The Circle

Yesterday was not the best day ever, by a long shot.
I was feeling pretty freaked out by lunch time, when 3 former peeps came up to talk
to me in the cafeteria. They were hugging me and lurking around in a circle, telling me
they miss me. "I miss you guys too. It's so nice to see old friends. My class has been
kind of cranky today."
Former peep who cried every day last year and went to the nurse over 16000 times said, "The whole school's like that. People are being really bad."
I said, "The whole school? Okay. That's making me feel better. But I wonder why."
Former peep who wrecked a field trip for 40 kids last year said, "It's probably Easter. People are getting hyper."
"I hadn't thought of that. Maybe you're right. Easter."
Peep # 3 who keeps getting sent to the Psych Hospital said, "Can I have one of those pens you have?"
"Not today, pal. but check in tomorrow." We all hugged again and they went back to where they belonged.

Sometimes I can't wait til my current peeps are my former peeps so we can have nice exchanges like this.

The Day

"I wonder what today's gonna be about," I said to #1 and TD.
#1 replied quickly, "Today's gonna be all about the fun and laughs, guys."

Not sure that's what the focus should be, but I'll go along with the underlying premise. The facial scheduled this afternoon will provide the fun. Dinner with pals J and M will have plenty of laughs. Yay for this day!

Started off with this in our house. I love it so.

The Teen

#1 son is 15 today. He's sleeping now since he stayed up late playing poker. Aside from a few vices such as gambling, the kid is a marvel. Happy Birthday, #1!

The Wind

The new podcast is here! The new podcast is here!
The peeps LOVED Listen to the Wind. It's a terrific book, a kid version of 3 Cups of Tea.
If you have time, listen and give us a comment. I'm very proud of the peeps. And we are still collecting pennies, so please give a penny to me next time you see me, or asap.
Thanks to Sarah for putting the podcast together while working on her cool dissertation!!!

The KoolAid

I watched a pbs show about Jim Jones last night and it really freaked me out.

The Arrests

One of the peeps asked, "What's house arrest?" We were in the middle of a fascinating lesson on the traits of the fairy tale genre. Before I could answer, the experts in the room all chimed in to help.
"That thing on your leg keeps you in your house. But it's not tight on your leg. You can move it up and down."
"Yeah, my mom's been on that."
"My brother walked outside the house to test it, and it did beep. Those things work."

I asked the first peep if he understood and he said he did, so we went back to our discussion of The Frog Prince.

The Work

Welcome to the working week. It's time to get back in to gear. I am not prepared in any traditional sense, with lesson plans and assignments. But I am ready to greet everyone back, and then we'll take it from there.

The Fowl

I'm pretty sure we saw a ring necked duck today. And of course, many northern shovelers. Today's a day for kicking into gear. I watched way too much of the AIG hearings yesterday. That was counterproductive. Today I'm focused on some writing, some school planning, and gathering needed supplies.

The Neighborhood

My feet only hurt a little during a walk today, so I instantly started thinking about how my six problems with my feet might disappear soon and I will walk every day and maybe by summer I could start slogging again. Before I could get too much enjoyment out of this fantasy, I plunged into downer thoughts about how I would probably just stop walking the minute I go back to work next week and how I'll probably always be a big fat loser in the health dept. But then after that I thought about staying in the moment, checking out the crocuses, keeping my eyes peeled for some cool birds and it was then that I saw a downy woodpecker. So things got good again, until I returned safely home. And that's the dramatic story of my short walk around my neighborhood.

When the doctor shot my toe twice, it swelled up and I felt like The Incredible Hulk. The swelling was hard to capture with the camera, but my toe did get surprisingly large. The shots hurt a lot.

The Marsh

We decided to drive out to Salt Marsh again today. We went early and we did see a few new peeps. We saw this guy and this guy. We might have seen this guy, but we can't be certain.