The Didn'ts

Our friend Streibie heard about a back to school writing activity where kids write about what they didn't do during the summer, rather than what they did do.  I decided to try it out myself and here it is thusly:

What I Didn't Do on my Summer Vacation  

by Lee Heffernan

I didn't finish the article I was writing.  I didn't learn how to play my ukulele.  I didn't see a moose.  I didn't swim in Lake Ontario.  I didn't make a collage each day.  I didn't raft down the Colorado River or swim with sea turtles.  I didn't go to the zoo.  I didn't run a 5K.  I didn't throw a party. I didn't fly in a hot air balloon.

But I did have fun.  I walked and blogged.  I saw a beaver and went to the aquarium.  I made some #joybots and read some books.  I wrote in my notebook every day and made progress on the article.  I saw some friends and bought some zines.  I saw Niagara Falls and hiked in Algonquin National Park. I danced with my family and ate a lot of dumplings.

All in all, good times.  Fare thee well, Summer of 2019.  I wish you could stick around awhile longer, but it's time for us to part ways.

The Mockery

Recent headline asked, "How do they make the animals in the new Lion King movie so realistic?"

I didn't waste my time on the article.  I don't know about you, but I would not call that animation realistic.  I'm just not crazy about what they've done there. The lions look stupid, imho.

Not sure they needed to remake Lion King right now.  I told #1Son my views and he agreed with me.  "I don't know why they have to remake the Disney movies," he said. "I wish they'd stop.  They're making a mockery of my childhood."

Please Disney, knock it off. Make something new.  I think you should make a movie about a tarantula in a tank who makes friends with the crickets thrown in with her as her prey.  They all escape and go on an adventure together.

The Bodhran

Last night we went to the Mighty Brother show.  It was excellent as always.  Now the Mighties have moved on down the road.  They're heading to Chicago.

I was a little bit sad that they didn't play the rainstick song last night.  I was hoping to play the rainstick on stage.  The Mighties offered me a chance to play the rainstick a few years ago, but I let a young friend who was having a birthday play the stick instead.  It was a noble deed, and I have no regrets.  But I'm still hoping that some day that rainstick gig shall be mine.  Another wish I have is to learn how to play the bodhran and to sit in with the Mighties, playing bodhran like nobody's business.

The Elton John Movie

Well, if you haven't seen the Elton John movie, I really think you should.  If you want to.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was the first album I ever owned.

I moved to California from Miami in the middle of 8th grade.  My class collected money and bought me that album as a good bye gift.  I played it so much.  Still own that very record.  It might be scratched up.  I'll have to check.

Now I'm listening to a lot of Elton.  Soon I will be going to a Mighty Brother show.  I love Mighty Brother.  Today is the day of feeling nostalgic about music.

The Bots

Sometimes you're just reading along and you come upon something new and great.  That happened this morning when I came across this whole #BOTJOY phenomenon that's incredible.

Gary Hirsch makes these bots on old dominoes and gives them out to people who need them.  He has a Ted Talk and a ton of people around the world have been spreading #BOTJOY based on his idea. I instantly started making a list of materials I need at my local art shop for making the bots.

Here's a little character flaw I have though.  I get kind of wigged out about doing things that other people have done before.  Which is weird and I don't know how I came to be this way.  Everything's already been done and the #BOTJOY project is amazing and the artist wants everyone to steal the idea.

Perhaps I'll work on being more of a copycatter this year.  Or, more of a collaborator.  That's actually not a bad goal. I'm not trying to beat myself up, but honestly, I worry that I'm a snotty brat about controlling my own day to day destiny.  I think it's school re-entry anxiety making me worry about my failures and flaws. Going back to work can be a confidence crusher. Just ignore me.  I'll be fine soon.

Anyway, if you want to come over some time and make some bots, that could be fun.  I'll be home in 2 days.

The Beaver

We went to Algonquin National Park in search of a moose this weekend.  We did not see one and that's a regret.  But as we were standing on the shore of the lake near our cabin, a beaver just walked out from the brush about 15 feet away from us.  The beaver was dragging a bunch of leafy branches.  The beaver checked us out complacently and then slipped into the water, carrying the branches along as it swam.

Obviously a moose sighting would have been better than a beaver sighting, but at least we saw something wild and I'm somewhat satisfied.  We also saw some loons and two frogs and a heron.  The heron flew near me while I had my coffee on the cabin porch this morning.

So, all in all, we had a good time in Algonquin.  No moose, but beaver.

The Fear

Woke up with a bit of anxiety yesterday and asked myself, "What the heck is this all about?"  On reflection I figured it out. Come to find out, I'm getting nervous about going to back to work in a few weeks. I love my slow mornings and my stretched out afternoon meanderings. I love being a teacher and yet my anxiety is real and stems from (1) a recognition that life's soon going to ratchet up like a rocket and (2) guilt about not being content with, and appreciative of, this amazing life. The old double edged sword.

In order to cultivate compassion for myself, Pema Chodron says I should move gently toward what scares me.  So yesterday I took a walk around Toronto.  I started my afternoon with a dumpling lunch, then wandered into parks, book stores and paper shops buying myself some gifts for my new school year.  I bought some great stickers, several marvelous read aloud books and JACKPOT! a new clipboard binder.  I'm telling you, that clipboard binder was expensive.

As I walked home with my new supplies, I felt lighter.  I was moving gently toward what was freaking me out, with a clipboard that's going to be the envy of everyone at the compound and a sticker book called YAY ALL DAY that's sure to ease reentry considerably.  I have 16 more days of summer. 16 more days of gently moving toward The Upside Down. Developing compassion with a few more forays into fun, friendship and freedom.

The Rituals

Laura and Jay are both rabbis, so their wedding was full of ritual, from beginning to end.  Rituals are cool.

Case in point: The Mikveh.

At a Mikveh, you mark a big change in your life with some water dunking. Most mikvehs are in a synagogue, but ours was out in the woods, in the cool pools pictured here, called The Inkwells.

We got into the water, circled around Laura, read some poems, made some wishes, sang some songs and then dunked 3 times.  I also did some crying because, come to find out, the mikveh can be incredibly emotional. Not exactly sure why.

I met a new friend at Laura's wedding who creates rituals for people. I told her I felt I needed a ritual, but I wasn't sure what type I'm in the market for at this point. Once I figure it out, I'm probably going to shoot her an email.  This gal knows rituals like nobody's business.

The Lobster

Our niece Laura is getting married this weekend. We're here in Berkeley for her wedding.  I remember the day this gal was born.  I was teaching first grade in San Francisco and I headed to the hospital after work to meet her.  She was perfect.  She still is. I love her something crazy. I love her future husband too.  They're starting an epic adventure.

Here's the sad news. I got some weird rash today and I'm home alone watching Hoarders instead of joining the Tish festivities. Fear not.  I'm bound and determined to be at the wedding tomorrow.

When I went to Urgent Care today and showed the doctor my rash, he said, "Wow!  You're turning in to a lobster!  We're going to have to throw the kitchen sink at this thing."  He's not sure why I have this rash, but he suspects that my sun sensitivity went awry because of an antibiotic I was taking for my dental surgery.

Geez Louise.  What a pain.  I'm annoyed, but I just have to deal with it.  Luckily, Hoarders is on, and my skin's feeling a little less itchy.  Prednisone and an oatmeal bath might be the way out of this fiasco.

The Seating

When Nancer was here visiting, we got into some school talk.  Sketchnoting during read aloud time?  Chart Making with Roz Linder's book?  Global Read Aloud?

We have about one month left of summer vacation, so this seems about right.  Today I woke up thinking about flexible seating, where kids have access to yoga balls and comfy chairs around the room. Flexible seating makes me feel some kind of way.

Around this time in July, I'm always tempted to start looking for new cool chairs for the Thirdlanders. It doesn't make sense because flexible seating causes nothing but problems for me, year after year.

Last year I had 4 yoga balls in my room and there were 4 kids who figured out how to own those yoga balls 80% of the time.  So then we had to talk about that and sort out who gets to use the yoga balls.  Annoying as all get out.

I googled Why Flexible Seating Didn't Work in My Classroom and read several essays about what a time suck flexible seating can be, what with the territoriality and the bouncing and the sticking the pencils into chairs where pencils shouldn't go.  I'm familiar with all of it.  So am I finally ready to ditch the idea of flexible seating?  Last year I bought these square cushions and everyone has one. Isn't that enough?

I might get a couple of standing tables. Maybe Husbandman can make one for me. He used to be a carpenter.

The Drive

We had a pleasant drive out to Bellefontaine today.  I wasn't up for hiking, so we just drove and then stopped for ice cream.  I had pistachio.

Then we drove to Erin and went in a few shoppes.  I bought a plastic tarantula and some frog stickers.

When my sister and I visited my grandparents the summer after my fourth grade year, we went on drives on the weekends.  My grandmother would pack up some snacks and my grandfather would drive.  Once we went to Logan's Pond. At first it seemed kind of strange, to just be driving with no real purpose, but by the end of that trip, I was a big fan.  Sometimes Husbandman and I drive somewhere and then we look for pie. We usually don't find pie, but it doesn't really matter. A long drive is just the ticket if you're feeling punky.  You just stare out the window and think about stuff.  It's relaxing.  #TipsforLivingYourLife

The Post Op

Right before the surgery, the anesthesiologist said, "I'm just going to give you something to relax first."

I was dubious.  I've had issues with anesthesia in the past.  Sometimes it doesn't work well for me and I have to yell out during surgery, "I'm feeling this!"

So this time, I just took a deep breath and tried to relax.  I shut my eyes and when I opened them, the surgery was over.  Clearly, the Canadians are anesthesia pros.  Well done.

I'm feeling kind of puny today.  Kind of tired and my mouth is sore and swollen.  I started reading about success rates for dental bone grafts this morning.  The numbers are pretty good --- 85%. I just hope I'm not one of the minority of patients in the failure rate category. I wonder what they do for the 15%.  I'll read about that later.  There's only so much I can handle at one time.

Yayoi Kusama

We were in Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room for one minute only and we all felt we needed more time. Luckily, I'm in Toronto for a bit longer and I can go back to the room again. I wish I had bought the picture book about Yayoi Kusama in the gift shop.  I had never heard of her before and I'm kind of ticked off at myself about that. Get on the stick, Heffernan. Learn new stuff.

Not making excuses, but I've been distracted because of my mouth situation.  Tomorrow I'm having dental bone graft surgery.  I could have had the surgery today, but the periodontist suggested I might prefer the whole experience if anesthesia were involved. I gave a big thumbs up to that idea.  So tomorrow the whole surgical team will be there, waiting for me to crash out, so they can open up my gum with some kind of blade and stick bone graft material into the problem area.  This material comes from a CADAVER. I think it does, anyway. After the cadaver's body parts are inserted into my jaw, I'll wake up and hope for the best.  Please cross your fingers that the dead person's bone will come to life inside my body and grow like crazy.

The Creatives

Today I got to talk to quite a few friends and family members back in the United States.  Also, we have Nancer and Kev visiting.  Despite the whole bone loss situation, things are going well.  We went to the Art Gallery of Ontario today and learned about three amazing artists.  These artists spend quite a lot of time on their artwork.  I wouldn't have the patience to sew 20 golf bags together to form totems, or sketch a completely realistic picture of the sea using just one pencil or to fill a room with mirrors of all shapes and sizes.  I'm busy doing other stuff, but I'm glad that there are cool artists in the world putting in the time and the creativity and the brilliance to provide me with awesome experiences in Toronto. THANK YOU, ARTISTS!

The Periodontist

I went to a periodontist today because I'm having some tooth issues. I'm a little down about the whole thing because it's wrecking my trip, but that's just the way it is.  If you think your teeth should never have problems, you're going to have some unhappy days, let me tell you.  You can avoid some suffering if you just accept that your body is constantly changing and there's nothing you can do about it.

On a happier note, this periodontist seems like a badass and she's probably better than any periodontist that I could have found near High Street back home.

In case you don't know, periodontists deal with all the structures around your teeth---gums, bones, whatever.  I go back to Dr. Badass in two days.  I'll keep you posted. Keep me in mind on Thursday morning please.

The Supplies

On Sunday, it was time to buy a new Moleskine notebook. An anticipatory thrill ran through my veins.

When I got to the best art supply store in the world (2 blocks from the apartment), I couldn't decide what to do. The shop had so many fabulous notebooks. I nearly fainted in the aisle, but after careful analysis, ended up getting a massively large Leuchtturm notebook. Grey cover.  Dotted paper.  Something about the size and color pulled me in.

The Moleskines were designed in Milan. Leuchtturms started out in Hamburg. Moleskine's a much newer company than Leuchtturm.

They're both remarkable notebooks.  First thing I thought when I started my new notebook yesterday was that the Leuchtturm paper is quite fine quality.  Come to find out, the paper actually IS a bit thicker than the Moleskine paper.  I've been reading comparisons of the two notebooks on line.   I'll probably go back and get a Moleskine as well this week because of loyalty.  But right now, I'm super happy with the Leuchtturm.  Also bought a few more Le Pens--- grey, dark green and purple.

I'm going to have to keep the Le Pens out of sight once I get back to Thirdland. For awhile anyway. Last year I started letting Thirdlanders use my Uniball Vision Fine Points and there was no going back.  They started disappearing right left and center.   The Thirdlanders' astute appreciation of great supplies made me respect them even more, if that's possible. I bought more Uniballs and gave them a reminder to return them to my special pen cup when they weren't using them. Maybe I'll write a grant to get them great notebooks next year. Could be a game changer.