Nice quote: stay educated

This from the Disney Great Leader Strategies:

"In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists."

Experience love whenever possible

So about a week into school resuming this year, the hubby said, "It's lonely around here without you all the time. Tim has been gone for two years. I think we need a dog."

We have been pet-less since the beginning of the summer when our cat Georgia died, but we have had no dog for even longer. I have been used to not walking a dog, not taking a dog to the vet, etc., but when Jay approached me with this request, I realized it was time to expand the family in just that way. So he visited CAWL, the local Humane Society facility and he saw a four-month-old puppy that reminded him of Tim. She was a beagle-mix by the name of Bella. The next day we had a scheduled appointment in Williamsburg, VA, but we showed up at CAWL the next day when they opened. It was a good thing we did; ten minutes into filling out paperwork on acquiring this dog and someone called in asking if anyone had adopted her. We have named her Daisy.

To add to the mayhem, the hubby stopped by our vet to make an appointment for Daisy, and it just so happened that there was a cat there whose litter was up for adoption. There was only one 15-week-old kitten left from that litter, which broke Jay's heart; he snatched her up also. Coming up for a name for this one was more interesting. I was outside playing catch with Daisy, and I was talking to our son and commenting on how distracted Daisy was by the dog next door, and I said, "Squirrel!" If you've seen the movie Up you know what I'm talking about. So it suddenly hit me to call the cat Squirrel, and everyone else liked the name as well. It also helps to describe her squirrel-y behavior. I was barely able to get this picture of her, and that's with Jay trying to hold her still.

So while it was nice to be on break from pet duties, it is nice to be back in it as well. Plus, the return love of animals is tenfold what you give them.

Wear a different hat every once in a while...

...especially when it comes to being more child-like! A great time was had by all in Washington, D.C. this weekend by Susan, her family, and by Jay and me. We enjoyed an (almost) rain-free day on the Mall, and everybody got what they wanted. Susan's youngest got to play with gravel, her middle son found truck parts even on aircraft at the Air and Space Museum, her oldest read everything she could get her eyes on (what a voracious learner she is) and we adults did a little catching up while walking around.




My personal favorite exhibit that we saw was at the Museum of Natural History called Written in Bone. It was absolutely fascinating, combining science with history, talking about how the study of bones helps determine so much about a person's life and death. I highly recommend it!

Latin Word of the Day: anulus

The word anulus means ring. There is a likely etymology of this word in that it is related to the word annus, which means year and anus, which means exactly what it looks like. Note all are round (more or less)! The -ulus suffix is a diminutive, so I'm saying that the word literally means little ---, whether you say little year or little anus. So there's why a wedding ring represents forever; the forever concept of any circle, whether it be of time or of physical shape has that infinite quality to it.

Anyway, here is one of my favorite images from APOD: Astronomy Picture of the Day. It is of an annular eclipse. Get it?

Break a Leg....and show me how competent you are

My son is in three (actually four) shows, to be performed six times over this weekend and next. In this photo he plays Dr. Reynolds in Sofia's Wish. He also has the lead in Zombie Swamp High, and also plays a quirky janitor in The Antarctica Murders: Read All About It! Somehow he also managed to snag the voiceover gig in Creativity to the Maxitivity. For that job, he happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The tech needs for these shows by the Twin Beach Players' Kids Playwrighting Festival were not complicated, but the boy also managed to come in for two tech days to (greatly) assist in setting up the stage and to (tediously) set up the lights, go to all of his rehearsals in the evening, and then perform in the shows this weekend. I should also add that in addition, he attended two AP Calculus review classes this week, helped me get the cars' oil changed and worked on AP English's arduous Nicholas Nickelby. The kid is definitely learning what he's made of. We have one more show this weekend, then three more shows next weekend.

Being a senior, he's starting to realize that there are plenty of actors in his class and a few competent tech people, but he is at the top of the heap when it comes to doing both. College will be different for sure, but it's nice that as a senior he can feel like he worked hard to reach the top of his game in his small pond of a school.

Now today: off on a quick break to some colleges in NY and PA...

August Madness

In case people don't know what it's like to be a teacher, it's insanity. This year I have six classes and seven preps; not unusual for a foreign language teacher (particularly at an independent school), but this is still a ridiculous schedule. That means preparing seven different classes to be taught in six block of time almost every day til June, and only 50 minutes of school time set aside to do so, which makes it obvious that I take work home with me every day. Add to that parent phone calls, a son's senior year, a husband who likes to likes to see me occasionally and a house that requires some level of management, in addition to other duties to be performed at school, and suddenly I pretty much have a crappy school year. So this summer was a good summer to take off.

However, in viewing my "time off" from today forward, things are looking kind of crazy. I also intend, during this time, to start prepping my classes and doing the overall schedule for them. Hopefully I can get plenty done during some of these days. But all in all, until next August (yet another story for another day) now that July is ending, so is my fun. It's been great chatting with you!

It's lacy, wafting curtains for you!

My parents' business was featured in today's Baltimore Sun. Enjoy the video and print article:

Baron Stage Video

Baron Stage Print Article

And for the title quote, there is this awesome video!

My son was watching this musical yet again this past week, and I just had to see all the musical numbers again!