chitta'svrtti

the list so far

2010-10-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

In the interests of assuring all who may be concerned that I am still active in teh reading circuit here is a list of what I ahve read so far this year:
2010 total (67)
January (5) Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters vol.2, Gordon Dahlquist Count Karlstein, Phillip Pullman Dream and Reverie, Charles deLint The Dark Volume, Gordon Dahlquist

February (5) the Alkhemaster’s Apprentice, Walter Moers Plum Pie, PG Wodehouse Fairy Tale, Raymond Feist Blandings Castle, PG Wodehouse hikaru no go no.18, yumi hotta
March (5) The Book of Heroes, Miyuke Miyabe Regenesis, CJ Cherryh Uncle Fred in the Springtime, PG Wodehouse Planet Walker, John Francis Children’s Literature:A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter, Seth Lerer

April (8) Black Out, Connie Willis Nothing Serious, PG Wodehouse Tuck, Stephen Lawhead The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne The Island of Dr. Moreau, HG Wells The True Deceiver, Tove Jansson The Confidence-Man, Herman Melville The Haunted Looking Glass, Stories chosen by Edward Gorey

May (10) Dreams in the Witch House, HP Lovecraft The Elusive Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy The Sorceress, Michael Scott Moomins (the complete Comic Strip) vol. IV, Tove Jansson Down Below Station, CJ Cherryh The Manual of Detection, Jedediah Berry I, Robot, Isaac Asimov Foundation, Isaac Asimov Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov

June (6) Have His Carcase, Dorothy L. Sayers The Prisoner, Peter Disch The Time Machine, HG Wells Indiscretions of Archie, PG Wodehouse Chicot, the Jester, Alexandre Dumas the Harliquinade,Dion Clayton Calthrop

July(6) In Search of Robinson Crusoe, Tim Severin Lulu, Samuel Bernstein Scaramouche I,II, III, Rafael Sabatini Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl Blind in One Ear, Patrick MacNee The Jason Voyage, Tim Severin

August (11) Erewhon, Samuel Butler The Demolished Man, Bester The City and the City, CHina Mieville The Scar, China Mieville Eyrbiggia’s Saga, anon. The Prince of Mists, Carlos Ruiz Zabon The War of the Worlds, HG Wells The Invisible Man, HG Wells the Voyage of the Argo, Apollonius of Rhodes

September (5) Hell,Yatsutaka Tsutsui Beau Brummell: the Ultimate Man of Style, Ian Kelly Les Diaboliques, Barbay d’Aurivilley Sunshine, Robin McKinley Aurorama Jean Christophe Valtat

October (6) The Dream of Perpetual Motion, Dexter Palmer Aria de Capo, Edna St. Vincent Millay The Best of Charles de Lint,Charles de Lint The Dolls, Francesca Lia Block Four Emminent Victorians, L.Strachey The Land of Laughs, Jonathan Carroll

***CV

What I won't do for him

2009-07-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

So a week or so ago I was all excited. I found out Neil Gaiman was coming to San Fran and tickets were on sale. I went to the affiliated book store, found a book to buy then went to the counter. the clerk was new so I said no problem and waited for the experienced person to be available. Mean while another customer with a rather loud and insistent voice kept saying "I was told I could order it" not bothering to include the who it was who said or the what it was he supposedly could order. Things got worked out and I was next.

I made my purchase and asked about the ticket. The clerk looked confused (can you see it coming?) then told me, "Oh that was for last year," (teach me to look at the whole date.)

Last night I was back at ye olde Gaiman site when, lo and behold. He is coming to SF after all: next Sunday. But, only 100 people can go and you have to pre-order a book to get a ticket. I checked the link and only 7 tix were left as of last night. Which means over 90 were sold in two days. Dilemma: should I go to the city to wait until the store opened, wielding my cash in hand? Should I wait by the phone, finger on the auto redial? What to do what to do.

Why, yes, I did wake up at the crack of dawn to make sure I didn't miss the 11am opening of the seller. Yes, I did wait until 11:01 to call. Patience is a virtue after all. And, yes, I have a ticket!****CV

Some interesting Elements

2009-07-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Long live Claudius! Clearly I have reached one of my goals. (I've already read Claudius the God so i do know what happens as per Mr. Graves.)

I did return to Our Mutual Friend this morning, but that was after a few days dalliance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes (the Return of Sherlock Holmes) and Sam Spade (the Maltese Falcon). I even went out looking for more Hammett in the hood but apparently he is not so popular this side of the bay. Considering the increase in BART and MUNI I am most unwilling o go to San Fran to purchase him. Ah well.

Currently uploading Stardust and the Graveyard Book so I can have some spoken as well as sung words.

I opted to do summer camps this year: one for plots and one for poetry. My plot camp has participants running in age from 6 to 10. The mind boggles. At any rate I'm going to the tried and true fairy tale venue and may throw in some of the older myths (Irish mostly). Do wish me luck. I've ordered Christopher Booker's the Seven Basic Plots as a reference but at an amazing 700+ pages hardly think it will be fully studied before the camp begins.***CV

Mem-ries

2009-07-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

Ah Summer Break. The reason, I hear, that many go into the teaching profession.

Me? Never had a summer break as a teacher until I started teaching in Portland. Now that I'm back in CA I have thee weeks of Summer Break. So let's see how much reading I can squeeze in shall we?

So far I have read:

the Merlin Conspiracy, DW Jones

Day Watch (russian sci-fi author, sue me I don't have the book right now)

Borderliners, Peter Hoeg

the Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett

Goals? Why yes I have goals. sane. reasonable. perfectly obtainable ones too.

I Claudius, Robert Graves

Our Mutual Friend, Charles Dickens

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy (the original which eliminates about 300+ pages, thank you very much)

the Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas

Almost done with the first: Augustus is dead, Livia's dead, Tiberius is dead, Sajaenus is dead and Caligula has ascended the throne, so not much more left to go.

Lessee anything else? Hmm I have an ipod. Lovely thing that. Makes one realise one has a heck of a lot more music than one thought and perhaps one should have gotten the largest capacity after all? Oh well.***CV

Y Come estas?

2008-12-29T16:00:00.001-08:00

Well it has been a long while hasn't it? Not to raise any hopes but it looks to be a long while again. This year, for what ever reason, is incredibly busy. So I'm popping in to at least list the books I've read since Winter Break began. (I have lots more in stacks -like so many homeless looking for an apartment, but there you go).

The Old Curiousity Shop, Charles Dickens

Psmith, Journalist, PJ Wodehouse

The Complete Lord Wimsey Short Stories, Dorothy Sayers

Father Brown, the Essential collection, Chesterton

Robison Crusoe, Daniel DeFoe

A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle

During November one of my students presented a research on Queen Elizabeth (I'm insisting that all my third years research two historic persons- one ancient and one modern), consequently I thought it might be good if I knew a little about Good Queen Bess myself (somehow Blackadder didn't seem historic enough y'know). So I read the Virgin Queen and I watched Queen Elizabeth (the 1970's BBC productions) and have subsequently read the biographies of Cardinal Wolsey and Sir Thomas More.

Just imagine my reaction to borrowing TheTudors series from that library.

Dude, thugs in the hood or what? I honestly thought central heating had not been invented until way past Henry the Eighth's time but the way those crewcut nabobs went at the wenching I guess I was wrong. And about the crewcuts ... Sorry, were the portraitists of the time making it up as they went along? Such clean shaven lads I never did see 'til the 20th century.

Extra Extra

2008-10-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Recently read:
The Master of Ballantrae (or the monk by any other Scottish I have a really nasty brother and he is junst not okay, name). Still if you liked Kidnapped or Treasure Island why would you deny yourself this one. Fun adventure read.

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman It's a Gaiman why would you need to know more??

Recently received:
Quakelands, Francesca Lia Block
My Bonnie Lighthorseman, Being the Further Adventures of Jackie Faber, LA Meyers

Currently reading:
The Heart of Midlothian, Sir Walter Scott and some Bram Stoker which has to do with Egypt and Mummies.

***CV

Woden you know

2008-09-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

Recently read;

Chalice, Robin McKinley (2??pp)I don't have it with me so I'm guesstimating the page count. If you like bees, honey, elemental magic as well as manor house stories this one will suit you. There are beauty and that beast elements but I've been hard put to find a McKinley that doesn't have that in it somewhere (which is quite all right by me). It is a sweet story and nothing like Sunshine except in the independent I'm going to do what I need to do heroine category. Pretty signature McKinley :)

Runemarks, Mary Harris (527 pp) This is a tale involving the Norse Pantheon and a young girl who has a ruinmark thus causing her village to fear her. A goblin named Sugar, a new Order which bears uncanny resemblance o the Inquisition and a none too subtle thread of God versus the Gods. Much emphasizing of the Word being made flesh (nudge nudge wink wink). I suppose if the Dark Materials series as intentionally anti organized religion this book is the more blatant version of it. I prefer teh Pullman. Very modern speaking gods by the by. Okay to read. I read it hoping for more layers but there you go. Wait for the paperback is my suggestion.

Currently reading:

The Master of Ballantree, R. L. Stevenson****CV

From the depths I return

2008-09-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

I finally found a way to get Edmund and its been keeping me sane during these interesting weeks of prepping a brand new classroom by oneself not knowing who, if anyone, will be working with me and then having the person who would decide to work somewhere else so they hire a person who can start working but only on the very first day of school (and who speaks no english while I speak no spanish) so okay at least they found an assistant who knows how to be with the children but turns out she got accepted to graduate school and could only be with us for two weeks but hey they found someone else who (for what ever reason) decided this past week that the best way to heat up english muffins for the children was in a glass tray on a stovetop burner.

So yeah: Edmund Black Adder has been a spot of all right. Well that and seeing Nick Cave last night :) What a fabulous show.

Recently read:

Crossing to Paradise, Kevin Crossely-Holland

Chalice, Robin McKinley***CV

Avenant or Bete or Ardent?

2008-07-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

I had a hard time falling asleep lat night (the fact that it was 4 in the morning is beside the point) I kept wondering if I had put in the correct dates for my vacation request. Were they going to expect me in today instead of next Monday?

I went into the city today to pick up some loose leaf tea as well as see if it would be possible to purchase the series from a real time vendor. I tried ordering on line but for some reason they refused to believe that m method of payment was really what I said it was. Makes you think doesn't it? Just because our card calls itself AmerigoQuick*** or DominantCard or Freedom doesn't mean it is. It's really just a clever disguise. It's a Credit Card Carnival Masquerade!

Stupid on-line ordering monopolies

So I went to the mega-shop where I found out that yes I could order it from them but only three volumes as the others are discontinued (?!) and it would take 3 - 6 weeks and I would have to leave a deposit which would be refunded to be used as a credit for a purchase with that particular store.

okaaaay. I said, "I need to think about it."

I browsed instead. Found a copy of Stardust and A Hard Days Night on sale then wandered looking for Amelie. Didn't find it. But I found the Criterion section. Oooo a section to buy criteria who'd have thought! Wonder what a criteria looks like when it's not being scientific?

Turns out it's a label for a selection of films that are supposed to be the criteria of filmmaking. Yeah but whose? I don't think it's the criteria of all film makers everywhere cause some of them... it ranged from Pandora's Box to Brazil to the 400 Blows to Samurai Trilogy to Slackers, Time bandits....

BUT they did have La Belle et la Bete and the aforementioned Pandora's Box.

Guess what I watched tonight as I continued to knit the forever flare? :)

***

Since I was doing the public commute I also started the Sky Sock from Cat Bordhi's book. Finished one cuff and I'm on the second of three repeats for the leg. I like the fact that she has baby sox as first experiments before starting with an adult sock. Not only do I get an idea of what I'm letting myself in for but, since one of my team members is expecting and two staff recently got married. I can start a prezzie stash ;)

****CV

Dandelion

2008-07-20T23:47:00.000-07:00

I couldn't stand it anymore so I bought Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block this afternoon. Finished it too. Not that it's a long book.

Aaaah. I feel better.

Watched Vampyr and Tampopo tonight. Vampyr is a 1930's german film. I think suffocating a demon with fresh flour is pretty original. Tampopo was just as fun as I remembered it being.

***

I've restarted the knit skirt I was making a month ago. Since it is worked from the waist down the rounds take longer and longer the closer I come to finishing. I have one pattern repeat (20 rounds) to go before I can start the flare: at the soonest. If I want the skirt to be longer than knee length I'll need to do more repeats before the flare.

I've also started working with Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Made my first Sky sock.

****CV

2008-07-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

Alphaville

A sam spade secret agent visits a town operated by a computer. All the women are numbered and some citizens are encouraged to suicide if they cannot adapt and if incapable of either are executed. Something like nazi germany meets Bladerunner and hal is president.

the Sea Hawk

Errol Flynn. Need I say more? Okay Alan Hale is there too and Claude Rains. But really Flynn should be enough. To quote Elizabeth about "Flash": 'I've got such a crush on him'. Well who else could have been the original Man In Black??

Melmoth has put me off my reading. Only 200 more pages to go. I think I can I think I can. The fact that Balzac has written a conclusion to this book is the only thing keeping me at it. I've been dabbling in non fiction: Yoga Morality by Georg Fuerstein (about the yamas essentially), and The Disciplined Mind by Howard Gardner (he of the Multiple Intelligences theory).

***

Other films watched include:

the Triplets of Belleville

Robin Hood (Douglas Fairbanks)

Roxanne (Steve Martin)

Thanks to the DVDs I've actually been knitting again. I've completed one felted bag, finished a

noro fan and feather scarf and just need to make the handles and lining for two intarsia bags.

****

So I really enjoyed watching the Black Adders and I'm considering owning the set. With that thought in mind I perused the offerings. I'm tempted to present what I found as a lesson in consumerism for some of my class, viz:

You have the opportunity to own a complete set of films which you know you will enjoy. The set is 100 dollars. Do you get it? Perhaps you want to now what is meant by a complete set? Thus a complete set is 5 DVDs. So that is roughly 20 dollars per. Well you know you will like it ad watch it so do you get it? Perhaps you are curious how much each costs if purchased individually? Okay they are 15 dollars individually.

See my confusion? Why if I want the whole set does it cost more for one package then if I buy each of them indivdually?

***CV

A Turnip that Looks Just lIke a.....

2008-07-15T00:51:00.001-07:00

I've been renting lots f movies lately. I recently discovered that my local library has a fairly decent collection and so I've taken advantage. They have all the Black Adders as well as silents. Yesterday I watched the Douglas Fairbanks version of the Three Musketeers and this evening John Barrymore in The Charming Rogue (about Francois Villon).

side note: HRH Elizabeth makes a comment about Edmund and parties and how he always wears very "tight tights". So does Msr. Barrymore.

I have a complaint about the silents on DVD and if anyone can recommend good versions I'd be grateful. My complaint is the soundtracks. Scott Joplin durng a romantic scene or Swan Lake during a fighting scene is not necessarily appropo. I know that originally compositions were made to be played during the actual performance of these films. Have the scores been lost? Can the companies just not be bothered? It's irritating and I'm somewhat tempted to score the films myself just (ie create my own compilations) to have a better experience.

Still reading Melmoth the Wanderer. It is really a trying experience. I find myself skimming whole paragraphs in order to move the action along. Melmoth has finally turned up and is attempting to corrupt an innocent island girl by explaining all the religions of the world to her. This consists of (from what I can make out and I'm presuming that Maturin knew more about his own Protestantism then anything else and this is his excuse) Seeva worship (though the idol sounds like Kali), Hari (which is what Krishna is called but apparently this hari requires the sacrifice of babies), Brahma (is a goddess??), Juggernaut (no idea) Turkish (which he identifies as Muslim), and generic christianity.

*sigh* I would prefer it if a person is going to incorporate spirituality of other faiths they at least match the proper deity name with that particular deity's worship. Or make it all up: names and rituals. It's just too confusing and I find myself more interested in making proper names and notes in the margins than actually reading the story.

I ran into a similar issue last week reading the preface to a collection of Sindbad the Sailor stories. The translator was talking about castes in India and identified Bhramins as the warrior caste and Kshatryia as the intellectuals. I'm not denying brains or fighting spirit to either ncessarily but I thought it was the reverse.

***CV

Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?

2008-07-10T23:42:00.001-07:00

Have I ever mentioned my problem with a certain parcel delivery company? I find this challenge slightly ironic considering that during my study of Organizational Behavior this particular company was held up as a good example of efficiency towards customers and employees.

Needless to stay I spent my entire day at home awaiting delivery of a package from said company only to find - when I went online, at 4:30pm, to track it- that the package had been delivered at 2:30.

That's odd, I thought. It has been delivered but I do not have it.

So I called the company of purchase to see what they knew and got confirmation that if the parcel service had somehow messed up I could get a replacement: then they gave me the customer service number of the boys in brown.

I called. I stated my name, number and address very clearly.

Turns out that even though I was very specific about my address they decided to deliver it to my neighbors.

But I do have it now. So Mr. McGoohan and I spent some time in the Village this evening. ***CV

John, Emma, Peter, and Edie

2008-07-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Well I figured out how to move my pictures from the camera to my computer. The tricky part is moving it from the computer to the blog. I somehow don't think it should take five minutes to upload. It never has before.

Recently read:

Casino Royale, Ian Fleming, (181pp)

The one that started it all. It shows too. But now I now when Bond met Felix, about S department, and Mathis. I never quite understood the misogynist bit that has been credited to Bond. Until the last line of this story. Oh, Now I get it.

Currently reading:

Melmoth the Wanderer by Maturin. Some pretty eye-rolling over the top gothic moments so far: um Sra. Moncado, I really don't think your child, no matter how much he loathes becoming a monk, will walk over your prostrated body in order not to become one. No really this is one of the scenes in the first volume of a four volume story. I am no where near the climax. The author is still introducing the players. And even though he was clergy he does not seem to like the church. He keeps insulting it and its practices: especially the Jesuits.

***

Recently watched:

Peter Gunn (series)

the Avengers (series)

Black Adder III (series)

As You Wish

2008-07-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

Kenilworth, Sir Walter Scott (392 pp)

I still have no idea who the main character of this story is. Perhaps it is the castle Kenilworth after all. The hero is Tressilion but he so seldom appears one wonders. Then there is the Earl of Leicester and with his attempt to become Elizabeth's King, while married to someone else (ahem, this is Queen Elizabeth he's trying to fool?) so perhaps he is the villain... but no, that is definitely Varney. Anyway it is a very well written story as well as language and historical allusions go. Much better than Ivanhoe in my opinion - of course that wouldn't be hard, Ivanhoe is such a schmuck. Wonderful epigraphs before every chapter and I think Scott had much fun in writing this tale.

The Reavers, George Macdonald Fraser (268 pp)

I have never read a Flashman story. I'm tempted to now. Very fun and very modern in its Elizabethan splendour. Loved the seesaws of doom. And really: haggis torture. Who'd have ever thought of it?

***

The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke (235 pp)

I think this has been around enough that most people are aware of what it contains. Short stories along the lines of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, but short.

****

Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne (191 pp)

Except for calling San Francisco the capital of California an enjoyable read. Phileus Fogg is amazingly unflappable and uninterested in what is happening around him. Well either that or its a very clever disguise. He could give Mr. Spock lessons in imperturbability. Favorite part had to be the desert schooner.

*****

sail your ships

2008-06-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

Little Dorrit, Charles Dickens, 855pp
I love Flora. She has such a surreal manner of speaking that it is a delight to try and figure out just what she is trying to say. Little Dorrit, or Amy, is the daughter of the Marshalsea a debtor's prison where debtors were placed until they could pay off their debts. Apparently as long as they were in the Marshalsea they couldn't be hounded and yet because they were in there they had no way of earning income. So yeah: makes as much sense as Flora but there you go. Sweet and good souls are pitted against corrupt and murderous rogues.

Anecdotes of Destiny and Ehrengard, Isaak Dinesen cc77pp
Isaak Dinesen writes marvelous fairy tales that are not necessarilly happy but wonderfully intricate and carefully embroidered. I did not know she was the author of Babette's Feast. Yesterday I found a copy of Carnival which contains other short stories by her. I may end up reading Out of Africa.

Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn, cc07pp
What happens when the tiles from a statue depicting a sentence containing all twenty-six letters of the alphabet start falling off? Is it a nessage to the town? Some think so and one by one letters become banned from speech and writing. It becomes a capital offence to use the leters for anyone over the age of seven.

Meanwhile I am indulging in dvd nights. So far I've watched the Avengers, a Fish Called Wanda and You Only Live Twice. Tonight I realised that I have Nick Cave concerts on dvd.

summer time

2008-06-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Summer has begun. While many of us head in different directions we will be all reunited in the fall. When asked by a parent did I have any plans for my vacation my answer was: sleep.

Perhaps teachers hibernate in the summer so they can growl throughout the winter?

One child surprised me by giving me a farewell hug. But then this is a child who has matured greatly over the past year. From trying to figure out why children couldn't take over the class when there were more of them then the adults to what he is today.

celebrate

2008-06-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the end of the year party in which we not only celebrate our year spent together but we welcome sixteen new children into the class. This means that there will be 55 children. Have i mentioned that three of the team are gone already? Two left last week to continue their training and one left to help his family move from one state to another.

Oh and the architect came in and the demolition of part of the classroom is set to begin next week which means that while we are celebrating in the park half the classroom materials will be moved into one of the rooms, if not more.

ah change

testing, testing...is this thing on?

2008-06-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

As one of the parents said last Friday : I have left the dark side of pc-dom and entered the light realm of -

"What is that faintly fruit scent wafting from the computer room? Could it be macintosh?"
"Wasn't macintosh an olde designer bloke?"
"I thought it was rain gear....."
"Ewww fruit scented rain gear?"
"Better than fruit scented elderly gent wouldn't you say?"

I did get to watch my first ever personaly owned dvd: the Avengers and I have A Fish Called Wanda, too.

Books read:

Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens 426pp

Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson 2i9pp

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 509pp

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo 465pp

The Summer Book, Tove Jansson i70pp

Currently reading: Little Doritt, Charles Dickens
Seeing soon: Nick Cave, 'cause he's touring the large venues in the Fall
CV

no cue

2008-06-04T20:26:00.003-07:00

Louise de la Valliere, Alexandre Dumas 678pp
Raoul and Louise are not so much main characters as they are pivots upon which the true interests of the story may move about. So it is that Colbert comes closer and closer to removing Fou-uet while the king courts Louise and has a really cool spiral seret passage hidden by an amazing 'oh no one would guess that that ever so clever folding screen is for something other than changing behind' wink wink, constructed leading from the king's best friend's room -read toady- to Louises bed chanber. Anyway we find out that Aramis is a little too cold blooded while Porthos is such an amiable hercules. And then Raoul returns from England to find Louise in the king's arms which leads to.....

The Man in the Iron Mask, alexandre dumas, 568pp
The films lied. Sad. Just depressing and sad and, yes, last night I skimmed the final chapters. I don't need to read about them all dying.

Tonight I picked up a copy of the Count of Monte Cristo but I may read Oliver Twist first...

A partial keyboard either breeds creativity

2008-05-25T19:51:00.001-07:00

or homicidal thoughts
.........
Recently Read:

The Foretelling, Alice Hoffman, one hundred eighty one pages
Rain, the daughter of an amazon leader, journeys toward adulthood discovering that change must come and that appearances are not the best evidence for truth. Horses, bees, bears and what life may have been really like as a member of a nomadic amazon tribe make for a well told tale.
..........
a Wild Murakami Chase, the Japan Foundation, one hundred fifty one pages
a collection of essays from the Murakami gathering held in Japan includes various interpretations of what makes Haruki Murakami such a popular literary figure around the world. The essay on mirror neurons was wonderfully Carrollinian
...........
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, Trenton Lee Stewart, 440pp
Reynie, Kate Constance and Sticky reunite for what they believe will be a celebratory occaision. Instead they discover that their beloved Mr Benedict has been kidnapped and they set off on an adventure that will land them once again in teh evil clutches of Ledroptha Curtain and his smiling sweet scented minions: the Ten Men. Staple removers of death, killer wristwatches, deadly sharpened pencils and a clipbopard that would terrify madame guillotine are only a small portion of what these execs carry in their briefcases. One will never view an executive in the same way again.

currently reading:

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

Louise de la Valliere, Alexandre Dumas

.......CV

may i......

2008-05-23T21:06:00.001-07:00

While the getting is good I'm going to list books read and recently obtained:

Twenty Years After, Alexandre Dumas 749pp
The further adventures of the musketeers only this time D'artagnan and company face the son of milady as well as the machinations of cardinal Mazarin. More swashbuckling and derring do including a kidnapping of an english leader and an attempted rescue of Charles the II from the scaffold.

The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Alexandre Dumas 649pp
Once more our heroes are called upon, only this time they are at very different places of the game board: socially, politically and emotionally. This is the longest of the trilogy and so is divided into three volumes of which the Vicomte is the first. Alas I finished it before finding a copy of the second and so had to leave D'artagnan wondering why he was betryed by Aramis and Porthos while Athos' son attempts to prevent the duke of Buckingham from killing either himself or his beloved's intended husband: Louis the XIV

The Women's War, Alexandre Dumas 545pp
In which cardinal Mazarin makes a guest appearance but only as a plot device. The story itself centers around the crowned princesses of france during the time when the events of Twenty Years After were taking place. A woman disguised as a man resuces another woman's lover from the cluthes of a suspicious husband only to have him betrayed by the husband's wife. Secret passage ways into locked fortresses and passes under rivers as well as revolting aristocracy concludes in a climax remarkably dickensian.

A Harlot High and Low, Honore Balzac 554pp
Continuation of the adventures of Lucien Chardon de Rebumpre from Lost Illusions. This novel focuses on the villainous nature of Vautrin. A political gothic novel - just replace the lecherous priest from the Monk with a crafty and viscious criminal mastermind.

waiting to read:

Louise de Lavalliere, Alexandre Dumas

The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas

The Memoirs of Monsieur D'artagnan,

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo

Reading Murakami,

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

Summer Book, Tove Jansson

The Mysterious Benedict Society and Point Rendevous

The Foretelling, Alice Hoffman

aloha

2008-05-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

Busy busy hectic, hectic.

Did you know that computers don't like tea? Who knew?

As soon as my laptop forgives me or I bond with another posting will be sporadic.

***CV

43/106

2008-05-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here is another of those book lists in which one marks the books read, waiting, tried but put aside, and never heard of. I've only bolded those I've read and asterixed those that I have. This time though it's the books most often said as unread on the 1,oo book list. (Thanks to Fillyjonk for this fun review :)

*Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
*The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
*Don Quixote
Moby Dick
*Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies (have it at home, might read it)
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
*Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
*The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
*The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
*Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
*Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
*Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
*The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

I find it interesting that there are so many Neil Gaiman books listed.***CV

The Real Dumas

2008-05-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Club Dumas, Arturo Perez-Reverte (362pp)In which antiquarian book collecting crosses paths with sataninc ritual, a world weary devil, and a Poe-etic Spaniard living in a mildewing mansion with a headless angel filled garden. It took me about a third of the book to get involved with the story. I wonder if any of his other books are worth pursuing.
**
The Amazing Kavelier and Klay, Michael Chabon (639pp) 1930's, the birth of the comic book, Prague, death defying escapes, true love, Dali, magical realism, a Max Ernst (sans Leonora Carrington) walk on: what's not to like? Well I could have done without the Oyster episode. But the dirigible cafe was great! Teabird does such a thing still exist in NY?
***
Currently reading Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas****CV

Cake and Ale

2008-04-23T20:45:00.001-07:00

The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne,

Burnt on the water.

The poop was beaten gold,

Purple the sails, and so perfumèd that

The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made

The water which they beat to follow faster,

As amorous of their strokes.

For her own person,

It beggar'd all description: she did lie

In her pavilion—cloth of gold, of tissue—

O'er-picturing that Venus where we see

The fancy outwork nature.

Who knows where happy thoughts may lead engaged upon a pleasant task on a day such as this? I am most happy to share this day with you Will S. ***CV

So then he asked.....

2008-04-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the second class of the Belle Curve. Before going in I prepared some of my lessons for the coming week (we've started the junior great books programs) and then went to the cafe. The counter person was a little harried as he was the only one there and had just had a rush with a consequent back up of orders to send out. So I waited to order while the preceding customer set up her table, which apparently wasn't hygenic enough because she requested a rag and if she had to use it herself she would, but really (and this was all implied by her tone of voice) she shouldn't have to as he was the help and she was the customer.

So he said he would but would she mind waiting a few moments?

*sigh* If I must.

She then preceded to move to a different chair across the way from the unhygenic table. And then when another chair (one of the comfy red ones) was vacated she went over to that one and set herself up. Then her order was ready, so she had to get up and fetch it.

Ah the trials of being high maintenence.

Then I got asked a personal question by the counter boy.

Don't you love it when someone says: Can I ask you a question? It's kind of personal? What do you say? Yes I mind!?

I figured if it was personal he'd be embarassing himself not me so I said sure.

Odd what people consider personal.
**
Books read this week:

The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart

***CV

Tip-Toe through the.....

2008-04-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

Taxes are done!

Yesterday when I went out for my final day of spring break I found out what the bulbs were that line my walkway. My walkway is abundently supplied with oxalis (sour grass) wild onion, pretty flowers that are weeds in camoflauge, roses, lilies and a jade tree. Mixed in with this are these large bulb leaves which I have been presuming are failed tulips.

But no. They are irises! And one is setting buds and it is five feet tall.

Dear lord!
**
So Saturday (before the blooming iris) I participated in a class to make a skirt. It's a knit skirt and so far it seems to be coming along fairly well. The pattern is called Belle Curve and is part of the 2007 winter Knitty collection. I'm using a beautiful shade of brown called chocolate (Cascade 220).I'm hoping it turns out well. The plain star stitch is a bit of a tease but I realised that if I knit the row before the pattern row less tightly, then the plain stars are less work.
***
I started Jane Austen's, a History of England yesterday but have not made much progress****CV

Give a Spider some Scissors....

2008-04-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

Travelled into the city yesterday. I decided enough was enough and I would go to see the woman who has cut my hair since I was 13 (yes: thirteen). Got on a nassty BART car: as someone apparently felt that their snack must be shared with the poor hungry BART seats and apples and peanut butter are the bART seats favoritist goody. (As I said nasssty).

I get off at Powell street and walk up past the cablecar turnaround, the DSW, the huge Victoria Secret across from the equally huge Disney store and get to Sutter. I go in to the store front and walk up and find out that the salon she is in in is one more floor up so after three flights I arrive. And she starts hacking away. This pleases me enormously. When I ask for a Brooksie A-line I want a Brooksie A-line not a slanted 70's c curve which is what I have been given the last two times I've gotten my haircut.

I feel so lite!

Afterwards I go to the book store and find two reads: History of the Ancient World, Susan Wise Bauer and Twenty Years After, Alexander Dumas. Then I go back to the BART station feeling all pleased and there's this guy who insists on invading my personal space to try and sell me a BART ticket I do not want nor do I need and as he will not get out of my face I have to tell him:
"Look! I just want to get my ticket without being bothered!" And after staring at him and not moving he takes a hint.

I can then get my ticket and go down to the platform and board a train where I am promptly surrounded by men in suits, with wireless laptops at the ready, headed home.
**
I am still reading Perdido Street Station but as of today I have less than eighty pages to go. Mind, they are tight packed tiny font pages but - I have hopes that the Good Fairies of New York may be started tonight.

In order to accomplish this near feat of concluding the feast fest of slake-moths and oneirotic Clotho like spiders I went to a cafe and latched onto one of the comfy red chairs. Got me a lunch and a drink and settled right in. Then, how odd, I don't remember anything sharpish in my food stuffs. Hmmm, I don't recall hearing any bone like cracking. Why then does one tooth feel jagged and the other not?

Guess along with a visit to my familiar hair stylist it's time for a visit to my familiar dentist. Seems part of a molar has dissolved leaving a ten year old (most likely older say 12?14?) filling to hold up the fort on one side. *sigh*
***CV

***CV

For Told

2008-04-07T21:52:00.000-07:00

Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

TS Elliot

It all begins with one....

2008-04-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I had the strangest dream

I ever dreamed before

I dreamed the world had all agreed

To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room

The room was filled with men

And the paper they were signing said

They'd never fight again

And when the papers all were signed

And a million copies made

They all joined hands end bowed their heads

And grateful prayers were prayed

And the people in the streets below

Were dancing round and round

And guns and swords and uniforms

Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream

I ever dreamed before

I dreamed the world had all agreed

To put an end to war

Simon and Garfunkel

And the mome wraths.......

2008-04-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

I finished the baby surprise sweater. Of course it didn't really fit as I was following the original pattern and the "baby" I was making it for just turned one. S'okay. It ws a fun adventure knitting origami and now that I have done it once I think it will go quicker and better next time.
*
I apologise for the surreality of my most recent posts. Something about writing reports when I have to tell all about each child without judgement ( because I not only have to think about the person now but the person of the future who will reread these reports much as we all look at old report cards) requires intense mental gymnastics and this blog was my outlet.
**
I am currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and this afternoon I made a few book purchases for my most welcome week of Spring Break:

Persuasion, Jane Austen

Perdido Street Station, Chia Mieville

Dingo, Charles de Lint

***
Has anyone ever read a book called, The Chalice and the Blade? I recently attended a conference where the author was a keynote speaker and I'm curious about the response readers of her work have had. I know how I responded and apparently I'm in rapport with most of my workmates in this reagrd. So if any who reads this post has read any of Riane Einsler's work: what was your reaction? ****CV

Tea and Hemlock

2008-03-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

If I do not see another progress report again it will be too soon. (I say this knowing full well that I'm going to be seeing them, and more, in less then three months *sigh*).

Meanwhile, I've been sedating my mind by cruising egl sites (elegant gothic lolita) Goodness, ssoooo much lace and bows and frills and, well, da-rama. ..... I do like that clodhopping alice in wonderland mary janes though *g* Sweet and amazing at the same time. Along with this of course I'm continuing to indulge in the Nick marathon so it's rather intersting to look at kawaii dress up pics and listen to lyrics that only Nick can write -

Red Right Hand indeed.***CV

Green Gloves.....

2008-03-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

Lovely Creature

There she stands, this lovely creature
There she stands, there she stands
With her hair full of ribbons
And green gloves on her hands

So I asked this lovely creature
Yes, I asked. Yes I asked
Would she walk with me a while
Through this night so vast

She took my hand, this lovely creature
"Yes", she said, "Yes", she said
"Yes, I'll walk with you a while"
It was a joyful man she led

Over hills, this lovely creature
Over mountains, over ranges
By great pyramids and sphinxs
We met drifters and strangers

Oh the sands, my lovely creature
And the mad, moaning winds
At night the deserts writhed
With diabolical things

Through the night, through the night
The wind lashed and it whipped me
When I got home, my lovely creature
She was no longer with me

Somewhere she lies, this lovely creature
Beneath the slow drifting sands
With her hair full of ribbons
And green gloves on her hands

by Nick Cave, Murder ballads

Roll the Stone Away!

2008-03-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hello?

Anyone there?

*cough*

I am still in the cave that is progress reports. However, as this weekend would imply, there shall be a recovery. I see a crack of light and with only 9 more to go (see I kinda had to re-do them starting yesterday but I seriously buckled down today and 20 are as complete as I'm going to do them) I have hopes of some free time tomorrow.
**
Meanwhile I started making a baby surprise sweater (I simply cannot report progress on my commute) but had to rip it because one decrease side had 25 stitiches while the other had 21 and symmetry seemed kinda important. My stitch count is still (albeit symmetrically) wacky though. Hmmmm***CV

flash from the front lines

2008-03-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

I think that copy and paste are my new best friends. Without them I do not know how I will manage to survive this progress reporting. Yes, I should be working on them now. But after 3 and a half hours so far today I think I deserve a weee bit of a break.

I do admit I have never filled out a seven page report before. Umm seven per child that is. And this is only the first semester.

Okay, break over***CV

Goods

2008-03-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been so long since I posted about books (and I'm waaay to lazy to look) that I may repeat myself.
**
Morality Play, Barry Unsworth (206pp) A half starving run away monk stumbles upon a troupe of medieval players while they are saying a final farewell to one of their group. He decides to join up with them as a replacement for their dead comrade. They continue to travel (with the corpse in their wagon) towards their destination when they come upon a village which has been the scene of murder. A guilty person has been found and sentenced. The evidence is not as clear cut as it should be however and the troupe decides to step out of its routine of miracle plays and recreate the crime itself. Read this book for the setting and detail, not the mystery.
***
Hikaru no Go, vol.11, Yumi Hotta (195pp) Hikaru is up against Ochi who has been studying with Akira. Who will be the victor and join the ranks of the professionals??
****
Cast in Secret, Michelle Sagara (521pp) I finally found a copy of this book in Portland. It's not literature. It's a lite read about a spunky girl on an inaginary world with two hot guys interested in her; without all the heavy petting. It's a fun series. I must admit I liked Cast in Courtlight more (but then I'm a word girl). This time Kaylin must face her fear of the Tha-alani in order to retrieve a pandoras box. I do wish there had been more of Nightshade( I like the tall dark, brooding and dangerous in my romantic leads); however, I suppose Severn needed some of the spotlight.
*****
While in Portland I restrained myself and only came home with a few items;

The Black Sheep, Balzac

Hikaru no Go, Yumi Hotta

Classical History of the World for Children, vol. I

The Songs of the Kings, Barry Unsworth

The Portland Bridge book

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, Justin Pollard and Howard Reid

Alexandria and the Sea, Kimberly Williams

Gods Graves and Scholars, CW Ceram

******

Okay I guess it's time to return to writing progress reports****CV

Scroll XVII.iv a

2008-03-10T20:25:00.001-07:00

The conference I attended was all about the ancient city of Alexandria. It is essentially a way to recreate aspects of an historic multicultural setting in which children can learn about the people places and events as well as that language of a specific city in a specific time. There are stories, paintings, mummy portraits (paintings of themselves people had made while they still onsidered themselves beautiful), timelines, who am I games, a model of the city, an ancient coptic scroll : all sorts of fun things to do inluding learning to speak and read Alexandrian latin.

This particular course was created by an amazing person named John Wyatt. He has been working on it for over twenty years. I am so very glad that I was able to attend this past week as Mr. Wyatt is reaching a point in which travelling cross country is not the best use of his time. He is very funny and charming and extremely smart. (Well anyone who speaks at least five languages should be, right?) He also likes fairy tales and of course is a classicist.

I also heard him speak two years ago and this is why I can say that I hope he takes good care of himself so we have him for a very long time :)
**
Before telling the story of Alexandria to the children this afternoon I went on line looking for pictures of the new Library Alexandrine and discovered: they are looking for a head librarian.

If ONLY I'd studied Arabic *sigh*

Perhaps I should apply anyway. Can you imagine having a rejection letter from the Library of Alexandria?!***CV

I am the Pause

2008-03-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic.
You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything.
You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests.
You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time.
Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to.
(But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.)
You excel in: Inspiring people
You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

animal q & a

2008-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

One of the aspects of presenting lessons the way they are done in my school is that there is that potential for great work. Not great in the sense of, omg you just dicovered a new source of pollutant free energy that will last forever! But great as in large. I honestly haven't seen much of that type of work this year.

Until today.

Today I decided to present a material that was completely upended and confused yesterday. It is a set of photographs of different animal species with facts about each animal on the back. So today I invited three children to come play a game with me. (It's another classification work). We chose how to organise a miscellaneous set of cards under a broad category and then refined it into subcategories. After the lesson the children chose to either continue in the same category or another.

One group decided to continue the same and also decided to do every single animal card -that was not already in use by the other two gropus (yeah I had this lesson double again in process). Anyway the box contains easily 100 cards. The pictures were literally climbing the walls in one subcategory. And in order to have all the cards fit the children had to move tables and chairs to create space to lay out the rugs to lay the cards on. I think they used 8 rugs total.

They reorganized the cards at the end of the day (because they spent all day on it) so that tomorrow they could start making their chart of it.
**
On another note, and taking into consideration that not all people percceive things the same, I presented the Noun work to a different group today.

Facility with words: a natural gift or a learned skill?

Discuss.****CV

to Name

2008-03-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

I have to share.I had the most fun lesson today. One of the children last week requested a lesson on the spiritual noun (we have a really pretty symbol for it) so I said sure. So today we arranged a time and I set it up in one of the rooms. Meanwhile I got sidetracked by questions and when I came back another child who had seen the chart asked if he could join: sure.

Also during this time I invited a third child who really needs the busyness of lessons. So we sit down and I ask them what the work of a noun is.

"A person place or thing"

Yes a noun can be a person, place, or thing but what is the function, what is the work of a noun?What does a noun do?

Once that was answered we could get into the classification: Because people who work with words realised that if someone didn't organize them it would become really messy. Nothing but nouns everywhere.

So of course we seperated the common from the Proper (Sherlock Holmes versus detective) and then the concrete from the abstract. That was fun because the children could see, literally, as we stacked our cards of nouns that the concrete pile was so much higher than the abstract one, then we seperated the high stack into collective and material before sorting though our 4 abstract nouns into aspects of quality, action, state, idea.

In fact I lifted ball from the concrete pile after we all agreed ball could also mean a dance.

Where does spiritual come in? We had the word 'word' as an abstract idea (it can't be touched, it can be given and kept but not seen) and from that we had a conversation about the Word.

I love socratic type lessons and the children were so involved that some other children sat-in! ***CV

Cardboard Box part II

2008-03-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

How, you might wonder, did I find out that the hotel was sold out? (It still boggles me that such a thing is possible. I really can't fathom a400+ room building selling out. But I digress.) Using the handy phone number attached to the conference acceptance letter (uh yeah so I can attend but you won't let me actually sleep 'cause, I dunno, the conference will be so fascinating I would rather be awake all 84 hours of it. Riiiight).

Said number connected me to a lovely and chatty lady who, in the time of our conversation of finding out the rooms were gone and locating other possibilities which were either twice the original rate or so far out that cab fare would make the flight ticket look like the cost of a cup of tea, or rooms that had their own conference table for eight, seperate loft bedroom and breakfast included - all I want is a bed I kept saying, not my own conference hall: the one affordable room she found was booked out from under me.

*sigh*

So I went online. I found a room with a web discount only slightly more than the conference rate. It's located maybe ten blocks from where I used to live which means (quel horror) I will have to walk past Powell's: every. single. night.

Oh dear***CV

Cardboard box to spare?

2008-03-01T19:50:00.000-08:00

About a week ago I received a flier for an upcoming teacher conference. One of those get on a plane and travel kind. It looked really interesting. It was all about the city of Alexandria and incorporated latin language as well as ancient history. However, part of my team is still in training and so both have to take time to go and do observations at other schools; as well as the fact that the conference is not months away but less then two weeks from the date of my receipt of the flier.

(I really want to go)

So I figured it couldn't hurt to ask as the worst that could be said is, "The notice is too short so maybe next time".

(Did I mention I really want to go?)

I gave the flier to my admin. and she said she'd talk it over with the directress but .... I said, I understood it was really short notice. Both of them came back later and told me that it looked wonderful and wow they sure wished I and another of my team members could go, it would be such an opportunity but the timing ... again I said I understood, and really, who knew if there was any space anyway, you know? They said let's see what works out with the observation rescheduling (one of my team has been trying to rearrange her 2 week observation so she can be back in time for an important school function). Sure, I said.

(I so want to go)

Last Wednesday, while my team mate was still waiting to hear back from the school she is to observe at my admin said, "Just go. We'll figure out coverage". That night I booked my flight and paid my conference fee. Yay!

Today I called to book a room.

They're sold out.***CV

How did they know?

2008-02-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

You Should Be a Teacher

You are patient, optimistic, and good at explaining things.

You work well with all types of people, and you are a good role model.

Success and positive outcomes are extremely important to you.

You are both a good leader and instructor. People look up to and depend on you.

You do best when you:

- Can see the results of your work

- Are able to teach someone a new skill

You would also be a good nurse or non fiction writer.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

But I just don't get the non fiction writer bit***CV

9 1/2 beats

2008-02-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to the city to see a demonstration of Kathak dance. Kathak is a north Indian style of dance which involves storytelling, stylised movements, adherance to beat counts and the ability to improvise.

After the performance (which included a brief tale of Krishna and Radha celebrating Spring by covering each other in colored water and colored powders) there was a workshop in which the audience got to try and do four things at once :) Me I can't sing and clap at the same time let alone stamp, count and sing, so I all ready knew what it would be like for me. What made it even more challenging was they divided us into two groups so that one group counted to 16 aloud while stamping at various speeds at the same time that the other group counted to match their stamps: then we switched.

The dancers follow 16 beat cycles in their minds (sometimes 12 and sometimes 9 1/2), while keeping 4, 8, 12 or 16 with their feet, singing and playing musical instruments. As one of the perfomers said it is like patting your head while rubbing your belly and walking on a tightrope; oh, and wearing 3 pounds worth of bells on each ankle.

It really was fun to do. I also got the opportunity to revisit the Castro. Found out Peets was no longer there, that Starb*cks is really umm of the hood now but not much else seems changed.
**
This past week has been in service meaning days and days of meetings as well as first aid and CPR training. We were also slated to work on progress reports but the memory sticks weren't ready so that could not be done. They are supposed to be ready tomorrow but this just means instead of having free day times to do the reports we'll have to do them on work nights in order to have them out on time.

When is that you ask? The end of February.

Meanwhile we have a major parent event this Thursday and one at the end of March to prepare for.***CV

reincarnation

2008-02-18T18:31:00.000-08:00

Oh yay, I belong two years before I was even born.......hmmmm what can it mean?

You Belong in 1965

You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Cinque-Folios

2008-02-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

Firebringer, David Clement-Davies (498pp) The saga of a group of Red Deer somewhat similar to Watership Down except told from the perspective of the Efrafran warren. That is, when the group leadership is taken over by a stag determined to control at the expense of decency and nature. Another difference is that their's is a mythology in which a hero is foretold, whereas in Watership Down the mythology was more tales of resourcefulness.
**
Book of Thousand Days, Shannon Hale (304pp) I first thought this to be a Rapunzel tale which in some ways it is, if a pricncess locked in a tower is all one requires for it to be so. However, Ms. Hale says that she based her story upon the Grimm's tale of the Maid Maleen which I have never read. Set in Mongolia the story is told from the perspective of an orphan Mucker from the steppes who unknowingly becomes tangled in the betrothal arrangements of a shining one. The book is her journal of all that befalls her as she does her best to make the best of a pretty odd turn of events. Werewolves, handsome kahns and uppity jilted princesses make for a fun story.
***
Un Lun Dun, China Mieville (471pp) Once the true heroine of this tale made her appearance I really had fun. Until then I kept wondering if I should continue reading. (And I must say: the Black Window of Webminster Abbey? Absolutely fabulous. ) However I am interested now in reading Perdido Station as soon as I can find a decent editon of it.
****
Stickeen, John Muir (79pp) The true adventure of a day on an Alaskan glacier with a tiny and devil may care dog.
*****
King of the Middle March (the Arthur Trilogy vol.III), Kevin Crossley-Holland The conclusion in which Arthur learns of his namesakes end, crusades may be better in hindsight and that love can change over time. ***CV

Ergo

2008-02-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

The quiz result was funny considering what my week has been like.

It is very hard to imagine myself as this contemplative, centered individual when three co workers are out on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, one shows up but leaves early on Wednesday; parents are submitting recommendation forms at the last minute, observers drop by unexpectedly, you have to figure out what lessons children should practice to show their parents, your hairdryer decides to catch fire early one morning when you've already overslept and it's 40 degrees outside, you're the opener but never manage to leave school until 5 o'clock pm, and even though some lessons caught on incredibly well you still have to virtually sit on some people to get them to focus on work (which they started in October!) and they act as if you are this fiend from hell.

Oh, and some students who you figure, Of course they've had this material so I can move on ummm haven't. "No honey: neither a slug nor a worm nor a starfish is a vertebrate." "No, up and down is not a geometric term for the position of a line." " As far as I know the word 'upon' is not an adverb."

So yeah. The result was a bit of a hah!
**
In other news I finished knitting the stole (there were knots in the skein which flipped the colour sequence) and I need to block it. Also my kilt hose book has arrived so I hope to pick it up tomorrow.

Pardon me while I move like a cat and collapse into bed***CV

Ha!

2008-02-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

**CV

two ringy dingies

2008-02-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

I spent most of my weekend reviewing my lessons journal and transferring all the lessons from one notebook to another. Then I transfered those into an online system. Finally, I figured out how the online sytem enables lesson planning and did that too.

Found out today we may not be using this sytem at all.

*sigh*

Anyway when I arrived bright and early today I saw the first spring Robin! That sight kept me in spirits all through findng out that not one but two team members were out sick and a third arrived barely able to stand. So it was me and one other allll day with 40 children. I say 40 cause I consider two of the parents in that category what with their calls and emails and general tantrums of: serve me now!
**
But I am home and I had fun today. I got to parse poetry with a good sized group and they all have various moon poems to work with. So fun!

Currently we're reading four books(yes 4: as the opener I read one about Jesse Owens; for morning group I read Harriet Tubman; and then there is the fiction group with Watership Down and the History group with Gods, Graves, and Scholars).
***
I'm almost done with my Shale stole. About half a full colour repeat in the skein left***CV

Cross Quarter II

2008-02-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

Weekend Glory

by Maya Angelou

Some clichty folks
don't know the facts,
posin' and preenin'and puttin' on acts,
stretchin' their backs.

They move into condos
up over the ranks,
pawn their souls
to the local banks.
Buying big cars
they can't afford,
ridin' around town
actin' bored.

If they want to learn
how to live life right
they ought to study me on Saturday night.
My job at the plant
ain't the biggest bet,
but I pay my bills
and stay out of debt.
I get my hair done
for my own self's sake,
so I don't have to pick
and I don't have to rake.

Take the church money out
and head cross town
to my friend girl's house
where we plan our round.
We meet our men and go to a joint
where the music is blue
and to the point.

Folks write about me.
They just can't see
how I work all week
at the factory.
Then get spruced up
and laugh and dance
And turn away from worry
with sassy glance.

They accuse me of livin'
from day to day,
but who are they kiddin'?
So are they.

My life ain't heaven
but it sure ain't hell.
I'm not on top
but I call it swell
if I'm able to work
and get paid right
and have the luck to be Black
on a Saturday night.

Cross Quarter

2008-02-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Goose-Girl

Spring rides no horses down the hill,

But comes on foot, a goose-girl still.

And all the loveliest things there be

Come simply, so it seems to me.

If ever I said, in grief or pride,

I tired of honest things, I lied:

And should be cursed forever more

With Love in laces, like a whore,

And neighbours cold, and friends unsteady

And Spring on horseback, like a lady!

Edna St. Vincent Millay

And then there were none....

2008-01-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

Busy busy busy but I did want to ask: What happened to Knit the Classics? It done disappeared.

Do you think the Count got 'em?***CV

There and Back

2008-01-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

The trip was amazing. Death Valley is a place every one should visit at least once.

It was about nine hours to get there and that was after changing buses because the first bus developed engine problems before we had left the city (better then though than on the way). During the ride down the children kept htemselves occupied taking pictures, reading, following the trip on a map, and doing activity books. (No movies were shown, no music was played. Yes it is possible to do). As we entered the park a full moon was rising and so we only had the barest sense of what the landscape would be like.

On Wednesday we visited Salt Creek where some of the chldren managed to see a kit fox up close and personal, which the rangers said had not happened for fifteeen years. The rest of the time was spent studying animal tracks, learning about the plant life and water quality that made salt creek what it is. No one tried the pickleweed but apparently desert holly is edible. Aferwards we went to Salt flats which is 282feet below sea level. The location is also known as Bad Water, so named by a prospector who found the water but when he brought his mule to drink it it refused to do so . (Bad Water is actually a habitat for a rare mollusk). Because of the anount of salts that have been deposited there it is possible to walk out onto a sheet of salt which resembles a marble mosaic tile floor. The sheet curves in varying directions so if one imagines the yellow brick road only instead of bricks it is irregular polygons of salt then you have a good image of it.

The following day we visited Scotty's Castle and went back in time to take a tour. The castle is a living history museum so all the tour guides are dressed in period clothing (ours had seamed stockings, a fabulous cinch waist flared skirt coat and a snood) and speak in the present tense of 1939. While there we alos saw two young coyotes who do not know how to hunt. They are very cute and therefore are fed by the tourists despite Rangers' requests not to do so. During the summer the pups will be captured and released into an area where they will be able to hunt or if they cannot provede food for themselves they will be recaptured and put down. While this affected many of the children they (I think ) understood that it was far kinder to do this then to have the coyotes starve to death during the non tourist season.

From there we went to Ubehebe Crater which is also called Coyote's Burden basket and is where the Shoshone believe they first emerged. Then we went to one of the original borax mines and that children were confused by the treatment of the laborers of the time.

I should mention that it snowed early Thursday morning so we got to see a white Death Valley. And on the trip back we stopped and the children built a snowman.
**
No reading done on the trio but I have started Northanger Abby today (and Carrie I am loving it). Instead I started a lace stole in the Old Shale pattern and I have 2/3's of it done.

Donner vs. 49er

2008-01-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

Number 9 Dream, David Mitchell (400pp) Set in the Japan of Now, though it may be parallel, Eiji Miyake is on a quest to find his father. Feeling guilty over the death of his twin sister nine years previously there are flashbacks to his life then and projections on his future. Yet nothing can really compare to what happens to him on the way towards his goal. Killer lady attorneys, drugged out delivery boys who can't tell a live parakeet magic trick from a fake parakeet one (euwww), thunder gods who keep their promises all too well, hackers in the underground, life and death bowling: I suspect Mitchell has a fondness for Murakami.
**
I Coriander, Sally Gardner (275pp) The story takes place during Cromwell's reign. Coriander is a young girl who inherits more from her mother than anyone suspects. A sweet fairy tale that favors royalists over round heads.
***
I have three books for the bus to Death Valley: Northanger Abbey, Queen of the Desert and Women's Work, the first 20,000 Years. Having never read Austin but loving gothic horror I figure Northanger is a safe introduction.

Along with two in progress sock projects and some material to practice blackwork on. I hope that the children are similarly prepared *g* ***CV

Ivy laced windows

2008-01-17T20:39:00.001-08:00

The Book of Lost Things, John Connolly (342pp) I've read other John Connolly books and enjoyed them but for some reason when this book came out in hardcover last year I never picked it up. I honestly can't say why. It might have had something to do with the premise of a child who loses his mother and then literally loses himself in his books. However, I did pick up a copy last weekend and after starting one chapter late Saturday night, spent all day Sunday finishing it. How could I not when it is retellings through personal experience of classic fairytales? The last hundred pages or so are the author's discussions of why he chose which tales as well the originals from which he drew.
**
Ghost Written, David Mitchell (426pp) I am almost done with this book having picked it up yesterday. Being home sick from work will allow for that to happen. It is a tale told in ten chapters. Each chapter is an individual viewpoint located in a differnet part of the world and yet all the stories are connected in one way or another. The first chapter reminded me of Murakami's book about the Tokyo subway attacks and it is rather an interesting way in which to start off a novel. There are retellings of folktales here and there but they are not necessarily essential to the plot as they were in the above book. Two sweet stories so far and Iam now on the chapter located in Ireland.
***
We finished reading On the Banks of Plum Creek yesterday. Well, one of co-teachers did as I have laryngitis. I think I'll bring in Speedwell's Tale from Tales of Watership Down tomorrow (presuming my voice is back from vacation) as I don't think we should start another chapter book before our big trip next week. It will also allow me to get a sense of possible reactions to Watership Down.***CV

toasty toes

2008-01-08T21:59:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! Warm warm wooly red socks. Yummmy!

I have been kniting socks, lots o socks the past year or so but not necessarily wearing said socks. I wore my tall tall red pippi knee highs today and was not cold at all. I could get use to this. Whilst wearing said comfiness I also realised what will help make my knee highs stay high ( as one was knit a little taller than the other) and now I am wondering whether I should order that Kilt Hose book I saw at Schoolhouse last night or wait?

Decisions decisions. I do want to start the bog jacket.
**
No reading as I have been busy the past two days laying down the law. Perhaps I can read this weekend***CV

Zooks! Egad! and Demme

2008-01-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

The Scarlet Pimpernel****(264pp) Well now, I think I know one of Barbara Cartland's sources of inspiration *g* It's a cute story even if the heroine (who is supposed to have one of the keenest wits in Europe) acts like a space cadet a lot of the time. Good guys rescuing aristos from the clutches of madame guillotine; unscrupulous republicans doing their best to keep royalists from winning; pride getting in the way of true love; thugs at the inn; black pepper in the snuff box; really creative explicatives; etc.

What can I say? It's of it's authoress' time.

Not sure what I will read next. I SHOULD be readng about Death Valley but maybe I'll start the Count of Monte Cristo early instead.
**
Went to the LYS again in spite of the lghtning and thunder that was occurring. Picked up some more Noro sock yarn as well as a copy of Selbuvotter by Terri Shea. (Thanks to teabird's squirrel mittens :) **CV

the bell is striking twelve

2008-01-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of winter break. Tomorrow begins child care and then come Monday School begins. Heh. Yeah so I made the most of today. Went to practice and there were only ten of us! Compared to the thirty or so in a cozy 18 person sized space it was positively cavernous (or is that Jules V. speaking to me?).

Afterwards I went to the yarn shop which was: OPEN!

So I got me some Noro Sock in Go Green and I doubt they will be sox, but whatever, and I got me some BONE needles. This is for the go green goth in me (silliness now bodes ill for the kiddies tomorrow ). Also, I now have a copy of Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman.

Then I went into work to just make sure that things were okay. Well, and to enjoy the calm that is an empty classroom.
**
Finished Journey to the Center of the Earth last night and started the Scarlet Pimpernel today. Since I actually own a copy of the Count of Monte Cristo I may join up again with Knit the Classics. Still thinking.
***
I'm considering a classics book group for the class as well. Two actually: one monthly and one bimonthly. Again, still thinking.****CV

Look it's a mammalian tortoise!

2008-01-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

I am almost done with Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne, 239pp). It is quite different from the movie I remember seeing many, may years ago. I do not want to hear of any remakes thank you, shudder, Dr. Dolittle comes creeping to mind. For one thing there are no competitors trying to get there first, which I recall as being a rather big plot device in the film. Alos I think there was woman on the expedition in the movie.

What I like about it is that it seems wonderful chapter book for the class at the beginning of the year. I would love for the children to hear certain parts and be able to say "Wait a minute, he went where? Because he thought the earth is hollow?? That can't be right!" "They ran into a what? Were they even alive at the same time?" And there is much mention of the diferent geologic eras of the evolving earth which I think would be great as well.
**
I found a copy of Women's Work, the First 20,ooo Years (Elizabeth Wayland Barber) today while milling amongst the blob like mass which was "50% off all calendars today" at Pendragon books. One would have thought it was the ONLY place open today, yikes!

I also got:

The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Emmuska Orczy

The Greek Myths, Robert Graves

Irish Folktales, ed. Henry Glassie

Because, you know, I will have SO much time to read once the school year begins again***CV

Old and New

2007-12-31T20:24:00.000-08:00

One way in which my reading shelf grows:

Discover a favorite author has a new blog. While reading said blog further discover that author is an avid change ringer. Briefly wonder if this is related to certain gentlemen's habits of jingling loose coins in their pockets. Presume it can't possibly be that but remain uncertain as to what it might possibly be.

While randomly perusing the web find a pattern for change ringer socks. Note that the pattern maker refers many times to the Nine Tailors.Briefly wonder, wth? Before moving on.

Go to book shop. Discover book titled the Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers. Stand agahast at one's ignorance in not recognising a Lord Peter Wimsey novel. Promptly purchase book. Pour pint of cider. Remain not at home for rest of evening.
**
Another way:

Go to morning practice after which do banking as planned and then walk for a loooong way to a yarn shop only to find it is closed. Mutter then head back and after another loooong walk duck nto a cafe and finish current read (The King's Fifth by Scott O'Dell). Look at watch decide that there is enough time to go down the street and check out the used book shop. Arrive to find that it is: CLOSED.

*Mutter*

Walk all the way back to where practice was in the morning only go across the street to a shop which is open until (look at paper sign, look at watch) one more hour. Enter. Browse. Leave with two new books :)

Firebringer, David Clement-Davies
Complete Grimms Fairy Tales, ed. Jack Zipes

Oh and Happy New Year.

I do believe I will be reading it in.****CV

ringing the changes

2007-12-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

I went into the city today. Didn't spend all that much time there. Just long enough to walk up and down Haight street looking for some things. Of the things I was looking for I only found one:
The Nine Tailors, Dorothy L. Sayers

But that's okay. Before heading across the bay I went to practice this morning. I can really tell where I've been slacking. The last few days I've felt muscles I had forgotten were there. Well they are not letting me forget now. I'll have to do something about maintaining the regularity of class when break is over.

When I went to Article Pract the other day I not only found one of the books I was seeking (Book of Yarn) I also found some bone knniting needles. Not being sure at the time what exactly I could use them for I did not pick up a pair. However I have since discovered that I do not have any 9 needles. And as there was a set available then I will go back and see of they are still available now. Minus the extra few miles of walking.

I already have such wonderful story ideas to explain the ficticious origins of the needles ***CV

Skald

2007-12-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

*Sigh* apparently I have read all of the Shakespeare Stealer tales and unless Mr. Blackwood is writing another there are no more to be read. I did return the volume I meant to today and instead got Hush by Donna Jo Napoli (a story based upon an Icelandic saga in which an Irish Princess is kidnapped and sold as a slave to a Norse nobleman*) and Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb.
**
I keep intending to go into the city but so far I haven't made it yet. There are a couple of places I would like to go to as well as I received some movie passes which I would like to use. And yet being able to do nothing is so lovely that the thought of going to town, much as I love and miss SF, is proving a challenge. I did actually go to practice this morning and visited the aforementioned shop. But I then immediately came home, did some weeding, and read.

Perhaps if I played the Feynman physics lectures I have on CD I'd get some knitting done....***CV

* And yes I consider it so much better than the book I returned. Blame the historic textiles mentioned in it,the Cuchalainn references, or the fact that it is actually teaching me some real world geography: something that could prove of more use to me then mastering the art of whingeing (Which I already have down pat).

slightly sloshed seaons greetings

2007-12-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

Gary Blackwood is a fun writer. He's the author of the Shakespeare Stealer series in which the main character, Widge, first attempts to steal Hamlet and ends up becoming a player of the Globe. So far I have only read three of the stories but I am looking forward to the others. Pagan is another YA historical series I would strongly recommend.

So, having read two Blackwood's, finished off the Silver Donkey as well as Teach Like your Hair is On Fire (like, like, not with) I started to read the first of the Fairytale Detectives series. Ugh. I realise that cynical children's stroies are really popular right now (please lord let it stop soon) but I have never been fond of them. Wednesday morning this book is getting returned. ( I refuse to have this book in my collection and so will brave the boxing day return hordes in order to get rid of it: this is how much I detest cynical childrens stories.)

Which leaves me....the Black Arrow! That should go nicely with my two bottles of Blackthorn (and it is so good to be back in CA where they actually stock the stuff!) I do believe.

Verily a merry christmas to ye.***CV

Solstice

2007-12-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

**
I started and finished Lord of the Flies yesterday morning. While not as horrible as I thought (the story not the writing) I'm still glad I did not read this as a teenager. The Plague by Albert Camus did not bother me but this would have. As it is I can't really understand the Captain not being a bit warmer, y'know? After all it was children and Ralph was only 12. Doesn't childhood provide some lattitude for feeling? Of all the characters I most identified with Simon. Out of curiousity, does anyone know if he was an epileptic? There was a moment there when he was in his hiding place where it seemed he had a seizure. But that wasn't gone into.
***
Today I finished the Seashell on the Mountaintop by Alan Custer. It's the story of Nicolaus Steno the original founder of Geology. He was the first person to actually propose that shells people found in the mountains and glossopetrae (tongue stones) originally came from the sea instead of being generated from teh earth itself. He also proposed that one could tell how old fossils were by determining what layer in the earth they had been discovered in.
****
I have some new books :)

The Black Arrow, Robert Louis Stevenson

(yay Robin Hood meets men in armor in Scotland)

The Mirror: A History, Sabrine Melchior-Bonnet

(we have a large mirror in the class which, when engaged in conversation the children prefer to watch themselves in rather than their conversation partner *oy*)

The Aeneid of Virgil, Robert Fitzgerald

( I'm planning on reading Watership Down with the upper elementary students, and as Adams based his tale on the Aeneid, I'm trying to see if we should read it first or not)

The Sisters Grimm v.1, Michael Buckley

(Fun light reading)

Shakespeare's Scribe, Gary Blackwood

(More fun light reading)

*****CV

Sing sing sing

2007-12-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness: Holiday baked goods.I think no more need be said.
**
During the rest times before performances we started reading By the Shores of Plum Creek. Laura Ingalls appears to appeal. We read 22 chapters in two days. Meanwhile I have decided to face my resistance to reading Lord of the Flies and I picked up a copy the other day. I'm working my way up to it by reading I Am the Messenger first. Before that I just finished Incantation by Alice Hoffman. It was about a girl named Estrella who lived during the times of Torquemada and the conversos (Jews who converted to Christianity).

Of course this could be avoidance rather than preparation.
***
How did I miss that sockwars was happening?! It's over now.Maybe next year****CV

Stopping by......

2007-12-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

Spin you right round

2007-12-13T21:31:00.000-08:00

So many families have wanted to checkin this week. I can't remember a time when this has happened. Usually there is so much holiday preparation going on (rehearsals, crafting, family coming or family travelling) that the last thing parents have thought of is checking in. (And considering conferences were three weeks ago?!)

So far I have had at least one meeting every day in one capacity or another and I have two more tomorrow. One at 4pm and one at 7:15am. The last means I have to cath a 5:45 train, at the latest to be ther on time. This after a parrent get together tonight. And of course there is the class party, secret santa and another birthday circle tomorrow as well.

The fun never stops.

And for myself I want to record that one of the meetings today ended with the mom saying that she thought this was the best year in elementary so far :)***CV

And then there were 7

2007-12-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

I wonder if schools have winter performances to make faculty really appreciate winter break? Perhaps its a way of channelling all that extra energy? Something needs too that's for sure. We were one staff member out on expected holiday and one called in sick which means that we were operating at low ratios today. Combine that with a fluctuating rehearsal schedule (what we planned last week is not going to happen except when it is but only for the moment and subject to change) and we were high, high energy today.

I'm about ready to give people assigned rooms to work in (we have several as the class is located in an Amish style barn house). But I go in late tomorrow as I will be closing so perhaps things will be calmer.
****
I went to a local book shop today to pick up Pillers of the Earth because I distinctly recall there being easily half a dozen copies there yesterday and one of the moms really recommended it. So of course when I got there the wind was whistling down the shelf that they once occupied. Oh well. I did find a cheap used copy of the Pat Hobby Stories by F. Scott.***CV

I think I prefer Lupin.......

2007-12-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Fantomas, Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvstre (295pp) According to the introduction this series of tales based upon the crime spree of a madman was made into silent films and was a source of inspiration to the originators of the surrealist movement. (Goodness mayhap this goes someway towards explaing my preference for magic realism, yes?) I can see where this would be appealing to the silent serial making filmster. I love the scene where the female hotel securities clerk after being hit upon by pseudo sherlockian Inspector Juve goes to the home of a wealthy entrepeneur for aid and is revealed to be his (the entrepeneur's) son - who, in an earlier chapter was proven to be not only dead but a murderer, because, you know, his mother is insane. Take that for serial twist of plot you would be soap opera buff!

But the ending?! What an ending. No I certainly couldn't have seen that one coming. Should I spoil it? But you might read it so I won't. Let's just say that madame guillotine does not always get her man.
**
On another note I think that wool skeins are really hibernating tribbles. How else to explain the 26 I found this afternoon? ****CV

to dye or not to dye

2007-12-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I left at 5:45 a.m. to go to work. I arrived in plenty of time to sit in a cafe and have breakfast then off to open up. Imagine my surprise in find the doors all ready unlocked and no one there. Hmmm.

Children arrive, music begins and I go to our team meeting. Then back to escort the children to class and the day begins. We had a special presenter planned but I forgot and he was late so we continued our day and then he had arrived and it was hurry, hurry he's waiting. In fact we had a phone call and two people in person within minutes of each other to let us know that he was here. Yes? but wasn't he late and so can't he now wait for us? apprently not. So everyone tidies up and we walk to the presentation which was planned for and hour at the most but ended up being an hour and a half so lunch was late and playtime was later and I got whacked by a dodge ball in the middle of negotiations about whether soccer or dodge ball had rights to the playing field.

So I go to lunch two hours late and I'm thinking: we were suppose to dye yarn today for holiday knitting projects do I even feel like doing it now? But if I don't do it now then the yarn won't have the weekend to dry and that'll be a pain and a half so, ok we'll do it. I get back from lunch and two of my assigned seat people are not in their seats (long story) and that has to be dealt with, and is.

Finally the dying gets started at 2:30, and we only have one pot and two tubs but 4 dyers. I'm supposed to leave at 3:30. We get to work trading off presoaking tubs and a beaker to mix the dye in (and the beaker, which is glass, ends up having been broken during a crystal growing experiment so we switch to flasks), filling the first dye pot and setting it on the stove to "cook" and then switching the "cooked" yarn into a cooling bowl while the next dyer puts in their yarn.

I ended up leaving at 5:45 p.m. with all yarn having been cooked and rinsed and laid on the drying rack for Monday morning detangling and ball rolling. ***CV

Fourteen

2007-12-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

I just counted: 14 days until winter break. Umm 14 business days that is (I refuse to include weekends).

On Friday I had the worst headache. I can't imagine why. Could it be because last week the children, for whatever reason, decided to go on full test mode? Let's see what happens if we do this and let's see what happens if we do that. Could it be because I had not one, not two, but three full morning observers walking around last week? Could it be because three families decided their child's birthday needed to be celebrated on the same day at the same time and that candles kept going out and three of my major testers decided to go into action during the ceremonies while all six relatives were present?

Perhaps.

Anyway. 14 days. And we have secret santa and crafting for family projects to start.***CV

edited: I just realised how many multiples of three happened in all those situations, anyone know about any planetary bruhahas???

Over

2007-12-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

38,655 and I am quite satisfied thank you very much. After all it 38,655 I wouldn't have had if I hadn't joined at all. And I think at least 3k of it is stuff that really doesn't need to be in there. Stotiires and exposition I put in just to be writing.

Funnily enough I was thinking that I had enough characters but I couldn't understand why not one of them wanted to get up and start doing something. Until I retold or revised (or what ever you call recreating a myth) of Raven discovering light. Then all of the sudden a huntsman entered the picture and he started stirring things up- in a good way.

I was explaining the elements of my story to one of my friends and she had this,

"I have no idea what's going on" expression when I stopped and asked, Did she knew the films of Jean Cocteau.
Yes, she said. So I then asked her,
Did she remember the set designs for Orphee?
Yes.
It's like that.
Oh, now I get it.

(The basic premise of my story is what happens during the dark period in the moon's regular cycle.)

So the tale is not done but I can feel it now has a unifing force who is going to bring it together and move towards an ending. My story last year ended in a not very satisfying manner, which was due to my wanting it to just. stop. all. ready.

Most of the class who participated achieved their goals though there were two who hadn't. We talked about what had been the hardest part for each of them, and surprisingly it was getting the idea and then figuring out what happened next. I say surprisingly because no one said sitting down to write. But then, judging from how many wanted to go straight from lunch to write and not to play I guess it should have been obvious :)

They are all reaady discussing doing it again next year***CV

surreal land

2007-11-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

Huzzah! 25K and counting!

I mentioned earlier that once I stopped trying to make my story make sense the writing got easier? I also discovered that if my narrator is chatty and inquisitive that also seems to get the story moving. *shrug* Metafiction anyone?

Lapine has survived the cavern of fire but my wolf boy just entered an egyptian temple (because he happend to look like the apis bull at the time) under the orders of one of the Morrigan sisters, who oddly enough resembles my foxmaiden, and is now in a Cretan labyrinth trying to figure out how to escape. And dangling girl (who is also named Lu) is about to have a conversation with a giant amber colored tortoise.

See, no sense to it at all.***CV

bunny hop

2007-11-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

18, 737 so far today. (Not written just the total so far :) Amazing how much easier writing is when you decide that it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not *g* Lapin has just reached a lake of fire after winessing a rather bizarre game of fydcyll. Poor bunny.

Speaking of bunnies I finished reading Tales From Watership Down today. I also picked up two Peter Sis books and a copy of Fun Dolls (not Bad Dolls) yesterday. Now that I've sorted my yarn from my fabrics I can make some dollies

I suppose I should go rescue Lu before the tree her rope is tied to collapses, and Lapin from sulfur poisoning; and maybe Lena ought not to open that mysterious box she just found, before I start making dollies**CV

EDIT: 20, 037 *whew* If I do 5K everyday, starting tomorrow, I'll make it.

Sprrrr-ite

2007-11-21T18:33:00.002-08:00

So I got this new book today. It's called Cute Dolls by Aranzi Alonzo. Now I want to go back and get Bad Dolls. But maybe I should write the 30K first.

I know that Lapine (one of my main characters - what?! you though the Bunny award was just for laughs?) is going on a journey through a labyrinth of death but I still have to figure out who and what he'll meet along the way.

I got ideas of course but I have to fact check a little to make sure that the who and the what are coinciding correctly. Meanwhile I have two girls hanging out on top of an abandoned water wheel, a baby of doom on a moon bridge and two friends just shattered a gazing ball and are telling stories to pass the time.

So you tink I got a plot in there somewhere? *g* **CV

reading 'n writing

2007-11-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

Tales from Watership Down, Richard Adams
King of the Middle March (the Arthur Trilogy vol.III), Kevin Crossley-Holland (Interstingly enough another book caught my eye in the shoppe this afternoon and upon reading the plot teaser it struck me as being a reversion of this series. Needless to say I did not purchase it. Is it just me or do most of the current YA books seem to be cut from the same cloth? Have I just been reading too many of the original myths so that now all heroic tales appear poor shadows? There was another book called Irish Tapestry I believe which used the Cattle Raid of Cooley as a premise but was set in modern Chicago -egads maybe it was a great Salmon that set Mrs' O'Learey's barn ablaze!)
Palm of the Hand Stories, Yasunari Kawabata
A Barrel of Laughs a Vale of Tears, Jules Feiffer

On order are two books by Peter Sis:

The Tree of Life (a book about Charles Darwin) and, Three Golden Keys, a story in which the hero returns to his homeland of Pargue and must find three golden keys to complete his journey.
***
So far I have 6,500 words. My goal is 10K by weekends end. The only way I see myself doing this is if each of my characters tells a story to pass the time. You know maybe I'm one of those people from that 'ameron era (Decameron, pentameron etc). Could explain why I like the Sargasso Manuscript so much***CV

Edied at 11:20pm: 10, 0038! Now for 5K for each of the next 4 nights and I will be caught up. I can dream*g*

cottontale

2007-11-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

So I worked on my story today and plan to do more work on it tonight and tomorrow. While taking a break I found this which is, in a way, related to the literary work in progress.

Your Score: Bunny Lorekeeper

Your Rabbit Mythology score is 81%!

Wow, good work! You really know your bunny mythology. (Might want to check to make sure your ears aren't growing...)

moonrabbit Lorekeeper ****CV

Self directed

2007-11-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

One of the groups reached their goal today :) As far as I know they're still writing.
**
Apparently two of the students made an apointment with the school head to talk over the fact that some of the adult community members were not living up to what we teach (small things like respect, consideration, etc). Turns out that these two would like to speak to the parents about it.

'Cause it is parents they feel are not following through.

Hmmmm.
***
Set two of my group in motion to plot a medieval garden for us. Imagine my surprise when they wanted to edge it with Flax.***CV

Blue meanie

2007-11-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

I am mired in exposition. I think my story is not so much in search of a plot as it is in quest of a setting. So far all I know about that bit is an image of a large rolling hill like estate. I did get a more satisfying end to the opening bit though and that feels good.
**
Meanwhile, I had to come down on some children today. May I ask why it is okay, young sir, for you to be flippant to me and I not call it as I see it? Hmmmm?

Q:You are here for what reason?
Q:This place is a what?

A: to learn
A: a school

Which means playdates happen on your time not mine.

So much for "I do what I like" as the actual quote is: "I like what I do".***CV

Re-view

2007-11-11T18:19:00.001-08:00

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ian Fleming (259pp) So I finally realised why I'm picking up these Bond books. It isn't for the stories. It's for the chase scenes. Fleming does good chase scenes. It meads of course that one must read the story to get to the chase but.....If I do not run across the word "dope" again I will not be sad. It must have been out of date even in the original era yes?
**
Watership Down, Richard Adams (479pp) What a delightful way to spend ones' weekend: reading the adventures of a migrating group of rabbits. There is somethng so special about having a warm kitty in one's lap while reading, "Can you run? I think not." It also makes me sad that I have no way of viewing the animated version by Don Bluth.

This is going into my stack of two books available to reread at any time (the other being Sunshine).
***
M is for Magic, Neil Gaiman A new short story collection based on the premise of Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket and S is for Space. How do I know? 'Cause Neil says so! This means that there are only two new stories in the collection (to me) but it does have Chivalry and the Price; and it makes me impatient for The Graveyard Book.

I haven't picked up a copy of Interworld yet. Should I?
****
Currently reading Last Tales by Isaak Dinesen.*****CV

Message? What message?

2007-11-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I just checked my cell phone and I had five messages and 12 missed calls. See, I haven't been paying attention to it since I got a new watch battery so those messages were from early last month. ooops! I am slowly but surelyleaving the communication age. If it were not for Internet there wouild be no connection at all. (That sounds kind of nice actually).
**
The other day one of the kidlets told me her word count from the preceding night. Dude, it took me three nights to get there. I'm sure she's already tripled it by now. Meanwhile other participants are zooming from lunch to their novelling and skipping recess all together.
***
As far as reading is concerned I'm almost done with Her Magesty's Service and I started Watership Down. This is my second read through and I'm thinking it might be a good chapter book for the class. Currently we're reading Alice in Wonderland and I'm really having to pay attention to the words. Reading Lewis Carroll aloud when one is not only American but not of the Victorian age is a bit of a sticky wicket. ***CV

check in

2007-11-07T19:55:00.000-08:00

In the Light of the Moon, Carolyn McVikar Edwards (172pp) This is a collection of thirteen stories based on various myths from different cultures around that world. The author also includes pesonal experiences and insights before each story. There's a companion volume about the Sun.
**
Thunderball, Ian Fleming and K McKlory, J. Wittington (258pp) A literate version of the film. I did find it tended to drag in spots but the underwater scenes are wonderfull.
***
Boots and the Seven Leagues, Jane Yolen (159pp) A teenage troll determined to see his favorite band winds up seeking his kidnapped brother instead.
****
So I finally started writing for NaNoand of course I am waaay behind where one "should be" near the end of week one. Oh well. If anyone is willing to look at what I have so far and give feedback I'd appreciate it.
****
The children set their goals today and have already started writing. Most are doing it in longhand so Isuggested that they count the words per page and then we could tally them at the end of the week. CV

Clocks Back

2007-11-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

I picked up the Moomintroll collection today. Thunderball is a slow read. This may be because I have seen the movie and the copyright page says that the book is based on a screen treatment by Fleming and another writer named McKlory. Mind you there is nothing unpleasant about having Sean Connery traipse around in one's imagination but ..... So I started Boots and that Seven Leagues and now I've run into the problem of the "defining" book.

It's one of those stories where the first person narrator presumes that the reader knows nothing about the context of the story and so explains every "new" term. *sigh*

I should be reading the Rachel Carson biography for the book group but that doesn't meet until Tuesday. So many books and yet none to read.

And I haven't started my word count for NaNo yet.

I did get the pilot light lit today though. Heat is nice.

Then the weather was in the upper 70's today.****CV

Newsy news

2007-11-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Thank you Paula for the prezzies:) If I had a digital camera it would be up, so all of you will have to imagine a box of dark chocolate (mine!); a spiral bound note book with lined pages hidden behind a Kincaidian cover waiting to be filled with stories; the Writer's Workshop In a Book book (edited by Alan Cheuse and Lisa Alvarez and yet more candies. Thank you :)
**
My co guide and I talked with the children today about NaNo and they seemed pretty excited. One started writing today:

C: "I'm going to write 50K!"

Me: Oh?

C: "Well, me and A. agreed to do 1K but if we make that before the end of the month we're doing 50K"

Me: Uhhuh.

Nothing like reasonable expectations *g*
***
I finished From Russia With Love last night and it left me wondering if Ian Fleming felt the same way about Bond as Arthur Conan Doyle was said to have felt about Sherlock Holmes and if that would explain why the story ended that away it did. So I picked up Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service tonight. I also have Isaak Dinesen's Last Tales, a copy of Bullfinch's Mythology, M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman, Boots and the Seven Leagues, and I saw that the collected Moomintroll comics volume 2 is available.

AND Charles DeLint has a new book coming out in spring called Dingo! AND Nick Cave has a new album due out at the same time!

Kinda makes up for the two really strange guys I've run across this week *shudder* Neither of whom was named Rafe and yet I have met a person of said name this week. Why does that name sound like it was picked out of a gothic book?
******
Yes I am doing NANo this month. Why do you ask?******CV

hallowed hollow

2007-10-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Hallowe'en!

Today was a major celebration day in the sense that it was all halloween all day. I am still adjusting to the school culture so I wasn't quite prepared for so much but that's okay. Now I will know for next year and already have a few ideas in mind.

I dressed as Edna St. Vincent Millay. There were all sorts of guesses for what I was when I arrived, from butterfly to witch :) I wore a 1918 black lace panel dress I bought years ago from a store in lower Haight (which doesn't exist any nore) a broadbrimmed black hat with flowers and a burgandy velvet calf length coat with those infamous shoes of the 4inch heels.

Quite fun but my feet are very happy we are at home now *g*
**
I finished reading the Mark of Zorro yesterday and started From Russia with Love***CV

Emily and Illse

2007-10-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

Emily of New Moon, LM Montgomery (338pp) Emily is different than Anne in more than looks. Like Anne she is an orphan but only because her father passes away when she is 11 years old. Emily's mother died rather suddenly when Emily was four and so she aand her father had been taking care of each other since. Emily of New Moon is harsher than Anne of Green Gables. The adults are prone to sarcasm and gossip. Perhaps the author idetified with Emily more than Anne. There is much talk of catching beaus and Aunt Elizabeth was hard to understand much as this reader wanted to. Interestingly the sympathetic Aunt Laura also gave me cause to wonder with her white lies and subverting of consequences. Dean Priest also struck me as odd. Something about a man in his 30's waiting for a 12 year old was a little too Nabokov for me. I did love the Catholic pries though and I hope he returns in other stories. Emily is a writer with dreams of being a poetess and possibly a novelist. Once again the reader meets Ms. Montgomery's love of things fey and Tennyson. I will look for the other two in this series.***CV

Carnations and Violets

2007-10-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Knight of the Maison Rouge, Alexandre Dumas (398pp) Maurice Lindey is your typical handome, brave, impulsive heroic member of the Republic. He is both patriotic and chivalric to the point that though he may be commanding the guard at the King's execution he will kill anyone who disrespects said personage. His good friend Lorin continually improvises quatrains and cites ancient poetry in response to typical conversations and is also a loyal member of the republic (with a sense of humor). Insert a mysterious beauty married to an unscrupulous Royalist, a mysterious chevalier determined to save the Queen, a loathesome cobbler and France during the revolution and what do you get? Why Mr. Dumas in all his swashbukling glory :) Oddly the end reminded me of Dickens.
**
Today I started Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Conspiracy as well as Rainbow Valley, the seventh in the Anne of Green Gables series.
***
In class we finished reading the Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster. I'm not sure what we will be reading next. So far I'm considering Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll or perhaps the Kin by Peter Dickinson.****CV

bookes

2007-10-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Mississippi Jack, LA Meyer In which our intrepid heroine narrowly misses being taken home and tried in court by the intervention of ye olde theater troupe only to reprise the role of lost native american maiden who knows how to out houdini houdini as far as controtionist acts go,writes pre silent era Perils of Pauline, does a bit of the Blue Lagoon, gets tarred and feathered whilst away from her show boat and at long last reunites with her true love (for all of five minutes). Will the Mississippi ever be the same?
**
Dragonhaven, Robin McKinley I think what I love about this book is how much I can relate to it as a developmental study. I refuse to explain. Go read it now.
***
Currently reading: The Knight of the Maison Rouge, Alexandre Dumas ***CV

Might Need A Crow or Two

2007-10-13T19:32:00.001-07:00

I posted a short story on a Paula's short story blog a week or so ago. For those who are interested here it is.

Trimmings

Snip, snip, snip, Solitude snipped a few dead rose heads with her newly sharpened shears. Nice, she thought, as they popped and then hopped over the hedge.

In ordinary daylight the roses might bewilder any casual passerby; or perhaps not. It is possible that the mixture of red pink orange plum yellow coral variously tipped and variegated blooms might appear perfectly reasonable. Our casual passer by might presume that the hedge was comprised of many differing rose plants overgrown and bound together so that one could –if one was of the mind too, possibly pick any bloom, that is choose not “pick”, and after locating its individual stem from thence trace the stem through all its winding and wending curves until reaching the vary base of its original root. Alas for our determined root seeker, such an action would not be possible for all blooms, each and every bud, and each and every blown florescence, led to one root stock: Period. Best to give up and say it was a botanical mutation supreme and simply admire it in all its phantasmal-glory.

Solitude was of course used to the wondrousness of the hedge and her sole concern at the moment was to make the overgrown bits esthetically pleasing while not actually trimming the hedge and creating an inhabited feel. That would not do at all. She enjoyed the wild exclusiveness of a slightly overgrown maze.

Too overgrown and it appeared abandoned, forlorn, forgotten, and thus an open invitation for any sort of romantic minded over imaginative dreamer to enter and that was not acceptable. On the other hand, too neat and tidy, and than the respectable callers, the rule followers, the rigid thinkers would appear and what fun would that be? No not appropriate either.

But a carefully tended and artistically mussy hedge indicated the possibility of persons who cared and perhaps were away for a little too long but surely would be returning any day now. Thus a romantic might pause but would not intrude or loiter overlong. And as for the respectable people, well they would eye the disarray and mentally note to themselves that this was a rather untidily kept up place and quite possibly the residents were lazy, idle or poor groundskeepers, or worse: incompetent at either hiring or managing servants (or even a worse horror: both!) and not worth the trouble to get to know.

So Solitude continued snipping the rose hedge and humming to herself happily. Occasionally a rather fetching tendril would peep out at her, and a twig or two would catch her fancy, and these she tucked away thus refurbishing her garments and at the same time shedding bits of cobweb and spider spit to encourage that slight disreputableness of the overall esthetic.

One particular tendril was exceedingly mobile. And as Solitude observed it, it appeared rather thicker and furrier than a rose stem ought to be. Puzzled she peered closer. What could this be she wondered.

It’s a tail of course.

Well, she paused mid-snip.

No. Not a well. That is not here at all and you know it dear Solitude

Cat, how are you?

Oh can’t complain can’t complain.

What brings you out this way Cat?

I was looking for you.

Oh.

Solitude was puzzled even further. Cat was known for being his own best company why would he seek out the companionship of someone as Solitary as Himself? Wait a moment. She had felt a peculiar resonance with the word Himself.

Looking for me Cat? Or looking for someone else?

What do you mean?

Cat, the word “you” can refer to me or it can refer to any other person present who may or may not be visible. It is a rather general pronoun. In fact it is a little too general for a Cat to use.

The truth is, dear Solitude, I was seeking solitude.

Oh

And here I have found you, Solitude but not solitary at all.

What do you mean Cat?

We are not alone.

Cat, must you always speak in riddles? I can not make you out; neither head nor tail

You can see my tail can’t you? asked Cat in a rather worried tone

Yes

You can see my head then can’t you?

No

Oh, in very relieved accents. Well that explains why you can’t make me out head and tail but not why you can’t make me out neither head nor tail as you can see my tail if not my head

Thoroughly exasperated Solitude snipped her shears across the leafy tops several times in rapid succession nearly neatly trimming it in the process but she caught herself in time.

“Maxima calamitas!”

Both Solitude and Cat startled and glancing at each other saw their own expressions mirrored: what was that?

They looked up: Nothing. They looked behind: Nothing again. They looked before themselves: Still more nothing. And then they thought to look down and there, neatly disappearing into the hedge, was a white cotton tail followed after by the faintly echoing cry of:” maxima calamitas, maxima calamitas, maxima calamitas,” until only the faintest whisper of that odd Latin phrase trailed back to them to finally vanish amidst the tangle of thorny stem and spiny leaf which had heretofore tidily hidden the rabbit’s passage.

Oh dear!

Oh my!

Wasn’t that interesting?

What can it mean?
***
Snip, snip, snip. Another pair of sharpened blades was trimming a hedge not of leaf but of words. Snip, snip, snip, snip, and another set of trimmings were added to the pile of barber like clippings on the floor surrounding the figure’s chair. The spectacled and hunched form appeared to not notice the steadily increasing collection and that soon he would be all a sea in a tidal pool of newsprint and photo essays if he didn’t do something like sweep soon.

Snip, snip, s-n-n-n—i-i-p! And fluttering to the floor in a whispery sigh more shreds joined their brethren. A gentle breeze acting the moon’s role shifted the flowing mass across the floor first in one slow sweep towards one end of the room and then back again to the opposite side.
***
Mistress: “What are you doing!”

The slight bespectacled and bearded form jumped and whirled around

Mistress: “Give me that!”

And his scissors were snatched away before he could blink.

Mistress stood before him, clearly outraged

He then blinked and looked down. Slowly his eyes wandered over the vermicelli covered flooring.

Vermicelli? That couldn’t be vermicelli. He shook his head to clear the mist of thoughts. Well if it wasn’t vermicelli what else came in long thin strips? Fettuccini? He peered closer. No, there were markings on the strips – so, tickertape? Why would he be in a room covered with tickertape? He listened carefully but all he could hear was the sound of Mistress’ angry breathing.

He peered owlishly at her. “Did I miss the parade?” he asked

“What!”

He looked down and then back up. “The ticker tape parade, did I miss it?”

Mistress shook her head in exasperation and disbelief.

The librarian looked confused.

Mistress: “You have been shredding the library.”

Librarian: “I what?”

Mistress: “You have been clipping the books, over editing the stacks, perforating the paragraphs, serratting the spines and lacerating the lines.”

Librarian: “Why would I do that?”

Mistress: “I certainly don’t know, you being the librarian and all. You tell me.”

The librarian looked around himself more closely this time.

“Which ones”, he finally ventured

Mistress: “What do you mean which ones?”

Librarian: “Which books have I been clipping?”

Mistress: “Does it matter which ones? Isn’t it enough that you have been?”

He shook his head slightly. “I don’t know.” He paused again for a while before continuing. “Have I been clipping all of them?”

Mistress looked thoughtfully at the floor. Then she looked at him and said, “No. If it had been all of them you would have drowned by now or at least suffocated which is near enough the same thing.”

He nodded, “Then it does matter which ones have been clipped.”

After glancing around once more Mistress asked, “And how do you propose discovering which ones?”

He looked slightly surprised, “By reading the bindings of course”

Mistress looked around again this time making rather a show of it. Then she returned her gaze to him and asked if he saw any bindings in the room. And here she shifted a tremendous backwash of shredding with her foot and stirred them together.

Thoughtfully, more concerned with the investigation then the opinion of Mistress he said,

“No, but even if the bindings are not here I can piece the pages back together.”

Her eyebrows rose and nearly disappeared behind her skull in amazement.

“Oh really?”

“Yes,” he said and then smiled. “I am the librarian after all.”

She sighed theatrically then inquired if he would like the assistance of One, Two, Three or Four in the process of piecing the pages to be read.

“Thank you no”, he quickly replied and then added, “however…”

Mistress: “Yes?”

Librarian: “Would you be so kind as to take these away with you?” Here he pointed to the scissors very carefully.

Pocketing them equally carefully within the folds of her apron Mistress left, closing the door softly behind her.
***

Meeting of Two Cultures day

2007-10-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day of training. And even though it was hard to be nonstop for five weeks I am sad that the training is over. We had a graduation ceremony complete with quiz questions as we received our certificates: philosophy, anatomy or do a chant. Totally in fun of course. My question was: What is the difference between knitting, crochet and needlepoint ;)
**
In true form whenever there is a break in school routine like a day off I am fighting a cold (bleh). I went to practice this morning with a new teacher and interestingly enough during the inversion of choice segment she talked about having attended a class led by the Yoga Trainer I had just trained with (I was wondering why her sequencing seemed familiar).
***
I started Anne's House of Dreams today and ordered Dragonhaven as well as Mississippi Jack. Funny momene occurred as the book seller was checking her warehouse for the latter book she asked, "How do you spell that?" "Mississi- " "Oh, that Mississippi" ***CV

errata

2007-10-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Reading has been a bit off lately. I am still making my way through the Anne series and I'm almost finished with Anne of Windy Poplars. Last night I picked up some new books including volume 10 of Hikaru no Go which I read all the way through (aaah manga :). I started Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue this afternoon during our lunch break and I'm almost halfway through that. It wasn't utlil I reread the back copy that I saw it was recommended ny Fracesca Lia block - she of Weetzie Bat fame.

I can see why she would be a promoter of this volume. It's retold Fairy Tales with a feminist edge. However, it is also a collection of stories in which one character asks another character how they came to be the way they are and this character's reply leads to the next tale and so on. So far I have met revisions of Ashenputtle, Bluebeard, Snow, White, Beauty, Rapunzel, The Goose Girl and now am in the midst of Rumplestiltskin.
**
Speaking of books I decided to start three reading groups in class. For Fiction we are reading the Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury; Biography is Listening to Crickets about Rachel Carson and Non Fiction is The Book of Forms or anglo american poetry.
***
We started office hours at my school (which is times on a particular day for parents to sign up and come and talk with one of the adults for a half hour). A sort of check in. First day the sheet went up someone signed themselves up for once every month (and now wants more), another wanted to do the same but was persuaded to do one and then see if every month was really necessary; then I didn't check but another parent signed up the morning of office day and then someone needed different arrangements for this week.

Why yes I am glad Monday is a holiday.***CV

satya graha baby

2007-10-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

October 2nd is Ghandi's birthday! I noticed it on the class clalendar today. Imagine my surprise when most of the nearby children said, "Ghandi? Who's that?" I so booked it to the book shop tonight and got me a bio of Bapu and I'm bringin' in the salt and the candle and now do I wish I'd shelled out the money for the charka wheel I saw on ebay last year.

Got me a lesson planned for tomorrow.
**
I discovered today while talking about the happenings in Burma that my assistant is Laotian. My best friend in HS was from Thailand, her dad was Laotian. Her family came to the US as a consequence of the holacaust (I do not use hat word lightly) that occurred there. She shared only a little of what it was like to not know whether you would survive or not and even less about the fact that her dad had not come with them and was still in Laos.

It's amazing to me how little one can know about tragedies and yet those most deeply affected by them can be so close.***CV

sadhana pada

2007-09-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't find the books I was looking for so I will most likely order them from a local shop whenever I have time to do so. I am very much looking forward to next Monday:the meeting of two cultures day (ooo how PC) So far this week there are two scheduled night meetings. This is not to say that there might not be a surpise meeting sometime.

One of my team mates said that last year she felt like she was reacting all year long. This year she feels more on top of things. So there is hope. Also it appears that the upper El guide may not be here until May. (......)
**
Final week of teacher training coming up. While it has been a challenge to be training and teaching nonstop I will miss going in and being with my fellow trainees. Yesterday was pretty intensive with actual teaching, we rotated groups and sequences and I got called on to teach half the class. At first I thought the instructor was joking (he has a certain sense of humor) so when he said "CV is going to teach now." I said. "I am?" Oh you mean really teach. Okay.

We also talked about the possibility of unconditional love, the sutras of Patanjali and bhandas. Last week was all about the Gita***CV

loka samistha sukhino bhavantu

2007-09-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

After receiving an urgent email from a friend I have just spent an interesting evening catching up on events in Burma. I can spare a candle: can you?
**

You may have read that the Burmese monastics and lay people have been chanting the Buddha’s words on lovingkindness or “metta” during many of their marches. If you do not know it already, here are the words in Pali and in English.

The Karaniya Metta Sutta
the Buddha’s discourse on Loving Kindness

1
Karaniyam atthakusalena
Yan tam santam padam abhisamecca
Sakko uju ca suju ca
Suvaco c'assa mudu anatimani
This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness
Having glimpsed the state of perfect peace,
Let them be able, honest and upright,
Gentle in speech, meek and not proud.
2
Santussako ca subharo ca
Appakicco ca sallahukavutti
Santindriyo ca nipako ca
Appagabbho kulesu ananugiddho
Contented and easy to support,
With few duties, and simple in living.
Tranquil their senses, masterful and modest,
without greed for supporters
3
Na ca khuddam samacare kinci
Yena viññu pare upavadeyyum
Sukhino va khemino hontu
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta
Also, let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Let them cultivate the thought:
May all be well and secure,
May all beings be happy
4
Ye keci panabhut'atthi
Tasa va thavara va anavasesa
Digha va ye mahanta va
Majjhima rassakanukathula
Whatever living creatures there be,
Without exception, weak or strong,
Long, huge or middle-sized,
Or short, minute or bulky,
5
Dittha va yeva adittha
Ye ca dure vasanti avidure
Bhuta va sambhavesi va
Sabbe satta bhavantu sukhitatta
Whether visible or invisible,
And those living far or near,
The born and those seeking birth,
May all beings be happy
6
Na paro param nikubbetha
Natimaññetha katthacinam kanci
Byarosana patighasañña
Naññamaññassa dukkham iccheyya
Let none deceive another
Or despise any being in any state;
Let none wish others harm
In resentment or in hate.
7
Mata yatha niyam puttam
Ayusa ekaputtam anurakkhe
Evampi sabbabhutesu
Manasam bhavaye aparimanam
Just as with her own life
A mother shields her child,
her only child, from hurt
Let all-embracing thoughts
For all beings be yours.
8
Mettañ ca sabba-lokasmim
Manasam bhavaye aparimanam
Uddham adho ca tiriyanca
Asambadham averam asapattam
Cultivate a limitless heart of goodwill
For all throughout the cosmos,
In all its height, depth and breadth --
Love that is untroubled
And beyond hatred or enmity.
9
Titthañ caram nisinno va
Sayano va yavat'assa vigatamiddho
Etam satim adhittheyya
Brahmam etam viharam idhamahu
As you stand, walk, sit or lie,
So long as you are awake,
Pursue this awareness with your might:
It is deemed the Divine Abiding- here and
now.
10
Ditthiñca anupagamma silava
Dassanena sampanno
Kamesu vineyya gedham
Na hi jatu gabbhaseyyam punar eti'ti
Holding no more to wrong views,
A pure-hearted one, having clarity
of vision, being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

***CV

Can I Have a Lesson?

2007-09-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

Adult down! (with a cold) and no not me. I found out when I came in this morning that my main assistant called in sick so I closed for him today. We really have so little time to actually work with the children that I find when I stay later I actually get some good lesson time in. This afternoon I played sentence punctuation with one of the late afternoon children. At first she wanted a "challenge" one. After which she said, "I want an easy one now".

So how would you punctuate this sentence:

the dog or was it the cat who drank the milk

i am

it is

he can

She left the work out for tomorrow morning. We also started a crystal experiment with cupric sulphate this morning with much discussion of the differences between solution, saturated solution and super saturated solution. ***CV

Just another day

2007-09-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today I finished Anne of the Island, LM Montgomery, and Arsene Lpine, Gentleman-Thief by Maurice Leblanc. A coteacher commented to me the other day that she wished she had time to read a real book. I don't really have the time but I think I would go mad if I didn't make time to do so.

As it is I am trying to figure out how I can get the latest Bloody Jack and the latest Robin McKinley books this weekend without coming home tomorrow at nine. (Oh wait, Borderlands in the city. I'm observing and practicing as part of the training tomorrow: it's a "field trip", so maybe I can go after!)
**
Today in class we all got to teach a sequence first to one partner and then to a group of three people. Anyone who has taken a flow class knows that the teacher in such is continually leading and talking. It's almost like a monologue without the seated audience. It's much harder than it would appear from the practice mat.
***
I didn't realise until I was actually in class that I had forgotten to do one of our homework assignments. I did the take home anatomy quiz, I read the chapter, I studied the bones and muscles but I did not write the 110 word essay. What, I hear you say. 100 words? That's all?

Yes.

The topic: Who am ? What do I want? Where am I going?

There was no guidance as to what angles to take this topic from.

And my printer is almost out of ink. ***CV

two weeeks more

2007-09-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

No matter how many times I say it each year it still amazes me how true it is: It takes time to get to know a person. I may be fully prepeared with all conference forms. I may have read all teh records of lessons given and status of progress. Still. all that doesn't matter until I have worked with someone for a while.

Yes Virginia. It takes all of the first month to really get going***CV

*my secret weapon in grammar review is on the spot mad lib mother goose ;)

Choice is not License

2007-09-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Turns out that the education program is not tonight but tomorrow night. As I said to the secretary when she told me this, "You mean I get to go home tonight?"

So tomorrow will be a long day but at least that is only (knock on wood) 2 and not 3 loooong days this week.
**
I would just like to say to the "homework bound" parental units that may read this (like how likely is that? pfft not very): a weekly update reflecting the doings of 38+ children is not going to mean that all the lessons listed involved your particular child. Dude. Just chill. *bleh* And this check off which lessons on the update your child says he did and which he says he didn't? What is up with that?

Bad parent. No weekly update for you anymore.*
***
So today was something of a reality check for a few students like: CV can raise her voice?! CV will tell me to stop?! When she says "please bring your journal" she means it?!

Yeah and if we need to practice sitting, walking, and cursive - it will happen. ****CV

Funny bit: when I met the homework bound parent in question as I was coming in this a.m. said parent was very concerned that there seemed to be a lot of emphasis on reading and literature but not so much on math. Why said person wondered. So I asked how much this person knew about Montessori. Not much was the reply, only what had been learned while their child was at the school. Ok I said. I have some homework for you. Look up Montessori and Math on the internet then tell me what you find.

The response? Well the directress said parents would never have to do homework.

Would someone disentangle that for me please. I and a fellow teacher are very confused by their statement and/ or logic.***CV

I Want to Know......

2007-09-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow starts the second weekend of teacher training. Ten hours each day not counting commute time. I probably should read the materials yes?
**
It's so strange. I hadn't realised how structured my other classroom environments were before. But these first weeks at the new school have really brought that fact home. This is a very busy school and the children are engaged in one activity or another throughout the day. Not all at once. In small groups or individually. Vocals, music, art, setting up snack, cleaning up snack, setting up lunch, taking down lunch, loading the dishwasher, chorus, instrument lessons, etc. And in between all this they are being given lessons, initiating researches, reading, being read to, writing and socialising. Have I mentioned the languages? So while the children are doing all this they are also being taught by a spainish and a french teacher. That is, two teachers who only speak to the children in those languages, all day.

I hae decided that as a gift to myself during my circle time (we decided to give each guide a set time of day instead of rotating it as we ahd been doing:I get teh morning to luch one), for the most part I will be reading from a chapter book, teaching a new song a week, and incorporating group games.
***
Then there are the families. All of whom have their childs interest in heart but ... well, how does one explain to an interested parent that when you say, "I will be working with your child on such and such an academic", it does not mean that you have worked with the child in that area yet ,and that, really, quizzing your child the night you get my note is not going to manifest the particular learning right then?

Perhaps a review of future tense versus past perfect is in order.
****
I finished, Promises to Keep, on Monday and started, Little Grrrl Lost, that night. I've been alternating, Arsene Lupine, with, Ann of the Island. Davy really reminds me of some current children i know.*****CV