My first classroom, 1979

 Thirty four years is a long time.  A long time to be doing the same thing - teaching.  Wasn’t it just last week that I finished my student teaching and was finally hired (after the start of the school year) to teach 6^th grade? … Read full post »

Inside the house, it’s too quiet now. It’s empty except for me and Betty Boop.

It isn’t quiet outside.  It’s one of those autumn days that seem to predict that winter is only a few days away.  The wind is howling in… Read full post »

 Oh beautiful for spacious skies…

I admit it.  I’m spoiled.  I live in one of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth.  A place visited by many thousands of people every year who come to enjoy… Read full post »

 I can't believe the first post I've produced in two months is a picture of me with "Farrah-esque" hair.  I obviously didn't have quite the volume she had, but was going for that look, lo those many years ago!

  Read full post »

I see the  lights blinking all around and above me. They seem to form  a circle, like the underside of a spaceship; shining down and pinning me to the bed.  I struggle to sit or pull myself up the cold, metal bars of the cage in which I’m/… Read full post »

 Sunrise over the Tahoe basin enshrouded in fog. Taken from the lookout on Mt. Rose Highway.

It’s not a profound observation, but one that often escapes me.  When we are in the fog, we forget what lies above it.

I haven’t been able to be a full participant in… Read full post »

I started getting text messages early this morning, "Mom, we're walking across Memorial Bridge, now.  This is amazing." 

"Tell everyone there are about a billion people here and half of the military that's not in Iraq."

"What an amazing speech, huh?"

My 19 year old son and h… Read full post »

A phobia (from Greek: φÏŒβος, phobos, "fear"), is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared sub/… Read full post »

1.  I tend to procrastinate. I’m often late. My mother used to refer to me as "the fly on the cow’s tail" since I was always the last one to finish/get ready. This is a perfect example: The rage for posting 25 things has passed and here I am. Late… Read full post »

I’ll be home for Christmas

It was a day much like today.  It was near the end of the school term, twenty two years ago. Snow was falling, and students were bouncing off the walls in anticipation of the coming vacation.  Most everyone, including my family, was planning a trip… Read full post »

Actual image of the author (as a child) demanding her Carrot/Christmas Pudding.

Every year around about August or so, my daughter will ask, "Mom, will you make Christmas Pudding? Puullllleeeez?"  

"Is it Christmas already?  My how time flies!  And wher… Read full post »

"Why did we have school today?" 

(Asked by a boy who has recently moved to the Lake Tahoe area and has never lived in snow before.")

Short answer: we have four wheel drive buses.

Every year about this time, the magical arrival of the white stuff seems to… Read full post »

I got a letter today.

Just when you are so frazzled that you wonder why on earth you ever chose this profession and you are sure you are making absolutely NO impact whatsoever, something just seems to pop up out of the flotsam and jetsam of the school day and lands… Read full post »

Hill Farm, later Arequipa, c 1910  

This is a true story…

I awoke with a start, struggling to swim up to consciousness and remember where I was.  Shoving my long, sweaty, tangled hair out of my face I pushed myself up to a sitting position.… Read full post »

"Summer makes me drowsy, autumn makes me sing.  Winter's pretty lousy, but I hate spring."   Dorothy Parker

"Thou blossom bright with autumn dew..."    William Cullen Bryant

"I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. … Read full post »

A week ago, a couple of friends and I headed to Ashland, Oregon for some good theatre and lots of laughs.  Also on our agenda, was the hare-brained idea of doing a photojournalistic "poll" of political signage.  Where were the Obama signs - in the city or the country?  Th… Read full post »

 Sunflowers at Apple Hill, fall, 2007

Beauty is all around us, especially at this time of year.  Here are a few of my favorite shots taken in the last year.  I'm by no means a professional, but I try to see the beauty - even in the small things. … Read full post »

A few years ago, my then 21 year old daughter asked me, “Mom, was I a rape baby?  I think I’m old enough to know.  I can handle it.” 

I thought for a moment. 

“No,” I replied, “But I am.” 

Adoption is a common theme in… Read full post »

See below for more information from NY Times piece to be published on Sunday, 9/13/08. 

Perhaps it is fitting that the ALA's annual Banned Books Week  is coming up so soon - September 27-October 4, 2008.  Held every year at the end of September, its intent is to call attention… Read full post »

Earlier this week, John and Cindy McCain dropped into my little town for a visit.  Of course, they weren't there to visit anyone the likes of me.  It was a visit to the more than 100 supporters who felt compelled to pony up $33,100 for the privilege of attendi/… Read full post »

First day of school, September, 1957. 

I’ve been in school forever, or so it seems.  Monday morning, bright and far too early, I start my 29^th year of teaching. 

I couldn’t wait to be old enough to go to school.  You can’t tell… Read full post »

This is a true story. I have changed the names of the CEO and the hospital. Mainly to protect the innocent - my daughter and her husband. In a couple of weeks we're throwing her a baby shower for her second child; happiness abounds.

It wasn't always like that.… Read full post »

The author with her first horse. (And doesn't that thing's grin scare the hell out of you?)

Now I know that today is to be all about Open Call Olympics and other serious subjects, but I wanted to pin a tail (as it were) on my post from yesterday wherein  I… Read full post »

The other day, as I was cleaning out a long-neglected messy drawer, I came across a poem I wrote when I was in the 7^th grade. Despite the fact that it was crammed in amongst old receipts (just in case someone wanted to return that Christmas present!), stray photographs and… Read full post »

I originally posted this back in July or August when some of the OS family were dying of heat prostration.  Now  it looks exactly like this outside  (we got about 2 1/2 feet last night) and I thought it would be a good time to share it again.  I will be enl… Read full post »