“look, i made a waterfall!”
—
“there is a hidden message in every waterfall.
it says if you are flexible, falling will not hurt you.”
-mehmet murat ildan
Sep16
Sep15
lwd. (laughing while driving.) is this a ticket-able offense?
The Patron Saint of Second Chances
a debut novel by Christine Simon
—
on my weekday commutes to school
i listen to quite a few books
and this
was the first one in a long time
that had me laughing out loud while driving
while i may have looked a bit crazy
it was so worth it for the belly laughs
all from this book
set in a small italian village
filled with larger than life, passionate, eccentric characters
who you will absolutely fall in love with
a community who finds a way
where no path is clear
using the power of optimism, love, and fate
(along with a few pleas to obscure patron saints)
to overcome all obstacles.
you simply will not want this beautiful story to end.
bella.
—
“my optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.”
-henry rollins
—
image credit/publisher: atria books
Sep14
lego is not just for stepping on.
Where do I begin?
Lego appeals to every kind of builder. Type-A architects may like to purchase sets and follow the instructions to the letter, while more free-form designers may prefer to amass random pieces and see what inspires them. If you fall somewhere between these two categories, Brickit may be the app for you.
As FastCompany reports, Brickit is a free app that tells you what you can build using whatever LEGO pieces you have at home. To use it, start by gathering your LEGO collection and snapping a picture of the pile through the software. The app uses object recognition to pick out specific pieces from your hoard. The technology isn’t limited to 2-by-4-peg bricks in primary colors, either: More specialized elements like vehicle wheels are also detectable.
After identifying your pieces, Brickit suggests products that are compatible with your collection. You choose a structure to make and the app shows you how to put it together step-by-step with the pieces in front of you. Depending on the size of your inventory, the tool may show you build-plans you don’t have all the necessary parts for. This is where it encourages you to be creative by finding alternate pieces to fit into the empty spaces.
Brickit is a great resource if you want to build models that go beyond the picture on the box. It’s also an excellent way to use the extra pieces that come with every set—which LEGO includes for your own good.
—
“innovation is like looking for pieces in a jigsaw puzzle.
you have to find a lot of pieces that don’t match to find the one or two pieces that match.”
-edward conrad
—
credits: Fast Company, Lego, Brickit, Michelle Debczak, Mental Floss, Jack Taylor
Sep13
story about the stories.
on this special day
i brought out
an old treasured story
written by
my former student, nicole
who i taught for grades k-2
(in a school where we were known by our first names)
a story about me sharing stories
made me cry happy tears to read
how much she enjoyed the stories
what ginormous heaps of praise
from a fellow roald dahl fan.
—
happy roald dahl story day!!
—
“words are our most inexhaustible source of magic.”
-albus dumbledore (j.k. rowling, harry potter series)
Sep12
changing.
signs of change are all around us.
—
“the crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.
even on the most beautiful days in the whole year –
the days when summer is changing into autumn –
the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.”
– E.B. White
Sep11
when i was here.
I wondered whether I should start this toast by saying, “When I was here in 1776…”
– Speech at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington, 2007
During the queen’s trip to the United States in 2007, President George W. Bush stumbled over his lines at the welcome ceremony, accidentally stating that Elizabeth had helped celebrate the U.S. bicentennial in 1776, rather than 1976 — adding 200 years to her age. At a later speech, attended by Bush, the queen playfully teased the President, provoking much laughter from him and the assembled dignitaries.
1926-2022
—
art credit: eleanor tomlinson
Sep10
perfect face.
full moon rising and floating
on grand traverse bay
==
“the moon was but a chin of gold a day or two ago,
and now she turns her perfect face upon the world below.”-
-emily dickinson
—
traverse bay, traverse city, michigan, usa
september 2022
Sep9
beginning.
the little ones came to school
most for the first time ever
filling our room with emotion and energy
a few minutes into our day
one had me write
an urgent note to her mom
that read:
“bring the car!”
we’re all tired and mostly all happy
tomorrow we begin again.
—
“be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
-meister eckhart
Sep8
i am visited enough.
there’s a phrase in german (regional,) meaning “i am feeling visited enough”
that you can say when you want company to go, and this is brilliant.
it’s “ich fühle mich jetzt genug besucht.”
—
use as needed.
==
credits: united humanists, warner brothers pictures photo
Sep7
crabwise.
not olive, but she walks like this sometimes.
is it a crab? is it a cat? what is it doing?
CRABWISE!
KRAB-wiyz
Part of speech: adverb
Origin: English, 20th century
Definition: To, toward, or from the side, typically in an awkward way.
Examples in a sentence:
“Roberto moved crabwise without taking his eyes off the dodgeball.”
“My cat only moves crabwise if she knows I’m going to try to give her a pill.”
—
“some things cannot be changed. you cannot teach a crab to walk straight.”
-aristophanes
I didn't have my glasses on.... 