I Know, I know

It's been over 6 weeks since last I posted.  I've either had too much to say, or nothing to say.  I think I'm in the same boat but decided to put something out there into the blogosphere.

In no particular order of significance:

1.  We still have 10 days of school.  I have 4 more lunch/recess duties, and at least 3 more bus duties.  We have 5 days of actual teaching - or what passes for actual teaching-- and grades close on Friday.  That leaves 5 more days to fill.  Two of the days are scheduled as field days.  Why 2?  Who knows, we've always done it that way.  One day is a trip to a camp where kids can swim, play basketball, climb a rock wall, play ga-ga, and soccer, and hang-out.  The other is at school where we have a mock Greek Olympic games - foot races, long jump, our versions of javelin throws, shot puts, discus, and a few group games like "Drip, drip, drop" and a tug of war.  The other 3 days include 2 assemblies --- a school wide talent show on the last day of school, and a grade level awards ceremony fitted in somewhere.  We will also have the kids race the Roman "chariots" they built out of shoe boxes and recycled materials, and a sponge war using the shields made out of cardboard and the Roman military formations we've practiced.   There may be a real estate show too, using the dream homes the kids designed  in their math classes.

2.  Our own dream house construction is ongoing. We've run into a few glitches --- who doesn't.  One major glitch is a design flaw that resulted in our custom kitchen cabinets not fitting correctly.  There was a change in contractor between the time the measurements for the cabinets were taken and a wall got built that wasn't supposed to be there. The 3 inches of wall width was needed for the cabinets.  The tiler who's doing the bathrooms is very good, but very laid-back. He works on his timetable, not ours, and he's not a great communicator.  We just found out after a week wondering why he hadn't shown up that WE needed to order the grab bars and soap dishes.  He allowed that he didn't remember telling us that.

3.  We went through a spell of unseasonably cold weather followed by a spell of unseasonably hot, humid weather.  That was followed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea.  The mosquitos are ferocious.

4.  Someone I got to know over the internet, who became a friend, was diagnosed with cancer, had surgery that resulted in many complications, and in the space of a few weeks died.  That has made me very sad.  Although we were only internet friends we had a lot in common:  teaching, church, knitting, building retirement home, and we both kept the books for family businesses.  We both read many of the books too.  In my personal life, a very active member of my church also died and that has left a big hole too.  The daughter of one of my colleagues was in a freak accident last weekend.  While she will eventually make a full recovery, her injuries were pretty serious.  My teaching partner is also dealing with some potentially serious health issues.

5.  On the bright side of life, I've seen two good movies in the past 6 weeks. First was the new Star Trek movie.  I enjoyed that a lot, surprisingly so.  It was classic Star Trek -- action and humor, mixed together.  I also went to see The Great Gatsby which I also liked.  My biggest quibble with that movie was the sound track.  I wish they'd used 20's jazz instead of current day hits.  I loved the costuming!

6. I"ve read 2 books back to back that impressed me.  The first was "The Paris Wife," about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley Richards.    The 2nd was "The Orphan Train."  Both are well-researched historical fiction, and well worth the time to read. You can see my reviews on Goodreads, here and here.



I think that's about it for now.  I hope that it won't be another 6 weeks before I write again.