Give and take

Henry had his Blue and Gold celebration at Naquag last night. It was crazy and nice. He got his "Wolf" badge and a gold arrow head. He is very proud of the latter. The kids were very respectful for the most part. A few played in the back of the room at incorrect times. Henry didn't though, he was so good. He played with his friend Nicholas for most of the night.

So, I was looking around the gym and noticed these two water bubblers in the back of the cafeteria. One of them has a spout and the other looks like some high positioned, ever-running urinal on the wall. I have noticed these before, and had completely puzzled over what the other one was (the one on the left). Finally, I asked Jenny and she said it was for.... spitting. No kidding, a spit receptical... I am fascinated... and horrified. If Jenny is right, this is a modern day spittoon, right in the elementary school in the center of town.

Immediate questions race through my head: Does anyone still use it? Does someone have to clean it? Can I have one in my house?

OK, so, Rutlandites... is Jenny right about this thing? Is it truly a spit-urinal thing? Have you ever used it?!?!! I must know...

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A Better Day

I made lemonade today. One lemon, juiced, water, ice, bunch of sugar, shaken not stirred = a very happy glass of lemonade.

Jenny suggested we take a walk when I got home. So we all went out to RSP and walked with Chauce. There are midges out now, tons of the little guys flying around, but they don't bite, they just.... fly. It was an OK day today. Thanks btw to those of you that commented on this blog and on my facebook about how and where to store pictures. I am researching and will probably ask more detailed, better questions in the future.
We are off to see the musical at the high school tomorrow. I must say, I missed not directing the play this year. A huge part of me really wants to do it again, but it was also nice not to feel all that pressure right in the beginning of the year.


I really like the picture today, Nora looks like she's about to fly.

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Lemons

Wow... super high stress day today. But, MCAS is over... life can continue again. My laptop crashed in a huge flaming ball of awefullness a couple of days ago. So bad. I took it to the computer repair guys and they literally laughed at me. I asked them to try and recover the pictures of my family from the wreckage, and they weren't even able to do that. I backed them up like a year ago or some such thing. I am now going to subscribe to an online storage source for my picture backups. Any thoughts as to which I should go with?? (sad) (very... sad)

I bought lemons today, I am going to make lemon sherbet out of them soon. Lets let that be a hopeful metaphor to a seriously terrible day.


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Weekend update

I love this warm weather. Its like late Spring without the flies! Nice for walks in the morning with a certain thick headed, big, brown dog. Not much to say tonight.

The tree swallows came out this week. They are like air-dolphins...

The Queen of Dairy

After years of careful research, I have finally determined the best Soft-serve Sunday on the planet. The honors of such a proud title belong only to........ the medium Cherry Sunday at Dairy Queen in Spencer Massachusetts!!!!!

Seriously... I'm not lying.

I am not a big ice cream fan. Actually, I'm not a big desert fan at all. I would generally go for a slice of pizza over any desert offered. However, the Cherry Sunday at Dairy Queen is completely exquisite. Tart, sweet, cold, with salty peanuts over the top. Yes my friends... yes.

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Hope... or lack there of...

So here is my little bit of writing from yesterday. This came from this writing prompt, that I gave to my students. ( I actually like the way this starts... and may continue this one out to see what happens. My list of important things was: Food, Family, Shelter, Contact, and Hope. I chose to exclude "hope" from someone's life.)

There is nothing. No light, no dark, no life, no death, and no possibility of their return.....nothing. And its like this every night. Most people dream of nice things: flying, falling, or being chased by axe murderers,but I dream of nothing. And please don't confuse this with not dreaming, because that isn't even close. I dream literally of nothing, of vacuum, of void. It scares me so badly sometimes that when I wake, my face aches from having cried so hard in my sleep. At least that's how it used to be. Lately, for the past couple weeks, I have been carrying these dreams with me for a bit. I keep that ice, that steel feeling inside me... and that is even scarier. I usually break free from these feelings by breakfast. Something about a pleasant little bowl of Cheerios doesn't allow for such things, but that initial look in the mirror when I first wake up, my vacant eyes looking back at me, looking like concrete, or a graveyard, or just huge, dark, empty holes, is enough to make me question my sanity. Looking at myself in the mirror every morning this week has been like waking up to a serial killer in my room.

It's 7:30. Cheerios, milk, spoon, little red bowl, even sugar, all set neatly on the table in front of me. Small glass of orange juice... the table in front of me looks like some sort of health advocational commercial from Saturday morning television. I've opened up my windows and spring air is freely flowing through my kitchen. I have a bright yellow polo shirt and old jeans on.... nothing... zero... In my head there is only a subtle feeling that I should be feeling something. I take a spoonful of cereal and lift it drippingly to my mouth, so much cardboard and water, like sandpaper in my throat.

I remember my mother making breakfast when I was six, the last year I actually knew my mother, and where a deep seated sadness used to reside, now there was only space and memory. I saw her like a stranger, the one who had protected me and who had died. Again my soul pinged out, looking for reaction, for pain, sorrow, hatred, but nothing echoed back.

pirates and forts

I felt really good today for the first time in a while. Even my writing seemed to come back to me. It was so beautiful out. Henry threw off his backpack when he got off of the bus and immediately started playing outside. The picture is of them defending their fort, pirate style. Nora was way into telling Henry how much she loves him today. Henry, in true boyish fashion, returned her hugs and love with a timely "get off of me you....parasite."

Nice day. I learned somethings today.

1. It helps me to write.
My writing prompt for my students today was to quickly list, in general terms, the five most important things in your life. They had 30 seconds to do this. Then, with the remaining 9 minutes and 30 seconds, to begin a short fictional piece about someone that didn't have one of those things in their life. I wrote along with them. My protagonist was void of "hope." But, only at night when he slept, and the story continued as that emptiness started to creep into his "awake" life. I actually really like the way it started.... maybe I will post it here tomorrow...

2. It is pointless to tell Nora to be nice to Chaucer... I don't think she even knows that continually pulling his ears to the ground isn't an act of kindness.

3. Do not try to make homemade fish sticks with creme as the base for breadcrumbs... not ok. Although the kids ate them all. (yuck)

4. I really like nice weather.

goodnight

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