Finally!

Yes, I've been doing a tiny bit of journaling and can't wait until I can get back to it daily in just a few weeks.

Happy Birthday

We had a birthday cookout to celebrate my father-in-law turning 86

and my niece, Michelle, becoming fourteen.

A Pleasant Evening

My friend, Dottie, invited me to her house Thursday evening to see the ocean of forget-me-nots in her backyard.

We sat on her patio sipping Margaritas, nibbling on tortilla chips with spinach and artichoke dip and chatting away in this beautiful setting.

I also roamed around taking pictures of everything.

She walked me halfway home afterwards and it was like swimming in a lilac lake; the whole town smelled so good from the just-opening blossoms.

It felt good to walk and see all the beautiful spring breaking out everywhere.



17

I had a horrible day!

First, I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Hate that!

Block 1 was filled with correcting a set of essays.  I won't miss that!

Block 2 kids were okay but chattier than usual. I controlled myself admirably.

Then came Block 3.  One of my boys was being rude so I had to raise my voice to get him to keep his comments to himself.  A girl at the front of the room looked at me and told me not to raise my voice again.  !  Yeah, I told her to get out.  I never send kids to the office but I'd had it today.

Tuesday is lunch duty day.  No problems but I hate standing there in front of the kids trying to eat.

Block 4A is Poetry Writing.  They are working on a project and it took them forever to settle down and get to work. 

Normally, I look forward to Nature Journaling but today they drove me nuts with their whining and complaining about the bugs and spiders and grubs they saw while we were outdoors.

On my way home I got a call from a parent who said, among other things, that she couldn't wait for her daughter to turn eighteen and leave because she couldn't stand her.  It made me so darn sad!

Days like this make the 17 I have left seem interminable!

I did manage a couple pictures:

Saw this bird with his breakfast sitting on the garage in the rain before I headed to hell school.

Some pretty blossoms with bokeh in the background.

Blueberry bells.  I made the kids wiat for me to take a few pictures of these while they were swatting mosquitoes.  Hehe!  Teacher payback!

Just Some More Pretty Pictures

We've had rain for a week so when I saw the sun shining on Thursday afternoon just as my Nature Journaling kids were arriving for class, we quickly got our stuff together and went out for a walk.  I took pictures as we went.  Here, a clump of pansies in someone's yard.

Bluettes

Apple blossoms, I think, or maybe cherry blossoms.

A pretty pansy sunning herself.

It's amazing what a little sunshine did for us all!

23

I hated to go to school this morning.

But, I went anyway.

My planning block was eaten up with a block meeting.

Monday is advisory day.  That means more preparation.

We had a staff meeting after school.

Every time I looked out my window, it was gray and gloomy so we didn't go out for Nature Journaling.

I had to go to the IGA.  I hate shopping!

Then I downloaded some pictures from the last few days and that changed my whole perspective. 

Nature is so beautiful!

A Gift

I got to see my Kylie girl this afternoon and she had a gift for me.


Close your eyes, Grammy!

These are for you!

Aren't they pretty?

Yes, and they match your nail polish!

Thank you!

27

While I'm standing in the hallway inbetween classes:

Mrs. Jacobs, can I go to the bathroom?

Miss Jacobs, can I go to my locker?

I have to return this book to the library.

What do I do? I got the wrong drink out of the Coke machine.

I'm heading to the restroom.

May I go to guidance?

Here's my note for being absent yesterday.

Can I get some cough drops from the nurse?

It never ends!

But then we went outside and the fresh air was so sweet after that alphabet soup I'd been breathing all day. 

I took a few pictures:

I love blossoms!

Not sure what this is.

Fiddlehead fern

A tiny worm on Amanda's finger

May flower

I remember my grandmother, Nonie, telling me that my father used to pick these for her and be so proud of his gift.  She'd put them in a vase but they smelled so bad she couldn't keep them in the house for long.

A nice memory on this the 14th anniversary of my dad's death.  He was such a sweetheart!

Here we are with him at Silver Lake back in 1959 or so.  Left to right: Nancy, Dad holding Sally, me, and Tim

My parents' first anniversary

Oh, Yeah, Spring's Happening!

I took these outside the school when I was walking with my Nature Journaling kids.

30: A Poem Written for Three Word Wednesday Using Jitter, Grace, & Thin

I look around my classroom

at the messy pile of textbooks

at the world and U.S. maps

taped to the wall

at the posters in progress

draped over tables

like Dali’s clocks

at the hundreds of novels

sitting like crooked teeth

in makeshift bookcases

made out of empty boxes

at two plants gasping

for sun and water

at three hot pink recycling

bins and a gray garbage can

at a Purell dispenser

a pencil sharpener

a table with discarded

how-to-write-poetry books

waiting for new homes

at seventeen cranberry desks

four sky blue ones two navy

blue ones and a lone sunny

yellow student desk

at an old TV and VCR

on a raised stand with various

tapes strewn about

at a beige file cabinet

at the poster with flames

Carl King made

shortly before he died

three years ago

at my windows full

of white birch trees

and baby leaves

at a wall hanging

of Shakespeare

a moon poster

four schedules for this week’s

classes taped to the board

at piles of papers

bins with all my assignments

a pewter mug with a bouquet

of pens and pencils

at a mural of four gods

and goddesses painted

over twenty years ago

at bulletin boards

filled with imaginations

and creativity

at a poster that says,

“Poetry is honeycomb

so full that it drips

into a puddle

from which the hummingbird

sips”

at a clock that says

8:31 am and a red second

hand making its way around

taking me one click

at a time closer to the end

at a notepad with the words

grace, jitter, and thin

written in black

that I keep glancing at

wondering how on earth

I’ll ever use them

in this poem

at my fingers jitterbugging

on black computer keys

as I try to find a way

to stop writing when there

are still so many other

things to list about this room

this life this working race

to retirement.