Mind Beach

Have you listened to Mind Beach yet?  Every song is fantastic.  I should know because I listen to Mind Beach many times every day.  The Thirdlanders love Mind Beach as well.  Sometimes, though, they get a little too hyper while it's playing --- dancing when they should be writing. Still, the point is, we love it. 

 FYI:  When #1 Son was in second grade, his piano teacher had him compose a piece of music.  She entered his composition into a competition.  His song, The Giant Flib Monster, was a winner. He's been music making ever since.

Now #1 has released his second album. Mind Beach is delightful. Every song pulls me in and then surprises me and every song feels like it's part of a story.  I'm not great at writing about music, but geez louise, I love Mind Beach and I'm so proud of #1 Son, Quinn Sternberg.   I'm inspired by his creative cast of characters as well.  Until we can all make it to New Orleans together to hear these songs live, I'm highly recommending you get your hands, and ears, on Mind Beach for some jazzy fall listening. 

Creativity Thursday

I'm bringing back Creativity Thursday.

Today I looked at some images of pottery from the Mound Builder people.  The pottery is functional, but also creative, containing carved images of birds and people.  Tomorrow we'll learn about the Mound Builders in Indiana and try our hand at some play dough pottery in honor of the Mound Builders.

I also read more about the poem In Flanders Fields. It was written by a Canadian doctor who tended to some wounded soldiers in World War One.  The land where the battles took place was decimated, but poppies continued to grow there so he wrote a poem about that.  People seemed to like the poem and now 100 years later, we're still reciting it across the land.  People wear poppies on Memorial Day.  And sometimes on Veterans Day.  My mom used to recite this poem.  She knew a lot of poems by heart.  I don't know any poems by heart, but I like to read poems and that's good too.

The Question

Why haven't I blogged lately? It's the question on everyone's mind right now.  Life got busy with parent teacher conferences and report cards and finishing up a paper and having a gum tissue graft. And I started wondering... do I really have anything to say that's readable?  So in addition to all the busy tasks, I've been a bit plagued by self doubt to tell you the honest truth.  But now things are slowing down and I'm pulling my act together.  I have today off to recover from the aforesaid gum tissue graft. Not exactly feeling up to snuff, but so far I haven't experienced what friends have endured with this procedure, which involved days of staunching blood flows with gauze and wet teabags. So please everyone cross their fingers that the blood stays in my veins where it belongs and my gums continue to mend.

I'm happy today because a Democrat won the governor gig in Kentucky.  I love when DT comes into town to rally the base and people say, No thanks. It brings me a lot of glee, to tell you the truth.  

I also want to tell you about a movie we saw called Honeyland.  It's about the last beekeeper in Macedonia.  It's sad because she lives with her dying mom in a deserted village.  Then a family moves in and causes chaos, disrespecting the land and the bees.  So I won't tell you how it ends, but I will tell you I wept silently all the way to the parking lot and throughout the drive home. Husbandman didn't cry at all and was somewhat surprised by my reaction, but did find the movie, "desolate" so in a way he agreed with me.  If you feel like seeing it you should. Especially if you care about the earth and elderly people.

Favorite Flowers

I went on a walkabout yesterday.  Starting at the Courthouse Square, turning around at Showalter Fountain, then back to the square.

I listened to a Dateline podcast about this woman who had her ex husband killed.  She was kind of a putz, so the crime wasn't hard to solve.  She got 28 years.  The shooter got life.

The mums on campus right now are splendid.  I took pictures of mums in a range of colors. Also took some pictures of Painted Ladies.  They   look a little like monarchs, but they're not monarchs.

The Favorite House Plant

I have 2 house plants that have lived for 30 years.  When I received these house plants as gifts, I didn't know I'd be taking care of them for decades.  It seems weird to just kill them now because I'm tired of watering them and they're not super attractive.  I appreciate the extra oxygen, but a home oxygen concentrator could work just as well and I'm thinking of getting one of those.  No watering required.  People say they always kill their plants.  I should be so lucky.

My favorite house plant is the bonsai that I got for Mother's Day in 2018. Did you know that a bonsai needs to be watered EVERY SINGLE DAY?  It's true, and if I can't water that bonsai, I recruit others to do the job for me. Thank you to all the bonsai sitters who have helped out. You know who you are.

 The problem with the bonsai is that I'm pretty sure it needs to be repotted.  Based on my research, re-potting a bonsai is a tough job. A job for professionals. I won't even attempt it.  Is there someone in this godforsaken town that can repot my favorite house plant, for cash or barter?  I've done the googling, so don't even go there.  There has to be a way to get my favorite house plant into a new home.  SAVE MY BONSAI. It's my favorite house plant.

Two Favorites in One Day

Fall Break is my favorite holiday right now.
I have 4 days with no alarm clock. I have my report cards to do, but I'll get them done without too much agony, maybe. I have the paper to work on, and I am looking forward to that.

I have a bit of birthday shopping to do as well.  Mr. You Know Who is turning the big 6-0 next week.  Plus some good friends are Libras, just like us, so I want to recognize their Libra awesomeness.

Libra is my favorite zodiac sign.  Libras are charming, caring, and love to learn.  We like balancing things out.  I am not super good on the balancing things out part of my Libra identity.  As we know, my scale tips way off to one side, but I do enjoy my natural charisma and I also like justice.

I'll fool around with balance on this fall break.  There will be school work and writing work, but there will also be dinners at fine restaurants, movies, photography and a walk in a natural setting.  Plus a bridge game.

Ahoy to all of you on the Fall Break Bus Tour.  Remember to stay balanced, but also try to get everything done that's been hanging over your heads for awhile.

The Favorite Day

Wednesday is my favorite week day.  I have a 55 minute prep and a 55 minute lunch.  Two days each week, I have a 25 minute prep and a 25 minute lunch.  Those days are tough stuff, but I always do my best and forget the rest.

Today I cleaned my hideous desk during my prep.  And I got materials ready for an excellent math lesson.

During my lunch break, I ate my entire lunch, in a leisurely fashion, and then got another excellent lesson set up about comparing viewpoints in texts.  WHICH I LATER ROCKED.

The bottom line is I need more breaks during the day in order to achieve my full potential.

My Favorite Movie

Even though the weather outside was delightful yesterday, Husbandman and I decided to watch movies all afternoon.  I also worked on a hat I'm making using a knitting loom. I'm thinking of giving it to Husbandman who is turning 60 in a few weeks, but I might keep it for myself.

We saw two movies.  One was called Hello Privilege, It's Me.  Chelsea. It's a documentary about white privilege and was interesting, if a little depressing. You should see it if you want to. My least favorite part of that movie was when Chelsea talked to a group of Republican women in LA.  Those gals need to up their game.

My favorite movie I saw yesterday was Stories We Tell,  a documentary about Sarah Polley's family and some surprises that turn up as she's researching her patrilineage.  I found Polley's tale captivating every step of the way. After I watched it, I crammed for the Sarah Polley Pop Quiz, which someone could spring on me at any time. I read various web pages for an hour or two.  I know quite a bit now. You should definitely watch this movie if you feel like it.  Sarah Polley did a fine job.

The New Blog Challenge Is Here

It's all about favorite things.

Read details here and start joining in, if you want to.   Thanks to One Woman for getting this going.

Favorite thing right now. This cup of coffee I'm drinking.  It's probably the best cup of coffee I've ever had.

My other favorite thing right now is the knitting loom project.  A few kids sobbed yesterday but 2 kids made cute hats.  I tweeted pix of them because their new hats brought me joy.  I hated the knitting yesterday, love it today.  I'm mercurial.

The Loomacy

I started pulling out the knitting looms and the yarn.  The beginning is always a fiasco.  I don't know why I do it.

Yesterday a Thirdlander asked for help and I told him to roll up his yarn because there was a strand of about 4 feet tangled in his loom.  5 minutes later he returned to me with about 30 feet of yarn stretched across the classroom, in various knots and tangles.  We put it on my desk and I fixed it after school.

Several Thirdlanders were desperate to bring their looms home yesterday.  I relented because I'm a sap.  Who knows how many will come back today? Every year, several kids lose looms. I just give them new looms, new yarn.

The good part of this loom project is that some kids learn how to make hats with the looms. Also, some kids seem happy and calm when they're using the knitting looms. We're far away from the hat stage, but the calm happiness has descended over a few of the Thirdlander Knitters. So, there's that.

The Sightings

Lotus Festival was a blast with a capital B.  Great bands, great friends.  Dancing in the streets.  You get the picture.

We had bonus victories that involved celebrity sightings.  On Saturday night we saw Jonathan Banks at our restaurant. He was charming.  On Sunday evening, we had dinner with ROSS GAY!  He was sitting nearby at our other restaurant.  He enjoyed being there with us very much.

We made some bots.  We also went to a very old movie called Working Girls at IU Cinema and learned about a new favorite person called Dorothy Arzner.