Tidepools

Mike has never even DONE this..so he was being very indulgent. We got up at sunrise (stopped for coffee, of course) and drove north, up past the Cayucus pier and found a place to pull off the road and park . Up to this point, he is still very skeptical.

Honestly, where WAS he in kindergarten when they went on walking field trips? Obviously not in my class! Tia and I took a walking field trip every Thursday of the world and we went everywhere. The barber shop, the beauty school, the pizza place, the post office, the Cuban mercado, Tiangi's...if we could walk there inside an hour and it was in Cudahy, we dragged those kids there. Today was not much different. I dragged him over the cliffs and bob war and down to the beach...and Mr. Rule Breaker was worried that we weren't supposed to be there or maybe the fencing was to keep cows and stuff in. Sure, it is. Keeps them in..but doesn't keep us OUT.

This comes from the woman who dragged her

kids down into a herd of elephant seals (before you could bother them) and had Lisi lie down next to a pup-. A new elephant seal is the exact size of a 2nd grader, did you know that? (These elephant seals are from a different trip. They are as big as pickup trucks...what was I thinking? )

So anyway, we go tromping down the beach and Mike is moving from indulgent-I'm

married-to-this-eccentric-woman to hey!-this is kind-of-interesting mode. I only taught in the MARE program for ten years....I know tide pools, elephant seals and birds. I can chatter about them for HOURS..and I sometimes do. I have about a million lesson I could do just off the top of my head (which, after my quiet outing yesterday is not just filled with the whoooshing of air anymore.

Anyway, here are some photos of the tide pools, sea urchins, anemones. mussels....just pretty much whatever caught my eye.

Oh, I am not the 19-year old mountain goat I once was. I was climbing up a rock (fearless! brainless!) and fell. Just some road rash. It makes me look like I did something besides the dishes.

Oh, and this?

That's the Cayucus Pier. When I was little, we came down here all the time and I was terrified that I would fall thru the chinks in the pier and dangle by my little feet and when the tide came in, I'd drown. Now HOW I thought my whole self would fit thru the chink but my feet wouldn't...and that the tide actually came up that high...and that NO ONE would notice is beyond me. But that is what I though in my little three year old brain. And the sea anemones scared me, too. I thought they would get me. Not that that little detail ever stopped me from sticking my fingers in them.
And yes, whenever I saw a starfish washed up above the tide line, I took them over to the tide pool and tossed them back into the water. I know I can't save all of them, but I bet the ones I saved are glad I bothered.

Kayak adventure/Saturday

Kayaking this morning. Quiet. Sea otters..and they are BIG. With big teeth. THe big photos is an otter with a baby; the little one has a rock he is using to hammer a clam or something. Wham! Wham! Wham!

I wasn;t all that close to them, but the kayak slips thru the water so silently, I didn't disturb them.

Just right at sunrise. And YES, I wore both a life jacket and a wetsuit and my little dive booties, because the water here is COOOOLD. I have more photos but I'm going out again tomorrow, ove in Cayucus, north of the pier.

It was so quiet and peaceful and solitary.
I am one lucky girl.

SInce I'm at the beach...here are some photos

This is one of the last times I went diving. We were in Florida for a MONTH... little 50's style motel right on the beach in Key Largo. Our flight got in before the rooms were ready, so we just got into our suits, found a hammock and went to sleep in the shade. Right next door to Neptune's Hideaway, there was a fish place (great food)...down the road was the Fish House (WOW!!), Crabby's and a Publix mercado, so I actually could cook. Which I did. I reallyit was just the most romantic little trip. We stayed in this like to cook when we go on vacation. Grill some fish, grill some onions and fennel, have some cheese...how can life get any better?

We're on the boat and I'm grilling some oysters (for me) and some salmon for Mike (trying to steam wrap it with parchment, some butter, a little fresh dill, some salt and then wrap the whole thing in foil. Some fresh bread and a simple little apple and pear tart with table cream. All on the grill. Yum.

It isn't dark yet and I can see a couple of other boats with people on them. I'm just waiting for the coals to get hot enough to cook. I love it out here. The boats are all bobbing and it is still light enough to see the ripples in the water. I bet there are seals cruising under the water because it looks like something big is under there.






I bought some big chilies, so I'm doing Chile rellanos in the morning...here is my recipe:

4 whole poblano pepper, charred and seeded..you can cool of the heat by starting the cooking process in a George Foreman Grill and then charring it right on the burners of the stove. (That's how I do my tortillas, too. Flip them right on the burner)
1 cup cotija cheese, grated
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
1/2 cup crema Mexican (or sour cream, thinned with milk)
2 Tbsp. chipotle chile canned in adobo, pureed
salt and pepper

In a large mixing bowl, gently combine onion, the chipotle chiles, half the cheese, half the crema, salt and pepper. Stuff each chile with about a quarter of the mixture and place the stuffed chiles on an ungreased baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle the remaining crema over the chiles and top with the remaining cheese. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 minutes.

Takes no time at all and we get up so early anyway. This morning the dogs went crazy at four in the morning...I thought I heard Lisi holler "Mama!"..so naturally, I ran headlong down the stairs to see who was kindnapping my baby. Mike has a cooler head, and checked to see if she was still in bed. She was.

SO it was either a dream that the dogs and I were having together or Lisi called out in her sleep.

Mothering. It just never stops.

I am SO ready for the weekend

Long, long, very long week. I have the car already packed and I think we're going to sleep on the boat tomorrow night. Saturday, I'm going out in the kayak and go look at the tidepools on the bayside. No ocean going for me...and no blisters, either. I just need so REALLY quiet time to my own self. Too many people this week.

I did it! I did it!

I managed to cast on AND knit..well, it is sort of conceptual knitting..an entire swatch. Sort of roughly 5 x 5. Is that something or what? And yes, I can clearly see the multiple problems it has ( even when it is such a teeny tiny photo) but I'm going to pretend that this is just a SPED case and it simply needs some help. Since that is what I DO in real life, I bet I can help this little miserable thing along, too.

Plus, it is not my REAL yarn. It is just junk yarn. No need to torture my nice stuff. Notice the metal needles. I'm trying to save my bamboos for the nice stuff or they will refuse to work. Here is my nice stuff for my baby surprise sweater...which will be a BIG surprise if I manage to get it done without shredding the wool. Baby Jack will be talking in whole sentences by the time this gets done.

And keep in mind I am a ZEN knitter. I like knitting. I do not like a rompecabeza pattern that makes me want to bang my head. When I knit, I prefer not to think about much of anything. I like the sound of the air in my head, whooshing around.

I actually DO have legs

When I taught high school, I always wore either dresses or skirts beacause...well, because it sowas so LONG ago, we all wore skirts. When I was in college, we couldn;t even WEAR slacks on campus. WHich means if I ran to the bookstore for paper, they couldn't CHECK ME OUT. If I went to the ice cream parlor wearing slacks, they COULDN'T SERVE ME. And forget about wearing jeans. We couldn;t wear jeans on campus until the 80's. BYU. What can I say?

When I taught little kids, I always wore slacks because I was always on the floor.
Then when I went to the prison, I just always wore pants, too, because skirts were too provacative. (I work with violent perverts). But now, I'm not always in the classroom.

Sometimes I'm in front in meetings with the super duper top secret crypto Nato guys. I can wear skirts there. Sometimes, I'm doing program review or training or classification. I can wear skirts there...because I AM SICK of wearing pants everywhere.

But this weekend, I did some shopping and found THIS cutest gored skirt. Right length, modest, enough flare to cover up for those perverted peepers. But it was $395. That is three HUNDRED dollars and ninety five dollars. And it wasn;t made of anything special AND I wasn't impressed with the finishing or the hem.
So, here's the pattern. I'm going to make them my own self. Easy as pie. Really., I've made a gazillion skirts. Wore them all the time.
THEN I found this cardi/tank at a consignment shop. $12. CASHMERE AnnTaylor...$12...can you imagine? I can't even buy the yarn for that.

So I'm doing a black wool and the prettiest dark fog gray skirt, with a subtle cross hatching of grays in it...cutting them out tonight. I stopped at this great fabric store in SLO...I don't even know the name...but I can find it again! They have really lovely stuff and it is always a pleasure to work with quality fabrics.

Speaking of yarn, my quest for knitting is still on going. I can't cast on YET but I'm getting closer to figuring it out. It's two sticks and a string..how flipping hard can it be? I figured out my PCR reports for SacCity..okay, 19 days late..but they were right at the end and they're as square as a box with four corners, right this minute. So I know I can re-learn this.

And I have a feminine gun belt to wear with this, so don't think I'm going to wreck the lines with my gear. (Ha! feminine gun belt. Sorta an oxymoron).

I'm doing program reviews all this week. These dudes are seriously scary. Scary enough to be shackled and have somewhere between 2 and six escorts. When the only prison/bad guy experience you have is CSI, L&O and The Closer, it is hard to even imagine what it is like.

Take the scariest thing they can come up with on tv? No comparison. If they made a tv series about the reality, you wouldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it. Even Oz doesn't come close. And forget about Prison Break. Compared to reality, it is a comedy. WAY off the reality grid.

It wasn't all about headaches

I actually did get out and about this weekend! I usually just hermit up...read, knit, cook. We met friends out at the Marina and had dinner on Friday night, as a storm was blowing in. (First day of fall).

After all of the summer heat, it was sort of nice to see the clouds. As storms go, it wasn't much---just enough to rock the boat and make you feel all safe inside. This morning, we went out to shoot...it was wet and miserable, but I managed (yay for me!!) to keep my spot (3rd) on the team. AND IT IS NOT AN OLD LADY TEAM. It is a real team. And it's not that I'm really any good, it is that I don't really care and I have no testosterone on the line. I think that helps my aim. Plus they have really good coffee. REALLY good. But that's why we want to come over to the coast to shoot. All we have in the Central Valley is dirt.

Then, because the weather was nice today, I went for a walk down from the hill, along the shoreline. (Tide was out. Lots of mud. Not overly picturesque.) Next week, though, I think I'm going to go to the tide pools and take photos. Unless the weather is really miserable. I've noticed a lot of sponges down at the dock, so I think maybe I can find some in the tide pools. I might go out in the kayak, unless it is rough..because there is a whole lot that you can't see from this side. Lots of stuff to dig around in from the water side. And yes, I do wear my life jacket, even though it looks stupid. And no, I'm not paddling OUT past the rock...I'd get blisters. I'm doing the nice little floaty, look at the birds and think my own quiet private thoughts little outing.

I did see the turkeys out on the golf course...they run wild on this side of town. We had turkey's when I was a kid...they are mean tempered, territorial, pecky and not at all entertaining up close. But across the road, they were sort of fun.

Then I spent MOST of the day trying to get my knitting to work. I'm re-learning. It is REALLY harder now but I have great hopes that it will one day just bingo! in my head. I also spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get my Palm Pilot to work. I think it will be easier to just write stuff on my hand in the long run....but I might be able to figure it out. It's the SAVING part I'm having problems with.

I need to go inside the perimeter with as little personal stuff with me as possible. That means no ID, no credit cards, no business cards, no planner, no phone numbers. Too easy for them to get lifted or lost. NOT that it has happened to me (yet). I'm doing a week (A WEEK) rotation with mental health. We do some serious program review and I'm the educator who can actually translate scores into English. So far, I can chat with the borderline psychos, sociopaths, the 1-60's and the firestarters (you don't want to know). Just by looking at their scores, I usually can tell about when they went off course. Well, at least in school. The rest of their twisted little life...I have NO idea.

Last week, I thought I was going to Pelican-canceled; then Q-canceled; then Sac-canceled. Obviously, I am a minor little player and if the big guns have something else to do, they certainly don't need me hanging around. As you can imagine, I keep a carry bag packed all the time so I at least have something to sleep in, my own soap and my favorite snackies.

This is it exactly....inside my head with the speakers on REALLY LOUD

Crazy, wild week with the ferals

I have never had so much confusion and yelling go on in my life. Every time I turned around, some big drama was going on..alarms, sirens...along with the general clamour and bedlam that makes up my day. I did some training this week...and I LOVE it but it totally throws me off my game.

Then,I was held over for AN HOUR---for what, I don't know. Don;t ev

I really thought I would be redirected (let loose) around one but I didn't get home until almost four, which made it six-thirty by the time we got to the boat...and the second I got out of the car, I could just feel myself melt. Boy, do I need this!

Our marina is very secluded, private and quiet. Out of maybe 200 boats, I can see lights on just two others...so it is like being on a private island. It is dark outside but the moon is bright enough to see the ripples in the water. It is just overwhelmingly peaceful. There is just the lightest mist of rain and it is just the exact kind of weather I really love...not so cold you are freezing, but cold enough to cuddle up against the chill.

The cabin is tiny, so it only takes a little while for it to warm up....and at the far end of the marina is a restaurant...great fish and chips, great clam chowder and really great desserts, so of course, no cooking tonight. I'll go to the market tomorrow and maybe even do some baking for next week. Banana bread and blueberry muffins. And lots of decent coffee.

I think that if it is stormy tomorrow, I'll go over to the house and knit but if it sunny, I'll just sit on the deck and read. I just need to unwind myself from this bundle of knots. It has been a very long week.

It is so odd that I can run 100 miles an hour all week and it is only now, at the end of it even realize how much I crave this peace? I work with a very needy and demanding feral population and at the end of the week, I am surprised that there is anything left of me at all.

Just knowing that I can sleep on the boat tonight and then have coffee on the deck...beyond tranquil.

Oh, I am so in love with myself!

First name? Lately, I've been calling myself "Winter" since my last name is unpronounceable by inmates.

Were you named after anyone? If you are referring to my real name, I was named after 19% of all Irish girl babies. The others are named either Mary, Margaret, Mary Margaret or Margaret Mary.

When did you last cry? I think crying is good for you. I especially like crying over country western songs on the way to work.

When did you last get mad? I spend a lot of time forcing people to bend to my will, so I don't get mad--too much effort if you do it every day! I do get miffed and there is a lot of throwing up my hands and sending men home to cool off. I have gotten it down to the poimt where if I call them "my friend", the guys know that I have been pushed as far as I intend to be pushed. I have learned a lot of people skills here and have learned that (surprise) it's not always about me. Well, it's MAINLY about me.

I did get really mad about a 22 days ago, RAISED my voice THREE times and then tossed the whole bunch out. Now, when I get a new guy in and he hasn't realized that I really mean it when I say he can't swear in front of me that I really mean it. So that part of it is fixable.

But day to day? I have a lot of guys mad at ME. Whole bunches of them.


Do you have a journal? My blog and a hard copy one (since I was 8. Pretty boring) But I sort of like the person I see evolving..and I have led such an amusing life. And yeah-you ARE probably in it.

Would you bungee jump? I would and I have.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Rocky road, but the marshmallows have to be real.

Shoe size? Size 7, almost.

Red or pink? Red and spiked

What is the least favorite thing about yourself? I'm a cynic. And because of my work, I think everyone is lying to me, getting ready to lie to me or have lied to me but I don't know it yet. We call it "getting up on your leg". Then there is the flip side, where I just trust people to be real and true and trust-worthy.

Who do you miss the most? I miss Marji (whom I talk to every day), Pat and Alicia. And Marnie. And me, sometimes.

What color pants, shirt and shoes are you wearing? Black, white, barefoot. I sort of had an explosion in my closet so there isn't a whole lot left.

Last thing you ate?? A raspberry truffle...someone delivered it to me at work, so I figure somebody wants something that they are pretty sure I don't want to do

What are you listening to right now? "Cocaine Blues"

If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Periwinkle

Favorite scents? Roses. Coconut. Cotton in a trailer. The way a walnut orchard smells in November. A haystack. The smell of a tractor...sort of oily and dirty and green, all at once. The top of a baby's head. The way the morning smells out on the ocean. The rain on parched ground. Tule fog.

The first thing you notice when you are attracted to someone? Eyes. I liked to know if someone is at home. And the smile wrinkles..it is important to know that he's had something to smile about..because I have

Favorite drink? Coffee. with cream. In the morning on the front porch.

Favorite sport?

Scuba diving...and I love the planet that I see there. Once, I saw thousands of flat sand dollars, laid out like coins spilled from a pirate ship.

Another time, I saw thousands of strawberry starfish. I've seen sharks (yikes), barracudas (double yikes), sea turtles and the first free dive I made, I found a sea urchin the size of my fist. Cold water, warm water, storm or calm sea...it is always an amazement

I love the trip out in the early morning and the way we all are busy getting our gear organized and on. Divers are incredibly giving, so there is always someone to help yank your gear around for you. And while I'm not diving to kill something, I love it when I'm out with a bunch of Japanese divers, because I know lunch is going to be fabulous.

Eye color? Knock out blue

Movies? Any IRA movies where stuff blows up. The bigger the better. Bruce Willis and Steven Segall, because you always know what you are going to get. Oh, and any of those football/baseball/basketball/swimteam ones. I love those, too.

Hugs or kisses? Hugs. I don't like too much invasion of my personal space. Unless of course, I'm kissing. Then I like that best. Nothing that invades me too fast. I'm a slow gal.

What books are you reading? Right now, I'm reading Where The Red Fern Grows to my students. I think I've read it out loud maybe 30 times. I'm not at the crying part yet and every time I read it, I think "this time I can get through it". Never happens. When I read to the guys I work with now, they are touched and embarrassed and worried because by the end, I am sobbing. They don't get a lot of enotion in prison, unless it is just testosteroni anger, so I just flip them out.

Favorite sounds? Running water. The hay truck. Trace Adkins. Opening doors. Slamming gates. The sound of the very quite and sneaky dogs trying to get up on the bed. (It used to be the very quiet and sneaky babies...so I guess things never change

Furthest you've been from home? Ireland and Columbia. (I drove to Columbia and turned around when there were guys with machine guns at the border. It was sort of a spur of the moment trip).

What's your special talent? I have a really good imagination

Attached or single? Very muchly attached

Best Friend- Marji and Pat...I talk to them every day

Cake or Pie- neither one blows my dress up. Too much sugar

Essential Items- Moisturizer, eyelash curler, lip gloss and some sun. I can get ready and out the door as soon as I find my shoes

Favorite color- turquoise

Gummi Bears or Worms- Can I just choose licorice?

Hometown- Porterville, CA

Indulgence- Facials and pedicures

January or February?- February....closer to spring

Kids- 4: Keri, Julie, Ben and Lisi

Life is incomplete without- the dogs laying around

Number of Siblings- Two sisters and a brother we adopted cause he fits so well with our family. When my husband dies, he and I are going to take a cruise down the Amazon. We used to live two blocks from each other and worked at the same school, right next door to each other. Besides my kids, he is the easiest person to say "I love you" to....and we have never had a fight. At least not with each other. He is my flip side.

Oranges or Apples?- man-eating oranges

Phobias/Fears- creepy crawlies

Favorite Quote- "It's not good, it's not bad, it just is"

Reason to Smile- when my kids descend on me with the mess and the noise and the babies and the dogs

Unknown fact about me- My life is an open book..no secrets here! (Easier that way).

Worse Habit- worrying. No, fretting.

Your Favorite Food- sushi AND sashimi

Zodiac- What sign was I born under? "Closed"

Ever have a near-death experience?
I saw the Angel of Death once. He didn't look like John Travolta, so I didn't go.

What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?


Any celeb you would marry?
Nope. Too much drama and bad photos.

Name someone with the same birthday as you:
Jimi Hendrix.

Do you have a crush on someone?
Yep. Always

Have you ever been in a fight?
Does a riot count?

Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?
Who hasn't?

Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
Yep...Ann Jillian.

Do you wear a watch?
I don't ever need to know what time it is.

Do you have anything pierced?
Just my ears...double pierced.

Do you have any tattoos?
I have one planned...

Do you like pain?
I just had a new shoulder put in. Pain, I am well acquainted with. IT HURTS.

Do you like to shop?
My idea of torture. I wish I could just think of something and have it teleported in.

What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
I bought some lipstick...

What was the last thing you paid for with a credit card?
I've sworn off credit cards.

Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
Elyce

What is on your desktop background?
Beautiful blossoms from my garden

What is the background on your cell phone?
Background? You can have a background?.

Do you have any weird relatives?
Isn't that the way they come?

What was the last movie you watched?
Oh, Rescue Me!! I love the whole firefighter/high drama/craziness of it

Did you or are you planning to go to college?
I did. Have an MA in Math from UCLA and another one in Spanish from USC. That's enough chair sitting for me. I have an accounting degree, too. I still can;t find my shoes in the morning

What is your favorite pair of pants that you own?
I have a pair from college that are so worn and so soft and still fit. Well, if I stand on my head.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Idaho, maybe. Or on Santibel, on the water. Or maybe Morro Bay. They have the best clam chowder.

Okay..running is not for me

Gravity is so not my friend. I haven't done all those push ups so that I can jog everything down...so the running is totally out. I did the stair climber last night and this morning (I am focused when it comes to my vanity) and then climbed the teirs at lunch. Nothing like trotting up and down metal steps to make lunch look like too much trouble.

I'm taking my bike to the coast and plan to bike to the grocery store, down to the Marina and over to friends. We live on a hill over by the golf course, so at least half of the trip will be uphill. Of course, the other half will be me careening wildly down the hills. When I first started teaching, back when Mick Jagger was young, I rode my bike to work until it snowed. I don;t remember it being a big huge deal. I lived in a fifth floor walkup, too...and I remember trotting up and down those stairs to visit friends all the time....and I bet I can do it again.

You know what they say; we can have it all, just not at the same time. Well, I REFUSE to trun into a dumpy little old lady. And forget about me thinking I'm middle aged....I passed that day a long time ago, unless I am going to live until I am 150. See that back? That's gonna be MY back. (Poor little thing proably only has enough energy to sit in that little ribbon thing, lol)

I wore my favorite capris today..the ones that make me feel like Audry Hepburn. Unfortunately the pharmacy now has security camera where you can watch yourself? These are going straight into the trash. Why I thought they were so cute, I do not know. I DO have a mirror in my room...I guess I just am looking at myself selectively and only seeing the selective parts I like!!



So envision the sweater in cashmere (I'm almost done with it..I didn't knit it; got the knitted fabric at Sawyer Brooke and am doing the handwork on it now...easy peasy pattern. I couldn't find one I really liked, so I sort of made it up, using one of my gardening sweaters for the pattern. Sorta.) It is longer and the tank is shorter...and the jeans are actually tailored pants...BUT LOOK AT THOSE SHOES! Aren't they the cutest? These are not walking around shoes. They are barely even walk into a meeting shoes but gosh! aren't they the cutest? They are more like toss them off at the door shoes, in my opinion. I'm treating myself to shoes and pocketbooks as I drag myself back to unfrumpyland.

I think I'll get a tattoo when I get my ass back where it belongs.

It just sucks getting older!

Tripping down my staircase today I noticed that my heretofor perky ass was at least an inch to the south.

Mike had taking some auction photos and instead of taking the photos of lovely wife holding on the top piece, he just caught me from my upper lip to my collarbone. Wake up number two.

Then suddenly the pants I always were to work, were snug and just a tag wrinkly AND the white shirts I always wear, with a tank or a t-shirt underneath just looked grimy today., I had nice jewelry on,,,but even that didn't help.

SO..and this might sound a tad crazy, I went through my entire closet and If I DIDN'T just love it, off it would go,. Same with the shoes and the scarves. If I'm not having a Christie Brinkley moment, I'm not hanging it back up.

At least I have good nails and skin still....but my clothes just were not operating for me.

I just need Black/white/maybe a little yellow or red/ some gray.

And I have to exercise even even more , Because I am not going to turn in to one of those middle aged women who just look sort of solid and square. I just hope I have enough time on the planet to fix myself!

So now I am on the lookout for great pocketbooks and quirky shoes that don't hurt my feet.

And adult jewelry...or at least stuff that is pretty.

Baby surprises

I ordered yarn for this Baby Surprise for Ruthie's baby...and the video, too. I KNOW I can figure this out. I had made a different little sweater (my cuff to cuff one) in a variegated stripe...cute but so, so wrong for rugged little Jack. So this "Ranier Mountaintop" will have to fit a bigger-than-newborn baby...because my speed leaves something to be desired!

I'm working on a baby sampler for my friend Cher...she is expecting her first girly grandbaby and is over the moon. I am almost done...had to rip part of it out because I didn't like the "I" in Iliana. Picky, I know. But this is the one and only Iliana, so it has to be right.

I did manage to finish the baby seat cover for MY new grandbaby, Davis. So of course, I had to find a book to send to Brandon, so he wouldn't feel left out. Boy-o gave to book a once over and approved--I guess I can still pick out okay books for little boys!

Our contract has not been ratified yet and it looks like we're going to get another two weeks of "surprise!" days off. The only downside is that we only get a three day lead time; too short to plan to go anywhere.

We want to go to Florida for the time we have at Christmas..not Christmas Day, but during that two weeks, for my birthday. I'd like to go out in the kayak in the Everglades, since that is about the only thing I can do right now. Dr. Migraine told me yesterday that I am grounded from diving until he gets my head fixed. I guess he doesn;t want me to have a stroke at 90 feet. Given a little thought (after all the swearing), I agree with him. Grudgingly.
I gave it up for my shoulder for an entire year and had really thought I would be AT LEAST doing weekend dives in Catalina. Instead, I am stuck on the deck with my knitting. Okay, but not what I had planned.

Two training sessions planned for me; well, maybe. A week in Sac City (too long, too much sitting and too lonely) for curricula writing...exactly as boring as it sounds. A week in Pismo (again, too long, too much sitting and too lonely). There are more that look promising...Bakersfield for a week.and another at Delaney in San Francisco (the Fairmont) and a week in Monterey (I hope I get that one. I love the hotel they put us up at...and I love eating out every night....EVEN by myself. The balcony looks out over an cemetery where a herd of deer live..so in the morning, I can sit out in my robe, sip my coffee and watch the deer and the humming birds.) Lucky for me, I have friends in all these places, so I can look forward getting together with someone besides Munch and Eliot.

Right now, we are signing up for every kind of training possible--the window is open and the money is available. Of course, it sort of depends on when the DOE GETS the applications. We are all in competition with all of the other institutions and all the other teachers....and I know that new teachers need a shot at training more than I do. I just need to get away. As much as my students entertain me, I do get really tired of the amount of cajoling I have to do. They are as demanding as feral kinders.

Well, that is it for me tonight. Back to my cross stitch. Tomorrow, I have to fix a program on my computer. It is either corrupted or has two teeny bugs and I got an email from HQ with a big fit. I don't know why they bother. Just make up something. It's not like it's going to make any difference.

Oh, I'm chairing a WASC committee. It is a big professional deal. It is really a thankless projects, consisting of addressing pointy-eared blow hards...but it gets me out of the classroom. It is a thousand hour project and I get to travel...ON A PLANE. They are serious about accreditation and I have to go to the Feds in San Diego. I love going to the Feds; they have great meetings, cool stuff to take home and sweatshirts. I want one that says Federal Agent or Forensics. Shoot, I want to wear the FBI one on the plane.