FORTS

Tomorrow I'm off to the Childhood Paradise. I mean, really, who wouldn't have wanted to have recess here?

Now that's a big bbq pit.

And maybe this, too.

What I hope to do for my birthday.

Fascinated by dried seaweed.

Ahhhhhhhh.

Did you know there's a tree dedicated to Herbert Hoover?

the tropics

I can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday. Millie and Starflower had some grand adventures this weekend including a long walk from 8th Avenue to Ocean Beach. We saw many interesting things on our way and both of us enjoyed stopping from time to time to smell the flowers (so to speak). Millie is a great traveling companion! Things are going well at Nueva. I'm supposed to be in bed right now though. We're having a Staff Retreat in Santa Cruz starting tomorrow morning, so I have to get up for real, 5:45. Ouch. Summer's over, even though it's really just beginning here in our beautiful city. So, I will say goodnight and leave you with a few photos to fill in the details.

Our little model is here at the Gay Pride parade, center stage.

My good friend, viridianstar, has published an awesome blog entitled Persimmon's Progress. You should all check it out.

(You might know her as Sarah.)

The Grounds basking in late afternoon sun.

Even my car gets to park in the woods.

That's my Treehouse Classroom, those windows off to the right. Honestly you can't tell what the weather's like outside there are so many trees keeping us tucked in. Late afternoon is the one time the sun shines in. I'm not complaining; that means our room stays nice and cool.

The Bridge. My classroom is the first one inside those doors.

Finally I've found a spot I can really sink into! Four pillows and a nice soft mattress are what I needed.

The Princess and the Pea

Justin became the official photographer for Grease and he currently has my camera cord, so pictures will have to wait until later. Too bad because they are some right cute pics of my favorite daughter curled up in four pillows. She is the Queen of Snuggling. I'm off to Nueva to plan some lessons! Really looking forward to driving in to all those TREES. And, I got to use my new lunchbox today! A new school year CAN be exciting once resigned to the fact that it's really here. Hooray!

Differentiation

"Differentiation is the ability to stay in connection without being consumed by the other person. Emotional fusion is the opposite of differentiation. Many people make the mistake of thinking of differentiation as the opposite of emotional relationship. Think of differentiation as a 'higher order' process that involves balancing both connection and autonomy, like this

Differentiation

Individuality--------------------------------------------------Emotional Connection

Then you can see that emotional fusion is connection without individuality."

--David Schnarch, Ph. D

Our little model.

Advice from my old pal and college roommate, Sarah.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways,
chocolate in one hand, wine in the other,
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming
"WOO HOO what a ride!"

Feed me, Seymour, feed me awwl niiight looong.
You can do it!!!

"Colour for me is an expression of life."

-Andy Goldsworthy

Welcome home, Luna!!! Jessica's boyfriend, Rob, has a new daughter who at just 7 weeks weighs 2lb 12oz. What a sweetie (and quite a tough cookie too, I hear.)

Here's after playing with the furniture a bit. Yes, that clock does say a quarter til 6:00. The late evenings are beginning already.

I'm always a little overwhelmed by such a large blank slate. Having a small room does not help my challenged sense of space creation. Here's the before...

Mom and Dad were troopers helping me move my classroom down to Nueva. No elevator in the mansion, which means my 35+ boxes either went up two flights of stairs or down a long path and a flight of stairs. We made it though. My classroom is cute, though small and is a funny L shape.

Millie was a little lonely in the empty bed this morning.

On Sunday I went on my first official golf outing. Eli and I played this 9-hole course in Colma and I had a lot of fun. I was actually pretty good for never having done more than the putt-putt courses on a Saturday night. I could easily get hooked on this game.

Nice view.

Here's my wonderful teacher in action. Everything I know I learned from him. And hours of pro tournaments found playing on our TV growing up. Always been a die hard fan.

Okay, I was so good that I challenged myself by playing from the bunker. Honestly. They say that you've made it to the next level when you score less than 100, and I scored 89!
Oh yeah, I guess they mean when you play 18 holes. We only played 9.

Happy Birthday, Viggo! Aunt Becca, the teacher, is glad to see such excitement upon opening his literary gift. What a terrific two year old.

Listening to Eli play piano

But he kissed me right here, and he said
"I'll give you stars and the moon and a soul to guide you
And the promise I'll never go,
I'll give you hope to bring out all the life inside you
And the strength that will help you grow,
I'll give you truth and a future that's 20 times better
Than any Hollywood plot"

And I thought, "You know... I'd rather have a yacht."

"The Stars and the Moon" - Jason Robert Brown

Roller skating is fun and good exercise too!
Happy birthday, Jaime!

The birthday girl got leid.

The Sure Shelter

Stage 5 (the highest stage) 'The Sure Shelter': The title comes from a passage in one of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament. 'A faithful friend is a sure shelter: whoever finds one has found a rare treasure' (Ecclesiasticus, 6:14). At this stage, friendship is perceived as a deep and lasting relationship of trust, fidelity, and unconditional acceptance. As an exceptionally gifted twelve-year-old boy described it to me: 'A real friend is a place you go when you need to take off the masks. You can say what you want to your friend because you know that your friend will really listen and even if he doesn't like what you say, he will still like you. You can take off your camouflage with a real friend and still feel safe.'

--Exceptionally Gifted Children (2nd ed.), Miraca U.M. Gross

"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."
-Baruch Spinoza

"We teach what we like to learn and the reason many people go into teaching is vicariously to re-experience the primary joy experienced the first time they learned something they loved."
-Stephen Brookfield

"Come to the edge, he said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came. He pushed them...and they flew."
-Guillaume Apollinaire

School Begins

Two of my best friends will begin a year of teaching tomorrow. School starts so early in Florida, but the trade off is getting out at the end of May. I'm very excited for them and doubly because they both secured positions teaching in the arts. I told Diane that I clearly remember my first day of teaching my very own class. The morning of the first day I was so overcome by the idea that I was realizing my dream of becoming a teacher I cried and cried. Cried through the cute "first day of school" pictures we took of my roommate, Holly, and I; cried on the drive to school. Had to pull it together before those first grade cuties walked in the door with their parents. Eight years ago, hard to believe. Good luck to Kevin and Diane--I know they'll have a great day!

Today I went to the library. The Big Library downtown. I needed to get a new library card, since mine got lost in a pickpocketing incident. I also needed to look for books about shelters, homes, for people, for animals--stuff along those lines. That is the subject of the unit that will frame the entire upcoming school year for my 2nd graders.

I LOVE the library! Looking from the bottom up the six levels to the skylight atrium, the possibilities for knowledge are endless. I used to have a wish that I could spend the night in the library and just read and read and read to my heart's content. The thought of it still gives me a little thrill. It's a good thing I've fallen into reading mode because yesterday a got a pile of five (free) books from Nueva for my summer reading. I only need to read one of them before school starts, but just holding that much printed material in my hands makes my heart beat a little faster. If only I could read a little faster, and remember it all a little longer.

I decided to start with Exceptionally Gifted Children and passed off The Tipping Point to Eli. I'm really looking forward to reading The Last Child in the Woods, which discusses the disconnection that children have from nature these days. Well, not Nueva kids who get to roam through the forest everyday at recess. Man, I would've LOVED to have nature as my playground everyday. I suppose now it will be.