currently

I am...

Reading: I just finished my book and have yet to start a new one

Listening to: nothing, sweet nothing

Thinking:  making plans for Labor Day weekend--I'm heading out of town!

Feeling:  tired

Celebrating:  I'm awake after 9 o'clock!

Grateful for: a great start to the school year

Enjoying:  getting to know my students--I have bigger classes than I have had in the past five years, so it's an adjustment

Weather:  60° and partly cloudy

A quote I want to share: 

happy day 24 & 25

8/24:  I could easily solve my dad's computer problem.

8/25:  I've been working diligently to modify the capstone project for some very needy special education/life skills students.  When I shared my plans with the ed tech support in my class (there to support those students), she literally cried.  I think I created a pathway to success!

finished reading

What convinced me to pick up a book about ocean survival? I’m certainly no seafarer. Yet this account of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey had me completely hooked. The descriptions of the weather, the oppressive isolation, the eerie sounds at sea, and the sheer strength of a marriage under pressure were riveting. I rooted for Maurice and Maralyn with every page, cheering them on even as their physical strength disintegrated around them. The tension of catching sharks and turtles, the desperation for fresh water, and the rawness of their suffering were all crafted with incredible storytelling.

From the publisher:

The electrifying true story of a young couple shipwrecked at a mind-blowing tale of obsession, survival, and partnership stretched to its limits.

Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He’s a loner, awkward and obsessive; she’s charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream – as we all dream – of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away?

Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Maurice began to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves.

What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can’t run away from themselves.

Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A Marriage at Sea pairs an adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with a gutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable.

finished re-reading

My school book group chose this book because I raved about it; the least I could do was a reread.  Here's the link to my original thoughts.  The book was still powerful, challenging, and beautiful.

happy day 23

8/23:  A lazy day.  I did make mint chocolate swirl ice cream with my favorite kitchen gadget.

sunday stealing

 

Click the icon to play along

They Say It's Your Birthday...

Wikipedia Meme

Here's how to play. Search for your birthday (month and day only) at Wikipedia and then share what else happened that day.

First, what is your birthday (month/day)? October 29

Now, go to Wikipedia and list:

1) Four historic events 

1. Wall Street Crash of '29
2. Hurricane Sandy made landfall
3. John Glenn returned to space
4. Founding of the Red Cross in 1863: Representatives from 18 nations met in Geneva to establish the International Committee of the Red Cross.

2) Three births

1. Winona Ryder
2. Bob Ross
3. Tracee Ellis Ross

3) Two deaths

1. Terri Garr
2. Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers

4) One holiday or observance 

1. National Hermit Day

postsecret

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

happy day 21 & 22

8/21:  One of my students is teaching me "brain rot" terms so that I'll be current with the lingo.  We're having a good chuckle about it.

8/22:  I had breakfast with my Breakfast Club and an excellent conversation.  When I got home, I did some deep cleaning.  Then I rewarded  myself with an afternoon/evening of reading time.

saturday 9

Shoo Fly Pie (and Apple Pan Dowdy)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This month Saturday 9 will be tasty, featuring songs with food in the title.

1) Shoo fly pie got its name from Shoo Fly the Boxing Mule. After the Civil War, the mule who could box was such a popular circus attraction that a molasses manufacturer started featuring him on their packaging. Since molasses is the key ingredient of this pie recipe, homemakers just began referring to it as "shoo fly pie." If we looked, would we find molasses in your kitchen? no, no molasses

2) Apple pan dowdy is another uniquely American recipe from the 19th century. It's like apple pie, except it only has a top crust, which is broken up. Apples are a good source of fiber, Vitamin C and antioxidants. Do you consider nutrition when choosing a dessert? Or are you just all about how it tastes? just how it tastes

3) The lyrics describe these two desserts as the ultimate comfort foods, able to make "the sun come out when the heavens are cloudy." Do you find that the foods you crave change with your mood? oh--for sure!!!

4) Singer June Christy pleads with her mama to whip up this "wonderful stuff." Did your mother have a dish you often requested? yes--either cinnamon rolls or red velvet cake

5) June was born in Springfield, Illinois' capital. Have you been to your state's capital city? many times!

6) June spent years singing with Stan Kenton's Orchestra. At one point, she gave 38 performances in 35 towns in 35 days. That's a busy schedule! Do you thrive on activity? Or do you find yourself rejuvenated by quiet time? as I get older, I like my quiet time

7) In 1946, when this record was popular, bikinis were first seen in Paris fashion shows. How often have you worn your swimsuit this summer? not even once (you're welcome)

8) Also in 1946, Elias Tupper invented Tupperware, a plastic container with an airtight top that's great for preserving leftovers. Are there any leftovers in your refrigerator right now? no

9) Random question: Is there a day of the week that goes by faster than the others? Saturday

three on thursday

 

Thing 1:  tomorrow after school is my annual back-to-school massage appointment!  Boy, do I need it!

Thing 2:  in all honesty, this week has flown by.  It kind of feels like I've been back at school longer than two days.

Thing 3:  there really is no tired like teacher tired. 🥱

happy day 19 & 20

8/19: Pretty flowers on my last first day of school.

8/20: I really liked today's outfit.  Nothing flashy, but comfortable.

finished reading

A darkly twisty satire that pits generations against each other in a world fueled by tech and middle-class wealth. The characters are completely unlikable in the best way possible, driving a delightfully twisty revenge plot. Sharp, fun, and practically begging for a TV adaptation.

From the publisher:

"Every successful marriage has its own private language." So it is for baby boomer Kate and her beloved architect husband Jack, thirty years into their seemingly idyllic metropolitan North London life. And so it is for spiky millennial screenwriter Phoebe and her charming loafer of a partner, Tony.

But when Phoebe’s steamy television series Cheating becomes the year’s most talked-about show, Kate thinks she sees in it details and intimacies of her marriage that only she and her husband could possibly have known. Who has betrayed whom? Who has stolen whose story—and why?

A black comedy of love, trust, resentment, and entitlement, Look What You Made Me Do is the sharply observed and suspenseful story of two very different women from two very different generations, entangled in a battle only one of them can win.

happy day 18

 8/18:  Dinner with friends--one of whom I haven't seen in thirty-odd years!

happy day 17

8/17: My last back-to-school workshop training!  Never to have PowerPoints read to me in a monotone!

finished reading

This is a perfect summer read: a later-in-life romance with clever dialogue, warm family dynamics, and a delightfully fun fake dating setup.  Of course, the main female character, Dolly, is a can-do fixer of everyone's problems, except her own.  Her relationship with her teenage son is sweet.  Her sibling dynamics seemed authentic.  And I appreciate the bond she has with her father.  

The main male character, Stewart, is a wealthy, unlucky-in-love workaholic who enters a fake relationship with Dolly.  Of course, their worlds collide.  Of course, they fall in love.  But how it all happens is the good stuff: quiet moments of vulnerability and witty banter.  I loved the secondary characters, too, especially Stewart's sister.

The audio is delightful.

From the publisher:

If they start by pretending, can they end with something real?

Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island, for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.

So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high-society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself—can she really start now?

sunday stealing

Click the icon to play along

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ...? 

1. Flavor?  chocolate

2. Movie? from recent years, it's Hamnet

3. Piece of jewelry? silver hoop earrings from Silpada

4. Place to be? right here

5. Boy's name? Paul

6. Girl's name? Faye

7. Candy? Reese's or Snickers

8. Sports team? all of the teams where I teach:  go Vikings!

9. Color? brown

10. Month? October

postsecret

 

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

happy day 15 & 16

8/15:  An incredibly beautiful day!  I took a leisurely drive around the countryside with no destination.

8/16: My last official day of my last summer vacation!  This retirement year is going to have many last firsts and last lasts.