Sunday, August 29, 2010

Happy Finale to August! ....

"Oh, the summer night,
Has a smile of light,
And she sits on a sapphire throne."
- Barry Cornwall

I am linking to quotes to live by on Notes from a Cottage Industry



With a happy smile, the summer sprites and I send August on its merry way to come again next year. We have enjoyed its picnic weather, its sudden, darkening skies, and its heady flowers... but Autumn awaits, and I will definitely let her in.... I have looked forward to the magical weekend and still have high hopes of spreading out a little preview of fall. Mom hasn't been really very perky the past week or so, and I personally think a new mantel would cheer her up... (wink!)... Haha... how she LOVES change! (not!)....

Lasagna for lunch today, homemade!!! I sure hope it tastes as delicious as it smells...
My son and his lady love are coming in a few minutes, so I need to readjust the table. I had planned on three more, but they are doing other things... Leftover lasagna sounds great in my lunch! (but not so diety...)

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Summer's End...






I love old cemeteries... I always have. The old stones with their mossy stories speak to me, telling me of loves long lost and lives well spent. It is comforting to walk among the stones and touch the lives of those from our past. Old markers tell such tales. May they be at peace now, whether their lives were blessed with that kind of tranquility or not.

Loving my days at school and these beautiful summery nights. My camera will NOT take a decent moon shot. I was out in the dewy wee hours (about 3 a.m.) trying for a full moon snapshot the other morning when my cell phone rang. It was a former student who knew I would never be asleep with the moon hanging full like that... What a hoot... and I was a hoot the next day when I couldn't think of the new kid's name... "Hi, Sweetie," I said lamely... I know he didn't think a "new" teacher should call him Sweetie... He's tall, tatooed, and not the Sweetie type... Ah, well... it worked... Hugs to all...

Monday, August 23, 2010

Forty winks....

all photos credit to googleimages.com



May sweet angels and fairies attend you as you dream your way through the first hot days of the week... Don't you love a good dream?

The first few days of school have worn me down.... Thus, I... will.... talk.... to..... you.... tomorrow....

Friday, August 20, 2010

Storm's Rising...

If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine.
Morris West
I am linking to Words to live by... Tracey's Notes from a Cottage Industry,



Came slipping home from my first week of school midst this storm. Something inside thrills at the broil and froth of an approaching storm. I stopped here and there along the road home and concentrated on the driveway shots of the dark, menacing clouds from the northwest... Suddenly, as I was happily snapping and rechecking the camera settings... I heard my mother's squelching scream... "GET IN THE HOUSE!"

Well, heck yeah! I just barely beat it! Mom knows best! Have a delicious weekend. I'm curling up in bed with rain drumming at the windows and thunder/lightning lurking around the edges.... my favorite kind of night *except for snow.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

It's the joy in the journey




I can recall the first time I ever heard that idea mentioned: joy in the journey. I really loved the sound of it, but it has taken a long while for the accuracy of that comment to truly resonate. It feels like it should be the destination, whether realized or not. It feels like it should be the vehicle, the mechanics of getting there, the attempt... but it is the slowing down and watching, the true glimpses of life through the windshield.

Big day. I loved my classes, but I could feel my energy being actually sucked out into the room. It takes a lot to DO teaching. I always knew it, but something about today was different. I had a marvelous time in my classes. They are huge! Big talk, big room, big enrollment.

My schedule is just full. Today had some firsts: I have a couple students with special needs, and this is exciting to me. One young boy is autistic and blessed with the gift of writing! His soul, his passion, and his awareness of a world he doesn't appear to inhabit... it completely humbles and blesses all who know him. His classmates appreciate him, and that is truly fantastic. They elected him secretary, and he immediately began to write up the meeting.

26 new "amigos" in Spanish... It took the whole hour to select our cities, select our Spanish names and learn to introduce ourselves...One junior boy elected to be Zorro... The idea of claiming that name was intoxicating to him. I will have to caution him about jumping out of the window on a passing horse!!! On to the "big kid" world of the Spanish alphabet. They had so much fun I severely doubt anyone will drop out.

Then the final hour arrived, and total weariness had invaded all of us. I could see it in their eyes. The eleven composition students took on the challenge to write a three paragraph definition: Who am I? Who am I NOT? and Who will I become? We also used the magic autumn wand to give ourselves three wishes, two for ourselves and one for someone in the room. It is truly a moment when a gentle giant with rage issues takes a little wand with oak leaves stuck on the end and waves it over himself. His ankle bracelet from the last bout with the law took that moment to beep and beep and beep... I had wished for an amazing figure and the ability to run again (since I can't even walk!) and for him to experience success this year in his classes... He nervously stomped his feet to get the bracelet to stop the alarm, and he wished to be rich, for a classmate to be fantastic at basketball, and that the law had never heard his name.... Aw....

It is what it is... I just know I need energy! and lots of it....

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Tomorrow Morning...

Sooo tired and tomorrow is the first day with kids... Had lovely workshops Friday, Monday, and today... Finally, the reason for the whole thing! STUDENTS!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Summer's End....

Nothing signals the end of summer like the annual Bevier Homecoming...
My girls from school, dressed in finery and vying for the cherished title of Homecoming Queen...
I loved taking this picture with timed release to show the blur and motion of the rides...
Local talent....
a ferris wheel....

All of this takes place in just one city block... I remember being amazed when I was finally old enough to discover the location of this magical event... I couldn't believe it all meshed into this tiny green square right in the middle of the town by the Baptist Church.... Many memories, just like the ones captured this summer.

Friday was my first day back at school. We are on the through-bus of time, faces planted at the windows, watching in amazement as our lives flicker by in sunny fields, cloudy mornings, and brilliant rock-a-billy nights.... Enjoy.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Life... in layers...

One layer at a time, something like an onion, somewhat similar to a croissant... and filled with delectable sweet and sours... That is the summer of 2010... Some lovely lunches this week with friends to round out a summer spent in little busy ways... I will start my workshops Friday. "What did you do this summer?" I will just have to wing that answer. One year when I taught in a different district, I answered them: "I traveled to Europe for the very first time. My book was finally picked up by a publisher and will be out before Christmas, and.... I teach fiction for a living." It took them a minute, but they were hooked.

I spent some happy time tonight rooting through the layers that comprise this room I call mine. My son and his lady love conspired to WASH his pretty spectacular cell phone. It didn't do it any good. I have an extra RAZR... and it will be free to activate. He's all about the "free" right now, and so am I. (I haven't received a paycheck since May 20th).... so all I had to do was to find it... That old silliness about it being in the last place I looked... well, that wasn't really true. I made such a mess of my room I kept on looking to see what might show up. While I was hoping for cash, I did find my beloved copy of Jo Packam's Where Women Create... I totally groove on that book, and I was "done for" on cleaning up... I have now turned out the lights, lit my candles, and turned on some music for my soothing process... I have learned at least this in my old age: This mess will be here in the morning when I get up. Of course, usually it is accompanied by some poor surprised guest who just stopped by and really doesn't believe my story about the place being cleaned up the day before... haha...


One time travelers with car trouble stopped at my home on the corner and needed to use the phone. It was mid-winter, and she had on a luxurious leather coat, black suede gloves, and a perky French beret. I had just that day dumped my kitchen cabinets to reorganize, a practice dearly beloved to me. I stuttered that my kitchen was in shambles due to my recent cleaning, and my little son who was about five or six stepped up in his cool batman pajamas that he wore with a yellow towel tied around his neck. "Aw," he announced, "My mom always says that, but it ALWAYS looks just like this in some room or another. Come see my room. It is even worse!" I watched the pretty lady decline that tempting offer and handle the phone carefully as if she might contract the dread disorganization influenza... She used the phone and wandered on to her impeccable, I might guess, home and life...

Time for reading in the layers of covers and pillows... Eat, Love, Pray. I have been trying to finish it before the movie comes out on Friday, even though I won't see it until it comes out on DVD. Hugs...

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Whew!!! It's a Scorcher, Mister....

When the summer days get super hot, who can resist a little cup of lemonade and a straw hat? I think that might just cure anything that's troublin' ya...
If not that, then take a minute for a lovely slice of flame-baked, Italian oven pizza... in a 600 degree oven shipped from Italy... to the heartland of Missouri... I thought I was hot!....

Of course, nothing beats the house wine of the South... a tall glass of sweet tea....
Talk about Paris when it sizzles... I was up early and out watering plants about 7:00... They aren't actually dry, but they are cooking. I'm not sure the little begonias were meant to be 100 degrees.... This little begonia sure wasn't... You never catch me complaining much about the weather. I kind of think it comes from God straight and direct... So I try super hard in the heat to keep my mouth shut!!!! Have a nice week.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Homesick

A certain time of twilight permeates the soul. I think, to photographers, it is known as the blue hour. In Missouri, the locusts choose this particular moment to whir and hum, announcing the advent of late summer, early fall, back-to-school, and apple picking time. The skies turn that incredible shade of turquoise laced with lavenders and pinks. And I want to go home. I imagine I always wanted that, even when I LIVED at home. Something twists at the chords of the heart along about this time of night, and we think of baking brownies for children now all grown or dads who have left this world too soon. It is that time when a person can sit on the porch or the front step, shut those eyes and take herself through her gramma's pink and green kitchen. When my eyes are shut, the kitchen windows are raised, a dark wooden stick holds them aloft, and the sounds of the locust blend with the clatter of a little gramma in my memory who never tired of my "nonsense" and who loved me with her fierce Leo heart. Her birthday is Wednesday, and she would have marked her 111th birthday....and the day looms as a hollow shell of celebration much like a gaily decorated giftbox with no goodie inside.


And I miss it all. While the summer withers to its close and my school begins on Friday, I ache in the bones and in my core for some long-ago stuff that won't be coming back. I do this fully aware and extremely grateful for the full cup of good life I am drinking at the moment. The third anniversary of my dad's passing is this week, as well... and unbelievably, the 34th anniversary of my other grandmother. Also this week marks the birthday of my son's lady love, and we were blessed with a birthday celebration last night... Incredibly, this week, rich in momentous occasions, is the birthday of my father's dad, Grandad... who would have been a mere 129 years old tomorrow...
So, it is with small wonder that I become a bit melancholy during the second full week of August. It brings intense heat, relentless sunshine, and a convergence of memories that chip away at my core. If I take a "memory" tour of my own kitchen only a mile down the road, it seems as distant as my grandmother's. Sounding a bit like a Snapple commercial, I mutter disenchanted grumbles about my "stuff" I have left behind and maybe lost... I know it is just "stuff" but it was "good stuff.".....

Once I tacked a small poster on my schoolroom door that read, "I wish, I wish that I could see the life that lies ahead of me. I wish, I wish that I could know the places I have left to go." At the time, I used to ponder this little black poster with sparkling dandelion fluffs flying hither and yon. I wondered if I believed the message on this thing, or not... I don't think any of us are capable of knowing the future, nor are we competent to stand it... So, with the advent of total darkness and the passing of Twilight into night... I am ready to settle in to my cozy bed and prepare for a cozy night's dreaming... but let me tell the world... I am truly, honestly... homesick.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Great minds. . . advice from Dartha

Well, knowledge comes from many sources in this beautiful time of life, and today seemed the best day imaginable for a trip to see my girls and fellers at the Rothwell Park Lake. For those of you who follow my blog, this is the home of the fabulous Dartha, my very favoritest goose in the world... (I have another favorite Duck named Quacky, but that is another story and different photos!!!) Dartha is highly unusual, and she is quite lame, very "waddlesome" and a bit grumpy... But she has wisdom. Today she saw me drive up and begin to scatter a few crumbs out the window.. Here she came. (She is the one farthest from the camera beside the barbecue...)

Other geese eye her with caution. I have seen Dartha take a pinch out of more than one goose who dared reach for a goodie in her path. So her advice to me today was this: "Hold your own and let others know what you really want."
"Never be afraid to show people your good side...."
"Or if you are a bit angry and your feathers are ruffled, go ahead and let that show, too. Enough of this hiding it all in and then exploding later in private.... "
Dartha bowed her head as I thanked her for her wisdom -----and her presence...
"Hmmmmph... She says. If only you were as beautiful as I am, you might not need so much advice... And next time, bring more raisin bread... It's my favorite!"



Have a great weekend.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Something to Crow About


Oh, what a beautiful morning!
Oh what a beautiful day!
Everything's going my way!!!!



It's time for the Rooster Party!!!! Follow this link for more wonderful roosters. Mine is SO proud to make the big day!