Summer Kick Off

Greetings, readers!  Today I bring you a brief glimpse into my first vacation of the summer:  the annual Green gathering in Philadelphia/Cape May, NJ.  Mr. Green and I took off for the east the day after I concluded my 2013-2014 school year.  I was feeling the onslaught of "end of year exhaustion" in the form of an 'allergy throat,' but we had fun Phamily time to enjoy!  No time for illness.

Our first 24 hours, in Philadelphia, was spent browsing around the Rittenhouse Square Art Festival (a fine recommendation from Bond!) and enjoying the tastes and sips of The Dandelion, a location I've eyed each time we're in the city of brotherly love, but had not yet managed to catch it during business hours.  The wait was worth it!  Charm, character, cocktails, and cuisine!  I wholly recommend it if you're in the neighborhood.

Day two brought the short trek to Cape May with Koke and Bond (my parent in-laws).  If you've never been to Cape May, let me just dub it as a storybook setting.  I can't get enough of that place!  As my bestie Andrea always says, "I need to be near water!" and this new book espouses the benefits of water for humans, living near or on water can make you healthier and happier.  The Greens have been gathering in or around Cape May each summer for fifty, or better, years.  What a tradition!

The highlight of the trip, for me, is normally the family dinner night.  This year we hit up Union Park, a favorite for this food fan.  Bonus:  it's BYOB!  The wait staff here was friendly and accommodating, including going above and beyond by accepting my bro-in-law's challenge to gift me with some of the impressive wine corks seen in the restaurant's aquarium sized collection.  Ask and ye shall receive, kids!  Have wine corks, will craft.  Or simply stow them in a vase and gaze admiringly at them.

In a tradition I've managed to hold Mr. Green to, we enjoyed lunch one day at the Schooner American, a floating eatery, literally.  Atmosphere on steroids!  After a delicious meal, including a seafood pizza offered on special, we visited Willow Creek Winery, an up and comer in the area as they are less than three years old.  Super nice folks there, and I can't be nothing but approving of the chickens (eggs for sale, "Wicked Chickens Lay Deviled Eggs") enjoying their peaceful life in a hen cottage.

In demonstration of our small world, we learned that the "wine gal" at Willow Creek is a graduate of Saul High School.  Saul is the Philly school that Bond (mother-in-law) connected me with since they have, among other ag programs, a - I am possibly annihilating the verbiage here (I didn't take ag or join 4H in high school *hangs head in shame*) lamb husbandry program.  Gail Koskela teaches the program and enthusiastically shared feedback with me and my students when we asked questions about the lambs, via Twitter. See below if you'd like to sync up with @SaulLambWatch, especially in time for lambing season next year.  Through Ewe Tube (I wanna squeeze that name!) my classes saw a shout out in the spring from the Saul students on a sign held up in camera view ("Welcome, 7th grade science in Dallas!"):  http://saul.click2stream.com/  I was tickled when one of my students asked, "Can they see US?!"

"You can also follow along on Twitter at @SaulLambWatch. It’s pretty wonderful, as you might imagine."

I didn't travel with the big girl camera but my phone managed to snap off some decent scenes, shown below. 

Rittenhouse Square Art Festival (I opted not to tick off artists by taking photos of the booths):

Dandelion bar area, "Man's Best Friend" worded on the three lamps:

Dandelion menu:

I don't remember what these were, but they were tasty:

Well, cheerio to you too, dapper fella!

This is the "crime scene tape" that Bond warned us about, seen on their sidewalk, as we picked up the in-laws for our short voyage to Cape May:

Don't worry.  The only "criminal activity" was a tree that sadly saw its last days, due to a foundation/city sidewalk verdict.

Cape May scenes:

Taken from the porch of the http://www.innofcapemay.com/, where Koke and Bond lodge, and where Aleathea's provides delicious dining along with porch side cocktail service:

Unusually impressive cell phone photo:

So many flowers, so lush:

Piggy knows the way:

REALLY hard to resist taking one of these wine sample coins home with me:

The sangria was a hit at dinner!

Chicken Casa:

Bebes:

Bejeweled travel:

So you next time, east coast chicks!

Ain't Life Grand ~ One Year Anniversary

What a great year!  Charley Green and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary in quietly rustic style by traveling to Broken Bow, OK - which is more than ok.  Beavers Bend State Park offers beautiful vistas, water recreation, hiking, and plenty of opportunities to randomly belt out "You're doing fine Oklahomaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."

We rented The <charming overfloweth> Ain't Life Grand cabin for two.  Not a detail was overlooked in this nearly-new cabin; we were merely entry number six in the guest book.  I heartily recommend this group for Broken Bow rentals and we'll definitely be back to Beavers Bend for more hiking and water fun.  Our fur permakids even traveled with us!

I loaded photos into a video, but the app* I used truly has the best appearance on a mobile device or tablet.  So, the photos - taken with my big girl camera - are much better than what the video shows on a desktop computer. 

Link:  http://get-puppet.com/v/q0mZBuW-E0s?autoplay=true

See if you can spy Bentley's photo bomb in one of the pictures of the cabin exterior.  Also, I got a little carried away with photos of rocks (despite even deleting some of those files) and I'm still working my way through this document that proves I can be entertained by geology as I try to figure out exactly which types of rocks we encountered. 

Broken Bow Rentals graciously left for us a bottle from the cutest name for a winery along with a pair of their wine glasses.  Much appreciated!

Cheers to Charley Green, foster and permadogs, and one year of marriage adventures and bliss.

*I adore Shadow Puppet! It's periodically free in the iTunes app store and it is one of my go-tos for classroom technology. They are a lil start-up app company based in San Francisco and I've done some phone and email survey work with them. ...for which they paid me in Amazon gift credits - BANG!

Capped Gas

This blog post will surprise some of you.  It's easy to assume that my days of infinite glory on the proverbial classroom battle ground are checkered with frequent moments of victories, both small and large, and that I prance about my kingdom with Peony petals littered at my feet.  Like I'm the King George of commandeers to my students.  Revered like a pontiff.  Respected like the most tenured of academics at Yale.  Esteemed like a Lord Chancellor.

The reality is that only one facet of the fictional world I just described is truth:  we do experience frequent moments of victory, both small and large.  We also experience real life, real gross, real gassy problems.  

Several years ago I had a conversation with a school nurse about a periodic problem that arises with adolescents, a problem known as Frequent and Intentional Flatulence.  She taught me what has been my go-to gas containment strategy for those scholars of mine who simply cannot avoid the joy they bring themselves (and some of their cohorts) by eliciting collective gasps, guffaws, and gags.  Moses himself would have been proud of some of the row parting skills demonstrated by victims of Frequent and Intentional Flatulence.  Thanks to my go-to, never-fail strategy the nurse taught me, however, I've all but eliminated this issue in my domain.  

Recently, though, I had to visit the strategy, which goes something like this:  

"Scholar XYZ, you seem to be experiencing trouble managing your bodily functions.  I realize that must be uncomfortable for you.  If the trouble persists, I will have no option - in the interest of your health, but to refer you to the campus nurse.  She will triage you to determine if you may have a gastrointestinal problem that should be addressed by a physician.  The nurse will then refer your parents to a suitable digestive specialist."  

Several females in the class period stood up and applauded.  So, Laura, school nurse now living in the great white north, you should know that your advice was and still is brilliantly effective.

Carry on.

Paranormal APPtivity

The short story below is from my teammate, Carol.  She provided her grace in me quoting her, here:

"Paranormal activity?  So today during 5^th period my projector shut off. It did this once yesterday so I didn’t think too much of it. Then, it came back on, and then off again. It did this during the entire class time maybe ten times or so. I kept switching from writing on the board to showing the video/ppt. The students were so distracted, “It’s back on, Miss!” etc. THEN, they hollered, “The TV’s on!” and it was! And guess what it was showing? Sex and the City! It was thankfully not as bad as it could have been, but there was kissing involved. I have no remote for the TV, couldn’t reach to see a button, but in an effort to protect the eyes of my innocent students, I found the strength to shove over my bookshelf to reach behind it to unplug the TV.

Then the projector came back on and NEVER went back off again. The projector remote was sitting on the cart then entire time.

My TV shall remain unplugged. I have never turned it on- ever. I don’t even know how. If it comes on again while it’s unplugged, I’m going home.

Yes, I completed an SOS. I’m sure they are getting a good laugh out of it."

<SOS:  literally, what it sounds like, except it's created for the district technology staff to blessedly assist with varied tech problems.>

After some discussion with other colleagues, the culprit may not be paranormal activity but rather wily, tech-savvy students who have found one of the many device apps available that can tinker with nearby electronic equipment.  

Top Ten Reasons To Explore Your Inner Cajun At Caddo Lake

1. Cajuns are cool cats.  They are a potpourri of redneck, French, mystery, hilarity, and worldly wisdom.
2. Lodging is easily accessible, laid back, and extremely budget-friendly.
3. The scenery and topography is breathtaking, which makes item #2 curious.  But I don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
4. There is literally no other place in Texas like it, to my knowledge.  In a state occupied largely by flat plains, Caddo Lake makes this tree lover and east Texas native enter hyper tree appreciation mode, topped with oodles of Spanish moss.
5. I think there is a quantity of signs and notices in the Caddo Lake area to justify a "Funny Signs of Caddo Lake" web site.  My favorite of late is "Ronnie's Bar & Grill, Coming Soon," seen near a pair of lawn chairs and a Weber charcoal grill.
6. Quiet, stillness, bright stars, lush vegetation.  If you're like me and you live in a Texas metropolitan area (that hasn't quite mastered the inclusion of nature in development), it's welcome to "get away."
7. Canoeing, paddling, boating, bird watching, fishing, and, despite Alexis's and the locals' claims of safely doing so (versus my skepticism and appreciation of aquatic reptiles), swimming.
8. An excellent reason to sing this song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKOVPXhlnE
9. Ladybird Johnson grew up on Caddo Lake.
10. Caddo is Texas's only natural lake.

Things I learned on this adventure:

1. If Alexis says we're paddling through it, we're paddling through it.  Or under it, over it, or around it.
2. Sharby is a fantastic Adventure Partner!  I mean, pahdner.
3. Despite my assertion that "I'm not ready!" to be launched into the lake, in the canoe, from the pier steps - I mean, the steps WERE the launching pad, and despite Sharby's feeble attempt to back me up, I was ready.  Just a wee bit wet afterward.  Alexis is a mother of two so surely she knows water and canoe safety.  Who are we to argue, right?
4. This trio comprised a magical dynamic.  How can you fail when you have non-stop laughter?
5. Did anyone grab the cheese puffs?

This photo represents the essence of the trip, "laughs like whoa." --S. Hunt:

These photos demonstrate that even teachers aren't above trespassing in (on?) someone's private duck blind:

Where we began:

Where we turned around for dinner:

Generally delightful and typical Caddo Lake scenes:

Curious about that muck on the water surface?  It's a non-native water plant introduced to the area and has been giving the locals, fishermen, boaters, and tourists headaches for several years.  Article regarding the on-going attempts to annihilate the stuff:  http://cise.tamu.edu/caddo

These scenes are of a little monkeying around Jefferson, a charming hamlet near Caddo Lake:

With all adventures, there comes a time to return to real life.  Here is a sampling of our road trip sustenance:

The door Alexis picked up in Jefferson, seen over my left shoulder, was quickly transformed into a lovely headboard by her creative hands over her master bed:

Perhaps the Weber will have expanded by the time our next Caddo adventure commences.  If you look closely, you can spy it in the far, near-right of this photo: