Thursday, April 28, 2011
What Next?
Yesterday after the mid-term I was aware in my peripheral vision that students were making an extra long stop in front of the board where I had written the homework assignment. They had stopped to take a picture of it with their camera phones! And I'd say that more than half of a class of 27 students used the same process to "record" the assignment. New one on me. . .and, yes, I have staged a mini-comeback in my teaching career.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
With A Little Help From My Friend Kelly
Please check out the update on my website. It's definitely evolving with Kelly's help. It's also definitely a work in progress that won't really be totally ready for the world for a while yet. I am really beginning to enjoy this cyberworld setting. (I think.)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Check It Out
I sort of learned how to set up a link. I'll try to work with it to make it more visually friendly. Click on it and take a peek at the draft of my website which is in its infant stage. There's a lot I don't know and some things I don't want to know. I'm working on that link thing and I need to figure out how to rearrange the homepage so that I get some text on the right hand side. Give me some help if you feel like it. I'd love that.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
HELP!
The computer is trumping my life again as I try to build a new website. That's why I've been absent so long. I am cheap and don't want to put out the money so I'm going at it on my own and so far it's only cost me $100.00. This doesn't exactly match up with my goal of getting set up for free but I don't know what else to do. I can't even recount the story and sequence of what I've done in spite of the fact that I took fairly careful notes. So I'll spare you the gory details and just say that the bare bones are ready. I will spend as much time as I'm willing and able to give to getting things all packaged in an attractive way and editing everything that needs edited. Well, I have to go to my website work now. I hope to have more and maybe good news about it soon.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Birds and Break
We spent Monday of Spring Break at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in The Dalles. We were invited to be part of a program about raptors sharing our book with the young audiences. What a special day it turned out to be! We got yet another good look at some hawks, falcons and owls which always makes me feel special because of our special connection to our own baby great horned owl.
The manager bought our lunch and we chatted with an interesting young woman who is here from a modeling agency in New York working on a photo shoot for L.L. Bean. And, boy, did they ever have a gorgeous setting for some of their pictures. They were using the gorge hills on the north side as a backdrop through the huge picture windows on that side of the museum. In the morning the light was shimmering in a sun slanting through the high clouds sort of way with a hint of a misty aura. The camera men were dancing around busily. I'm sure they were trying to take advantage of that spectacular light. The models moved like giraffes through the museum-tall, graceful, and beautifully poised with perfect faces and skinny, skinny bodies. They ate plates of fruit for lunch while Bobbie and I scarfed down deli sandwiches and cookies.
The models and crew spent the last day or two shooting in some old barns in Trout Lake and will be at Timberline today. So they will get some real Oregon charm in their backgrounds. We were amused at the attempt made by the crew to look rugged and casual with shiny, pristine boots and down vests with no mud specks on them. They were plainly not from around these parts but were trying to blend in. They certainly kept all of us spectators at an arm's length except for the nice young woman we spoke with at noon.
So a good day was followed by an even better one. . .BOBBIE FOUND ANOTHER GREAT HORNED OWL NEST! And she spotted at least one chick! I will buzz down to see it no matter how much gas costs!
The manager bought our lunch and we chatted with an interesting young woman who is here from a modeling agency in New York working on a photo shoot for L.L. Bean. And, boy, did they ever have a gorgeous setting for some of their pictures. They were using the gorge hills on the north side as a backdrop through the huge picture windows on that side of the museum. In the morning the light was shimmering in a sun slanting through the high clouds sort of way with a hint of a misty aura. The camera men were dancing around busily. I'm sure they were trying to take advantage of that spectacular light. The models moved like giraffes through the museum-tall, graceful, and beautifully poised with perfect faces and skinny, skinny bodies. They ate plates of fruit for lunch while Bobbie and I scarfed down deli sandwiches and cookies.
The models and crew spent the last day or two shooting in some old barns in Trout Lake and will be at Timberline today. So they will get some real Oregon charm in their backgrounds. We were amused at the attempt made by the crew to look rugged and casual with shiny, pristine boots and down vests with no mud specks on them. They were plainly not from around these parts but were trying to blend in. They certainly kept all of us spectators at an arm's length except for the nice young woman we spoke with at noon.
So a good day was followed by an even better one. . .BOBBIE FOUND ANOTHER GREAT HORNED OWL NEST! And she spotted at least one chick! I will buzz down to see it no matter how much gas costs!
Monday, March 14, 2011
De-Kindled
Books have powered my life since I was five years old. That's when the relationship between letters, words and meanings all began to make sense to me. I was thrilled when I could check out my own library books. In high school, I did my homework on the bus so I could read for pleasure after dinner. That kind of reading disappeared when I went to college but returned with even more energy as I was raising babies. The constant motion of taking care of small children was rewarded with many, many hours of reading late into the night when time belonged to me.
Then years of teaching sharpened my knowledge of how to share books and reading with other people so that they might take similar journeys into worlds of all kinds.
Books feel good and smell good. They have front and back covers that you can read and assess. You can skim the front flap and learn a little about the book you're thinking of reading and peek at the author information on the back flap to check on what possible connection you might have with him or her. You can study the publication page which provides more fascinating information than most people think. You can study maps or photos or illustrations. You can wonder how the prologue will relate to the rest of the book. You can tuck your favorite book mark into it as you set it aside. You can mash it into your suitcase or even find a smaller "to go" book when you travel. You can take it to a special friend when you finish it, talk about it with your book club members, recommend it to others, leave it in a restaurant on purpose, sell it, trade it, save it, or put it on top of the stack of those already read. And then you can go back to the book store or to the library to search for yet another book adventure.
That all disappeared for me when I bought a Kindle. I tried. I really did. But the whole organic experience of reading was gone when I held the little screen in front of me. I tried for several days then did an experiment. I went to the book store and picked up The Tiger's Eye, a book I had sampled on the Kindle. I hefted it, studied the richly colored book jacket, read the flaps and sighed with pleasure. Then I touched, caressed, thumbed and skimmed several other possible reads. Then I went straight to Best Buy and returned the Kindle. Maybe someday I'll try it again, but for now I am content with the giant new Ken Follett that my sister gave me for Christmas. Yes, it's tricky to manage in a supine position especially with progressive lenses and growing cataracts, but it's a real book complete with a real read. It doesn't feel like some sort of Fahrenheit 451 experience. I'm a happy reader again.
Then years of teaching sharpened my knowledge of how to share books and reading with other people so that they might take similar journeys into worlds of all kinds.
Books feel good and smell good. They have front and back covers that you can read and assess. You can skim the front flap and learn a little about the book you're thinking of reading and peek at the author information on the back flap to check on what possible connection you might have with him or her. You can study the publication page which provides more fascinating information than most people think. You can study maps or photos or illustrations. You can wonder how the prologue will relate to the rest of the book. You can tuck your favorite book mark into it as you set it aside. You can mash it into your suitcase or even find a smaller "to go" book when you travel. You can take it to a special friend when you finish it, talk about it with your book club members, recommend it to others, leave it in a restaurant on purpose, sell it, trade it, save it, or put it on top of the stack of those already read. And then you can go back to the book store or to the library to search for yet another book adventure.
That all disappeared for me when I bought a Kindle. I tried. I really did. But the whole organic experience of reading was gone when I held the little screen in front of me. I tried for several days then did an experiment. I went to the book store and picked up The Tiger's Eye, a book I had sampled on the Kindle. I hefted it, studied the richly colored book jacket, read the flaps and sighed with pleasure. Then I touched, caressed, thumbed and skimmed several other possible reads. Then I went straight to Best Buy and returned the Kindle. Maybe someday I'll try it again, but for now I am content with the giant new Ken Follett that my sister gave me for Christmas. Yes, it's tricky to manage in a supine position especially with progressive lenses and growing cataracts, but it's a real book complete with a real read. It doesn't feel like some sort of Fahrenheit 451 experience. I'm a happy reader again.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Marge at 15
Marge had a great cat life. She lived like a real cat after we moved to town but she was in her element in the country where she spent the first 11 years of her life. She had lots of fun picking on April who in turn picked on Caesar causing the occasional wild animal rampage on the long deck. Marge spent her summers in the woods stalking and killing her pick of the local cat prey and never once had a tangle with a skunk or a raccoon. Her old-fashioned cat life kept her outdoors curled up behind a warm planter or cozied into one her drawer beds in the garage. She loved the attention of her humans and never failed to seek it from whomever was outside for whatever reason. Take the garbage out; pet the cat. Take five out on the deck to breathe in the good air; pet the cat.
It did take her awhile to adjust to life in town and she never made friends with any of the dozen or so cats next door but she spent her last years lounging on the faux rock pond and stalking the squirrels. She had the best of food, the best of her people's love and a safe yard to enjoy all that the cat world had to offer.
But her kidneys were failing; she had some sort of neurological disorder, and her heartbeat was alarmingly high. Time to say good-by to Marge who left this earth yesterday and has gone into the cat universe. She had a good, good life. She was the last of the children's pets to leave our household. I'm glad that our March Linnea calendar features a beautiful drawing of a black cat looking at the world from behind a clay planting pot. It is a perfect tribute to Marge the cat who lived all her 15 years with us.
It did take her awhile to adjust to life in town and she never made friends with any of the dozen or so cats next door but she spent her last years lounging on the faux rock pond and stalking the squirrels. She had the best of food, the best of her people's love and a safe yard to enjoy all that the cat world had to offer.
But her kidneys were failing; she had some sort of neurological disorder, and her heartbeat was alarmingly high. Time to say good-by to Marge who left this earth yesterday and has gone into the cat universe. She had a good, good life. She was the last of the children's pets to leave our household. I'm glad that our March Linnea calendar features a beautiful drawing of a black cat looking at the world from behind a clay planting pot. It is a perfect tribute to Marge the cat who lived all her 15 years with us.
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