Happy New Year

The pictures above are from cleaning my classroom as mentioned below.
1. Avery with rosy cheeks from running around the room.
2. Avery, Emma, and Luke playing in the clothes cubbie.
3. Luke, Emma, and Avery in the school library.


My new year has started with cleaning--sorting through closets, vacuuming behind the bed and other fun things. While going through articles I have saved I found a couple on getting rid of clutter, organizing, and a book entitled Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui. I think part of my clutter problem is all these articles and books. I now have 2 bags for Good Will--one filled with books and the other with clothing. It seems that as I try to get rid of things I find books that I want to read, clothing that I know I will wear (that I haven't worn in years) and things I have saved for Collin and Megan (that I know they don't want) and now think I need to save for grandchildren (that they probably won't want either). I am remembering back to Spring Break last year when Megan and Avery came to help me clean out my classroom after 30 years of accumulated 'stuff'. Fortunately, Brenda Morehead, a teacher herself, came along to help also. Brenda took over and started with a cupboard and helped me decide 'save' or 'give away'. She had the common sense to tell me when there were things that there was no reason for me to keep even though, without her, I would have thought of a reason I needed it. She also would tell me there were things that no one would want. How could that be? I have saved some things for 30 years and no one wants it? Well, she was right. Megan on the other hand would have thrown everything out so was in charge of watching Avery, Luke, and Emma as they played with all the the 'great' things I had in the room.

The reason I started this blog is to send you to a very funny program on NPR. I love listening to Public Radio and one of my favorite programs is Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. I missed it yesterday so just listened to it on their website. Go to NPR, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Jan 2, '09 and go to the last session with the Brian Williams interview. The whole interview is funny but I really laughed at the part about Florence Foster Jenkins. Believe me, it will make you laugh, unless you are tone deaf. Other favorite programs are This American Life and Speaking of Faith.

Christmas

When I left Cheyenne at 8:45 this morning it was blowing there as usual and as soon as I hit the Colorado border it stopped. But now it is blowing like mad here. The drive home was not bad--the roads were snow packed and there was very little traffic

I had a nice Christmas with Collin, Denise and Dylan. I wanted to post these pictures of Dylan and the family. Santa was very good to Dylan as he received a lot of nice gifts.

My back yard neighbors, John and Amy called and invited me over for dinner and I am headed over there after this post.

A White Christmas

I love a white Christmas.

It is a beautiful day here in Colorado. The sun is sparkling off the snow and the temperature, although only 13, feels warm with that great CO sun shining. I am making Katherine's famous rolls for the first time and am now waiting for the dough to rise. As soon as I can get the rolls made, though not baked, I will head up to Cheyenne for our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. Collin is working on Christmas so Denise is making a wonderful dinner for us and I, with some luck, am furnishing the rolls. It will be fun to watch Dylan this Christmas as he opens gifts and enjoys all the excitement of Santa.

We have had around 7-8 inches of snow here in Eaton in the past 2 days so I was a little concerned about driving up to Cheyenne but I just talked to Denise and the weather there is fine. The wind did blow last night so the drifts over at the playground where Barkley and I walk were up to my knees.

Listen for Santa's sleigh bells tonight and have a Merry Christmas.

-22

But the sun is shining! And at 8:45 it is up to -18. The storm is moving to the east but with the clear skies the temperature has dropped. Needless to say, Barkley and I did not walk this morning. He does not mind the cold and was sitting out on the snowy deck this morning until I saw him get up and walk on 3 legs. I made him come in. He gets snow matted on his long fur around his feet and it turns to ice.

Megan set up this blog for me and at the time I could not think of a name for it. Megan thought of something I was working on at the time and that was to try and duplicate a favorite cookie of mine called the half-moon cookie. Growing up in Utica, NY, we had great bakeries, many of them Italian , so I always thought they were an Italian cookie. After looking up 'black and white cookie' on Wikipedia I discovered that the half-moon cookie (from upstate NY and New England) is a little different than the black and white (from NYC). They were first made in the Hemstrought Bakery (not an Italian name)in Utica , NY, in the early 1900's. You may have seen a Seinfeld episode where Jerry is in a bakery with Elaine and he orders a black and white cookie. I love these half moon cookies which are a large, round, cake like cookie frosted on the flat side with chocolate and white frosting (it looks like a half moon!). When ever I visited my mother in Syracuse I would bring back a dozen cookies and a loaf of REAL Italian bread. (In fact, when Megan was a teen she was flying back from visiting her Nain with a box of the cookies on her lap and the boy next to her noticed her name and address on the box and they have been friends ever since--these are very powerful cookies). They are made with a chocolate cookie or a white cookie--the chocolate ate best. I still have not duplicated the cookie-all the recipes I can find have the white cookie as the base.

So that is a rather long explanation of the blog title.

The picture is of Barkley on our trip with Katherine to the desert near Savery,Wyoming. We were looking for rocks and the wind was blowing-he has a beautiful coat.

Maui

Maui, Hawaii


After six days in Maui and a constant 81 degrees, I returned to DIA and an 8 degree temp in the car. Quite a temperature difference. I had thought ahead and put a winter coat, boots and gloves in the car but had to walk through the snow to get to the boots so had frozen and wet toes before I even began. But, as with any trip, it was good to be back in Colorado and home.

It was a great trip and I would definitely go back. It is a beautiful but expensive place. We stayed at the Westin Spa and Resort in Kaanapali. Megan and Avery picked me up at the airport Tuesday afternoon after leaving home at 5 for an 8:00 flight to Phoenix and then a 6 hour flight to Maui. In the evening we (Megan, Damian and Avery) went to Mama's Fish House, a fancy fish restaurant, and met Mick and Vic for dinner. The menu listed the fish that was caught that day and by whom and where it was caught. I did not recognize any of the fish so just picked the one that came with the vegetable I would like. The appetizers and fish were delicious. It was a late night for Avery and she was ready to leave and go to bed--as we all were.

We had a buffet brunch the next morning with Mike and Vic at the resort. (Megan, Damian and Avery had been on Maui for Mike and Vic's wedding the week before). In fact we enjoyed eating there 2 more times before we left-lots of choices of breakfast type foods. Damian, Avery and I went swimming in the pool before Megan took him to the airport at noon. Avery and I read a couple of books and then we both took a nice nap.


Our two main activities were a whale watching boat tour and a visit to an aquarium. The name of the tour, Whalewatch Eco-Adventures, is run by the Pacific Whale Foundation, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to protecting whales, dolphins, coral reefs and the ocean environment". So, of course, being good environmentalists, that is the one we chose. It was a two hour cruise and although the whale watching season doesn't start until the 15th of Dec, the tour guides were hopeful and we were not disappointed. There was a juvenile whale that breached 4 times and lots of tail flipping. I had a good view of one breaching but the others were either on the other side of the boat or someone was in front of me. But I loved it! I love boats so I was happy with just the one sighting. Avery, however, was not happy. Being a two year old (will be 2 on the 19th) she wanted to run around-not safe on a rocking boat. She wanted milk--no milk on the boat. Not a happy camper. Megan had to take her below and try to divert her attention to other things as Avery made her unhappiness known. I felt very sorry for Megan who was a cranky mess by the end of the trip. We stopped for Ding Dongs and Twizzlers after we were back on land, making Megan a lot happier.

Our second outing was to the Maui Ocean Center. We arrived at 3:30 and it closed at 5 but that was just right for Avery and Megan(who moves quickly through museums). We saw big fish and little fish and sharks and sea turtles and corral reefs. I love aquariums! My favorite are the jelly fish-I could watch them all day. And, it had a great gift shop.

We ate a place called Cheeseburger in Paradise with a guy playing the guitar and singing Jimmy Buffet songs. I, of course, had fish and chips.

I walked along the ocean early a couple of mornings. The waves were large and loud and the water was warm. I loved walking in the sand and having the wave come up and cover my feet and at times my knees. They were strong waves and I watched them carefully and stood still with each one so as to not be pulled over. Not many people out at that time of the morning so it was very peaceful.

On our last full day I insisted that the 3 of us make a sand castle on the beach. Avery was a little frightened of the sound of the waves so we settled high on the beach and then either Megan or I went to the ocean to get water. We had one bucket and a paper coffee cup and it made a splendid castle. Megan even got sand on her feet--she is really making progress since she became a mom. Avery also loved the little shower places that were available for feet washing. We then went to the pool to do some real swimming. Avery is very good at kicking her feet and could almost tread water without being held. I did not put her head under water--that is Damian's domain--he has the knack for that and she trusts him.

On Saturday we had breakfast at Cheeseburger in Paradise and walked through that town to a craft fair. There were to be activities for children that day with snow brought in, Santa and other entertainment. The craft fair was set up under a banyan tree that was planted in the 1800's and was huge. It's branches were either held up by wooden stakes or roots of the tree that grew out of the branches. It was amazing. We looked at a few things but Avery wanted to run around. She is at the stage where she does not want to hold your hand so you just have to follow her. We headed back to the hotel for her nap.

We left for the airport on Sunday as Megan and Avery had a 1:30 flight to Portland. My flight did not leave until 11:30 that night so I sat and read, walked (not far as I had my suitcase), watched people and had a something to eat at Starbucks. I was not able to go through security until US Air opened up at 8:30--surprise--they only have that one night time flight. There were restaurants past security but by that time I was not interested in eating. I did finish my 500 page Scott Turow book though.

I am glad I was able to take this trip and thank Megan and Damian for the invitation. I know it was not easy for Megan to make the 6 hour airline trip back to Portland without Damian's help so I really appreciated her efforts.


PS
This is my first try with adding pictures. I wanted the two ocean pictures to come before the writing about the cruise but that did not happen. Also I wanted to add text to the pictures but could not figure that out-besides I am ready to end this --my hands are cold. So, the first picture is from the boat looking toward where the whales were. The second is looking toward the dock as we were leaving. The picture of Megan and Avery was taken after we all had gone swimming.

Stress

I have often read that by removing clutter one can reduce stress. I am now convinced of that. After having brought home 30 years of teaching materials and books at the end of May (was that really 5 months ago?)and hauled it all down stairs, as of yesterday it has all been sorted, stored or displayed. I did take out a large bag of garbage and have packed up 6 boxes of books to donate to the library for their book sale fund raiser. I also have the hall lined with boxes for Collin and Denise. There are books for Dylan and books to fill up some of the beautiful floor to ceiling bookcases in their new home. The clutter is gone but I will now need to go through many of the things I have stored in the closet and under the bed. Another BIG project will be to organize and put in albums hundreds of photographs--some that were my mom's and some of mine.

It is a cold but beautiful day with the sun glittering on the snow. Collin, Denise and Dylan may stop by to pick up the boxes. I love to watch Dylan grow-there is something new with him every time I see him.

Time to unclutter another room.

Fall in Colorado

After having a tremendous snow storm in much of Colorado one week ago, we are enjoying some beautiful fall days with temperatures in the 70's and 80's. (As proof that it was a big time storm, the schools in Eaton were closed for TWO DAYS!) Ironically I, who love snow and especially love the first snow fall of the year, missed it. The Moody family was enjoying the fog, mist and some rain in Portland, Oregon. Megan hosted Collin, Denise and Dylan from Cheyenne--- Bruce, Joy and Nancy (the dog) from Oceanside ---and me. We all had a great time watching the two cousins, Dylan and Avery, get to know each other. There were times when Avery did not want to share with this little person she had just met for the second time--but as time went by she was won over by the fact that Dylan would not get upset --he would just move on to another toy. Avery discovered that it was more fun to share and play together. One of the cutest things was watching them give each other kisses. They would chase each other and scream with joy and then someone would say "give Avery or give Dylan a kiss" Dylan would turn his head to the side to accommodate Avery. Just too, too, cute!

So with this new found freedom that retirement brings, I have loved being able to work in the garden and yard this fall. When I was teaching there was not time during the week and on the weekend I was trying to catch up in the house or was at school getting ready for the next week. I have raked, pruned, and transplanted. And there is still a lot more to do. On cloudy days I have been sorting through 'stuff'. I have a lot of stuff! I have this problem with not being able to throw away a magazine or newspaper without reading it. And, as Megan knows, there are other organizational situations I need to work on also.

This afternoon I went to a 90th birthday celebration for Eleanor Ambrose was the teacher I was hired to replace 19 years ago. Where has the time gone?