Nagoya International School Japan

Getting Here

January 13,2014

Everyone no doubt has their own “Arctic Snow/Freeze of January 2014”. This is mine.

The Cherry Tree and
Morning Glory Vine

I was able to get out of town but not as planned.  Saturday I got word that my Sunday flight was canceled, so I spent six hours of packing time rescheduling my flight – first available was January 8, routed through Dallas. I planned a couple of extra cozy days packing and home caring but… Sunday lost power about 3:00 pm spent a chilly but cozy under-covers night with water slowly running from all faucets. Woke to a dead phone and …well you know what we woke to Monday morning…my drive had been plowed and I could get out easily.  I slipped and slid to the corner 86^th and Ditch to the Speedway gas station…only place open – no power so no information…went in and asked to charge my phone…and explained to the two policemen there why I was out on the roads etc. back home with hot coffee and connected to the outside world, I continued the packing process when my house dipped down to 38 degrees, I was saved by the neighbors across the street…all of whom had power. I spent a cozy night with them and Tuesday continued packing the house now at 34. Power was restored about 3:00pm Tuesday.

The Yellow Rose bowing down heavy with snow almost
pulling the trellis down with it.

The willow trellis for the yellow rose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My nephew arrived about 4:00 from Brownsburg to take me to his place to be ready for a very early 4:30 ride to the airport with 4 very plump bags.  Just before we walked out the door I asked him to check the thermostat – I had not heard the blower come on…yep furnace not working. Skip details here, one hour later, lines are unfrozen with hair dryer and warmth pouring out. And I am on my way. 

 

Wednesday morning…finally out of town. A three hour delay sitting at the gate strapped into my seat like a cork in a bottle in Dallas…of course missing connection in Tokyo…at last in Nagoya about 8:30 long drive to the outskirts of the city. The first colorfully lighted signs I see are …Comfort Inn and Costco, 7 Eleven and Circle K.  Arrive at  my little apartment about 11:00pm– which is really fairly large, two bedroom, lounge, kitchen dining area, soaking tub, shower, washing machine room all partitioned by sliding doors. The only source of heat is in the “lounge” which fortunately connects with bed room.  So I have moved all of my furniture into the lounge so that I am now toasty warm in the 40 degree and lower temps. But NO SNOW!

 

I slept in a bit Friday and visited the school mid morning, meeting people, checking out the art room and finding my way around. Stairs will be a challenge but I am figuring out ways to limit the need to use them. Two elevators were installed to make the campus accessible for a wheelchair bound student so my knees will benefit from her accommodation. One of the elevators is in the purpose built art building and goes from the first floor elementary art room to the second floor secondary art room. 

 

I am up early on this Monday morning. My brain is full. So many observations – the Saturday trip to the grocery store is a story in itself, so much to learn here.

 

 

April 28, 2012
Elena has planned my weekend. First a trip to Zamarano to visit her friend Leslie.  We had so much fun the first time we visited she invited us for another.  This time she added her “nutrologist”* and her children to the group.  She is an avid gardener and wanted to see Leslie’s orchid house and collection. 

We arrived late due to the flat tire we had on the way out. Elena, very well prepared as usual, handled the situation well. She found a good place to pull over, right next to a pull off for trucks and with in a couple of minutes some very pleasant young men had volunteered to help. In four minutes and twenty three seconds the car up and the tire changed. The car with the nutrologist and family was following and took the tire on to the “garage” to get it repaired. We followed and again within a very short time all was repaired and replaced and we were on our way.

The "tire center" on the way to Zammarono.

 The attached convenience store and resturant.

 Elena oversees the change.

Another view of the tire center.  

It was slow going for a good while but we had the comfort of knowing that we would have a soft landing if anything happened.

Leslie greeted us warmly and we settled in the living room with fresh fruit juice ( I had the tamarind juice) and the first round of conversation.  The brunch table was full with four young people and four “grown ups”.  The conversation was lively and fun.  The brunch traditional and delicious – sausages, scrambled egg, cheese, tortillas, beans, cantaloupe, rolls and great coffee. 

 We eventually toured the orchid house, took lots of pictures and then sat on the porch that is on cool side of this lovely stone house and continued our conversations until it was time to go.

*nutrologist – the term we came up with to describe a medical doctor who specializes in the medical aspects of nutrition.

We took Leslie with us to meet up with her husband in Tegucigalpa and then we went for a coffee and desert. It was a very, pleasant end to a lovely day.  I came home rested and refreshed.  

April 29

The next morning we headed out for the town whose name means “where the frogs sing” for their annual festival. We followed the road that goes past Valle de Angeles and follows the edge of La Tigra national park. A beautiful drive with no tire incidents up into the mountains and then down into the valley and town. The narrow streets were packed with cars but Elena, played the “old foreign lady” card and got us a very good parking place just a few feet from the central plaza. 

Among other entertainments it is known for having “extinct” foods.  The extinct foods turned out to be very traditional Honduran food that are sentimental favorites, four kinds of soups, corn on the cob with butter and cheese, a variety of meat on a stick over small charcoal grills. 

There were all kinds of fruit dishes and drinks, horchata and a very sweet drink made from lightly fermented corn and/or pineapple, sugar cane served in bamboo tumblers.  The plaza was packed with families, young people. 

We had run into Leslie and her husband  and after we had toured the booths of food and crafts we found a table under a tarp shade and enjoyed our extinct foods and watched the stilt dancers and the traditional dancers.  Colors, brass band music, movement a delight for the eye and way too many pictures.  

So many images fill my mind’s eye, booths decorated with palm leaves, bamboo, and trimmed with Spanish moss, wash tubs full of soups, busy women stirring, turning, and serving.The nose will remember the scents of charcoal fires grilling meats, steam from soup pots, boiling and roasting corn.

 On our way back we took a short detour to visit what Elena called a ghost town.  It was the first of the mining towns around Tegucigalpa now abandoned by the mining company.  A rushing stream runs through the town with its newly re-cobbled street and access road. 

 The road goes on up to La Tigre National park and cloud forest.  It is also now the home of a stained glass artist who has a large studio in one of the abandoned processing buildings.

She was recognized by Hilary Clinton for her entrepreneurship and artistry. The artist holds workshops on various methods of class working. The studio was closed but we did a short walk about in this all but abandoned village which no doubt will get a second life as a tourist destination very soon. 

 We had planned to stop at Valle de Angeles for coffee and desert at a family favorite coffee shop.  The town has been developed to attract tourist, local and foreign and so was still very crowded on late Sunday afternoon.  This is the town were artist Julio Visquerra has a gallery.  The streets were crowded so Elena dropped us off to tour the gallery while she found a parking place. The two girls and I walked in and started absorbing the works.  Sitting close to the entry was the artist himself chatting with some visitors.  I recognized him from the picture in his book. When we were out of earshot the youngest one whispered to me, “I think he is the artist”.  Elena joined us and I told her I would like to meet the artist and have my picture with him.  So, Elena greeted him and explained that I was the art teacher at Discovery school and that I had done a lesson with second graders based on his portraits. 

He was very pleasant and gave me his card so I could email the student pictures to him. We posed next to his latest portrait composition since it was not included in the book of his work that was published in 2010.  A new edition is coming out in November and will include his works since 2009.

We took our leave and went on to find our coffee shop. 

As we were walking I was thinking about my student project and one student in particular who had done an amazing work.  No sooner were we settled in the coffee shop than in walks this student and his family. We greeted each other chatted a bit.  We finished our coffees and “milk cookies” aka sugar cookies or in some places snicker doodles.  

Back on the road we drove in a caravan of cars heading back to Tegucigalpa.  We pulled over for some roasted corn to munch on as we rode on down the mountain.  

Another full and lovely day with Elena, her girls and friends!

Toad!

“Miss, do you have a frog?”  Nicolas asked standing in the doorway at lunch time yesterday. “What?”   

We found him or her as Luis corrected me hiding under the cabinet that holds a trash barrel.  Not a frog but a very large toad, when “sitting” covering the palm of my hand and extending to the second joint of my finger.  All deep green and bumpy backed with a creamy throat and a hint of chartreuse around the mouth and a little rosy at the throat.  Luis helped me capture him – we put a large bowl over him then slid heavy cardboard underneath and made the transfer to a large plastic bin. Christina brought a roll of screening over from the science room and we covered the bin and added a dish of water and some rocks.  Later we posed for pictures together with Warren as the camera man. Here I stood at age 65 standing with a giant toad in Tegucigalpa Honduras. 

I am sure no one could understand my excitement and the thrill of holding this toad giant.

Time travel - I am six years old on my first Brownie Scout outing to Camp Delwood.  We had been wading in the river/stream/creek that runs through the camp and then we saw what seemed like hundreds of small (nickel sized) toads leaping about from under the forest floor of  old leaves, wild flowers, mushrooms and other debris. We raced about trying to catch them.  When successful we held them cupped in our hands and peeped in at them staring back at us in fear. I had the thrill of "capturing" a wild creature. We found jars and cups to contain them and after our afternoon we released them to find their homes again.  

Next a visit to Toad Hall in friend and neighbor C’s bedroom where she had a screened cage about 12 inches square with sod on the bottom and a water pool and Thaddeus T. Toad Esquire in residence. As I recall there was a sign stating his name and address “Toad Hall” over the door to the cage. I don’t recall how he happened to come to live in C.’s bedroom or what his destiny was. It seemed that he lived there a very long time. But he sparked my imagination and a lifetime enjoyment and appreciation for the book The Wind in the Willows. 

At the end of the day after much discussion about his fate, my toad was transported by Warren to the lower field and released.  There he hopefully found his way back to a safe “home place” and to his friends Mole and Ratty.  His great adventure behind him at least until the next time the mowers roar into action. 

Oh, yes I have a “frog”!

A Cabin in the Sky

Last Saturday Ivonne invited me to take a short road trip to Ojojona, a small town less than an hour outside of Tegucigalpa. There she and her husband have purchased several acres of land near the new windmill farm.

On our way to their cabin we stopped at Ojojona. We visited a couple of small shops

and purchased freshly made, warm tortillas from a home/resturant. The grandmother of the house welcomed us and shared that she was 90 years old and had been in a film that was shot on location in the town not long ago. She recited her lines for us. She is standing next to the tradtional wood burning stove. Everyone was very welcoming even if we did interupt their breakfast.

They have built a one room "cabin" with a front porch that offers a panoramic view of the valley that holds Tegucigalpa.

The cabin is a joint venture with another couple who have been friends for many years. Both couples have children in the same age range. Almost every weekend the families join forces and have worked to clear, landscape and build "conveniences". The cabin is solid and has one room with a sleeping loft. The cabinets and table, ladder to the loft and other elements are made from shipping crates that her husband's materials for his custom window business come in. The windows were a project for the dad and the kids. They have a well and have figured out a water system. There is a shower and toilet system some distance down the hill from the cabin.

They contribute to their community in many ways. Their church has a medical mission on nearby land that they plan to develop into a community resource center.

At the cabin Ivonne made pancakes and shared stories about her mother, her family and growing up in Honduras and then moving to the US and coming home again. We had a feast of warm pancakes, tortillas, cheese, hot coffee and fresh air. I filled my eyes and camera with views and with details of the many small wild flowers. I especially enjoyed the swaths of blue that cut across the landscape. We had a long slow drive home through saturday afternoon Tegucigalpa traffic. I was ready for a nice afternoon nap by the time we arrived home about 2:00pm. A lovely morning. I am honored and happy that Ivonne shared this very personal space with me. A labor of faith, love, family and friendship.

Up All Night and a Visit from the Prince

I had the library lock in last night with the now 11th graders who started the project when they were in the 9th grade. We didn't finish but we can see the end. They are already pleading for another "up all night" lock-in work session...Oh my, I am not sure I have it in me. But they make it so easy. My two colleagues Warren and Vincent were really the ones who made it possible, both coming about 10:00 pm to do the "overnight" part. I went to the nurse’s room about 10:30 and had a reasonably good nights sleep on the “sick bed” until about 5:00 am. Then I was up - bird bath - and started the "coffee" for breakfast. The kids were tucked in all over the library. As the rooms got lighter I would see someone in a sleeping bag under a shelf or between stacks of books. The coral reef room looked like dolphins had beached themselves with five sleeping bags lined up in a row. Sleepy heads munched on fruit loops, chocolate chip cookies, drank coffee and hot chocolate and went off to class, some of them still in their PJs. We have a half day today, with parent conferences in the afternoon and then a three day weekend for MLK. Sleeeeep, I want sleeeeeep and quiet.


Emails I most probably will never receive again after I return to the states.
From the high school principal: “Dear Teachers,
The B- - - - family will not be in school on Thursday, and will leave early on Wednesday due to the visit of the Prince of Spain to Honduras.”

Father is the Spanish Ambassador to Honduras. The email just kind of tickled me. Thinking of all the excuses for absences I have received in the US, never one like this!

Sunday Morning - Tegucigalpa

November 27, 2011 7:30 am
Sunday Morning, Tegucigalpa Honduras
Sitting on the balcony and gazing at the vista below and around me. There is a cup of coffee sitting next to me along with a Semita and two Tulipanes; these are mildly sweet treats to dip in your coffee. I am soaking up these moments to take out and enjoy on a cold, gray day in Indianapolis or Carson City.

There is more to this little moment than meets the eye. The coffee is from Costa Rica and an early Christmas gift from Gabriel, an eighth grader who is an intense student with a mature sense of humor. The cup the coffee is in was a gift from Victoria, a gifted student, exceptional art student, who attended Interlochen this past summer and brought the cup back as a souvenir for me. I was introduced to semitas and tulipanes by Maricella one of our Spanish teachers. She walks through the art room every morning with her kindergarten daughter whom I call “Pinkalicous”. She shyly smiles at me but never speaks. Every once in a while Maricela places a semita or a tulipanes on a tissue next to my coffee cup. Sometimes I am able to return the favor. Lately her daughter has decided she can walk to her classroom alone and doesn’t need mom to go with her, a big step for mom and daughter.

The tray everything is sitting on is a find from the Emporium a new (to me) stuff store that Karen introduced me to yesterday afternoon. We spent the afternoon “bumming” from store to store, finding things that were on our lists and finding more that were not on our lists. She introduced me to a bakery that had at least nine different kinds of bread and glass cases full of pastries. We had a lovely afternoon.
I guess I have to say that the “little moment” of this morning was really full to overflowing with little moments - small treasures to be enjoyed again and again.

Hope your day is full of “little moments”.

Return to Tegucigalpa - August 2011

Ahhh! It is the Saturday morning after the first full week of school and I have brewed myself a pot of Dunkin’Donuts coffee. I found the bag of coffee at La Colonia grocery store. Money was no object. So I happily paid the almost $15.00 to have the familiar treat at hand. The first days back to Tegucigalpa were filled with unpacking both suitcases and my closet and bedroom spaces as well as unpacking the art room. I still haven’t located key items…like “where did I put the water color paint brushes?”

I am teaching sixth grade through twelfth grade (AP) art this year. I missed working with the middle school students last year. I am really enjoying getting reacquainted with the returning students and with the students who were new to the school last year as well as this year’s new comers. There is always a percentage of student turnover in these international schools. We have a solid core of “local” students and then that group of students whose parents work in Foreign Service offices, embassies and NGO’s. Then of course we have an expected turnover rate in teaching staff as well. This year we only had three new teachers, an unusually low number. Everyone learns to get acquainted quickly knowing there is a time limit on our opportunities to develop friendships.

My first day on campus I surveyed the work that had been done over the summer. Maintenance and office staff had been busy. There was a fresh coat of paint in the administrative offices, many classrooms and the art room. The grassy square between the Spanish classrooms and the cafeteria that is used for recess and lunchtime games (especially soccer) had been fertilized and reseeded and now it was a lush green .

The director had left instructions for certain areas on campus to be landscaped. She simply said, “I want this area planted”. She did not specify planted with what. Knowing that she didn’t want to spend much, the maintenance staff was delighted to find the abandoned small cups of plants started from seed by the second grade as a part of their science project last spring. They planted them everywhere that a plant was needed. When D. returned she was surprised to see green beans growing everywhere! Evidently the summer staff had been harvesting and enjoying them all summer.

We had a full five days of morning teacher training/meetings and afternoon planning and room preparing, more time than I have ever been given to prepare for start of school. The Saturday before the Wednesday first student day we went flower shopping. So I had three large displays of color in the art room plenty of subjects for first drawing exercises.

The first day of school the seniors arrived on a fire truck with siren and horns blaring. It is a tradition here for the senior class to make a grand entrance on the first day of their last year. My two returning AP students jumped down from the truck and rushed for greeting hugs and smiles so big I don’t know how they could fit on their faces. They had done the “grand tour” together this summer and I am sure they have tales to tell. What a brave mom to have taken them …well brave or foolish, maybe both. Any way they promised a power point slide show to share with everyone.

So now we have settled into the school routine. First projects have been initiated and we are catching our stride. The time will go quickly and the calendar is full of special events long weekends and holidays. The AP art students are taking a field trip to Larach, a large “everything” store that has a large hardware and building supply section as well as house wares and even art supplies. We are going to purchase the supplies needed to construct our own easels, picture frames, and portfolios and to survey the materials that are available for future projects. We only have an hour to do all of this so we better be quick.

Time to refill the coffee cup and enjoy the view from the balcony.

Starbuck's

I am enjoying my "Starbuck's" coffee in a mug decorated
by Victoria (grade 8) with Alexa.


Alexa, Lisandro and Maria Steffania at "Starbuck's"

Wednesday May 11, 2011
I am working on getting the exhibit down and the pieces selected for the embassy exhibit as well as the work to be included in the student literary magazine and awards night exhibit. We are working on both murals now…rainforest and coral reef so two of my classes are occupied until the end of the year which is not so far away. Today when my small AP class came in about 11:00 am I said that all I wanted to do was take them to Starbuck’s and sit on cozy chairs and drink coffee and sketch and talk.

Their faces lit up, “yeah!” “But, alas, no Starbuck’s” I said, “but we can make coffee, tea or hot chocolate, I’ll put on the kettle and we can sit on the benches out side” (under the portico in front of my room).

When I came outside to say the “coffee” was ready, they had rearranged the space, moved plants around, added the stool from the art room and even a “vase” (made from a grade three project) with some bougainvillea in it. As you can see from the picture they made quite a cozy space for us and there we sat and each sketched and sipped with only occasional comments here and there. We were quite content and I reflected on what an opportunity I have to teach in a school where this little “event” could happen.

The Accidental Model

Ode to a Dead Bird

It flew through the open art room door,

Now trapped in an alien world.

Panic, before we could open the window,

SLAM! Thud, drop.

It lay twitching Feathers ruffling in the breeze

From the now open window.

Stunned? We hoped…alas no

And now pinned to a tray an

Accidental model.

The tiny bird was finally identified as a female Ruby Throated Humming Bird. After several days of "posing" for the eighth graders and being stored in the upstairs staff refrigerator overnight it was time to put it to rest.

In the fourth grade I did an oral report on the Ruby Throated Humming bird. At the time and I was in awe of how small and beautiful a creature it was. I never thought I would ever see one in "real life". But 55 years later I have seen them several times flitting briefly around my friend's feeder outside her kitchen window in Indiana. We stop our coffee conversation and stare for the few seconds it gives us while it sips and darts away. Now, I have had hours to study its every feature. It was with regret and respect we found a spot outside the art room door and lifted some sod and slipped her under. Warren and Paola shared in the ceremony and paid their respects.

Meet the Chamomile Man or Art Supply Shopping with Warren

Warren arrived about 40 min past the appointed time without Vincent. Seems Vincent has no bell at his apartment gate and no operating or turned on cell phone…which ever he was no where to be seen. So after a bit Warren, instead of being dropped off by his mother and brother headed to my house, picked me up and then we dropped his brother and mother at his cousin’s house and we went on to do our shopping using his mother’s car.

We moved quickly around the city – downtown past the central park and the Cathedral and to the High School of the Arts. Even though classes were on winter semester break the school was open and the supply store busy. We purchased our painting boards and headed on over to Larache – sort of a combination of Lowe’s, Home Depot /Office Depot, with a large art and school/office supply section. We purchased water color paper and illustration board there and then went on to Don Quixote art supply store looking for charcoal sticks for Vincent, none found.

So we stopped for a coffee at the Café American next door before heading across the street to DaVinci art supply. While we were sitting outside at the Café we were approached by an “herb” seller; a man between the age of 35 and 55. It is difficult to guess the age of those who work hard and live on two or three dollars a day. He was selling bundles of fresh chamomile for 20 Lempira each. I bought a bundle so that Warren could get a picture of him with his huge burlap bag of chamomile slung over his back and an arm load of flowers in front.

Later that afternoon I searched the internet for instructions for making chamomile tea with the fresh flowers. I plucked the yellow blossoms and steeped them according to directions. I sipped a cup while I drew a few of the remaining flowers from my bundle in my sketchbook. And now I am spoiled forever and must plant some chamomile some where around my little house. I am thinking in the sun by the garden shed.

Locked-in with Grade 10

Thursday January 13, 2011
Well after a marathon shopping day Wednesday - first with Marvin (driver) in the morning to buy painting supplies, paint etc. at the Do-It Hardware center and then in the afternoon after school with F. (teacher/friend)at Price Mart(aka Costco) I was as ready as I could get for Thursday morning and the tenth grade lock-in. I woke at 4:30am but began packing instead of walking. Managed to be packed and ready to spend the night at school by the time D. was up and ready for school. I even got a cup of coffee and a cup of vanilla Greek yogurt in before we headed out. Then a long day of classes mine and Warren’s and setting up for another marathon 18 hour painting night. The girls soccer practice was canceled so I had most of them there right after school. The boys came in about 5:15 or so. Total 13 teenagers. The boys were all fresh and clean with neatly combed wet hair. They had decided yesterday that they needed to a shower after soccer practice and since our school has no showers and there was not time to go home and back they had brought their bathing suits, changed into them, and then literally hosed each other down with cold water. AND it was already cool, cloudy and windy here! They were very proud of themselves, figuring out how to solve that little problem. They took pictures which they showed me but unfortunately they didn’t download them so I can’t share them with you.

They were very hungry and devoured the raw veggies I had brought as my contribution to the “snack” table, they then hit the chocolate chip cookies from price mart (as requested) and then got to work before the Chinese food was delivered about 7:00

They had enough sustenance to get to work and work they did. It was another amazing night of creative energy and cooperation. Lots of laughter and lots of fun – a late night walk where young teacher/ Warren snuck up behind them and lurked in the shadows …scaring them to pieces when they noticed a hidden shadowy figure.

Friday January 14, 2011
Ahhh. Up till 10:30 with the tenth graders then Warren came in after his night school class and took over the chaperoning and consulting on the work on the mural. I went to the first aid room (which has a real bed and bathroom) and got a reasonably good night’s sleep until 5:00 am...then I got up and got ready for the school half day and parent conferences. I went down and saw all the sleeping “angles”. Just like last time they were spread out on a variety of inflatable and non inflatable mattresses. Up in the art room there was a boys “dorm” of about a half dozen packed -almost mattress to mattress -in the storage leg of the “L” of the art room.

Downstairs there was a small group in the AV room where our parent volunteer, S., I.’s mother, camped out with a combination of boys and girls and in the elementary library area where the mural is located two girls on a giant air mattress with one boy curled up like a cocoon in his sleeping bag at the foot of the mattress. Middle school art teacher Vincent, all 6’5” of him was stretched out on the floor on the cushion from the couch in the secondary library area in his sleeping bag with feet hanging over one end and his foot long dread locks hanging off the cushion onto the floor on the other. Warren was already up – I saw his empty sleeping bag in the computer room when I tip-toed through there on my way from the first aid room – counselor’s office – computer room to art room…all connected by doors.

I waited quietly until about 6:30 when Warren joined me in the senior library area and we put the kettle on for coffee and hot chocolate. C. was the first student up, then G.. Our whispers moved gradually to quiet talking and then we were joined by others and began turning on the lights. Sleepy heads joined us and soon the muffins were disappearing along with the left over fruit from the night before. Students had projects to present in their first period literature class so I couldn’t get them excused. Most wore their pajama’s to class. They came back for second period when we usually have art and some continued to paint others got dressed and finished putting away their sleeping gear. (Drivers began arriving to carry gear to waiting cars.) They came back after their algebra test fourth period and cleaned up all of the painting supplies, carried everything upstairs and left me only with the brushes to clean. They had done a lot of work; added more foliage, more details, shading etc. as well as more flowers, some birds, butterflies, ants and the all important jaguar. They even began revising the mangrove wall that joins their rainforest wall. But it is still far from done. I feel like Michelangelo...and the Pope...:"When will you make and end of it!” The students seem unconcerned. “We still have lots of time, Mrs. Campbell. We can work next year…you’ll be here next year?” “Yes, I will probably be here next year.” Big smiles – “see lots of time”. Yes, I remember those years of feeling there was “lots” of time.

The rest of the day went pleasantly with clearing my desk and sorting through stuff, putting things in order and washing brushes. While I was writing the “Thursday” entry above I actually dozed off and woke to find three lines of “l’s” across the screen. Fortunately, the fifth grade teacher came by and shared her pizza lunch with me and we discussed next week’s “Egyptian museum” they are making in their classroom. Later I had a pleasant parent conference with a teacher/parent and following our talk about her son we had a very good talk about early art education and the preschool lesson she was preparing. I gathered enough work to keep me busy for the three day weekend (MLK Day) and left at 3:30 with F. who dropped me off at home with all of my luggage.

D. had made soup the night before and so I had a bowl with her chatted a bit and then headed for bed about 7:30. I got a good 11 hours of sleep and got up and took my walk on the treadmill to get my joints moving -1.02 miles in 32 minutes.

I think I have caught you up. Now I plan to have a pleasant three days of washing, ironing, writing lesson plans, a few other “brain” work school projects and blogs and maybe doing some work in my new moleskin sketchbook – a gift from one of my student families. D has also ordered some new cable movie channels in English and they may be available today. The wind is howling through the casements, gray clouds are hanging over my mountains across the valley but the sun is trying to come through. I am wearing my sweat shirt “jacket” and my toes are a bit cold. It is like a nippy fall or spring day. I hope you are all warm and well. Adios, Beth