Is it too soon to talk about the garden?

Last year I didn't get the garden started until April.  This year, if I could just get organized I would start it now, inside of course...maybe I should be working on making a spot for the greenhouses instead of working on my blog.
On the list for this year's crops:
This is the first year we can expect to expect fruit from the apple, pear, and cherry tree. As you may remember, we had a few apples last year, even though we "weren't supposed to yet". Liberty has recently started digging around the bottom of the tree...hopefully, she hasn't done any real damage  We can also expect to have some asparagus this year, if it survived the winter.  There will probably be some volunteer garlic, onions, and scallions, as well as the herb garden--chives, rosemary, and maybe some cilantro.
We're going to (maybe) try potatoes in a bucket again.  Or not.  I can't decide.  Maybe I'll try sweet potatoes in a bucket.
Other requests include popcorn (from The Boy), kale, carrots in a bucket (Mr. IM), cucumbers, tomatoes of course, and perhaps lettuce and some squash.  We'll see how organized I get.
Also on the summer agenda is consideration of an outdoor brick oven, which could mean moving some rose bushes....we like to keep things interesting.

School Projects...

 This project brought to you courtesy of The Boy.  What, you may ask, is he working on?  The fourth graders have been assigned to create a "biography bottle", notecards, and 3-5 minute speech about a famous person.  Here, is John F. Kennedy under construction!


























I will try to remember to put a photo of the finished product at some point..in the meantime, here is a picture of The Girl's project from four years ago--

Clearly it is Sacajewa...and no, no one knows why she is wearing a pin from Girl Scout camp....

And even more adventures of Alice the Cat

The older Alice the Cat gets, the calmer she is.  However, today she is in rare form...perhaps it is the weather?  Here is a brief look at Alice's day so far....

 Not pictured...frantic "digging" in a crate of blankets in my room at 4 am....about the same time that Liberty overcame her fear of the bathroom (you know, water) and drank all Tigger's water, causing Tigger to "sing" for an hour.

When I woke up for real at 7, there she was, huddled by my window, on the heat vent...looking calm...um, but why, oh why does she have paint brushes? Where did they come from?  Why does she have them?

 Later....her new favorite activity--eating my palm tree.  To be followed by yacking it up in a couple hours.  Yum.

 What is she doing?  Looking for a good place to leap onto the counter, of course.

 And here she is...on the counter--what you can't see and hear is her frantic chirping and tail flicking as she plans how to catch and cook the little birdies at the feeder.

Alice does have a hard life...all that stalking about and eating plants...late in the morning she retreated to under some furniture upstairs---on top of another heat vent.  Maybe she is chilled...

Oh,, but doesn't she look so sweet?
Ha!  Nope, I was wrong...if looks could kill...eeesh.....

My Mom was right...

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far away (the one where I didn't have kids quite yet), I took a Children's Lit class to finish up my elementary school special education license.  I was about 8 months pregnant with The Girl and I figured that Children's Lit would be an "easy and fun" course to take and would help me identify some great books to read with my child as she grew older.

Ha! The course was horrendous....Every. Single. Book. the professor assigned was dystopian, sad, about abuse, about death, about loss...It. Was. Awful.  Even the picture books were horrible--good books, but all sad and disturbing (Faithful Elephants, anyone?) I made the mistake of saying to the professor something like "These books are super disturbing...is there nothing better being written for children?"  Her response?  "THESE ARE MY FAVORITE BOOKS!  CHILDREN NEED TO READ ABOUT SAD THINGS SO THEY UNDERSTAND HOW CRUEL THE WORLD REALLY IS.  CLEARLY YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LITERATURE!!!".

Um.  Ok then.  It ended up being my only B in grad school (grrrr)...because every book review ended with me saying I'd never use the book in the classroom (which is doubly true, as I planned to, and do, teach high school) but I took it, finished it and moved on.

One of the books we read was The Giver.  I hated that book.  I won't tell you all the reasons, because if you haven't read it, it would spoil the story.  If you've read it and want to hear my reasons let me know.  So I've spent almost 14 years hating that darn book.  In the meantime, Lois Lowry wrote 3 "sequels".  Apparently my mom read all four recently and told me I should read them.  I retold my tale of woe and reluctantly agreed to read them, because she said the sequels were so good. And...she was right.  (She always is, by the way).  I will tell you that what I found disturbing when I read The Giver the first time still was disturbing and again wondered why a professor would "yell" at an obviously pregnant woman for being disturbed by certain scenes...but The Giver was not as bad as I remembered and the "sequels" are pretty good.

So there, Mom...you were right (again)....

My day, Snowboard Mom Edition

As mentioned in my last post, I got to be a Snowboard mom last weekend.  Here's how I spent my day "near the mountain" instead of hanging out at home doing laundry.

5:00 am...same time as a work day--up, dressed (no shower, no time) while Mr IM gets The Boy up.  Finish packing (so we can stay up here tonight and not have to drive twice in the dark in one day).

5:20....downstairs, load car check list, grab toast and coffee

5:30...in the car, start the GPS. and we are off.  The Boy settles in the back seat with a movie...you know what?  I'm ok with that today.  Drive...think deep thoughts about good weather, bad weather, wind, semi's, how very dark it is,  the voices in my head...radio station fuzzes out near the tunnel, switch to book on CD (Masters of Disaster--I love that book)--Have conversation with The Boy about the book, sun comes up...

7:30 Arrive at mountain almost an hour early. Hmm. OK.

Tell The Boy to get his stuff together and gear on...The Boy realizes his season pass is missing.  Boy freaks out...we search all the pockets of his coat, pants, bag....no pass....Ummm... Text the coach and Mr. IM...both say to just go to the season pass office and they can print a new one.

7:35  Walk over to season pass office.  They open at 8.  Convince The Boy to stop in the restroom. Walk back to car to get snowboard.  Walk back to pass office.

7:50 Ask Boy if phone is in his pocket.  It's not.  Walk back to car to get phone.  Feeling very happy that we are parked in the front row of the lot.  Find lunch bag sitting on seat. Walk back to pass office.

8:00  Pass office opens. The nice lady prints a new pass, no problems...took about a minute--whew!

8:15 Hand The Boy off to his coach, promise to return by 3:15, even though Mr. IM swears they are never back before 4:00.  Walk back to car (again) pick up school bag with computer, papers to grade, and books to read.  Start walking towards town.  Text Mr. IM, tell him everything is under control.  Mr. IM accidentally texts me and The Girl (sleeping).  Mr. IM call me.  Girl wakes up, finds her dad.  Stand on sidewalk in sunny spot and talk to Mr. IM and The Girl for 15 minutes.

8:30  Have internal debate about if I want more coffee. Decide no. Put directions to new library into phone...phone says 10 minute walk and library doesn't open until 9:00.  Wander downtown.

Find ice/snow sculpture display--wander more...try to figure out what sculptures were before they started melting.

 Explore neighborhood, eventually sit on nice bench, in sun, in front of library, and text with a friend while sitting by new "friend".

Decide it is too warm for coat to be zipped...unzip and start taking off layers.














9:00  Library is open--it is beautiful!  Pretend to be Goldilocks, try several different chairs and locations before finding one that is comfortable and allows me to sit where my gradebook isn't visible to everyone walking by.  Find a view that includes the Catholic Church and the mountains in front and the gorgeous library in back.

Spend about an hour and a half grading papers (done for weekend now!)   Update blog posts...Explore library.
















11:00  Stop back at car, drop off computer, pick up a book to read.  Google "Best burger in Breckenridge"--put address into GPS...start walking.  Sight see a little--find another new friend.

 11:30 Arrive at Empire Burger--have a yummy lunch, read a little.  Walk back to library.

1:00  Find new corner of library to read, finish book, walk back to car for another (I know, silly, I was in a library)








2:30  Decide it is warm enough to read in car with windows down--start new book, people watch.

3:15 Find restroom, wait for The Boy, people watch some more.  Crack up at the gondola/clown car of about ten three year olds and how their skis are as big as they are.

3:40  The Boy arrives, talk with him and his coach.  Go to car, he changes into walking shoes.

4:00 Go back to ice sculptures--they are even more melt-y!

4:30  The Boy is tired...head to hotel.

5:00 Check in to hotel, discuss dinner choices.  Decide to walk to Old Chicago.  Discover that the only way is to walk on the road (sidewalk is covered in ice).  Drive car 500 feet to restaurant.

5:15  Order and eat dinner--ten chicken wings, one meat calzone.  Actually only eat about 5 wings and half a calzone--get the rest to go.

















6:00 Drive the 30 seconds back to the hotel, change into swim suits, head to pool.

6:15 Hot tub is full of tired skiiers, pool is empty--play with Boy in pool for about an hour.

7:15  Back to room, find movies for Boy, read book, get ready for bed.  Boy eats rest of wings and calzone.

9:45  Tell Boy that I'm tired--he can finish his movie and turn out light...How is it he spent the day snowboarding and I spent the day walking around town and he's still up? Night night, all!

Driving in the dark

If you know me, you probably know that driving in the dark is one of my least favorite activities.  This weekend, because Mr. IM and The Girl are going to her last Middle School Father/Daughter Dance, I was assigned the task of bringing The Boy to Snowboard team.  We left at 5:30 this morning and it was dark.  Very dark.  So I turned on my trusty GPS (phone version, with road updates) and off we went. The little GPS voice talked to me all the way and we arrived safely (and early).  I think the message here is that when I listen to the voices I'm supposed to listen to, then everything turns out fine.  And that my new car does have really good headlights.  Ahhh...

Sisterhood, religion, and other thoughts

This is another one of those posts that I'm sure will make some of you angry (or irritated or something) and some of you happy...so here we go...

As most of you readers know, I work at a public high school in a suburb of Denver.  The school was opened in 1978, in a (at that time) a primarily white middle class neighborhood.  Over the years, the population of the neighborhood, and therefore the school, have changed substantially.  When I arrived there in 2002, our population was probably about 50% White, 25% Black, 20% Latino-a few other groups represented, but not in any great number.  Most of the black and white students at that time had a long history of life in America.  Some of the Latino students were immigrants, many were also at least 2nd or 3rd generation American citizens.  In probably the last 5-6 years, our population has changed greatly again.  According to schooldigger.com, we currently have a population of about 40%  Black, 40% Hispanic, and 25% White.  What those statistics don't tell is the number of our students who are recent immigrants or children of immigrants. We have also become a school of immigrants-many of our students arriving at our school within weeks, sometimes days, of leaving their homeland or a refugee camp they stayed at first.  I have heard an estimate that we have about 55 different native languages spoken by our students.  Some of our students come from war torn nations and have seen and heard things I wouldn't want anyone, let alone a child, witness.  Some of our students come from peaceful nations, some were rich, some were poor...some attended schools very much like US schools (or even more rigorous), some have never been in a classroom. A increasing number of our students are first, second, or third generation immigrants from Africa and the Middle East, many of whom are Muslim or have a family connection to Islam.  Two years ago, my office mate, a devout practicing Muslim, was hired as as special education teacher.  Besides being one of the best teachers I've ever known, she is also an amazing woman of faith.  We giggled for an hour one morning when we both were huddled over our computers reading personal email...and realized we were both reading our "verse of the day" (hers from the Koran, mine from the Bible, ironically, both verses related to patience, I think, that day).

Now, where am I going with this, you may ask? One of our earliest conversations as office mates was about 9/11.  On 9/11/01 my office mate was living in Brooklyn. As we chatted, she described  the horror of that day and the days that followed--as an American, as the wife  of an American Air Force member, as a mother, and as a Muslim woman who commonly covered or "wore hijab".  She described how, growing up as the daughter of a Department of Defense employee, she has lived all over the world and never been afraid to cover...and in the days after 9/11 she took it off.  An American woman, in America, was afraid to wear a symbol of her religion because of how others treated her.  I was speechless. I shouldn't have been. But I was.  Regardless of how you feel about Islam...this is America and the right to practice your religion peacefully is protected by the Constitution.  Yet peace-loving women here felt afraid to wear a symbol of their modesty.

Enter World Hijab Day...  "Better Understanding...Greater Understanding....Peaceful World".  The young women of our Muslim student association advertised this day and asked both Muslim women who don't usually cover and non-Muslim women to participate in wearing hijab for the day.  Before the day I read a lot of the literature on the website (link above) and had a lot of discussions with my students and my office mates--learning more about the purpose of "covering".  Just as it is for Orthodox Jewish women, Coptic Christians, and certainly the Amish and Mennonites, covering is not a sign of submission, but rather a sign of modesty.  Of not being a show off and of showing that a women's beauty is does not make her an object.  Initially, I was concerned that it would seem disrespectful for non-Muslim women to wear hijab, but the many articles and discussions helped me understand that the purpose is to support each other--regardless of religion--in our roles as women all over the world.  I'm not actually sure how many of us participated at my school today, but I know there were a lot of smiles as many of us turned corners and discovered each other. There were some surprises...one of my co-workers made a couple comments that surprised me in their intolerance--one was essentially that "people who look like you (me) don't wear things like that".  I actually found words relatively quickly and replied that I'm pretty sure that my Austrian/Swiss (probably Jewish) ancestors, as well as my husbands' Catholic ancestors quite often wore head scarves "back in the day"--that I was not wearing hijab to support Islam, or the choices of radical Muslims, but rather I was wearing a head scarf to support my sisters around the world who are afraid to announce their religion for fear of recognition and retaliation for crimes they didn't commit and don't support. The highlight of my day was when one of our teaching assistants, a young Muslim man, stopped me and told me how much he appreciates support of the Christian staff and students in the form of our one day covering.  It is cheesy to say, but I was really touched and thankful that I was able to provide him with joy today.  I also enjoyed "my girls" fussing over my scarf and listening to them talk among themselves about the best way to tie a scarf (there are so many different ways, for so many reasons, ranging from teenage rebellion to regional to how strict the family or mosque is).

At the end of this day, I am thankful that I had an opportunity to walk in someone else's shoes for a short while.  I am grateful, that as a Christian woman in America, I haven't ever experienced true persecution, that I am free to worship and practice my religion as I please.  It reminds me that we still have room to grow as human beings--as it points out in the Bible, it is not our job to judge--we are to share our faith and love people--not persecute them (do unto others...).  And, again, I am so proud of my students, for the support they give each other and the hope they give me for the peaceful future of our world.

What I read in January

January was a good reading month--Thanks for all the great recommendations--I read some good books this month!
1.  Fighting For Bread and Roses (Lynn A. Coleman)  This was free on Amazon a while back--It is $9.99 now!  It is a the story of a modern writer investigating a 1912 strike.  It was interesting, a fairly quick read.  Some mystery elements,  but nothing super scary or exciting.
2.  The Firebird (Susanna Kearsley).  So I totally was on a Susanna Kearsley kick this month.  I've read a couple of her books previously, several in a row that had time travel and became progressively weirder (I could look up which ones, but it doesn't really matter). I saw this book when I was walking through the library and picked it up.  The story line is about a woman who is psychic (not as crazy as it sounds) and can "see" the past when she touches items.  It actually ended up being a sequel to a book I read in February--I walked by the book in the library earlier this week to figure out what happened to one of the characters in the February book.  I enjoyed the book--didn't want to put it down and I kind of want to re-read it now that I've read the "prequel" and see more details on the characters.
3.  Every Secret Thing (Susanna Kearsley)--Kearsley originally wrote this under a different name because this is so different from her other books-it is a mystery, without the spooky stuff that some of her books have.  It is a modern day story, but flashes back to World War 2 for parts.  Another book I didn't want to put down.
4.  The Wednesday Sisters (Meg Waite Clayton)--This showed up as one of the top ten favorites of 2014 for a friend of mine and it lived up to its reputation.  The story follows a group of moms who meet at the playground once a week and have a writing club while their kids play.  It was very entertaining--I loved the characters and really looked forward to the sequel (see #8) to find out what happened "after".
5.  The Splendour Falls (Susanna Kearsley).  I picked this up because I hadn't read it, read about five pages, was convinced I'd read it before...decided I hadn't, but that one of Kearsley's other books uses the same characters in the flashbacks (she seems to do that) and really enjoyed the book once I figured that out.  This might be my favorite Kearsley book yet.
6.  Season of Storms (Susanna Kearsley) Another historical novel that flashes back and forth between present day and the past, this time the 1920's.  It does have a ghost, sort of, but still not spooky.
7.  Treasure Hunters:  Danger Down the Nile (James Patterson) Not as good as the first Treasure Hunter's book, but entertaining.  We listened to it in the car and the three of us were entertained, so I can't really complain.  Look up the Amazon summary if you're really interested...
8.  The Wednesday Daughters (Meg Waite Clayton)-This was a disappointing way to end the month.  I really wanted to like this book--advertised as a sequel to The Wednesday Sisters (#4).  The biggest problem was that the style of the book was so different and there were a lot of new, confusing storylines.  I really just wanted to know what happened to the original characters, and while it does mention all of them, it is a 40 year flash forward and focuses on characters that were toddlers in the last book.  It probably wouldn't have been disappointing if I read it independent of the first, but it was too confusing as a sequel.

Up next for February...some more Susanna Kearsley and then a return to Lois Lowry's The Giver series....then who knows what after that!