! Two are Terrific!

Many dear friends who love me despite my many faults and shortcomings.

The gospel of Jesus Christ and the freedom to worship in peace.

A career that fills and fulfills me. I love my students and I am blessed to be a teacher.

Meeting and writing about endlessly fascinating people and programs at UT Arlington.

The opportunity to travel all over the world.

Beauty in all it's forms--art, music, literature, marvelous creations brought to us by fellow children of our Heavenly Father.

This wonderful world--every creature and creation testifies of Christ.

Twilight

2008-12-01T19:48:00.002-06:00

I had read the first three books, so on Thanksgiving, Julie, Kara and I were off to see the movie. I really liked it! Actually, in my humble opinion, it's much better than the book. NO WHINING!!!! My biggest complaint with the books is the pages and pages and pages of Bella's internal whining. Too much for an old woman who has lived through three teenage girls and currently teaches a boatload of them. And, though I have already expressed this sentiment to some, let me now put it on the record: the writing in Twilight and its sequels is mediocre at best. These are NOT classic novels. While the author does have a fairly compelling story, she really has enough good plot for about two books and the editors/publishers/money grubbers have stretched the series to four books. Too, too many pages of no action. Another confession, I skim and/or skip when the action wanes. Kara says that you must read every word, but I say there are no word police and if it's boring (unless you're reading for school, then you must read it all) skip it! There, I'll bet you never though you'd hear that from an English teacher. However, as a teacher and a professional writer, I just don't have the time or patience to wade through badly written, boring material. There are too many great books for me to waste my time on dreck.

However, don't think I'm consigning Twilight to the dreck bin. It is better than that. And, after seeing the movie on Thursday evening, I spent all day Friday reading the last book in the series just to find out how it all ends. (skipped the boring parts, though).

Gifted and Talented--Me?

2008-12-01T19:35:00.002-06:00

So, it's time to try to catch up a bit. First, the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented conference which I attended with Lisa on Nov. 13 and 14. I really enjoy going to this conference because I get so many good (no, great) ideas to use in my classes. The best two sessions I attended this year were presented by Lisa. One, "Laughing Yourself Smart" revolved around ideas to bring humor into the classroom. (Although this conference is directed at teaching gifted kids, the information is really great for everyone). From her workshop, I got the idea to use the squawking chicken that we've had laying around the house as a motivation for my students. This chicken has a strong rubber neck that you can pull on to launch the fowl across the room and it squawks when it lands. So, I took it to school, and used it as my visual aid while telling them the story of the eagle who was raised with the chickens and failed to achieve his full potential. He just kept scratching in the dirt when he should have soared in the heavens. I told the kids they are all eagles but sometimes they act like chickens and when that happens, they can expect this fine feathered friend to visit our class. Then I launched the chicken across the room. It was great. And even better, during 7th period, one of my students fell asleep. Amazing how startling a squawking chicken can be when it lands on a sleeping student's desk. He jumped a foot at least. I was highly amused. (and he hasn't slept in class since).

I also submitted proposals and made two presentations at the conference. It was an okay experience, but I don't know if I'll repeat it. I can put this on my vita and it will look good, but I didn't really enjoy myself. In part that was because both of my presentations were the last of the day. On the first afternoon, only three people attended (my dear friend Lisa being one of them). It was called The Amazing Technicolor Dream Class and was about ways to engage students of different ethnicities and cultures. I thought it was pretty good, but the attendance was disappointing. Thus, I had few hopes for the second presentation on blogging (because I'm such an expert at this). Actually, I decided to talk about blogging and use myself as a testimonial--If I can do this with my students, anyone can. And even though that was during the last session of the entire conference, about a dozen people came. They seemed to enjoy the presentation; they were willing to participate and add their ideas, and it went pretty well. So, if I can come up with a really great idea, I might do it again, but I'll have to think about it first. Lisa has been doing this for three years and has built up a great reputation--almost 200 people were in her morning humor session. I don't pretend to be as gifted as she is, but I think I'm a good teacher, so we'll see what happens next year......

The Great Eight

2008-11-23T19:08:00.002-06:00

Best friend tagged me on this and now that I have some time off, I'll give it a whirl. By the way--I have the entire week of Thanksgiving off (definitely something to be thankful for!) and will try to do a bit of catching up on the blog.

8 Favorite TV Shows (certainly not all current)
1. Law and Order
2. Law and Order SVU
3. Law and Order Criminal Intent (are you seeing a pattern here? I guess I like these so much because there is always a puzzle to solve and they make me think. Sometimes their liberal politics DRIVE ME BATTY, but I mostly I enjoy them, so I keep watching).
4. Hannity's America (here comes politics again....)
5. Rick Steves' Europe
6. Samantha Brown's Passport to: Europe, Latin America, China, anywhere....I love to travel!
7. The Antiques Roadshow (probably my only often-watched reality show)
8. Most everything on The Food Network. (I also love to eat)

8 Things I Did Since Friday
1. Babysat the twins so Julie could go with friends to see "Twlight."
2. Watched a very strange movie, "3000 Miles to Graceland," with Mike when we were insomniacs in the middle of the night
3. delivered stuff to the stake library
4. Went to church
5. Bragged on Kara --she got a 32 on the ACT. If you're not familiar with the scoring system for the American College Test, that's amazingly good. (ask me more about it; I'll be happy to brag some more)
6. Fed the missionaries and enjoyed their company
7. Took a lovely nap
8. Read the Sunday paper--although the local paper is steadily decreasing in quality, I still enjoy reading it.

8 Things to Look Forward to
1. Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday--family and friends filling up the house (For it to really be Thanksgiving we'd need 30 people at least--like we used to have at Nannie and Papa's house. But I'll be happy with about 10)
2. Having the week off
3. Accomplishing some things around the house during my week off
4. the upcoming Christmas season--Deck The Halls!
5. our trip to Europe next summer--London, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna!
6. Lauren graduating from BYU
7. Lauren moving back to Texas
8. Kara getting a great scholarship to BYU (we hope, hope, hope!)

8 Favorite Restaurants (or five I like and three I'd like to try)
1. Texas Roadhouse (delicious steaks, not too pricey)
2. La Madeline (French--need I say more?)
3. The Brass Bean (a delightful sandwich shop near my school)
4. The Black-eyed Pea
5. Rockfish
6. Grace --a new place in Fort Worth--sounds really expensive but delicious
7. Nagoya Japan--I want to learn more about Japanese cuisine
8. Estellas (a local mexican place I've been wanting to try out)

8 Things on My Wish List (in no particular order)
1. Much love and happiness for me and my family--and for everyone else.
2. Somebody needs to open a great gelateria in Arlington!--and they also need to sell Leonidas chocolate
3. More time at the temple and more quiet time to reflect
4. More time to spend with wonderful family and friends
5. Success for all my students--on the TAKS test, SAT, ACT, AP and in Life!
6. A summer in Great Britain
7. Another summer in France and Italy
8. A master's degree in Humanities

Cute Monster

2008-11-02T18:43:00.002-06:00

I went to this site from bestest friend's page and since I'm not as clever as her and have no clue how to put the picture in here, I'll just give you the web site and you can go find out what kind of monster you are.
http://www.blogthings.com/thecutemonstertest/

I'm the blue one and here's their take on me:

What Your Cute Monster Says About You

You are both a realist and an idealist. You're able to see the world as it is - and how it could be.
You dream big, and you never give up on your beliefs. You have big plans.

Your inner demon is depression. Sometimes you build things up in your head.
People think you're cute because you're determined. You're a fighter, and that's charming.

All in all, a fairly accurate evaluation of yours truly. I'm afraid I've been feeling pretty down and worthless lately, and so haven't posted much. However our church services today were wonderful and I'm feeling more inspired to try to do better. I'll give it a go.

Somebody Likes Me!

2008-10-09T20:00:00.002-05:00

Today I received an email from my principal which included a letter he received from a parent about me. It was so lovely and wonderful that I just have to share it with you. (Names are removed to protect privacy and confidentiality). The first note is from the principal to the parent, followed by the parent's note regarding me.

Ms. _________

Thank you very much for the positive comments about Ms. Neaves. I agree she does a wonderful job and we are glad to have her working with the students.

Have a great day

Good Morning,

I always like to give appreciation where it is due. So many times parents forget to praise the great teachers but will complain in a heartbeat. My son, _________ is severely dyslexic but with teachers like Ms. Neaves taking that one little extra step to help our children see they can do it makes a world of difference. ______ is my second son that has had Ms. Neaves and I can not praise her enough. I am sure you know she is a wonderful teacher but I have to let you know that she is a teacher that makes a difference in our young adults. _______ has only been in her class for about four weeks now because I didn't want him to be overloaded with AP classes and struggle through another year.
We made the right decision to switch him to her AP class. ______ said he has learned more in that class in the past month he has been in there than he could ever remember learning in English. You have a prize teacher and I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate it.

Have a great day!

This is the kind of thing that teachers just cherish. I love my students and always hope that I am doing good things for them, but to have it confirmed is so rewarding. I feel absolutely terrific today!!

Still here....

2008-09-30T20:34:00.003-05:00

Haven't had much time to write lately, but I'm still here. What to talk about? The twins turned seven on Sunday and they are madly in love with Lego Star Wars these days. Kara made them an R2D2 cake and it turned out really well (it also tasted yummy). Julie had their party at the park, so everyone had fun, there was plenty of room, the kids had a blast on the outdoor toys, and no one had too much clean up to deal with. It was fun to see Emily and Ian, along with Brian (Josh's out of town family) all here for the party. Since their dad couldn't be here, it was really wonderful of everyone else to make the effort and come. Josh and his unit will be heading to Iraq soon, so please keep him (and all of them) in your prayers.

School continues to go well. I feel a bit overwhelmed with the responsibility of being the department chair, but I'm trying to do a good job. Today there was a mixup over whether or not the sophomore classes could take their six week's test over one or two days (allowing a second day gives them more time to complete the reading and avoids having kids rush through the test). First thing this morning we were told that it all had to be finished today. Then this afternoon, after everyone had hurried through it, we hear that they can have tomorrow. I knew that some talk about giving more time was going on during the day, but no one ever gave us the official word and I certainly couldn't make that decision at my level; it had to come from further up. So, now I have some upset teachers and I feel guilty that I couldn't do more, but I really didn't have the authority to do more.....Hm....responsibility without power.....not much fun sometimes.

On another front, a parent who was upset with me a few weeks ago, now turns to me to help her kid. Apparently I said something that upset one of my students one day. As you know, I talk a lot and we discuss current events all the time in my class. Anyway, although I have no idea what I said, apparently I inadvertently upset a young lady and her mother was very unhappy. She called our dean, complaining long and loud about how I had been disrespectful toward her culture. (Schools are very multicultural these days, and really, to avoid offending anyone, you would have to limit your comments to the weather). But I digress. This mom came to open house, we talked, I apologized and explained that I would never intentionally hurt a student and I really am harmless, and I felt pretty good by the time she left. She must think I'm okay now, too, because she needed to find a teacher to help her daughter with a rather sticky problem, and guess who got the call? That would be me. Additionally, the girl was virtually silent before her mom and I talked, and now she participates in class every day. So, at least that one worked out well.

By the way, I do realize that my posts about school have to be intentionally vague--confidentiality laws prohibit and specificity at all. But, I have to admit, it is interesting every day.

As some of you know, I stand at my door and shake hands with my students as they enter. I greet them by name, we talk briefly, and, amazingly, I have almost no discipline problems. It's a bit magical what a personal touch can do. Anyway, it's funny to see students that I had last year passing me in the hall. They too often stop for a handshake--even some of the ones who were, shall we say troublesome, come by and shake my hand. Amazing.......... Teenagers are an interesting group of people.

Yea! It looks like I have enough kids signed up for next summer's Europe trip!! With six paying students, I go free!!!!! I'm thrilled. And, I have some really great kids going. We will spend two weeks, beginning June 22, in London, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna. By the way, adults are welcome to come along, so if anyone is interested, let me know. The trip includes air fare, hotels, trains, busses, two meals a day, and entrance to some sights, all for about $3,000. Of course, if you're a shopping maniac, you can certainly spent a lot more, but all you really have to do is pay for lunch every day, a few subway tickets, and entrance to things that are not included in the tour. I'm really getting excited to go. I love, love, love to travel.

Kara is absolutely swamped with school this year- 4 AP classes, 2 preAP, plus symphony orchestra. It's a big load. She basically comes home, does homework, goes to bed, gets up, studies some more, goes to seminary, school, home, homework, repeat, repeat, repeat. Since she was officially changed from the class of 2010 to the class of 2009, though, something truly wonderful has happened. In addition to graduating a year early, she is now 4th in her new senior class, when she was 12th in the other class. (she's wondering where she can go to be first). I'm hoping this helps in the scholarship quest.

Lauren will be graduating from BYU in December and WE ARE SO PROUD OF HER!!!!!!!!! I can't believe she's all grown up.

I loved the Relief Society (church meeting for women) broadcast on Saturday. I was particularly impressed with Elder Uchdorf. (I probably got his name wrong---sorry). He talked about all of us doing creative things and I realized that even though I have no talent for needlework, I'm no solo singer, I don't play anything well (just plunk a bit on the piano), I am very creative. I create new ideas and bring new light and knowledge into the lives of my students every day. My job is endlessly creative and I love it.

And of course, I cried almost all the way through the children's presentation at church on Sunday. They sang so beautifully; their testimonies of Jesus were so sweet. It was wonderful.

Plus--church ended with a delightful discovery. An old friend, one I haven't seen in almost 30 years, has moved back into our ward. It was so neat to see him and meet his daughter. Old friends are a treasure.

Not much else to share today.......later........

Scattered Thoughts

2008-09-16T19:48:00.004-05:00

I'm thinking about, praying for, worrying about:
My friend Jenny and her family who lost everything in the deluge called Hurricane Ike.
My friends Jenni and Bonnie and the rest of their tribe whose father has had a series of strokes and is now in rehab.
My son-in-law Josh who is training in Georgia and headed to Iraq
My daughter Julie and my wonderful grandsons who are missing their husband/dad
Some of the kids at my school (and really, kids everywhere) who often have very difficult lives at home........

I pray and try to help and I really feel like my calling in life is to teach. I love my students. I love my school. I love the people I work with. I know that the Lord has blessed me with this love so that I can go out and do some good in the world. So, I'm trying to do that.

So, you must be asking, what's a day in the life of a teacher like? I'll try to tell you.....
I try to arrive at school by 7 a.m. so that I can have a few minutes of quiet to compose my thoughts and prepare for the onslaught. Once the bell rings, everything moves very quickly and time to think is at a premium. The first bell rings at 7:25 and I'm at the door, a smile on my face, trying to remember all these wonderful children's names, and shaking every hand as they walk in. I greet each one by name and welcome him or her to class. I think knowing their names and taking the time to see them as important individuals is vital.
First period begins at 7:35. It's an AP Language and Composition course, devoted to rhetorical analysis and argument. We read and analyze non-fiction--lots of essays and speeches and controversial arguments. Today we learned how to determine the tone of an author's writing. We started with identifying tone with something simple--music. We listened to three versions of The Star-Spangled Banner-Whitney Houston singing it, Jimmy Hendrix playing on his electric guitar, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performing a more traditional version. Then we discussed the differences in tone, what we saw as the each performers' attitude toward the work, and how that translates to deciphering tone in written works. We then looked at a whole series of rhetorical terms that they will need to know in order to analyze rhetoric well. Their assignment is a poster and teaching project in which they will teach each other many, many more terms--familiar things like metaphor and simile and unfamiliar ones like epistrophe and asyndeton. Tone was the first term on the list, so that's why I taught it today. We then divided into eight groups and each group analyzed a short passage to determine the author's tone. The passages are great--some are hilariously funny, other ironic, one is an excerpt from Jonathan Swift's satire "A Modest Proposal" and one is a very angry tirade about trumped-up charges and a kangaroo court. I explained unfamiliar terms and they tried to discover tone. It's rewarding to see them catch on, to lead them with questions and to continue digging with why? and what evidence from the text do you have to support this? They are smart and quick and fun to work with. Our discussion finished as the bell rang, off they went, and in came second period. Rewind, repeat.
Third period is a different class--AP Literature and Composition--a course which focuses on imaginative literature. It's lots of poetry, drama, fiction--totally and completely different from the AP Language course. I feel much more comfortable with AP Language, mostly because my training is more in journalism and I'm very familiar with nonfiction. I like it, I know how to analyze it, and I have a lot of fun with it. I'm working my way into the Lit course. I'm no expert on poetry, but I think I'm doing okay on analysis of fiction. This week we're working on understanding how an author creates a character in a story. We read what the author gives and make educated conclusions about the characters. The little acronym we use is SATDO. Look at what the character says, the character's appearance, what the character thinks, what the character does, and what others say about the character. From that we can discuss the character as someone we know, we see how the author created this person. Today we read a very, very short story that had two characters and tonight the students are writing a one page discussion of both characters. The story is called "Ripe Figs" by Kate Chopin. Here it is--see what you can come up with regarding these two:

Ripe Figs
by Kate Chopin
(1851-1904)

Maman-Nainaine said that when the figs were ripe Babette might go to visit her cousins down on Bayou-Boeuf, where the sugar cane grows. Not that the ripening of figs had the least thing to do with it, but that is the way Maman-Nainaine was.

It seemed to Babette a very long time to wait; for the leaves upon the trees were tender yet, and the figs were like little hard, green marbles.

But warm rains came along and plenty of strong sunshine; and though Maman-Nainaine was as patient as the statue of la Madone, and Babette as restless as a humming-bird, the first thing they both knew it was hot summer-time. Every day Babette danced out to where the fig-trees were in a long line against the fence. She walked slowly beneath them, carefully peering between the gnarled, spreading branches. But each time she came disconsolate away again. What she saw there finally was something that made her sing and dance the whole day long.

When Maman-Nainaine sat down in her stately way to breakfast, the following morning, her muslin cap standing like an aureole about her white, placid face, Babette approached. She bore a dainty porcelain platter, which she set down before her godmother. It contained a dozen purple figs, fringed around with their rich, green leaves.

"Ah," said Maman-Nainaine, arching her eyebrows, "how early the figs have ripened this year!"

"Oh," said Babette, "I think they have ripened very late."

"Babette," continued Maman-Nainaine, as she peeled the very plumpest figs with her pointed silver fruit-knife, "you will carry my love to them all down on Bayou-Boeuf. And tell your tante Frosine I shall look for her at Toussaint--when the chrysanthemums are in bloom."

See--really short.......

Fourth period--my conference period--used to prepare lesson plans, check in on new teachers, grade papers, answer emails, talk with administrators, talk with parents--all sorts of things. The three brand new English 3 teachers all have conference this period, so I usually visit with them to see how things are going and I also grade and plan.

5th period--back to AP Language and our study of Tone

6th period--Conference period for my duties as department chair--more emails to answer and send, mentoring for our new teachers, consulting with everyone in the department on whatever they need. This month we're doing a book study on Deeper Reading, a book filled with ideas on how to get kids into reading and also get them to read more than once and with greater understanding. I'm also working on a book study for department heads on classroom management techniques that work. Plenty to keep one busy.....

7th period--one more group of AP Language kids and our fun discussion of Tone.

The final bell rings at 2:45 and teachers take a deep breath. It's almost like running a marathon. You have to pace yourself and keep the energy up all day. Every class deserves your best, and you must try to give it. I love my work, but until I started teaching, I had no idea how completely exhausting it is.

So, now you know.....Hopefully you haven't been bored on this journey through a day in high school. Come visit some time and see all the action in person.

Too, too much

2008-09-07T21:39:00.002-05:00

I have so much to catch up on, I hardly know where to begin. I guess we'll start with school. Exciting and Exhausting. That's how I would describe the first two weeks. The kids are great, great, great. I love teaching. Even being department chair has gone well. Everyone in our department is terrific--always willing to help each other, share whatever they have, offer advice, support, it's great. But, at our school, we've been living in scheduling hell. Classes with waaaay too many kids, and a brand new teacher with four different classes to teach--like teaching English 1, 2, 3, and 4 every day. In teacher lingo we call that four preps and it's stressful and difficult. I have been assigned as a mentor to my brand-new-teacher neighbor and he had four preps. After seemingly endless hassles, finally, finally he has only three. I can't go in to it all, but I do feel good about trying to stand up for him and be his advocate and also for standing up for my students, who did not deserve to be crammed into a classroom. I don't want to be a whiner or a problem, but I do plan to fight for what I see as the best interests of my teachers and students. I'm can say, though, that I have absolutely no ambition to move up the administration ladder. Dept. head is enough (sometimes more than enough) for me. My greatest talent lies in teaching and that's what I want to do.

How about a little politics? Was Rudy great the other night or not? His comments on Obama voting "present" rather than yes or no on more than 100 issues as a state senator were priceless. I also loved this one: "Change is not a destination, and hope is not a strategy." By the way, if you're interested in politics, you should go to www.nationalreview.com--best political commentary (from a conservative point of view) available anywhere. Smart people--great analysis.

And wasn't Sarah Palin fantastic? Mayors, as opposed to community organizers, have actual responsibilities. (As do governors). I can't help it, I love a great strike and she was masterful. I know that the president doesn't actually have the power to fulfill all the promises these people make, but he (or she) can have a huge impact on national security and that's the number one issue for me. If we're attacked, suddenly healthcare and the economy become far less important. We need to secure our nation as well as we can, then worry about those other issues (at least in my humble opinion). I have definitely had problems with McCain in the past--I disagreed with him on campaign finance reform and immigration reform as two examples--but he really "gets" security. Obama does not. Sarah Palin is great on all the other conservative issues, and maybe she can persuade McCain to move a bit on his opposition to drilling in Alaska, and on his fairly open-borders stance on immigration. By the way, I have no opposition to the immigration of hard-working, law-abiding people. I just want a system where we know who is coming in--I'd really like to keep the terrorists OUT.

It's getting late, I'm way behind on grading, and I gotta run. More later in the week.

A Quick Note

2008-09-03T20:45:00.002-05:00

No time to actually write much--way too tired (you wouldn't believe how exhausting it is to teach rooms full of teenagers every day). Anyway, school has officially started and life is totally crazy. I'll try to write a long (probably exhausting to read) saga of what's happening in a couple of days.

We had a wonderful time with Lauren and now she's gone back to BYU. I miss her silliness and her hugs and her funny jokes and her crazy songs and her argyle socks cluttering up my living room.........

Four Fever

2008-08-22T23:55:00.002-05:00

All right....looks like it's my turn to try this four game, so here goes:

Four random things I love about my husband :
1. He loves jokes, puns and total silliness and he's always making us laugh
2. He is the most reliable worker I've ever known--always does his best, never takes a sick day, totally dedicated
3. He never complains about what I spend
4. He is involved with and supportive of our children (and grandchildren)

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. High school teacher
2. Freelance writer
3. Writer for UT Arlington Publications Office
4. Grounds keeper at BYU

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. Pride and Prejudice (Kiera Knightly version and Colin Firth version)
2. North and South (a BBC production)
3. Persuasion (with Amanda Root--the Masterpiece version was not nearly as good)
4. Jane Eyre (with Timothy Dalton--yummy)

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Law and Order (and Law and Order SVU and Law and Order Criminal Intent)
2. Monk
3. What Not to Wear
4. House

Four random places I have been:
1. London, England
2. Paris, France (but not Paris, Texas)
3. Brussels (and Liege, Belgium)
4. Florence (and Rome, Italy)

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Medium rare sirloin steak with a loaded baked potato
2. Dove or Leonidas dark chocolate
3. Gelato (preferably in Italy)
4. Blue Bell Ice Cream Sandwiches

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Australia
2. Scotland
3. Wales
4. More of England outside London

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. a great year at school
2. traveling to London, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Vienna next summer with some students and a good friend/fellow teacher (you are most welcome to join us!)
3. Lauren graduating from BYU
4. Kara receiving great scholarships and going to a great university

Ooops!

2008-08-19T23:42:00.004-05:00

I must remember the most important part of this week.....Lauren is home!!! She's here to visit us between semesters and will go back to finish college and graduate in December. We are so proud of her!!!!! (and happy to have her home). It's a blast just to watch Julie, Lauren and Kara together. They don't even need to talk in complete sentences with each other--it's a hoot to watch--and they are hilarious. Julie says their collective IQ drops 10 points when they're together. I don't know about that, but silliness does reign. I never hear as much laughter as when all three are in the room, and the jokes are usually led by Lauren. We are so lucky to have her here.

A Great Beginning

2008-08-19T23:19:00.002-05:00

Today marked the "official" beginning of the school year--Convocation for school teachers. We all gather for a motivational morning of inspirational talk. Sometimes it's great and sometimes its just so much drivel. Today, it was fantastic. Our speaker was Erin Gruell (I probably spelled that wrong), the lady who started the Freedom Writers. She talked about the amazing difference teachers can make in the lives of students and, of course, I cried. Then, one of her toughest students, Maria, (if you've seen the movie, she's the girl whose dad was in prison, and whose fellow gang members tried to beat her up), joined her on stage and told us how she had hated teachers and principals and bus drivers and cafeteria workers when she was small, because they had all given up on her. But Erin was different, and she completely changed Maria's life (and the lives of 149 other students). Today, Maria has a successful career, and has graduated from both high school and college. As a teacher, I very much hope that I can have a positive impact on my students. I will work very hard this year to remember every day that we are teaching children, not teaching a test. That's a very important distinction, and it gets muddled in these days of TAKS testing.

One of the most fun things about this morning was running in to one of my former students. Eddie S. graduated in 2007 and this year he is working part time as a teacher's aide while attending college. He plans to be in the classroom full time within three years. It was great to see him--all grown up! He's a terrific kid. He was also part of another fun story from our family vacation last summer.

Mike, Kara, Lauren and I spent a week in New York City last June. One day we spent most of the morning walking down Fifth Avenue window shopping. By the time we made our way down to FAO Schwartz, the famous toy store near Central Park, I was worn out and looking for a place to sit down. (One of my cardinal rules now is: when you find a place to sit, sit). Anyway, Mike and the girls wanted to shop, so off they went to the toy store. I was enjoying my rest outside when my cell phone rang and Kara said I needed to come inside. Why on earth would I want to go into a toy store? I was massively irritated, but she insisted that I come in. So, I dragged myself into the store, and who did I see but Eddie S. and Emily B., two of my wonderful students!
There we were in the middle of New York City (where we knew almost no one) and we see kids from home! It was great. We all had a wonderful time visiting, and when I went back outside, I ran into more of my students. They were in NYC with their church choir, and somehow, in the midst of that vast city, we saw them. The Lord does give us lovely little blessings like that sometimes.

I'm nervous about being our English Department chair this year, but I'm going to do my best. I've tried to befriend all the new people and put them at ease and at least that seems to be working. My room is a disorganized mess, my lesson plans aren't finished yet, and I have a presentation to do on Thursday that I'm not ready for yet.......Obviously I'm going to need a lot of help this year. Everyone seems dedicated to helping, so I hope we can succeed together.

It's late (I stayed up late again--watching Nastia and Shawn take gold and silver on beam) and I've got to get some sleep........

Good Friends, Good Times

2008-08-13T13:05:00.002-05:00

I had a wonderful weekend and early week. On Saturday Kara and I went to Julie's to spend the afternoon hanging out with Jenny and Jenni and Bonnie (and even Joey). I am much (much) older than these wonderful ladies, and in fact I have taught all of the girls in Seminary classes at church, but now they're all grown up and we get to be friends. It always amazes me that when you're in high school, a two year age difference can be almost insurmountable. But, now that they're in the the mid twenties to early thirties and I've hit the big 50, a twenty year age difference is all but erased. We're just all grown ups and friends. I am so blessed with friends of all ages and they're all wonderful! We ate and talked and laughed and were thrilled that Jenny could come up from League City to see us. We'll be traveling up and down I-45 I think, just to keep up with her.

I must now confess that my proposed boycott of the Beijing Olympics has been a total failure. I meant to avoid the entire thing, as I am very much opposed to the fact that the IOC awarded the games to a totalitarian government that has a terrible record on human rights. However, my sports mania has completely taken over, and I've been watching (and watching and watching and watching--okay, you get it). Michael Phelps is completely AMAZING, the 4x100 men's freestyle relay (swimming) was the most exciting sports moment I've seen in ages (Jason Lezak caught up with and passed the world-record-holding Frenchman on the last leg for the US win) and I do love gymnastics. The U.S. men's gymnastics team surprised everyone and won the bronze, and while the women let the gold slip away, some of their routines were absolutely a joy to watch. Anyway, I'm a failure at the boycott, but I am glad that President Bush was pretty outspoken with the Chinese government leaders while he was over there. I've been really impressed with the Chinese people, and I have always heard that they are wonderful, friendly, delightful folk--they just have a terrible, oppressive government.

Sunday was good, as always. I love going to church; I love feeling the spirit, and now I'm in the family history class, so maybe I'll actually get going on my genealogy.

On Monday, we ate Chinese food with Julie and the boys, and it's always fun to spend time with the world's best grandsons. I am very much blessed with my children and grandchildren. They're all loving, fun, talented, delightful to be with--what more could you ask?

Yesterday, Lisa and I took Ali, one of the sisters we visit teach, to the temple. It was a very crowded session (kind of surprising on a Tuesday morning) and we had a great experience there. It was especially nice to see several sisters from our Stake working there. I love having our own temple and knowing some of the workers--it makes everything feel so comfortable and right. Ali is another of my former seminary students, and it's nice to get to know her better as a grown-up, too. We had a great visit in the car going over and back and I hope we'll do this again, soon.

I finally finished my story for UT Arlington Magazine this morning. It's about a young man who immigrated to the U.S. from Cambodia and has written a book about his family's experiences there under the Khmer Rouge regime. I always learn a lot from my interviews and research. I have another story to do on an art researcher, and I'm looking forward to that as well. She works in the area of validating art work--confirming that a painting or sculpture is genuine and are not a forgery. It sounds fascinating, too.

The countdown is on for school. Teachers report next Monday, so I really have lots of preparing to do. Gotta run for now.

Learning to be a better teacher

2008-08-06T18:49:00.002-05:00

The model we're using this year for lesson design involves five parts: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate. I'm not going to get too far into teacherese here, but I thought you might help me with some Engage activities. The basic idea here is to start class with something that will "hook" the class into the lesson, get them thinking and "engaged" with the material. The activity can be almost anything. For one class, my fellow AP Lit teacher and I will be reviewing Crime and Punishment, which students are to have read over the summer (delightful summer reading, don't you think?). I'm going to ask our school resource officer (a bonafide peace officer) if he can or will come into class and "arrest" someone. (I'm not quite sure if he is allowed to pretend something like that, but I'm going to ask). I think that would get their attention and get them engaged, don't you? We could then proceed into a discussion of the current criminal justice system and the segue into a discussion/review of the book.

I have to come up with "engage" activities for every class, so any clever, fun things you remember from teachers in your past (or present) are greatly appreciated.

Back to class for teachers

2008-08-05T20:27:00.002-05:00

This week I've been going to classes where people are teaching me how to teach. I know, it sounds a bit boring, but it's actually been really interesting. Today we worked in groups preparing a lesson to share with the entire class (which consists of our entire English department). I'm really pleased with all our new teachers--they are enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and ready to take on the challenge of teaching today's high school students. Our student body, like most urban schools these days, is fairly challenging. They're good kids, but a bit tough on the outside. You have to work your way into their hearts and then they'll do most anything for you. I've been very fortunate in that I am naturally a friendly, easy-going person and I REALLY like hanging out with teenagers. They're fun to talk to and seeing one of them "get" what I'm trying to teach always reinforces my conviction that I'm doing exactly what I should be doing. Advanced placement English presents tremendous challenges for students--the work is hard--but their satisfaction and pride in themselves when they master it are palpable. It's always a great moment for them and for me, too.

It's hot, hot, hot here in Texas these days. Today we had a "cool" front and only hit about 98 degrees. After summers like this, I freely admit, my favorite season is fall. Finally someone upstairs turns on the A/C and we can go outdoors without danger of instantaneous heatstroke. (I don't much like spring--all it does is yell "Summer is coming" to me). The older I get, the less I like the heat, but I love, love, love the cool of fall. (We don't have autumn in Texas, as Jerry Flemmons says, autumn is a marketing ploy of fall-foliage-mecca New England, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kodak). (By the way, if you haven't read Jerry Flemmon's commentaries on Texas, you gotta. I have the book, just ask).

I'm not sure anyone is reading this yet, but maybe someday there will be someone..............

And so we begin

2008-08-02T21:38:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about a blog for a long time, and have finally decided to try to begin. I have so much that I need to write (especially all about the trip to Europe in June) that it seems overwhelming, but one must start somewhere.

So, first a review of my lovely day today. This morning I picked up my dear friend A and off we went to see the Impressionist exhibit at Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum. This exhibit, from the Chicago Art Institute, features some outstanding, amazing works by favorites like Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Pissaro, and all the greats. My only regret is that they didn't bring Seurat's "La Grande Jette" along for the tour to Fort Worth, but apparently it does not travel. (I actually searched for it on my first visit to the Musee D'Orsay in Paris, but soon learned that it lives in Chicago. Apparently to see that one, I'll have to make a pilgrimage to the windy city). Anyway, A has a son who is an artist and we had a great time looking and talking our way through the museum. I bought a membership to the Kimbell this year just so that I can make multiple trips to this exhibition--and every time I go, I can bring one guest with me--for free!

After the art fix, we went to see my dear, bestest friend, L, who has moved to a darling duplex in Fort Worth. While I regret that she no longer lives as close to me as she once did, I'm thrilled that she is right next door to all the great art museums as well as some delicious restaurants, and one of the world's most fascinating foodie haunts, Central Market. I'll be heading her way about once a month, just to enjoy the culture in her neighborhood.

In other news, I'm getting geared up for the new school year, which pretty much starts for me on Monday, as I'll be in a teacher's academy for three days, then in AP training another day this week. The following week is free, but after that, teachers report to school and it all starts anew. This year I'm teaching AP English Language and Composition (a rhetoric course that focuses on argumentation and nonfiction) and AP Literature and Composition (a course that is all fiction and poetry). They are very different classes, and I've taught AP Language for three years, so I'm not too worried about it. The Lit class is a bit more problematic. I'm excited to do it, but I always feel a bit anxious when I try new things. However, I know I'm going to learn a lot and have a great time with the kids. I love, love, love teaching high school and having the very brightest kids in my classes is a privilege and blessing. I'll have both juniors and seniors this year and I'm really looking forward to the challenge and excitement.

I have also been honored to take on the responsibility of being our department chair for the coming year. It will be another big challenge, but I have been so gratified by the support other teachers have already given to me. Several have said that they knew it would be me and one told me that he feels I'm the right person for the job. I really appreciate their vote of confidence.

I guess that will be all for now. I'll try to get more done in the coming days.