bare feet soon over? 

wool boots ice snow sleet and chill

better wear them quick!

two sides of your mouth 

how does that show us your heart

what do you stand for?

starts  at crack of dawn 

working magic on the drains

oh another crack

       walking down the hall with a group of 4 and 5 year olds is always an adventure. little ones wander off, fall behind, walk backwards, crash into things, fall down, and on and on. 

       in an effort to try to gain some semblance of order i hit upon an idea i thought they could identify with. halfway down the hall i announced, ‘we are going to be like a train. we’ll stay in a line, follow the ‘train car’ ahead of us, and all end up in the same place.’ 

        i must say i felt a bit successful, albeit just for a moment, as they began to move down the hall in something resembling a line, until one of my little 4 year olds, who happens to be a realist, asked a question of me, bringing me back down to earth and into reality.  He turned to me, with a somewhat skeptical look on his face and he asked, ‘miss k, when was the last time you saw a train with legs?’ thanks for bursting my bubble little man – i suppose you don’t believe in the tooth fairy either –

first day of autumn 

sun rain warm chilly changing 

thinking of christmas?

       it was going to be a school meeting like most others – mandatory for full faculty, late starting, long-winded, boring, filled with useless charts and graphs, power point pages read aloud, appropriately timed applause, and a series of speakers with monotone voices droning on and on and on……  

       just prior to the start of the meeting, one of my teaching partners came in, so to be nice, i went to one of the many rows of look-alike generic chairs and picked up one to give her so that we could sit close by each other.  keep in mind, this was a thoughtful process and i followed appropriate chair moving protocol – at least i thought so. i looked for one that was unoccupied and without any ‘saved chair’ marker, such as a purse, jacket, book, etc.  as i grabbed one and began carrying it away, i heard someone yell, ‘hey!’, though i kept going without stopping or turning, thinking someone was just trying to be funny. 

       as i carried the chair over to where i’d been sitting, i heard someone running after me and suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. i turned around to see a teaching colleague from the upper school, also a parent of one of my former students. as i looked at him, i could see he was surprised to see it was me, yet not surprised enough not to look indignant and blurt out, ‘you took my chair, i was going to sit there but i was up talking!!’  

       i still thought he was kidding as i glanced over to the area where i had taken the chair. it was filled with many empty chairs just waiting to be ‘taken.’  the moment it hit me that he was NOT kidding, was when he asked me to put it back and then offered me a chair which was exactly the same and situated exactly 2 seats away from where i had plucked his chair. 

        i found it all hilarious, and happily carried it back to his spot and took a duplicate chair back to my spot. i thought about how similar this was to the overreactive behavior i sometimes see in my kindergarten classroom, though the kinders would usually just get over it and let it go – it was the absolute highlight of my otherwise colorless meeting. 

overheard on the kindergarten playground today….

       one boy, one girl, in same kindergarten class, outside at recess, playing with sand, filling up buckets. along comes a new little preschool girl, wanting to join in on the fun. she begins helping to fill their buckets with her own shovel. kinder boy says, ‘we don’t need any more help. just stop now.’ preschooler doesn’t hear him or chooses to ignore him and continues to fill the buckets.  kinder boy turns to her and says, ‘if i wanted another girl to help me with this, i would at least want one who is pretty and is in kindergarten.’ she continues to fill the buckets –

       Looking out my window and seeing 3 squirrels, 427 birds, a bunny, and some other unidentified creature in my front yard, I decided it must be time for an end of summer mow. I have a strong sense that they all believe they are hanging out in a wild field somewhere. 

 what they see…

  each week when the doorbell rings, magnus (4) and felix (2), my little aussie grandies , jump up, squeal, and run as fast as they can to get to the door.  waiting on the other side, is the guy from the local store delivering their groceries.  

   the jumping continues as their mom takes the bags and puts them on the floor, letting the boys ‘help out’ by emptying them and putting things away in the kitchen. 

 with an unrestrained joy and open mind found in children, the boys have taken an unexpected approach to this task and turned it into an exciting adventure, where they react as if they’ve received incredible surprise gifts.  

   each week they ooh and ahh as they peek into the bags and unload all of the wonderful treasures before them. every new item they reach in and pull out – a pepper, a carton of milk, even a bag of flour, warrants a squeal of glee. imagine their reaction when they came across a bag of ‘lollies’ (candy) – the celebration was endless.  

what’s really in there…

the following very real note was sent to me by a man promoting himself as a wonderful potential love match. wow – so many interesting elements contained within –

‘I like catching frogs and turtles and wild boar..My goal in life right now is to catch a fox. Im unique because Im a lesbian trapped in a mans body.I love music..Blues and rockn roll..Without it..I would rather be deaf n dumb..Like Helen Keller.. O.K. Heres the real scoop. I just moved to ____ from the city life. I feel like Im living an old episode of Andy of Mayberry. The only thing missing is Aunt B.lol I have no friends out here.Im a good guy.. I know how to treat a woman. Im funny..Im caring..and Im loyal..Im a true romantic. ..Im looking for a true friend. Thats it.. No thrills no frills..I can cook french cusine.. italian..and middle eastern dishes, oh yea..and road kill..{but only upon request}. Im the best pool player this side of the Mississippi.. I give the best back massages you ever experienced not to mention my claim to fame ..the ultimate foot massage..Usually before Im done with the first foot..you beg for the hanky panky!! Anyway..thats just the beggining. I ride fast..but never ride faster than my Guardian Angel can fly!! Just wanna say..Seriously..All us lonely people..Where do we all belong.. And always remember, You cant always get what you want…But if you try sometimes.. you just might find…You”ll get what you need!! Yeh Baby!! Mick said that.’