Simple Holidays

Holidays are nice. I like holidays. I get a break from work and I get to do something different. But I would like a holiday dedicated to nothing at all. I would like a holiday that doesn't involve work. Spring Break is nice. We often cram too much into Spring Break and end up not rested. But it doesn't require the buying of presents, preparing of special foods, decorating anything, or in any way thinking of anyone else. So many other holidays involve feasts, family gatherings, special preparations, parades, and even gifts. I think Christmas is the worst. Trees, decorations, lights, parades, feasts, gift giving, and huge family gatherings. Why Christmas Trees? Why not just a simple manger scene? Why all the lights and reindeer and Santas? (Maybe we could keep a few lights) We could have a special meal with just a few simple church services. No pressure to get the perfect item or have the perfect decorations or set the perfect table. Just a holiday would be nice.

Sometimes life feels like juggling. I actually know how to juggle three objects. But I cannot juggle more than three. I imagine a juggler with 7 objects in the air going round and round. A partner comes up and they begin throwing some of the objects back and forth and the number of objects increases to maybe 10. Each object represents some responsibility in life like work, friends, bills, yard, ...etc. The juggler started out at some point with only two objects, then increased to three. The juggler then practiced and learned how to add more and more objects. But at some point he will reach a maximum number of objects. As the partner steps out he will not be able to keep all ten objects in the air alone. some of the objects will fall to the floor. Alone that juggler can only keep so many things in the air. And even the seven objects he originally had, one will occasionally fall to the floor. Sometimes there are just too many things to keep in the air. Only so many responsibilities one person can keep going.

The Christmas season is definitely here. Santa arrives in town this evening. He will greet the little kiddies in the park accompanied by Mrs. Claus and one of the elves. Last night I went to my first party of the season. Totally fun. Today I need to be Christmas Shopping, but I don't know what to get anybody. I have been knitting gifts for some folks, but I really need to get to the shopping. I don't understand what people want for Christmas. I don't even know what I want for Christmas. I do look forward to the time off work. I look forward to getting to see a few friends. I look forward to some of the special church services. I look forward to going to Firefly and painting pottery. sounds like fun to me.
This year our town is not having a Christmas parade. There is a rumor going around that there will be a parade this evening. I think it would be funny to get several vehicles with people and go park by the highway at the appointed time and sit in our lawnchairs waiting for the parade. We could see how many people stop to join us.
Happy Baking, singing, decorating, or whatever it is that makes you happy.

Life

Each day I get ready for work. I climb in my red truck and head out. I stop by my favorite bookstore / coffee shop then head to work. At work I turn on my computer, I insert my memory stick in the usb port and send a worksheet from my computer to the photocopy machine, and I get ready to use the document camera connected to the projector mounted from the ceiling. I check my cell phone for the time. I may receive a call on the phone sitting on my desk. I check attendance on the gradebook website, then send an email to a parent or another teacher. I google for a senior t-shirt pattern. I attach a dvd to projector and I show a video. After work I go to the bookstore to visit the friends I've made there. At home I check facebook to see what my friends and family are doing and I send messages to my friends. I go to another website to read the newspaper or check the local radar. I google to see where the college football games will be and how long it will take me to travel to another town. I make hotel reservations and look up books I would like to read but know I will never get around to. Then I ask myself how we did things before document cameras, cell phones, computers? What did I do before the bookstore was there for me? How did I keep in touch before facebook? How did I learn anything before Google? And what did I do before I had a truck to drive to school?
And my biggest question of all: These devices were invented to save time and to make life simpler. So how did life get so complicated?

Adventures in Eating

Last night I went to a Japanese / Chinese restaurant. It was my first experience with the Asian hibachi grill. This restaurant was rather small and built in an old fast food restaurant. They did not serve wine or sushi. So we elected to go with the grill instead of ordering off the menu. I was expecting the chef to come out and cook on the grill in front of us. I was not expecting the noise or entertainment factor. The chef came out and spoke broken english with an asian accent ( I suspect that was part of the act). He twirled his spatula, created a huge fire, flipped an egg around and broke it on the grill, stacked up an onion and filled it with oil to make a volcano, then pulled a train whistle out and made it choo choo across the grill. There was a little six inch plastic boy filled with water. The chef picked it up, pushed on it's head and caused it to "pee" on our food. The chef seemed especially pleased with that as he did it several times. After some other antics we finally had filled plates and he had a clean grill. Then he pulled out an harmonica and played Yankee Doodle. If I'd had anything in my mouth at that moment I think it would have spewed everywhere. Nothing can compare to Yankee Doodle from a man with a heavy asian accent. The food was good and the dinner was definitely an experience. I'm glad we went, but I don't think I'll go back. It was just a good Friday evening adventure.

What's New

Here we are once again ready to begin a new school year. This year will be quite different. I think about half the faculty is new--including the Principal and Assistant Principal. We will be in a new building. We will have so much more technology than we have ever had before. The students should be about the same, but a year older. I will be teaching Spanish One and Geometry. Geometry is my favorite subject. I still have to catch up to some of the changes in how we teach it, but it remains my favorite.
I look forward to seeing my students again. I have seen some of them over the summer in the grocery store or around town. But some I have not seen since school was out. They'll come in with tans from the summer and stories about where they worked or the vacations they took. I'm sure not many of them will be ready to get back into the swing of things. On my own vacation I met folks who go to school year round. They get two weeks off at regular intevals and then they go back. I still like having two months off, but I can remember when it used to be three months off.
The last week of summer vacation I am busy trying to visit all my friends and finish projects I've started. I am knitting a satchel purse following a pattern from Interweave Knits magazine. I have knitted the sides and bottom. I am about to begin the front and back. Naturally I have saved the most difficult part for last and naturally school is starting as I begin the most difficult part. I am sure it will get easier as I get into it. Once I finish I will get to assemble the purse with a liner, a box like frame, the knitted outside and the extra hardware. I'm not too sure about that part. I also need to work on projects for Christmas presents. Don't tell anyone, but I think most folks are getting market bags this year.
If you ask me what's new at school this year, I'll have to say "just about everything."

Wow

Wow it's hot. I think it seems hotter because I just returned from a vacation in a slightly cooler place in the mountains. When it gets to the hot part of summer it feels so good to get away to a cooler place, but then so much hotter to return. A few years ago I went to Alaska for a couple of weeks in July. I had to wear a jacket most of the time . We took a couple of boat rides and on those I had to wear a rain jacket over another jacket. Even then I was still cold. I don't remember the high temps when I returned home. I just remember it felt like 120 degrees even though it was probably only in the 90's. When I take kids on youth mission trips in the summer I have to work in the yard a lot to get used to the heat before I go. When I was a kid someone would always say something about frying an egg on the sidewalk. I don't know why you would want to fry an egg on the sidewalk. But I suppose you could. All I can say is, "It's hot."

Collecting Dust

I look around and I think I have way too much stuff. I never intended to have stuff. I just get stuff as I need it or as people give it to me. Then I'm not good about going through and getting rid of stuff as I no longer need it. I have known people who intentionally collect things. I've seen bells, carousel horses, decorative tins, Christmas Villages, and crosses. Some of them never intended to collect them, but after buying one or two people start giving them as gifts. Others plan what they want to collect. I heard some of my friends in college debating whether they would collect hummels or angels. Everyone they knew had a collection of something and they just expected to someday have a collection of their own. I really don't get the point to collecting things. You end up with so many you have to buy a special shelf to put them on. Then it grows to a full cabinet and then another cabinet. Some people devote entire rooms to a collection. Why? I like to admire things in the store, but I don't want to take them home. If an item is not useful, then you should never have more than three. Have you ever had to go through and dust a collection of ceramic doodads? And how much money could you have saved if you hadn't bought all of those things? I know some people love their collections and many are quite happy with all the stuff they have. I guess this is one of those things I will never understand. The questionaires before Secret Santa exchanges nearly always ask,"What do you collect?" I suppose I will continue answering, "Dust."

Prairie Dog Day

Bad news all you snowboard fans. Today was Prairie Dog Day. The world famous Foothill Fannie timidly appeared from her burrough and saw a six foot rattle snake. She was immediately frightened back inside. Folks, this means we will have six more weeks of summer. School is postponed indefinitely. (No animals were harmed in the celebration of this event).

Yarn

This is my first post in my new blog. I'm not quite sure about blogging, but we'll see how this goes.
I went to the new High School this morning. It is a very nice building. I did not see my classroom, but I will see it soon enough. The school year is fast approaching. There is so much work yet to do, but i am sure we will somehow manage to start school.

I am working on a couple of knitting projects. Mostly I am working on Market Bags like the one in the photo. I am also working on a satchel purse in a burgundy cotton yarn. I am excited about that one, but it is going slow. Much of it is a double seed stitch. I really have to be careful on that one.

I was so happy yesterday when the bookstore owners returned from vacation and reopened the store. In case you didn't know we have the best bookstore/coffee shop in the world. I was very happy to drink coffee and sit on the sofa knitting. I missed seeing all my bookstore friends. I am so happy they have reopened.

If you're looking for me, you'll find me at the bookstore...knitting.