It's Tuna Season

This is the earliest Gary (on the right) has ever caught a tuna.  This one weighed in at 346 lbs.  He fought it for 2 1/2 hours.  The tuna buyer cleaned it and chilled it overnight and it'll be on its way to Japan for the tuna auction this afternoon.

Yay!

I finally made it to the beach today and it was great!  The weather was perfect: not too hot but warm enough to be comfortable.

I wrote a letter, wrote two poems, and read for awhile. 

Heaven!

This and That

I've been getting unpacked.

Reorganizing and squeezing everything in from our house which is mostly empty.

Hope it sells soon but with the economy the way it is, who knows.  When it happens, it happens.

I haven't even been to the beach yet!

At first when the weather was beauful I was too busy.

Now that's it's raining, I'm ready!

Instead, I've been puttering around and playing on my iPad.

Here's an instant poem I made today.  The picture is of my Ocean Park Beach.

Soon!

Another Instant Poem



A Great Sunday

Besides being Father's Day, Sunday was also our 40th anniversary.

To celebrate we went for a motorcycle ride with our friends Don and Mich.

First we stopped at the Standard Baking Company in Portland and I had a cranberry walnut scone and took some pictures of the pretty flowers.

Then we headed to L. L. Bean in Freeport to return an outdoor thermometer that always read 65 degrees.

Here's Mich next to the humongous boot outside the main entrance.

After that we went to Orr's Island which is north of Portland and ate lunch on the patio at Cook's Lobster House.  I had a haddock sandwich that was huge and delicious.

Just as we were leaving some kayakers rowed by.

I had such a good time sitting on the back of the bike as Gary was driving taking pictures of the beautiful scenery.  The lupines were blooming everywhere.

When we got home, my sister, Sally, invited us over for hamburgers and hot dogs on the Weber.  We drove over in the newly painted 1979 Ranchero.

When we got back to our campground, we visited with our neighbors, Donna and Ralph and Donna took this picture of Gary and me sitting in her swing.  It was the first time all day that I noticd we were dressed like twins!

All in all it was a perfect day (except for that fashion faux pas)!

Zero

I found the coolest app for my iPad.  It's called Instant Poetry.  I just download a photo and they supply a bunch of words that I can make a poem out of.

Here's my red bicycle ready to go to the beach

which is what I'll be doing all summer...

...once I finish unpacking everything!



1 & 1/2

I was standing out in the hall with Tammy, another teacher, before first block this morning. 

She said, "It looks like Shakespeare's smoking a butt."

I glanced at my door and, sure enough, there was old Will puffing away...

on a pencil!

I've got a bunch of stickers for the kids to use and I guess they got creative.

2

Second Block

The office calls my room.

"Mrs. Jacobs, can you come to the office for a minute?"

"Sure"

When I get there, I see a man with a priest's collar standing there.

"She doesn't recognize me" he says to the secretaries.

Then I see his profile and know.

He's my 11th grade English teacher! 

I haven't seen him for 45 years.

He gives me a hug and 6 roses

and an apology.

When I was in his class he marked an answer wrong on a test.  I felt it was right and spoke to him about it but he refused to change my grade.

I don't remember this.

But he does and says it's bothered him all these years.

He was a first-year teacher and didn't know what he was doing.

I knew what he was doing; he was inspiring me with his dynamic style.  I loved his class and how he made everything come to life.

And I knew that's the kind of teacher I wanted to be.

Twenty years ago he had throat cancer and lost his voice so had to quit teaching.  He decided to become a minister but the cancer left him with just a whisper for a voice so he can't preach.  Instead he collects donations to help people with oil and other necessities.

He continues to be an inspiration!

3

Getting there!

Tomorrow and Thursday are normal days.

(Well, as normal as they can be!)

On Friday I have just one class for its final exam and the kids will be done by 10:45.

After that I've got to finish cleaning my room.  We have to stay until 2:30.

Then, it's home to pick up the last of our things and drive to camp.

Today in second block I overheard one of the boys say, "Darn, I finished the book.  I wish I hadn't; it was so good."

He was referring to the dead & the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. 

I'll miss these little moments.



Yesterday

When I got up, I glanced out my bedroom window and saw the sun trying to force its way through the morning fog.

I stood on the back porch for this.  Then I turned around and saw this site:

I bought this sundress for Kylie from Avon.  My Avon lady's husband smokes and the dress needed freshening so I'd hung it out the night before then forgot about it.  It looked so cute and bright against the gray house in the grayish morning that I just had to take a picture of it.

In the evening I went out to eat with my friend, Dottie and Mary, a former co-worker, now retired.

Here's where we went:

SAALT is a small pub underneath a fantastic restaurant.  The restaurant part was closed so we went to the pub.

I love her old announcement board:

SAALT stands for the names of the owners, Steve and Liz and their three kids, Ava, Ari, and Tao.

The restaurant is in an old bank and they've fixed it up so nicely.  Here's an old dry sink filled with flowers:

And this bench and all these flowers are alongside the walkway:

And I ended the day the same way I started it...with a picture of the sky.

8

I started off my day with this beautiful nectarine.  It was like eating sunshine.

 

I felt like taking more pictures when I got to school so I snapped a few out my classroom window.

Some flowering weeds:

 

The sun just starting to peek through the leaves:

 

Some beautiful dandelion fluff...truly a wonder of nature!  Just look at all that delicate laciness:

 

And a pleasant reminder to me next to a reminder to them:

Yes, there are only eight days left but that's with block 2 students.

I've got seven days left with my block 3 kids because I won't see them the last day since we have exams for blocks 1 & 2 only.  (Block 1 is my planning block.)

And there are only six days left for fourth block since we have early release this coming Friday for graduation.

It's happening slowly but surely!

10

Went to my retirement party yesterday after school.

Good food.

Good friends.

Good fun.

We played a trivia game and my table won.

My department head read a parody of Shakespeare's soliloquys about me that the whole English department collaborated on.

"To retire or not to retire..."

Good laughter.

And a great gift:

I've been hankering for an iPad and, now, I have one thanks to the faculty who all chipped in.

Good people.

Excellent teachers.

Hard to say good bye.

From That to This

From that...

To this...

It was hailing golf ball sized nuggets as I left school this afternoon.  A few hours later, the sky was all golden.