Carmen & Delaine do lunch

Do you ever meet your blogosphere buddies in 3D?  Have people warned you not to do such a thing?  Hah, I say.  I’ve been meeting my online people face to face for over 10 years now, and it’s always a lot of fun.  Today was just such a day.

My good blogging buddy, Carmen Whittaker, and I discovered that we live in the same town, on opposite ends, but still in the same general vicinity.  Because of her busy schedule and my life at school, we’ve only communicated online.  Today we met for lunch, and what  a good time we had.  Since we knew each other online, it was like we had known each other for longer than just those couple of hours.  We talked about all sorts of things, and laughed about people who hesitate to meet their online connections in real life.  Now, I ask you, who would pretend to be an inner city school teacher or the wife of the head of the Southern Baptist Convention?  No one can make up lives like that!

So, if you’re ever in the San Joaquin Valley, please send me a comment, and we can meet for lunch.  And, if Carmen is in town, I’ll bet she’ll come along t00.

Ladies who lunch

What’s in your closet?

I’ve spent the past few days cleaning out shelves and closets, with the last two days devoted to the hall closets.  Oh my.  We moved in here 29 years ago and some of the boxes in those closets were deposited the day we moved in and never moved again.  I have linens going back to when I was a child (and we won’t discuss how many years ago that was) and I unearthed things that I thought no longer existed.  (maybe they shouldn’t)

After clearing out 6 boxes of books and a bag of clothes, I decided to get rid of some old suitcases (more like what we used to call train cases) and cosmetic bags.  I took those to church for a mission project that provides suitcases for foster and abused children.

Most of what I found in old boxes were items that needed to be thrown away, not given away.  Why does anyone keep old sheets that have holes in them or were torn into pieces?  Into the trash.  I found old towels, and even my baby pillow that was literally in shreds.  All in the trash.

I found two missing items that pleased me.  I thought I had given this guy away, but found him way back in a corner.  I had him made when we were first married and remember driving across town to pick him up.  He served many Halloweens on our front porch. I’ll keep him for another Halloween.

Ceramic jack-o-lantern

I have a set of Japanese teacups that go back 30 years but two have been missing.  I found them, in a box, with candles in them.  I can only guess I used them for a party or something.  I used to give lots of dinner parties but that stopped when I started teaching.  They can go back with their partners in tea.

All 4 altogether again

And, last but not least, are the old pillow cases I found at the bottom of the linens pile. Do you remember the heavy cotton cases that were hand embroidered?  My mother would make them for wedding gifts, and I somehow managed to have two of hers and a pair that I think my husband’s grandmother got somewhere.  I also have a set that I think are machine embroidered, but I have no idea how I got hem.  Maybe a wedding gift to me 35 years ago?  I’m going to give these away.

Pillow cases

The next closet is the one here in the computer room.  I pretty much know what’s in there.  Anyone want a wedding gown?

Faithful follower I would be

I love to check in with Kathy over at her blog as she is always up to something.  She turned 50 last year and tried something new every day leading up to that momentous birthday.  I don’t know what she’ll do when she turns 51!   But I’m keeping my watch.  For my faithful attention to her blog, she handed me this award :

Thanks, Kathy.  I’ll keep faithfully checking in.

The reason for New Mexico

Getting back to the trip to New Mexico… there really was a definite reason why we went.  Although we had planned to attend a wedding and it was cancelled, the trip was still on because I have wanted to go to New Mexico, especially northern New Mexico, for close to 20 years.

I am a great fan of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work.  I have a few posters of her work scattered around the house:

But, I have read about O’Keeffe for years.  It is her life story that really fascinates me.  Here is a woman, who although married to a man who could certainly help her career, was fiercely independent at a time women were not supposed to be.  She had a mind of her own and she did what she wanted, like going to New Mexico every summer, leaving an aging hubby behind in New York

All the books all about O'Keeffe

I got to visit the O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was thrilling.  I could stand for hours and look at her brush strokes and the way her work changed over the years.

Here I am at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

But, even better was getting to spend 5 days out in Abiquiu and the general vicinity where she did so much of her painting in her last 50 years.  She lived in this remote region, painting much of it, but also loving the wide open spaces.  It was fun to visit the places where she had painted and to see her homes (although both are closed to the public, you still get such a sense of “place”).

So, that pretty much wraps up the commentaries on the trip.  I am home for a few weeks before we head out on our next adventure.  Because I don’t get enough exposure to young people (!), we are volunteering for three weeks to work with kids from elementary to high school age.  I’m sure I’ll have a few stories to tell you.

Plans for that stimulus money

My school district just came out with an offer, using federal stimulus money, to buy out 130 teachers who are 60+ and have been with the district 25 years or more.  Each teacher who decides to take the offer will get a $25,000 bonus.  The qualified teachers received certified letters telling them what they have to do to collect.  Decisions must be made by July 15.

And, dear Reader, if you are wondering about me, I don’t qualify on either count.  So, I’m sticking around and continuing to plan for next year’s classes.

More cake

Remember, dear Reader, how I have talked about loving cake?  After our trip I decided we needed a cake so I baked a coconut cake.  I use coconut water (not coconut milk) in the mix.  I sprinkle coconut on each layer before I put it in the oven.  After the layers finish cooling, I split them and spread apricot jam between them.  I finish it off with a fluffy white frosting and toasted coconut.  And here is the result:

Coconut cake

Dismantling the library

When I have told friends that we are considering a 570 square foot apartment in San Francisco for our next adventure, many have asked about my books.  One of them even said, “You’ll be wall to wall books.”   Another said, “It will be the Zody library.”

No. I’m cleaning out those books; they will not be moved.  This week I have given four boxes of hardback books to an organization in town that works with emotionally troubled souls who might be homeless as well.  I have two boxes of paperback books ready to take to my girlfriend who trades paperbacks in at a local used bookstore to get new books to read.  She and I have shared books for over 30 years.

Because I love books, and I love to read, I have always had a big collection, but I also love to share my books.  I never worry about getting a book back that I have loaned out, and many years later, someone might say, “Delaine, I have a book of yours, do you want it back?”  I usually tell them to pass it on as there is no room in my house for any more books.

Well, now I have opened up lots of shelf space, and it may be hard to resist filling it right back up again with new books.  I have to keep visualizing that tiny San Francisco space.

A clarifier about the podcast posting

The Hills promotion is the one I did in PhotoStory at the district’s class.  The one about me was done in iMovie on my Mac and the short video about my students was done with a flip camera and edited in iMovie.  I had the second two on my hard drive and decided to try uploading them to PodOmatic.  They automatically uploaded here because I named WordPress as my social media.  Thanks to the dear Readers who so quickly responded.  Now you have my written and spoken voice.

Podcasts from PodOmatic

The teacher goes to class

I believe that all teachers should continue learning and I think they should take classes that make them feel a little dumb so they will know how their students feel.  Today was an easy class, which every student deserves to have.

Today’s class was offered by my district’s instructional technology office.  I took a little HP mini notebook from my set of 14 so I could see how it would work with real live student use.  The instructional tech office has nice laptops, but they are not what I will have in the classroom.

I used PhotoStory 3 for Windows to make a little video which I then turned into mpeg4, using different software, and then uploaded to podOmatic.  The little notebook did just fine with the software and I had no problem with doing the voiceover using the built-in microphone.

I think I will use PhotoStory 3 with my multimedia students at the beginning of the year to show off their 3 photos a week that I require when we first start class.  By the end of the first month, they have a nice little photo library that they can use for PhotoShop projects, but at the beginning we discuss the make up of the photos and what makes a good photo.  This will help them get their pictures ready each week.

It was a fast morning, which is just the way I like for a class to go.  In July I am taking two classes on building web sites using the district’s software.